Chapter 2

Mike tried to gather his thoughts after the two ladies left. Nothing added up with what he knew, but he knew what he had seen, or thought he did see and hear.

He did not hear a word from Millie the next day, or the day after. On the third day his phone rang, and it was Althea who asked if Millie had contacted him. He told her that he hadn’t heard a word until this call.

Althea said, “I see. Well I’d like you to come over for dinner this evening, say about six? I live just around the corner and a half a block up at 286 E Milford Street. Ring the bell next to the  scratched-out name, and I’ll buzz you in”.

Mike was a couple of minutes early but went to the address and looked at the tenant list. All the buttons were on the right except one on the left next to a scratched-out name. Well, that was what she said, so he pushed that button.

“Hi Mike, the door is open when I buzz. Take the elevator and push the buttons for 4 and 5 together.” Mike was sort of taken aback, but the door buzzed and he went into the building. “Nice apartment building,” he thought as the elevator door opened right away, and he stepped in. Then Mike pushed both four and five buttons together. The elevator panel showed “45,” and went up. It stopped and opened at a floor with a very small hall and only one door. Mike stepped out, and Althea opened the door.

“Hi Mike, come in. Dinner will be a wee bit late, but we can have a glass of wine and chat.” Mike smiled, stepping into her apartment, giving Althea a polite hug.

The apartment seemed quite large. It was also very nice in a sort of modern but not minimalist way.

“So, Millie hasn’t called or visited? I think she is a little embarrassed about how things ended and is also a bit like the Great Dane and the Volkswagen. Now that you have a firm grip on the bumper, what are you going to do?”

Mike smiled and shrugged, “Not much I can do, as I have no contact information.”

Althea laughed, “I will correct that too, but right now, how about you call her, and tell her we are having dinner together, and add; ‘wish you were here’.”

Mike looked at her. ”Ouch, you want me dead, or what?”

Althea giggled, “Oh I don’t think that will happen, but I expect there will be three for dinner, and I cooked for it!” Althea had a mischievous smile on her lips. She picked up her phone, pushed two buttons, and handed the phone to Mike.

Millie answered and Mike relayed as asked ... there was a:

“What! ... I’ll be right there.” And Millie was there in about three minutes.

It was obvious she was still wearing her work clothes, and she was a little unsettled about the situation.

Althea met her with a big grin “I am so glad you could make it.”

Millie made to go straight toward Althea, but Mike stepped in the way “Hi, Beautiful, can I get a hug?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, wrapping her up in his arms, hugging her, and giving her a fairly chaste peck on the cheek.

Millie was a little confused now and was having trouble with what she should do next.

“This was a set up!” she fumed.

Althea nodded her head in a ‘yes.’ Mike shrugged and said “No, I just showed up for a dinner invite and assumed you’d be here.”

Millie was still glaring daggers at Althea, who wasn’t the least perturbed.

“Well, if you’d prefer to leave I’ll entertain Mike on my own; I certainly don’t mind.” Althea said.

Millie’s temper rose again “You will do no such thing; entertaining Mike all alone would be...!”

Althea’s smile never wavered “OK, well then you be his date for the evening, and I’ll just be the odd woman out.”

Mike was shaking his head. “There is no issue with you being here with us.

You seem to have been instrumental in bringing us together despite the most awkward circumstances.”

Althea giggled again, “I did, didn’t I.”

Mike stepped closer and put an arm around Millie’s shoulders “So now we just have to see what we can make out of the opportunity.” He felt Millie’s shoulders slump, and he pulled her close. “I hope we can make it work”.

Millie’s head was sort of down, but she nodded her agreement. “I’m sorry I didn’t call. It would seem that my phones are all tapped, and there’s a PI watching me all the time.”

Althea frowned. “Who do you think has done this?”

Millie sighed, “My dad. He seemed to get upset when he found some of the alternate thinking magazines and such last time he was over. Probably thinks I am going off the deep end.”

Althea nodded her understanding, “Yes, he is extremely, protective of you.”

“I am sorry, Mike. I can always Create an illusion over myself and leave my apartment like I did a few minutes ago. However, anyone going in or out of my apartment is likely me, so the PI is still an issue. I think if you were to come visit me, Dad would be there with the posse in minutes.”

Mike laughed, “I don’t mind meeting your dad.”

“If only it were so easy. I am so sorely inclined to do everything behind his back, just to get even with him.” Millie replied.

Mike shook his head. “No, I would like to meet them normally, not over guns and threats.”

Althea smiled and nodded. “I think that is wise, Mike. I understand Millie’s irritation, but this relationship doesn’t need to start with her father’s ire aroused. He’d likely never agree to anything, regardless of how logical and even beneficial it will be to his hopes. He has a real issue with being obstructed.”

“Boy, doesn’t he!” Millie added.

“Well how about a glass of wine that Althea has kindly provided and moving on to different subjects. I can provide access to my building and get you a burner phone if you’d like,” Mike said with a smile.

Millie smiled at him, “Thanks, Mike,  but of course I can enter your building and apartment any time without your kind help, just like Althea did,” she said with a cat that ate the canary grin.

Mike ‘s smile faded. “Ah! Just like me being able to pop open my spare bedroom door with a small screwdriver in a couple of seconds huh?”

Millie’s smile disappeared. “You evil man, you knowingly put me where you could have your way with me.”

Mike shook his head, “fat chance of that happening; that Millie was safe as a babe in her father’s arms.” Everyone laughed.

Althea smiled, “well, dinner should be about ready, so let’s get our food and talk while we eat, regardless of Emily Post’s guidance. It’s going to be buffet style, served in the kitchen.”

Once served and everyone seated, Althea put out her hands to Millie and Mike. “Great Lord, help us to see a path for Mike and Millie that won’t cause any heartburn in either family. Thanks for your love, this food and all the good you bring us. Amen.”

Mike said: “Thanks, I haven’t said grace in much too long; so witches are Christians too?”

Althea smiled and shook her head No. ”We believe in God, His good, and in the evil in the world, but we choose not to follow denominations or put specific guidance on how to say thanks or ask for aid. Each person does that as they feel it should be done.”

Mike nodded. “Makes a lot of sense really, and so what magics can you witches do, beside opening locks and creating ugly illusions?”

Althea shook her head. “Mike, what a question, it could take years to answer that, but almost none come with lightning, sparks, loud noises or the like. Most are like love, slow, inexorable and barely noticeable to those not looking for it.”

“I see, and you are both witches?”

Both ladies shook their heads. “No, I am just learning to be one, Mike.

It’s slow and difficult, as it requires you to think quite differently than you have been taught. I likely have years to go before I could be called a witch by those who know what a witch really is.”

Althea nodded her agreement.

“So can we guys become witches too?” Mike asked.

There was a moment of silence before Althea spoke very carefully, choosing her words. “Well yes, but not often allowed. Men seem to slide into using their powers for  ... um ... what we will call unseemly purposes. Even some of the most promising could not fight off the temptation, so no, we do not teach men the magics we have learned.”

Mike’s face clouded a bit. “That’s a harsh indictment of all men; I would certainly hope to be a better man than that.”

Althea nodded. “Yes, Mike, you have shown every indication of being such a better man, and I will gladly use my abilities to help you, but to teach you would bring the wrath of the Coven and more. It is a  sworn rule among us to prevent the things once done. Even now, the repercussions of those times abound, with women often seen as chattel or subservient beings, here to satisfy men’s needs.”

Mike frowned and nodded. “Yes, I can see that. Unfortunately, a lot of men are just worthless bastards in that way.”

Althea nodded and smiled. “I am not surprised you see that, as you are very different in your thinking from most men. That is why Millie is drawn to you as am I. We both hope to be in your life for a long time to come, should it please God.”

“Now Althea, I am not sure we want to open all the doors at once, I am not even sure I want to open some of them at all,” Millie said seriously. Mike looked back and forth between them.

Althea put her hand up in a stop motion, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

You and Mike need to spend time together seeing if you are compatible in the many ways people interact.”

The rest of the dinner was pleasant.

Millie asked, “May I come over to your apartment for dinner this Friday? I do not want to go out, just want to eat there.”

Mike said, “No problem, anything in particular you’d like or just the same old two double cheeseburgers?”

Millie tried to smack his hand “Be nice.”

They all laughed. The party broke up soon after dinner as everyone had obligations and/or work the next day.

Come Friday, Mike was putting together a roast chicken dinner with twice baked potatoes and a rather complex salad with lettuce, spinach, a bit of shredded cabbage, cucumber, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. He wasn’t sure what Millicent would like but felt this was pretty safe.

She knocked at his door, and he let her in, giving her a hug and kiss on the cheek, which she returned.

“I am sorry I didn’t ring the bell at the front door, but that damn PI was following me, and I wanted him not to be able to push in behind me.”

“What? The damned PI is that pushy and close? Normally they just stay back and report.” Mike replied.

“Daddy seems to be able to make anything worse with his over reactions,”

Millie said.

“Well, we’ll watch his actions closely, Mike turned on the TV and flicked to a channel that displayed eight different windows, each of a part of his building. The PI was outside the front door working with something in the key slot for the door.

Mike grabbed his phone and did something with it, “You are on video, and the police have been notified. Leave now or you’ll have a bigger problem.”

Mike spoke into his phone.

The man jerked and looked around, finally seeing the camera lens. He started to reach up, but then looked away and dropped his arms and hurried away. Another camera showed a walking police patrol closing in on the front of the building.

“I think the evening will be quiet now. May I offer you a glass of Chablis?” Mike said with a smile.

Millie’s response, watching the screens was “Cool! Yes,  a glass of wine sounds nice.”

Mike served a nice home cooked meal and used serving dishes rather than just serving in the kitchen.

Millie giggled, “showing off for the rich girl I see.”

Mike frowned. “No, just trying to make you feel a bit special and not just eating at Mike’s kitchen.”

She smiled. “It is very much appreciated.”

They finished dinner and Millie insisted on helping put the leftovers away and help in cleaning up.

Then they went out and sat on the couch.

Millie sitting close to Mike. “I enjoyed that hug when I dropped the act and wish to be close again.”

Mike could hardly ignore the invitation, so they hugged, cuddled and ended up making out with Millie sitting crosswise in his lap.

After a while Millie rose excusing herself to the restroom. Mike followed her suggestion as well.

When he came out, he turned on the TV channel with the cameras and sure enough, the PI was across the street in a doorway.

He pointed out the guy to Millie, who grumbled.

“That bed you used before is still available. I will not bother you, although you are welcome to come bother me if you are so inclined.”

Millie gave him that ‘You dirty old man’ look and then smiled and shook her head. “Please Mike, I don’t want to go too fast. I am pretty sure that we will be a good match but need to take my time. I think I will stay here though and let that twit of a PI enjoy a night out in the cold. I am sure dad will blow a fuse in the morning.” she smiled.

In the morning, she came out dressed in last night’s clothes, enjoyed a cup of tea and a croissant, then excused herself to go home.

Mike let her out a back door to the building and saw her safely to the main street that crossed the one in front of his  building.

He went back up to change her bed and get some work done. On the night stand he found a note to him, with her phone numbers, address and email, and with the caution that all were probably monitored.

Over the next month or so, Mike and Millie spent more and more time together, be it eating dinner, weekend shopping or excursions to places not too far away.

Millie’s father removed the PI and phone taps, in exchange for her sleeping in her apartment again instead of with “friends” every night.

Her mother was a bit more circumspect; just asking about what she was doing and what trips she had made. Her mother also pointed out various upcoming events that might be of interest to Millie.

Millie’s mother had surmised that there was someone in Millie’s life, but didn’t ask, as she understood how angry Millie was about her father’s prying. But she listened and put things together. She didn’t say anything to her husband, since his response would kill any relationship, in her mind.

Millie worked as an investment advisor in her uncle’s firm, where her dad’s twin brother Milton kept an eye on her. She had proven to be one of the better advisors in terms of account performance, despite often making some very unusual or even strange suggestions to her clients.

She had built up a solid following for her unorthodox methods and managed to average 8.5% over the market’s performance long term. She was especially noted for perceiving downturns and moving money to avoid serious losses.

Mike had been keeping up with managing his business and working at searching through code for lines that did something unexpected or sent things someplace unexpected.

These frequently indicated the code had been intentionally corrupted and often that it either allowed unauthorized access or simply sent information somewhere in down times. Trying to find every place this happened was beyond him and his staff, but each time they found such code, they would adjust their antivirus program to counter it.

Not just any hacker could work around the program Mike had designed and built. It took a very talented hacker to find a way to evade the security.

Constantly looking for such techniques and defeating them made his product quite secure. He had no issues with releasing updates as often as needed, and he had created a method using a small, individualized dongle to keep remote hackers from seizing control through his updates system.

Mike had also been quietly watching the ten-story octagonal building being built next to his apartment. The current owners were in trouble as the now resurging epidemic had scared away would-be tenants. Too many people working from home, and their logical purchase program had not allowed for anything like what had happened.

A bankruptcy would destroy the family that had worked very hard to get to where they were. Mike had expressed his interest, but at a price that basically bailed them out with little profit. They had refused to even talk.  Now things were coming to a head, and they had to find a way to stay afloat. A loan was not going to help if the current situation persisted, so they had to make a decision. Mike was in a position where he didn’t really need a loan, he could eliminate a bunch of holdings and buy it outright. He had enough funds to finish the building too.

Another input was Millie’s feeling that the markets were going to drop significantly in the months to come. So he would get more out of his money now if he bought the building. He and Millie had made some loose plans for adjusting his holdings for what she felt was coming too, so he had started to move his investments accordingly.

Millie also spent time with Althea, sometimes a lot of time, but wasn’t inclined to talk to Mike about it, which irritated him.

Late one afternoon, Millie had come in with Althea for supper. Mike had asked for a few minutes to finish his project, so the ladies were being quiet. He occasionally glanced up without moving his head to look at them, and he noticed that they seemed to be communicating and would occasionally shake their heads or make some hand gesture.

The cherry on top was when Millie stood and asked; “Would you like some wine too, Mike?” Not a word had been said between them prior to this and there hadn’t been any hand signals.

He said “Sure”, but his mind was processing all this. He had finished his task a few minutes earlier and had been just observing. Now he closed the computer and got dinner under way. He gave both ladies a hug and a kiss on the cheek and both responded likewise.

Millie’s apartment was two floors above Althea’s. The next time Mike was there, he looked around and noted the composition notebooks in her bookcase by the desk. Not many folks keep such things close.

As luck would have it, Millie appeared from the kitchen and said: “Althea just texted and asked me to come down for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

Mike smiled and said “OK, no problem.” but he also noticed that her cell phone was on the desk. It’s just not good to keep fibbing, even if it was harmless, as best as he could tell.    Millie closed the door, and he heard the elevator door open and close. He pulled the first composition book and opened it to see a lot of writing in no language he had ever seen.  It was mostly just a few characters, a space and a few more. Most were alphabetic but there were a lot of strange ones too.    He pulled his phone out, turned on the video camera and carefully scanned each page into his phone. He then closed the book and put it back. He put his phone away and went in the kitchen to retrieve a beer from the fridge.

Then Mike walked out and took the seat he had been in, turned on the local news on TV, and drank the beer.

Millie was back about two minutes later and said something about Althea wanting to go somewhere together, then finished making dinner for the two of them.

Afterwards they cuddled as usual and talked softly about their future.

Millie still did not want to discuss marriage, although she agreed that it was something they would do ‘soon’.

Mike went home with a good dinner and a lot of questions.

At home Mike started researching the “language” he found in Millie’s composition book, and found it was vaguely similar to shorthand, but it had a lot of unusual characters and a very old usage, in that the sentence construction, headings, organizational features and pronouns were far from modern. So he searched old shorthand styles which provided nothing but a comment that it developed from earlier styles.

Pushing the search engines, he finally found a footnote that said something about a Cabal Argot. This didn’t help all that much except that the search engine noted a single bookstore as having books on assorted Argots. It was in the city, but not easy to get to, and not in the best of neighborhoods.

Still, curiosity is a powerful motivator and Mike found time and a way to go to the bookstore.

It was downstairs off of the street in a basement, and the elderly lady was obviously surprised to see him. He had to duck under assorted pipes to look through the shelves of books, but did find an older book that had ‘Cabal Argot’ in the title. He opened it and skimmed a few pages, noting a few of the odd symbols he had seen. He decided it was worth a look then noted a small sign near the register that said, “Wiccan books- with permission.”

He pointed and asked the lady, who shook her head no, he couldn’t go back there, and that the book he had was old, rare and $1250.  Mike smiled, he had already caught her drift. He used his best forceful business presentation on her: “And why do you not want me to buy this book or look back there at Wiccan material? Think I am lacking?”

The woman was slightly startled, and began to dissimulate, but Mike stopped her. “Now, just because I don’t look like what you think I should, is no reason to deny me access”; Mike put a lot of force of character into those words and saw her step back.

She waved her hand to enter, and Mike ducked through the curtain to find a very small area with books purporting to teach magic, Wiccan lore, the history of magic and even “Magic for Dummies”.  Most of the material struck him as modern drivel, but at one end of a lower shelf he saw “Abellard’s Simple Spells to Start”. He pulled it and looked through it, seeing things that actually seemed strange, but still like the author was instructing the reader.

He took the two books to the lady in front of the curtain. She looked at the Abellard book and smiled, “so someone did send ye?” Mike smiled and nodded. The two books suddenly cost him $78.

With the Argot book, he was able to decipher a good deal of what Millie had written and a fair bit was a more modern rendition of the Abellard book.

Suddenly he had something he could follow and use.

He put both in his bedroom nightstand, as that seemed a very safe place, for the moment.  It took him a few days to figure out what part of his mind he was to use to do these things. It wasn’t at all something any normal person would try to do. His first task was to move a dried pea; it was frustrating.

In the middle of struggling to do it, he received a phone call from one of his code analysts who had discovered a new and sneaky access to systems.

Mike was impressed as it was explained to him and grabbed his tablet to make a couple of notes. The pea was in his way and he unconsciously just sort of willed it away, and away it went!

He then stopped and willed it back ... On the second try it came back, he then sent it to a nearby plate.  His code analyst asked if he was still there “Uh, yeah, sorry, dropped some stuff and was picking it up. He wrote down the notes from his code analyst, commended him for his fine work and hung up.

Then he went back to moving the dried pea around until he was comfortable that he could repeat it when he wanted to. From there, he discovered many little things could be done. His pencil became a small focus, or wand, for directing his efforts, where appropriate. It seemed these ‘magic’ powers preferred natural materials for such focuses.

He scanned further through Abellard until he found the references to communicating mind to mind. There he discovered that by using this part of his brain, he could listen and transmit his thoughts to others. So that was what the girls were doing. But how was he going to practice this skill?  The various physical skills he could do when alone. He could manipulate small items, heat or cool a cup of water and even light a candle.

Mike continued to toy with his new found skills when he was alone, but never when Millie or Althea were around. However, he did listen for their conversations, but heard nothing for close to a week.

Then one evening at Althea’s , Caliadne, an older and senior witch in the Coven as he understood it, showed up and ignored him. She immediately started mentally telling Althea in no uncertain terms that the Coven was going to consider Mike a Coven asset as soon as he and Millicent were married. He would then be shared equally between all the witches.

Althea pointed her into another room, and he heard the ensuing argument loud and clear from Caliadne’s end. He had to strain to hear Althea a bit as her “voice’ was so much softer than Caliadne’s foghorn tones.

Millicent had not showed up yet, and he made himself as scarce as he could.

Althea threw Caliadne out and warned her “never ever come back in here telling me what to do, and you best leave Mike alone or else!”

Millie showed up a short while later and Mike again heard Althea’s soft ‘voice’ and Millie’s equally soft responses. He had cracked the code.

It was later that week on Saturday that Millie and he were in his apartment and Althea showed up. She gave Mike a hug and a kiss on the cheek which he returned, and then went to hug Millie.

Mike started dinner and listened as the two ladies moved into the living room and went to mental discussion mode.    Althea was still hot about Caliadne and the Coven’s plans, for it seemed all the older witches had decided Mike would be shared.

Millicent said, “I am absolutely not going to accept that,” and Althea agreed. Althea admitted she too liked Mike a lot but wasn’t going to create any problems, but somehow they needed to find a way out of this situation.

Millicent then told  Althea, “Mike is going to be my man, you are too old for him.”

Althea responded, “I am not too old, I still have a nice figure, and a fine ass if I do say so.” Mike almost dropped the casserole and struggled not to make any noise.

Millicent then volunteered: “But my boobs are firmer and don’t sag yet.”

Althea snorted. “I have fixed mine with a bit of the art and will fix yours too, if you keep being mouthy to me.” Mike had to put a hand towel in his teeth as he struggled to keep from laughing and finish up dinner.

The table was already set, so Mike put the casserole on a trivet and the salad on another one, then went out and announced; “My lovely ladies, dinner is served.”

He held out a hand to each of them. Both of them looked at him, Millicent stood and moved to take his outstretched hand, while Althea stood and stopped in front of him.  He turned around, took Millicent’s hand and put his arm around Althea’s shoulders causing her to look at him.

“Althea, you do indeed have a lovely ass, regardless of how old you may be, although I have not seen it in the flesh of course; and Millie, you have the nicest boobs I have ever squeezed. I do care about you both.”

Mike was confronted with two deeply red-faced women looking at him, it was Althea who spoke first. “How long have you been listening to us?”

Mike shrugged, “A week or so, once I figured out how you were communicating. Caliadne was certainly loud!”

Althea’s face cracked into a smile, “so you know they all want your body then?”

Mike nodded “Yeah, but they lose. No way in hell is that going to happen, and I still intend to marry Millie, although I may need to drag her kicking and screaming to the altar.”

“You will do no such thing” Millie stated firmly.

“Your call my dear, I’ll gladly walk down the aisle with you or throw you over my shoulder and carry you there ... unless of course you’d prefer I marry Althea and you get visiting privileges once in a while.”

Millie’s face clouded up, “don’t you threaten me!”

Mike shrugged, “Women,” he grabbed Millie and pulled her into a firm embrace and when she looked up, he kissed her firmly but not harshly on the mouth. “I personally think we make a good pair, and we just need to shuck the Coven and start our own. They are getting too large anyway and not located conveniently to everyone as well.”

Millie had quit fighting the embrace and the kiss and was just leaning into Mike.

Althea nodded, “that might actually be the best plan, they normally want three before anyone breaks off, but we can do it with two I suppose.”

“Count again, my dear!” Mike said with a smile.

“Mike, we can’t count you just because you can communicate mentally, you need to be able to do magic too.”

“I see, well...” Millie gasped, and Althea looked around to see what was tugging her blouse, looking down, the top two buttons of her blouse were unbuttoned. She quickly put things right, before looking at  Mike, her face a bit pink again.

“I see, so now I am going to have to teach you a lesson, huh?”

Mike smiled and nodded yes. “Maybe we should eat before dinner is stone cold, but yes, you are going to have to teach me too.”

“We’ll talk about that tomorrow.”

As agreed the night before, Althea came over to Mike’s, although she came at one, not four as originally planned. She did knock at the door to Mike’s apartment, and he let her in and hugged her a lot less chastely than he had been doing in the past. His right hand strayed down to the small of her back while his left, on her back, pressed her breasts into his chest as he kissed her lips.

She pulled back, showing a touch of pink and a small smirk. ”OK, Mike, show me what you got.”   

“Althea! well OK, item for item.”  Althea was looking at him in confusion, “what are you talking about, Mike?”

Mike’s smirk was a warning “Well, if we are going to show what we got, you take off the item matching what I take off ... so my slacks mean your skirt goes.”    Althea shook her Head “Mike, Mike ... we were looking into magic books, what magic things do you have?”

“Oh, that! it’s all in my bedroom, except for this tablet, follow me,” He said with a grin.

She shook her head and followed him. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled out his two books and handed them to her.

“This is it?” Mike nodded yes. Althea sat on the bed beside him and glanced through Abellard’s Simple Spells to Start. Mike told her that someone with her first name had owned it, and showed her a faint inscription on the frontispiece by an Althea Darcy-Saxe.

“Dear God, Mike, this is my old book! It was stolen years ago!”

Mike nodded, “I always knew you were a bit older, but that is an old book!”

Althea sighed, “Yes Mike, I was born in 1814. My Aunt Mattie noted my skills when I was about eight and took me under her wing. Witches were poorly thought of back then, not that they are well thought of now. I’ll have to fill you in on all that someday.”

She picked up the Argot book “Why did you get this?”

“So I could read this,” and he showed her the copied pages from Millicent’s composition book.

“Mike! You sneak! You were going through her things!”

“I did, because you two were sneaking around me, and I wanted to know how.”

“What do you mean Mike?” Althea asked. So Mike explained about Millicent saying she got a text message to go see her, but her phone was on the desk in plain sight.

“I knew you were communicating around me, but wanted to know how.

Composition books are not so common, especially in an educated person’s desk bookcase unless used often, so it was the first thing I looked at.”

Althea nodded, “Logical ... and then you couldn’t read it, so how did you know to get this Argot book and where in heavens did you find it?”

“Well, I live on the computer, so I simply started searching. First for shorthand, then for where it came from and eventually I found a small footnote about Cabal Argot. So, I searched that and got a couple of almost meaningless entries and an address for a bookstore. That’s where I found this stuff.”

“And they sold it to you? I am surprised.”

Mike smiled, “I used my compulsion technique from my business dealings and my ‘I Want It My Way’ influence, which seemed to clear things up quickly.”

Althea looked at him “I think we need to explore that a bit together, I am wondering if you haven’t stumbled into the powers without realizing it.”

Mike shrugged “I can’t say, do you want me to use that and tell you to undress?”

“Mike! What has gotten into you?” Millicent would be really put out if we had sex.”

“Why? we are in the same Coven or Family. I gathered that it was only a matter of time before we got intimate. Isn’t that what normally happens?”

Althea looked at Mike for a moment before nodding with a sigh, “Yes, we witches seem to be a randy bunch, and yes, eventually I’d have forced Millicent to let me make love with you too. But I wasn’t expecting you to initiate it. I guess I should have, you have been very forward today, not that I minded much.”

“Yes, Althea, I have felt that something between us too. I do love Millicent and will happily marry her, but she will have to accept that I also have come to love you and that we will be intimate as well, whether separately or all together.”

Althea nodded, “it all makes so much sense when you quit telling yourself you are imagining things. OK, Mike, let’s see you try to make me undress.

I’ll resist as best I can, but if I undress then you need to do so too.”

She stood up and looked at him.

Mike stood and looked at her, then gathered himself as he did when he wanted things his way and began to push his thoughts “Strip your clothes off, Althea ... everything down to a smile.”

He could feel her resisting; he tried to force his will a bit more. “Now, Althea.”

Her hands struggled as they went behind her back, the skirt’s waistband loosened and the skirt dropped. Althea had nice legs. Mike kept up the mental effort. She unbuttoned her blouse and shrugged it off, reached back and unhooked her bra and dropped that to her feet. Her breasts didn’t sag; they were slightly pendulous because they were fully grapefruit sized, though. She pushed her panties off and stood naked in front of him.

Mike was very turned on, and he stripped off his clothes too, before stepping over to her ... she was shaking off his control by then, but his manhood was very evident.

“My God, Mike, that was incredibly powerful but now I want you to do what you are supposed to ... do I need to compel you?” No wonder Mr. Fabled couldn’t handle you.  Mr. Fabled was a very rich man in the city who always seemed to get things his way. The witches understood that he had developed certain powers or abilities and used them to get his way evilly to make people accept bad deals and women to accede to his demands physically, Mike laughed as he picked her up and set her on the bed before joining her.

He made her happy three times before taking his own pleasure.

Millicent was very angry when she arrived and found out that Mike and Althea had made love together. But then Mike applied himself and had her take her clothes off and join him on his bed, while Althea got some food together.

Mike was able to drop his control shortly after joining Millie on the bed.

It wasn’t necessary anymore, and they had a good frolic as well. Then they all had a fairly light supper with everyone wearing very little, and then they all went back to Mike’s bed without the clothes.

Mike was very busy that night. The hostility evaporated, and they became a Coven.

Things moved moderately quickly from that point. Althea told the Coven that she was taking Millicent and Mike and splitting off. That Mike adamantly refused to have anything to do with the other women of the Coven who were doing exactly what they disliked the men for.

She also pointed out that Mike was no easy pushover as he had taken on Mr.

Fabled. Mike had not only avoided being taken, but talked Mr. Fabled out of buying the Briggs National Bank, in which Mike now owned a controlling interest.

Mike also finally managed to get the group constructing the octagonal building next to his apartment to sell, as they were desperate. Mike threw in a bit extra, if you can call a million dollars a bit extra. It was still a steal. He already had plans to make the top floor an apartment like Althea’s, without the funny numbering and elevator setup.

He had been amused to find out that Althea made the whole fifth floor hers, since she owned the building, but numbered the sixth floor as the fifth and so on, so her floor didn’t exist in the elevator numbers. Thus, you had to push the 4 button and the 5 button simultaneously to go to floor four and a half.

The departure from the Coven allowed Millicent to openly accept Mike’s proposal without fear of losing him to a bunch of old biddies. This of course meant Mike needed, in his mind, to go ask Millie’s parents for permission to marry their daughter.

Millie set up a Saturday afternoon to introduce her folks to Mike as her boyfriend. Millie’s mom was excited, as was her father, although in a slightly different way.

Mike and Millie both dressed casually, he in a sport shirt with no tie and no jacket, she in a plain skirt and blouse.” He drove his two-year-old Honda Accord over and parked in front of the Mansion in Westborough.

Millie’s mother, Constance, was thrilled to see her and greeted Mike warmly. Millie’s dad, Chester, was cool and calculating. His daughter was not going to marry some middle-class dullard and be stuck in some apartment or a house in a sub-division for the rest of her life. This fellow was not impressing him.

They sat and talked pleasantries for a while before Chester started in, “so what do you do, Mike?”

Mike smiled “I do computer security mostly, although I have a few investments I watch, and a small property ... well, two now.”

Chester smiled “I see, so these two properties bring in much cash?”

Mike shook his head “No, not a lot really, the second one may bring in more as soon as I get it fixed up.”

“And this job as a computer security person provides enough to fix up this property and live on?”

Mike smiled “Sure does, and enough to still invest a few dollars.”

Millie was struggling to control herself, her mother caught it and looked back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on.

“And what is the name of this company you work for, Mike?’ Mike nodded, “Electron Security Systems.”

Chester stopped for a second “I have heard of them; they do good work. What exactly do you do there?”

Mike smiled, But Millie couldn’t stand it any more , “He owns it, Dad.”

Chester’s face froze for a moment, then his jaw started moving but no sounds came out for a second or two.

“He owns it? Don’t be silly, a guy named Mike ... Mc ... Mahon owns it. Are You Mike McMahon?”

Mike smiled and nodded his head yes, “That’s me.”

Chester sat back in his chair, and stared for a few seconds while Constance filled the silence “Oh that’s wonderful, how did you and Millie meet?”

“Well, I was walking in the park one day and a couple of thugs went to bother a lady. A mounted cop ran them off and I went over to make sure she was okay.” He motioned toward Millie, and she really is way more than OK!”

Constance had a huge grin; Chester had a weak smile and no one except Mike noted the sort of strange look on Millicent’s face as she looked at Mike.

“But I  came to get your permission to marry your daughter, I proposed to her, and she said yes, so I thought it was proper that I come ask you as well.”

Constance was the first to speak, “Oh wonderful, we can have a big reception at the club and get the church decorated and...”

“Mom,” Millie inserted, “given the Covid-19 situation, we cannot have a big wedding.”

“Oh ... I suppose not. Pity, I was so looking forward to it.” Constance answered.

Long story short, Mike and Millie did get married, did move into the top floor of the octagonal tower and created a large apartment with three children’s rooms, a guest room for the grandparents, and a special room for Althea next to the master bedroom, sharing the master bathroom.