Chapter 20

"Hey, dude, you hardly said word one to me since last week," said Frank as he plopped himself down in the seat next to Jason, a cheesy grin on his face. "What's up with that?"

Jason couldn't help but let his eyes flick over Frank's body. The aura was darker than it had been the first time he had seen it. It had spread as well, and the patterns in the undulating tendrils that snaked around his arms had changed subtlety. As he stared at them for a moment, he got a sense of satisfaction from them, as if a job had been accomplished, and accomplished quite well.

Jason forced a smile. "Sorry, just got my mind on some things. Um... you doing all right?"

Frank chuckled. "Never better! What a difference a weekend makes, huh?"

"Uh, yeah... just what did you do this past weekend?"

"Oh, just did family stuff, you know."

"I thought you were having trouble with your family."

"Yeah, I was, but that's all been taken care of."

Jason felt his heart thump as he contemplated this. "So what exactly did you do?"

Frank appeared to hesitate a moment, as if searching for the right words. "Let's just say I have a much better relationship with my stepsis and stepmom than I had before."

Jason swallowed. The darkness around Frank seemed to writhe in excitement and pleasure at these words. "Uh... that's... that's good to hear."

"Damn straight it is, man. Finally gonna get things going my way, you know?"

Jason took a deep breath and looked at Frank squarely. "Frank, you remember my phone call to you last week, right?"

Frank paused and looked a little nonplussed for a moment. "Uh... yeah, I think so, why?"

"That call was important. Did you listen to me?"

"Well... I didn't really understand it completely." He paused again and laughed. "Hell, I guess I don't remember it all that much."

"Frank, you didn't... do anything to anyone? Over the weekend, that is."

"Huh? Do anything? What's that supposed to mean?"

Jason wasn't sure how to word it. He didn't know if calling him out on it was going to get himself into trouble or not. For all he knew, Nyssa didn't know that he could see auras again. He might be risking her finding out if Frank got called back to the nurse as Jason expected he would be today. "Um... nothing. Forget it. Glad to hear that things are working out at home."

Frank grinned. "Better believe it."

"Frank, you want to come over to my place this afternoon for a bit? We can..."

Frank was already shaking his head. "No can do, dude. Got more family stuff to do." There was a lascivious glint in his eyes.

"Okay, never mind then."

Frank grinned widely. "You know, you could come over to my place instead."

"Um..."

"You'd really like meeting my stepsis." Frank grinned. "At least I know she'll like meeting you."

Jason felt a chill pass through him. "Uh... maybe some other time."

Frank shrugged. "No problem. Hey, your other friends will be getting on the bus soon. I'll head out so they can sit next to you. See ya, man."

Frank grinned impishly one last time and headed to the back of the bus.

Jason took a deep breath and let it go in a noisy sigh. He had been tempted for a moment to take Frank up on that invitation. Of all his reasons for doing so, most of them had to do with wanting to see exactly how much damage Frank had done and understand what they were up against.

It was the remaining reasons that had convinced him to turn down the offer.

"So, same shit, different day?" asked Richie as the five met in the parking lot.

"If by that you mean do we do the same plan today as yesterday, then yes," Jason replied mildly. "Look for more people being taken by Nyssa. Though I don't think you'll find anyone else."

"You still think she's going to call back the ones she took last Friday?" Melinda asked.

"Makes sense. Yesterday, she called back all the ones she took Thursday."

Richie just sighed to himself as he listened to this but said nothing in response. He shook his head slightly, though none of the others saw it.

"I tried talking to Frank on the bus when he got on," said Jason. "I think he did go ahead and do something, and I think it was to his stepsister."

Melinda screwed up her face in disgust. "Ewww!"

"What's with the 'ewww'?" said Richie mockingly. "It's his freakin' stepsister, not his real one."

"It doesn't matter. A sister is a sister. Doing your own sister is just way gross!"

Heather shifted her weight nervously, her eyes darting to her little sister's body for a moment. She swallowed and averted her gaze, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

"Look, the point is, he did something he shouldn't have regardless of his relation to her," Jason said. "It's not like it's 'okay' to mind-control some people but not others."

"You mean he can, like, control his stepsister?" Richie asked. "Get her to do whatever he wanted?"

"Where the hell have you been the last few days, huh?" Melinda piped indignantly.

"Shit, don't get your panties in a twist, okay? I'm just askin'."

"Richie, it should be obvious to you of all people," Jason said. He gave a slight nod of his head towards Cassie.

Richie turned his gaze towards Cassie. Cassie drew her arms around herself and blushed slightly.

"Yeah," Richie said in a low voice. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I didn't even have to think about it," Cassie said in a hollow voice, her eyes shimmering. "It... it was just like everything was supposed to go that way and it did. He just... just did what I wanted and..."

"Yeah, yeah, we get the picture," Richie grumbled.

"Sorry," Cassie said sheepishly.

"Don't be," Melinda declared, shooting a glare at Richie. "That's useful information, Cassie."

"I think you can assume, Richie, that anyone taken by Nyssa has the power," Jason said. "At least insofar as it's directed at whoever the subject of their fantasies is."

"And I think it's only directed at the... uh... v-victim," Cassie said softly. "When I found out that Melinda was following me and confronted her, it never entered my head to do anything to her."

"By the way, how did you know I was following you, Cassie?" Melinda asked.

Cassie shrugged. "It was like I just knew. I don't know how."

"Does anyone else have anything to add before we go inside? Heather, are you still having funny feelings that something's wrong?"

Heather nodded. "Yes, it's a little worse today. I wish I could tell you more than that. If I really can see into the future, it's not very far."

"Yeah, you got that flash about Richie only when we were already on the bus," Melinda commented.

"So if I'm not getting anything more than this, whatever it is, it's not going to happen today."

"My dreams were a little clearer last night, Jason," Cassie said. "The silver stuff that she was carrying in her hands? I got the sense now that it came from the student. So she's definitely taking something from them."

Melinda looked revolted. "That's... that's just gross..."

"Everything's gross with you," Richie grumped. "Shit, it's not like Nyssa's taking their organs or something."

"Ewww!"

Richie rolled his eyes. "I give up."

"Well, it can't be good, whatever it is," Jason said. Though he admitted to himself that he could not see what was worse than having one's free will taken away. He would almost prefer to lose an organ rather than his will.

At least that's what he had felt after he had the misfortune of running into Gary and his new "girlfriend" Sally the day before. His mother had sent him to the store shortly after getting home from school, and he had spotted them along the way. He had known Sally indirectly, simply because he liked to know who the other intellectuals were at the school, even if he didn't feel like competing against them. It had chilled him to the bone to see a bright, intelligent girl reduced to a giggly, slutty bimbo in the space of a few days.

"We better get inside," Heather said, looking around at the now nearly empty parking lot.

"Yeah, let's go, we've beat this dead horse enough," said Richie. He headed inside, the others trailing behind him.

Jason jogged to catch up with him and followed him to his locker. "Hey, Richie, wait up a sec."

Richie turned his head as he got to his locker. "Whassup?"

"I wanted to ask you if you knew when you'd be done with detention."

Richie shrugged. "Dunno."

"What, you mean they didn't tell you how long it would be?"

"Not really, no."

Jason frowned. "That's not good, Richie. If they know that you're trying to help us fight the Darkness, they may be trying to stop you from..."

"Look, put away your conspiracy theories, okay?" Richie snapped. He sighed. "That has nothing to do with it, dude. It's all about me, 'kay?"

"I don't get it."

Richie rolled his eyes. He grabbed some books from his locker and slammed it shut. "Miss Davis says I have to stay in detention until I start doing the work for the class."

Jason stared, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"What?" Richie was forced to ask.

"Well, have you started to do the work?"

"Nope."

"When are you?"

Richie shrugged. "Maybe never. Dunno."

"Richie, what the hell are you doing? You want to stay in detention?"

"It's not that bad. What else do I have to do during the school year? No one wants to play baseball anymore after school."

"Richie, it's really not helping us to have you staying behind in school every afternoon when we meet in the parking lot. Then I have to catch you up on everything afterward."

"And you're doin' a great job of it. Anyway, what the hell do you need me for? You've got Cassie the Wonder Weirdo in the group now."

Jason frowned. "Is that what this is about? That we have her in the group? You resent that?"

Richie snorted. "Why would I resent having the person that tried to fuck with my head in the group? Course not."

Jason sighed. "Look, I'm not asking you to like her, okay? But she's giving us good information. You may think her dreams are weird, but they appear to mean something."

"Well, then, I guess she's doin' more than me, huh?"

Jason paused. "Wait, is that what this is about? You feel you don't contribute enough to..."

"Shit, will you stop fucking analyzing me?!" Richie exploded. "Ya think maybe it's a little simpler than that, brainiac? Like maybe I'm just tired of this shit?"

A long silence. "You don't want to be in the Harbingers anymore."

"Yeah, the fucking light dawns now, don't it?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired of it. I don't want to deal with any of this shit. None of this is gonna help my Mom."

"Richie, I really wish we could help her. If we knew how, we would. Honest."

"So maybe I wanna wait until you know how. Maybe I need to start havin' some priorities."

Jason stared at Richie. "C'mon, man. We need everyone we can get."

Richie remained silent for a moment. He then turned and banged a fist on the locker in frustration, muttering a curse under his breath.

"It just seems that everyone is gettin' something out of this except me, you know?" Richie muttered. "You and Melinda get each other. Cassie gets someone that will listen to her weird shit. Heather gets the power to see the future or some crap like that. Fuck, even the people that Nyssa messes with get something out the deal!"

"Yeah, at the expense of someone else's free will!" Jason snaps. "Like what almost happened to you."

"Yeah, well... maybe if it had, I wouldn't be thinkin' of this stuff. Fuck, Jason, for a second there it was like being on some awesome acid trip. Nothing to worry about. Don't have to think about nothin'."

Jason stared at him. "You can't be serious. Is that what's on your mind when you think about the people that got enslaved to Nyssa's minions? Is that what you think about with Sally Franner?"

"You think Sally even knows what happened to her? What does she have to worry about now, huh?" Richie paused and then snickered.

Jason frowned. "What's so damn funny?"

"Enslaved by Nyssa's minions?" Richie snorted. "Sounds like a line outta some B-movie, dude."

"Then you come up with something better! Look, I just need to know, okay? Are you going to help us or not?"

There was a long pause. Richie gave a shadow of a smile. "Yeah, yeah, sure. What else do I have to do with my time? Sure, I'll watch for more of 'Nyssa's minions'."

Jason cast a lingering, angry gaze at Richie before turning and hurrying off to class.

"Hey, Heather, wait up!"

Heather turned just as she was about to walk away from her locker. "Hey, Diane, what's up?" Heather said with a small smile.

Her smile faded when she saw the distressed look on Diane's face. "Heather, um, you have a minute? I need to talk to you about something."

"I've got homeroom in a few minutes, so it will have to be quick. Sure you don't want to wait for lunchtime?"

"It's kind of important."

Heather nodded slowly. "Is something the matter, Diane?"

Diane bit her lip. "That's just it, I don't know. It's my mother."

"Your mother? What's wrong with her?"

"I'm not sure. I know this isn't making any sense to you..."

"I think you skipped something there, yeah," Heather said with a small grin. "What's going on?"

"Well... and please don't be angry with me for this... I told my Mom the stuff you told me about the nurse."

Heather's eyes widened. "Diane, you didn't!" she said in a lower voice.

Diane cringed. "I'm sorry, but... b-but my mother really knows when I'm upset about something and I had to tell her..."

Heather took a quick, deep breath. She felt a chill come over her. "Okay, what happened, Diane?"

"My mother decided to talk to the school about it. They wouldn't talk to her over the phone, so she went down herself yesterday morning..."

Oh no! Heather thought desperately. Oh, please don't tell me it's going to be just like Richie's Mom...

"... and now she's... she's okay with the whole thing, but... in a really weird way. It's like she's too happy about it, like..."

Like she's getting off on it, Heather though, shivering.

Diane sighed. "I sound stupid, don't I? I'm probably worried about nothing. I just never saw her act like that."

Heather searched for something to say to Diane. She couldn't come right out and tell the poor girl that her mother has just been affected by the Darkness. Even if Heather could convince Diane of what she was talking about, what good would it do? They couldn't help Diane's mother any more than they could help Richie's mother.

"Well... maybe she was, uh, just really happy that nothing was wrong," Heather finally said. "I guess maybe we were wrong about the nurse. Sorry to scare you like that."

Diane shook her head and managed a small smile. She looked a little more relaxed. "No, it's okay, I want you to tell me these things. Well, if you really think there's nothing wrong..."

"Pretty sure of it, anyway."

Diane's smile widened. "Good. I have to admit I was starting to get worried myself. Listen, if she calls me down before you, I'll let you know how it went, okay? And you do the same for me if you get picked first?"

Heather swallowed and nodded, forcing a smile. "Sure, Diane. That's what friends are for."

Diane started away.

"Oh, Diane, wait!"

Diane turned. "Yes?"

"Was it Principal Bendon that your mother talked to?"

"Yes, it was. Why?"

"Just curious, that's all. I'll see you at lunch."

Diane nodded and grinned again before heading off.

Jason ran his fingers through his hair. "All right," he sighed as they stood near the auditorium later that morning, just after Heather related her encounter with Diane. "I suggest we make a new policy. We don't let anyone else know about what we suspect about the nurse. We can't have more parents getting... getting affected by the principal like this."

The others, except Richie, nodded. Richie looked somewhat bored.

"I just don't understand why none of them are noticing anything on their own," Heather said. "I mean, poor Sally, she's been so changed by this that I can't see where her parents could ignore it. How can they ignore their daughter going from intelligent to brainless in a matter of days?"

"We talked about that the other day," Jason said. "There's some sort of influence at work, something that's making people not notice what's going on."

"If Nyssa can do stuff like that, what the fuck chance do we have against that?" Richie grumbled.

"Well, she can't be all-powerful, or it would be affecting us as well. And you guys have told me that some of the other students are talking about it."

"Oh, God, who isn't!" Heather said with a roll of her eyes. "Sally and Debby are the two big ones. Everyone's totally confused over them."

"See? It must be limited in effect, so they do it on the ones that matter."

"Like all the adults," Melinda said with chagrin. "The ones that could stop it."

"And Diane's mother?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, and mine?" Richie demanded. "Try not to forget her, okay?"

"I'm not, " Jason said. "There's just so much to deal with at once. And I told you guys before, I am not the leader of this group. Anyway, I don't know. I guess occasionally someone is able to break free of the influence and they have to... uh... take care of it more directly."

Richie snorted. "Yeah. Great."

"But at least it shows a limitation, Richie. We have to find a way to build on that somehow. You know, that could help your Mom eventually."

Richie said nothing at this. He simply averted his eyes and glowered.

"My own parents at least have an excuse," Cassie said with a roll of her eyes. "They barely take any interest in my life at all. I doubt they noticed I was any different when I was, um, under the influence."

"I'm actually kind of glad at the moment that they're not. It lets you do most of the legwork for tracking down anyone else Nyssa takes."

"Nyssa's minions," Richie sniggered.

Jason glared at him.

"So did anyone see any new people with auras?" asked Melinda. "I didn't."

Cassie, Jason, and after a fashion, Richie, all shook their heads.

"I did," Heather said softly. "But... I don't think he was taken, I think he was a victim, since his aura was not as dark. Jord Rand."

"Jord?? But that can't be right, he's Yvonne's brother, and Yvonne is... is..." Melinda suddenly looked horrified. "Oh, ick! Ick ick ick! Gross!"

Richie rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna be sick..." Melinda groaned, grabbing her stomach.

"Melinda, don't be so melodramatic," Heather said.

Melinda whirled around to face her big sister. "Don't tell me you don't care that she's boinking her own brother! Oh, ewww, it sounds gross just to say it."

"We better not talk about this all that much in the hall," Jason said in a lower voice. "I don't think that rumor should be getting out, just in case we're wrong."

"God! I hope Nyssa doesn't do anything more like that," Melinda said in a weak voice. "That's just so sick and perverted and twisted and..."

"Okay, okay, we get the picture!" Heather cried suddenly. "Can we please drop it?"

Melinda eyed her big sister for a moment before muttering, "Sorry..."

"Jason, I did see Frank coming out the nurse's station earlier," Cassie said. "So I guess that means you were right that she was calling back the ones she initially took."