Chapter 1

Even though she knew she should be happy, Catherine Wilde's feelings were decidedly ambivalent. Teaching Italian at Bilington High had been her first job out of college, 13 short years ago, and if everything worked out the way she hoped, it would be the only she'd ever have. In that time, she'd had one dream; to take a group of her students to Italy. A group, in fact, had gone to Rome for 3 weeks the year before she'd started at Bilington, so it didn't seem too crazy an idea. But airfare and lodging was prohibitively expensive, and the annual candy bar sales didn't even come close to covering costs. The last trip had been completely underwritten by the richest woman in town, one Victoria Tastick. But since that time, Ms. Tastick had given no hint that she was interested in repeating the experience. Not that Catherine hadn't tried. She'd written Ms. Tastick every semester for 12 years proposing a second trip, and followed up the letters with phone calls to the woman's home. Catherine never got past Ms. Tastick's personal assistant. The PA herself was a former Bilington student, and for a while Catherine had hoped that would get her a little traction with the woman with the checkbook. She'd been wrong. The most she ever got was a polite letter from Ms. Tastick expressing her regret funds could not be forthcoming "at this time" and refusing even to meet with "la profesora". Catherine hadn't even bothered writing this year. That's what made Ms. Tastick's offer so surprising.

And now Catherine found herself at Victoria Tastick's home the day before the flight to Rome attending a "good bye" party for the kids going on the trip and their parents. And things were all the more confusing for Catherine because Victoria had offered absolutely no explanation for the change of heart. Ms. Tastick's hospitality was impeccable, she'd spared no expense on this event, and her Italian was perfect. What's more, Victoria was letting the group stay in a villa her family owned in the center of Rome that was convenient to all the sites Catherine wanted the kids to see. But Victoria's whole demeanor made clear she felt no need to explain why she was doing this now instead of any other time over the past 12 years. But when you're that rich and that beautiful, Catherine reasoned to herself, you probably aren't asked to explain yourself too often. But that was another strange thing. Victoria Tastick was beautiful. She was drop dead gorgeous, in fact. She'd been a benefactor to Bilington High School for as long as anyone could remember. Doing the math, Catherine figured she had to be in her late 40's to mid 50's, at least. But she looked no older than Catherine's 35, and maybe even a shade younger. What was her secret?

Catherine was grateful for one thing, however. There would be no boys on this trip. Not that she had anything against boys or men, even if she hadn't found the right one yet. Catherine was quite a good looking woman herself with her full, medium length, strawberry blond hair, high cheekbones, crystal blue eyes and a toned, curvy body that stayed toned and curvy thanks to her every other day workouts. She enjoyed the appreciative looks she got from the boys in the school's hallways, and from their fathers, truth be told. But that was exactly the problem. Put teenaged boys and girls together in a romantic, exotic location and things were going to happen that the school board would not approve of. And Catherine knew that this sort of problem was not merely theoretical. Two years ago the French Club had gone to Paris, and one of the students who went along was a Senior who considered himself God's gift to women. Unfortunately for all concerned, there were a number of girls on that trip who agreed with that assessment. This young man had gotten a little too into the whole "most romantic city in the world" thing and propositioned one of the faculty chaperones, a young teacher barely out of college herself. Catherine couldn't really blame the boy for trying. The problem was that the teacher had said "Yes" and they got caught. The boy graduated that year with his reputation promoted to the level of "legend". The teacher had been fired the moment the plane landed back in the US. Catherine didn't like the disparity in the outcomes, but then again, that woman really should have known better. Yes, Catherine thought to herself, she'd have enough trouble keeping the Italian boys away from her girls. Things would be a lot easier if she wasn't bringing any boys with her.

Though she didn't say so, Victoria Tastick agreed. This would all go a lot easier with no boys going on the trip. In fact, things would go very easily indeed if, IF, she made the right choice right now. She had eight girls to choose from, nine counting the teacher. Some of them were clearly unsuited for what Victoria had in mind, and some of them had many of the qualities she was looking for. But she had to choose one to get things started and she had to choose wisely. Catherine Wilde was out, she was too old. Victoria liked to start them young and mold them. Once Catherine was inducted into The Association, she'd render valuable service. But that was down the road. The senior girl with the short, black hair and the spectacular body, Connie, was also out. She was just too stupid to be trusted. Victoria made a note to enjoy the long haired blond Ashley, a junior, once she got back as she loved the long and lean types. Ashley was too virginal and too religious to be of use now; that would change after she came back from Italy. The only other senior on the trip, Allie, was another long and lean type who caught Victoria's eye. She had that cute, short haircut and the most gorgeous eyes, but she was also the typical, flighty cheerleader type. Victoria needed someone a little more reliable. Tammi, a junior, and Asha, a sophomore, were certainly reliable, and Victoria was certainly color blind when it came to beautiful women. Tammi was Korean-American, Asha's parents were practically straight off the plane from New Delhi, and both girls were high academic achievers. But their whole lives were their studies and getting their Ivy League College applications in tip top shape. They didn't have much breadth to their life experiences and Rome was likely to be overwhelming to them. Victoria also needed a girl who wouldn't be too distracted. Laura, another junior, was also not acceptable. She was one of those riot grrrrrl types, and while there was nothing wrong with that, she was probably going to Rome to pursue her own agenda. But she was a tight little Japanese-American package. Victoria liked her a lot. So that left two. One of those was Leslie, the only freshman in the group. Victoria sensed immediately she was also the smartest and most worldly of all the girls. Leslie was the kind of girl, Victoria could see, who could look at any situation and tell exactly what the score was. Plus she had those black, plastic framed glasses which gave her the whole "geek chic" look. Leslie was obviously a girl who was going to go far, even without Victoria's help. But Leslie was also a little too strong willed for Victoria's needs at this time.

"Excuse me, Ms. Tastick?"

Victoria was lurched out of her thoughts, "I'm sorry. Yes, Bridget?"

"Where's the bathroom?"

Victoria looked Bridget over very carefully, "Through those doors over there, and up the stairs. Take a left and it's the 4th door on the right."

"Thanks."

Victoria watched as Bridget walked away. A good kid, by all accounts, and another high academic achiever. She carried herself like a tomboy, and indeed, she was the only sophomore starter on the school's powerhouse soccer team. But she wasn't built like a tomboy anymore, not by a long shot. Her long legs swept up to a firm, perfect pear shaped ass. Her breasts were large and firm and stood up like they'd been called to attention by a drill sergeant, but still managed to be in perfect proportion with the rest of her body. Her face was beautiful, freckled, friendly and powered by a pair of clear green eyes. Her straight, shoulder length hair was so red it looked almost purple. It was obviously not her natural hair color, but it worked for her. Victoria knew she had her one.

Bridget finished in the bathroom, washed up and stepped into the hall. Ms. Tastick's house was, by far, the biggest house she'd ever been in and it was filled with the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. In particular, she'd noticed a sculpture as she'd gone into the bathroom so now she took a moment to inspect it. She had no idea what it was, it didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before, and there wasn't any sort of display to explain what it was like there would be at a museum.

"There you are Bridget, I was afraid you'd gotten lost."

Bridget jumped, "Oh, Ms. Tastick, you scared me."

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay. No problem," Bridget said. "I was just looking at this sculpture."

"Oh yes. I brought that with me when I moved here from Rome."

"Is that where you're from?" Bridget asked. She found it difficult to place Ms. Tastick's accent.

"That's a very long story. Maybe I'll tell you it when you get back," Victoria smiled. "Bridget, you seem like a very responsible young woman, the kind of woman another woman can rely on."

"Oh, well, thank you."

"I bring it up because I need someone to do me a favor back in Rome, and I think you're just the girl to help me. Do you think you could do me a favor?"

Bridget shrugged, "Sure, I guess. But why not ask Ms. Wilde?"

"Well, she's going to be very busy keeping you all on track, and this is very important. I can't have this slip trough the cracks. What do you say?"

"What do you want me to do?"

Victoria smiled again. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, carved stone attached to a shoelace thin leather strap, "This necklace belongs to one of my relatives. I forgot I had it on me and accidentally brought it back the last time I was in Rome. I need you to take it with you and put it back where it belongs."

"That seems easy enough."

"Good girl. Now you can't let it out of your sight. It may not look it, but it is very valuable. So why don't you put it on and keep it on until you get to Italy?"

Bridget took the necklace and slipped it around her neck and attached the clasp. As soon as she did, a wave of dizziness washed over her and her knees buckled. Victoria guided her to a nearby chair. She waited a minute, that's all that was needed for the necklace to take effect.

"Bridget, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Bridget said softly.

"How do you feel?"

"A little funny."

"That'll pass in a moment I promise," Victoria said tenderly. "Now, listen carefully. I'm going to tell you what that necklace does, and what I want you to do with it. You will do everything I tell you to."

Catherine did not enjoy flying, but she had to admit the trip across the Atlantic went about as well as could have been expected. She'd had a chance to talk with all the girls about what they wanted to do and see, all except Bridget, who seemed distracted. She spent the entire flight sleeping and staring out the plane window. Catherine kept an eye on her as the bus from the airport to the villa negotiated the insanity of Rome's streets. But Bridget acted much as she had on the plane, staring out the window and absentmindedly fingering the necklace she wore.

Bridget was exhausted. The flight and the time change was hitting her hard, as it was hitting the rest of the girls. But even worse was the feeling that there was something she was forgetting, like there was something she was supposed to be doing, but she had no idea what that was.

The villa was spectacular, the accommodations within were luxurious. The sleeping arrangements were less so. As the teacher and chaperone, Ms. Wilde got her own room. No one had a problem with that. Then Ms. Wilde decided that the two seniors would also get their own room. The remaining six girls could divide the remaining three room anyway they liked. Bridget would have preferred drawing straws for the right to have her own room, but it wasn't her decision to make. Tammi and Asha paired up. Bridget didn't know Leslie all that well, and she definitely did not want to room with a holy roller like Ashley, so she asked to room with Nadine. Nadine didn't care who she roomed with, as long as it wasn't Ashley, and accepted immediately. There was little to distinguish one room from another, they were all great. Since it was already late in the afternoon, Catherine decided the plan for the rest of the night would be to have dinner, unpack and watch some Italian TV to brush up on their language skills. She allowed the girls to take a break and watch some BBC TV if they wanted, but American channels, if there even were any, were off limits. "Leslie, what's this? It was in the mail for you." Catherine handed Leslie a small package.

"It's just some stuff I wanted to bring but didn't want to carry in my luggage. I sent it ahead a couple weeks ago."

Catherine shrugged, "That was good thinking. You guys can stay up as late as you want, but if you want my advice, I'd go to bed early. We've got a big day and a lot of stuff ahead of us tomorrow. Got it?"

They got it, and for the most part, they followed Catherine's advice.

Bridgett woke with a start. The lights in the room were out and all was quiet but for the rhythmic whisper of Laura's breath from the other bed. The clock read 1:30a. She put her hand over the necklace and clenched it in her fist. She rolled out of bed and slipped on her slippers. Quietly she opened the door. No one else appeared to be awake as she walked through the villa to the front door. The villa was set well off the street and walled on all four sides. It was also dark and quiet in the courtyard. The feeling that she was forgetting something was gone as Victoria's instructions came back to her. She went first to the north corner of the compound and, brushing away the dirt and vegetation, found the design chiseled in the wall, just as Victoria said it would be. It matched the design of the necklace. Still gripping the necklace with her left hand, she placed the right hand on the wall and repeated the chant Victoria had taught her, not in Italian, but in Latin.

"Senior Superum, tribuo mihi imperium."

The necklace began to glow, rays of low light appearing from between her fingers. The warmth of the pendant was matched by that between her legs, an unfamiliar sensation for her. She crossed directly across the courtyard, to the south corner, again found the design in the wall. She switched hands now, holding the necklace in her right and touching the wall with her left.

"Deus Nex, tribuo mihi libero ex vestri principatus."

Though it was still hidden in her hand, the necklace gave enough light for Bridget to see a few steps ahead. The heat in her hand was reassuring in the cool night air. The heat in her pussy was almost distracting now. She could feel a trickle running down he upper thigh. She walked along the wall to the west corner, and again switched hands once she found the design in the wall.