Chapter 20: Puppet and Plans

Fiona and I played around a bit more. I was thoroughly worn out but she made me promise a repeat performance of my spray down of her chest so she could capture it on video later.

After actually cleaning and drying each other off, I started for the door to leave the bedroom. "Where are you going?" asked the buxom beauty.

I nodded at the doorway. "I was going to sleep in the other room."

She shook her head slowly with a grin, took off her robe and draped it over the footboard of her bed. "You don't have to do that. Sleep here with me." She then crawled up onto the bed and patted it.

I had mixed feelings. I really wanted to enjoy more time with Fiona but at the same time I knew I had to get to sleep so I could find out if Whisper was going to appear in my dreams.

Fiona added something that helped my decision. "I promise to be good and let you sleep. I know how much you want to find out about your girl." She sat on the bed waiting patiently.

I let out a sigh. It wasn't one of impatience or even sarcasm. It was more like a weight had been lifted. Nodding, I went to her bed. Fiona hit a light switch over the headboard and faint moonlight was the only thing I had to see by.

I still didn't have anything to wear. Like Fiona, I took off the terry-cloth robe she lent me and draped it over the foot of the bed. Then I crawled up onto it and we got under the covers together.

Fiona pressed up against me fully and pulled my face around for a kiss. I gave in to the kiss but kept her wandering hand away from my crotch. I had had enough fun, now it was time to find out about Whisper.

I pulled from the kiss. "You promised."

She nodded and relaxed against me. "You don't mind if I wake you up in the morning do you?"

"I don't mind that, but I really need to know about Jennifer."

She nodded and closed her eyes. I watched her for a moment, expecting more mischief, but she was true to her word. Finally, I closed my eyes and relaxed.

Sleep washed over me and shortly after the chaotic imagery of my dreams began I found my dream room.

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Whisper might have been there already. She might not. I might have to actually look for her and pull her into it. There might be nothing to find. When I was in the dim blackness, like that which you see when you close your eyes, I thought about her and just that quick I was standing next to her.

Still wet and nude - as if she had just gotten out of the shower - Whisper turned and looked up at me. Her eyes went wide and she covered up as best as she could.

"Whisper... " I thought as I approached her.

Shaking her head and shivering like she had been cold for some time, she started crying. I pulled a large fluffy towel out of thin air, wrapped it around her and hugged her close to help warm her up.

She pressed against me, crying openly.

I held her, stroking her hair and thinking, "It's okay Whisper. I've got you."

"I don't understand, " she thought and then pulled back enough to look up at me. "What's going on?"

I thought it was pretty evident what was happening, sharing a dream, but I understood that not everyone grasped that concept so readily. The tone of her question, though, seemed to suggest something more. "What do you mean?"

"I've had the weirdest dream, and now you're talking to me as if this were reality instead of a dream." She ran her hands over my chest and the towel. "I've never felt anything in my dreams before. It's like we're really together."

"My dreams are different. They're very realistic."

She continued to rub the corner of the towel between her fingers. "What about earlier? You and I were talking and doing stuff together and I couldn't stop any of it. It was like a dream and I couldn't wake up from it."

I shook my head in confusion. "I don't understand."

She seemed a bit panicked. "We were talking about all kinds of stuff. About you having to be at a store and about my life, which wasn't entirely correct. We went and bought suits and... "

"That's what we've been doing today. You and me." Her concerns, about the things we had done and talked about feeling like a dream, made me wonder if her condition was the cause or if something else was going on. "Damn it, I was worried about this."

"Worried about what?"

I held her to me and met her gaze with a steady look. "One of the Dragons removed your soul from your body."

Her eyes widened. "Removed my soul? A Dragon? What's a Dragon? How did he remove my soul?"

I knew that Whisper knew what a Dragon was. What I didn't understand was why she was acting like this now. I called up a couch and that set her off.

"Where did the couch come from?"

"The same place as the towel, " I answered as I nodded to the one wrapped around her. "This is my dream room. Anything you want or need can be found here."

"Like clothes?" she asked, looking up at me.

I smiled gently and nodded. "Anything you want to wear is possible. All you have to do is think about it and they'll just appear."

The towel was suddenly a soft, white terry cloth robe that covered her from her neck to her toes. She continued to huddle against me and I simply held her.

"What's going on?" she thought as I sat down and pulled her to me. "Are we really in a dream?"

I nodded.

"Then why can't I wake up? I haven't woken up since I went to bed last night."

Okay, now that threw me. "You haven't woken up since you went to bed? I've been running around with you all day. Awake."

"I'm beginning to think something's wrong with me. This whole missing soul and everything... " She seemed to be thinking more to herself than me.

"Whisper, you're soul's not... " I started.

She snapped up, eyes flashing angrily, asking, "Who's Whisper? I'm not Whisper!"

The anguish on her face was too much too bear. Gently I asked, "What's your name?"

Tears streaked down her cheeks as she said, "Pamela Greenwood."

"Greenwood?"

She nodded.

"Are you related to Salvatore Greenwood?"

Again she nodded. "He's my father."

I had been running around with someone I thought was Whisper. She had talked to me, given me the same cryptic suggestions and, as far as I was concerned, proven to be who she had claimed to be. Now, here in our shared dream, she was claiming to be someone else. There was only one way for me to know what was really going on. "Pamela I want to ask a favor. This will help me to understand what's happening to you better."

With tears running down her cheeks, she nodded. "Okay."

Even with all the confusion, the surprises and her obvious frustrations with me, she had continued to hold onto me. I reached up and placed my hand over hers. "I want to see your memories. It'll only take a second and I'll know what you know from the past few days." This was a two sided test. If it really was Whisper, she wouldn't agree. Her secrets were too important to her to allow me that kind of freedom in her head. If she did allow it, it further proved that she was telling me the truth now versus what I had been convinced of while awake. I would also see Pamela from before our meeting.

"Go ahead, " she said simply.

I grasped her hand and she let me. With a nod, I saw her last few days.

Pamela had been excited. Her Dad was going to be in town for business and they were going to have dinner together Sunday night. She got her dorm room cleaned up and finished the report she had been working on for her Economics class. Later that afternoon, she met with a couple of friends and hung out at the recreation center on the campus of The University of Manhattan.

One of her friends was very familiar to me. I was shocked at first. I knew she lived in New York and attended the same school as Pamela, but seeing her through Pamela caused my heart to race and my mind to flood with ideas. Sally Gilman, my ex-girlfriend from high school, was as breathtaking as ever. At least, she was to me. Sally, Pamela and their friend Maria had all dressed out in their gym clothes. Ever aware of the guys who also used the recreation center, all three were wearing what Pamela considered their sexiest workout and guy catching outfits. None of the three went simply to work out, but to see and be seen. Not to mention check out the guys there as well as be checked out by those same guys.

I sped past the memories of what had happened that night. I didn't want to see Sally flirting with the hunks that hung out at their recreation center. Pamela had returned to her dorm with a couple of phone numbers from two rather handsome and fairly intelligent guys, Paul and Eric. She took a shower, ate dinner and hit the sack not having a date that night. She fell asleep, excited to see her Dad the next day.

True to Pamela's word about being Lord Greenwood's daughter, she met him at a nice restaurant. Unlike the fairly grumpy man I had encountered at the Mind Magi Council meeting, Salvatore was relaxed and smiling. Pamela loved her father. To her, there were few men who could measure up to him. Of course that didn't stop her from trying to find one, as the phone numbers she had collected proved.

They talked but I didn't bother with the conversation. I knew it wouldn't mean anything to Pamela if he brought up Mind Magi issues. However, he did say something that caught my attention...

"I've got a meeting Monday morning. A new guy in the firm is begging for a promotion. He's young and brash."

"Sounds kinda like you!" Pamela replied with a smile.

Salvatore smiled back. "True, but I really don't think he's got what it takes. I'm worried he's going to get what he wants and bring the whole thing crashing down."

"Dad," Pamela said in a near consoling manner, "Give him a chance. You might be surprised. Us kids can come up with good ideas on the odd occasion and he might learn something if you take him under your wing."

Salvatore nodded. Personally, I didn't think he had taken his daughter's advice to heart but only acted as if he would. Of course I was jaded because I remembered what had actually happened at the meeting. However, his concern about me taking down the whole thing was odd. I had neither intention nor the ability to bring down our society. At least that's what I thought he was referring to.

Moving on through Pamela's memories, I got to Monday morning. She had been dreaming and, for no obvious reason, woke up. It was still an hour before her alarm was set to go off. She turned the clock off and got up. Immediately, she went to her laptop and booted it up. After connecting the network cable to it, she set it up to receive files. A window came up displaying text regarding the files uploading into her computer. It even included the IP address they were coming from. I didn't recognize the files that were copying onto her computer, but I had an idea of what they were for. I also noted how Pamela felt during this. She felt like she was still glazed over with sleep and watched only passively.

Again, with no real idea of what she was doing, Pamela got up and went to the bathroom. She took care of her normal morning routine but felt as if she was still almost asleep. I was worried when she pulled out food and started eating. It bothered me that something was going on that shouldn't have been. At that point, Pamela felt the same way. She was hungry and the food was good, but it hadn't been her idea to eat.

Finally, I noticed something I recognized. There was an insistent desire to do what she was doing. Pamela tried to ignore it, but her body did whatever that desire, that impulse wanted. It wasn't really a voice or anything distinct. She would suddenly just do something and she couldn't stop herself. And the more she fought it, the louder it became.

Okay, loud didn't really describe it. It wasn't a scream so much as just a stronger impulse. However, I had seen similar things in others who had been manipulated by Master PC.

It dawned on me that Pamela wasn't being controlled by just anyone with the program. Whisper must have been the one controlling her. I had always believed him or her to be somewhat passive and, to a certain extent, benevolent. It just didn't seem like something Whisper would do.

And of course, knowing that Pamela wasn't Whisper, I was back to calling the enigmatic source of vague and often ludicrous messages of what was happening or to come a 'he'.

If he was controlling Pamela, posing her as himself, there had to be a reason. The most obvious was the guarding of his true identity. Once again, I was left knowing little to nothing of the person who had offered bits of advice, both good and bad. I couldn't argue that the advice and messages weren't accurate. He had been right every time. What galled me was his use of Pamela. If he wanted to offer advice, he could have just called. Instead he had used her as a stalking horse to draw out the Dragons, and it had worked.

Something else came to mind. All the conversations I had with Whisper while Pamela was posing offered insights and a hint at things regarding what was happening to the Mind Magi House Leaders. Was it possible that he actually passed on a lot more info this time, allowing me to ask questions to help me as a way to make up for what he had done? If so, how much was true? I was betting a good deal of it was. His actions may have been deplorable, but his advice wouldn't be any less accurate.

I had held and rocked Pamela as I had gone through her memories and came to my conclusions. When I looked down she had a look of hope on her face that I didn't want to crush. "I believe you Pamela, and I believe I know why it's happening too."

"Can you help me? Can you wake me up?"

"I can, as soon as I find you. You have to understand, after the Dragons attacked, they took you away from me. One of them has your soul in a vial. I'm pretty sure I can find the vial because my bond connects my soul to yours rather than my body to yours. I'm also sure that if I find the other hostages, I'll find your body."

She relaxed against me, happy that the nightmares she had suffered would come to an end, even if it took only a bit more time.

I held her, feeling the storm of emotions in Pamela calming down. She had more questions but she was content that things would end. At least the odd dreams would even if it wasn't immediately. Then she looked up at me, resting her head on my shoulder. "What about this ... bond between us? What is that all about?"

I was going to answer her, but before I could think of where to start, the rest of my girls began showing up. Jeri was first.

I was a bit nervous at first because Jeri was eight months pregnant and she looked like she might have to rush to the hospital at any time. Night time clothes always consisted of a padded bra, panties and a very oversized shirt, usually one of mine. Of course, her massive belly made even my shirts seem not so big. Tonight, she wore one of my dress shirts. Only the two middle buttons were holding it closed, which left a tantalizing view of her cleavage above and her full belly exposed below.

Jeri approached out of the soft darkness. Without any hesitation, she leaned over me, her breasts and belly threatening to fall out of my shirt, and kissed my cheek. Pamela watched her, still holding onto me. Smiling and looking over at Pamela, Jeri asked, "Who is this Ral?" Her dirty blonde hair hung nearly to her waist. It had grown rapidly during her pregnancy. The smile she projected seemed to temper the glint in her gray-blue eyes, as if her smile didn't fully reflect how happy she was to see me. Of course that may have been because Pamela was there.

For a moment Jeri's question was lost on me because I fogged over with thoughts of what Jeri might want tonight. I had never turned her down, no matter how outrageous her request. We were in our dream room. Anything was possible.