Chapter 15

"I need to talk to Cassie this morning," said Jason after Heather and Melinda had boarded the bus. "I did some poking around last night on the internet. Susan's Mom is actually a practicing Witch."

"I could have told you that," Heather said with a small smile. "Diane told me on the way home from the meeting. She heard it from Jill that Susan's Mom was into that stuff."

Melinda looked at Jason. "How did you find that out on the net?"

"It's not hard. You can find out a lot about people these days on the internet."

"That's a little scary, Jason."

"Well, in her case, she doesn't exactly hide her affiliations. Just a few Google searches led me to her Coven's website."

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Great. Witches get websites, and I can't even fucking get online."

"I thought I set you up to use the neighbor's wireless?"

"Dad took out the wireless card yesterday while we were at school," Heather said in irritation as Melinda glanced towards the back of the bus for the fifth time since she boarded.

Jason frowned. "That sucks."

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Melinda piped. "And Heather got a precog again."

Jason looked at Heather. "Still see something happening today?"

Heather nodded. "Yes, and it's going to happen in one of my classes."

"In a class? Are you sure?"

"Positive. It came on very strong this morning for some reason."

"Jason, what are we going to do?" Melinda cried. "We can't be with her in the classroom!"

"I know, dammit," Jason muttered. "Heather, this doesn't make any sense. Melissa's not even in the same year as you. I don't see her being able to do a lot when she's not even in the room and a teacher is."

"Unless she controls the teacher, too!"

"Melinda, she's not that powerful. That's why she wants more power in the first place. I just don't get what she expects to do to Heather in the middle of a class."

"Look, stop arguing about it, okay?" Heather snapped. "I'll just deal. Check on me after each of my classes. If I have ... if I have the Aura around me, just stay away from me."

"I really don't think that will happen," said Jason, though he was trying to convince himself more than anything else.

Melinda looked off towards the back of the bus again and uttered a dramatic sigh. "Jason? Could you do me a favor, pretty please?"

"Um, sure, what is it?"

"Make Richie stop looking at us all the time. It's fucking creeping me out."

Jason turned his head. Richie was indeed watching them, though after Jason stared at him for a few moments, he reluctantly directed his gaze out the window instead.

Jason kept staring at him for a few moments. Was Richie still pissed off at them? He looked more anxious than angry.

"All right," Jason said, looking away. "If I get a chance to talk to him later, I'll mention it."

"Thank you. I just don't want anything to do with that turd anymore."

Jason simply nodded and said nothing more.

Melissa walked to school with a spring in her step. Whenever she saw some boys she knew, she would smile at them and twirl her skirt a bit to show off her legs.

As fall was wont to do along the Front Range, the weather had flipped from cold and wet to warm and dry again. The sun rose bright in a clear blue sky, burning away the chill that had settled over the town the night before. Melissa took full advantage of it. Her skirt was just long enough to remain within the bounds of the dress code, but it was light enough that she could tug at it in class and flash her panties to a fellow student while making him -- or her -- experience a brief moment of intense and embarrassing sexual arousal.

She smiled and reminded herself what she was about to do that day. She had experimented with Brad the past few days, using him on her mother, as a means of practicing the technique. Now she could do it with a few simple thoughts and still pay attention to what was going on around her.

When Melissa approached the west entrance of the school, she was surprised to see Laura Bendon standing at the top of the steps.

"Good morning, Ms. Bendon," Melissa said brightly.

"Good morning, Miss Hendell," said Laura. "My office, if you would."

Melissa raised an eyebrow, but Laura had already headed into the building before she could inquire any further.

She followed Laura into the office. "Is something the matter, Ms. Bendon?"

Laura closed the door and sat at her desk. "I have fulfilled your request. Mr. Weston will be transitioned to Heather's class rotation starting today."

Melissa smiled. "Thank you."

"I assume this is so you may get at Heather Sovert?"

Melissa nodded eagerly.

"Hmm. So you have learned to channel power through your puppets. Interesting."

Melissa gave Laura a smug grin.

"Too bad you are putting it to such an uninspired use."

Melissa's smile faded. "What??"

Laura sighed. "Really, Miss Hendell. You have so much potential. Do you think an act of petty revenge now will help your plans?"

"It is not petty!" Melissa cried petulantly. "And I already have everything set up for finding the book. I gave the Harbingers the hint to talk to Susan's mother, and I blocked her from mentioning the pendant."

"I am sure that took a lot of power."

"What would you know about it?"

"Simple deduction, Miss Hendell. Mrs. Radson has information about the book. You cannot get it out of her. I am assuming she must have some sort of defense against your power or you would just compel her to tell you and simplify matters. Therefore, if you are to prevent Mrs. Radson from revealing the pendant-book link, you would need to apply a considerable amount of power to overcome her resistance."

Melissa silently fumed, folding her arms indignantly.

"One wonders then, why you did not just extract the information from her once you had overcome her resistance."

"If you must know, it's because implanting thoughts is far easier then extracting them," Melissa snapped irritably. "Her will is too strong for me to just make her tell me the truth, not without damaging her mind. But it was not nearly as hard to block her from telling anyone about the link. The real trick was making it so she wouldn't know I did it until it was too late."

"And again, that took power."

"Yeah, it did. So?"

Laura sighed. "Use your head, Miss Hendell! You have little to spare. Do you really think you should waste it attacking Miss Sovert now?"

Melissa frowned. "I have everything under control."

"Hmm. I hope so."

The reality was that Melissa was starting to feel the strain. Much of her direct control over her mother had slipped. But she had addled her mother's mind so badly that Kathy was rendered ineffective at reining in Melissa. Some of Melissa's changes had been rendered permanent, and thus had left her mother with lingering sexual desires. As a result, Kathy was in a constant state of emotional turmoil and self-conflict that made her wallow in doubt and confusion.

And Melissa's father James was no help. Melissa had allowed him to discover his wife's new sexual receptiveness. He took shameless advantage of it. It wasn't difficult for him. Having had to deal with a cold fish of an overly religious wife for so long made him jump at the chance without asking too many questions.

Melissa also had a thought lurking in the back of her head that this would work to her advantage even after the Harbingers had located the book and given her the Rite.

"I assume you will go after Miss Woodrow as well?" Laura asked.

"Yes. Eventually."

"I have some information about her you might find very useful. Something my Mistress shared with me before she left."

"Oh? What is it?"

Laura smiled. "What are you willing to pay me for it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I have given you a great deal of help, Miss Hendell. I wish compensation."

Melissa stared. "You want money for this?"

Laura laughed. "What use will that be once you have the power you seek? I imagine you will be the one truly in charge of this school after that. No, I wish something else as payment when that times comes."

Melissa narrowed her eyes. "Like what?"

"My receptionist Marcie is a very good little girl," mused Laura. "But I desire some variety. Something new."

Melissa stared. "You want... slaves?"

"I have some specific students in mind." Laura leaned forward, her lips curling into a sultry smile. "I think Miss Heather Sovert would look very sexy in a frilly French maid outfit, fishnets, and six inch heels. Don't you think?"

Melissa giggled. She thought that would be a fitting end for Heather to wind up as a lezzie love slave. "All right. Deal. Now, what's this information?"

"Diane Woodrow is a lesbian," Laura said. "And she's fallen for Heather Sovert."

Melissa gaped at Laura. "No way!"

"Oh yes, it's quite true. Mistress knew the fantasies of every student in school, I assure you."

"Does Heather know this?"

"I have no idea."

Melissa looked thoughtful before she muttered darkly, "I'll bet it was her all along. I'll bet she gave Heather the idea for it!"

"For what, Miss Hendell?"

Melissa frowned. "Never mind, Ms. Bendon. Thank you for the information. I think I can find a way to make use of it."

"In that case, you better get ready for your homeroom class."

Melissa nodded and stood. She paused a moment. "I'm sorry if I seemed hostile to you before, Ms. Bendon. I'm just afraid someone is waiting to take this power away from me just as I'm about to grasp it. That feeling has been haunting me ever since I realized there was something special about this pendant."

"I understand. I have no desires on your power. I only wish to retain my own agenda after your ... regime ... is in control. Good day, Miss Hendell."

Melissa left.

"I knew Mrs. Radson had some sort of ability, Jason," said Cassie brightly. "Thank you for checking on that for me."

Jason smiled faintly. "Are you sure you're okay with talking to her today?"

Cassie paused to look for something in her locker. "As sure as I can be. I'm a bit scared to be honest. But I need to do this. I can talk on her level. We're both mystics in a way."

"Just make sure Ned has your back covered."

"I will." She closed her locker and turned to face him. "You still think something is wrong with all this, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. It just seems too convenient to me. Maybe it's a trap of some kind."

"You thought that about the meeting house, too."

"Yeah, I know, I sound like a broken record," Jason said with a sigh. "And the house looks okay so far."

"The only additional thing I found about that house is that Reggie is having someone look after it while he's gone. That must be why we can't go there on..."

There was the sound of a cough nearby. Both Cassie and Jason turned.

"Uh ... hi," said Richie.

"Um, hello, Richie," Cassie said awkwardly. "How have... ?"

"What the hell do you want?" Jason snapped.

Richie glared at Jason before he could catch himself. "I just wanna talk to you for a minute, that's all."

"We're busy, sorry."

"No, it's okay," Cassie said. "I should get going, Jason, I'll see you later."

"Actually, I kinda wanna talk to both of you," Richie said, shuffling his feet. After a long moment he added, "Please."

Jason fixed him with a cold stare. Finally he folded his arms. "Fine. Talk."

"Um ... well ... something kinda weird happened. Thought you two might know something about it. Uh ... it's like this..."

Richie told them about the dream he had in his head for nearly a week, about finding the ring, and the scene he had witnessed, hurrying himself on the last point when Jason curtly reminded him of how little time there was now before class.

"Ooo!" Cassie cried excitedly. "Psychometry!"

Richie stared at her blankly. "Huh? Psy-what?"

"Psychometry, Richie. Object reading. You hold an object in your hand and get images of what happened to it. Oh, goodness! You never knew you... ?"

"Ain't no object reading, Cassie," Richie said in a slightly irritated voice. "It was like I was freakin' there. It was like my room, but in the past. It happened before, but just not so goddamn real as this was."

Cassie looked thoughtful. Jason was stone-faced.

Richie risked a glance at Jason. "It was kinda like what Mara did."

"Yeah, sounds like it," Jason said flatly. "How long it take you to make that up?"

"What?! I didn't fucking make this up! This really happened, man! I was so freaked out about it I didn't even go over to Miss Davis' house!"

"Gee, that must have been terrible for you. Want a medal now?"

"Please, stop it, both of you!" Cassie cried before Richie could retort. "What if he's telling the truth, Jason? I mean, look at you, Melinda, and Heather. You all have some sort of extra ability from the House. Doesn't it make sense Richie would, too?"

"So what do you want now, Richie?" Jason demanded. "You think this will get you back into the group?"

Richie frowned. "You can keep your fucking group, okay? I just want someone to tell me if I've flipped out or something. I want someone to tell me if this is real or if I got a screw loose. Tell me if what I saw really happened!"

Jason was about to retort when he got a better look at Richie's eyes. There was a genuine fear shimmering within them. This had Richie scared out of his wits, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"Jason, can we verify it somehow?" Cassie asked. "There must be a way. If he's telling the truth, this is an amazing ability!"

Jason sighed deeply. "What were the names of the people in this vision, Richie?"

"Sarah and Frank," said Richie. "Dunno their last name. They were married. Prob'ly divorced after that, seein' how she threw her ring at him and never looked for it."

"How long ago was it?"

Richie shook his head. "Dunno. Must've been before me and Mom moved in. That was about ten years ago. The computer on the desk looked old. A Mac."

"An iMac?" Jason asked. When Richie looked at him blankly, he sighed and added, "The ones with the bright, transparent cases."

"Oh. Nah, this one looked like the ones before that. I was kinda young when they were out, so don't remember 'em as good."

Jason considered for a moment. "All right. I'll go see if I can track them down when I get home."

Richie nodded. "Thanks, man."

Cassie smiled and looked excitedly at Jason. "If this is true, and he can see into the past that way, that's going to be incredibly useful for the Har ... er..."

She trailed off, glancing sheepishly from Jason to Richie.

Jason took a deep breath and let it go through his nose. "Richie, I'll do this for you. But so long as you're screwing with Miss Davis' head, you're not getting back into the Harbingers. Period."

Cassie bit her lip, waiting for the explosion from Richie.

There was a long, tense silence. Finally, Richie nodded. "Okay. That's cool. I hear ya. Uh ... see ya later."

He lowered his head and walked away.

Cassie watched him go. She stepped forward cautiously. "Jason..."

"We can't let him back in if he won't abide by the spirit of the group, Cassie," Jason declared. "We can't compromise on our principles."

"And I all but told Heather to go after Melinda," Cassie said softly.

"That's ... that's different."

"But is it, really?"

Jason looked at her. "Melinda consented. We don't know if Miss Davis did. That's the point. I just want him to take a step back and let her decide for herself."

"And if she thinks she wants to continue it? What then? How do we tell it's still her decision?"

Jason was growing irritated with Cassie. She was forcing him to make it more complicated than he felt it needed to be. "Fine. In that case, then, he should just back off period and not have anything to do with her. A student and teacher screwing around like that is just wrong, Cassie."

Cassie said nothing. She couldn't offer anything to either support or oppose his position.

"Let's just get to class," Jason muttered.

Heather entered her first class after homeroom with no small degree of trepidation. The feeling that something was going to happen was at its strongest. She paused just inside the door, glancing around looking for something obviously out of place but finding nothing.

She swallowed and headed to her seat, her heart thumping.

The last time she had a feeling this powerful, she was then called to Nyssa's office and subsequently enslaved by her. She half-expected to get a similar summons just to lure her out of the classroom so Melissa could attack her. It was a foolish notion, however, as she knew with dead certainty that the danger was in the class itself.

A student stumbled as he tripped over a strap of someone's book bag and fell against Heather's desk. She gasped and nearly jumped out of her chair.

"Oh, hey, sorry, Heather," said the boy as he passed.

Heather just nodded quickly and took a few deep breaths. All right, get a hold of yourself, Heather, she thought. Melissa is not here.

Heather dropped her backpack to the side and opened it. She started pulling out materials for the class as a broad-shouldered, muscular boy passed her and took a seat just across the aisle. She closed her bag and straightened in her seat.

"Hey, babe."

Heather turned her head and flinched. Brad gave her a smarmy smile.

"Brad! What are you doing here?! What... ?"

Her voice trailed off. Inky black slithered like tentacles around his beefy frame. She stared, her eyes glazed in shock.

"Missed me, babe?"

Heather tried to breathe. "Brad ... what are you doing here, this isn't your class rotation!"

"It is now. Ain't it great? We can get back together again."

Heather recovered swiftly from her initial shock and sneered. "In your dreams, you fuckhead," she hissed.

Brad was unperturbed. He just grinned all the more. His smile felt so creepy to Heather that she shivered. "Yeah, you'll want me again. You'll see."

Was this Melissa's idea of an attack? To have Brad harass her? Heather shot a murderous gaze at him. "Go to hell, you bastard. You come near me outside this class and you'll fucking regret it. Touch me in class and I'll scream rape."

Brad chuckled. "Nah, you're gonna come to me."

"Now you really are dreaming. Leave me out of your disgusting little fantasies."

"Just like it was a fantasy when we fucked?"

Heather uttered a short, humorless laugh. She remembered when he had forced himself on her. She had used the power from the House to control him enough into making it an enjoyable experience for her. None of his supposed "skill" had any part in it. She doubted he would understand the irony even if she explained it to him.

"You love my cock in your hot little twat, Heather."

Heather's eyes widened and her cheeks pinked. "Shut up, you asshole."

"Yeah, you love it. You just think on that. You'll see."

Heather was about to shoot back a retort when the teacher's voice rang out: "Whatever you are about to say, Miss Sovert, can wait until the end of class."

Heather fumed and faced forward in her chair. She didn't understand this at all. Was this really Melissa's doing? What was the point? Brad couldn't make her do anything, could he? He didn't have the power, Melissa did.

But it became very clear barely ten minutes into the class that something was happening.

First it was only fleeting thoughts. The memory of the one time they had engaged in intercourse would flicker through her head at odd moments. She thought it was nothing more than just the power of suggestion, a psychological trick.

As time passed, it grew worse. Her mind invented new imagery, all involving Brad fucking her. Her mind zeroed in on it like a movie camera doing a zoom shot on the action in a porn movie. She would see his cock sliding in and out of her in perfect detail. Each time she managed to push it out of her mind, one little slip in her concentration and the imagery surged back.

It was like a little daydream playing in the back of her mind. But it wasn't her daydream, it was someone else's. The distinction hardly mattered. It was vivid enough that, halfway through the lesson, heat rose in her sex in response.