Chapter 22

"So will you do it, Richie?" Jason asked.

Richie gave Jason a stony look. His breath steamed forcefully under his nose, like a bull huffing before charging.

Richie wasn't stupid. He knew Jason had waited to spring this on him until they were in the school parking lot that Monday morning, when the eyes of all the Harbingers were on him. He knew Jason was hoping this would make him less likely to refuse, since Jason usually avoided meetings out in the open anymore.

The desire to be defiant was automatic. It was in his eyes. But there was something else as well. It wasn't quite fear. It was more like disappointment. He wished he had some sort of ability other than this.

"Yeah, whatever," Richie muttered.

Jason sighed. "If you don't want to, Richie, just say so."

Richie fumed. "No, I don't wanna do it, okay? Happy now? But I'll do it anyway. That's what I'm s'posed to do."

"Richie, is something the matter?" Cassie asked tentatively.

"Yeah. Plenty. Nuthin' anyone can do about it."

Cassie glanced at the others. "If you really don't want to do this..."

"I said I would do it, 'kay? It'll have to be after I spend the afternoon with Saggy Seeger, though."

"Sorry if this is going to cramp your style," Jason said loftily.

Richie glared at him. "Oh yeah, I see. You think I don't wanna do it cuz I'd rather go fuck my teacher, huh?"

Jason said nothing and fixed a cool gaze back at Richie.

Richie poked a finger at Jason's chest. "You wanna know something, nerd-boy? I didn't touch her all weekend. Nothin'. Didn't even go see her. So just back off."

"Then why are you being so defensive about it?"

"Oh, stop it, both of you!" Cassie declared, exasperated. "I'm getting tired of this."

"Jason's the one that thinks he has me all figured out!" Richie snapped. "Go talk to him!"

"What the hell's with you today?" Melinda piped, frowning. "Last couple of days you're actually tolerable to be around and now you're back to being a jerk."

With great effort, Richie bit back a retort. "I had a fuckin' lousy weekend, 'kay?" he muttered.

"Because you didn't get a chance to boink..."

"Melinda, please don't," Cassie said.

Melinda shot a glare at her friend but subsided quickly. After a brief pause she said in a more contrite voice, "Sorry. I'm just worried about Heather today."

"Join the club," Diane said with a sigh.

"Look you wanna know what the fuck is wrong with me?" Richie exclaimed, his voice rising in frustration. "I'll tell you. It's this fucking power or whatever the hell it is. Maybe looking into the past is not such a great thing. Maybe you don't always like what you see."

The others fell silent. Jason's expression softened, and guilt crept into his eyes. "Richie, did you see something that..."

"Aw, fuck it. Never mind Forget I said anything. See ya later."

Richie trudged towards the school entrance.

"Jeez," Ned said in a low voice as he watched Richie leave. "What bee got in his bonnet?"

"I should have realized that this was going to happen." Cassie said. "I mean, think about it. He can see into the past. He can see exactly what happened. We think we know what happened in the past, but we can't always remember all the details. Or something gets lost in the retelling. Or we conveniently drop details that are unpleasant."

"Huh," Ned said. "Never thought of that. Man, I wonder what he saw."

Jason had an idea. Ever since he had learned about the previous owner of the house, he wondered if Richie might see something more directly related to his own history. Or his mother.

And I acted like a total ass towards him, he thought.

He exchanged a glance with Cassie. She had the same idea as well. Neither would mention it out loud. Richie deserved a bit of privacy until he learned how to deal with it. The fact that Richie had admitted as much as he had was nothing short of astonishing.

Jason turned back towards the others. "Diane, you brought the book?"

"Oh, um, yes, it's right here," she said, holding out a plastic shopping bag.

Cassie stepped forward and claimed it. Diane was reluctant to let it go, even though she had already copied down some of the incantations that she wanted to show Heather later.

"I don't think we should bother meeting today," Jason said. "Cassie and Richie will be done late enough that I won't be able to make it."

"I'll call you and let you know what we found as soon as I can," Cassie said.

"Thanks. So instead, let's focus on trying to mitigate anything that Melissa tries to do to Heather today."

Diane stepped closer to Heather, as if to protect her. Heather smiled faintly at her lover, trying not to look nervous and failing.

"Heather, are you getting anything at all today?" Cassie asked.

"Yes. I can see my precogs more clearly now," Heather replied. "Brad's going to keep messing with me somehow, and then something will happen at lunch. Something involving Diane, too."

Cassie gasped. "Melissa's not going to try to take control of both of you at lunch, is she?"

Heather shook her head. "No, nothing like that. I think she's still going for the humiliation angle. I don't feel like we're being threatened beyond that. I'm pretty sure I'd know if we were."

Cassie sighed. "This is really frustrating. We know something will happen but we can't do anything to stop it."

"I'm tellin' ya, we're gonna hafta go bring this fight home ta Melissa 'ventually," Ned said. "Before she starts doin' more than jus' makin' the girls blush."

Jason was at a loss as to what to say. It was tempting for him to say that as long as Melissa was not really trying to take control of them, it was "okay." But he wasn't the one being subjected to daily humiliation. He didn't think it was fair for him to determine how much someone else could endure.

Heather sighed despondently. "I'll just deal with it for now, okay?" she said, though there was little conviction to her voice.

"Ya shouldn't hafta," Ned insisted, remembering his own embarrassment at Melissa's hands.

"We'll figure something out," Jason said, a hint of desperation to his voice. He hated how the situation was developing. He felt like a liar. He had stated clearly at the start that they would try to protect people that Melissa targeted. Now Susan's mother had fallen to her, and she was working over Heather, if indirectly.

What he really resented was the feeling that he was flying blind. He wished he had more resources, even if it were something to tell him how the Darkness worked, how its control over others worked, how Aura detection worked. Having any one of those would be a huge boon. But the internet was not exactly brimming with information on such things.

Which left him with only one real option: ignore Mara completely and find some way to strike at Melissa directly.

He turned to Cassie. "I never asked if you're going to be okay with doing this with Richie. I know how you feel about the Rite."

"I'm the only one that can get him up there, since we have to get there by car," Cassie said, shivering slightly. "I don't have to look at the vision with him if I don't want to."

"Okay. Well, let's go. Start of another week, I guess."

"I know your little secret."

Heather tried not to shudder at the sound of Brad's voice. She didn't want to acknowledge his presence at all.

"Yep, I know it, all right. Want to offer me something to keep it a secret?"

Heather glared at him. "Yeah, right. Nice try, fuckhead. Like half the school doesn't already know."

Brad gave her a surprised look. "Huh?"

Heather smirked. "What's the matter? Brain get stuck in neutral again?"

"No one else knows about it unless you went and told them already."

Heather rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself. And tell Melissa to get over herself as well. Fine, go make me think about it. I'll just go find Jason later and we can fuck again. Problem solved. Not like he doesn't like it or..."

"I don't mean that little pussy dork that your sister has the hots for."

Heather stared. "What?"

Brad grinned lasciviously. "So what'll it be, babe? Let me get you in bed for an hour or two..."

Heather snorted. "Like you know how to last an hour in bed."

Brad frowned but didn't break his stride. " ... or I get to reveal your little secret to the whole goddamn school."

It was a huge effort for her not to panic. Melissa could not possibly know about her and Diane! They had told only the other Harbingers, and they wouldn't spill it to anyone else. Or did Richie get pissed off at them enough to reveal it? No, he wouldn't do that. Even at his worst, he never revealed any Harbinger secrets. And Melissa couldn't read minds.

"I'm gonna give you until lunch time to think about it," Brad said, startling her out of her reverie. He grinned. "And you're gonna have a lot to think about."

Heather's heart thumped as the instructor called the class to order.

It couldn't be that. It had to be anything but that. She couldn't take having the whole school know about it. She had already seen her popularity take a nosedive since the semester began. After this, it would crash and burn.

She tried to convince herself it shouldn't matter. She should be above this sort of thing now. All that popularity was superficial. Jason and the others were her real friends, the first ones that she had had in a long time next to Diane.

And how would he even do it? How did that fit with her precog vision? Stand up and shout it to the cafeteria? She could just deny it. Or even better, just laugh at him and make him look stupid. That wouldn't take a lot of effort.

Or would he make Heather tell everyone? But later she could simply claim it was a big joke, or that she did it on a dare from Brad. She might be able to pull that off. Her remaining popularity would give her an edge there.

And what about Diane? What did she...

Heather abruptly shivered and let out a ragged sigh.

The image that so suddenly popped into her mind was of Diane on her hands and knees, licking Heather's pussy. In her head, Diane buried her face into Heather's sex with no hesitation, quivering with as much excitement as Heather, her own pussy wet and swollen.

Heather swallowed. Slowly, she made the imagery fade. But it left her with a burning heat in her loins. The moment her concentration slipped, another erotic thought slid into her mind. Diane was masturbating at Heather's order but not allowed to cum until Heather instructed her.

Stop it! stop it! she shouted in her head. I don't want to do those things to her.

But the truth was that some part of her did, and now she envisioned Diane lying on her back, Heather perched with a knee on either side of Diane's head, her pussy smothering Diane's face.

Heather bit her lip to suppress a whimper. Her pussy was hot and damp, enough for her to feel the urge to masturbate. But her fears kept her from giving in to the desire, and each time she came close to doing it, she thought of how much better it would be to wait until Diane could satisfy her.

This set off another round of erotic imagery, with Diane in all manner of submissive postures. It was a vicious circle, keeping her horny and frustrated at the same time.

"Mr. Gardner, I would like to see you for a moment."

Richie's shoulders slumped. Several passing girls eyed him and giggled. More than one boy shot him an openly jealous look.

Richie glared back at all of them, his hands clenched, as if daring them to come out and say what he was sure was on their minds. It did little good. Enough people had heard the rumors that they had strength in numbers and were no longer intimidated by him. Two girls even stopped at the door and made exaggerated kissing noises in his direction before dissolving into giggles as they left.

He trudged to the desk. "Yes, Miss Davis?"

Linda looked crossly at him. "You got yourself detention."

"Yeah, I did. Hurray for me."

"Why did you have to do that?"

Richie shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Can't you answer anything without a smartass comeback?"

"Guess that's why I have detention."

Linda's eyes grew hard. "I thought you had changed when you started doing the work in my class. Looks like you haven't learned anything. You think of no one but yourself."

Richie blinked. "Huh?"

Linda opened her mouth as if to give him a loud rebuke. She paused, glanced at the door, and lowered her voice. There was no less of an edge to it. "You're going to tell me you can't come over after school, aren't you? You did this just to avoid seeing me."

Richie was at a loss for words. He realized only now that Linda was actually angry with him. That was the first time it happened since he had started having sex with her.

"Dammit, Richie, I was miserable all weekend ... I was ... I was wet almost all the time ... you never came over."

"I never said I would."

Linda sighed. "I was hoping you were just saying that because of your friend Jason."

"I don't have to answer to him, 'kay? If I didn't come over it's because I didn't feel like it."

"And you don't feel like it at all anymore? Is that it?" There was a hint of panic in Linda's voice underneath the anger.

Richie bit his lip and shuffled his feet. He did feel like it. He still wanted to fuck her and keep on fucking her. He was getting more pussy than all the rest of the boys at Haven High combined.

And the rest of the school knew it! Yes, they laughed and teased him behind his back, but the point was that he was getting some and they weren't. And the guys were envious as hell.

But now he couldn't get the horrible images out of his head. A marriage breaking up. His mother and the hypnotherapist. Linda and her former boyfriend. All caused by the same power that he wielded himself.

The cries in his head of how his actions were not the same thing were ringing even more hollow now. The image of his mother being practically raped -- emotionally if not physically -- would not leave his head. Except now he saw himself doing the same thing to Linda, stripping her of any dignity that remained just to service him.

"Richie, answer me!" Linda cried.

Richie looked up. "You don't get it, do you?"

Linda looked taken aback and had no reply for him.

"You don't want this. I want it, not you. That's the only reason we're having this talk. Because I want it."

"Of course you want it," Linda said softly. "You want it, so I want it. That's how it is. That's ... that's how it's supposed to be..."

Richie shook his head violently and took a step back. He gritted his teeth as he imagined himself having sex with her again. He tried to shove the thought out of his head. It wasn't right. He had to stop. If he didn't stop now, he never would.

He would become the same monster he saw in his vision. Perhaps that was an exaggeration, but he was in no state to see the difference. All he could see was his mother on her back being fucked into submission.

Linda gave him a confused look. "What is it?"

"I gotta get to my next class," Richie said tonelessly. "See ya."

"Richie? Richie, wait, please!"

"What?"

"Are you going to see me again? Ever?"

"I got detention, remember? Two weeks. Won't have the time. Sorry."

Linda gave him a stricken look.

"Look, you survived the weekend without me. You taught the class today. It's not like you're dying or something, right?"

Linda sighed. "No, I'm not. But I still want you."

Richie was still trying to rationalize it in his head, that this simple declaration made it okay. He shook his head again. "Fine. You want me. Talk to me in two weeks when my detention is over."

Linda squirmed.

"After two weeks you won't want me anymore. Trust me on this. I'm a jerk. I'm a grade-A asshole. I'm a total fucktard. Just ask everyone in the school. Just ask my friends, too. They'll tell you. Especially Jason. Or Melinda. They'll tell you. Good for nothing, that's me."

Linda just stared at him, speechless.

Richie frowned, turned, and marched out of the classroom.

Ned's attention drifted as the other Harbingers talked. He tried to keep himself focused, but it was difficult. It was the same report anyway. Brad making Heather hot and horny, Heather struggling to resist her carnal urges until she had a chance to take care of them.

Yeah, take care of them, Ned thought glumly. Least she can.

To Ned, it was like everyone was getting some except him. Jason did it with Melinda. Heather did it with Diane and sometimes Jason or Melinda. Richie did it with his teacher, though he was supposed to stop.

What Richie was doing was supposed to be wrong, yet Ned secretly wanted to cheer him on.

He avoided looking at Cassie. She was so excited about going with Richie and the possibility that he would see another vision of the past that it was all she could talk about. She hardly noticed him at all.

When the Harbingers parted, Ned didn't bother waiting for Cassie. He simply shuffled to his locker.

"Ned? Ned, wait."

Ned turned and tried to offer Cassie a weak smile. "Yeah, babe?"

Cassie tilted her head. "Is something the matter?"

"Huh? Uh, nah, I'm fine. Why'd ya ask?"

"You've been really quiet this morning. And ... well ... you didn't even try to kiss me before I went home yesterday."

"Oh. Uh, well ... guess I figgered ya didn't want yer Mom knowin' yer associatin' with the riff-raff, ya know?"

Cassie gave him a dubious look, though there was a hint of amusement to it. "That never stopped you before."

Ned smiled weakly. He had been rather open about his affection for her since the aborted attempt at sex. He would kiss her whenever he parted from her, sometimes lingering a bit more. He would hug her, sometimes letting his hands wander a bit close to her rear. He gave all sorts of subtle clues that he was still interested.

What was lacking was her interest in return, and it was bothering him.

Cassie looked concerned. "Melissa hasn't done anything to you again, has she?"

Ned shook his head. "Nah, I've laid low around her. Look, um, it's nuthin'. Jus' my own hang-ups."

Cassie considered this for a moment. Her face fell. "This is about the sex, isn't it?"

Ned stared. "Whoa. Okay, now, come on, tell me the secret. Women can read men's minds, right?"

Cassie's lips curled into a brief ghost of a smile. "Ned, I'm sorry. With everything that's been going on..."

Ned nodded and sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, though he was unable to hide the disappointment from his voice.

"I really wish I could be as ... as open about this as the others," Cassie said softly. "Maybe if I had been with them in the House, and it had changed me like it did them..."

She trailed off, an awkward silence settling over them.

Ned cleared his throat. "Um ... well ... ya know ... there's always that book..."

Cassie gave him an alarmed look.

"Never mind. Sorry. I didn't mean..."

"No, it's okay. Darn it. I wish I hadn't read anything of that Rite. Maybe I wouldn't be so skittish about that book."

"Well, I don't wanna jus' make ya all hot and bothered. I want ya to want it, too. I mean on yer own."

"I do! I'm just really nervous about it. I wish there were something simple that would get me over this. I know everyone else does it without giving it much thought, but..."

Cassie suddenly paused. She stared straight ahead, her lips parted.

"Er ... Cassie?"

"That's why I'm having trouble with this!" Cassie declared. She looked at Ned. "I just figured it out. All the sex that's been going on. Sometimes I feel like people are losing themselves to it, like it's not making them think straight. I'm afraid that will happen to me. It almost did when Nyssa had me."

Ned slapped his forehead. "And here I am tryin' ta make ya agree to puttin' a hex on ya. Gah, I'm such a moron."