Chapter 61: Yes, It Can be Worse

I met Allison in the hallway outside Sam's room before knocking. The door opened and as usual Samantha, naked except for a pair of bikini panties, was on her knees with her eyes averted before the door was fully open. I stepped forward and stroked her hair, her bracelet changed and suddenly she was lunging at me with a ten inch carving knife. Reflexes took over; my hands shooting out with wrists crossed, catching her arm and blocking it out and away, pulling back before she could recover, catching her wrist and twisting violently, spinning her around and causing her fingers to lose their grip on the handle. I kicked the knife away when it fell to the floor.

Samantha cried out in pain as I twisted her arm up behind her back, my free arm coming up around her throat to immobilize her. She tried pulling at my arm to break free and I put more pressure on her arm. Allison was still standing in the hallway, staring in shocked amazement at the scene.

"Ow! Ow! Oh God please stop, Jimmy, it hurts!" And tears began to flow.

I eased up a little on her arm. "I'm sorry Sam, I didn't want to hurt you, but why did you attack me?

"I don't know," she said. "I didn't want to, I just couldn't stop myself."

That didn't sound good. "If I let you go are you going to attack me again?"

"No," she whimpered. "Please, Jimmy, don't hurt me any more. I'll be good, I promise. Please don't punish me."

I really didn't like the sound of that; 'don't hurt me' I could understand, punishment on the other hand had a very specific meaning in her world. I tossed a worried glance at Allison, took a deep breath and readied myself before letting her go.

Damn, I hate it when I'm right.

I hoped she would just relax and begin rubbing her shoulder to relieve the pain and tension from my twisting her arm but instead she spun toward me, both hands coming up, hands twisted like claws as all ten fingers reached for me. I could see the rage on her face.

Suddenly the scene froze and Samantha stood motionless before me.

"What the fuck is going on?" Jamie asked, stepping out of me.

"I have no idea," I said, then raised my voice and called, "Bob!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Allison said, stepping in quickly and closing the door. "He'll need an entry point," she replied to the question in my eyes.

She was right, almost immediately the door opened and Bob walked in. Even as I turned to greet him I saw a sleep shirt appear on Samantha. "Thanks," I said to Jamie.

"Duh! He would be sooo embarrassed," she said.

"This can't be good," Bob said, taking in the strange room and Samantha's enraged form. "Normally I'd ask what you did this time, but I know your record with women and I just can't picture you ever doing anything to merit this kind of response. Who is she?"

"Samantha Watkins," Jamie said. A quick series of images of previous meetings with Samantha flashed by in what appeared to be a small holographic projection in front of us.

As the images ran Allison said, "Bob, this girl worships Jimmy. She'd trade places with Amber tomorrow if she wasn't worried about her sister. Now suddenly..." her finish coincided with our arrival.

"I see what you mean," Bob said. "Is Elizabeth available?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "I left her working with a friend but I can ask. Be right back."

"Wait!" Jamie yelled before I could disappear.

"What?" I asked, surprised.

Jamie gave a grin I'm sure she had learned from Allison and said, "Think about who she's with and why she's there and tell me you want to walk in on that?"

Bob actually blushed, nodding his head and saying, "Ah, working with a friend. Still, he's seen Elizabeth naked before, they're engaged; I don't think she'd mind."

"It's not Lizzy she's worried about, Bob," I said. "The friend is a girl and I try to make it a point never to walk into a room where people may be naked or ... busy." I turned to Jamie, "Thanks, could you go see if she can break away?" She nodded and disappeared and I turned back to Bob. "Sorry about the other night by the way."

He actually chuckled, "Yeah, Rebecca told me about it when she got back."

I shook my head and said, "Yeah I know, that was stupid and I shouldn't have done it, but Allison made it sound like it was that urgent."

"Heat of the moment," he said. "Besides, it was that important, so don't beat yourself up about it."

Before I could answer Lizzy came in behind him, moving quickly into my arms and hugging me. Because of where we were standing and the rapidly crowding conditions, Samantha was partially obscured and I don't think Lizzy even noticed her.

"Jimmy, what's wrong?" She asked. "Jamie sounded like it was urgent."

She started to turn around but I caught her shoulders and held her. "No, don't turn around yet, Samantha is behind you."

Her eyes got big and I could feel a subtle stiffening where I held her.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Elizabeth," Bob said. "I hope we aren't interrupting anything. Jimmy said you were working."

"No, I left a copy behind to handle it. She can't heal but she can do everything else."

"You did what?" Allison asked.

Lizzy gave her a funny look and said, "I left a copy behind. You know, a clone of myself, don't you do that?"

"Never occurred to me to try," Allison answered. "We'll have to talk about it later. Right now we've got a problem. Did Jamie tell you anything?"

"No, just that you guys needed me."

"Actually, I needed you," Bob said. "Now I'm not so sure you can help. I take it there is a problem with you and Samantha."

She nodded sadly, "I tried to look at her once and it almost broke my heart. She's just ... it's hard to describe but forget about that for now, what's going on?"

"Jamie," I said, nodding to her.

The little holographic images appeared before us again, running through the greeting moments past and present. The smaller image seemed easier for her to take, but when it got to the current one she jerked away violently.

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"I don't know," she answered. "I've never seen anything like it. When she opened the door it was her, but as soon as you touched her it wasn't."

"That's what I was hoping you would see," Bob said, then he turned to me again. "Or at least what I expected you to see. You remember the last time we talked about Samantha, when you told me she didn't remember ever being with Lord Hightower?"

"Yes," I said.

"We talked about him using hypnosis to cover his tracks and that he would have to be really, really, good to pull off what we were seeing?"

"You think he hypnotized Samantha and told her to attack Jimmy?" Allison asked.

"Something like that, yes. Elizabeth, if you can, I'd like you to look at Samantha and tell me what you see? Do you think you can do that?"

Elizabeth didn't answer, just closed her eyes turned slowly around. As she turned I took her hand and she grabbed onto mine tightly with both hands. She took a second to steel herself and then opened her eyes, instantly shutting them again and turning her eyes away.

"Oh God!" she whispered. She steeled herself again and took another quick glance, then spun into my arms, flinging her arms around me and burying her face in neck. I could feel her trembling as she fought with herself not to cry.

"I can't do it," she cried. "I can't ... Oh God, Jimmy, you have to do something."

"Okay," I said, stroking her hair and holding her. "It's okay, relax, just take a deep breath and try to tell us what you saw." I looked past her to see the concern on Bob's face, pain in Allison's eyes, and anger in Jamie's.

Lizzy took a deep breath and turned further away from Samantha. In the air before her a shadow shape formed. "That's what I see," she said. "Or as much as I can show you, the reality is ... When you first came in, it was just her, or at least it was what I saw before. But as soon as you touched her ... this."

"She turned into this?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so, it happened so fast and I couldn't..." I could see she was losing the battle with her tears. " ... I couldn't look long enough to see."

"More like an overlay?" Bob asked. "Like something took her over and is controlling her? Possessing her?"

"Yes, like that!" Lizzy answered between sobs. "Jimmy, you have to help her."

"Thank you Elizabeth," Bob said. "I'm sorry for putting you through that, but that's what I expected. In answer to your question, Allison; yes, I think what we're dealing with is a hypnotic compulsion. It was hidden inside her like an old fashioned trap, just laying there until someone, not just any someone but Jimmy specifically, stepped in it. As soon as he touched her and she knew it was him it took her over, with instructions to kill him."

"This guy is really pissing me off," Jamie said. I wasn't sure if that was actually smoke coming from her ears but the fire in the eyes I did recognize.

"Then you really won't like this part," Bob continued. "Based on what you've told me of Hightower and his little band of perverts, I'm betting he's making her watch."

"You mean..." Lizzy began, shocked.

"Yes," Bob interrupted. "I mean she is trapped inside watching this thing use her body to try and kill the only person in the world that's trying to help her." He glanced at Jamie and me and asked, "How certain are you that this thing can't actually be picking up anything we may say?"

Almost instantly I felt the bubble form and we were all standing in the glade; the scene of Samantha's bedroom floating before us in a sphere about eighteen inches in diameter.

"Wow!" Bob said. "That felt really weird." He looked closer at the bubble, "Is that really me, or rather, us, in there?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Actually, I guess it's more like a copy, like Lizzy said. If I let the scene go it would walk and talk, act and react like you, but it wouldn't be you. So what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking your Lord Hightower is the best damn hypnotist I've ever even heard of. I say hypnotist because I can't think of any other way you could explain what we're seeing. Jimmy, is it even remotely possible that you could somehow make Samantha ... okay, wrong question, I know you could make Samantha forget we were there, but do you think there is any way to make that ... whatever it is, forget?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "You make it sound like it's alive."

"Oh, it is," he assured me. "Not in any normal way we would think of as alive, but as far as anything can be alive in this world, yes, it's very much alive. Think of it as a Trojan virus attached to an email that you opened. Once it's open, it immediately starts monitoring what you do, and at some point it's going to send off the information that it has gathered to whoever planted it. When you touched her, you opened the virus, and unless we can find a way to stop it, it's going to report back. My guess is that there is a secondary compulsion to contact Lord Hightower and tell him what has happened, even if it's only to tell him that the package has been opened. I suspect he's testing you."

"But how?" I asked. "How would he even know that I'm around?"

"Essex," Jamie said. "Damn! This is my fault. There was no real damage to Essex, but her arm didn't work, and the last thing she remembers is that something went wrong in a dream."

"Right," Bob said. "Hightower, probably using hypnosis, set out to correct the damage you did in the dream. This is just speculation, but then he remembered the dream that his faithful follower, Frank Watkins, had of his daughter coming back from the grave to attack him. Jimmy, have you been telling people not to remember the dreams you've appeared in? Specifically ordering them to forget?"

"Some, but not all," I said. "Most of them don't really involve much in the way of contact; it just depends on how much interaction we have."

"Then this likely just went from bad to worse. Somehow, he's become aware of you; my guess is that this isn't the only trap he has set out for you. He's probably been checking around to see just how much you know. Obviously, you've seen Samantha more than anyone else so he left a little surprise for you when you came back. I doubt if he expected it to really work, but now that it's failed it will be interesting to see what he does next."

"What can he do?" I asked.

"That's the problem; we don't know what he can do. The scary thing is that there doesn't seem to be much he won't do, so it just depends on what he wants."

"Do you think Sam knows?" Jamie asked.

Bob thought for a moment before answering. "Well, I think his primary motivation is obvious, he wants whoever is messing with his perfect little world, dead. As for secondary motivations in this particular attack, it's possible he may have explained them. Obviously she was there when he set it up, and even though she was likely under when he did it, what we do know about him suggests that he would want her to know what was happening. It's the same motivation that makes me ninety-nine percent certain that she can see what is going on. He wants to kill her only hope. More importantly, he want's her to see it die. I think Jimmy may be able to reach the information. I hope he can, because if I'm right, then one way or the other this is about to get really ugly.

I could see the wheels continuing to turn as he spoke. "Samantha is in serious trouble. You've given her hope, something these girls are not allowed to have. If you can't stop him he will use her as an example, making sure all the other girls know that she was helping an outsider, and she will be punished, except in this case I'm very much afraid she may be punished to death. He's going to make an example out of her, one strong enough that none of them will ever consider doing anything even remotely like this again."

"Then why bother with this?" Allison asked. "Why not just do it and get it over with?"

Bob nodded as if he had expected the question. "He doesn't have proof. He needs something more concrete to justify it or it will be seen as an act of whimsy, like he made it up to justify punishing her. He can't afford for the girls to get the idea that he might do that. If 'I think you're breaking the rules' becomes enough of a reason..."

"Witch hunt," Allison said.

"Exactly," Bob said. "If you had contacted all of them and they remembered it, he could do it, but you haven't. The others would never believe it possible, even the ones you have contacted would freak if they thought they were being punished for having a dream. I'm glad you asked that question, Allison. Thinking it through, I take back what I said. For now at least, Samantha should be safe enough."

He paused before continuing. "He would have to be very sure of his control to even attempt this. Jimmy, do you think you could break the shell if Elizabeth can't find a way inside?"

"I've been wondering the same thing myself," I answered. "And I'm wondering if it would be safe. You compared it to a computer virus, and I'm thinking that's a good analogy, but if you put that back in biological terms, that makes Sam the host, and the question becomes can you destroy the virus without destroying the host?"

"Can you break the shell without scrambling the egg?" Jamie asked.

"Excellent analogy, Jamie," Bob said. "Looking at it that way, it depends as you say, on how closely the shell is attached." He turned to Lizzy and asked, "Elizabeth, do you think you can look at her long enough to see if there is a way in?"

"The eyes," Lizzy said.

"I beg your pardon?" Bob said.

"I've been thinking about it while you were talking. If he's letting her see what's happening then she has to be looking through its eyes." She turned to me, "I guess it's true, her eyes are the window to her soul."

"Poetic. Now all I have to do is get in without breaking the glass."

"Why don't you just go somewhere else and call her to you?" Allison suggested.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Jimmy, you call people who are awake here and they come."

"People I'm connected to," I said.

"True, but we don't know that's a requirement, and even if it is, you are connected to her. Jimmy, I wasn't kidding when I said Sam would trade places with Amber. I've told you before, there is nothing that girl wouldn't do for you. But either way, what do you have to lose? If it doesn't work you can try the other thing, but this sounds simpler, you know, that whole KISS thing that Lizzy told us about."

I glanced at Bob, he shrugged. "She's right, it's a much simpler solution and we've got nothing to lose by trying it. I'm not sure you have to leave though, we're already 'somewhere else' as far as she's concerned."

I thought about it and looked at Jamie, who also shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay, it's worth a shot," I said, turning to face Elizabeth. "She doesn't know you, Shannon's disguise was Angela, so I'm going to disguise you as Amber for now. Bob, I'm just going to make you invisible, I don't want to frighten her by having a strange man here but I still want you available."

"Who are you calling strange?" He asked, then held up his hand before I could respond. "I understand, do whatever you think best."

I nodded and turned to Jamie. She nodded and said, "Let's do this," then stepped into me and together we turned to focus on the bubble again.

I concentrated and watched as it expanded from eighteen inches to about six feet. Don't ask me why but I was more comfortable working with a larger version. I concentrated and the images of the rest of us disappeared from the room, leaving only Samantha behind. A moment later her image darkened as I focused on the shell that Lizzy described. Taking a deep breath I stepped back and tried for one of those 'commanding voices' people talk about.

"SAMANTHA!" I guess I was trying too hard as the sound echoed in the air around us.

Suddenly she was there, kneeling on the grass before us. Bob spun quickly away as she was once more dressed only in her panties.

I put a sleep shirt on her and said, "Samantha," in a softer voice.

"Yes my Lord, how may I please you?"

I started to reach for her but Allison stopped me.

"Wait," she said, moving between us. Without trying to explain, she looked at Lizzy's new character. "Sharon?"

Lizzy had turned away when Samantha appeared, still unable to take looking at her directly for very long, but she smiled and said, "It's her. We won't know more until he touches her."

"Cool," Allison said, then hugged Samantha hard to her. "Oh, Sammy, I am so glad to see you, are you okay?"

"Do I know you?" Samantha asked, standing stiffly as Allison hugged her

"Shit!" Allison said. "I forgot about that. Okay, you can't be sure it's us yet. Here's the deal, turn around and look behind you." She took Samantha's shoulders and turned her so she could see the shadowy image of herself in the bubble. "Okay, that's what happened when Jimmy touched you the first time; do you remember any of that?"

Samantha dropped to her knees and replied, "I don't understand, Mistress, I know no one called Jimmy? I do not know you but that is not important, please just tell me your pleasure and I will do my best, I promise."

Allison looked at me for guidance.

"It's the only way," I said. "Stand back and be ready in case this goes wrong."

Allison took a step back and I moved forward, placing my hand on Sam's head. Her bracelet changed again, but instead of jumping up and trying to kill me, she melted forward, clutching at my knees and sobbing. There was no attempt to even speak, she just held onto me and cried. I glanced at Lizzy; there were tears streaming down her face, and she was already moving forward. I knelt down as best I could with a sixteen year old girl hugging both my knees and wrapped my arms around her. Allison wasn't far behind.