Chapter 5: Adrift!

Somewhere in the Mediterranean: Sunday Around Dawn

The sun was creeping in the berth's porthole by the time Diana woke up. "No light," she said, bringing her hand up. Then I guess it dawned on her where she was. She flipped her head to look at me. "Wait, what happened? Why am I in your bed? We didn't..."

"No, we didn't do anything."

"Oh." She sounded small. "Okay." She started climbing out of the berth.

"I had another seizure, in the middle of a nightmare. You started freaking out - guess nightmares are 'transmitted' as well as wet dreams. I'm sorry."

She sat down in the chair, looking cross. "Yeah, fine, okay."

Something in me snapped. "Okay, Dee. What is your problem? Have I done anything wrong? I swear you've been cranky with me for almost this whole Africa trip. I've been trying my best to take care of you, to be a good friend. How can I help?" I sighed in frustration. "I'm not a mind reader."

"Just a mind controller..." she muttered.

"Yeah, but it's not like I'm doing it on purpose. I can't even make it happen on command. I get to wait for the next seizure, and I'd rather not go around making those happen all the time. Is that the problem? Be honest, please."

She looked up at me. Our eyes met. She looked away.

"That's a part of it. I mean, it started with you and Missy. All that time I'd spent trying to set you and Richelle up, and a seizure blows that all to hell. And of course I'm jealous - at least if I set you up with Shelly, I get to be involved by proxy. Like, I mean you're older and all, but there's a thing between us. Chemistry. Didn't you feel it?"

She looked back up at me, her eyes pleading. I nodded - I had.

"And now, here you had me, alone, vulnerable. You could have done anything you wanted. You could have had me do anything you wanted, and I would have done it. And you didn't take advantage of it?"

"What would you have had me do? Everything that's happened to Marissa has been an accident. The thing with Shelly at the dinner last night was just weird. And I've done other things ... I don't like this, it feels like a violation. You really think I'd do that to you?"

She bit her lip in thought. "Well, it won't be a violation next time, if there is one. Now you know my feelings."

I was still confused. "Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because that way I can jump your bones and not have to feel guilty about Dennis." Diana put on a comical face, exaggerated in its helplessness. "I mean, it's mind control!" She started chewing her finger, playing the victim. "Oh, whatever is a girl to do?" She laughed and winked.

I sighed. "This is just the mojo talking."

She pulled up the chair as close as possible and leaned in to my face, our lips almost touching, looking in my eyes. "Pay attention, buddy, because I'm only going to say this once. I thought you were cute since that day on the beach when you tripped over us. When you walked me back to my room that night after the bar, I would have been open to any move you might have made. But you left, instead."

"You had a boyf..." She put her finger on my lips to shush me.

"Dennis wouldn't have mattered. And that was all BEFORE the mojo, bub. And I'm not the only one. You've been the talk of half the girls of the trip this past week." I'm sure I looked incredulous. "Yes, seriously! What do you think we meant when we were talking about Tinkertoys? It was CODE. Did you think we were talking about erector sets?" She giggled, and reached out to my crotch, patting the fabric covering it. "Well, I guess we were thinking about one kind." She winked.

Under her hand, my cock jumped. I'd never bothered to take care of it once she fell asleep on me. Her hand jerked back like it'd touched a hot fire. "Oh!"

She looked sharply at me. Our eyes met. We both blushed. She reached to take off her shirt. "Fuck Dennis," she said. Her shirt came off, and she came towards me.

I wanted this. I'd wanted it since the first time I saw her. And it didn't help I had a persistently eager erection from the seizure. More than half of me wanted to just pull her on top of me and just go to town. But the rest of me was thinking clearly, and I put my hands on her shoulders. "Dee! Dee, stop!" She stopped. The look on her face was one of confusion and hurt. I almost gave in, then. Instead, I just ducked in and gave her a small kiss. "Look, I want this too. But do you really want the memory of our first time - heck, maybe our only time - to be pawing at each other hungrily in here?" I waved my hand around, indicating the cramped ship's berth.

"But ... but ... Missy!" She bit her lip again. Her eyes were shimmering.

"That happened because of the whole seizure thing, the 'mojo.' Hell, the entire time I thought it was a dream. Do you think I'd have chosen that? Do you think I wanted it to go down that way? Just stop and think for a second, okay?"

She sighed. "You're sweet." She kissed me back. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She grabbed her shirt and put it back on. "But, raincheck, ok?" Her voice quivered.

I smiled. "Wild horses couldn't stop me."

Diana exhaled. "I need some fresh air, I think." She laughed. "Are you going to be okay here?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll probably follow you out in a few minutes. I just have a few things to take care of in here."

"What could you have to take care of in here?" I shifted uncomfortably. She blushed. "Oh!" She licked her lips. "Well, I could stay a little, maybe help you with that?" She smiled at me.

I groaned, but laughed a little. "Please, Daffy. I don't think I have the strength to say 'no' to you twice."

She giggled. "Okay, fine. But I better get out of range, or I might come in here anyway."

"I can't believe you're taking this all in stride."

"What all?"

"The mojo. The mind control, the seizures, the magic penis." She giggled at that last bit. "You know? I mean, I'm having a hard time dealing with it. It's weird you're already adjusted to it."

"Huh." She shrugged. "I guess so. Maybe that's another side effect? I mean, no biggie. I'd rather accept it than freak out about it."

I frowned. "Yeah, um. No biggie." It still didn't sit right with me.

"Look, whatever. It's happening. It's not your fault. You're not making this happen. So stop feeling so guilty!" She flounced down the hall and out of my sight. "Have a little fun with it! You deserve it!"

I had to admit, she had a point. But it wasn't that easy to shake the feeling. "I think too much," I said to myself, and then I rolled over, trying to put it out of my mind. Besides, I had 'things' to take care of before getting out of bed, and guilt was not helping.

Somewhere in the Mediterranean: Sunday Morning

The sun nearly blinded me as I walked out on the deck; it was a clear day, no clouds to be seen. A bunch of people were crowded on the sides of the boat, looking over the railings - apparently some dolphins had decided to play in the boat's wake. So they were playing in the waves, enjoying the attention from us gawking, silly monkeys on the boat.

Near the front of the boat, away from the crowds of rubberneckers, Richelle was leaning on the railing, just watching the sea. I wasn't quite feeling up to a crowd, so I went up to her. I was expecting it to be a little awkward after dinner last night. "Um, hey, Shelly," I ventured.

She just looked at me, squinting in the sun. "Well, if it isn't Svengali."

"Why do you have to do that?" She just stared, raising an eyebrow. "Whenever it's just you and me, you get all caustic. Sure, you put on a friendlier face in front of the others, but when it's just me, you're mean." I guess it was my day to tell people off?

She just shrugged, and leaned on the railing again.

I sighed. "I don't know why I was expecting an answer."

We just sat there in silence for a while. It was pretty nice, all things considered. Then she said, "Remember when we were in the bathroom?"

I was wary. "Um, yeah?"

"I've been thinking about that. And I think if you did it now, it would work."

I had no idea what she was talking about. "Did what?"

"The Svengali trick."

I turned to look at her. She was still staring out at the horizon. "Okay?"

She turned to me, meeting my eyes. "Seriously. Try it."

"Why?"

"Aren't you curious?"

"Not really. I just want this to be over." I turned back to the sea. "Why do you think it'd work now?"

"Well, in the bathroom I hadn't been 'mojoed'." She laughed at herself. "Is that a verb? I guess it is now."

She cleared her throat. "But, clearly all of us who've been affected react to you now. Breakfast and dinner were both surreal, and we all stayed up watching you while you slept. We were all concerned when you started having those nightmares, mumbling in your sleep, burning up with the fever. Poor Marissa's been sick with worry. She's been a little crazy." She looked at me. "Did you know she cut off all her hair."

"Um, what?"

"Yeah. Apparently you didn't like the blonde dye after all? So she took some scissors and cut down to the roots." I felt a pit grow in my stomach. "We tried to fix it for her, but it still looks like a hatchet job. It's not like we packed hair supplies on our little weekend getaway. But it's okay, we can take care of it in Naples."

I tried to shake the pit in my stomach. I turned back to her. "Missy's hair aside, how does this fit in to your theory?"

"Well, since we're all keyed to you, you probably could drop us back into the trance. Zone us out, do whatever you want. If I'd asked you to try it on Marissa in the bathroom back then, instead of me, it might have worked." She turned to look at me again. "So? Try it!"

I met her eyes. "For science. Right?"

She blushed. "Yeah. Science. That's right."

"So, um, should I do the whole schtick? Pull out a pocketwatch?"

She giggled. "No. Just do it. Play it by ear."

"Um, okay." This was worse than Public Speaking class. I was nervous, I didn't have anything prepared. But if it didn't work, at least I didn't have a grade riding on it. I wasn't even all that invested. I pulled off my glasses. "So, yeah, look in my eyes."

"Okay."

"Just remember what it was like to zone out before, to slip into that suggestible trance for me."

Her eyes started getting glassy. "Yeah..."

I felt silly saying it, but, "I'm going to count from three to one. When I reach one, you're going to be there, completely entranced."

" ... completely entranced..." There was a little smile on her face.

"Three." Her eyelids fluttered. "Two." She shuddered. "One." And then she just kind of slumped into me, her head resting on my shoulder. It felt nice.

I wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to go under, and we made that happen. But now what? I thought about it for a bit. "Okay, Shelly. In order to explore this more, I want to wake you up so we can talk about it. So this one time I want you to remember the whole trance and how you feel and what happened in it. After that, we should be able to bring you back into the trance again. But instead of going through the whole act, let's make it just one simple word, a trigger like they use on the stage. I want you to think what you want your trigger to be. Something that makes you happy, but not something that might come up in normal conversation." I didn't want her dropping in the middle of regular talk.

" ... kajira..."

Now, I didn't know what that meant at the time. I didn't even think to ask. I'm not sure what I would have done differently if I'd understood. I just shrugged and went with it. "Okay. So in the future, whenever I use that word with you, and my intentions are obvious, you'll fall back into this trance, or you'll fall even deeper. It'll be irresistible."

" ... yes, deeper ... irresistible..."

"Now wake up!"

She blinked herself awake, then punched me in the shoulder. "What did you do THAT for?"

"Ow!" I rubbed my sore shoulder. "Do what?"

"Wake me up, jerk! You could have done anything to me!"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I don't care. Hell, after your dream scrambled Missy's brain she was saving herself for you instead of marriage. I want to push the limits, see how far this mojo can go." Her breath was ragged, shallow - this was exciting her. "I mean, just put me back together when you're done. I trust you." She looked at me. "It's for science. Remember?"

I laughed. "Yeah. For science." She blushed. "Okay, um. Anything?"

She leaned in close, eyes wide. "Anything, Eric."

Her excitement was a little contagious, and she was definitely hitting all my curiosity buttons. My last ex was into hypnosis, we had dabbled a few times in the bedroom, we had gone to hypnotist shows when they were in town. So I had some vague notions about what I could try. I took a deep breath, collecting myself. "Ready?"

She also took a deep breath. "Yes! Test my limits."

"Kajira."

She closed her eyes, and a goofy smile spread across her face. "Yes, Master." Again, she slumped into my arms.

Yeah, I was shocked the first time I heard that word come out of her lips. If I'd thought about its implications, her saying it right then, I'm not sure what I would have done. Instead, I started thinking about how to push her limits. I looked down at her, considering her body. I appreciated the feel of her in my arms, her breasts pressed against my chest, her head on my shoulder. Running my fingers through her hair, I went over and over in my head the things I'd learned about her over the week, things she'd said.

Then it all clicked in my head. I had an idea. Richelle had two major points of bitterness - her chest (despite her choice of low-cut tops, she hated when she was judged for her breasts, and she resented how it changed how she could approach sports), and men (only good for sex, only think with their penises, et cetera). I figured she at least felt as strongly about those as Marissa had felt about saving herself for marriage, before that first seizure scrambled her brain. Maybe it was a bit mean, but I started going on about it before I talked myself out of it. She did say to push her limits, after all.

"You know how you say that every penis has a mind of its own?"

"Mmm-hmmm..."

"And that guys can't resist them?"

"Mmm-hmmm..."