I lost control of my body at 5:46 p.m. Central Standard Time.

That, it turned out, was the very instant that the sun dipped below the horizon. Not that anybody saw it, of course. It had been a miserable day, with the wind coming straight off the lake and blowing the rain sideways. By the time I got back home—home temporarily being an apartment owned by my college roommate's father—after a day of door-to-door canvassing, I was literally dripping wet. Why couldn't they have given me that desk job at campaign headquarters?

I remember glancing at the clock in the foyer as I used my butt to push the door closed behind me; it was 5:45. I was glad that Mr. Adams wasn't there. On Friday afternoons, he went back to his home in the 'burbs, where his wife and younger kids lived. It wasn't that he wasn't a great guy. After all, he was letting me crash at his city place for free while I worked on the election. But he probably wouldn't appreciate the puddle forming at my feet on his very expensive parquet floor. He also might disapprove of me undressing in his foyer. I tossed my sweater down on the linoleum and struggled with difficulty out of the wet long-sleeve tee I had been wearing underneath. I pushed my equally soaked jeans skirt down my thighs and kicked my shoes off.

I hadn't had any intention of looking at my reflection in the full-length mirror in the hallway. But there I stood, staring at myself in my underwear.

I saw what I expected to see: a twenty-three year old half-girl/half-woman recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin. Her wet blond hair was pulled back behind her head in a pony-tail, and her white bra had become nearly transparent. She hadn't been one of the hotties at school; she was a little too chunky for that and her breasts were on the small side. But she had had her share of guys by the way she filled out a pair of jeans.

Without knowing why, I raised my hands to cup my breasts and push them together.

"Mmmm. They are perfect, aren't they?"

The voice that came out of my mouth was mine. The words were not.

Who the fuck was that?, I screamed. I tried to scream at any rate. The words echoed in my head. But the girl in the mirror hadn't opened her mouth that time. Instead, she had pursed her lips as her gaze swept down her body. Her hands followed, sliding down her ribcage to rest on her hips. I shifted my hips back and forth like a salsa dancer.

"Kind of chubby little legs, though, huh?"

What the fuck is going on?

I didn't say that either, not aloud at any rate. Instead, when the girl in the mirror spoke, it was to answer the question, not to ask it.

"Look, sweetie," I watched myself say. "I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to me for the night, capiche?"

Who the fuck—

"Quiet down, honey," my voice said. "Or I'll take care of it myself."

I found myself unable to put my thoughts into ... thought. But I knew now that there was another presence inside me, a presence that was able to control my voice as well as my movements.

'That's right, just like that, ' she thought. She was talking inside my head now as well. My body was just standing there admiring itself.

'My name is Ann Buckley, ' she continued. 'No need to introduce yourself. You're Nancy McGill. Do you know what today is, Nancy? Go ahead, you can talk again. Enough so I can hear you, at least. What's the date?'

No, please.

The voice in my head was weak and frightened.

"Come on, ' Ann said. 'Guess.'

I felt compelled to do as she said. It's um, three days before the election. Saturday? October, um, thirtieth?

'Close, dear. It's the thirty-first. All Hallow's Eve. The night on which the veil between the living and the dead becomes thinnest.'

The look on my face scared me. My eyes were almost shining, my lips pulled back in a manic smile. She flicked her eyes—my eyes, dammit—back down our body, lingering on the weight I never seemed to be able to take off those thighs.

Halloween? It's a kids' holiday!

'That too, ' Ann said with a laugh that bordered on the hysterical. 'But it's also a holiday for a select few spirits, darling. For one evening we get to return to this world. On the Halloween following the day we died, we get one body to use from sundown to sunrise. Not much compensation for being robbed of the rest of our lives, is it?'

Return? You mean you're ... you're dead?

Her eyes came back up and although it was my own baby blues I was staring it, I was conscious that it was her spirit animating them.

'As a doornail, honey.'

I started screaming again. She stopped me.

'Honey, I want to work with you here, but if you keep that up, you're going to be a spectator all evening long. And maybe you've noticed that if I don't let you think, you can't feel. See?'

I watched myself slap my own ass without feeling anything at all.

'On the other hand, ' she continued, 'if I let you think, see what kind of fun we can have?'

I felt my hands slide under the waistband of the panties I was wearing. I pushed them down and stepped out of them.

'Nice thick pussy lips, ' Ann thought. 'I always wanted to shave, too. Mmmm, feels good, doesn't it?'

Ann had slid my fingers across my hairless mound and down between my thighs. With my index and ring fingers on either side of my pussy lips, she began to slowly slide my middle finger up and down the wet pink slit between them.

Stop it!

'You love it, ' Ann said with a laugh. 'I am so glad I picked you.'

Picked me? Oh, please stop it.

'I could have had any body I wanted. I picked you.' The voice in my head was deep, husky, needful. 'Almost ready to cum, Nancy?'

Oh, fuck! Oh, oh, oh.

I was a demonstrative bedmate and it was torture not to be able to squirm and writhe in response to the ripples of pleasure I was feeling. But the torture just made it that much more delicious. It was like being tied up. My insides were burning up, my fingers finding spots that I hadn't realized were there. In the mirror, I was just standing there playing with myself.

'Good, ' Ann said. 'Let's stop right there.'

She pulled her fingers away and the pleasure subsided just this side of a cum.

Bitch! I had been so close.

'Don't worry, Nance. You'll have more than enough fun tonight.'

What are you going to do with me?

'Oh, we can do anything we want, ' she thought with a laugh. 'Most guys want to lay some actress or play football. Did you ever notice how badly teams play on Halloween?'

W-what about you?

'Most women usually go for romance, you know? Cuddling with a guy, looking at the sea – something like that. One last night of what we so often failed to get during our lives, you know.'

I relaxed a little. That didn't sound so bad.

'Me?' Ann asked, grinning at our reflection in the mirror. 'I want revenge on the bitch that killed me.'

K-killed?

'I didn't mention that? This Halloween reincarnation is only for murder victims.'

I started feeling faint. The room started spinning.

'I was poisoned.'

When I woke, I was sitting in at a table in a restaurant. The air was filled with the aroma of oregano and tomato.

'Welcome back, ' Ann said.

Fuck.

'Not yet, honey. Speaking of which, though, I can't believe your underwear drawer. You're not a virgin, are you?'

No!

Ann giggled.

'Easy, girlfriend. Just asking. Lots o' white cotton in there is all. While you were out of it, we stopped at a few places. Check it out."

I looked down. I was wearing a low-cut black sheath, the only nice dress I had brought with me from home. I had been saving it for the election-night party. I tugged the neckline open and looked down. I had on a black mesh bra.

'And matching panties, ' Ann said. 'Well ... matching thong.'

She squeezed my thighs together and I felt—nothing. My hand reached beneath the table and my fingers felt the small strip of fabric that barely covered my slit.

'Oh, and you really shouldn't let your credit card balance get so high. Do you know what the finance charges on that are? Ah, here comes Roberto.'

You used my Visa card? I screamed.

'Our card, darling.'

A smiling waiter approached us.

"Does signorina require more time to decide?"

"Not at all," I said. "I'll have the salmone taglione, the zuppa di pesce, and the tiramisu, with a glass of your house red."

"Yes, signorina," he said, a tear forming in his eye.

What's his problem?

'That was what I always ordered when I came in here. You know, before I died. That's my picture on the wall over there, with Roberto and the owner. And my husband, of course, Allen, the son of a bitch.'

Your husband? You didn't get along?

'Not after I died, ' Ann said with a harsh laugh. 'When he married that bitch who put the poison in my wine.'

Your husband married your murderer?

'Two months ago. Six months after I died. Convenient, wasn't it? For both of them, actually, since they'd been having an affair for the previous two years. My death saved him all that messy business of for a divorce and dividing the property.'

The wine arrived along with a salad. I didn't have much of an appetite by this point but Ann was evidently starving. I attacked the food with enthusiasm. The taste was heavenly.

This is delicious. Did you come here often?

'Once a month.' My eyes flickered toward at the picture and I heard a sigh from Ann.

You were very beautiful.

I looked at the picture again. The woman was in her mid-forties, with short brunette hair and a beautiful, heart-shaped face.

'I didn't have much in the boob department, ' Ann said, 'but it was a nice package, yeah. Not as nice as Schaefer's, of course.'

Her thoughts dripped with bitter sarcasm.

Schaefer?

'Schaefer Armstrong, Esquire," Ann said. "Future partner at my husband's firm.'

So like, um, what exactly are you going to do to this Schaefer and your husband? I mean, if you, like, kill them or something, I'm the one who ends up in jail, you know.

I could feel myself smiling.

'Don't worry, love. I have something far more delicious in mind. Here comes our salmon. Now why don't you just enjoy this lovely dinner I've ordered us? You will be paying for it, after all. In the tips and on the hips.'

It was a wonderful meal although the size of the check gave me quite a start. Depending on how much the bra and panties had cost, I was getting awfully close to the credit limit on my Visa.

'No worries, hon, ' Ann said as she signed the slip. 'I'll make sure you end up the night in the black. Besides, we have one more stop before we're ready.'

I climbed into my ten-year-old Tercel and ended up in a seedy neighborhood I had never seen before. We found a parking spot in front of a store whose windows were completely covered in black.

But this is a – a...

'Sex shop. Let's go. Oh, and while we're in there, why don't you just keep your thoughts to yourself. You're easy to confuse, you know?'

Ann cackled with laughter as I exited the car and strode into a smelly store stocked from floor to ceiling with porn videos. I wasn't interested in those. I took a hard right and stood in front of the sex toys. Without hesitation, I picked out an enormous jelly-filled dildo with straps, a bottle of strawberry scented lube, a pair of handcuffs, and a small riding crop. I laid them in front of the slightly built young black girl manning the counter. She gave me a big smile as she rang me up.

"Nice selection," she said. "You're an unusual sight here. Is there anything else I can get you?"

My eyes flicked around the room, taking in the seedy unshaven men who comprised the store's usual clientele, before meeting the girl's again.

"There is one more thing actually." I leaned forward and whispered in her ear. Ann whispered actually, so quietly that I couldn't hear my own voice. The girl's face lit up in a smile.

"Right here behind the counter," she said quietly. She took the plastic bag into which she had put my purchases and surreptitiously added whatever it was that Ann had requested.

"No charge for that one," she added with a wink. "Hope you get lucky, girl. The rest comes to $46.82."

What did you ask for? I asked as I handed over my perilously full credit card.

"And spoil your surprise?" Ann answered with a laugh.

We finished our transaction and Ann gave the girl one last knowing smile. "Thanks, love. Got a big evening on Lakeshore Drive."

"Playland of the rich." The girl was impressed. So was I, for that matter.

Wait a minute, I thought as we walked back to the car, I was on Lakeshore Drive this morning.

'I know, ' Ann said. 'That's where I saw you. I was already to pick another woman in the neighborhood until you showed up looking so yummy in your wet little outfit. And I know Schaefer thought so too.'

I met her? Oh, God.

'This morning. You were so eager to get out your little spiel that you didn't see the way her eyes went up and down your cute little bod. I didn't even know she swung that way.'

She's the freako who asked me back! The one who wasn't going to vote.

It was the strangest call I had made today. This woman didn't want anything to do with politics—she claimed she didn't think either candidate was fit to be governor. But she did tell me if I needed to get out of the rain sometime, I was more than welcome to stop back.

'Let's just say I encouraged her hospitality, ' Ann said.

I started to feel faint again.

You mean all this ... stuff you bought is for me and ... and her?

'Exactly, ' Ann said, the voice in my head sounding very satisfied. 'Although we will need to soften her up a bit first."

I drove the rest of the way in silence, finally pulling in front of an expensive looking house on the North Side. The rain was still pelting down so I grabbed the bag of goodies and ran for the shelter of the small front porch. I remembered the woman who answered the bell very clearly.

"Trick or treat," I said in a sultry voice that I barely recognized as my own. I held the bag at my side, not wanting it to interfere with her view of my body.

Schaefer did her best to hide her reaction, but with Ann's help, it was easy to discern. Her full, red lips parted, the delicate, pointed tip of her pink tongue just visible against her whitened teeth. Her button nose flared, her green eyes widened, and her body seemed to tense. It was an excellent body. Schaefer was probably in her early thirties and two or three inches taller than I was. Even with the bulky sweater and slacks she was wearing, it was evident that she had a well-proportioned figure. Her large hips and slim waist made her boobs look bigger than they really were.

"It's a bad night out there," she said. "You're my first trick-or-treater tonight. Didn't we meet earlier today?"

"We did," I said. "You told me I couldn't talk to your husband because he was out of town until late tonight. And you told me to come back when I needed to get out of the rain."

I stepped into the foyer.

"Oh, right," she said. "Sure."

She took a step toward me to close the door. I watched her momentarily close her eyes and inhale deeply. Schaefer locked the door and turned off the front porch light. "Please come in."

I dropped my bag in the foyer and followed her into the living room.

"Would you like a drink?" she asked. "A glass of wine?"

"That would be wonderful."

"You are old enough, aren't you? I would hate to think I was corrupting a minor."

She giggled as she poured the glasses without waiting for an answer.

She's an attorney?

'Go figure, ' Ann said, the disgust evident in her thoughts.

"I wouldn't worry about that," I told Schaefer. "For one thing, I'm not a minor."

"And for another?" Schaefer asked.

She handed me a glass of wine and sat down on one end of a lovely white sofa. I sat down right next to her.

"I'm already corrupt," I whispered.

She returned my sexiest smile with a nervous smile of her own. I took a sip of wine.

"You have a lovely home, Mrs..."

"Ms.," she corrected me. "Ms. Armstrong."

"Mmmm, I love an independent woman," I said. "You and your husband have a beautiful home, Ms. Armstrong."

"Thank you, um ... I don't believe I actually know your name." She giggled again.

"Nancy."

"Thank you, Nancy. I'm glad you like it."

'She hasn't changed a fucking thing, ' Ann said in my mind. 'Other than to remove my picture from the bookshelves. '

I took another sip of wine and moved my knee against hers.

"Oh, my," Schaefer said, taking a healthy gulp of wine.

I think I'm going to be sick.

'Oh, come off it, ' Ann said. 'You and I both know about your freshman dorm. You and Lindsay? Shall I replay the tape in your head?'

If I had any control of my body at all, I would have blushed. Instead, I reached out to take Schaefer's wine glass out of her hand. I leaned over her to put them both on the side table. My breasts brushed against hers and I felt a shiver ripple through her body.

"And what's your name?" I asked her. "Or would you rather I just call you Ms. Armstrong? I had a teacher named Ms. Armstrong."

"Schaefer," she whispered. "Call me Schaefer."

As I pulled back, I laid my head on her shoulder and she turned to look at me. We met in a long, soft kiss, our mouths opening, our lips exploring, touching. I felt her left hand on my cheek, stroking it lightly with the tips of her fingers. She pulled back and I chased her with my mouth. She was easy prey, her mouth opening even wider as she pushed her tongue between my teeth. I closed my lips around it, sucking on it, feeling her body tremble.

Her hand began to slide down my arm, onto my right hip and once again down my leg. I whimpered and she took my bottom lip between hers, tugging it away from my teeth.

I whimpered again as she curled her fingers around my thigh and gently tugged at it, urging me to straddle her. Still kissing, I let my thigh slide across her lap. I could feel the dress riding up my hips and the moist contact of my thong-covered slit against her slacks.

It was my turn to take charge. As I moved astride her, I slipped my right hand into her long, dark hair. I let my breasts press against her as I stroked her neck. Our kisses grew harder and hungrier. I moved one leg back, letting it slip between hers, pressing my thigh into her mound.

"So young, so pretty," Schaefer murmured.

"So beautiful," I answered her, whispering in her ear as I delicately bit at the lobe."Have you done this before, Schaefer?"

"No."

"Do you want me to be the teacher?"

She squirmed beneath me. In answer, I let my hips glide back and forth, rubbing my pussy against her thigh.

"Baby," Schaefer said. "This is moving so fast."

I sat up. She cupped my ass, now fully exposed with the dress around my hips, and helped me grind my crotch against her leg.

"Say, 'teach me, Nancy, '" I said.

"Teach me, Nancy."

"'Teach me, Miss McGill.'"

She swallowed hard. I lifted the front of my skirt, letting her see the black mesh panty that Ann had bought. Schaefer's eyes were riveted.

"Say it, baby."

"Teach me, Miss McGill."

I grabbed hold of her wrists and lifted her hands to my chest.

"You have beautiful breasts," she murmured, letting her palms rest there.

"Thank you," I said. "I like yours, too."

I reached down and grabbed them in my hands, roughly massaging them through her sweater and bra.

"Squeeze them," I said. "Like this."

I squeezed her breasts hard in my hands, eliciting a cry of surprise. She did the same.

"Harder, bitch," I ordered. "I like it rough."

She compressed my boobs in her fingers. It hurt, but not as much as I thought it would. It occurred to me that Ann might be blocking some of the pain.

"And you?" I asked, my voice full of husky desire.

"Me what?" she squeaked.

"You like it rough."

It was a statement, not a question.