"That is wonderful, Gina!" Roberta gushed. "I am so glad you have finally had your first real sexual experience. So kind of that boy to accommodate the counselor."

Gina smiled and nodded.

"Did you do as I had told you? Did you give yourself to him as you should?"

"Yes, Mom, I did." She chose not to mention that she was so aroused at the time that refusing him was impossible.

"And you'll be looking forward to doing it again."

Gina's pussy tingled. "Yes, I will."

"You should start looking for opportunities as soon as you can, Gina. Make sure you build on this."

"I'm going to the Halloween party with Brad," Gina said. She squirmed at the memory of his cock inside her. "Maybe I can do it with him again."

"Oh, no 'maybe' about that. If he's gracious enough to take you out, it would be proper for you to offer yourself."

Gina nodded. It made sense to her, just as it had been proper to ask him to the party and for him to agree. Her breath quickened as her pussy grew damp once more. She wished he were waiting for her in her room.

Roberta lay her hand against her daughter's cheek. She smiled, her voice soft and breathy. "Just keep thinking about it, Gina.

Gina shivered, and her thighs quaked. Her pussy felt warm and inviting.

"Keep thinking about him inside you again."

Gina moaned. Her feet slid apart, and her breath became a light pant.

"We'll have to see about getting you a nice costume for the party," Roberta said. "Something attractive and sexy. Perhaps your counselor can give you some advice on that."

"I'm going to see him again tomorrow," Gina said, and her pussy throbbed in anticipation. She loved her counselor. He was answering all her questions and keeping the voices at bay.

"Very good, Gina. And remember to show him what you have learned just like you did today."

"How do I do that this time?"

"Well, last time he showed you how to accept your sexuality by masturbating in front of him. And what did you do for him this morning?"

"I masturbated in front of him," Gina said, her skin flush with pleasure.

"So what should you do tomorrow morning?"

Gina paused. Heat flared in her sex, and she let out a ragged breath. "Offer ... offer myself to him. For sex."

Roberta stroked Gina's hair. "Yes, that's correct. You're learning fast, I'm so proud of you."

Gina smiled. She was happy when she pleased her mother.

"Dinner won't be ready for a little while, dear. You have the afternoon to yourself if you want."

"May I take a walk a little later?"

"Yes, you may, if you're back in time to help me set the table."

"I will, Mom. Thank you."

Gina headed up the stairs. She stepped into her bedroom and uttered a little sigh of disappointment when there was no Brad waiting for her. She would have to make do herself.

She stripped off her clothes, lay on her bed, and sank her fingers into her needful pussy.

Richie normally preferred to be on top, as a clear signal that he was the one in command. But he could make exceptions, especially when they conformed to his own personal fantasies.

He lay on his back, Heather atop him, humping his cock and squeezing her own boobs like a porn star. He didn't believe he was controlling her. He knew what the sweet sense of control felt like. Yet she responded to his wishes anyway without having to vocalize them.

He wanted her to slam her hips so that their bodies slapped together, and she did. He wanted her to dangle her tits over him so he could grope them, and she did. He wanted her to turn around and hump him facing away so he could look at her ass and give it an occasional slap, and she did.

He directed their sex like a sleazy porn movie, and he loved every minute of it.

He felt smug, not just for the chance to fuck Heather again, but how it would piss off the Darkness. He tried to reach out to it, to taunt it into coming into his head now, but there was only silence.

Heather gasped, and her body trembled as she neared orgasm but climbed no further. Richie didn't want her there yet. He was still building up to one himself and didn't want her gushing all over him until he was nearly done.

Richie sensed he was going to have to change this arrangement. What Heather had said to him about bringing each other together popped into his mind unbidden. It triggered another thought, a memory of something he had heard in the cemetery. Something about presents.

Why would he be thinking of these things at a time like this, when all that should concern him was how he wanted to cum and in what part of Heather he wanted to do it?

Richie only now allowed himself to become aware of the others. Melinda sucked Jason's cock as if starved, and Diane buried her face in Melinda's pussy. His gaze lingered on Diane, tracing her slim body and graceful legs. He would love to have her as well as Heather.

He also refused to be an asshole again. She wasn't into guys and that was it.

Richie slapped Heather's ass one last time and clamped his hands around her hips. He yanked her down harder, each descent accompanied by a sharp slap of their bodies slamming together, his cock impaling her cunt hard until she begged for relief with her moans. The need to rearrange things grew more urgent, and it was coming from Heather.

His first reaction was resentment that she was trying to control him after all. His second reaction was to chastise himself for being an ungrateful bastard.

All right, for Chrissakes, I'll do it, he thought.

"Cassie, wait, we can't--"

"Ned, please, we have to, I can't calm down ... here, put my blouse on your jeans so it doesn't get soiled."

"But at least lemme find someplace we can--"

"There is no other place! This is the only thing we can do."

"But if we go back ta my place--"

"Harry is already suspicious about last time, and he'll insist on coming to the door to make sure someone's home."

"Jeez, Cassie, I don't know about this, I--"

"Ned, step back a moment so I can get my panties off."

"But right out here? You'll freakin' freeze your pretty little buns off!"

A deep moan. "I'm not shivering from the cold, Ned."

Clothes slid from Ned's body. "Mebbe yer not, but ... wait, what are you ... oh man ..."

Leaves crunched as Cassie spread her legs. Her fingers curled around Ned's cock. In a voice of annoyance, lust, and a hint of embarrassment, she said, "Ned, shut up and put this inside me now."

Ned was so stunned that he didn't move. All he could think about was the location. The edge of the greenbelt was only ten feet from them atop a gentle slope, the shore of the river only another twenty down. All someone had to do to see them was peer over the embankment.

Yet when Cassie's fingers squeezed his cock and tugged it towards her, his concern suddenly seemed trivial. Heather's influence had affected him as well, and Cassie touching his cock destroyed whatever resistance he had mustered.

He had to be honest with himself: there was something very erotic about doing it in the middle of mother nature.

Ned gave up on rational argument and descended on her. He plunged into her slick cunt with ease. Cassie gasped and grabbed his arms, pulling him down. With his cock buried deep inside her and her breasts squeezed against his chest, he ceased to notice the cold.

Cassie's mind reeled. This was a shocking experience for her, irrational but liberating, and the last thing her parents would ever want her to do. Not just sex with a "commoner," but wild, "dirty" sex. Part of her wanted to revel in this total break from her little rich girl reality.

Ned lay inside her, enjoying the tightness of her pussy, assuming Cassie would enjoy the fullness of his cock as she usually did. Yet only seconds later, she exhaled her next words as a soft moan into his ear, "Ned, please ... do it ... fuck me ..."

Cassie's cheeks flashed crimson. The words came from a different person, never having passed her lips before. They inflamed her lust anyway, her hips jamming against his body in a silent plea.

The words were an electric shock to Ned. He banged into her, dispensing with the slow buildup that she usually preferred. Cassie tried to restrain herself, but her pleasure rose too fast and too hard. She uttered a string of shrill cries as she soared.

In the throes of rising ecstasy, the focus of her emotions swayed. Even as Ned pounded into her harder and she strained at the edge of climax, images of the other Harbingers exploded in her head and seized her desires.

She saw herself with Jason, drawing his cock into her mouth.

She saw Heather touching her between her legs and cupping her breast.

She saw Melinda's face descending on her sex.

She saw Diane's pussy looming in her face.

Cassie gasped, her fists pounding the ground once on either side of her, as if trying to drive the images out of her head before consummating the tryst. She wanted no one but Ned and his cock in her thoughts when she came.

She clutched at Ned as an emotional anchor to ground her in reality. Him and no one else. She was alone with him. She was not with the others. She couldn't be with the others.

Cassie arched her back. Her thoughts dissolved, a strident moan passing her lips. Ned's breath was ragged, his buttocks clenching as his cock let go inside her.

For a moment Cassie thought she couldn't breathe, her orgasm so powerful that it seized all the muscles in her body, as if forcing them to throb to the same rhythm. Her breath became a shallow, staccato pant, and her surroundings swam in and out of focus. Something tugged hard at her psyche, and emotions that were not her own whipped and blew through her mind like a gale.

Oh, man, this is freakin' wild!

The total incongruity was not lost on Richie despite the unrelenting excitement. A week ago he felt alienated from them. Now he was in the middle of an orgy.

Or as he saw it, at the tail end of one, and it was just the "tail" that he wanted. Heather was on all fours, bent low so she could lick Diane's pussy, her ass thrust in the air just for Richie. Heather uttered a muffled, wet grunt into Diane's sex with each slap of her rear against Richie's body, his cock spearing Heather's tight and slick folds.

Richie loved this position. To him, a pussy was always the most helpless when it was framed by her thighs and topped with her ass cheeks. No way to cover it or pull away. All he had to do was grab her hips and dive in.

The setup was unreal, like one big chain of hot sex. Richie took Heather from the rear, Heather licked Diane, Diane licked Melinda, Melinda sucked Jason. He enjoyed watching Melinda on her haunches with Diane's head between her thighs at one end and Jason's cock fucking her mouth at the other.

And it blew his mind that Heather wanted it this way.

He didn't care how it happened. He was getting -- and giving -- the best fuck of his life.

Yes, the best. Better than anything he did at the House. Better than anything he did with Linda Davis. Better than anything his Mom did with him. He should have cum awhile ago. He crept closer each minute, just enough pleasure to keep him going but not so much that he was going insane waiting for the dam to burst.

What he really wanted was to feel Heather's dam burst, right when he was about to hit it.

He admitted he was feeling the strain. His butt and thighs hurt. His balls ached from swinging back and forth with his hard thrusts and their own swollen need.

Richie didn't get Jason and Melinda's complaints. He would be happy if Heather continued these orgies forever. Maybe next time Jason would let him take Melinda for a little ride. He'd love to see her humping him like a jackrabbit in heat. Or maybe suck down his cock. Jason looked like he was in heaven, so she must be good at it.

Yeah, that's what he would do. Melinda looked really sexy that way, sucking cock like it was the most delicious thing in the world.

His thoughts started to dissolve, floating away from him like bits of driftwood on a receding tide. A strange sense of disembodiment settled over him like a thickening fog. His hands tightened around Heather's hips, as if needing to anchor himself before he floated away.

His eyes became frantic as if looking for the source of these odd sensations. A sharp breath was drawn into his lungs as his pleasure spiked. He was pulled further into the fog, unable to turn away, the motions of sex automatic. Moans and cries crescendoed around him. His cock strained, and he willed himself to thrust faster and harder to push himself over, but had no awareness of whether his own body had obeyed him.

As lost himself to the mist, his cock let go.

His own loud groan of release was lost into a single, vocal vortex of climax. Heat gushed from Heather's pussy just as Richie's cock slammed home and burst into orgasm. He was indeed at the end of a chain, pulled towards the middle by his sexual union with Heather. Pleasure rippled from him and towards him, like someone had snapped one end of the chain, waves pulsing down to the other end and back. Each one was like another larger orgasm, a rhythm that joined with his own, drawing out his natural climax to unnatural length.

Before he could try to understand how it was happening, it was over. He teetered back from Heather, stumbled, and managed a controlled fall to the floor. His cock felt as if it were still throbbing, even as it became flaccid, a sensation that took another minute to fade, leaving behind a post-coital ache that reached up from his balls into his hips.

He lifted his head. The others were in similar states, lying in a daze, catching their breath, letting out small moans and tiny whimpers as their exquisite orgasms were reluctant to fade.

Heather lay on the floor, rolled onto her back. Her eyes were glazed and staring, her body stone-still. For a panicked moment, Richie thought he had hurt her somehow, until Melinda called out, "Did she zone-out again?"

Diane struggled to sit up, wiping her still-glistening face. "Yes, she did," she said in a worried tone.

Richie scaled back his panic, but he jumped to his feet and demanded, "What's wrong with her? It wasn't me, was it?"

"It's not you, Richie, she did the same thing last time ..."

Heather gasps, her body still reeling in orgasm, the pleasure of all the Harbingers flowing through her like a rush of water through a pipe. It crashes and crests, throwing up spray and foam into a thick mist around her. It spreads out from her, trying to find the others and pull them in.

She tries to reach into the minds of the others, to follow the thick tendrils of their mutual pleasure, to slip into their psyches at the moment of climax when it is easiest. She feels their minds and their wills, like bright beacons through the mist. She has but to gather them to her ...

She recoils, uttering a keening moan as their orgasms blast back to her, overwhelming her senses. She has gone as far as she dares, touching them far more intimately than mere sex.

It is not enough. They are not enough. She can see the two that remain as distant specks of light. She tries to pull them to her, but they are too far away.

"It must be complete."

Heather moans and struggles to stand, to turn her head to see who is speaking to her again.

"You cannot leave them out, Heather."

Heather whimpers, her orgasm finally relenting. "Wh-who ... who are you?"

"Bring them in. Please."

"I-I can't!"

"You must."

Heather sat up, gasping, her pussy still throbbing. "I won't! Not until you tell me what this is for! What am I doing? Why am I doing it? WHY CAN'T I STOP?"

A pause. Only silence for an eternity. Then:

"Because your lives depend on it."

Heather gasps. That voice. She knows it. She has heard it before.

"Time is running out, Heather."

The mist dissolves around her, and she is falling ...

"... wait, she's coming around!"

Heather rolled to her side with a moan. "Dammit ... I almost had it. I was almost there!"

"What's she talking about?" Richie said.

Melinda stood up. "Weren't you listening before? She said she got close to figuring this out last time."

"I thought we already figured it out. This is to make her have those visions and to protect her and all that shit."

Heather sighed as she sat up. "That's not the vision I had. It was ... Shit, I can't describe it, I don't have the right words."

Jason stepped up to the others. "Did everyone feel what I did at the end?"

"Like you were being sucked in?" Richie said.

"It's the same thing that happened to me last time, but stronger," said Diane. "Like I could feel what Melinda or Heather were feeling."

Richie grinned. "Yeah, that was fucking intense!"

Melinda eyed Richie, but she stopped short of any further snide remarks. Richie guessed what she was thinking: he was going brag or gloat, or spout off about how great a lay Heather was.

Richie wanted to. He wanted to shout to the rafters that he got to screw the girl whose panties every guy at Haven High wanted into. He was pumped that he got to fuck her again.

Heather stood up. "We have to do this again."

"What, now?!" Melinda screeched. "No way, Heather! Not after swallowing as much cum as I just did!" She waved a hand at Jason's nether regions.

Jason looked surprised and turned to her. "I don't think your average male ejaculates more than--"

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Jason, please don't nerd-out again after sex, okay? It's really annoying."

Jason fell silent, blushing.

Richie smirked. "Nerd-out after sex?"

"Yeah, he always says something after sex, like 'wow, we always all cum together' or something like that."

"Well, we do," Jason protested in a weak voice.

"Melinda, don't be stupid," Heather snapped. "I don't mean right now. Please, I'm really close. This feels important. I mean big-time important. I felt like someone was trying to talk to me."

"Oh great, now she's hearing voices," Melinda said.

"Wait, I remember! I remember trying to find out why I'm doing this, why ... I-I have to have everyone next time."

"What?!"

"Cassie and Ned, they have to do this. They have to be in on this."

"Because the little voices in your head told you? Yeah, that'll get them to do it, sure!"

"Melinda, stop being an ass for once and listen."

"Listen to what? You're not making any sense!"

Jason stepped forward and squeezed Melinda's hand. "Melinda, please calm down."

Melinda yanked her hand from Jason's and jumped back. "Don't tell me to calm down! Everyone, just stop telling me to shut up, or that I'm not helping, or that I'm just getting what I want with Jason anyway. I'm getting tired of it!"

"Well, aren't you getting what you want?" Richie asked, his tone casual.

Melinda glared at him. "Oh, you're one to talk, huh? You got what you wanted. You got to boink the big-boobed bubblehead! Maybe I want to have sex with Jason on my own terms sometimes and not because I'm forced into it, and not when I have to lick Heather's pussy or Diane's!"

The silence that followed was broken only by the labored breathing of Melinda's anger. Finally, Heather let out a forlorn sigh. "Melinda, I ... I don't know what to say."

Melinda's eyes widened. "Well, that's a first," she said, her voice still sharp but betraying genuine surprise.

"Look ... something is happening, something important. I heard someone in my head. Someone I know, but I can't figure out who."

"Heather, are you sure of that?" asked Jason. "You sure it wasn't one of us?"

"I'm positive, Jason."

"How do we know it isn't someone bad?" Melinda piped.

"Melinda has a point," Jason said.

Heather sighed and threw up her hands. "I know it sound nuts! I wish I could explain it, but ... Jason, I really think this is what the sex is about, that it's to get us to link together somehow."

"Maybe she's right," Diane said. "I did feel something, almost like I was sharing emotions with everyone, just for a little while near the end."

"And Mr. Nerd-Out said we always cum at the same time," Richie said, smirking. Jason glared at him. "What?" Richie said in a laughing voice.

"You did say that, Jason," Heather said.

"Several times," Melinda muttered.

Jason sighed. "This is really all circumstantial, dammit."

"Hey, man, it protected Heather earlier, right?" Richie said. "That link, I mean. So maybe that's what it is, something to protect Heather."

"I don't know if that's it," Heather said. "I mean, it might be right. I know everyone here wants to protect me."

Several eyes turned towards Melinda.

Melinda huffed. "Of course I want to protect her. I never said we shouldn't. But you saw Cassie before, and then Ned. No way they'll want to do it."

Jason ran a hand through his hair. "All right, let me think about this and talk to Cassie tonight."

He was not at all convinced that this was the answer. Or he simply didn't want it to be the answer. He was caught between two strong desires. He wanted to know his own mind again, but he also enjoyed the sex.

He feared he was using the sex to prove something. Logic dictated he had nothing to prove. He wasn't the sexually ostracized nerd anymore. He had friends, he had a girlfriend, and he no longer harbored an irrational crush on Heather.

Guilt still tugged at him over what happened the night of the Rite. He was the least qualified person to present such an option to Cassie.

Jason suddenly frowned. Melinda cast a questioning look at him, but he waved her off before gathering his clothes.

Again he didn't get a chance to tell them about the Book and the pendant. He saw this as proof that a bunch of teenagers could not be expected to handle this much responsibility.

Cassie clung to Ned for a long time after their orgasm had faded, a single shared climax that she knew had synchronized with the other Harbingers. She didn't want to let go, despite knowing that every moment they remained was a greater chance of discovery.

Ned finally nudged her, but made little more effort than that, save to say, "Hey, babe, we better get dressed."

Cassie sighed but nodded. She stood up and brushed the leaves and bits of dirt from her body. She fetched her underwear and scrutinized the rest of her clothing. "Well, my clothes are still clean, so Harry might not suspect anything. Ned, how does my hair look?"

Ned grinned. "Peachy as always."

Cassie smiled. "I mean, how is it really? Is it messed up?"

"Nah, not much. Jus' a little in the back." He paused a moment as he got dressed. "Um, so ... didja, well, feel that again like last time?"

Cassie nodded. "You did, too?"

"Yeah." He looked off in the general direction of the house. "This is nuts, babe."

"I know."

"Ya don't think we gotta ... uh, well, ya know ... with Heather an' the others ..."

Cassie shuddered. "I don't know."

"Ya certainly don't wanna."

The look she gave him was more sharp than she had intended. He was just stating a fact and not admonishing her. "Ned, can I ask you something?"

Ned smirked. "Yeah, here it comes."

"I'm sorry?"

"The real biggies are the ones that start with askin' if they can be asked."

"Oh, it's not ... well, I guess it is. What about you, Ned? Do you want to do it?"

Ned's smirk faded. He had guessed that would be the question but had held out some faint hope that it wasn't. "I can't answer that for all of me."

"I don't understand."

"Certain parts of me wanna do it. The business parts, if ya know what I mean. But up here ..." He tapped the side of his head with his finger. "I ain't so sure."

"What about when we have sex?"

Ned paused. "There's gotta be a trick question in there somewhere."

Cassie sighed. "No, Ned, I mean it."

"Of course I wanna do it. I like it every time we do it, even if it's kinda rushed."

"I really liked it better when it was slow, when we could take our time and build up to it. I don't mind being that, well, aroused, but I want to take more time to get there."

Ned nodded. "I hear ya, babe. I mean, ya gotta understand, there's a male thing goin' with me. Men tend ta like it however they can get it. Sorta wired inta us, I guess."

Cassie arranged her blouse. Her cheeks pinked. "I have to admit, I also liked it when, um, you did other things with me."

Ned grinned. "Jus' keep stokin' the ol' male ego, babe."

Cassie giggled. She missed this simple interaction. It was so intense and rushed anymore, not just the sex but everything else. Her blush deepened. "Well, I want to return the favor sometime, too."

"Oh? Oh! Wow. I mean ... ya don't hafta jus' ta please me ya know, if ..."

Cassie lay a hand on his chest. "Maybe I like pleasing you."

Ned leaned towards her before he realized what he was doing, and was surprised to see her rise to meet him. At the moment their lips touched, each had the thought that they would hold it for only a second, just a show of simple, sweet affection. More seconds passed, and their arms twined about each other, bodies drawing as close as they had been upon the ground.

By the time their mouths slid away from each other, Cassie was panting.

"I think we better stop there," Ned said in a strained voice. "Or I'm the one that'll need another round."

Cassie smiled and nodded, lingering another few seconds in his arms before pulling away from him. She had needed that, a reaffirmation of their feelings for one another. She was calm for the first time in days.

Little snow was left on the old road, save for sheltered patches at the base of the trees and around large boulders. The aspens had acted like a funnel that whipped the warmer air through, evaporating what was left. Rocky Mountain foothill fall weather was fickle that way; Gina hoped it would change before Halloween.

She always thought the holiday rather odd. The old stories of strange things happening in Haven always started up this time of year, portraying the day as a dark and grim harbinger of doom. Gina liked it when it snowed on Halloween and covered everything in simple, pristine white. She felt it balanced things somehow.

Though this year, even if it did snow, she was not going to be home to enjoy it. She had a date for the school party. The excitement came easy to her, a welcome warmth in her pussy rewarding her thoughts. How would that compare to a simple, quiet evening at home?

Gina slowed as she reached Old Fairview Drive. She willed her legs to move faster, but they remained reluctant to carry her any closer. She became conscious of the conflict only when she came to a standstill.

What had stopped her? What was she afraid of?

She heard a rustling noise ahead. Her legs trembled as if they wished to move again, but they carried her a step back instead. The thought came to her that it might be safer to choose a different route for her walk, such as along the edge of the fields across from her house.

Safer?

The rustling sound returned, like someone pacing on dried leaves and dead grass. Someone was inside the cemetery again. But the cemetery should be deserted. Abandoned. Comforting.

Comforting? Where did that come from?

She edged forward, the moment of confusion in her head allowing her to override the impulse seeking to drive her away, until she came alongside the fallen fencing marking the start of the cemetery. She peered past it and spotted the girl.

It was Stephanie again, sometimes sitting on the bench, sometimes popping to her feet again in a huff and peering down Old Fairview, sometimes pacing like a trapped animal. She stumbled occasionally, her heels failing to negotiate the gravel and soft earth.

The shoes may have been out of place, but Stephanie looked as if she would be at home in them anywhere else. It went with the rest of her attire, which fit her quite well, so Gina thought. Gina hoped she would look as good in such tight shorts or stretchy top.

Stephanie paced away from Gina, then whirled around to pace the other way and gasped when her eyes happened upon Gina.

"Hi," Gina said.

"Nice way to scare the hell out of me!" Stephanie protested. "Skulking around like that!"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't--"

Stephanie sighed and waved a hand. "Never mind. Look, you see anyone coming up the road there?"

Gina looked back the way she came and shook her head.

Stephanie frowned and fell onto the bench. "Dammit. He's supposed to be here. He's got to tell me what I'm supposed to do."

"Are you okay?" Gina asked.

"No, I'm not, if you must know."

"Did everything go okay with your boyfriend? You said you were--"

"Shhh!" Stephanie hissed. "Shit, if you're gonna insist on flapping your lips about it, you might as well come in here where everyone in Haven doesn't have to hear you."

Gina nodded. She hesitated at the fallen fence, then came around to the front and entered through the gate.

Stephanie craned her neck again to peer down the road. "Look, Gina, you seem like you got your head screwed on straight, even if you're a little weird. Maybe you can tell me something."

"I'll try," said Gina. "Is this about your boyfriend and sex?"

"Boy, nothing gets past you, huh? Okay, at least it means you've been listening to me. You know Matt Wilden?"

Gina shook her head.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "He's the ... all right, fuck it, never mind who he is, except that he's a friend of my boyfriend Jerry. He was ... he was there when I met Jerry today."

"When you met Jerry for sex you mean?"

Stephanie nodded, her eyes glistening. "I thought Jerry just wanted to hang with him for a bit and then send him away, you know, so we could go fuck. Well ... that's not what happened."

"You didn't get to have sex with Jerry?" Gina asked.

"I did! But ... Matt ... he was there, too ... he stuck around and ..."

Gina just looked at Stephanie, waiting for her to finish.

Stephanie slapped her hand against her forehead. "Connect the dots, why don't you?! I-I got fucked by both of them."

Gina's eyes widened. "At the same time?"

"Well, sometimes they took turns, and sometimes I had one of them in my twat while I ..." She trailed off and squirmed. "Oh, shit, just thinking about it is getting me horny again! This can't be right, can it?"

Gina stared at her, confused. She recalled her session with Victor and the wonderful sex she had. She'd gladly do it again with him.

With Brad.

(...trust...)

Gina blinked. "What?"

"I said, this isn't right, is it? I mean, d-doing with two guys at once? No one really does that. I ... dammit ... this is making me wet again ..."

(...proper...)

Gina had opened her mouth to speak, but the words were lost. The voice resonated in the recesses of her mind, echoing through her head like an eerie whisper in a large, quiet chamber. When she tried to discern it, it was like straining to pick a single voice out of a multitude.

Another contradiction, her psyche feeling both empty and overflowing at the same time. Why did Stephanie think Gina could solve her problems if Gina could not sort out her own head? And why was it happening again? Victor was supposed to stop this for her, he was supposed to make everything clear, just like her mother said.

Stephanie sighed and dropped her face into her hands. "This isn't helping. Look, no offense, but go away. I have to wait for my friend. He'll know what's wrong. He always does."

(... feels good to trust ...)

Gina's pussy was flush with pleasant warmth. Her thighs parted, then tensed and bolted her from the seat as if it had become red hot. She spun around, eyes wide.

Stephanie looked up. "Look, I'll talk to you some other time. Maybe after the weekend. God, Jerry wants me to meet him tomorrow, and if he brings Matt again ... Gina, just go!"

Gina swallowed and barreled out of the cemetery, ignoring the gate and vaulting the fallen fencing instead. She was halfway down the old road back to her house before she realized she was running as if the devil were at her back.

She slowed and leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She looked back towards the other end of the road. The conversation replayed in her head. She thought about Brad again, and her tryst with him in the counselor's office.

For just a second, it was Victor instead of Brad with his cock inside her pussy.

Jason slipped off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He leaned back in his chair, springs squeaking into a silent, tense air. His father had to stay late again at the hospital, and his mother was livid about it, as hard as she tried to appear not to be. Despite his isolation in his room, the tension seemed to permeate the entire house.

He had spent another wearying hour poring over Elizabeth's journal, and as he looked up at the darkness outside his window, he realized it was time to do what he had been putting off all evening.

Jason trudged over to the phone, picked it up, and dialed.

The phone was answered after the fourth ring. "Hello, Jason," Cassie said in a wary voice.

"Hello, Cassie."

Silence for another long moment. Jason was about to force himself to speak when Cassie cut in. "Find anything new in the journal?"

"No, not really. Elizabeth liked to have several projects going at once. She was a bit flighty, jumping from one to the other. All I know so far is that she started to do some research into harnessing sexual energy in 1960. She got as far as finding couples that were willing to volunteer as test subjects of a sort."

"Test subjects? For what kind of experiment?"

"She explored the idea of awakening latent paranormal abilities. The couple would have sex, and then she would immediately test them to see if they could accomplish simple tasks requiring paranormal talent. I can't say that I think she would have gotten anywhere with that, but at least she was using the scientific method."

"So she never found anything?"

"I haven't gotten through the whole thing. Her initial experiments didn't appear to produce anything, but she insists she 'felt' something."

Cassie was silent for a few seconds. "Sort of like how I felt it when the rest of you were ... well, what you were doing at the meeting place."

"Wait, you felt us?"

"At the moment of orgasm," Cassie said in a lower voice. "Ned did, too. I think we, um, climaxed at the same time as the rest of you."

Another long, awkward silence.

"Cassie, I really don't want to ask this but--" Jason began.

"Jason, I've been thinking about this and I--" Cassie burst out at the same time.

"You first," Jason said.

Cassie let out a deep breath. "All right. I've been thinking about this, and I talked to Ned about it. I don't think we're going to be able to avoid, well, getting involved. It's going to happen sooner or later. Heather's just going to keep at us until we give in." She sighed. "I don't know, maybe I am just being paranoid and she's not really--"

"No, I think you're right," Jason said. "From what Heather told us today, anyway." He recounted what Heather had told them.

"Do you have any idea who is trying to talk to her?" asked Cassie.

"She's convinced she knows the voice somehow."

"But that could mean anything."

"Yeah, I know."

"But she still has no Aura, right?"

"None of us can see anything on her. Cassie, this is driving me nuts! Nothing is making sense! Ms. Hollis has an Aura and is trying to control Heather, yet Heather never has one."

"And do you really think what Heather wants us to do will somehow protect her?"

"I honestly don't know. Everything we know about this is circumstantial. And then there's how Heather and Richie and the rest of the class are all seeing different things. It's weird, it's like someone is messing with our concept of reality!"

"But it has to be from the Darkness, right? Some new power it has to prevent us from seeing what it's doing?"

Jason shook his head. "Cassie, even though what's happening in Haven is beyond the bounds of science, it still has to follow some sort of consistent rules. It has to have some sort of structure. I can't believe that the Darkness can arbitrary change them on a whim or we would never have made any gains against it in the first place. It would just snap its fingers, change the rules, and we'd lose."

Cassie was silent for a few seconds before she ventured, "Maybe if ... if Ned and I participate next time ... maybe Heather will figure something out."

"Cassie, do you really want to do that?"

"Of course I don't want to!" Cassie snapped. "I'm scared I'm going to lose myself in it, or that I'll want to do it to someone else. Even the idea I might want to do that again frightens me!"

Jason knew what the unspoken question was: why can he and the others do it so easily when she can't?

"Jason, I-I'm scared that I might want to do it with others more than I want to be with Ned."

Jason bit his lip. From the way her voice was quavering, it took a lot for her to admit that.

"And I'm scared that maybe it's not benevolent at all, that someone's working through Heather to enslave all of us."

"What does Ned think?" Jason asked.

"He doesn't like it either, but he's more laid back about it. He's more concerned about what I would think of him doing it with someone else."

"I don't know what to tell you, Cassie. You have to decide this yourself. No one can force you."

"That's just it, I think I will be forced if I don't give in myself. I'm cutting my losses by agreeing to it now. I just have two conditions before I do it. First, I want to see if Richie joining in today really did anything. Second, I want to talk to Heather ahead of time, maybe in the morning when she's not so aroused."

"I think that's more than fair. What about Ned?"

"He'll do it if I do it. He thinks that if there's a chance it will help Heather or the Harbingers, he should do it. He's really dedicated to the group."

"All right. Maybe if you can get to school a little early tomorrow morning so you can catch Heather before class."

"I'll try, Jason."

"Okay. So, see you tomorrow then?"

"See you ... oh, wait, one more thing. Would you happen to know someone by the name of Stephanie Fowler?"

"You mean at school?"

"Yes." Cassie paused. "Well, anywhere. School, around town, whatever."

Jason grabbed the phone and plopped himself into his chair. "I don't know the name from school." He turned towards the computer and propped the phone between his shoulder and chin. He started typing into his web browser.

Cassie heard the clicking. "Oh, well, you don't have to look it up now, I just ..."

"Hey, I found something just on a simple Google search for her name and 'Haven.' Hold on." He paused as he read. "Cassie, where did you hear that name from?"

"Well, I ... um, why, what did you find?"

"I found an article on unsolved crimes in Haven. Apparently a teen named Stephanie Fowler disappeared on Halloween night in 1984. A few days later a fire burned down an old barn on the edge of town and her body was found inside. No one knows how she got there, or how the fire started."

Silence.

"Cassie?"

"Yes? Oh, um ... how interesting."

Jason straightened in his chair. "Are you all right? You sound--"

"I'm fine. Thanks for looking for me, but I'm sure the person I ... the name I saw was a different Stephanie."

"Well, there is more than one Stephanie at Haven High from what I saw in the school records. Maybe you were thinking of Stephanie Feller? She's a senior on the cheer-leading squad."

"Yes. Yes! That must be it. Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow, Jason. Good night."

"Sure. Good night."

Feedback

Did you like this story? Hate it? Printed it and lined the birdcage with it?

Please take a moment to send me some comments about this story. Your comments may remain anonymous if you prefer, or you can include an email address in your comments if you wish a reply.

Since this is a multi-part story, you may wait until the last chapter to send feedback about the story as a whole if you wish.