Charles fell silent at the other end of the call. Victor waited with the cell phone held to his ear as he sat behind the closed door of his office, unmoving. Finally came Charles' somber reply, "I am not sure I can do as you ask, Victor."

"You do not need to include yourself in the task, Charles," said Victor. "I will absolve you of any wrongdoing in refusing to assist."

"Let me rephrase that, then. I am not sure the cult can do as you ask."

"I do not see why not. It is unlikely that the Harbingers know of its existence. They would have no warning."

"That is not what I meant!"

Victor remained silent in an unspoken bid for an explanation.

"Forgive me, Victor, but are you sure you are thinking this through?" Charles asked, some exasperation creeping into his voice.

"I think everything through. I make no rash decisions. Even those that prove to be wrong have enough meticulous thought around them to allow me to analyze why they went wrong."

"And what do those thoughts tell you about how your suggested scheme can go wrong?"

Victor allowed himself a small sigh. "I did not say that I was a prognosticator. I can only analyze failure after it has happened."

"Except when you cannot afford to fail," said Charles. "As is this case."

"I am aware that what I am asking is unusual."

"Unusual? Try blatantly illegal. I am not sure even your power could adequately cover your tracks if we are discovered! What happened to working behind the scenes?"

"That was fine when we had the advantage of secrecy," said Victor. "We do not have that luxury now where these Harbingers are concerned."

"It is your secrecy that they have penetrated, not that of the cult," said Charles. "Yet you would have us break ours."

"And are you placing a higher importance of one over the other?"

Charles was silent for a few seconds. "That is not quite what I meant."

"The cult is useless to me unless I can draw upon its resources in time of need. I have a need for them. They will do as I say."

"Then why talk to me about it?"

"Because I had hoped you would coordinate it and free up my time in dealing with Gina."

A sigh came over the call. "Are you truly having that many problems with her?"

"I am overcoming them, but it requires my full attention. I am forced to instill much energy into my avatar to keep her focused. I will do this without you if I have to, Charles, but you are the only one I would trust to command the cult in my stead."

"You are putting me in a very difficult position. It is one thing for the cult to help influence others into doing our bidding, or to prevent them from noticing our activities, or even to permanently change someone who is troublesome, but we have never resorted to outright kidnapping."

"Yet is that not what we ultimately do each year?"

"Once a year, Victor," Charles said, frustrated. "And after careful arrangement and preparation. And this year you tell me it is moot anyway as the girl's mother has somehow already agreed to this."

Victor heard the hint of disbelief in Charles' voice. He had not shared details of his experiment with anyone, not just to cover his tracks but to avoid a backlash. He recognized the possibility that even his own trusted people would find his scheme so revolting that he could lose his influence over them. He could not afford to take that risk.

"This is temporary," said Victor, his voice short. "It is intended to intimidate only. She will be enslaved and sequestered for a short time to make a point, then released from our control with full memory of what happened to her. Nothing further will be done except keep her naked and sexually aroused, but we will maintain the threat that we can and will do more."

"And what if they do not react as you wish? What if they attempt a rescue and force a direct confrontation with you?"

Victor paused and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He loathed the idea of engaging in arbitrary sex with the under-aged, either himself or his cult. The Halloween night ceremony was the only exception and was a necessity. Breaking that unspoken rule with Gina had been as abhorrent as it had been necessary. He had no desire to allow the rule to be broken again.

"You will be forced to follow through on your threat," Charles continued when Victor did not reply. "Otherwise they will call your bluff and do as they please anyway. Or worse, contact the authorities."

"I am not as worried about that. It is unlikely they would be believed."

"Unless the police receive word by then that the girl is missing!"

Victor smiled. "Her mother is unlikely to interfere once I speak with her. And she can take care of her husband with a likely story that she can make him believe."

"Even when one of the children contacting the police is the daughter of the Kendalls?"

"Only if the Kendalls themselves became involved. Considering their self-centered lifestyles, it is unlikely they will give credence to their child's fairy tale, or desire to lift a finger to help a bunch of lower-class peons even if they did."

Charles sighed. "There's still too much that could go wrong. Is this even necessary, Victor, when Halloween is only five days away?"

"This has a dual purpose," Victor said. "One of the Harbingers has something I want. An artifact."

"An artifact? What kind?"

"I am not at liberty to say. But it is important that I get it back."

"And you will ransom this girl for it?"

Victor frowned. "I will do no such thing. No, this will be an example of what I can do. I will let fear and paranoia work for me. To keep her a constant hostage would be to encourage bravery and attempts at rescue. The initial shock of taking her will prevent them from forming a coordinated response and leave them open to negotiation. These are teenagers, Charles. They emote first and think later. I intend to take advantage of that."

Charles was silent.

"This is the only way now, Charles," said Victor. "If I had more time, I would be able to use my power to convince them to hand me the artifact and deter them from further investigation into my true agenda."

"And you cannot use hypnosis? You told me you could combine it with your power to make it more effective in the short term."

Victor's jaw tensed. He was tired of keeping secrets for the Darkness. It wanted no hint to be made of the link that the Harbingers had managed to forge between them, a link that could interfere with his hypnotic techniques. With Diane he had been fortunate enough to implant a trigger before the bond was formed.

"I have my reasons for why that is not feasible. I cannot stay on the phone all morning. I need your answer. Will you do as I ask or not?"

Charles was silent for a few seconds. "I will do it. No one else in your organization would really know how to keep this away from prying eyes. I will prepare a place for the girl in the old church."

"No, not the old church."

"But that is the easiest place to--"

"Anywhere but the old church, Charles. Perhaps if it comes down to Halloween night before this is resolved, I will allow the church to be used, but by then my power and that of the cult will be at their peak, and we can erase their minds of the whole matter."

"All right, I will try to work out something. I will use my own mansion if I must."

Victor smiled. "Thank you, Charles. I will remember this."

"Before you go, Victor, I do have one other question for you," said Charles. "I wish to know if you have sensed anything unusual from your avatar in Lydia."

Victor swung his chair around and watched the snow fall just past the window. "Why do you ask?"

"Her restlessness at night grows worse. Worse than I remember it."

"I did sense a strong presence in her mind early this morning," Victor replied. "The core remnant of her old personality surges like this at the same time every year."

"Should this concern us?"

"Not at all. Lydia is too far under my control. No one else could be in her mind without my knowledge, and any attempt would get no further than that remnant."

"And what of Cassie Kendall, the one you claim has some sort of 'Dream Gift?'"

Victor had considered Cassie in his plans. He had learned from the Darkness all it knew of the girl's power, and from that he had concluded that it was passive in nature. The presence of his avatars in Gina and Lydia shielded them from her ability. Their minds simply did not exist to her.

"I do not believe it will be a problem," Victor said.

"Very well. You know more about how your avatars work than I do. I will begin preparations this afternoon and inform you when we are ready. Good day."

Victor lifted the cell phone from his ear and flipped it closed. He let out another sigh.

Very good, the Darkness thought. It would be best to keep the Harbingers away from the line that runs under the old church.

Victor shielded his true reasons for barring the Harbingers from the church. The Harbingers had no means to discover his plans, as the only possible evidence lay in a moldering cemetery, but he refused to be complacent. No location associated with his cult or his plans would fall under Harbinger scrutiny.

He put his cell phone away and consulted his avatar within Gina. He frowned at the feelings of confusion and doubt. None of these had been present before she had entered Terri's class. Yet the idea that Terri would dare to work against his plans was unthinkable.

The Darkness spoke in his mind with abject lust. I can take her any time. Give me leave and I will. I can make her entertain you as you wish.

"She may still be useful to me," said Victor. "We will wait until after the ceremony on Halloween night."

Heather clutched the sides of her desk, unable to hear anything that Ms. Hollis was saying. The entire lesson flew by her in an unintelligible blur.

The voice that still spoke in the recesses of her mind sounded like a warped version of her own, as if Ms. Hollis had commandeered part of her own psyche to use against her. Heather resisted falling to it, but it would not stop affecting her body.

She leaned forward until her bosom brushed the top of her desk. The shaft of the dildo rubbed her clit hard with each slow and steady pump of her hips, lifting her to heights of straining pleasure.

The link was stronger than she had assumed. The others were feeding her energy despite her refusal to draw it from them. She turned her head and peered through stray strands of hair. She could no longer see anyone else doing it. She had disbelieved that much of her false reality.

But no matter how hard she tried, the dildo would not be wished away.

It's got to be real, Heather thought. I'm humping a real dildo.

She was starting to understand how it worked. If she accepted any part of her altered perception as real, it would feed back on itself and make other parts of the forced fantasy easier to believe as well. Yet if she continued to fight against something that did not need to be fought, it would only waste time and energy.

She had to fight the right battle, and she had to decide what that was before the dildo made her cum, or her rationality would be lost to the ecstasy.

Heather gasped as her pleasure soared. She couldn't slow down. Her hips continued moving as they were expected to do. The rhythm was relentless and maddening.

Oh, God, this is going to be a mess! Heather thought. It'll get all over me and run down ... okay, the dildo is real. It's real! But I have to stop humping it!

(hump like you're supposed to)

Heather shuddered. Her hips paused at the top of their arc and trembled.

(hump it)

Her hips shuddered and inched downward. The dildo squished into her again. "Unnggh ...!"

(HUMP)

Not right not right not right ... not ... right ...

Heather let out a loud, ragged moan. Her pussy gushed onto the seat, splashing hot cum over the insides of her thighs and onto her blouse. It dripped over the front of her seat and trickled down her calves.

She lost her protests in the paroxysms of her orgasm. Her hips rose one more time and came down, renewing her climax and squirting the seat with another small splash of cum. Her pussy throbbed hard around the thick dildo, and her cunt clenched it like a vise, her climax reverberating up into her body.

For the moment, the sweet ecstasy of her orgasm was her universe. Her mind wanted to rejoice that Ms. Hollis could provide her all the orgasms she could ever want. She just had to keep humping. She could have another one right away. Then after classes ...

Then after school ...

Then ...

Her hips shuddered again. The link burned through the haze of bliss like a lighthouse through the fog.

(Keep humping it)

She understood something else now: when she heard the voice, it meant she was resisting; when she couldn't hear it, it was already one with her.

(Do as you're supposed to)

Heather's hips started to rise again, faltered, and fell back. Heather jerked as her fading climax flared once more.

(Hump)

It would be so easy. The dildo was so nice and thick. She loved how it felt so snug in her tight pussy.

(Hump)

She lifted her hips. She wasn't going to do it. She was going to rise right off the dildo and remove the temptation. She pulled back until only the thick head of the dildo remained in her folds, but that was as far as she could manage. She whimpered as she impaled herself on it again.

(Hump it)

Even that one slow stroke of the dildo against her clit sparked a renewed rise. She buried the dildo inside her once more but then remained on her seat.

(HUMP IT)

Heather clenched her teeth. NO!

(HUMP IT LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO)

Now it was just another voice yelling at her. Perhaps Ms. Hollis had used a real dildo because she knew that an imaginary one wouldn't cut it. Ms. Hollis wasn't getting anywhere with her mind tricks.

(HUMP IT)

GO FUCK YOURSELF!

She waited for another assault, but now even the voice had fallen silent. She didn't dare lift herself off the dildo. The least bit of renewed pleasure and she would slip back into the manufactured reality.

Heather remained as still as possible, despite how messy and sticky she felt. She glanced down at herself and saw several large stains on her blouse.

She twisted her hips and felt the dildo turn inside her. She bit her lip to suppress a moan, and she shook with the urge to hump again. She let out a ragged sigh as a shadow passed over her. She lifted her head and flinched as Ms. Hollis' stony gaze fell on her.

"See me after class, Miss Sovert," Ms. Hollis snapped.

Heather nodded, not trusting her throat to work. She ducked her head as Ms. Hollis passed and looked around with shimmering eyes. She wondered what the rest of the class saw when they looked at her. She glanced at Brad. He was writing in his notebook, oblivious.

She can keep a separate reality going for the class and yet I still fought her off? Heather thought in astonishment.

The other students started gathering their belongings. Ms. Hollis was announcing the homework assignment. She would have to remember it until she got to her next class. When everyone prepared to leave, Heather held her breath and eased herself off the dildo. It issued a faint, wet sound as it emerged from her pussy.

Heather suppressed a moan as she struggled to her feet. Her cunt ached and felt stretched. Her thighs and calves were damp. She had nothing with which to wipe them or her sex. She frowned as she dressed over the wet mess.

She sniffed. I smell like a fucking whore.

"Miss Sovert, please don't dawdle," said Ms. Hollis as the class emptied.

Heather adjusted her blouse as best as she could so the stains would not be as noticeable and picked up her book-bag. Her heart pounded as she approached the desk. "Yes, Ms. Hollis?"

Ms. Hollis glanced towards the door to watch the last of the students leave. She gave Heather a saccharine smile. "I don't know what you think you're playing at here, but it won't work."

"I don't understand, Ms. Hollis."

"You're not playing by the rules."

"By what rules?"

"Whatever rules I happen to invent."

Heather remained silent, though her eyes betrayed curiosity.

"Don't look like you don't know what I mean by that, either," Ms. Hollis sneered. "Let's stop with the games, shall we?"

Heather sighed. "Fine. You're not going to get anywhere with this. I know what you're trying to do to me."

"I don't know how you are resisting, and I don't care. But I will not tolerate it any longer. You have detention tomorrow."

Heather stared. "Wait, what?"

Ms. Hollis smiled. "Detention. With me."

"But why? I mean, you can't just tell the school you're giving me detention because you want to fuck with my head!"

Ms. Hollis raised a finger. "Temper, Miss Sovert. And watch your language before a teacher. You were late for class this morning, that is more than enough."

"I was late because I was talking with Mr. Seeger!"

"About your wonderful grades, perhaps? Or your stunning classroom achievements?"

Heather gripped the strap of her book-bag and let out a strained sigh through her nose.

"Or was he reprimanding you for some other transgression?"

"What difference does it make?" Heather cried. "You can't give me detention just for that!"

"Then I will cite your falling grades. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you will be in this classroom tomorrow no more than five minutes after the last bell."

Heather opened her mouth, then slammed it shut. Her hands clenched into fists.

Ms. Hollis gave her a sultry smile. "You wish to say something, Miss Sovert?"

"This doesn't make any sense," Heather declared. "What's the point? What makes you think you can get me after school if you can't during class?"

"If you're that confident in your ability to resist me, then it should be no trouble for you no matter when we do it."

Heather had no ready comeback. It dawned on her now that with no classroom full of students requiring an alternate reality, all Ms. Hollis' power could be directed at her.

"Last bell, five minutes, no later," Ms. Hollis said. "Now go."

Heather lingered another moment just to spite Ms. Hollis before spinning on her heel and storming out.

"I don't get it," Jason said.

Heather banged on the lockers once with her fist. "What the hell is there to get? She can't get to me in class so she's going to try to get to me alone."

"No, I don't mean that. Why is she waiting a day? She could just put you in detention today."

"Jason, we beat her!" Melinda cried. "We beat Ms. Hollis without even really trying! Maybe she needs to go recharge or something. She ..." Melinda trailed off and sniffed, wrinkling her nose.

"I don't think it works like that," said Ned. "Yeah, Jason's right, something stinks 'bout this."

"I'll say." Melinda leaned towards her sister and sniffed again. "Oh, eww, Heather, you smell like--"

"Yes, I know what I smell like, midget, thanks for the news flash," Heather said through clenched teeth. She turned her head. "Diane, I'm sorry, I'm going to be late for lunch. I want to see if I can get a quick shower between P.E. classes."

Diane just nodded and remained silent. She had spoken not a word since they had all gathered in the hall after third period. She was afraid she would regret anything she might say to Jason. She could not tell if the furtive looks from him were from anger or guilt.

I can't even read other people's emotions right, never mind the Auras, she thought.

"I'm just thankful for the reprieve," Cassie said in a shaky voice. "I'm not sure I could take more of that today."

"Yeah, not ta mention some of us gots places ta be today," Ned said.

Cassie glanced from him to Richie and Jason. "Yes, well, only if you find anything on the internet about that."

"What's this?" Jason asked.

Ned jerked a thumb at himself. "I'm gonna go diggin' fer a grave, so ta speak. Specifically one Stephanie Fowler."

"Huh? Who?" Melinda asked.

"A girl that died twenty one years ago in Haven," said Jason. "She disappeared on Halloween night and turned up a few days later dead in a barn fire on the edge of town."

"And I've been seeing her in my dreams," Cassie said. "And ... in person, too."

"What?!" Melinda cried. "No you haven't!"

"Melinda, stop it," Heather said.

"There's no such thing as ghosts, okay?!"

"I don't think it's a ghost either, Melinda," Cassie said, trying to sound confident. "It can't be. I'm thinking Ned won't find anything."

Richie eyed Cassie as he spoke. "Yeah, okay, and what if you do, huh? What was your big plan?"

Cassie opened her mouth but could not get the words out. She looked at Ned and Jason.

"Let's talk about it at lunchtime," Jason said. "We need to get going before Seeger shows up."

"Yeah, always wanted to talk about graves over lunch," Richie grumbled.

"One run-in with the school's vice-poobah is enough fer me in a day," Ned said as he headed away with Cassie.

"I need to stop by my locker, Diane," said Heather. "I've got a bottle with some perfume left in it. Maybe I can cover up the odor until I can get that shower."

Diane nodded and stepped alongside her lover. Richie turned away as well, expecting Jason to fall into step next to him. He stopped when he realized Jason had not moved.

"Diane, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jason called out.

Heather and Diane turned and exchanged a glance.

"Uh ... yes, I guess so," Diane said. "I'll catch up, Heather."

Heather nodded and left. Richie was about to head off as well when he spotted Melinda looking at him. When he turned his head towards her, her eyes widened, and she fled down the hallway. Richie raised an eyebrow and followed.

"What is it?" Diane said, unable to make her words sound anything less than a challenge.

"I want to apologize for what I did," Jason said. "For not telling you what was going on."

Diane shook her head. "Forget it. It's okay."

"No, it's not. I don't care how much sense it might have made at the time, it's not fair to you."

Diane sighed. "Look, I ... I thought maybe I was mad at you, but really, I'm mad at myself."

"I didn't mean for you to--"

"No, just listen to me. If I was a little stronger, Victor wouldn't have screwed me up in the first place. I'm the weakest one of the group. It's really that simple."

"It doesn't have to be that way anymore. Not with this link between all of us."

"I really don't know how much it's going to help me, to be honest. Sometimes I think I'm just supposed to be this way, just someone that does the dirty work."

Jason sighed. "I didn't think that at all."

"I'm thinking it. I'm just a ... a ..."

(slave)

Diane paused.

"Just a what?" Jason prompted after a few seconds.

(slave to the Harbingers)

Diane shook her head. "Nothing. I'm sorry, go on. What were you saying?"

"Just that I don't intend to do it again. Yes, we all have to try to pull together, but everyone has to do it of their own free will."

"That excludes me, too. I don't know what else Victor may have put in my head."

This was not going as well as Jason had hoped, but he had no way to salvage it. "Um, well, anyway, I better get on to class. Again, I'm sorry."

Nothing would come to Diane in response. She could only watch Jason depart before she turned away.

Heather cursed under her breath as she looked at the dried flakes stuck to the bottom of the neglected bottle of perfume. "Great. Just fucking great."

She slammed the bottle down and shoved it further into her locker, burying it once more under an old, torn jacket. After she finished exchanging her books, throwing each of the old ones in with enough force to strike the back of the locker, she felt a presence next to her. "Long shot, Diane, but do you have any perfume in your locker, or deodorant, or something?"

"Miss Sovert."

Heather flinched and jerked her head around, freezing in place.

Seeger paused. His eyes alighted on the stains on her blouse. He sniffed the air once.

The silence was too much for Heather to bear. "What did I do now?"

"Are you quite all right, Miss Sovert?"

Heather hesitated. The tone of voice was nothing she had expected. From anyone else it would have been genuine concern. "Uh ... yeah, I guess."

"You are sure?"

Could he actually smell her? The idea both embarrassed and revolted her. She tried to ignore the blush that rose to her cheeks.

Seeger, however, did not, and backed up a step. "My apologies, Miss Sovert."

Heather gaped. Seeger? Apologizing?

Seeger cleared his throat and folded his hands behind his back, his face now an officious mask. "Miss Sovert, while I did not condone your actions earlier, I do wish to make it clear that I am not your enemy. In fact, if you ever have a problem at this school with another student or faculty, I would prefer you bring it to my attention."

Heather had no idea what to say. She just nodded.

Seeger cleared his throat again. "Well. Good day, Miss Sovert."

He marched past her and down the hall, leaving Heather to stare at his back. Diane approached, her steps cautious until Seeger was a safe distance away. "Heather, what was all that about?" she asked in a low voice.

"I have no freaking clue," Heather said. She stared until Seeger had disappeared down another corridor. "Either something very kind or something very creepy. I don't know which one yet."

Melinda had glanced behind her and knew who was following her. She considered running in hopes of exchanging her books at her locker before he got close but could not bring herself to follow through. Her shoulders slumped, and she let off a short, noisy sigh as she opened her locker.

She glanced at him as he drew close. "So what do you want?" she said in as neutral a voice as she could muster.

Richie grinned and leaned against the lockers. "Still hot for me?"

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah, real smooth."

"Didn't answer the question."

Melinda lifted her chin. "I thought you weren't going to try and take it if I didn't offer," she said, though there was a tiny tremor to her voice.

"Still not."

"Then what's the point of bugging me? Think I'm going to throw myself at you like Heather wants to with Ned?"

"That'd be cool."

Melinda made a revolted noise, but it was half-hearted at best. "You're such a pervert."

"So that's how you like your guys, huh?"

Melinda turned and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, this is silly! I'm Jason's girlfriend and you're actually hitting on me. You don't see how creepy that is? Think I'm going to just drop everything and have sex with you?"

"That why your voice is doing that?"

Melinda stared in confusion, but her hips squirmed. "Huh?"

"Getting all sexy like that."

Her exasperated sigh came out more like a pant.

Richie smirked and nodded towards her chest. "Nice nipples."

Melinda folded her arms over her bosom, but just the light brush against the raised bumps made her shiver with need. She bowed her head and hid her eyes with a hand. "Heather is so dead. If the Darkness or Ms. Hollis doesn't get her first, I'm going to kill her myself."

Her gaze jerked upward when Richie took another step towards her. Melinda's eyes widened, and one foot twitched backwards, but she remained where she was. "You're just taking advantage of me."

"So you don't want me to fuck you?"

"I only want it because it's making me want it!"

"Yeah, and maybe doin' it with me ain't so bad."

Melinda shifted her legs as a ragged sigh of both desire and frustration passed her lips. "God, why do I bother with panties anymore, they never stay dry anymore."

Richie grinned.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Melinda said.

"You really think it'll be so horrible, huh?"

Melinda forced regular breaths. "I-I didn't much like it back at the House," she said in a small voice.

"So you think I'm still like that?"

"Are you?"

Richie looked surprised at the question and hesitated. "I dunno."

"So you're going to use me to find out?"

Richie shrugged. "I guess."

"But that's ... uhng ..." Melinda moaned and shuddered.

Richie grinned. "Makin' you hot?"

Melinda bit her lip to suppress another moan. She raised her trembling hands and staggered back. "I h-have to get to class, Richie."

"Look, just think about it, okay?" Richie called out. "Maybe I'm not as bad as you think."

"O-okay, whatever," Melinda quavered. She grabbed her books and ran down the hallway, almost crashing into two other students.

Richie's grin faded as she retreated. "I'm not as bad as you think," he said in a low voice, though he was not sure that he was listening any more than Melinda.

Cassie dashed to her locker after her last class before lunch to put her books away and beat Jason and Richie to the cafeteria. She much preferred to pick a seat further removed from the other students. While her fellow Harbingers no longer seemed to care, she still felt uneasy about their discussions being overheard.

Cassie was about to walk away from her locker when Ned ran up to her. "Hey, babe, wait a mo'."

"Will it be quick, Ned?" Cassie asked in a harried tone. "I want to get some lunch. I feel so drained from everything that happened this morning."

"I just wanna make sure yer not mad at Heather," Ned said. "Or me fer that matter."

Cassie gave him a confused look. "Mad at you for what?"

"Dunno if ya heard, but Heather sorta really came on ta me after--"

Cassie nodded. "Yes, I know all about that," she said in a flat voice.

"And ya ain't mad?"

"I'm not thrilled about it, but no, I'm not mad." When Ned looked guilty, Cassie added, "And yes, that's still true even if you want to do it with her."

"Not sure I really have a choice," Ned said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, if I got upset with you over any feelings you have, I'd be a hypocrite."

It took a moment for the implication to sink in. "Wait, yer havin' problems in that department, too?"

"I didn't really notice it until a little while ago just because of everything else that had me upset. I don't want to go into it too much right now. Not here, anyway."

"Couldya at least lemme know who it is?"

Cassie wanted to protest that it didn't really matter, but she could find no reasonable excuse for keeping it a secret. "It's Jason," she said in a low voice.

"Ah, okay."

"Well, it's not. I don't mean so much that I want to ... um ... but that the way I ..."

"Huh, yeah, mebbe we don't need ta go there."

Cassie's sex tingled. I almost told him, Cassie thought. I almost said exactly what I was thinking about Jason.

"Hey, uh, I need ta get ta the library if I wanna do some surfin'," said Ned as he retreated. "I'll catch up with ya later."

Cassie nodded and waved before she departed as well.

Gina was grateful for the chance to remove her clothes. The looks the boys gave her had made her pussy so hot and her nipples so hard that her clothing felt too confining.

Her earlier doubts were wiped away as she stood before Victor in his office. His admiring looks kept her excited and wet, and reassured her that this was exactly what she was supposed to be doing.

"I see," said Victor in a low voice after Gina had told him what had happened in her third period class. He steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair.

"I am sorry for my confusion," Gina said, her voice soft and faintly husky. "Ms. Hollis was the only teacher that said anything."

"The fault was hers. You did as you should."

Gina smiled. "Thank you."

"You may please me now by lying on the sofa and masturbating slowly."

Gina's pussy ached in anticipation. She stretched herself out, her head propped up on a cushion against the hand rest at one end. She lowered one foot to the floor and slipped her hand over her mound. She moaned as her fingers dipped into her slick folds.

Victor closed his eyes and immersed himself in Gina's avatar, letting his psyche wander inside Gina's mind.

His plans were finally going more to his satisfaction. More of Gina's mind was slaved to the will of his avatar. The scattered bits of resistance were thwarted in their attempts to coalesce into a single core, as it had with Stephanie.

The life-long training from Roberta had not been for naught. Gina had no real "former self" to retreat to like all the other girls he had taken. She had only what she could manufacture out of the last few years of Roberta's reluctance to carry the experiment to its logical conclusion.

The only lingering danger was a small one. Since those remaining bits were so spread out, it was harder to locate each of them. It could give another who was clever or stealthy enough potential "back doors" into her mind. Few, however, had such an ability.

He retreated from his avatar and watched Gina's fingers massage her clit. She arched her back and panted hard as her fingers sank past her labia. Her movements were meticulous, as teasing to Victor's eyes as they were to her own pussy. Victor was impressed. She had learned how to masturbate for an audience with little prodding from him.

Gina trembled as she hung near the edge of orgasm. Her fingers pressed against her clit, keeping her pleasure at a plateau, her hips writhing under her hand. Her breasts rolled against her chest.

"You may cum," Victor said.

Gina let out a long, low moan as she crested.

Victor let her climax play out, then had her dress and return to class. As soon as she was gone, he picked up the phone.

"Miss Fuller," he said. "This is Victor Mann. Please get a message to Terri Hollis. Tell her I want to see her. Now."

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