Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 

   Powers

   By

   CSquared



   Chapter 3:



   I stood and stared.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Sweet, demure,
easily-embarrassed Siobhan - was stretched out spreadeagled on the bed, not
a scrap of clothing anywhere to be seen.  Emma was dressed much the same -
but held a rather sturdy-looking bullwhip in her hand, raised above her
head.  They both stared back at me, evidently not sure what to think.  I
opened my mouth to speak, but Siobhan cut me off.  "Alright, you caught
me." She said, spitting out the piece of dowelling she had clenched between
her jaws.  "I'm not the sweet, innocent type.  I never have been.  I tried
to keep it from you because I don't have a single man in my life that I'd
consider a friend...  and I like you.  Most people are terrified by things
like this...  I thought you'd be scared away.  I...  I hope this hasn't
soured things..." I laughed sheepishly.  "Uh, no...  I'm just a little
shocked, is all..."



   All apprehension immediately dropped from her face.  "Emma?" She said,
nodding towards me, an evil grin creasing her features.  Emma mirrored
this, cracked the whip towards me, and gave a mighty heave.  The end, which
had wrapped around my neck, pulled me with great force towards the pair.  I
ended up nose-to-nose with Emma, who growled, "Now get your clothes off and
help me hurt her." I must have looked much like one of those Internet
smilies - the "surprised" one.  This one: "O.O".  I shook my head
vigorously to clear it, and said, "I..." "NOW!" Emma shouted, forcibly
pulling my shirt off over my head.  I hurriedly finished the job, and a
cat-o'-nine-tails was thrust into my hand.  Siobhan looked between my legs,
and inhaled sharply.  "Woah." She breathed.  "You're big.  Bigger than I
thought you'd be." I looked down, confused.  "It's really not all that big,
is it?  It's only an inch over the national average."



   She looked at me like I was an idiot.  "Yeah." She said, clearly
annoyed. "And you're fourteen.  God knows what it's gonna be like when
you're eighteen.  Now get over here and *hit* me!" Nervous, I flailed at
her stretched-out stomach.  A feeble noise emanated, and Emma sighed.  "No,
no," she said, grasping my wrist (simultaneously pressing her boobs up
against my back), "like *this*." She threw our arms down with all the force
she could muster, and the resulting snap of leather against skin almost
drowned out Siobhan's scream.  Almost.  I tried again, and got a similar
result.  Breathing heavily, Siobhan gasped out, "That's it.  You got the
idea.  Now keep doing it." Raising an eyebrow, I replied, "But haven't you
heard the one about the sadist and the masochist?  The masochist says, 'Hit
me', and the sadist says, 'No'." I grinned, while she stared at me.  "NOW!"
She commanded, and I saluted out of sheer instinct.  "Yes Ma'am!" I called,
and laid into her, adding to the growing network of bright red welts across
her body.  Emma, standing next to me, came in with the bullwhip across
Siobhan's breasts.  They bounced and jiggled all over the place,
accompanied by the pitch of Siobhan's screaming.



   I don't know how long we were going for, but by the time we were
finished, the bed was completely soaked, mostly between Siobhan's legs, and
she was covered in sweat.  Emma and I weren't much better off, it had been
quite tiring.  I was, however, sporting a painfully hard hard-on.  Emma,
who had sat down on the bed, noticed this.  "Ohhh." She said, grinning. 
"Enjoyed that, did you?" I laughed.  "What, you expect this to stay down in
a room where there's two beautiful girls, one being whipped by the other?
Did I mention I'm a born sadist?" She licked her lips.  "Come on over here,
then." She said, crooking her finger.  I did, and without warning she took
hold of my hips and jammed my cock into her mouth.  "Gyaah!" I shouted, not
having expected it at all.  "Holy crap!  You don't have to do th..." I was
cut off as the suction in her mouth increased.  Siobhan was smiling
seductively as she watched her best friend bounce her head on my cock, and
I couldn't keep my eyes from wandering across her beaten, bruised and
slightly bloody body.  Before I knew it, I was spewing my load directly
down Emma's throat.  She choked a little, and pulled away.  The final,
rather feeble spurt went right across her face.  I stepped backwards
unsteadily, and Emma grinned.  Opening her mouth to let me see, I saw that
it was still full of my cum.  She closed it again, and positioned her face
over Siobhan's.  Siobhan dutifully opened her mouth, a gleeful expression
on her face.  Soon that wasn't all that was on it.  Emma spat everything
full-force into Siobhan's face, and, while the majority went in her mouth,
a lot of it went everywhere else.  Siobhan swallowed immediately, and Emma
leaned down to kiss her.



   It was one of the most erotic things I'd ever seen - two beautiful
girls, both with facefuls of my cum, kissing passionately.  Not to mention
the fact that one of them was tied down.  Emma untied Siobhan's left hand,
and indicated that I should do her feet.  Handing Siobhan a towel, Emma
proceeded to use another one to clean her own face.  Sighed in a satisfied
manner, Siobhan sat up.  She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye.  "You
filthy bastard, you enjoyed that, didn't you." A coy look on my face, I
replied, "I'm sorry...  shouldn't I have?  Are you mad at me?" She laughed.
"Mad?  Mad?  No, I'm delighted!  I chose well with you."

   "Chose?"

   "Well, I can sometimes...  tell things about people.  I don't know how.
It's only ever really been you and Emma that I get anything particularly
strong from, though."



   I blinked.  _'No, it couldn't be...'_ I thought.  As I slipped backwards
into my mind, I vaguely heard Siobhan calling my name a couple of times,
but paid it no heed.  There was something much more important going on. 
With more than a little difficulty, I looked around inside my own head. 
It's much harder doing something on yourself, because messing with your own
thought processes messes with the processes that are messing with them -
it's a bit like the Grandfather paradox.  I found (eventually) the centre
of my power, and noted its exact 'feel'.  All the properties of it that it
emanated.  I came back out of my head, and placed a hand on Siobhan's head.
My power was much stronger if I had a direct physical link, and I needed
everything I could get - the power (at least with me) nestled deep in the
very heart of the mind - virtually inaccessible at the best of times. 
Siobhan's words of protest were cut off as I pushed my way into her head. I
basked in the warm sensation for a moment, then probed deeper.  I was
mildly aware of Emma's confused and slightly panicked fussing, but I
ignored it for the time being.  Navigating my way through the maze inside
her head (she was laid out as a labyrinth, with different parts of her
psyche in different clearings), I found the centre.  Sure enough, there in
the middle of a large room, sat her power.  It was represented as a large,
somewhat circular computer terminal - the kind of thing Star Trek and Star
Wars are full of.  Stepping up to it, I realised it was running at very low
power.  Looking around for a moment, I saw a dial that felt right.  It was
set to about a tenth of its current power level.  Experimenting, I turned
it up to half, then slipped back to the real world.



   Siobhan was sitting in front of me, looking much like a zombie.  Her
face was slack, her eyes wide.  When I removed my hand from her head, she
flopped backwards onto the bed.  Emma rushed to her side, shaking her
shoulders.  Siobhan's expression hadn't changed.  I mirrored Emma, and ran
a quick surface scan of Siobhan's mind.  "Don't worry, Emma." I said. 
"She's just...  well, sleeping would be the best way to describe it. 
She'll be fine, I think." She glared at me.  "What did you do to her?" She
demanded.

   "It's hard to explain..."

   "Try."

   "OK.  Well, I have a hypothesis about you two.  I think you're like me.
Siobhan said she only really got anything from us, right?"

   "Yeah..."

   "Well, I feel something from you two that I've *never* felt from anyone
before.  Not even my parents."

   "What...  do you mean?"

   "I think the best way to tell you is to show you."



   Poking gently into her head, keeping track of the outside world, I felt
the warm glow I was now accustomed to.  I tried the first thing that came
into my head, and formed physical words in front of my mental image.  //Can
you hear me?// Emma's eyes opened wide.  "Did you say something?" she
asked. //Yes, I did.// I replied.  //You heard me, then?// Emma looked more
and more confused by the second.  "But you're not saying anything!" //Yes,
I am.  But telepathically.  I didn't know I could do it, actually.// She
made some inarticulate sounds, all of which pointed to her utter
bewilderment.



   Thankfully, at that point, Siobhan woke up.  She sat up, and looked
around.  Her eyes opened wide.  "What the fuck is going on?" She said,
holding a hand to her head.  "Something...  something is...  different.  I
can...  feel you both..." I looked at her.  //Siobhan, you're like me.// I
said.  She blinked.  Her face creased in concentration.  //Is this how you
did that?// I smiled.  //Woah.  Well done.// I replied.  "Let's switch back
to normal speak for the time being, though." Siobhan nodded, and Emma
looked between us both.  "You mean...  you can do that too?" She asked,
pointing at Siobhan.  Siobhan smiled.  "Apparently so, sweetie." She
replied.  "Charlie, does this mean you haven't done...  whatever it was you
do it to me to her yet?" I nodded.  "I was playing with fire doing it to
you.  I had no idea what was going to happen, or even if I'd done the right
thing.  I kind of just...  well, I leapt without looking first.  I'm sorry.
I'm not cautious enough."

   "It worked, didn't it?"

   "Maybe.  Who's to say I didn't screw your brain over by doing that?"

   "I don't feel too screwed." She said, grinning.  "More's the pity."



   I laughed.  I turned to Emma, and got serious.  "Emma, do you want me to
do it?  I've only done it once, and, obviously, so far I have a 100%
success rate...  but do you want me to risk making that 50%?" She stared at
me, her face blank.  "Yes.  Do it now." I shrugged.  "Alright." I sighed,
reaching for her head.  The moment I made contact, I was in.  Her mind had
to be the most novel I'd ever come across.  It was a large garage.  There
was an office in the corner, which I imagined to be where her memory was
kept.  Direct motor control was...  well, a motor.  A very large motor,
mounted in the middle of the room.  On the left were various vehicles;
motorbikes, cars and the like.  God alone knows what they were for.  Then I
spied what I was looking for.  Suspended above the motor was a large crane
- one of the ones that is a track running on tracks down the edges of the
room.  I followed the power and control cables, and they led to a small
green metal box in the corner.  There was a maintenance hatch on the side,
which I opened.  Inside was a control panel, adorned with a dial much like
the one in Siobhan's head.  It was set to one twentieth of its current full
capability - which could explain why Siobhan felt things and Emma didn't.
At least, she hadn't mentioned feeling anything.  I turned it up to half,
and pulled back out.  I was expecting another zombie state, but she just
looked at me, blinking occasionally.  "Well?  Did you do it?" I blinked at
her, surprised.  "Yes.  And I had to turn it up further than I did Siobhan.
How come you didn't react?"

   "I don't feel any different."

   "So how come Siobhan...  oh, I give up.  You must just be different, is
all."

   "Probably."



   "If you two are quite done," Siobhan grinned, "I'm getting cold.  What
say we get some plasters on these cuts, and some clothes on?"



   *****************************************



   About half an hour later, we sat around the TV in Siobhan's room.  We'd
decided to practise.  Emma and Siobhan, one acting as a kind of caretaker
for the other, poked around inside my head.  If I noticed, I had to tell
them.  To begin with, I noticed every time, but they quickly got better. 
Of course, I got better at noticing, but a lot of the time they got
through. We were all about equal in power, as far as we could tell, but I
had the upper hand when it came to experience.  I had, after all, been
using these powers one way or another since I was born.  When I thought
they'd learnt enough, I asked them to look for my own power centre - it was
impossible for me to see how far up mine was set.  I didn't want them to
change anything, just see where it was.



   I didn't feel any different, but Siobhan and Emma were in trances. 
Eventually, they woke back up, and were staring at me.  "Charlie..."
Siobhan said.  "You...  are doing all these things, right?" I raised an
eyebrow.  "Yes..."

   "And you are at approximately the same level as us, right?"

   "Yes..."

   "So, by all rights, your power gauge should be set about halfway,
right?"

   "Yes.  Is it higher?"

   "It's set to zero."

   "WHAT?!"

   "Or at least as close to zero that we can't tell how far it's gone. 
What's going on?"

   "Siobhan, I don't know.  Could one of you go back in, and turn it up a
little?  About a tenth of full?"



   Emma nodded, and slipped back into a daze.  I felt a small stinging
sensation at the back of my mind, then Emma was back.  "What happened?" She
asked.  //It all seems so simple now.// I replied.  //I don't *have* to go
fully into your mind to send messages, I see that now.  I don't even have
to go fully in to place commands, only if I want to be sure they'll stick.
I mean, I could always do direct motor control from the real world, but
this...  wow.// //Was that meant to be to me too?// Siobhan asked.  I
blinked.  //No.  Was it?// She nodded.  //Wow.// I said, grinning.  //This
is going to be fun.//



   I looked at the clock.  "Aw, shit." I exclaimed.  "It's far too late to
get home in time for dinner.  Mind if I stay here?" Siobhan shook her head.
"More fun having four for dinner than three." "Great.  I'll just give the
'rents a ring." I said, pulling my mobile from my pocket.  The home phone
rang, and rang, and rang.  There was no answer at all.  I tried their
mobiles, but it was the same.  I raised an eyebrow.  "Yo, Siobhan.  They've
gone all Mary Celeste on me.  Mind if I crash here tonight?" I asked.  She
smiled.  "Sure.  Returning the favour, eh?  Hey, maybe we can have some
more fun later." She said, a seductive smile on her face.  I laughed.  "I'd
love to," I replied, "but I'm not sure I want too many first times thrown
into the same day." They gaped at me.  "That was your first blowjob?" I
nodded.  "You seemed so confident..." Emma said.  "I'd never have done it
if I'd known..."

   "I'm a good actor.  And what do you mean by that?"

   "Well, you don't want your first time for things to be with someone like
me."



   I rolled my eyebrows.  _'What the hell,'_ I figured, _'in for a penny,
in for a pound.'_ With that thought, I leaned in and kissed her, long and
deep.  When I pulled away, she was flabbergasted.  "There you go." I
grinned.  "Another first.  You're collecting them." She laughed, confused.
"And just for fun," I continued, leaning towards Siobhan.  She licked her
lips, grabbed my head with both hands, and pulled me to her so hard that I
almost lost my balance.  She threw me back onto the sofa, and stood up. 
She pulled her t-shirt smoothly over her head, and knelt down in front of
me.  "My turn.  First red-headed blowjob." She grinned, and, fishing my
rapidly hardening cock from my trousers, slipped it into her mouth.  I
noticed Emma watching intently just before Siobhan really started, and I
lost all connection with the world outside my groin.  What she was doing
felt...  indescribable.  Her tongue was alternating between running up and
down the base of the shaft and dancing around the head, and her lips kept
releasing the suction then clamping down suddenly.  Without warning, she
slipped further down - her nose meeting my pubic bone.  My eyes opened
wide, and I looked down.  The whole thing was in her mouth, the first three
inches or so buried firmly in her throat.  She went back to bobbing up and
down, and slipped a deepthroat in every now and again.  Before long, I
fired a load directly into her stomach.  When she was sure I was finished,
she sat up.  Wiping her lips with the back of her hand, she grinned. 
"Yummy." I laughed, exhausted.  "No more dinner needed for me." She
laughed. "You come a *lot*." I grinned.  What with the beating I'd received
earlier, and the further antics later on in the day, I was close to sleep.
I drifted off without even noticing.



   *****************************************



   Something different happened.  Normally, I'll have dreams, and not know
they're dreams.  Even on the rare occasions that I work out it's a dream,
there's not much I can do about it.  This time, I knew immediately that I
was dreaming, but it didn't seem like I was.  I was floating in endless
black.  At first I thought I was in space, but there were no stars.  I
looked around, but there were no discernible features whatsoever. 
Nevertheless, I could see myself perfectly.  There was some kind of light
source, somewhere.  _'Or,'_ I thought, _'There doesn't need to be one.'_ I
suddenly realised where I was.  I was inside my own mind.  This was the
structure my mind presented to others; to Siobhan and Emma.  _'So what the
hell do I do?  Let's try looking for memories...'_ Almost the moment I
thought that, something appeared ahead of me in the gloom.  Rapidly, a room
which looked like it had simply been removed from inside a building came
flying directly towards me.  I yelped in surprise, and curled up a little,
protecting my head with my arms.  As it reached me, the door flew open and
engulfed me.  I touched down gently inside the room.  It was empty.  _'Oh,
very funny.  I have no memories, eh?'_ Suddenly (everything was sudden in
my head), a desk blinked into existence.  Behind it sat a person.  She
looked like a librarian, and, I realised, probably was.  I stepped up to
the desk, and she looked up at me.  Curiously, she appeared to be exactly
the same age as me.  _'But of course she is.  She's an extension of part of
my own mind.'_ "Yes?  May I help you?" She asked.  "Uh, yeah." I replied.
"Can you tell me what I was doing, say...  twenty days ago?" She gestured
in the air, and a video window popped out of thin air.  It showed what had
been happening exactly twenty days previously.  I was sitting in front of a
computer.  Not exactly enthralling viewing.  "If you touch the screen,
sir," she informed me, "you'll be fully immersed in the memory, and will
live it as if you were there." _'Fun.'_



   I turned and stepped out of the room without bothering to say goodbye.
When I turned my head to look behind me, it was already gone.  _'Well,
then.'_ I thought.  _'Let's see what we can find out about my power.'_
Something I recognised came towards me, and stopped just before it hit me.
It was a simple sphere, a kind of frosted off-white which glowed red every
five seconds or so.  As I moved my eyes across it, a circle of instruments
followed my gaze.  Each was fixed upon the surface of the sphere, but I
could only see the ones directly in front of me.  I let my eyes wander
across the globe, until I spied the instrument I was looking for.  It was a
dial.  Similar to the one in Siobhan and Emma's heads, but this one didn't
have a stopping pin - it just marked the zero point on the outside ring. 
Sure enough, it seemed to be set about a tenth of the way round.  _'Pfft.'_
I thought.  _'This is my head.  I can change things if I want.  No analogue
systems.  Digital for me.'_ Before my eyes, the dial restructured itself
into a keypad and screen.  The screen read: "0.1" _'On what scale?  0.1 of
1?  10?  100?  What?'_ Something else appeared on-screen.  The output now
read: "0.1 of ???" I sighed.  _'That's no bloody help.'_ I was about to try
to meddle with it again, when everything started fading away.



   I opened my eyes.  Siobhan was shaking my shoulder to wake me up.  I
looked blearily up at her.  "Wuh?" I asked.  "Dinner." She smiled.  I
smiled back, and tried to stand up.  I almost fell back, but Siobhan caught
me and helped me to my feet.  "Meet me downstairs." She said, walking back
out of the room.  I shook my head to clear it, and followed her.



   *****************************************



   The rest of the evening passed with little to set it apart, although I
did end up lying directly in the middle of Siobhan's bed, Emma on my left,
Siobhan on my right.  It had been a long day.  //G'night, guys.// I
broadcast.  Emma, seemingly already asleep, snuggled deeper into my
shoulder.  //See you tomorrow, lover-boy.// Siobhan replied.



   *****************************************



   I awoke the next morning to a hand gently massaging my genitals.  I
blearily looked down, to find that Siobhan was still asleep; nevertheless,
the hand belonged to her.  Emma was nowhere to be seen - at least at first.
As I began to focus a little more (everything was still a big blur, and
would remain that way until I put my glasses back on), I noticed a bulge
beneath the covers.  Looking beneath them, I found Emma - with her head
buried between Siobhan's thighs.  I was suddenly immensely jealous.  Emma
looked up at me, and grinned softly, never letting up with her tongue.  I
looked at my watch.  It was getting on a bit, we'd probably have to leave
soon.  Thankfully, before long, Siobhan woke up - violently.  Letting out a
banshee wail, she propelled herself a good two feet into the air, pressing
down rather painfully on my crotch.  I winced, and gently removed her hand
when she let herself back down to the bed.  Breathing heavily, she
struggled to regain her composure.  "Morning, Emma." She gasped.  Emma
laughed, and hopped daintily out of bed.  "Morning Siobhan!" She chirruped.
"Morning Charlie!" With that, she ran from the room and into the bathroom.
I blinked.  "She always that chirpy in the mornings?" I asked.  "Nope."
Siobhan answered.  "Only when she had a good day the day before." I
laughed, embarrassed.  "Well," I said, stretching.  "Time for us to
vamoose, I think."



   We were, in fact, almost late for school.  We got there just in time,
but thankfully late enough that we didn't have to put up with any shit from
Karen.  My face was a lot better than it had been the previous day, but
still looked a mess; at least so far as I could ascertain from the
reactions of my friends.  "Bloody hell, what happened to you?" Terry asked
as I sat down next to him in our formroom.  "Guess." I sighed.  "Dan
Tyler?" He asked.  I nodded.  "Aye."



   Breaktime came sooner than it usually seemed, and I found myself the
proud bearer of a pair of beautiful girls.  Siobhan and Emma seemed to know
a lot more about me than I did about them, including what I did during
lunch and breaktimes.  My usual crowd of friends were somewhat amazed - I
had always had fairly dismal luck with the girls, even with my powers (not
that I ever used them for that, that rather defeated the purpose), and now
I had two at once.  I was a little confused myself, I wasn't sure exactly
what relationship I now held with them.  I'd have to clear that up before
the day was out.  All three of us took great pleasure in the mixed looks of
hatred and fear that Karen kept shooting us.



   My next lesson was Biology, which, of course, was one of the four
classes I had with Karen.  As I made my way there (both Emma and Siobhan
had class in the opposite direction, so I was alone), she caught up with
me. "Hi." She said, without a hint of malice in her voice.  I eyed her
cautiously - what was she trying to pull?  "Hi..." I replied, a slight
questioning tone to my word.  "I was just thinking," she continued, "can't
we just put all this behind us?  I mean, a feud like this is beneath both
of us, right?" I laughed.  "I'm not the one who started this, am I.  This
is all your fault.  And I note that Siobhan was neatly removed from your
list of people it's beneath." She narrowed her eyes, but attempted to
remain all smiles and sunshine.  "Look, I'm trying to call a ceasefire
here. There's no point in continuing this." _'Not now my troops are out of
action.'_ I heard her voice in my head.  I wet my lips, smirking.  _'I knew
it was something like that.'_ I thought.  "Why?" I asked.  "Trying to give
yourself time to regroup?  Build your forces back up?  After all, Dan's
incapacitated for a while, isn't he.  It'll take you time to find someone
else stupid enough to follow you so blindly, right?" The momentary flash of
surprised recognition was enough for me, I decided to end the conversation.
"Now, Karen, if you'll excuse me..." I said, turning the handle of the
Biology class's door, "I have a lesson to ignore." I ignored her
flabbergasted look, and sat down.  The minute she walked past me to the
back of the class, I collapsed in silent guffaws.  Terry looked at me,
bemused.  "What's so funny?" He asked.  I waved him off.  "Nothing you'd
understand, dude." I replied.



   *****************************************



   Karen pointedly ignored me as we left the class, but I recognised the
glint of evil pleasure in her eye.  _'Fuck.'_ I thought.  _'Trouble
brewing.'_ //Heads up, kiddos.// I broadcast to Siobhan and Emma. 
//Trouble's busin' in from outta state.  Karen's out for blood.  Keep your
guard up.// I received two nervous replies in the affirmative, and kept
walking.  Keeping a subtle eye on Karen, I headed towards the shops, asking
the girls to meet me there.  They got there just as I exited the shop, my
wonderfully healthy lunch in hand.  Siobhan noticed and grinned.  "Crisps,
a Kit-Kat and a Twirl?  Wow, it's a wonder you're not a minefield of
spots." I stuck my tongue out at her, and Emma giggled.  An effect rather
like a heads-up-display flashed across my perception, and I turned my head
quickly to the left.  Something was flying towards us - an egg!  I had only
a moment to act in, and went by instinct.  Somehow I managed to catch it
unbroken, and looked to see where it had come from.  Unsurprisingly, Karen
stood on the other side of the road, flanked by her sister and a girl I
didn't know the name of.  I grinned, and sent the egg winging back to them,
catching Karen on the left shoulder.  The resulting splatter coated one
side of her hair and covered Shahn across the front.



   There was a momentary pause, then Emma, Siobhan and I broke into fits of
laughter as Karen and Shahn let out high-pitched wails of despair.  We
quickly broke into a run, still laughing, as the remaining salvos of eggs
came raining down out of the sky at us.  We managed to dodge them all, and
headed to the park.



   Once there, we flopped onto the grass, and the girls took it upon
themselves to lay their heads on my lap, one next to the other.  Siobhan
somehow managed to jostle herself closer to my crotch than Emma, though
Emma didn't seem to be complaining too much.  Siobhan sighed.  "That girl
is really starting to get on my nerves.  If she can't control something,
she tries to destroy it.  It's always been the way." I grinned.  "Well, not
quite *always*..." I said, cryptically.  Siobhan looked at me, eyebrow
raised.  I transferred the videos depicting Karen's descent into
subservience under her sister (both metaphorically *and* literally) to the
girls.  After a few minutes, they both started laughing raucously.  "Damn!"
Siobhan guffawed.  "I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it!  I'd
always seen it as the other way around!" "Well, it was for a while, wasn't
it." I replied.



   Emma stopped laughing.  "Charlie..." She said, thoughtfully.  "Hmm?" I
questioned.  "How did you get those memories?" Emma asked.  I blinked.  "I
copied them from her head into mine, why?"

   "Well, what's to stop you transferring the knowledge out of a teacher's
head?"

   "Holy...  that's truly devious!  You're a genius!" Emma gave me a coy
look, and murmured, "Y'think?" I stuck my tongue out at her, and grinned.
"I'll give it a go next lesson."



   *****************************************



   The next lesson was physics - yet another class with Karen - but she was
nowhere to be seen.  Probably skipping the end of the day in order to clean
up.  _'Thank heavens for small mercies.'_ I thought, smiling to myself. 
The teacher, Mr Graves, was well aware of my disdain for the level of
teaching afforded, and equally used to my displays of complete and utter
disregard towards the lesson.  As such, he noticed nothing amiss when I
curled my head up on the desk and stopped paying attention.  I wanted
complete concentration for this exercise, since I did *not* want to find
myself the not-so-proud owner of my teacher's personal memories - I didn't
want to remember screwing his wife, or anything like that.  Pushing gently
into his mind (I'd discovered that adults seemed to notice more readily
than teenagers or children), I poked around in his memory storage.  I found
everything I needed - simply pure knowledge, not how it was learnt - and
copied it to the relevant points in my own head.  I pulled my concentration
back, and stretched.  Reaching for a textbook, which I often did to relieve
the tedium, I turned it to one of the end-of-topic mini-tests.  I found I
knew the answer to every question without even having to think about them.
I tried another test, and completed it with the same level of ease.  I
grinned to myself.  My marks had always been fairly high (when I actually
completed work), but now I'd get full marks without exerting any extra
effort.



   //Hey, Emma.// I said.  //Guess what?// //It worked?// Came the excited
reply.  //Fuckin' aye it did.// I replied, grinning to myself.  //I think
I'll do that in every lesson.  Wonderful idea.// A blush image leaked
across the mental link.  //Thanks.// She said.  //I'm surprised I didn't
think of it myself, actually.  Hey, why not give it a go yourself?// I
asked.  //Just...  try something simple, and not so comprehensive - at
least until you've got the hang of it.// //I may just do that.// She
replied.  //See you later.//



   *****************************************



   I actually had some work to do that night, so I headed home instead of
with Siobhan or Emma.  I did walk most of the way with Emma, though, so
that was nice.  But soon after our paths diverged, I started to get a very
strange, unpleasant feeling.  //Emma?// I asked.  //Are you OK?// I
received a nod image in response.  //Sure, why?// //Oh, no reason.  I'll
see you tomorrow.  Kiss kiss.//



   I growled slightly as the feeling somehow became more malicious. 
_'Something's wrong.'_ I thought.  _'There's someone...  watching me...  at
least, that's what it feels like.'_ I looked around, but saw nothing.  Not
that I expected to.  I reached home about five minutes later, and walked
into an empty house.  'Where the fuck are Mum and Dad?' I thought.  I
opened up the fridge, and found nothing I wanted.  Whipping up an egg, I
proceeded to cook myself a one-egg egg.  While I was eating it, there came
the noise of keys jingling at the door.  It swung open, and my parents
stepped through.  "At last!" I said.  "Where the hell have you two been?"
"We had to go to Glastonbury." My Dad replied, in a tone that I knew full
well meant not to ask any further.  "Well, have you at least got some
shopping?" I asked.  "There wasn't much to begin with, and what there was
is starting to go a bit...  funny." My Mum shook her head.  "No, we only
just got back.  I'll go to the shops later.  How was school?"



   I raised an eyebrow.  "School has been its usual hell-hole, with a
couple of notable exceptions."

   "Oh?"

   "Yes.  Two new friends, one less tormentor."

   "What happened?"

   "Dan Tyler got hit by a car."

   "My God!  Is he alright?"

   "I couldn't care less, to tell you the truth.  He got hit after beating
seven hells out of me.  I say the bugger deserved it."

   "Are _you_ alright?"

   "I'm fine.  I heal quickly.  I was sporting the mother of all black eyes
just this morning."

   "There's nothing now."

   "Exactly."

   "Who are your friends?"

   "Emma and Siobhan."

   "Do I know them?"

   "Nope.  I didn't, before Monday.  Nice girls."

   "When will we meet them, then?"

   "You would have on Monday, had you been here..."



   Dad shot me a look, and I dropped it.  "I don't know.  I might bring
them by sometime this weekend." I finished, while carrying my plate out to
the kitchen.  "Good to have you back," I said, as I readied myself to
ascend the staircase.  "I was beginning to worry."



   *****************************************



   This was not good.  My parents, to the best of my knowledge, had only
been to Glastonbury together once before, almost a year before I was born.
That time, they were being chased by a Black Sufi magician named Black
Michael.  If he was back, that could explain the feeling I'd got on the way
home.  A thought suddenly hit me.  If he knew about me, then he probably
knew about...  //Emma, Siobhan - are you guys OK?// I received two worried
nods in return.  //What's going on, Charlie?t// Siobhan asked.  //What's
wrong?// //I'm not sure, kiddo.// I replied.  //But something is, that's
for sure.  My parents just got back.// //Where were they?// Queried Emma.
//Glastonbury.// //Why on Earth were they there?// //Centre of White Magic,
that's why.// //Rubbish.// Siobhan snorted.  //There's no such thing.// I
raised an eyebrow.  //You're so sure?  What are we doing now?  Seems pretty
magical to me.// She was silent.  //Why did they go there, though?// Emma
asked.  I shrugged.  //They wouldn't tell me.  But I think I can work it
out.  Black Michael.// //Who?// The girls asked in unison.  //A Black
magician.  Not a nice man at all.  My Dad tussled with him in America,
years back - and then Michael screwed over my parents' honeymoon.//



   //Guys, just be careful, OK?// I said, and on receiving two nods, I
broke contact.  I was really starting to worry now.  That feeling was still
there, albeit in the background.  If that was Black Michael...  I reached
out my mind, probing around gently for the source of the feeling.  It
seemed almost to avoid me - I just couldn't lock on.  After a while,
though, the feeling subsided.  I didn't know if that was just because the
source had moved out of my range (what was my range, anyway?) or if it had
just stopped, but it was a good thing nonetheless.  If I couldn't feel it,
chances were it couldn't feel me.  I turned on the computer, and got to
checking my daily internet haunts.  Before long, I was called down for
dinner.  No more was said about Glastonbury, and afterwards I did my work
and went to bed.  It had been a long couple of days.