Heather dropped her panties down her legs, stepped out of them, and kicked them off to the side. She drew in a breath and let it go as a faint, quivering sigh. Her arms rose to wrap themselves around her body, hesitated, then fell back to her sides. Her nipples were taut, not so much from sexual excitement as the chill in the room.

She tried to level her eyes at both Terri and Laura, but the effort failed. She managed not to flinch from their gaze, and struggled to ignore the fact that this was her teacher and Principal.

Laura cast a sly smile at Heather and stepped out from behind the desk. Heather met Laura's eyes for a second, but averted her gaze when the Principal's Aura reminded her too much of Nyssa.

"You are quite the attractive girl, Heather," Laura said in a low, husky voice. She tilted her head, eyes sliding over Heather's breasts. "Perhaps the top will be a little tight. I think I underestimated the size of your tits just a touch."

Heather shuddered and looked away. Hearing her Principal use that word was too incongruous for her to comprehend.

"I'd prefer you look at me when I talk to you," said Laura.

Heather forced her eyes to meet Laura's, but only after a purposeful pause of a few seconds.

Laura's gaze flicked down Heather's body, then lingering on Heather's pussy. "Shaved? Why am I not surprised." Her eyes rose. "And I must say, your tits look quite nice. Not just size. Anyone can have big boobs. Yours are so nicely shaped. Hmm. Bare pussy; big, beautiful tits; long legs; it's little wonder you had so many boys at your beck and call."

Heather's eyes burned, but at a feeble flame compared to her growing sexual heat. Her eyes widened as her pussy warmed with unwilling moisture, and her thighs trembled. A husky sigh escaped from between her lips.

Laura raised an eyebrow and turned her head towards Terri. "Are you doing that?"

"And with hardly any effort whatsoever," Terri replied with a wide smile. "She loves to hear someone compliment her body. It gets her rather hot."

Heather swallowed and clenched her hands into fists. She didn't summon help over the link. She was determined to make her own stand while the others were still in transit. She tried to quell the rising desire, reminding herself again and again that it did not come from her own head.

"And if that doesn't work," Terri said in a silky voice. She caressed Heather's test answers with her splayed fingertips. "I can remind her of how much she adores Jason Conner's cock inside her."

Heather shuddered and closed her eyes.

Laura smiled. "Jason Conner? Really?"

"Mmm, yes. She's quite enamored of him. Or rather, one particular part of him."

Heather moaned. The folds of her sex glistened. Her nipples rose, hard and tingling at the touch of the air from the heating vents.

"I'm sure she thinks about it a lot," Terri purred. "Especially since she hasn't had sex for two days now, and it's getting to her."

Heather forced her eyes open, but it did nothing to banish the erotic images from her head. Terri had stirred up her desires with astonishing ease. Yet she held on to her own thoughts, clawing at them as if her life depended upon it.

Laura observed Heather for a few seconds. "She's resisting you."

"Then perhaps we should have her model her costume."

Heather looked up and let out a ragged sigh. Terri's power was a siren call in her head, soothing tones that sang how wonderful and right it was to stand naked and aroused before her teacher and Principal. It crooned to her how she had lived for this moment all semester.

Terri reached into the box and lifted the first piece of the costume, a skimpy set of silvery panties that sparkled. Heather stared at it, hands twitching at her sides, arms tensed. Terri stepped forward and held it before Heather. Her lips curled into a wicked smile. "Take it."

Heather hesitated as long as she dared before lifting her trembling hands and taking the garment from her teacher.

"Put it on," said Terri with a predatory gleam in her eyes. "I know you're going to like it."

Heather's fingers rubbed the material as Terri spoke, and another wave of warmth flooded over her skin. She bent over and threaded each foot into the garment, then drew it up her legs.

The slide of the silky fabric against her calves and thighs sent a shiver through her body. As she lifted it towards her mound, warmth became steamy heat, and her hips dipped and swayed. Wet pleasure bathed her pussy at the press of the soft, stretchy material against her pink flesh.

God, no, she's doing this, she's making me ... But her own thoughts trailed off.

"Each piece that goes on makes you feel very sexy and very hot," Terri said. "You know this will make you look soooo nice for people like Jason. Or Diane. Or even little Melinda."

Laura smirked. "Really? Her own sister?"

Heather panted, her hands clenching and unclenching near her waist. She touched the link just to reassure herself that she could and to inform the Harbingers that she was still with them.

For now.

"Hey, Ned! Ned, wait up, please."

Ned was about a block away from the school. He spun around and stared in surprise as Diane ran up to him. She smiled, but the corners of her mouth twitched. "Hey, um ... want some company?"

"But doncha take the school bus home?"

"Well ... maybe I want to walk, too."

"But ya live in the opposite direction."

Diane fidgeted. "Maybe I just don't want to be alone right now."

"Huh? Oh, um, sure. I jus' don't want ya gettin' in dutch with yer parental units."

"I called Mom already from the school and told her Heather had something to do after school, and I wanted to wait for her. She was mostly cool with it."

"Mostly?"

"Well, she knows about Heather and me, and that I'm a lesbian."

Ned stared. "Really? Ya actually up and told her?"

Diane nodded.

"Wow. Wish I had parents I could talk ta like that. Ah, not about that subject, that is. I mean, I'm not gay, jus' ask Cassie."

Diane giggled. "I know, Ned."

Ned rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead. "Yeah, real smooth, Nose. Sorry, guess I got a lot on my mind. But, yeah, sure, ya can walk with me."

Diane smiled and fell into step beside Ned.

They walked in silence for awhile, and Ned stole furtive glances at Diane. He only noticed then how much she reminded him of the young woman across the street that he had almost enslaved while under Nyssa's thrall. He looked away when his thoughts moved in a direction that could never work.

"Um, Ned?" Diane finally said. "Can I ask you something?"

Ned tensed. In his view, those words coming from a girl boded nothing good. "Uh, sure thing."

"The others ... the Harbingers ... they need me for something, don't they?"

"Uh ..."

"I mean for one of the spells."

Ned's gaze touched her only at the edge of his vision. He did not trust himself further than that. "I thought ya didn't wanna discuss Harbinger stuff. Said ya was worried 'bout Victor gettin' hold of it."

"Well, if I already guessed right, then it probably doesn't matter what you tell me."

Ned nodded. "Okay, well, yeah, we're talkin' 'bout mebbe using a spell from the Book. Dunno if it would be one that ya would be needed fer."

Diane shook her head. "I guess I should tell you that Jason sort of talked to me about something like this already. He didn't give me all the details, but it sounds like I would have to ... um, do something."

Ned was trying to sort out his own feelings from those of the rest of the group, and he was unsure about even the former. He had leaned towards using the Book, but he wondered why it seemed a much better idea now than it had earlier.

"I want to help," Diane said. "I want to be a useful Diane of the Harbingers."

Ned stood still and stared at her. "What did ya jus' say?"

Diane stumbled to an unexpected stop. "What? I was just saying I wanted to be helpful."

"Nah, ya said ya wanted ta be useful."

"I did? Well ... isn't that the same thing?"

"Mebbe. It was jus' the way ya said it. Useful Diane of the Harbingers."

Diane's eyelids fluttered. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"That ain't what I meant. Yer voice got kinda weird when ya said it. Like monotone or something. An' jus' now you--"

"Ned, I-I think you're missing the point. If Victor wanted to get information from me, he would've done it by now. So maybe I can help. Just let me do this."

"Even if it's a spell that sez ya hafta be a total slave fer the spell ta work?"

Diane's lips parted. Her hips tilted as renewed heat rose from between her thighs. "I think that would be right."

Ned narrowed his eyes.

"I need to do this, Ned. I can be a slave. I can be everyone's slave."

"For the spell," Ned said, his voice strained.

Diane recalled the pleasure of obeying Ned and Richie's tacit orders to her, and the wonderful glow of their approval. Her pussy flushed with pleasant warmth and wetness. "Yes, for the spell. Let's go back to walking, Ned. I think I need to clear my head a bit."

Ned nodded. She was not the only one that needed to expel unwanted feelings.

Terri observed Heather, lips curling into a sly smile. "Oh, this is quite the nice outfit, Laura."

"Isn't it, though?" said Laura.

"And it is rather fortunate that you happen to be the Principal."

"Oh?"

"Because she would normally never get into a school function wearing that."

Laura chuckled. "Ah, I see exactly what you mean now."

Terri slid closer to Laura. "Still, it will raise a few eyebrows."

"No need to worry about that. You would be surprised how easily people tend to disregard what seems out of place. Or perhaps you do, given your power."

Terri grinned. She turned her eyes toward Heather. "You're trembling."

Heather would not meet Terri's eyes. Her gaze was restless, never lingering in one place for more than a few seconds, fearing that staring at any one thing long enough would give Terri a new inroad into her mind.

Terri stepped out from behind the desk. "And you're so rigid as well. Hardly becoming of that costume."

Heather had to remain still. Otherwise, the diaphanous veils draped over her bodice and legs would slide against her skin in a rush of sexual heat. Even standing still, the top squeezed her breasts, nipples throbbing against the pressure of the taut fabric.

"She's still resisting you," Laura said.

"Not for very long." Terri stepped up to Heather and caught her chin, forcing Heather's gaze to meet her own. "No, that stance won't do at all. You're supposed to be a dancing girl."

Heather swallowed. Her eyes twitched as she failed to look away, then shimmered and narrowed, but could not close. Her legs quivered as one foot slid back, paused, and returned.

"Why else would you be wearing this costume?" Terri purred. "You're a dancing girl. A sexy little dancing harem girl."

Heather let out a slow, tremulous breath. She was more aware of the veils wrapped about her body, their touch light and warm. The sparkling silver fabric pressed to her sex and her breasts seemed to melt into her skin until she tingled and ached.

Her will to summon help over the tenuous link to the Harbingers faded as her mind clamored to embrace the new reality that poured into her in a torrent. It retreated from her grasp to the sound of a whimper, as any hope of rescue vanished into an encroaching black fog.

The chill of the Dark mist slithered in behind the flow, as if trying to avoid her notice. Her psyche stripped bare by Terri's power, the tendrils of Darkness wrapped themselves about her naked core.

"And what kind of dance does a harem girl do for her mistress?" Terri said as her hand fell away from Heather's chin. "How does she move?"

Heather's hands unclenched, and her body relaxed. Her hips began to swing and gyrate in slow, tentative circles.

"That's it, Heather. Dance for us, little harem girl."

Heather let out a sultry sigh. Her hips swung wider, her movements more fluid. Veils slid across smooth skin, and delight shivered through her body. With each touch she plunged deeper into false perception, sinking further into Terri's alternate reality. She had nothing to hold onto save her own sense of self, and it was tangled with a manufactured identity wrapped in erotic silks.

Her last glimpse of truth was the thin tendrils of Dark power that floated in the air like strands of spider silk, stretching between her and Laura. It vanished from sight, as harem girls know of no such things as the Darkness or Auras.

Terri stepped back. "A harem girl wants to please. Please us with your dance."

Heather's feet slid apart. A low, breathy moan passed her parted lips as her torso undulated to a rhythm that sounded deep from the abyss of her own captured psyche. Her breasts jiggled against her top as she swung herself forward and let them press against the fabric, her nipples sending her into gentle paroxysms of pleasure.

"Your dance makes you feel even more sexy and hot," purred Terri. "This is what you live for."

All her remaining resistance had pooled in her eyes, which shimmered with both lust and despair. She tilted her head back and whipped her long, red hair about, her breasts dancing within her top. She spun around on one foot and moaned as the veils drifted across her legs and teased the insides of her thighs. The chill in her mind evaporated in the warmth of sexual reward.

Laura drew in a long, slow breath and let it go as a quavering sigh. Terri came alongside her and smirked. "Why, Laura, you're looking quite flushed."

Laura turned to her and breathed, "She's absolutely gorgeous, more so than I had imagined."

"So you like your dancing harem girl?"

Heather's breathing was heavy and labored. Her body twisted and twirled. She leaned forward and shook her bosom, her breasts bouncing, the soft flesh rippling. She spun around and tilted her hips from side to side, her ass cheeks swaying and dipping. She was no longer just wearing a costume, she was the harem girl she had been all along.

She closed her eyes and breathed out a long, lustful sigh as she spun around once more, her veils trailing out around her and swirling among tendrils of Darkness. When she opened them again, her lingering despair was gone. She looked to her mistresses with a gaze pleading to tell her that they approved of their good little harem girl.

"Quite," Laura said in a husky voice.

"She can perform in other ways for you, now that I finally have her."

"Now that we have her."

Terri's smile became forced. "I'm still aware of our deal."

"That's not what I meant. I'm helping you. I'm using my power on her as well, or you would never have gotten past her resistance."

Terri's jaw tightened. "Don't be too pushy with it," she snapped. "I don't think your power works like mine."

"No matter. It's the end result that I am interested in." She looked at Heather and let out another lusty sigh. "And yes ... I do wish to see her perform for me in other ways."

Terri slid away from Laura and approached Heather, raising a hand. Heather came out of a spin and stood, panting, her body quivering. Her hips still gyrated, as if the dance were so ingrained in her body that it was impossible to stop.

"Very good, harem girl," Terri said. "Very good."

Heather's breath gushed into a sigh, and she smiled.

Terri caressed Heather's cheek. Heather leaned into the touch and shuddered when the hand slid down her arm and cupped her breast. "That's it, my little harem girl. Be sexy and hot. Be wet and wanting."

Heather's hips trembled. Near the edges of the costume, the insides of her thighs glistened.

"And also ... submissive."

Heather's lips parted as she stared at Terri.

"And what is your most submissive posture? What makes you feel so helpless and so very horny?"

Heather's legs trembled. Her eyes strained, as if in pain. An icy chill slithered around her mind, and she sank to her knees with a ragged moan. Her knees slid apart, hands shaking at her sides with the desire to touch herself to release the unrequited pleasure in her sex.

"That's right, get nice and horny for us," Terri said, playing with Heather's hair. "But don't touch yourself. Don't you dare touch yourself."

Laura's pussy became hot. For a moment, she saw herself on the floor, helpless against her own growing desires, desperate for relief and willing to do anything for it. She smiled at the memory of her own final submission to Nyssa, and of Marcie's final fall, in turn, to her. She stepped before the desk. "Heather."

Heather raised her head, her eyes pleading.

Laura dropped her slacks and stepped out of them. Her legs were long and age-thickened about the thighs, but the skin was smooth and tight. She stood before Heather and hooked her fingers under the waistband of her panties.

Heather leveled her gaze at Laura's crotch and panted, eyes tracing the contours of Laura's mound through the damp fabric. Her pussy throbbed with her heartbeat, and she licked her lips as Laura tugged her panties downward.

There was a click and a faint squeak. Laura stopped and turned her head, and abruptly yanked her panties back into place. Terri turned as well, her mouth falling open as she stared at the open door to the classroom. The next moment she clenched her jaw until it ached before lashing out, "What the fuck are you doing here?!"

Heather blinked and reeled. She struggled to form a coherent thought, and for a few seconds she did not recognize the woman that stood in the doorway.

Laura frowned and pulled up her slacks. "So much for your ability to keep people away," Laura muttered.

"If it helps any, it wasn't easy," said Penny Sovert in an unsteady voice. "I've been trying classrooms for the past fifteen minutes and came back to this one three times before I managed to get myself to open it."

"M-Mom ...?" Heather breathed. No, that didn't make sense. Harem girls don't have mothers.

Penny cast a pained look at her daughter before she forced her gaze to Laura and Terri. She stared hard at them, still fighting off the vestiges of the false perception of an empty classroom. She forced herself to push the door shut behind her, and true reality crystallized before her.

"Terri, you and I need to talk," Penny Sovert said in a steadier, crisp voice. "Now."

In her haste, Cassie had called for only one taxi to take Melinda, Jason, and Richie to the house. Melinda was sandwiched between the two boys, their warm bodies sparking her desire, and their jostling inflaming it. She drew her legs together to avoid rubbing them against the boys, only to have them rub against each other until her pussy ached.

Watching the drama with her sister play out in her head was no help.

Jason and Richie sensed it as well in their own unique ways, but they were as powerless as Melinda. Terri had swept aside their bridgehead in Heather's mind, relegating them to spectators. To gain any ground, they had to channel more energy to themselves and Heather.

They all understood that allowing a day to go by with little sex was a bad idea. Helping Heather against Ms. Hollis earlier that day had drained them, and now they had little to give.

Melinda was close to insisting that they stop so she could swap seats when she suddenly shivered hard. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound emerged as her thoughts had plunged into a glacial chill. Tentacles of absolute black lashed at her when she reached for Heather over the link, forcing her to recoil and retreat from the cold.

"O-Ohmigod," Melinda breathed.

"I just saw it, too," Jason said. He paused, then nodded. "Yeah. It's the Darkness."

Richie frowned. "Shit. That fucking bitch Hollis."

"It's not her," Melinda said, her voice shaky. "There's someone else with her. It wasn't Ms. Hollis that--"

"Laura Bendon," Jason said in a hollow voice. "I'd recognize her pattern anywhere."

"The freakin' Principal?" Richie said.

"Whassamatter back dere, huh?" the taxi driver suddenly boomed, startling all three of them.

Jason gestured to the others and shook his head. He glared at Richie when he appeared ready to retort anyway. Richie scowled and slumped in his seat.

"We're fine, sorry," Jason said.

"Told dat girl I don't carry teens with no parents, but da money she put up--"

"We'll be quiet for the rest of the trip."

The taxi driver snorted. "Yeah, big fat hairy deal," he muttered as he took a turn with a squeal of tires. "We're 'bout dere."

Melinda's hands flailed as her weight suddenly shifted into Richie. She grabbed the first thing that she touched, and only after she had righted herself did she see it was Richie's thigh. Her eyes widened, and she stared at the growing bulge in Richie's crotch for a few seconds before snatching her hand away.

Richie smirked. Melinda glared and mouthed, Don't. You. DARE. Say. A. Fucking. Word.

The taxi pulled up to the curb near the park, and the three Harbingers spotted Cassie's limo at the other end of the block as they climbed out. Melinda piped up at once as soon as everyone was standing on the sidewalk, her initial words drowned out by the roar of the taxi's engine as it sped away.

"... in on this, too? Jason, you said you thought what Ms. Hollis was doing didn't have anything to do with the Darkness! Now she has Ms. Bendon helping her! How do we fight both of them?"

Jason shook his head and was about to speak when Richie cut in. "You better not be fucking about to say that this don't make sense!"

Jason frowned. "Well, it doesn't. If Terri was going to use the Darkness to augment her power, she could just do it herself. Something else is going on here."

"What difference does it make? Heather's screwed either way!"

"Then let's get going. The sooner we get to the house, the better," Jason said as he jogged away.

Melinda and Richie rushed after him. Melinda scrunched up her nose and made a disgusted noise. "Ohmigod, Ms. Bendon is going to make Heather ... oh eww, EWWWW!"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Richie said. "You think Ms. Bendon was gonna start a game of Monopoly or something?"

"But she's the Principal! There's just something really really really wrong with that."

"And a counselor that fucks with your head isn't?"

"We don't have time for this arguing," said Jason. "We have to get to the house and--"

"Jason! Something's happening!" Melinda cried. "Everything just suddenly stopped, like everyone just got distracted by something."

"I thought I sensed something for a moment," Jason said. "Like there was another source of--"

Melinda stopped dead, staring straight ahead. The boys skidded to a halt and turned towards her.

Melinda's eyes became saucers. "That can't be ... it's not ... Mom?!"

"Crap, crap, crap!" Ned spat, slamming his fist into his open palm and hurling a kick at the stop sign pole.

Diane looked off into the distance. "I don't understand what's happening. I thought that Ms. Hollis' power didn't come from the Darkness. Why am I feeling it in her head?"

"Cuz we got a party crasher, that's why," Ned growled. "The Grand Poobah of Evil herself at Mind-Control High."

Diane stared at him. "Not ... not Principal Bendon?"

"She couldn't've been in it from the start. No way. She woulda done something to screw with us, like give us all detention, or suspend us, or something."

"Can we do anything for Heather? I can barely get past it. It's like trying to push against a block of ice."

"Not without more energy. We gotta wait fer the others ta get their thing goin'."

Diane sighed and slumped against a tree behind her. She shook her head. "I should've gone with the others. Maybe I could've--"

"Yer only possible partners had other ideas."

"Sometimes I wish we had one more girl in the group!"

Ned smirked. "Heh, yeah, that'd be a great recruitment method. Only lezzies and bi's need apply. Oh, uh, sorry, I won't use that word if--"

"What, you mean 'lezzie?'" Diane shrugged. "I don't care. Anyway, I know you don't mean anything by it." She looked up. "Wait, something else is happening. At least I think so, it's like trying to look through muddy water."

"Dunno. I only saw Bendon cuz she was in Heather's head."

Diane dropped her face into her hands. "God, how many more people are going to try to take Heather?"

Ned rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes flitted over Diane's body, lingered, and averted.

Diane raised her head. "Ned?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Maybe we should do something."

Ned's eyes roamed again. "Uh ... like I said, we can't get in til the others--"

"I mean maybe we should try to give her energy, too."

"Um ..."

"Just for this. I mean, this is sort of an emergency, isn't it?"

Ned stared at her for a long moment, then shook his head.

"You mean you don't want me?"

Ned frowned. "No, I do. I'm tryin' ta figger out why."

Diane gave him a perplexed look.

Ned sighed. "I don't think of ya like that. Yer lezzie, and that makes ya off-limits. Never even so much as glanced at yer goodies fer more than a second when yer in yer birthday suit."

Diane looked pained. "Ned, I have to be useful. I have to let you do this to me."

"Huh? Do what to you?"

"I should do what you want me to do," Diane said in a husky voice. "Whatever you want."

Ned swallowed. His nether regions stirred. He recalled the cute little dark-haired woman he had almost enslaved before Cassie had stopped him and broke him free from Nyssa's control.

Diane smiled, lips twitching, and stepped over to him. "I-I can be your slave if you want me to."

Ned's eyes widened and he stumbled back a step. "Aw, man, no."

"Ned, I have to do this."

"You're a lesbian, Diane!"

"It just means I prefer girls and don't normally get turned on by guys." Diane stepped closer. "But I'm turned on now."

"Shit, this is the same thing Melinda said ya did ta Heather. This is Victor's crap, it's gotta be."

Diane paused and trembled.

(slave to the Harbingers)

" ... slave to the Harbingers ..." she whispered, no louder than the sigh of the breeze through the bare branches of the tree.

Ned heard it. "Oh, yeah, that ain't good." He ran a hand through his hair and failed to stop staring at Diane's breasts. "Look, we don't have nowhere ta do it."

"You said your parents weren't home."

Ned raised an eyebrow. "Wait, I told that ta Cassie and no one else. Why'd ya ask her that?"

Diane remained silent and averted her eyes, her cheeks flushed.

"Ya were plannin' ta prop'sition me all along."

Diane nodded without looking at him.

Ned frowned. "Aw, man, don't do that. Don't look like that."

Diane lowered her eyes.

Ned's cock was rock hard under his briefs. "Or that."

"Then tell me what you want."

Ned wanted to. The more he looked at Diane, the more he pictured her like the would-be slave, sprawling out before him naked and masturbating without end, building herself to the orgasm that would subsume her will to his.

Ned tried to shake his head and back up a step, but failed at both. If he let himself play this game, would their energy help Heather or would it be tainted by Victor's power? Victor would not have done this to Diane if he thought it could be used in the end to help the Harbingers.

"I can be your slave," Diane breathed, her eyes dark and glazed. "I'll do whatever you want."

Ned resisted not so much Victor's power as his own baser desires. He told himself one last time that she's freaking LEZZIE, but it wouldn't stick. If she were his slave, she would be whatever he wanted. She would love whatever he did to her because he told her to love it.

He hated himself for how arousing he found that thought.

Don't go overboard, Nose, Ned thought. Just don't fucking go overboard.

"All right," Ned said, and struggled to keep the lust out of his voice. He took Diane's arm, and his cock twitched when she offered a sigh of pleasure rather than resistance. "Let's go."

"Yes, Master," Diane said, her voice soft and eager.

Terri barreled past Laura and stood toe-to-toe with Penny. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing here, Penny, but you're leaving right now."

Penny narrowed her eyes. "You have my daughter on her knees practically enslaved to you, and you expect me to leave?"

Laura stepped forward. "Ms. Sovert, I presume?"

Penny shifted her gaze to Laura. "Why are you involved? No, let me guess: Terri here decided she didn't want to play by Victor's rules."

"Penny, shut up," Terri growled through clenched teeth.

"I don't have to. You're not Victor, and you don't hold a damn thing over me."

"You know Victor?" Laura said.

"Peripherally. I've ... assisted him this year."

"This year?"

Terri shoved Penny back against the door. "Laura doesn't need to hear about Victor's business!"

Laura hid a sly smile behind her hand, but turned her head when she heard a soft noise. Heather had planted a foot on the floor, her body trembling with the effort to force her body to follow through and stand up. Laura sighed and applied her will. Heather moaned and dropped back to her knees. Her hands lay against her thighs, fingers curling and uncurling, her pussy oozing through the bottom piece of the costume.

Penny shot a venomous look at Terri and shoved her back. "You don't want me to reveal any secrets? Fine. Then let's ask Ms. Bendon to leave."

"You're assuming much, Ms. Sovert," said Laura. "Such as me agreeing to be left out of what appears to be a very fascinating discussion."

Terri jerked her head towards Laura. "I didn't agree to give you any more information than you already have. What Victor is doing is none of your business."

Laura gave Terri a bored look. "Do I need to remind you who is in charge of this school?"

"This is between Penny and I, Laura, not--"

"And I do believe that if anyone is going to be talking with Ms. Sovert, it will be me." Laura looked at Penny with a silky smile. "If I am reading her right, that is."

Penny's lips parted. She looked past Terri to her daughter, who still swayed and trembled in the grip of mind-altering power. Her eyes slid over to Laura, her eyes narrowing. "All right. But if we talk, then Terri has to leave the room."

"I will do no such--" Terri began.

Laura stepped forward. "Terri, leave."

"Now just a minute! You can't--"

"Once more you presume to tell me what I can or cannot do in my school."

"I need to be here to help keep control over Heather!" Terri cried. "You said yourself she was resisting!"

Laura gave Terri an ingratiating smile. She turned away and strolled over to Heather. Heather looked up, her eyes widening. She tried to back away, but Laura placed her hand against Heather's cheek. Heather moaned as a wave of blissful pleasure flooded her body and mind, drowning out all higher thought.

"I can handle it," said Laura.

Terri looked on in disdain. "With the same heavy-handedness that you used on Marcie? Please."

"It's not true control, no. But it will keep her quiescent while Penny and I talk. Now." She pointed to the door. "Leave."

Terri marched to the door, yanked it open, and slammed it shut behind her as she stormed out.

Laura shook her head and sighed. "She really is such a ham." She stroked Heather's cheek. Heather sank into a deep sea of mindless bliss.

"Could you please stop that?" Penny said, wrapping her arms around herself.

Laura smiled and withdrew her hand. Heather whimpered as the pleasure retreated. "I would think you should know how such things work." She turned away from Heather and folded her arms. "You do, don't you?"

"Yes, I unfortunately do," Penny said in a forlorn voice, her eyes shimmering as she gazed at her daughter.

"It's more than that, though. You're in with it."

Penny shifted her eyes to Laura. "You can see it?"

"Perhaps not in the same way Heather and her friends can, but yes, I can sense it. My Mistress told me to help the Darkness wherever I can and left me with the ability to sense its servants."

"I'm not here for the Darkness," Penny said, but her voice quavered.

"And you can run away from it anytime you want? You can just block it out and do as you please?"

"It doesn't use a heavy hand with everyone at the same time. It can't. As long as I do what it wants, I can--"

"And how do you know this is not what it wants?"

Penny shook her head. "I would know. I'm sure I would know."

Laura smiled. "You don't sound too certain, do you?"

Behind her, Heather swayed and let out a lusty sigh. Terri's power had abated, as its source was too angry and agitated for proper focus, but Laura's power held firm. Without the false reality, she could tell she was being controlled, and she could sense the link again. No power -- and thus no help -- was to be had, but now her senses were open to it.

While Heather was too addled with aching, unsatisfied lust to ponder or remember anything she heard, it would be relayed to the link.

"The point is, Ms. Bendon, that I am sure that the Darkness did not tell you to do this," Penny said. "It doesn't work that way. If ... if it wants Heather, it won't work through you."

"You mean it will work through you instead?"

Penny swallowed, the words giving voice to her own unspoken fears of receiving just such a directive from the Darkness. "I can't answer that because I just don't know. But it hasn't happened yet, and it certainly hasn't happened through you."

Laura looked bored. She leaned against the desk. "So are you going to demand I release her or some such other heroic, motherly thing?"

Penny hesitated before responding in a low voice, "No."

Laura raised an eyebrow and waited.

"But only because I know you won't give her up, and any fight we get into over it will not do either of us -- or Heather -- any good."

"So what are you here to do?"

Penny took a deep breath. "First I had to make sure that Terri was working for herself and not Victor. I've done that."

Laura smiled. "And why is Victor so bad?"

Terri continued as if Laura had not spoken. "I didn't expect to confront you. I had hoped that it was only Terri, and I could either confirm that she didn't have enough power to do what Victor could do, or that I could browbeat her into backing off."

Laura chuckled. "You really need to choose your associations better. Terri Hollis is an idiot."

Penny nodded once. This confirmed what she had hoped, that Victor had given Terri this task just to keep her out from underfoot, and she was too wrapped up in her own agenda to notice or care.

Laura pushed herself away from the desk and stepped closer to Penny. "Now that we've agreed on that point, let's agree on another. You are not taking Heather from me. I want her, and I will have her." She paused for effect, then curled her lips into a sly smile. "But ... I'm open to negotiation."

Penny frowned. "Negotiation? For what? You're talking about a sixteen year old girl. She's not something that can be bought and sold!"

Penny realized the hypocrisy of her statement, but Laura did not have enough knowledge of Victor's activities to see it. "Spare me the sentiment. It doesn't apply in Haven. The Darkness will want her eventually."

"You are not working for the Darkness!"

Laura grinned. "Now you get it."

Penny did understand. Laura was no better than Terri, blinded by her own desires, but wanted to hedge her bets. Penny believed Laura wanted an out in case the Darkness became angry with her for taking Heather for herself. "All right. What do you want in exchange for me not making a stink about your little harem?"

Heather moaned again, her pussy rising once more in brief but intense pleasure when she tried to shift her thoughts to something other than remaining submissive and horny. Icy Dark power coiled around her mind like a serpent, its touch suffusing mind and body with euphoric sexual ecstasy.

"Before I answer that, tell me one -- no, two things," said Laura. "First of all, just how powerful is Victor? Compared to Terri, that is."

"Far more powerful," said Penny. "At least five times as powerful, if you insist on a number."

"And my second question: Do you think Victor will care if I decide to send Terri packing and renege on this little deal with her?"

"I highly doubt it. I'm guessing that Victor set her up for a fall."

"Perfect. In that case, here's what I want," said Laura. "It's the same deal I had with Terri. I want Heather on alternate weeks."

Penny blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"From a given Monday through Friday, she lives at my place when she's not in school, and all day that Saturday and Sunday. She returns to you Sunday night, and you have her for a week from that Monday until the following Sunday night."

Penny frowned. "I don't 'have' her, Ms. Bendon. I'm not her owner."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Then let her have her freedom during that time. Whatever. But that's the terms of the agreement. Oh, and if she resists and refuses to come to my place, you'll use whatever powers you have to get her to comply."

Penny looked stricken. "You're asking me to do that do my own ..."

She trailed off. Even to her it sounded hypocritical.

"Sentiment again, Ms. Sovert. Now, do we have a deal?"

Penny's jaw tightened. "You mean the same deal you're breaking with Terri because something better came along?"

"As I stated before, Terri is an idiot. You are not. I much prefer to deal with intelligent people."

Penny looked past Laura to Heather again.

"The alternative, Ms. Sovert, is to let me continue with Terri Hollis, and then she will be the one that gets her on alternate weeks. Then you get nothing."

"And I tell the Darkness what you've been--"

Laura waved a hand. "I'm willing to take my chances." She glanced at Heather and smiled. "Are you?"

Penny sighed. "And how do you propose on handling Terri?"

"Now that you've told me that I have little to fear from Victor, I can manage it. I will likely string her along for another few days, until the Halloween party is over. After all," She gestured towards Heather. "I have a nice little dancing harem girl to look forward to."

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