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Circle of Stories 1: Linda

  • Posted on October 27, 2025 at 2:34 pm

 

by Suzy Freeman

Introduction: Hello, readers of the best erotica site on the internet! I am Suzanne Freeman, but my friends call me Suzy. I am the girlfriend of Cheryl Taggert’s widow, Lisa Taggert. I won’t say how old she is, but I am considerably younger at age 25. I know it won’t surprise anyone that she now has a younger girlfriend.

After much prodding from Lisa, I started writing this story for JS. I submitted the first chapter to JetBoy, and to my delighted surprise, he said it was good enough for this wonderful website. I hope you agree. 

I’m pretty much an open book, so I want to include a little bit about me. If you don’t care to read that kind of stuff, just scroll on down to the first chapter. I just wanted to share it.

I grew up in a rural area of the midwestern U.S. No, I won’t say where because I’m not THAT open. I have an older brother and an older sister. I grew to understand that I was a lesbian over the years. Yes, I did engage in incestuous activities with my sibs, though mostly with my brother, who took my virginity when I was 12, maybe just turned 13. He was around 16 at the time, I think. No, it wasn’t rape, and I was into it, but I won’t say more since this place is not about boy-girl sex. 

My sister and I never did more than masturbate at the same time, since we shared a bedroom. She caught me rubbing one out once, and I remember that she said, “Well, I guess it’s okay if I do it myself if you’re in the room.” My sister is straight, though I did sometimes catch her peeking at me when I fingered my pussy. She did know I liked girls “in that way” and would sometimes watch when I had a friend stay the night, but that’s about it. It took me a LONG time to talk my then girlfriend into ignoring my sister being in the room when we had sex, though. My second girlfriend never would do anything while my sister was there. I only had those two girlfriends before starting college.

I used to be the young girl who fantasized about an adult woman doing things with me, like sucking my little titties (they’re still kinda small) or licking my pussy. One of my teachers was a frequent object of my active imagination when I was in my mid-teens. So, that sort of puts me on the other end of the typical fantasies you get from readers of this kind of stuff. Lately, though, I’ve really been turned on by the thought of sex with someone – ahem – younger than me. Okay, a LOT younger than me. Sometimes, though, I read these stories and imagine I am the young girl, not the adult, or that my sister liked girls too, and we got to explore sex with each other.

A huge thank you to Lisa, whom I dearly love. If it weren’t for her, this story wouldn’t exist. I asked her how it felt to be the soulmate and inspiration to TWO authors of lesbian erotica, and she said, “It’s great!” I’d say she’s a lucky lady, but that title belongs to me because I’m with her. Yeah, like Cheryl, I’m a romantic through and through.

Additional thanks to JetBoy, who helped me with this story more than anyone knows. 

This is the first stand-alone part of what I’m calling “Circle of Stories,” currently in progress, where a character in each story has an adventure of the sexual kind with a different partner in the next story. That’s why I’m calling each separate part an “episode.”  

Finally, here’s to you, the fans of erotic fiction like this. Again, I hope you like it! And if you do, please leave a comment, okay?

***

Linda was tucked up in bed, thinking about what her friend Scarlett had taught her the night before at their sleepover. Scarlett was already twelve, with a birthday in March, but she was in the same class as Linda, who would turn twelve herself in August.

As she basked in memories of the previous evening, Linda began to feel renewed excitement bubbling in her center.

It was close to midnight, and her family was asleep. Linda, though, was thinking about what she and Scarlett had done the night before, toying with the notion of trying it again. It felt so good! Nestling into the covers, she allowed what had taken place to play out in her mind. And as the memory of her time with Scarlett began to unfold, Linda pushed her pajamas down to her knees, resting a hand on her still-smooth vulva.

“What boy do you like?” Scarlett had asked, not long after their bedtime conversation had turned to boys.

“You won’t tell?”

“Of course not, silly!”

“I kinda like… Bobby Wentworth.”

“Yeah, he’s cute.” They were silent for a moment. “Ever think about him naked?”

“Naked?!” She grinned at Scarlett, feeling her face get hot. The truth was, she didn’t really think Bobby was all that cute, but she didn’t want to sound like some kind of weirdo, so she’d come out with the name of the first boy that came to mind.

For some reason, Linda didn’t find any boys to be especially cute. She’d wondered about that for a long time, until realizing that she only thought of girls that way. She loved watching movies with teenage cuties in them – in fact, if she was being truly honest with Scarlett, Linda would’ve much preferred to chat about the actresses she liked best.

“Yeah, naked,” Scarlett replied. “I’m always wondering what people look like naked.”

“People… or just boys?” Linda asked, wondering if maybe Scarlett thought about naked girls, too, the way she did.

Scarlett shrugged, sidestepping the question. “Don’t know. I just like the idea of seeing other people with no clothes on.”

“Oh.” Once more, Linda could feel a blush rushing into her cheeks, wondering if Scarlett could tell.

“What about you? Do you like the idea of seeing anyone naked?”

“I… I guess.”

Scarlett frowned. “You guess? You don’t know?”

“Of course I know,” Linda sighed. “I’m just not sure I want to talk about it.”

They were silent for a moment, then Scarlett spoke. “You ever wonder what I look like naked?”

Linda was taken aback. Is she offering to undress for me? She’d never seen her friend completely nude before. They’d taken turns showering in Scarlett’s bathroom, then got into their pajamas before coming out. That’s how it always was when they spent the night together.

Linda paused for so long before answering that Scarlett asked the question again. “Well? Have you ever thought about me that way?”

“Naked? Why do you ask? Are you gonna do a strip show for me?”

Scarlett smiled. “I might, but only if you promise not to tell anyone.”

Linda felt her cheeks grow hot again, and her heart was already racing. Glancing at Scarlett, she could tell her blush had definitely been noticed.

Scarlett wasn’t backing down. “So, what about it? Wanna see me naked?”

“If you want me to see, sure.” Linda murmured. Really, she might as well have exclaimed, ‘YES!’ but she didn’t want to sound too eager.

“Okay, but if I get naked, you have to.”

Linda’s excitement went up a notch. She wants us both to be naked? For the first time, she wondered if her friend was hinting at something.

Still, she felt a bit hesitant to undress on the spur of the moment. “Um…  you won’t tell anyone, right?”

Scarlett gave her a playful poke. “Of course not, silly. Then you could tell people about me getting naked with you, and our friends would, well, wonder about that.”

“Yeah… and I bet your parents would have a problem with it if they caught us,” Linda added.

Scarlett considered this before saying, “Yeah, I guess.” It was an odd response, as if her parents really wouldn’t mind, but Linda dismissed that. Of course they would.

Gathering her courage, Linda took a deep breath and said, “Okay, then… but you go first.”

Scarlett smiled, and Linda couldn’t help but think that smile hinted that her friend was getting away with something.

Getting to her feet, Scarlett reached down to lift the hem of her pajama top, pulling it up and off. Her breasts had just begun to come in, and her pink nipples made Linda think of cinnamon drops. Scarlett grasped the waistline of her pajama bottoms, pushed them down and stepped out. Startled to see that her friend had gone without panties, Linda asked herself, Did she plan this?

Now naked, a smiling Scarlett lay back down to stretch out alongside Linda. This time her smile seemed to indicate pride, as if undressing for her friend was something she’d been thinking about for a while.

“So… what’cha think?” Scarlett asked.

“About what?”

“My body, goofball! D’you think I’m sexy?”

Linda definitely thought her friend was sexy. She’d thought that long before seeing her naked. Still, she didn’t want to completely admit her true feelings to Scarlett. “I guess,” she said. It was an honest answer that kept her hidden longings secret.

“Okay, your turn,” Scarlett said, placing both hands behind her head.

Linda watched her friend’s face closely while she took her top off. She had no titties yet, but her nipples had begun to thicken into pert little caps that stood out from her otherwise flat chest.

“Cute,” Scarlett murmured with an appreciative nod. “Girl, you are seriously cute!”

Linda took note of the big smile Scarlett wore. Wow, she’s really enjoying this. “Now the bottoms,” Scarlett said, a hint of impatience in her voice.

Linda pushed the pajama bottoms to her knees. Raising both legs, she pulled them off completely. Now they were both nude, lying side by side.

Scarlett propped herself up on an elbow, carefully studying her friend’s nudity. “You have a pretty pussy,” she said.

Looking down at her own sex, then Scarlett’s, Linda shrugged. “It looks just like yours.”

“You’re saying my pussy is pretty, huh?” Scarlett teased. Then she giggled, and Linda joined in. She’d liked the idea of undressing with her bestie, but now that they were actually naked, she was loving every minute of it. Seeing Scarlett with all her clothes off was a real treat. And letting Scarlett see her that way was even more of a thrill.

A warm, steady pulse was beginning to throb between Linda’s legs. It was something she’d been feeling a lot lately.

“So… tell me something,” Scarlett said, her voice taking on more of a serious tone.

“Okay. How about… water is wet!” Linda announced, unable to restrain a chuckle.

No, silly!” Scarlett said, but with a smile. “I’ve got a… a sort of question for you, and it’s kinda important. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot.”

“Okay,” Linda said, gazing affectionately at her friend. “What kind of ‘something’ are we talking about?”

“Um… do you ever masturbate?”

It caught Linda completely by surprise… and she found herself hesitant to respond. Sure, she’d heard of masturbation, mostly in whispered conversations with other girls. She knew it meant touching yourself until you got this good, good feeling called an orgasm. Linda had never attempted it herself, though. That was a line she was too embarrassed to cross.

“Do I what?” Linda asked. She understood perfectly well, but needed time to come up with an answer..

Scarlett wasn’t fooled. “C’mon, you heard me. Do. You. Ever. Masturbate?”

Linda could only stare, her heart racing. “Do you?” she blurted.

“All the time.”

Linda didn’t believe her. “All the time? I never saw you doing that in class.”

Huffing impatiently, Scarlett folded her arms. “No one does it in class, dummy! I’m talking about when it’s private, when I can masturbate and not get in trouble.” She paused. “So… how about it? Do you?”

No way out of it – Linda had to tell the truth. She’d never been a good liar, and if she tried it now, Scarlett would probably press her for details she couldn’t give.

Finally, with a sigh, she said, “No. And you really…?”

“Oh, yeah! I love it!”

Linda hesitated, then asked, How do you, y’know, get started? You just… touch down there?”

“Well, first, you have to sort of get yourself in the mood. Otherwise, it won’t work.”

“In the mood?”

“Yeah, you know… excited.”

Tingling with anticipation, Linda hesitantly asked, “Are you excited right now?”

“When I’m lying next to a naked, sexy girl like you? Of course!”

Linda felt herself blush at her friend’s praise, but she wanted to know more. “What’s it feel like when you… finish?”

“Only the best thing in the whole world,” Scarlett replied, grinning hugely. “I’m not joking, either. It feels incredible!”

“I’m… I’m kinda scared to try it.”

“Why?”

“Well, isn’t it wrong? Reverend Comstock told us in youth group that you’ll go to hell if you masturbate.”

“Like he’d know!” Scarlett snorted. “God, I’m so glad my parents don’t go to church. Don’t listen to him, Linda. People like that think anything to do with sex is bad. He’s totally wrong. It’s like heaven, not hell!”

“So… it’s not a sin?”

“If it is, then practically everyone in the world is going to be in big trouble with God.”

“Everyone does it?” Linda asked, frowning.

“Pretty much. My sister masturbates, my brother… even my parents!”

“Nuh-uh! How would you know that?”

Scarlett hesitated, then said, “I asked Mom about it when I did it the first time.”

Linda’s jaw dropped. “Are you crazy? You asked your mother about that?”

“Yeah. You know how my parents are a lot different from most grownups? We’re allowed to come to them with questions, even if it’s about sex stuff!”

Linda thought for a moment. It was true – Scarlett’s parents were a heck of a lot more easygoing than hers. She couldn’t imagine talking to her mom about anything like that, much less her dad. “What did she say?”

“That it’s totally normal and I should enjoy it.”

“Really? You swear you aren’t making that up?”

“Cross my heart,” Scarlett replied, drawing a large X over her chest.

Linda was more intrigued than ever. “So, how do you do it?”

“First, think of someone you think is sexy. Imagine them naked, doing sexy stuff with you. Touching you in all the places that feel good.” Scarlett glanced down at Linda’s slit. “Like your pussy.”

“Then what?”

“Then touch yourself there and imagine it’s them doing it.”

It was no surprise that Linda immediately pictured herself being touched by Scarlett. After all, she’d been crushing on her best friend for at least a year… and now they were lying side by side, completely naked. Throwing caution to the winds, Linda embraced the fantasy.

As she imagined Scarlett touching her most private place, a delicious tingle made itself felt between her thighs. Until now, she always did her best to ignore those twinges until they went away. Now, she let them build. The more Linda thought of being fondled by her friend, the more she longed for it to happen, but she knew it would have to remain a fantasy, nothing more. If Scarlett knew, it would ruin everything.

“Thinking about someone touching your pussy?” Scarlett asked, a hint of breathlessness in her voice.

Glancing up, Linda gasped when she saw Scarlett rubbing herself. She was trailing two fingers along the cleft of her sex – going down, then up, then down again. There was a short pause when Scarlett reached near the top of the slit, where she would rub herself there in tiny circles before her fingers moved down once more.

Looking into Scarlett’s eyes, Linda noticed that they’d changed slightly, no longer sparkling with mischief or dancing with excitement like usual. They were almost half-lidded, and her friend’s expression was dreamy as she continued to pleasure herself.

It would be SO awesome if she was pretending I was the one who was touching her like that. I would, Scarlett, if you asked me to. Honest, I would!

A whimper escaped her friend’s lips, and Scarlett’s hand was moving faster now. “C’mon, Linda,” she moaned. “Do it with me. Touch your pussy.”

It was the last straw. I’m tired of always being the good little girl, she told herself. Why can’t I enjoy myself for once? Right then, she couldn’t think of a single valid answer to that question.

Reaching down, Linda ran a finger through the folds of her sex. Carefully parting the lips, she pressed against the inner flesh of the vagina. She’d sensed wetness there, but was surprised by how much of it there was, as if she’d peed herself. Of course, she’d done no such thing, but her fingers were already coated with the warm, thick fluid. That means I’m turned on.

Continuing her intimate exploration, Linda felt her way around, letting her touches linger in a way she’d never done before. When her finger grazed a certain spot near the top of her slit, a jolt of pleasure startled her. It was more intense, like a burn that produced good feelings instead of hurting.

Linda touched there again, mumbling, “Wow,” as a second twinge of ecstasy raced through her. She felt her body shiver slightly at the contact.

“You found your clit, huh?” asked Scarlett. “I didn’t even get around to telling you about that. It’s what you rub when you’re ready to come. But it’s better if you touch around it at first, get yourself nice and worked up. Then when you get off, it’s like a… like fireworks going off in your pussy!”

Linda couldn’t resist. She began to rub herself in earnest, and Scarlett gave her a seductive smile. At least, it seemed to be seductive.

Watching one another closely, the two girls fondled themselves for a minute or so, until Scarlett said, “Hey, Linda… ever kissed anyone before? A real kiss, on the mouth?”

“Um, no.” Linda replied, her excitement ratcheting even higher as she realized what her friend was hinting at. Oh my gosh, is she really gonna…?

“You… you wanna try it with me?” Scarlett seemed almost bashful, as if she thought Linda might say no.

Linda didn’t answer, just nodded, eager to experience the touch of Scarlett’s lips on hers. By then, she could feel herself glowing inside, a mixture of anticipation, desire and, yeah, love.

When their lips touched, the first thing Linda noticed was how soft her friend’s mouth was. Then Linda felt Scarlett’s tongue seeking entrance, and parted her lips without a second thought. She knew about French kisses, of course, despite never experiencing one…and it was even nicer than she expected. It seemed like the most obvious thing in the world to kiss her friend back in the same way.

As their tongues engaged, Linda felt a delicious shiver run through her body. It seemed to center itself between her legs, so she returned to touching herself. This time she went straight to the top of the slit,  where those especially nice feelings seemed to be.

Linda gave a happy sigh as Scarlett’s arms twined around her. At first, she thought it was a hug, then realized that her friend was rolling onto her back, trying to position Linda on top. This seemed like a great idea, and soon Linda was lying on Scarlett, their bare bodies nestled snugly together, each girl’s slit rested against the other’s thigh. Linda could feel Scarlett grind against her, and hastened to copy her friend’s movements.

Now they were kissing and working their bodies together, and it was amazing. Oh, my goodness. Scarlett was right; this really does feel like heaven. She’d never had an orgasm before, though she vaguely knew what the word meant. It had always seemed to be dirty; something she was too young to be thinking about. Now, though, Linda felt like she might die if she didn’t have one right this minute.

Scarlett was panting and gasping in time with the hard thrusts she was making against Linda’s leg. Linda realized that she was doing the same, fully matching Scarlett’s tempo. It was like pressing her pussy against a live wire. The universe was reduced to their bodies, their movements, the sounds of their increasingly frenzied workout. And the pleasure… Oh, my God, it’s so, so good.

Suddenly it occurred to her they were making a lot of noise, maybe loud enough to be heard. What if someone came to see what was going on? The crazy idea that she might not even care if they got caught was lost in a jumble of incredible sensations.

Then Scarlett was screaming. That was the only way to describe it. They’re gonna hear that for sure! was the last thought to flash through Linda’s mind before her own cries filled the air.

White-hot jolts of ecstasy rocketed through her body. She was either thinking or howling, “Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!” as the first orgasm of her life took hold and wouldn’t let go.

Her climax lasted for what felt like minutes, though she was sure that wasn’t the case. It was as if time itself no longer existed outside this instant. Her body jerked and heaved with the sensations that enveloped her. Linda was vaguely aware of her breath coming in gasps, seeming to fill the room with the sound of her breathing. From somewhere beyond her body, she could hear the same squeals and heaving breaths from Scarlett.

After the fireworks finally ended, Linda rolled off Scarlett and onto her back, separating their damp, glistening bodies. They lay quietly side by side, catching their breath. Finally, Scarlett turned toward her friend. “Was I right, or was I right? Like heaven, huh?”

Linda wore a grin of complete satisfaction. “You were right.” The girls giggled, then drifted together in a tender kiss.

At that point, there was a knock at the bedroom door. “Girls?” It was Scarlett’s mom.

“Oh, shit!” Linda hissed. She seldom used cuss words, but now she was in full panic mode, already dreading what her parents would say when Mrs. Jacobson told them what she’d caught them doing.

Scarlett, on the other hand, was unruffled. “Just a sec,” she answered, then pulled the covers up to just beneath their bare shoulders.

Linda was puzzled. Mrs. Jacobson would surely know they were naked underneath, or at least topless. But before she could tug the blanket any higher, Scarlett said, “C’mon in, Mom.”

The door opened, and a smiling Mrs. Jacobson stood there, dressed only in a skimpy nightgown that revealed quite a bit. In fact, her breasts were clearly visible through the filmy material. The sight surprised Linda, an unexpected hint of warmth flickering between her thighs. Scared as she was, Linda still had to admit that her friend’s mom was wicked hot.

“I could hear you girls,” Mrs. Jacobson said. Smiling at Linda, she added, “Don’t worry, sweetheart… we’re very open about such things in this house. Scarlett has told me more than a few times that she has a big crush on you, so I knew something like this was likely to happen. As long as you keep it a secret, you’re welcome to come spend the night anytime your parents say you can and make love with Scarlett. It’s totally natural for girls to experiment with each other, so don’t feel like you’ve done anything wrong.”

“Um, sure, okay,” Linda said, suddenly unable to meet the woman’s penetrating gaze. “Thanks, Mrs. Jacobson.”

“Yeah… thanks, Mom,” Scarlett exclaimed, all smiles.

Mrs. Jacobson looked from one girl to the other. “Can I get either of you something to drink? After that workout, I’ll bet you’re both thirsty!”

“That’s okay,” Scarlett said. “I’ll get us a couple of sodas.” With that, she emerged stark naked from the bed.

Linda stared in disbelief as Scarlett advanced toward the doorway without a stitch of clothing… then her jaw dropped when Scarlett paused to kiss her mother – on the mouth. It was anything but a daughterly kiss. Linda could see her friend’s tongue dart between Mrs. Jacobson’s parted lips.

The woman briefly resisted, but not for long. With a low moan, Mrs. Jacobson responded, her tongue flashed to life, then mother and daughter shared a passionate kiss. Linda barely restrained a shocked gasp when Scarlett placed a hand on her mom’s breast, fondling it through the gauzy nightgown.

Finally breaking away, Scarlett glanced over at her wide-eyed friend and gave her a wink. “Be right back!” she chirped, then vanished from sight. Her bare feet could be heard against the wooden floor for a few steps.

Mrs. Jacobson watched her daughter go, then turned back to Linda. Her cheeks were flushed. “I hope you’ll keep our secret, Linda. Please don’t tell anyone about what you just saw. It would cause us serious problems… and honestly, we’re not hurting anyone. Scarlett loves it. Our lifestyle, I mean.”

“I… I won’t say anything, Mrs. Jacobson,” Linda said, imagining what it would be like to share a bed with Scarlett’s mother. The sight of her in that see-through nightie caused a renewed warmth to spread beneath her belly.

“Good. Call me Margeaux, by the way. Well, I’ll give you some privacy. You two have fun, okay?”

“Okay.” Linda couldn’t believe an adult was actually encouraging her to have lesbian sex… and enjoy it!.

“Good night, sweetie.” With that, Scarlett’s smiling mother gently closed the door.

Linda couldn’t believe what she’d just seen, but knew one thing for certain: she would be spending the night at Scarlett’s as often as she could.

When Scarlett returned with the drinks a minute or so later, she handed Linda a can of soda, then rejoined her on the bed, murmuring, “I bet you’ve got a few questions.”

“No shit,” Linda said. It was almost unheard of for her to swear twice in the same day, but her life was undergoing some major changes. “Your mom is okay with this? Us doing sexy stuff?”

More than okay. She loves it.”

“And the way you two kissed. It was like girlfriends kissing, not a mom and daughter.”

“That’s how it is when we fuck,” Scarlett said.

It was the answer she’d expected to hear – well, not with her friend using that word – but Linda was still shocked. “So you and your mom…?”

“Yeah. We have sex. Pretty often, actually.”

“Whoa. When did that get started?”

“Oh, I was a lot younger… about nine, I think. Mom got my sister to teach me how, then we both started doing it with her, too. I’ve also had sex with my brother and dad, but that’s a story for another day… or night.” Scarlett winked at Linda.

“What do you do with your mom… and your sister?”

Scarlett shrugged. “Everything.”

“And what does ‘everything’ mean?” Linda demanded. “Don’t be a tease. Tell me!”

“You know, lesbian sex. Things two girls can do to each other with all their clothes off. Kissing, rubbing, fingering, licking, sucking. Fucking. All of it!”

Linda was intrigued. “Licking? Sucking?”

“Yeah. I was gonna show you that next time you spend the night.”

“Next time?”

“Sorry, but I’m too tired right now. I had sex with my sister Gina just before your dad brought you over, so I’m kinda wiped out, y’know?”

“I guess.” Now Linda found herself picturing Scarlett and her big sister naked, in bed and having sex. It was a compelling image, one that caused her pussy to tingle and throb.

Taking one last swallow of soda, Scarlett dropped the empty can in the waste basket beside her bed. A moment later, Linda did the same. “Goodnight,” Scarlett said and leaned over for a kiss.

Linda responded, seeking her friend’s tongue, and their kiss grew deep and passionate. After a moment, Scarlett gently broke away. “I love you, y’know.”

“Yeah,” Linda said, all but glowing with happiness. “I love you, too. I… I’ve felt that way for a long time.”

Scarlett smiled at Linda, then rolled away from her. “Spoon with me,” she said.

“Sure.” Linda scooted over to press her body against Scarlett’s, making sure her pussy was nestled into the cleft of her best friend’s flawless bottom.

Before long, they both dozed off.

***

Later that night, Linda felt movement in the bed, enough to wake her. When she opened her eyes, she was drowsy at first, wondering what was going on. An instant later, she was wide awake, heart pounding.

Scarlett’s mother Margeaux was in bed with them. She was lying on her tummy between her daughter’s legs, licking Scarlett’s slit. Margeaux was naked, just like the girls, and Linda had a very enticing view of the woman’s bottom as she feasted on her daughter’s pussy.

Scarlett’s eyes were tightly closed, her hands resting on Margeaux’s head. “Oh, Mom,” she was whispering, “that f-feels so nice. I love it when you do that to me.”

Scooting back against the headboard, Linda sat quietly, watching the sex between mother and daughter, feeling her pussy throb. I’m gonna have to touch myself down there, she decided. There’s no way I can see something like this, then just roll over and go to sleep.

She wondered: would Margeaux or Scarlett mind if she masturbated while watching them have sex? She didn’t see why. Mrs. Jacobson did tell us to have fun, didn’t she? Surely she didn’t expect me to sleep through this. It wasn’t as if either of them were making much of an effort to keep quiet.

Deciding to go for it, Linda placed a finger at the top of her slit and instantly felt a twinge of pleasure course through her. Neither Scarlett nor her mother seemed to notice, so she began to rub herself in small circles, occasionally reaching down to gather some of the juices that were now flowing freely from her vagina, then smearing them over the labial folds for extra lubrication.

Linda’s attention shifted back and forth from Mrs. Jacobson’s ass to where her mouth was between Scarlett’s legs. Wonder what it tastes like? she asked herself. Realizing the answer was literally at her fingertips, she brought her hand to her lips, taking a cautious lick. Mmmm… not bad. She took a finger in her mouth to suck. Kinda nice, even.

Margeaux opened her eyes, which lit up at the sight of Linda watching them fuck. She raised her head from Scarlett’s pussy to speak, and her daughter let out a whimper of protest.

“Well, we were hoping you’d wake up,” Margeaux said.

“You did?”

Opening her own eyes, Scarlett grinned. “Linda! Cool. Wanna join us?”

Linda couldn’t believe it. Scarlett and her mom wanted to have sex with her! “Um, sure,” she said. “Yeah!”

“Let’s do a daisy chain,” Mrs. Jacobson said.

Do a what..? Linda wondered. But Scarlett broke in before she could ask.

“Yeah, let’s!” her friend exclaimed, “So. Linda, lie down so you can lick my mom. She’ll do it to me, and I’ll lick you, all at the same time. It’s awesome!”

Linda was nervous, never having done anything like this, but she was beside herself with arousal, eager to learn everything she could about lesbian sex. And you learn by doing… that’s what Dad always says.

Arranging herself on the bed so she could lick Margeaux, Linda shifted her hips until her sex was within easy reach of Scarlett’s mouth. Seconds later, she felt the caress of her friend’s tongue, then Scarlett pressed her mouth against Linda’s pussy in an open-mouthed kiss.

“Oh my God!” Linda blurted. It was so far beyond the pleasures she’d experienced thus far that she had to struggle to keep from screaming.

Taking a steadying breath, Linda gazed into the wet folds of Mrs. Jacobson’s sex. She was so wet that it looked as if someone had poured real cream into her pussy, and the thick, earthy scent had Linda feeling lightheaded. Moistening her lips, she wondered what it would taste like, compared to hers. Only one way to find out...

Drawing close, Linda leaned forward and gave the woman’s slit a tentative lick, gathering a hint of the cream onto the tip of her tongue. It really wasn’t enough to get a real taste, so she pressed her tongue against the juicy opening once more.

She paused to sample the flavor, and a thrill went through her as she realized it was delicious. She was about to move in for more, but Margeaux stopped licking her daughter long enough to say, “Is this your first time eating pussy, Linda?”

“Um, yeah,” Linda admitted. She could have lied, but it must have seemed obvious that she was new to this.

“That’s fine. We all have to start somewhere. Just lick the opening and the folds of skin down there, maybe put your tongue inside… but when I start getting really, really excited, you want to pay special attention to the clit.”

“Your… clit?”

“Yes. You were just pressing against it with your tongue. It’s that little bump near the top of the slit. Can you see it?”

It took a few seconds to find what Margeaux was talking about. “Um, okay. Yeah, I found it.”

“Good job. The only other thing you have to do is, well, enjoy yourself.”

Linda giggled. “I can do that!” Diving in, she began to lick Scarlett’s mom in earnest, doing her best to make the woman feel incredible. Her lips, cheeks and chin were soon dripping with the luscious essence of pussy. She trailed her tongue up and down through the rosy flesh, nibbled at the labial folds, thrust her tongue in and out of Mrs. Jacobson’s vagina – anything she could think of.

Whatever she was doing seemed to work, too. She could hear Margeaux humming her approval, then a moan escaped the woman’s lips. Linda’s excitement was at fever pitch, her nervousness gone. She was about to make a grown woman come with her mouth! How cool is that? she thought.

Meanwhile, Scarlett’s lips and tongue were doing a lively dance on Linda’s pussy. She wondered how young her friend had been when Scarlett had learned about sex. Ten? Seven? I’ll have to ask her about that some time.

In less than a minute, Linda could tell her orgasm was fast approaching. She bucked and squirmed at the constant, incredible contact between Scarlett’s mouth and her pussy as those good feelings got more and more intense.

Wanting Mrs. Jacobson to come at the same time she did, Linda centered her attention on the little bump the woman had pointed out to her a moment ago. The… the clit, that’s what she called it. Lick her there. That’s what Scarlett was doing to her, and it really did feel amazing. Taking the engorged nubbin between her lips, Linda sucked at it like a straw, then flicked it a few times with her tongue.

Soon, Margeaux began to tremble and shake, groaning into her daughter’s pussy. The moan became a wail, and just as Linda realized she was making Mrs. Jacobson come, her own orgasm slammed home.

Since Margeaux was making enough of a racket to wake the neighborhood,  it seemed okay for Linda to let loose herself. So she squealed out loud through her own frenzied climax, forming an erotic chorus of sorts with Mrs. Jacobson and Scarlett, who was also coming.

Once their ecstasy had crested and waned, the three broke apart and rolled onto their backs, catching their breath. After a moment, Mrs. Jacobson murmured, “Linda, honey… I imagine you’re a bit sensitive down there, but would you mind if I had a taste of you?”

“Um… not at all! I’d love for you to,” Linda quickly replied, a tremor in her voice. She knew Scarlett and her mom were lovers, but hadn’t considered the notion that Mrs. Jacobson might want to do those things to her, too. Well, why not? I licked her; it’s only fair.

Linda watched in awe, heart fluttering as Margeaux stretched out between her thighs. “You have a lovely cunt, dearest,” she said, lightly tracing the slit with a finger. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

She began by lightly kissing the folds of Linda’s pussy, avoiding her clit. It was true that the girl was still tender after her orgasm, but Margeaux’s gentleness brought her along gradually, coaxing the spark into a flame, then the flame into a roaring fire. Soon, Linda was holding her legs wide apart, panting, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!”

Linda felt soft lips brushing her cheek, Surprised, she opened her eyes to find Scarlett at her side. Their mouths drifted together in a kiss that quickly grew heated. Linda surprised herself by bringing her tongue into play first, but Scarlett was quick to respond.

Something about the taste of her friend’s lips got Linda’s attention – then she realized that, of course, it was the flavor of her own pussy. Omigosh, that’s so, SO hot! Wanting more, she circled Scarlett’s mouth with her tongue.

Scarlett said, “I’m so glad this is happening, Linda. I’ve been wanting to share you with Mom for… oh, ages. Just wait, though. Next, time, we’ll get my big sister in on it, and we’ll all fuck. Gina thinks you’re way hot!”

With that revelation, Linda went off in her third orgasm of the night. And as she mewled and shook, her body bucking wildly, it occurred to her that she wouldn’t mind living with this family forever. She could never experience this kind of freedom in her own home. It would have taken every ounce of courage Linda had just to tell her mother that she masturbated. And the idea of talking to her about being into girls? Well, that seemed as remote Linda as winning at Wimbledon – and she didn’t even play tennis, much less excel at it.

Once Linda recovered, Margeaux gave her a deep, passionate kiss. Like she had with Scarlett, Linda licked around the woman’s mouth, savoring that thick, luscious taste of hersel.

Finally, Mrs. Jacobson got up and slipped into her nightie. Smiling at Linda, she said. “Do you have any questions for me, hon?”

Linda thought for a second. “Am I the youngest girl you’ve ever had sex with?”

Mrs. Jacobson smiled. “Since I became an adult, you mean?”

“Yes.”

Margeaux shook her head. “Well, no. I first made love to Scarlett before she turned ten. But I’ve also been with an eight-year-old before. My niece Violet.”

“How old is she now?”

“Fourteen.”

Linda’s eyes widened. “Wow. You’ve been doing this for a while, huh?”

Mrs. Jacobson idly cupped her breasts. “With girls? Since I was seven. It really got started when I was fourteen and worked as a babysitter. Sometimes I fucked their moms, too.”

“Wow. Did you, er, ever do something with a kid who didn’t wanna do stuff?”

“Never. That’s one thing I would never do, honey. If they don’t want it, I don’t either.”

“Okay. Guess that’s all the questions I have. For now, anyway.”

“All right, then. Goodnight, girls.” Mrs. Jacobson gave them each a brief kiss, then left the room.

Scarlett wrapped her arms around Linda. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too, Scar. Thank you for… for showing me such a great time.”

“Oh, it was my pleasure. Hmmm. It’s nearly 3 AM. Let’s get some sleep.”

“Fine. Some time, though, you’ve got to tell me about the first time you did it with your mom. I totally want to hear that story!”

“Tomorrow, I promise.” Reaching over to the lamp on her nightstand, Scarlett switched it off, plunging the room into darkness. “G’night, Lin.”

“Night-night.” Linda murmured, setting down.

Her head was such a crazy whirl that she half-expected to pass a sleepless night. In fact, she dozed off before five minutes had passed

***

The next morning at breakfast, everyone was smiling at Linda and Scarlett when they padded into the kitchen.

“Have fun last night?” asked Scarlett’s older sister Gina.

Scarlett fired back, “More fun than you did, fingering your pussy while you listened to us fuck.”

“Aw, I thought I kept the volume down. How’d you know?” Gina replied, sporting a bad-girl grin.

“Because it’s what I would’ve done if you’d had one of your sexy friends in bed.”

“Or you could’ve just joined them,” Scarlett’s brother Jake said, glancing up from his plate.

Scarlett grinned. “Well, yeah, there’s that.”

***

As Linda lay in her own bed the next night, replaying the entire evening in her mind, she brought herself to a lovely orgasm – her second of the day, actually.

It surprised her at first, how often she felt the need to make herself come since the sleepover, but it would be the way of things for her from that day forward. Linda was destined to be a girl who simply had to have at least one orgasm every day, either as she was going to bed, about to get out of bed, or in the shower. And when nobody else was home, she nearly always did it then, too.

Of course, there were also the many sexual encounters Linda would have with girls and women, starting with Scarlett, Margeaux, and Gina. She was a frequent guest at the Jacobson residence, and was nearly always assured of a good time with one or more of her three lovers there.

Linda would forever be addicted to orgasms, beautiful women, and lesbian sex. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing better.

The End

 

The Beekeeper’s Lament, Chapter 11

  • Posted on October 22, 2025 at 2:26 pm

For a list of the many characters who populate this saga, check out Dramatis Personae.

Thus far in our story…

Prologue: Hailey Ellis has returned to Morcant-On-Sea after several years away, only to find the coastal town is a shadow of its former self. Amidst this decline, Hailey navigates her various relationships, but a shocking encounter with her selkie aunt foreshadows a chain of events that will change all their lives forever.

Ch1: Several months later in the village of Derwold, the summer holidays begin for the Newton girls. Eleven-year-old Freya struggles to cope with the changes that adolescence brings, and wonders why she feels so angry and alone. To add to her unhappiness, she experiences her first period. 

Ch2: The next day, Freya has a chance meeting with Elsa Hart, wife of the new lord of Derwold Manor. A little later, Freya joins Sadie and her sister Millie for a lesson in alchemy, but things don’t quite go as planned when Millie inadvertently amplifies the potency of the love potion they’ve brewed. After the effects have worn off, Millie visits the churchyard to pay her respects to an old friend. Whilst there, she has an encounter with a black panther, and discovers she can communicate with the creature.

Ch3: Several days later, Simon and Elsa host a housewarming party in the grounds of the old manor. Elsa treats Freya to a tour of the recent restoration efforts, and the seeds are sown for a burgeoning friendship. Meanwhile, post mistress Sally Jeffries has a few too many drinks and ends up accidentally setting fire to pompous druid Bernard, then has a few choice words for Simon Derwold, who she remembers from decades before. Georgia, Sadie and Millie make their way home, where they indulge in a night of passion in the lounge, only to be interrupted by Elsa and Freya. Elsa comes to suspect her new neighbours are not all that they seem.

Ch4: The vicar of Derwold has been murdered by an unknown assailant. Unaware of the events that are about to unfold, Sadie tries to fathom the mysteries of the ancient standing stone near her cottage with the help of Freya and Millie. Later, Freya pays a visit to Derwold Manor, and she and Elsa enjoy an afternoon of passion. It turns out Elsa is using Freya for her own ends, and the eleven-year-old is tricked into revealing all their secrets.

Ch5: Sadie receives a concerning call from Vivaan Dinesh, Derwold’s resident doctor. At the surgery, she is confronted with the murdered vicar. Meanwhile, Millie rescues Bernard from the mysterious black panther, and the traumatised man confesses he’s not a real druid at all. 

Sadie sets out to investigate the vicar’s murder, and discovers that someone has set an arcane wall around the village, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. In the woods that surround Derwold, she meets Astris the dryad.

Ch6: Astris tells Sadie that Elsa is the one who has sealed off the village, though for what purpose she doesn’t know. The dryad also hints that Elsa is a witch, and that she harbours great power. Sadie researches the Derwold family and discovers they have a troubled history. She also discovers Elsa changed her name to conceal her past, and is inexplicably older than she seems. 

At the post office, Sally Jeffries tells Sadie a disturbing childhood story, in which an eight-year-old Simon tortured and killed his pet dog. Suspecting the vicar’s murder may have been Simon’s doing, Sadie hastens to Beekeeper Cottage to make sure everyone’s safe, but Freya has already gone to the manor to meet with Elsa. Sadie races to retrieve her.

Ch7: At Derwold Manor, stark truths are revealed. Elsa has sealed the village off to protect Simon. More than that, she intends to set the stage for a new world order, one where women rule and men are consigned to history. She asks Sadie and Millie to join her, but Sadie refuses. She and Freya arrive back at Beekeeper Cottage only to find Georgia and Millie missing. They are captured by Elsa’s thugs, and reunited with Georgia and Millie, the four of them are imprisoned in the manor. 

Discovering the large rock in the cellar where they are confined is actually an ancient standing stone, Millie manages to tap into its magic, and she and Sadie are transported to an unknown location. 

Ch8: Enraged, Elsa threatens to kill Georgia if Freya doesn’t tell her where Sadie and Millie have gone, but Freya manages to convince her they know nothing of their whereabouts. Taking no chances, Elsa locks them in a room full of taxidermy specimens. Freya opens up to her mother, expressing her fears and doubts.

Meanwhile, in the Cornish town of Morcant-On-Sea, a tribe of Selkie rescue a near-drowned Sadie and Millie, then point them in the direction of the lighthouse. Sadie hopes that whoever lives up there can help them get back home. Having reached their destination, they discover a strange cocoon-like object. Before they have time to consider exactly what it is or what it means, they realise someone has followed them into the lighthouse.

Ch9: Elsa uses the menhir to determine Sadie and Millie’s whereabouts. Having discovered they are in the town where she spent her childhood, the enraged woman prepares to recapture them. 

Meanwhile, Sadie and Millie meet Hailey and Derek. Hailey tells them that whatever’s sleeping inside the cocoon was once her selkie aunt, Rita. Sadie explains that she needs to get back to Derwold to rescue Georgia and Freya, but with no easy way back to the mainland, they will need to wait until morning. Meanwhile, Sadie’s cat familiar, Billy Buckham, sneaks into Derwold Manor with plans of his own.

Some time later, Millie is awakened by a strange voice summoning her to the top of the lighthouse. There she meets a spectral version of Rita, and the two of them enjoy a moment of intimacy, culminating in an exchange of old magics. Over on the mainland, Elsa makes her way towards the coast to prepare an invasion.

Ch10: Elsa raises an army of the dead and invades Morcant-On-Sea. Sadie does her best to protect Hailey and Derek, but Millie is trapped in the lighthouse and they must get to her with all haste. Fighting their way to the top, they find a very angry Elsa. Revealing her true power, the dark witch threatens to kill them all, but she has invoked the wrath of the creature slumbering inside the cocoon. It bursts free, revealing itself to be a Siren. Amidst the ensuing chaos, the creature flies off with Elsa in its grasp, and Sadie, Millie, Hailey and Derek make their escape from the destroyed town.

Safely on board Derek’s trawler and bound for Derwold, Hailey discovers the sexual nature of Sadie and Millie’s relationship. The four of them part ways in the border town of Lydney. Hailey and Derek return to Morcant to help with rescue efforts, and Sadie and Millie head home, unaware of whatever awaits them there.

And now, dear readers, we make our way into the next installment. Read on…

by BlueJean

1

Vengeance comes to the village of Derwold in an Uber driven by a nice man called Malcolm.

Sadie Laine and her apprentice Millie Newton sit in the backseat of the taxi while Malcolm tells them how his wife Beryl can’t find an NHS dentist for love nor money. She’s seriously considering pulling out her rotten tooth herself, he explains.

When they approach the border of Derwold, Sadie leans forward in her seat to ask him if he’s feeling all right, carefully observing his face in a most unsettling way. She’s a beautiful young woman, and had he been thirty years younger, Malcolm might have considered the possibility that she was making a pass at him. He was quite the ladies’ man back in the day. Malcolm tells her he’s right as rain, thanks very much for asking.

As the WELCOME TO DERWOLD sign comes into view, Sadie tells Malcolm to stop the car. She exits the vehicle and moves tentatively towards the outskirts, zig-zagging between trees and ferns, advancing; retreating, then repeating the process in a new area.

“What’s she doing?” Malcolm asks Millie while he sucks on a Murray Mint.

Millie decides to try an experiment. She’s recently come to understand that telling the truth sometimes works better than telling lies when it comes to covering one’s tracks. The caveat to this is that it only works if the truth is more ridiculous than the lie. “She’s testing to see if there’s still an invisible wall around the village.” She follows this up with a tiny fib: “She has a syndrome.”

“Ahhh. Right,” says Malcolm, as if it all makes perfect sense.

Sadie climbs back into the vehicle. “It’s down!” she says with a grin, giving the thumbs up.

Millie raises her own thumb. As does Malcolm. He winks to Millie in the rearview mirror.

When they reach the village green soon after, they find a handful of residents congregating. There are raised voices and urgent gestures. Sadie can feel the tense atmosphere. She doubts the villagers know exactly what has befallen them, and yet they still sense something amiss, the way prey animals catch a whiff of danger on the wind.

Sadie pays Malcolm his fare and he departs Derwold, never to return. Three weeks later his wife Beryl pulls her own tooth out with a pair of her husband’s rusty pliers. She dies of sepsis.

Bernard the Druid greets Sadie and Millie heartily, and he has a very special friend with him. When Bee sees Millie, she wags her tail madly and screws her snout up into a smile. Bernard found her wandering the village alone, and she’s been staying with him in his tent ever since. Millie buries her face in the dog’s fur and whispers soothing words of nonsense.

Throwing caution to the wind, Sadie explains to Bernard and the other villagers present that Simon Derwold has kidnapped Georgia and Freya. They are being held in Derwold Manor, and she means to go rescue them. Bernard is outraged. He brings his staff down with a mighty thud, and when he’s done nursing his foot, not only vows to march with her, but promises to rally the rest of the village residents, too.

Phone calls are made. One by one they come, young and old alike. Bernard has told them there are men with guns up in the manor, so they bring makeshift weapons of their own. The farmers among them carry shotguns, but most of the improvised weaponry is less conventional: cricket bats and knitting needles, saws and hammers, dustbin lids and brooms. A few folk even wield that classic symbol of discontented peasantry: the humble pitchfork.

Roy Sutton turns up looking absolutely livid. The bastards have kidnapped his good friend Georgia, and God help anyone who ends up on the receiving end of the electric whisk he’s currently brandishing. Even if he can’t find a plug socket in the heat of battle, it’ll still have someone’s eye out in a pinch.

The villagers turn up in force. Most everyone has heeded the call, though there are a few notable absentees.

After consuming a dodgy sausage roll, Colin Brambles has been shitting through the eye of a needle all day and dare not risk the journey, lest he get caught short en route.

Maisy and Gavin Mustard would like to help, but there’s an episode of Peaky Blinders they really don’t want to miss. Millie asks them why they don’t just stream it later, but Maisy and Gavin have no idea what she’s talking about.

Ethel Weatherford has been given special exemption – she’s ninety-six, crashes into things on her mobility scooter, and is not particularly handy in a fight.

Sadie has a job for Sally Jeffries, the local postmistress. It’s too dangerous for the village children to march with them, so they must be left behind. Sally will take them under her wing. Sadie had briefly considered plying the woman with gin and taking her along, but though a plastered Mrs. Jeffries would be a lethal weapon in the fight to come, the risk is too great she would turn on her fellow villagers instead and decimate their ranks.

And so they have gathered. Two of their own have been taken, and it simply won’t stand. Now they turn their righteous anger to the task of vengeance, and the march on Derwold Manor begins.

2

Millie had a face like thunder. Her fists were bunched together at her sides. “I’m going with you, Sadie. I have a right to go!”

There was quite a crowd on the village green now. Bernard paced up and down alongside their ranks, perhaps imagining he was some Iceni general inspecting his troops before a great battle against the Roman army. Sadie just wanted the numbers. There was less chance of violence with this many witnesses.

The witch folded to her knees and placed her hands on the girl’s arms. Millie looked disheveled and exhausted, but then Sadie supposed she herself wasn’t exactly running at peak performance. Still, she couldn’t justify taking her apprentice with her. Millie had been through too much. “It’s too dangerous, Millie.”

“What, more dangerous than nearly being killed by Elsa and her dead friends, and that, that thing with the wings?”

“There are men with guns up there. And Simon’s loopy as a rabid hamster. I’m sure everything will be fine, and we’ll get Freya and your mum out without any problems, but I need to know that you’re safe back here with Mrs. Jeffries.”

Millie stood her ground. “I’m going with you. If you leave me here I’ll sneak off and go anyway.“

“Millie, will you listen to what I’m telling you!“

“No, Sadie! I’m going, and that’s that! It’s my mum and sister up there. I’m too worried about them to stay here, okay?“

Sadie gave an exasperated sigh. “Is there anything I can do to convince you to stay?“

“No.“

Sadie rubbed at her temples. She was too tired to argue, and there was still more work to be done before they were all out of the woods. “All right. Have it your way.“ She levelled a stern finger at her apprentice. “But you stay close to me, and don’t try anything stupid.“

Millie kissed her mentor on the brow. “Trust me, I’m a witch.“

Sadie gave her a half-hearted scowl. “That’s my line.“

There hadn’t been time to talk about what had happened back in Morcant; wasn’t really time for it now, either. But Sadie had questions that wouldn’t wait. “Hey, back at the lighthouse. How did you drive the dead away like that? Can you remember?”

Millie furrowed her brow trying to recall. She’d been so scared that night, so panic-stricken. It was hard to remember it all clearly. “I dunno. I used the sending chant, and then I said some other words, older ones. I think maybe it was the Dryad language.”

Sadie remembered the utter terror on the faces of the dead as they’d fled the lighthouse. To think that an eight-year-old girl could instill such fear in creatures that didn’t have much reason to fear anything.

“But I didn’t teach you how to perform The Sending.”

“No,” Millie agreed, “but I read some of your books, and they’re easy to understand. It’s just, the people who wrote them didn’t know how to put all the pieces together.”

That led to more questions, but Sadie wasn’t going to pursue them for now. She forced a smile for Millie.

Over on the village green, Mrs. Jeffries clapped her hands together, a delighted grin on her rosy-cheeked face. “Right then, me little oompa loompas! Who wants a bag o’ sweets from the post office?”

A cry of approval went up from the gathered children.

“That’s the spirit! You can pay me back later. Or spend the rest of the day doin’ me housework. I’m flexible.”

Sadie swept Millie’s hair back behind her ears. “Let’s go get your mum and sister.”

3

Simon Derwold paced back and forth in his study, a gigantic cigar trapped between his teeth. Every now and then he would check his phone for new messages, but there had been nothing from Elsa since late last night. He’d tried calling her numerous times since then, but her phone was unreachable.

Something was wrong. She’d never been gone this long before, not without calling to let him know where she was and what she was doing. Had Sadie Laine killed her? Had something else befallen her? What was he supposed to do with Georgia and Freya if Elsa didn’t return? He certainly couldn’t let them go, not now. It was all a bit of an inconvenient mess, truth be told.

Elsa brought stability into his life. When the madness descended, he would lose himself for days, a multitude of personalities vying for attention. Elsa kept him contained, and if she was unable to keep him contained, she cleaned up the mess he made, covered his tracks. Before her there had only been chaos, the same chaos that destroyed his father decades before, the same chaos that saw his sister Helen take her own life.

Without Elsa, Simon could be… rash.

He made his way upstairs to the taxidermy room. Time to have a little chat with Georgia and Freya. Kurt and Bernie were ordered into the kitchen to make themselves a slap-up breakfast, and neither man had any objection to that.

Simon unlocked the door. When he entered the taxidermy room, he locked it again from the inside.

Georgia hadn’t failed to notice him pocket the key, and didn’t think it boded well. “Hello, Simon,” she said with a strained smile.

Simon did not smile back. “I’m rather concerned, Georgia. Elsa should’ve been back by now and I’m worried something has happened to her.”

Georgia didn’t know what to make of that. If Elsa was missing, never to return, all for the good, but where did that leave Sadie and Millie? Were they still safe? Still alive? “I’m sorry to hear that, Simon,” she said.

“No, I don’t believe you are.“

Simon laced his hands behind his back and set about inspecting the taxidermy display. Some of them were old friends, each with their own unique collection of memories. Many of the memories were pleasant; others, quite horrific. Simon had learnt to face both kinds without fear or remorse. There was a strange kind of solace in acceptance.

“Tell me, do you think Sadie has done something to Elsa?” he said, gazing into the cold, glassy stare of Jasper the ferret. “Is your friend capable of murder, do you think?”

“Sadie’s a schoolteacher,” said Freya. “What do you think?”

Georgia flashed her eyes at Freya and shook her head. The last thing they needed was to upset this madman right now. “Sadie couldn’t kill anyone, Simon,” she said. “She doesn’t have it in her.”

Simon regarded Toby the Jack Russell with great fondness. He still had his little collar on. Oh, how Toby had screamed at the end. “No, indeed. Although, stressful situations can reveal parts of ourselves we never knew existed. We’re all brutal animals, deep down.”

“If Elsa’s gone, will you let us go?” Georgia said.

Simon tugged on his cigar and blew smoke into the face of Floella the tortoise. Not an easy thing, separating a tortoise from its shell, especially when it’s still alive. “That’s rather insensitive. I’m worried sick, and all you can think about is yourself.”

“I’m sorry, Simon, but I’d really like to go home now. There’s no point keeping us here any longer, is there? Don’t worry, we won’t say anything to anyone. It was all just a big misunderstanding, that’s all.”

“Well, I think we’ll give it another couple of days. If Elsa’s not back by then, I expect I’ll have to kill you and Freya. It’s a damn shame, because I’ve grown quite fond of you both.”

Simon came to the next former pet. “Hmm… odd. I don’t recall you. What’s your name?”

He leaned down to carefully inspect the stuffed animal. Had he ever owned a black cat? There had been a couple of black panthers, he remembered, back in the days when it was still legal to keep such pets. As he recalled, his father had released them into the forest back in ’76, when the exotic animal ban came into force. But never domestic cats. His mother had hated them; wouldn’t allow them in the house.

The stuffed cat blinked its eyes.

“What?!” Simon cried, recoiling.

Billy Buckham sprang from the pedestal and attached himself to Simon’s alarmed face with a furious screech. Simon grabbed the tomcat and attempted to wrestle himself free, his cigar tumbling to the floor and rolling beneath the couch.

Georgia and Freya leapt to their feet, not yet fully aware of what was happening.

“Get off me, you horrid thing!” Simon wailed, his fingers tearing at Billy’s fur.

Billy lashed out with a paw and hooked his claws into one of Simon’s eyes.

Simon shrieked, clutching at his bleeding eye while Billy leapt free.

Georgia came up behind the wailing man and pushed him headlong into the vacant pedestal. Half blind, Simon fell awkwardly and hit the floor hard. Freya booted him full force in the face.

Simon’s cigar had caught on the edge of the dust sheet covering the couch. It smouldered away for a few seconds until a small flame took hold, then rapidly spread.

With Simon rolling around on the floor in pain, Georgia rifled through his pockets and quickly retrieved the key. She scrambled for the door and unlocked it. “Freya, let’s go!”

The two of them bolted out, closely followed by Billy. Georgia fumbled with the key and locked the door from her side. She ran down the hallway with Freya.

Kurt, having heard some commotion out in the hall, emerged from the kitchen just in time to see Georgia and Freya run down the grand central staircase and bolt for the main doors, accompanied by a black cat, of all things. He dropped his bacon butty and pulled the tiny gun from his belt. “Stop!” he yelled.

Georgia had already reached the doors and was slinging them open. But it wasn’t Kurt and his gun that stopped her in mid-motion.

They were met with a wall of people outside in the forecourt. Georgia recognised them, one and all. It looked like the entire population of Derwold was here. At their head, Bernard the Druid stood clutching his staff, fire in his eyes. Beside him stood a dishevelled, but very determined looking Sadie Laine, and beside her, Millie.

Georgia burst into tears and ran to meet them with Freya. The villagers jostled around them protectively.

“Give them some room!“ Roy cried, doing his best to keep people at arms length. “Ooh, I’m going to give that bloody Simon a piece of my mind! I am so angry right now!’

4

Simon picked himself up off the floor. His left eye throbbed painfully, and when he closed his other one there was only a blur. To add insult to injury, someone had kicked him in the face and broken his nose.

He’d made an awful mess of things. They both had, he and Elsa. Surely, that demonic cat had been sent to punish him. His lord Satan was displeased, no doubt about it.

An intense heat singed the hairs on the back of his neck, and when he turned to face its source, he found the couch ablaze, along with several of the taxidermy specimens.

“The fires of Hell consume us, my old friends,” Simon groaned. “How could it not be so?”

He stumbled towards the door, only to find it locked. Shielding his face from the roaring heat, he found the inner wall by the fireplace and kicked at it several times. The wood splintered and eventually gave way, creating a hole big enough for him to crawl through.

His father had removed many of the bedroom walls and replaced them with thin sheet ply, all the better for drilling small, discreet holes to spy on the guests. As a boy, Simon had spent many an hour peeking through them. He pulled himself through the gap and entered the adjacent bedroom, then exited out into the hall.

“Kurt! Bernie!” Simon hollered as he approached the main staircase. “The fire extinguishers have escaped!”

Bernie was down in the great hall. He peered up at his master with a pallid expression, pointing towards the open main doors. “Sir, we’ve got a bit of a problem.”

Simon considered that an understatement of biblical proportions. He hobbled to the end of the upper hall and stepped out onto the balcony.

“There he is!” someone in the crowd shouted.

Half-blind, and in considerable pain, Simon tried to make sense of the scene below. It looked like the entire village had caught wind of recent events and had come to make a rescue attempt, which was unsurprising given that Sadie Laine seemed to have made a sudden reappearance. Simon’s feline attacker sat on her shoulder.

Yes, of course. It was all Sadie’s doing.

Georgia and Freya had slipped through the doors and were now safe amongst the retinue. Or so they believed.

“Oh, what a treat!” Simon crowed, his arms held aloft. “My loyal subjects come to swear fealty to their lord! Unfortunately, I’m rather busy at the moment, so if you wouldn’t mind giving my guests back and then kindly fucking off!”

“Shut yer mouth, Derwold!” Greg Clements barked. “You’re as loopy as yer old man.”

“Yeah, I knew there was something off about you!” Jill Sanders warbled in a shrill, near-hysterical voice. “You’re giving off weird vibes!“

Simon hunched his back over and began lurching round the balcony, his arms swinging back and forth. “Ooh-arrh! Ooh-arrh! Let’s burn the master in a wicker man!” He offered the crowd of villagers a contemptuous appraisal. “If I thought it’d appease you cretins, I’d give you a sack of turnips and a couple of sheep to fuck.”

“Come down ‘ere and say that, you posh twat!” Roger Baker taunted.

Simon gripped the handrail in both hands, baring his teeth in a rictus grin. “You filthy peasants! My ancestors would’ve run you out of the village at the point of a halberd for your insolence!”

“Oh, now the Lord of the Manor shows his true colours!” someone else cried. “Why don’t you crawl back into whatever hole you came out of? You’re not wanted here!”

“You… rotter!” Roy hallooed, brandishing his whisk like a madman. “Big bastard buggery bumhole! Think you can get away with kidnapping people willy-nilly?! I’m not having it! I’m not bloody having it!” The outburst drew a few odd looks from the crowd. Abashed, Roy lowered his makeshift weapon, then muttered, “Well, I’m not.”

Simon pointed an accusing finger at Sadie. “I see you, Laine! What have you done with Elsa? Did you set your vile animal on her, too?”

Sadie stepped forward. “I doubt Elsa’s coming back, Simon,” she said. In all likelihood, Elsa was currently working her way through the digestive tract of a mythical sea creature, but Sadie thought it wiser to keep things as vague as possible for now. Admitting Elsa was dead in front of the entire village would only create more problems for them later on. “It’s finished, do you hear me? Whatever you and Elsa were planning, it’s over.”

“It’s over when I say it’s over, you murdering trollop, and I say it’s the exact opposite of over – not over!”

“The manor’s on fire!” someone cried.

“Now would probably be a good time to vacate the building, Simon,” Sadie said.

“So you revolting bumpkins can tear me from limb to limb? I don’t think so, Miss Laine. You must think me awfully naïve.”

“The manor’s on fire!”

“Right, who keeps saying the manor’s on fire?!” Simon ranted. “Who was it? Come on, own up!”

An awkward silence ensued until someone sheepishly put their hand up at the back of the crowd.

Simon began clapping very slowly. “Oh, there he is. Clever boy! ‘The manor’s on fire, Mr. Derwold, sir! The manor’s on fire, the manor’s on fire!’ By the way, did I mention the effing manor’s on fire!'”

“I was only sayin’…”

“I can see it’s on fire, you buffoon! I can practically feel the flames searing the skin from my flesh! In fact, it was me who started the bloody fire!”

Bernard stepped forward with Sadie. “Now, look here, my good man. Come down and face the music while you still can. I’ll see to it you’re treated fairly.”

Simon leaned over the railing. “Kurt! Shoot Freya!”

“No!” cried Georgia, pulling Freya behind her.

“Kurt! Did you hear me? Shoot the girl! Shoot… someone!”

Kurt tentatively raised his little gun at the throng of villagers. Several men immediately stepped forward and aimed their shotguns at him and Bernie.

“What are you waiting for, Kurt?!” Simon wailed.

Bernard dropped his staff and strode towards the two men. He spread his arms wide. “Here’s where we are, chaps: These people have been good to me. They welcomed me into their village with open arms and I’m very grateful for their hospitality. I’m afraid I can’t let you hurt them. If you need to shoot someone, then let it be me. If the Gods are looking down on me today, then it is indeed a good day to die.”

Sadie put a hand on the druid’s shoulder. “Don’t be a plonker, Bernard.” Then to Kurt and Bernie: “Listen, you know as well as I do that Elsa was the one calling the shots. She’s gone. And Simon’s clearly batshit crazy. If you leave now, no one will stop you. Take my advice, lads – cut your losses and run.”

Bernie looked at Kurt forlornly. “Sod this, Kurt. This ain’t what I signed up for. There’s something seriously weird about this village.”

After some consideration, Kurt lowered his gun, then carefully set it down on the doorstep. The crowd parted to let the two men through.

“You cowards!” Simon called after them. “Go on then, fuck off! Good riddance!”

By now, the manor was fully ablaze. Great tendrils of flame licked at the building, and the roof had begun to collapse in on itself.

Up on the balcony, Simon seemed to barely notice. “Well, this has turned out to be an exceptionally shitty day. I hope you’re all pleased with yourselves, I really do.”

Sadie had one more go at persuading him. “For the love of God, Simon. Jump, before it’s too late.”

“Oh, I’m not one of God’s flock,” Simon said morosely. “A darker master lays claim to me. Farewell, Miss Laine. Perhaps I’ll see you in Hell one day.”

And with that, Simon Derwold retreated back into his burning manor. Of all the villagers present, it was only Millie that saw the dark, spectral hand emerge from the fiery interior, fingers that may or may not have simply been tendrils of dirty, black smoke reaching out for Simon, and two molten eyes that could just as easily have been smouldering embers amongst the conflagration.

But when those eyes fixed on her for a brief moment, Millie was sure the voice in her head didn’t belong to her.

I see you, child. I see you.

5

The police arrived the day after the manor burnt down. They had no records of ever having been contacted by Vivaan Dinesh – or by anyone else from Derwold, for that matter. Elsa’s sorcery had reinforced and amplified the old magics already present in the village. Derwold didn’t want to be visited by men with authority, so they invariably stayed away.

Nevertheless, a murdered vicar, a destroyed manor house, and a very incinerated Simon Derwold were serious affairs, and Derwold could not keep the outside world from its doorstep. The police spent the better part of a week interviewing residents, but each villager’s account of events was consistent enough to designate it an open and shut case: Simon and Elsa had kidnapped Georgia and Freya. Elsa was missing, presumed dead. The villagers had gone to rescue them. Simon had set the manor alight and perished inside. This is what the people of Derwold believed, so that is what they told.

Georgia and Sadie filled in some of the other gaps with truths and untruths. Elsa and Simon were Satanists. Freya had recently begun menstruating and they had wanted a ‘virgin’ to sacrifice. That led the police to the dead vicar, and then the Derwolds’ troubled history.

Case closed, the police left, and life in the village of Derwold returned to its normal shape. Georgia, Sadie and the girls spent much of the next few days sleeping, their bodies’ way of healing wounds both physical and mental.

Millie regaled her mother and older sister with tales so fantastical, it was hard to know how much of it was true until Sadie confirmed the wild account.

6

A few days later, Bernard came knocking at Beekeeper Cottage, his usual druid’s robe ceded in favour of a t-shirt and hiking shorts. A large rucksack was strapped to his back.

He found Georgia and the girls in the wildflower meadow, their heads protected against the heat of the midday sun by wide-brimmed hats. Bee trotted up to the druid with her tail wagging, and Bernard scratched her behind the ears.

“Ho, friends!” he hollered.

“Hi, Bernard,” Georgia said back. “I almost didn’t recognise you without your robe.”

Bernhard shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Ah, yes. Well, truth be told, I’d had enough of the ruddy thing. I gave it to Mrs. Jeffries. I think she was quite pleased with it. Hopefully, she’ll refrain from setting light to this one.”

Georgia pulled the hat from her head and mopped her brow with the back of a hand. “It was a very brave thing you did up at the manor, trying to protect the villagers like that.”

Bernhard waved the notion away. “Oh, no, no. It was foolishness. Heartfelt foolishness, but foolishness all the same.”

“Are you leaving?” Millie asked.

“Indeed I am, Millie. It was very good advice you gave me that day in the forest.” At this, Georgia and Freya exchanged intrigued looks. “If I can find the courage to stand up to a man with a gun, I’m damned sure I can stand up to my wife and children. It’s high time I went home and set things right.”

“I’ll miss you, Bernard,” Millie said.

“And I you, my young friend. But I’ll not have you mourn my absence. Weep not for poor Bernard.”

“I probably won’t miss you that much.”

Bernard looked mildly affronted when Georgia and Freya began chuckling, but was soon joining them in their laughter. “I have a parting gift,” he said, handing a gnarled and polished length of mahogany to Millie.

“But… that’s your staff!” Millie cried.

“No, young Millie. It’s your staff.”

Millie hefted the stave, carefully inspecting every inch of it. “It’s quite big, isn’t it?”

“I imagine you’ll grow into it. I suppose you could lop a few inches off.”

“That’s very generous of you, Bernard,” Georgia told the man.

“Thank you, Bernard,” an awestruck Millie said.

“You’re most welcome. Now, I must make haste before I miss my train. It’s been a pleasure knowing you all. Send my regards to Miss Laine, won’t you?”

Bernard hoofed the rucksack onto his back and strolled away. When he turned to wave one last time, he caught his foot in a dip in the driveway and toppled over. He rolled around on the floor trying to right himself, pedalling the air like a tortoise on its back, his cumbersome pack making it all but impossible.

“I, er, seem to have got myself into a spot of bother,” he said in the tones of someone who’d really rather not make a fuss over nothing. “Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.“

Freya and Georgia rushed over to help him up. Millie was too busy inspecting her new staff to notice.

7

A little over one week after their ordeal, having fallen back into their old routines, Georgia and the girls paid an unannounced visit to Sadie’s cottage. Sadie had been conspicuous by her absence these past few days, uncharacteristically so. Her and Georgia had exchanged texts and a couple of phone calls, but Sadie had seemed distant, cagey. It was unlike her.

When Georgia pulled the Beetle into Sadie’s driveway and saw the FOR RENT sign, the mystery only deepened.

They found Sadie in the back garden, poring over a stack of books piled high on her rattan coffee table, a large parasol shading her from the afternoon sun. She peered over her reading glasses as Georgia and the girls made their way over.

“Oh, hi,“ Sadie said.

“Hi, yourself,” Georgia replied. “You look busy.“

Sadie gave a sheepish smile. “I’m trying to double down on my studies. I’ve… well, I’ve been getting lazy these past few months. There’s nothing like a horde of the undead bearing down on you to make you realise it’s time to up your game.“

Georgia took a seat opposite her friend. “I mean, it’s not like that kind of thing happens every day.“

“No,” Sadie admitted. “But like you said, trouble has a way of finding me.“

“Me and my children had just been kidnapped. I said some things I didn’t mean.“

“But you were right. Trouble finds me because it’s meant to find me. If I don’t deal with those kinds of problems, who will?“

“It’s not your job to save the world, Sadie.“

“Isn’t it?“

They regarded one another across the coffee table. There was an undeniable tension between them.

“Girls,” Sadie said at last, “would you mind making us all some cordial? You know where everything is.“

Freya and Millie disappeared into the cottage.

“I saw the sign out front,” Georgia said. “Listen, you didn’t need to put the house up for rent. I know I was grousing about you not staying with us all the time, but I was being selfish. You have every right to your own space.“

Sadie was shaking her head before Georgia had even finished speaking. “Georgia… Georgia, stop. You’ve got it all wrong. That’s not what’s happening here.“

Georgia sat and stared at Sadie for a long moment. Finally, she gave her a sad smile. “You’re leaving.“ It wasn’t a question.

Sadie nodded. “For a while, at least. I was going to tell you and girls, of course I was, but… well, I was never very good at that sort of thing.“

“Where are you going?“

“I’m not entirely sure. I need to find out what happened to the covens. I have a few leads.“

“Chasing witches, huh?“ Georgia said, with a sharper edge than she’d intended.

“I came to Derwold to deal with Isabel,” said Sadie, “but I don’t think I was meant to stay in one place for this long. I’ve become too comfortable, too complacent. All this business with Elsa made me see that. I need answers, and I can’t find them here.“

“So where does this leave you and me?“

“I’m not leaving forever. I’ll be back at some point.“ Sadie gave Georgia an abashed look. “Would it be selfish of me to ask you to wait? Could you do that? Do I even have a right to ask that of you?“

Georgia sighed. “It’s not as if I have many dating options in this backwater, is it?“

“I need to do this, Georgia. But I don’t want to leave on a sour note. Will you give me your blessing? Please?“

Georgia let out a long breath. She fixed her friend and lover with steely eyes. “You better come back to us, Sadie Laine,” she said, echoing something she’d told Sadie that night at the old oak tree, when a herd of deer had escorted her and the girls away from danger, leaving Sadie alone with her cat and one very pissed off ancestor. You better be okay, Sadie!

Sadie gave a simple nod of the head. “I will.“

“The girls are going to miss you,” Georgia said. “Who’ll be your replacement at the school?“

“I’m working on it,” Sadie replied.

Freya and Millie emerged from the cottage with a pitcher of cordial and four glasses. Billy Buckham followed closely behind, still sporting a bald patch on the scruff of his neck where Simon Derwold had torn the fur out.

“Did I ever tell you how Freya and I managed to escape the manor?“ Georgia asked Sadie.

“No, I don’t believe you did.“

Georgia winked at Billy, who blinked his eyes languidly, though it was hard to tell if he was responding to Georgia or simply doing what cats do.

“Oh, it’s quite the tale. Nothing compared to selkies, sirens and hordes of undead, of course, but still…”

8

They marked Sadie’s departure with a picnic in the woods. Georgia made Dorset apple cake and posh sausage rolls with parmesan and fennel seeds, and Sadie brought scones, clotted cream, and a pot of homemade ginger and rhubarb jam. Of course, no picnic of theirs could be complete without a jar of Newton honey.

They’d chosen the most secluded spot they could think of – a waterfall glade in the deepest part of the forest, a magical place with moss-covered rocks and cool, clear spring water. The village children came here to play sometimes, but some residue of uneasiness still lingered in Derwold, enough to persuade parents to keep their little ones close at hand for the time being.

Sadie knew this was also where Astris now made her home, though she hadn’t shared that with Georgia and the girls. She didn’t feel it was her place to tell, and the dryad had earned her secrecy, if secret it was to be.

Freya and Millie had dressed in their best summer frocks, but Georgia had settled for cream linen trousers and a white camisole top. Sadie wore a long sarong skirt and a lacy crop top. Remembering the day she had swapped fashion tips with Astris, she wondered if the dryad would approve of this bohemian style.

They lay their blanket on the ground near the pool, and Freya and Millie wasted no time in tucking into the delicious looking treats. Georgia and Sadie merely picked at the food, more interested in savouring the bottle of strawberry wine Georgia had brought.

When their repast had been reduced to crumbs and empty bottles, the four of them sat at the pool’s edge and dangled their bare feet into the cool water.

“We should’ve brought our swimsuits,” Millie said.

“Ssswimsssuitssss!“ Freya said, mocking her sister’s new lisp.

“Shut up, you horrible girl!“ Millie shot back with a gap-toothed grin, splashing water onto Freya.

Freya shrieked in surprise, then splashed her sister back with a breathless laugh.

“Who needs swimsuits?“ Sadie said, pulling her top over her head.

“Uh, what if someone comes?“ Georgia said.

Sadie closed her eyes, then made a show of bringing the tips of her fingers up to her temples. “I do not sense anyone near,” she said in a mystical voice.

Georgia stared at her for a short span. “You’ve just completely made that up, haven’t you?“

Sadie offered an impish grin. “Yeah. Who cares if anyone sees us skinny-dipping?“ She stripped out of the rest of her clothes, then dived into the water.

Millie and Freya quickly followed suit. Georgia peered in all directions, gave a shrug, then began removing her own clothes.

In the heat of the midday sun, the cool water was nothing less than exquisite. Naked as babes, the four girls swam and frolicked in the pool, ducking and diving beneath the rippled surface.

Sadie stood waist-deep under the waterfall, sweeping her hair back as the water cascaded over her. A little head bobbed to the surface, and Sadie found herself smiling down at Millie. She drew the eight-year-old into her arms, cradling Millie against her breasts. The two of them nuzzled one another, the intimacy as natural to them as breathing. Sadie grasped the child’s bottom and hoisted her from the water. Millie wrapped both legs around her teacher’s waist.

Freya watched them make love with a wistful expression, at least until Georgia came up from behind and snaked an arm around her torso. Freya peered back to smile at her mother, and Georgia peppered soft kisses down her nape. Freya breathed out a contented sigh, reaching behind to seek out the fleshy lips of her mum’s pussy. Georgia let her own hand wander beneath the water and between her daughter’s thighs.

“Finger me please, Mum,” Freya murmured.

“If you do the same for me,” Georgia said, and immediately felt a couple of digits enter her. She slid a single finger into Freya’s pussy and pumped it back and forth.

Sadie had walked Millie to the edge of the pool and was now laying her down upon a carpet of lush, green moss. She made no effort to climb from the water herself.

“Are you gonna lick my pussy?“ Millie asked.

Sadie skimmed the palms of her hands across the clear water, taking in the sight of her naked apprentice. “I might,” she conceded. “If you ask me to.“

Millie drew her legs open. “Lick it, then.“

“Ask me nicely,” Sadie teased.

“Lick my pussy, please.“

“Not nice enough. You can do better than that.“

Millie grinned impishly. “Please, Miss Laine. Will you lick my pussy for me? Pretty please with bells on.“

Sadie nodded approvingly. “That’s more like it.“

She traced her tongue round Millie’s mons, teasing at the small mound before retreating to pepper kisses across the girl’s inner thighs. When Millie gave a pout, Sadie chuckled, then returned to dip her tongue into the crease of the eight-year-old’s warm sex. There she lingered, probing the tart, coppery flesh while Millie writhed beneath her.

Georgia took Freya by the hand and led her to the water’s edge where Sadie and Millie made love. She ran the tips of her fingers down Sadie’s spine, then climbed from the water with Freya. They lay down side by side and let their hands wander over each other’s nakedness.

Freya rolled onto her mother, and Georgia responded by twining a leg round her daughter’s thighs, drawing her into a lustful embrace. They moved their bodies against one another.

Then Georgia was steering her eldest daughter down her body, coaxing her towards the moist heat of her sex. Freya kissed her mother’s bellybutton, then nuzzled at the sparse patch of hair that Georgia always kept so neatly trimmed. She found her mum’s clit and took it between her lips, gently sucking. Her fingers probed at the fleshy folds beneath, two of them sliding inside with ease. Georgia hissed a blissful sigh, stroking her daughter’s hair.

Sadie climbed from the water, unable to resist tracing the crack of Freya’s arse with her fingers. She turned her attention back to Millie, standing over the eight-year-old, then lowering herself to her knees until her sex was poised above Millie’s mouth.

Millie licked her lips, knowing full well what was expected of her. Sadie prised herself open with two fingers, then brushed her pussy back and forth across Millie’s mouth. Millie poked her tongue out, letting it glide over the rosy flesh of Sadie’s inner labia. She breathed in her teacher’s musky scent, her nose bumping Sadie’s clit on each pass.

“You’re awfully good at that,” Sadie told her apprentice. “I really have taught you well.“

“I’ll take some of the credit, if you d-don’t mind,” Georgia groaned, arching her hips as she came in Freya’s face. “Oh, yeah, baby girl!”

Sadie ground her clit on Millie’s mouth until her own body demanded release. As the orgasm oozed out of her, she cradled Millie’s head, then dipped her fingers into the twitching heat of her sex. When she withdrew them they were slick and creamy. She popped them into Millie’s mouth.

“I like the taste,” Millie told her with a grin.

Their own needs met, Georgia and Sadie lay side by side and tasted the girls while Freya and Millie propped themselves up on their elbows and watched with interest.

“Who’s the best at licking pussies, Freya?“ Millie asked as Sadie went at her. “Mum or Sadie?“

“Dunno,” Freya replied. “I kind of like the way Mum puts her tongue right in and – oh, wow – swirls it round like that.“

“Yeah, so do I. But I also like how Sadie flicks her tongue everywhere.“

Hearing their oral skills reviewed so openly, Georgia and Sadie could only share amused looks.

Freya thrust her pelvis towards Georgia. “Okay, shush now, Millie. Mum’s gonna make me do an orgasm.“

Mother and teacher brought their girls to climax, then leaned across to offer one another communion, sharing the taste of Millie and Freya.

9

Afternoon at the waterfall glade passed with more wine and sex. Sated, Millie and Georgia dozed off in each other’s arms, the lush green moss soft and cool against their skin. Sadie sat with Freya between her thighs, weaving braids into the girl’s hair.

“I’ll miss you,“ Freya murmured. “So will Millie.“

“I know. And I’ll miss my apprentices.“

Freya shook her head. “I’m not your apprentice. I never was.“

“Oh?“

“It’s okay, Sadie. I know I don’t have any magical powers like Millie, and I never really wanted to be a witch in the first place. It was just nice to be a part of it for a while, you know? But I’m starting a new school soon, and I want to find my own path. I just need you to know that.“

Sadie put both arms around Freya’s shoulders and pulled her close. She rested her cheek against Freya’s. “That’s all I ever wanted for you… for all of you. To go out into the world and be who you were meant to be. I’d never try to hold you back. I already cried my tears for you back in the classroom, remember? I already let you go, Freya Newton.“

“I guess I had to let you go, too,” Freya murmured.

Georgia was stirring, reaching for her clothes. “Oh, crap.“

“What’s the matter?” Millie asked, rubbing her eyes.

“We have company.“

Sadie followed Georgia’s line of sight. There was a figure standing by the trees at the edge of the glade, watching them. It wore a dark cloak, the hood pulled up around its face, too far away to determine gender or build.

Sadie’s fingers were tingling, as were Millie’s.

“Who is it?“ Freya asked.

“I don’t know,” Sadie replied, “but I have a really bad feeling.“

On to Chapter Twelve!

 

The Evil That Men Do, Chapter 4

  • Posted on October 17, 2025 at 2:34 pm

The Story Thus Far

Chapter One: Mallory Kalvornek and her lover Julie Hanson have returned to Bronning, Minnesota, for the first time in years to catch up with friends and family. Meanwhile, their old friend (and occasional sex partner) paramedic Nettie Hastings fights to save a life, her lover Hannah drops by with an unexpected surprise, Terry Wilder grapples with writer’s block… and two little girls living in a trailer park named Heather and Gina are being carefully observed by a hidden stranger.

Chapter Two: Mallory and Julie get together at Nettie’s home with Nettie and her lover Hannah, Nettie’s friend Terry Wilder, Terry’s teen daughter Halee, and Mallory and Julie’s friend (and occasional sex partner) Cindy. Gossip is exchanged, memories shared, and an unexpected attraction between Mallory and Terry Wilder reveals itself. Meanwhile, the mother of the two trailer park girls Heather and Gina goes out for a night on the town, oblivious to the presence of the man spying on her home.

Chapter Three: At Nettie’s place, Nettie and Hannah leave the others to indulge in a bit of romantic pleasure, while Julie and her old friend Cindy get it on with Terry’s teen daughter Halee. As for Mallory, she has repaired to Terry’s place for one of her occasional bouts of heterosexual action. Appetites are indulged, confidences shared. Meanwhile, Heather and Gina are abducted from their trailer home by a mysterious and very scary man.

For a list of the characters from the previous two stories that you will encounter here as well, visit this page.

And now, dear readers, we make our way into the next installment. Read on…

by Rachael Yukey

We have bent the rules, we have lied
Loved and known you’ll rise again
Friends will do all this for you
Sonata Arctica, 2024

Closing Nettie’s bedroom door carefully behind her, Hannah padded down the hall in the direction of the muted voices coming from the kitchen. The hallway opened out into the living room, and Julie waved to her from the opposite side, where she was seated on one of the barstools surrounding the kitchen island, Cindy on her left. Both wore bathrobes, and were sipping from steaming mugs of coffee.

Rising at Hannah’s approach, Julie plucked a mug from a hook below one of the cupboards. “How do you take your coffee?” she said, keeping her voice low.

Hannah gave her a warm smile. “With a little cream, if there is any.”

She settled onto a barstool, watching as Julie poured the coffee, stirred in a splash of cream, then set the cup in front of her. “Thanks. Halee still asleep?”

Cindy and Julie exchanged a cautious glance. “Haven’t seen her yet,” Cindy’s tone was evasive, her cheeks pink.

“Oh, stop,” said Hannah. “I know she spent the night with you two. Think I’ve never done the same thing? I thought we established last night that we’re all on the same page.” Cindy’s face relaxed into a grin; Julie turned her eyes to the ceiling with a sigh of relief.

“Sorry about that. I figured you knew what was gonna go down,” said Cindy. “Still… plausible deniability, y’know? I’m glad we’re sympatico on this.”

“To answer your question, Halee was still out when I got up twenty minutes ago,” said Julie. “We gave her a workout.” Hannah chuckled into her coffee.

“I take it tall, dark, and moody is still in dreamland, too?” Cindy inquired.

“Yeah,” said Hannah, taking a cautious sip of the steaming brew. “I don’t think she slept well. I got up twice to use the bathroom, and she was awake both times.”

The glance Cindy and Julie exchanged was not lost on Hannah, but she said nothing. She had questions to which these two probably had answers, but couldn’t think of a tactful way to pose them.

“So!” said Cindy, breaking the momentary awkwardness, “is there a plan for today? Three-fourths of the Pussy Posse are in town, and it’s my weekend off. We should do something.”

Hannah abruptly set her mug down. “The—what? Pussy Posse?”

Julie snickered. “It’s what me, Mallory, Cindy, and our friend Emma used to call ourselves. Other girls came and went, but the four of us were like sisters from the sixth grade all the way through high school.”

“Sisters with benefits,” said Cindy with a wink.

“Sounds idyllic,” said Hannah. “I think I’m kind of jealous.”

“It was pretty sweet,” Julie agreed.

Three sets of eyes swiveled toward the hallway at the sound of a doorknob turning. A puffy-eyed Halee emerged, saw them looking her way, and gave a limp-wristed wave before disappearing into the bathroom.

Julie turned her eyes back to Cindy. “We’ll figure something out,” she said, “once Mal emerges from penis-land.” She glanced over at Hannah. “And after Nettie drags herself out of bed.”

Hannah shook her head. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on a reunion of old friends…”

“No, no,” Cindy broke in. “People hanging with us is just part of the tradition. It was always me, Emma, Julie, and Mallory, but lots of others were in and out.”

The bathroom door opened once more, and Halee padded down the hall toward them. She was wearing the clothes she’d arrived in the evening before.

“Morning, sunshine,” said Cindy.

“Any coffee left?” Halee wanted to know. Answering her own question with a glance towards the Braun, she changed course, heading for the cups hanging under the cupboard.

Julie rose quickly from her stool. “Sit, sit. I’ll get it for you. Want anything in it?”

Halee’s head swung back and forth in slow motion. “Nope. Thanks.” She plopped her backside onto the stool next to Hannah’s.

“Black coffee at thirteen,” said Cindy with a chuckle. “When I was your age I was still having chocolate milk for breakfast.”

Julie set the cup down in front of Halee. Nodding her thanks, the girl raised the piping hot beverage to her lips.

“Remember that old wives tale,” said Julie as she reseated herself, “that you couldn’t give coffee to kids because caffeine would stunt their growth?”

Cindy snorted. “My mom believed that bullshit,” she said, “but she didn’t think twice when I was guzzling pop by the gallon, and that stuff’s full of caffeine.”

Halee rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That’s ludicrous. Pop is, in every conceivable way, far worse for you than coffee.” She took another sip. “That said, I have been known to suck one down every once and again.”

Cindy burst out laughing. Halee’s eyes narrowed. “Something I said?”

“Kinda,” said Cindy, still chuckling. “Sorry. It’s just that you’re really starting to sound like your dad.”

Hannah snickered. “I was thinking the same thing. Sorry, hon.”

Halee relaxed, rolled her eyes, and sipped more coffee. “Whatevs. It’s what Nettie says, too. GIve me a break; I’ve been listening to the guy chatter nonstop for thirteen years.”

“And when she says nonstop, she ain’t tellin’ tales,” said Cindy with a grin.

All eyes flicked in the direction of the hallway at the muffled sound of a pager going off. “Uh-oh,” Julie muttered.

“I don’t think Antoinette is on call today…” Hannah trailed off at the sound of flurried activity coming from the master bedroom.

“Maybe not,” said Cindy, “but Nettie’s the only medic on the squad. If she thinks they need ALS, she’ll go.”

Sure enough, the door flew open a moment later, revealing a tousle-headed Nettie dressed in tactical pants and a light blue Bronning Ambulance hoodie. She was speaking into her portable radio. “Bronning medic to on-call.”

“Wilder here.” Terry’s voice.

“I’m jumping on with you,” said Nettie as she crossed the living room. “Don’t leave without me, and make sure my ALS bag is in whichever rig you’re taking.”

“Scott’s my partner,” Terry replied, “you’ll get to the station before he does.”

“Copy that,” said Nettie, shoving her feet into her boots and bending double to lace them.

“Sorry,” she said, craning her neck to look at her guests. “Based on the dispatch, I’m smelling sepsis. They might need blood pressure support, and the EMTs can’t do that. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“What do you have for that, aside from fluids?” Hannah wanted to know.

“Just added Levophed to my ALS kit here in Bronning,” Nettie replied as she straightened. “Literally last week. We’ve had it for awhile at work.”

“Nice!” said Hannah. “That’s what I’d use, too. Do what you gotta do, hon. I’ll wait.” She blew a little kiss, bringing a smile to Nettie’s lips. Then she was gone, pulling the door closed behind her.

Julie drained her mug, then slid off the barstool and turned towards the half-full carafe. “Anyone want a refill?”

Cindy handed her cup over. Julie refilled them both, stirred a spoonful of sugar into Cindy’s, and settled back in, placing both mugs on the table. Then she began patting down the pockets of her bathrobe, locating and retrieving her phone. “If Terry just got paged out,” she said, “I imagine Mal’s awake now if she wasn’t already.”

She tapped at the screen, then set the phone on the counter. It was on speaker, and Mallory picked up after the first ring. “Morning, love,” she said.

Julie grinned. “Since you don’t sound completely dead to the world, I’m guessing you’ve already been up for at least an hour.”

“Fuck yourself, love,” Mallory replied in a too-sweet voice.

“If I did, I’d be playing for an audience,” Julie replied. “You’re on speaker, by the way. Everyone in the house has been told to go fuck themselves.” A low chuckle issued forth from the other end of the line.

“Anyway,” Julie went on, “we were just talking about finding some kind of trouble to get up to today. Got any ideas?”

“I dunno,” Mallory replied. “Cindy lives around here, maybe she can think of something.”

Cindy tipped her head back, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Remember how we used to go out to Lake Norman, bring some lunch, just hang out and fish? Swim if it wasn’t too cold? There’s a river that runs a little ways east of town.”

Julie pursed her lips. “That sounds promising.”

“I’m in,” said Mallory’s disembodied voice.

Julie looked to Hannah, eyebrows raised. The redhead tilted her head to one side. “I’ve never been fishing in my life,” she said. “But if Antoinette’s up for it, I’ll try anything once.”

***

Heather Dulcey shivers beneath the single threadbare blanket the two girls share. A few hours earlier their captor threw it carelessly over them, then disappeared, bolting the door of the dingy old shed behind him. It’s not cold enough to freeze to death, but during the night it’s still cold enough for them to be miserable.

Gina dozes lightly against her shoulder, a bruise on her cheek where the haunted-looking middle-age man struck her for some undisclosed transgression, just before depositing them on the cracked concrete floor.

Heather weeps as she watches rays of the sun brighten tiny gaps between the siding planks, hoping that the day will warm quickly. She wonders what the bald man with the dead eyes wants with them. She looks at her sister, suddenly overcome with guilt. Gina tried to tell me. Why didn’t I listen?

Doing her best to cry quietly so as not to wake the sleeping girl, Heather buries her face in her hands.

***

“Jesus Christ, what have you got on there, Mal?” Cindy was hastily reeling her own line in. “Gimme a second and I’ll grab the net.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Mallory grunted, fumbling to loosen the drag on her reel with the hand that wasn’t gripping the handle of the bent-double fishing rod. “It’ll be a miracle if whatever this is doesn’t break the line.”

Nettie put aside the hook she’d been tying on for Hannah. “I’ve got the net, Cindy.”

Julie was shaking her head. “God, half of us don’t even have a line in the water yet, and Mal’s already hooked the Loch Ness fucking Monster.”

Swirling water splashed, the rapid-fire clicking sound of the drag assaulting their ears as the behemoth on the other end pulled line from the reel, moving fiercely downstream. Mallory gave the end of the rod a quick jerk, then stole back a little line as the fish redirected momentarily towards the bank.

“That’s it,” Julie encouraged. “Keep playing him. If he makes it to those rocks, you’re probably gonna lose him.”

“Don’t I know it,” muttered Mallory, jerking the tip of the rod in the other direction, then pulling in a bit more line. The fish changed heading again, diving once more for the rapids downstream, line playing out with that harsh buzz.

Hannah was staring open-mouthed, eyes darting between a grim-faced Mallory, and the churning water just beyond where the line disappeared beneath the surface. “Holy shit,” she said. “I have no idea what’s happening right now. Is something wrong with her pole? Why is the fish pulling string out?”

Nettie, now standing by the bank with net in hand, flashed a grin at her. “It’s called drag,” she said. “If there’s no give, the fish’ll just break the line.”

Hannah came up alongside Nettie, peering at the water. “So… what then? She has to keep fighting with it till it gets tired?”

“Yup,” replied Cindy. “With something that size you do. I’ve got six-pound test line on that reel, and she has something a hell of a lot bigger than that hooked. You can’t just brute-force it up to the shore.”

The five women had set themselves up in a secluded spot half a mile from the main road, following a trail that only Cindy’s pickup and Hannah’s recently purchased Jeep could negotiate. They were outfitted with fishing gear from Nettie’s late father’s stash, along with a couple of rods and a tent from Cindy’s house. Food had been packed, and fishing licenses had been obtained for Hannah, Julie and Mallory, the latter two hesitating only a moment over the exorbitant out-of-state fees. “Whatever,” Julie had said with a shrug. “I’m gonna need it anyway; Dad and I are going to Lake Anne for bass next week.”

Hannah’s eyes were glued to the water now, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was beneath. Suddenly the surface broke, a gaping maw momentarily visible, followed by a long stretch of shiny grey back. Then it was beneath the waves, thrashing furiously rather than trying to swim in any particular direction. In her peripheral vision, Hannah was aware of Mallory judiciously reeling in more line.

“It’s a pike,” Cindy was saying. “Fuckin’ big one, too!”

“I think you’ve got him now, Mal,” said Julie. “He’s not really pulling anymore.”

“Maybe,” said Mallory, “but I’m not going to get cocky…” and then line was playing out again, as the animal on the other end dove deeper and headed once more downstream. “See?” said Mallory, a slight smile on her lips as she raised the tip of the rod. Her eyes never wavered from the end of her line.

“Freakin’ pike,” said Julie, laughing. “I forgot how they get these sudden last-ditch energy reserves.”

Within moments, however, the fish was redirected once more, thrashing ineffectually as Mallory inexorably brought him back upstream. Line played out, then was retrieved. And again. The buzz of the drag was almost constant. Finally the creature was only feet from shore, clearly visible, hardly fighting at this point.

Nettie was moving in with the net, cautiously angling to slide it underneath the belly.

“Look at that,” said Julie. “It’s gotta be over three feet long.”

Slipping the hoop of the net along the river bed and under, Nettie hoisted the fish from the water.

“What would something like that weigh?” Hannah’s tones were hushed.

Nettie hefted experimentally. “Fifteen, sixteen pounds. Maybe more, ‘cos this one’s got some girth to it. Jesus.”

Hannah watched in silent fascination as Julie removed the hook from the gaping mouth with a set of forceps, Cindy secured a stringer through a gill, and the fish was placed back into the water, the stringer tied securely to a tree just off the bank.

“Whoa,” she finally said, as the others rinsed off their hands in the frigid river water, laughing and congratulating Mallory on one hell of a fight.

Nettie looked back to Hannah, expression softening. “Hope that didn’t put you too far off your lunch, sweetie.”

Hannah shook her head. “Are you kidding? Let’s finish getting my pole set up. It’s my turn!”

***

“Not too impressive, is it?” Hannah proclaimed, gazing at the fish dangling from the end of her line with a critical eye.

“What are you talking about?” demanded Cindy. “That’s one gorgeous crappie!”

“Yeah, but compared to…” she waved helplessly towards the point on the bank where the fish stringer disappeared beneath the surface.

“Apples to oranges,” said Nettie, gesturing with the half-eaten apple in her hand. “Nobody else here is gonna catch a pike that big today either, and anyway, they’re different species. Cindy’s right; that’s a damn good size for a crappie. It’d make a meal for two people, with some leftovers. It’s a great first catch. Put it on the stringer.” She bit into her apple with a satisfying crunch.

Hannah shrugged, her face breaking into a grin. “I just figured with how hard it fought…”

“That it’d be bigger?” Julie put in. “Naw. Crappie are in the bass family, which means they fight like hell once you hook ‘em. They taste like bass, too. It’s not as big as Mallory’s pike, but it’ll have a richer flavor.”

“Okay, then,” said Hannah. “Someone wanna show me how to get this sucker off the hook?”

***

“What—what is that you’re making?” Heather cringes, instantly regretting having opened her mouth. Beside her, Gina clutches her arm and whimpers. But her words invoke little reaction from the man seated on the floor across the shed from them, leaning casually against the wall. His eyes never waver from the stick he’s whittling to a sharp point with a large bowie knife.

Emboldened by the silence, Heather pipes up again. “What is it you want, anyway?” The last two words come out as a strident wail. Blue eyes flick upwards in her direction, a slight smile curling the corners of his mouth upwards. It is not a pleasant expression.

Heather cringes back against the wall as dawning realization courses through her. “You—you like it when we’re scared, don’t you?” Beside her, Gina begins to wail.

***

“Hannah—chow’s on.”

Hannah glanced over her shoulder to where Nettie beckoned from her place by the fire. Shadows were growing long as the sun began its descent towards the horizon. The other four were gazing at her expectantly. Mallory wielded a spatula, tending a cast-iron pan suspended over the fire. Julie had expertly filleted a handful of the smaller fish they’d caught for their dinner.

“Gimme a sec—something’s playing with my line.”

“Honey, that bait-stealing bastard’s been nibbling for five minutes,” said Cindy, not without sympathy. “If it was gonna grab, it would have by now.”

“Damn,” muttered Hannah, reeling in with a great show of reluctance. Since hooking into her first fish, she’d been like a woman possessed, her line out of the water only long enough to remove her catches and re-bait her hook.

“I think we’ve created a monster,” Mallory observed, flipping the last fish fillet out of the pan and onto a platter.

“Yeah—I thought you said you weren’t really the outdoorsy type,” Nettie called out as Hannah trudged up the bank to join them. She beckoned to the vacant camp chair next to hers. Hannah fixed her hook into an eyelet as the others had taught her, leaned her rod against a tree, and settled in. Nettie held out an end of the blanket that was draped across her shoulders, unfolding it until it encompassed both of them.

“Honestly, this is way more fun than I thought it was going to be,” said Hannah with a smile.

“You’re having a good first day,” said Julie. She was shoveling portions of fish onto plates along with raw veggies from the cooler, then passing them around. “You’ve caught what—three crappie, two bluegill, and a pike?”

“Thanks,” said Hannah, as she accepted her plate of steaming fish. “But just to set the record straight, it was five bluegill and two pike.”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Cindy shot back, laughing. “Anything under keeping size does not count.”

Hannah tipped her middle finger to Cindy, an amiable smile on her face. She was delighted by how comfortable she’d grown with these women on such short acquaintance. Taking up her fork, she corralled a chunk of crappie. “Still caught ‘em,” she insisted.

Shoveling the forkful into her mouth, she rolled it around on her tongue, nodded appreciatively, and swallowed. “That’s delicious,” she said. “Wow. The fish itself, and—you seasoned it with something, didn’t you? Please tell me it’s not a secret ingredient.”

Cindy, Mallory, and Julie all burst out laughing. Hannah looked to Nettie, who only shrugged. Cindy rummaged in her pack and pulled out a plastic package with a picture of breaded fish on the front. The logo read SHORE LUNCH. “The secret ingredient,” Cindy declared.

“Don’t waste your time trying to create your own fish seasoning.” Mallory’s voice was a little muffled, and she seemed to belatedly realize she was talking around a bite of fish. She swallowed, then went on. “Shore Lunch was our secret weapon back in high school. You just moved to Johnstown, didn’t you? I’m pretty sure there’s a Fleet Farm there. They’ll have, like, ten or twelve different flavors of this stuff. Seasonings and breadings both. They’re nearly all fantastic.”

Hannah nodded, savoring another bite. “Seriously, I’m having a great time,” she said. “I can’t wait till Bethany gets here. Stuff like this is exactly why she says she wants to get out of the city.”

“Can’t wait to meet her,” said Cindy. “She’s the reason Halee didn’t come with us, right?”

“Yeah, those two were planning to video chat or something this evening,” said Hannah. “They’re getting pretty close.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Nettie stifling a grin. Too late.

“Do I sense an undertone here?” said Julie with raised eyebrows.

Hannah snickered. “Oh, yes. You do indeed.”

***

Standing on a kitchen chair, Halee Wilder plugged a power cable into the back of the wireless router on a shelf above her father’s stereo. “Okay,” she announced. “Internet should be back on as soon as this thing reboots.”

“Ummm—was it not on to begin with?” Terry inquired, entering the living room.

“I ran CAT 6 up to my room,” said Halee. “This lame-ass router doesn’t want to hotplug for some reason. I had to reboot it to get it to recognize the new line and assign an IP.”

“Whoa—hold on there for just one second,” said Terry, pausing in the middle of the room. “You did what?”

“Ran CAT 6,” she repeated. “You know, ethernet cable. It’ll provide me with a hardwired connection to…”

Terry held up a hand to forestall the coming lecture. “Yes, thank you, daughter dearest, I know what CAT 6 is. The actual question I’m attempting to ask is why.”

“Because the wifi in my room is stupid and slow,” she replied.

“Fair enough,” said Terry, “but if I might be so indelicate as to inquire—what route did you choose to run said cable? Please tell me I won’t be stumbling across gaping holes inexpertly drilled through my walls.”

Halee giggled. “Relax. This house has more than enough holes in it already. I utilized the unused vent shaft behind your left speaker, ran it from there to the next floor, and then through the hole in my closet floor left over from a previous owner’s ill-advised wiring scheme, which you have thus far failed to repair. It was my thinking that it may as well get used for something.”

A door opened in the hallway, and Halee’s younger sister Dawn and her friend Allison emerged. “Seriously, Halee,” said Dawn as the two of them ambled through the living room. “You’ve gotta quit talking like that. The only way I can tell you two apart is that his voice is deeper.”

“And where might the two of you be off to?” Terry wanted to know.

“The park,” replied Dawn. “It’s nice out. You okay with that?”

“That depends. How trashed is your room?”

“Medium trashed. But I promise I’ll clean it after dinner.” Not even waiting for a reply, she strode off towards the foyer, Allison in her wake.

“I will hold you to that,” Terry called out behind her. He turned back towards Halee. “Is the wifi in your room really that bad?”

“You can do basic web surfing on it,” she replied. “But Bethany and I have plans to video chat after dinner, and the wifi connection on the second floor is inadequate for the purpose.”

Terry grinned. “Care to tell me what the two of you have to discuss that’s so private the meeting can’t be held down here?”

Halee grinned back, meeting his gaze head-on. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Terry’s eyebrows shot up, comprehension dawning on his face. “In point of fact, I probably wouldn’t,” he said. “Forget I asked. But Halee—have fun.”

***

The pointed stick grazes the flesh of Gina’s abdomen, leaving a scratch behind but not drawing blood. The girl shrieks in terror.

Tears stream down Heather’s cheeks. “Leave her alone, you f-fucking creep!” The man with the smooth-shaven head and haunted eyes doesn’t seem to hear her. Slowly, almost reverently, he draws another light scratch across Gina’s belly.

***

“You have to have the exact right mixture,” Cindy was saying as she poured vodka into a plastic cocktail cup. “Vodka up to this line, and then…” she stopped pouring, set the bottle aside, and screwed the top off a two-liter bottle of Sprite. “You pour the Sprite up to this line. See?” She held the cup out ceremoniously.

“So it’s all about the lines that are molded into the cups,” said Hannah, accepting the proffered drink.

“Right,” said Julie. “You have to use different lines if you’re using Seven-Up, and then there’s another set that works best with Mello Yello. Sprite’s best, but the store back home in Dickson used to run out of stuff. So we did a lot of experimenting to get the best flavor with each brand. God help us if the cup manufacturer ever changes their molds.”

Hannah took an experimental sip of the mixture, then a longer one. “That does go down pretty good.”

“Trust us; we’re the experts,” said Mallory with a grin. She took the cup that Cindy was holding out to her and took a long swallow.

“What I want to know is where you got hold of a steady supply of vodka at that age,” said Nettie, taking a sip of her own Sprite and vodka mixture. “When I was a teenager here in Bronning, the best we could do was usually cheap beer.”

“There was this old lady named Elaine who lived right above the liquor store in Dickson,” said Cindy. “She was like ninety years old, had five kids who wouldn’t talk to her, a bunch of grandkids she’d never met…”

“God, what did she do?” said Hannah.

“We never found out,” said Julie. “I got curious once and tried to do a little snooping, but never learned anything. She had one mission in life, and that was to stay drunk on cheap-ass blackberry brandy. But she was living on Social Security, so she couldn’t even afford that half the time. If you gave her enough extra to buy a bottle of her favorite tipple, she’d pick up anything you wanted. And I guarantee, old Reggie Moen knew she was doing it, too.”

Nettie’s head jerked up. “Reggie Moen,” she said, looking towards Cindy. “I think I met him a few times. Wasn’t he…”

“My great-uncle, yeah,” said Cindy with a smirk. “He eventually got shut down for selling weed and shrooms in the back room. Died a couple of years ago.” She raised her cup. “To Uncle Reggie, the crooked old coot. And Elaine, the facilitator of many pleasant evenings at the lake. May they both rest well in whatever fucked-up afterlife they’ve found themselves.”

“Hear, hear,” said Julie, as they all raised cups. Hannah laid her head on Nettie’s shoulder.

***

“Oh, fuck me,” muttered Halee, frowning at her laptop screen.

“Trouble?” Terry inquired, looking up from his magazine. “Serious enough trouble to assault your father’s ears with such ghastly language?”

“Sorry, Dad—slip of the tongue.”

“I daresay. What seems to be the problem?”

“I just borked my display server.”

Terry furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure which term I’d like you to define first: ‘borked’ or ‘display server’.”

Halee sighed, fingers pounding her keyboard in furious rhythm. “Borked is just computer-talk for ‘messed up’. A display server is the software that allows your computer to display graphical windows.”

“And why would you be fooling around with your display server? I’ve been using computers since long before you were a twinkle in my eye, and have never even heard of such a thing.”

“It’s Linux, Dad. I was trying to get it to run multiple—oh, never mind. I was trying to trick it out to do something it wasn’t designed for, and I messed it all up.”

“That’ll teach you.”

Halee chuckled. “Probably not. I break something by messing with the source code at least once a week. It’s only a problem right now because I’m supposed to cyb—I mean, video chat with Bethany in a couple of hours. I guess I can use my phone if I have to. The big screen is better, though.”

Terry’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, but he let it pass. “I was unaware that you harbored this interest. How long have you been doing this whole Linux-y source code computer thing?”

Halee shrugged. “A couple of months. I was going to talk to you about this anyway—there’s an online Summer of Code course I want to sign up for, and I need to do it by next week. I’ll learn to program in Python, but it’ll cost four hundred. Can I do it?”

“Have I ever denied you the opportunity to expand your horizons? Once you’ve solved your borking problem, or whatever it is you called it, email me the link. I’ll get you signed up.”

Halee hit the enter key and sat back, letting out a sigh of relief as her graphical display reappeared on the screen. “Aannndddd… we’re back.”

She turned to her father with a smile. “Thanks, Dad. It won’t go to waste.”

***

Under the blanket they shared, Hannah was drawing lazy circles on the inside of Nettie’s jeans-clad thigh with her fingers. Nettie slapped lightly at her wrist. Giving her an insolent smile, Hannah moved her fingers further up the thigh. Nettie shuddered, inhaling sharply through her teeth. It did not go unnoticed.

“Whoa,” said Julie, eyeing them speculatively. “There wouldn’t happen to be some fooling around going on under that there blankie—would there?”

Hannah’s grin broadened. “Mayyyybe.”

Nettie tried for a severe expression, without much success. “She’s a bad person. It’s not my fault.”

“We like bad,” Cindy assured her. “Bad is good.”

“Says the official custodian of law and order,” said Mallory with a tipsy giggle.

“If it makes you feel any better, the Piano Princess here just unbuttoned my pants under our blanket,” Julie announced.

Mallory slapped her partner’s shoulder with the hand that wasn’t sliding beneath the loosened waistband. “Don’t tell them that,” she protested. “Cindy might have to arrest me.” She giggled again, and it was infectious—the entire circle of women erupted in a fit of laughter.

“God, get a tent,” said Cindy, eliciting another round of giggles.

“Us or them?” said Julie through her laughter. “There’s only one tent!”

Hannah looked toward the three women across the dying fire, then thoughtfully studied the tent. Finally she said the very thing they were all thinking. “It’s a big tent,” she ventured. “Plenty of room for lots of people to get up to all kinds of things.”

Cindy was the first one out of her chair. “Race you!”

***

Honestly, Halee—you can make the X11 display server walk and talk, but it’s never gonna get up and do dance steps,” said the voice from her computer speaker.

“So what I’m trying to do is impossible? What if I tried Wayland?”

“Girl, if you can make any PC display server anywhere in the world do everything you’re trying to make it do at once, you just landed a job at Google or Microsoft. Probably as a project lead. Look: what you want has already been done, just not at the display server level. You’re runnin’ a tiler, ain’t ya?”

“Yeah, Qtile. But—”

“So you can get what you want inside your window manager, without ever diddle-fucking around with X. And you’d know that, baby doll, if you’d read the docs. You need to get some background under you, hon. You’re trying to fly when you haven’t really learned to tie your shoes yet.”

“Hey, fuck you—”

“I’m just sayin’. Being able to write Bash or Lua scripts doesn’t mean you’re ready to hack on complicated projects written in low-level languages. You have to learn the fundamentals first, you feel me?”

Halee let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I feel you. Thanks, Toya. I’ll keep you posted on how the course is going.”

“All right, kid. I gotta bounce, you good?”

“Yeah, I have something I have to get to anyway.”

“Righty then, over and out.”

Halee killed the connection with a smile. She was annoyed over her amateurish coding error, but the call she’d just left had been a good test—she had solid broadband speed in her room now. She adjusted the zoom on her cam, placing the laptop on the bed beside her. Wearing nothing but a sheer pair of black panties Nettie had picked up for her, she settled in to wait for Bethany’s call.

***

The shed door slams, a padlock clicks into place from outside. Gina is shuddering uncontrollably, hands clasped over the crisscross of light scratches on her belly. None deep enough to draw blood, let alone leave a scar, but a terrifying promise of things to come. Sniffling, Heather draws the blanket tightly over them both.

On to Chapter Five!

 

Didi’s Epiphany, Part Two

  • Posted on October 12, 2025 at 2:56 pm

(Previously in Part One: Valerie’s elaborate plans to celebrate her daughter Didi’s twelfth birthday are undone when the power of their home goes out. To pass the time, Valerie proposes a game of Truth or Dare, declaring a No Mad Zone so Didi can be completely frank with her. Perhaps inevitably, the talk soon takes a sexual turn as mother and daughter share secrets.)

By Louisa May

Waiting for Mom to return from the bathroom, Didi idly fondled her missy through the flimsy boxers she wore. It was her turn to choose in their game of Truth or Dare, and she was trying to summon up the nerve to ask for what she really wanted. After all, Mum was the one who came up with the whole ‘No Mad Zone’ idea, so I can say whatever I like. And if Mum picks ‘dare’… well she’d have to do it, wouldn’t she?

Just then Valerie returned, picked up her beer and with the other hand, tugged repeatedly at the waistband of her panties — in and out, in and out, fanning herself down there. “Whew! It is so dang hot!” She looked at Didi and grinned. “Man, I am feeling this beer! Woo-hoo!” She extended a foot, almost losing her balance, and poked Didi with her big toe. “Your turn, Miss Viteri.”

Didi looked up at her mom, who was definitely a little drunk. Should I? She took a deep breath, then a pull on her beer. Sure. Go for it. “Okay, umm… Truth or Dare, Ms. Viteri?”

“Well, if you put it that way…” Her eyebrows rose as she gave her daughter a sly look, then answered, “DARE.” She wiggled her eyebrows in an imitation of Groucho Marx, then bared her teeth in mock terror. “Yikes!”

Didi’s heart was beating uncomfortably fast. She took another deep breath. “All right. I dare you to… to teach me how to kiss, the way that you got taught.” She kept her eyes on her mother’s, her expression defiant. Perhaps a bit fearful.

Valerie’s mouth fell open, and stayed that way. Her eyes were wide. She shook her head, very slightly from side to side. “Didi…”

“What? You said no wrong questions. Remember? Doesn’t that also mean no wrong dares?”

“I know, but… Didi…”

“Mom…” Didi sat up. putting her feet on the floor. “You said it makes all the difference if someone you know, someone who loves you…”

Valerie pressed both hands to her cheeks. They were hot. She was hot. She bounced on her toes, then lightly slapped herself. “Wow, wow, WOW!” Seating herself beside Didi, she took the girl’s hand. “I did say all those things, yes.” She kissed Didi’s knuckles. “And you are so beautiful, I could eat you up!” She gave Didi’s knuckle a light bite. “But honey, I’m your mother. That wouldn’t be… weird to you? Making out with your own mom?”

Didi stared down at her knees. “No. It really wouldn’t. Feel weird. ‘Cause, you know, you’re just the one person who I’d want to teach me. And besides, you’re pretty sexy… for a mom.” She looked up, her eyes filled with hope.

“Oh, my GOD. Come here,” and Valerie leaned in to hug her daughter tightly. “Thank you, baby.” She kissed Didi a few times on the cheek, then once on the top of the head before releasing her.

Briskly wiping a tear away, Valerie studied the twelve-year-old as if for the first time. “Hmm…” She glanced at the other end of the couch, then around the room, until her eye landed on the stool she’d been sitting on before. “Yes.” Getting up, she sat there, hands on her knees, then gestured to her child. “Here. Come sit with me.”

Didi stood, aware of a slight dizziness that wasn’t just from the beer she’d consumed. “Whoa.”

“I know, right? Don’t get up too fast.” Valerie was reaching out to Didi, who took a shaky step forward, suddenly feeling a bit unsure of herself.  She continued to beckon to her daughter. “Here,” she patted her upper thighs. “On Mommy’s lap.”

Drawing closer, Didi began to arrange herself in a side-saddle position on her mother’s thighs, but Valerie stopped the girl in mid-motion with a light tap on her bottom. “No, silly, facing me,” she said. “So we can be eye-to-eye. Here.” She helped the girl straddle her. “Now, scoot up to me. Nice and close.”

Didi did as Valerie asked, moving nearer until their bellies were touching. Their faces were inches apart, and they looked at each other without speaking for a moment.

Finally, Valerie reached up to brush a few loose strands of deep red hair from her daughter’s brow. “So, little girl…” She smiled, almost shyly. “Still wanna do this?”

Didi could only nod.

“Okay,” Valerie said. She pushed her own thick dark hair back with both hands, then touched Didi’s lips with a fingertip. Her voice went low, almost whispering. “Kissing… I mean real kissing, with a lover, or someone you really want to be a lover, is about exploring together. Our lips, our mouths, our tongues. The best thing to do at first is to relax, to go with whatever your partner might be doing. It’s an adventure in getting to know the real person, the real inside of a person. There’s no bad stuff, no pressure, just… fun, like, ‘ohh, yes, that’s who you are… ’” She tapped her daughter’s nose. “Okay, then?”

Again, the girl nodded. Being this close to her mother was magical. Her dark eyes shone like onyx.

Valerie gazed adoringly at her daughter. “God… you are so beautiful…”

“You are, too,” Didi managed to say, her voice feeling impossibly small.

“Okay,” her mother whispered, “let’s do this thing.” Tilting her head, she slowly brought her lips to her daughter’s.

Didi moved into the kiss, meeting her mother halfway. She felt their mouths touch, barely brushing, then Mom’s lips began to play. There was moisture, then an openness, a wonderful warmth… and it became like a wondrous dream, feeling her mother’s warm, soft mouth, tasting her, breathing in her intoxicating scent. Mom’s body was pressing into hers, silken arms circling her back, and she was pushing her center into her mother’s. There was a thickening, her breathing growing deep; sounds, sighs…

… they came apart in slow motion, still nestled together, their saliva mixed, mouths glistening, mother and child staring into each other’s stunned eyes.

Valerie took a deep, sudden breath, like she’d just surfaced after a long time underwater. She smiled, and Didi saw her lip quiver. “Was that good?”

Once again words failed Didi, and she nodded.

Valerie giggled, a touch of pink in her cheeks. “I know… that was really good…” She let the back of her hand glide against the softness of her daughter’s cheek. “You’re just a natural, aren’t you…”

Allowing both hands to rest on Didi’s bottom, she gave it a loving pat. “I don’t think I have any more to teach you, kiddo –”

“Wait,” Didi pleaded. “Just one more time.” Valerie’s eyebrows rose. “So I remember?”

With a breathless laugh, Valerie lightly pinched her child’s tender bottom. “You little liar! You’ll remember how to do this for the rest of your life! You knew when you were born!”

Pleeease?” Didi gave Mom her biggest, brightest smile.

“Oh, don’t you dare use your dimples on me…”

Still smiling, Didi said, “No, really. It was just… the best thing ever. Ever.” She pressed her lips together, then in a small voice, said, “One more time?”

Valerie shook her head. “All right, then… kiss me, crazy girl!” She leaned in again.

Once more, mother and daughter immersed themselves in their dream world. As lips, tongues, mouths joined and meshed, mother and daughter explored each other’s bodies, thoughtlessly, heedlessly. Didi’s thin arms twined around her mother’s waist, feeling her softness, hands sliding down, fingers exploring the delicate bones of her spine, moistened by her sweat. Valerie was half-aware of the heat of her daughter’s middle against her belly as she let her hands squeeze Didi’s beautiful, plump little bottom, felt it tighten, respond, open…

This time their uncoupling was more sudden, leaving Valerie out of breath. “Okay, okay, okay, that’s enough.” She looked down at her daughter, her eyes a bit wild. “I’m getting a little too much into this. Upsy!” She motioned for Didi to rise, and helped the girl to her feet.

Things still seemed a bit surreal to Didi as she flopped back down on the couch. She watched her mom lace all ten fingers into her hair and shake it vigorously. Taking a huge breath, Valerie blew it out. “Woof!” She shook her head again, like a wet dog. “Man! Well, that sure woke me up!” She leaned back on the stool, then stood. “Where’s my beer?” Valerie snatched it up from the table and took a long pull, then pointed at Didi. “You…”

Her daughter smiled weakly. “Me…”

“Yep. You.” She took another swig. “All right. Let’s keep it going!” She grinned at her daughter. “Truth… or dare.. ?”

Didi bit her lip, then giggled. She drew her knees up and wrapped both arms around them, then laughed into her own lap. “I don’t know!” Then she unwound, and lay back, legs splayed. “Dare?” She made a face, her braces shining.

“Are you sure?” her mother leered down at her.

“Um, no…?”

Valerie smiled. “Tough. Dare it is!” She leaned forward. “I dare you… to get naked!”

Didi’s mouth fell open. “Whaaat?”

Her mother grinned. “Get naked! With me!” She spread her arms wide. “Didi, I am so frickin’ hot, it’s ridiculous. I mean, these clothes I’m wearing right now, even this little bit,” she snapped the waistband of her panties, “they’re just soaked, and uncomfortable, and, I mean… why not?”

Didi just sat there, her green eyes open wide.

“Heck,” and Valerie took another swig of beer. “You don’t have to strip down, but I’m gonna…” She put down her beer again. “And I just thought it would be a lot more fun… and less weird for me… if you got naked too.” She shrugged. “Your call.”

Didi sat up. “Okay, I will.”

Valerie’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Didi nodded, pressing her lips together, then grinned as her mom actually clapped, really fast. “Oh, good, good, good!” Standing over her daughter, she bent down to kiss the top of her head. “Good girl!”

She straightened, then reached for the hem of her t-shirt. “I should go first, since it was my idea…” The last words were a bit muffled as she tugged the shirt over her head. She threw it behind her. No top now, her breasts gloriously bare. She struck a pose. “Ta-daah!”

Didi gazed in awe at her mother’s partial nudity. Valerie paused to let the girl look, suddenly feeling a little shy, but delighted by her daughter’s unabashed admiration. “Here they are,” she murmured, then did a quick shimmy, letting her breasts jiggle. She snickered. “Yup, that’s them, baby. Nice, huh?”

Didi loved her mom’s nipples, how perky they were. “Yeah… so nice…”

Valerie gave a little bow. “Thank you, thank you.” She grasped her waistband. “Next!” She started to pull her panties down, then stopped. “Wait.” She glanced around. “Shouldn’t I have some music for this?” Turning to present her ass to Didi, she began to improvise her own stripper tune.

“Da-da-daaaa… da-da-da-daaa…” Valerie growled as she pulled her panties slowly down her hips for her daughter, one side at a time… “Da-da-daaa, da-da-da-daaa…”

Didi was transfixed, watching Mom bare her unbelievably sexy bottom. She had a hand between her legs now, pressing it against her missy.

Valerie paused, panties ringing her knees. Peering over a shoulder, she studied her bottom, frowning. “Oh my God, I am so fat.” She looked back at Didi. “My butt is so fat!”

Didi could only shake her head. “Your butt is not fat, Mom, stop it. That’s just stupid. Your butt is amazing.

Valerie gave her daughter a bashful smile. “Really? You’re not just saying that?”

Didi shook her head. “Mom. Seriously? Do you not know how amazing your bottom is?”

“Thank you, baby. I’m being silly. This is silly.” Stepping out of her panties, Valerie stood naked before Didi, whose eyes were immediately drawn to her mother’s big black bush. “Okay, honeybunch. Your turn.”

Didi looked up at her mother. Yes, she had taken the dare. And yes, Mom was now naked, standing before her. She swallowed; took a deep breath. “Okay.” She stood up, reached for the hem of her t-shirt, and started to pull it over her head. As often happened with her pigtails, the shirt caught on them. She gave a muffled, “Yikes!”

Valerie stepped in to assist. “Here we go, baby…” She pulled the shirt over her daughter’s head, then cast it away. “And there we go.” Didi trembled inside as she faced her mom, now bare from the waist up.

“Ohh, look at you!” Valerie exclaimed, looking closely at her daughter’s newly formed breasts. “Oh, my…” She stepped back, admiring. “You are sprouting, pretty girl!”

Didi felt herself blush, like, right down to her toes. “Mom…”

Valerie put a hand to her chest. “Oh, I am just…” She began to tear up. “Oh my God, you are growing, aren’t you? You’re just growing into such a beautiful woman, Didi!”

Didi bit her lip. “I – I guess so…”

Her mother smiled. “I guess so.” She touched the nub of her daughter’s breast with the tip of a finger. Didi didn’t stop her. “Like a… a little scoop of cotton candy…”

Her daughter giggled. “Or a Necco wafer…”

Valerie laughed. “Good! Or… oh, I know… a Hershey’s Kiss. A pink Hershey’s Kiss!”

Didi looked down at herself and smiled. “Yeah… that sounds good.”

“Okay, kiddo,” Valerie said, folding her arms, “you’re not done with the dare yet. One more thing to take off!” She glanced meaningfully at Didi’s boxer shorts, the last item of clothing between them.

Having shucked her top, Didi felt less nervous about undressing for her mother. In fact, she found herself sort of enjoying how it made her feel. Sexy, almost.

Gazing into Valerie’s eager eyes, Didi began to work the boxers down over her hips, taking her time about it. A little shiver of excitement flickered through the girl when she saw Mom lick her lips. Didi casually turned around as she pushed the shorts down to her ankles, bending all the way down in front of her mother. Was that a gasp she heard? Didi decided to think so.

She stepped out of the boxers, then stood facing Valerie. Now mother and daughter were both completely naked, and they paused to look at each other for a moment. This was… new.

Valerie finally broke the lengthy silence. “Wait! I know! Hold on…” She padded over to the candle bureau and began to open drawers, muttering, “No… no…” finally bending down to tug the lowest drawer open.

Didi watched, thrilled by what she saw. Her mom was naked! And now, as she rummaged through that bottom drawer, Didi saw everything, everything her mother had. All her most intimate secrets. The twelve-year-old stood motionless, paralyzed with a hunger she didn’t quite understand. Yeah, she wanted something, but what was it?

“Yes!” Her mother triumphantly emerged with her Casio keyboard. “C’mon, kiddo – let’s go for a ride on the Soul Train!” She placed the keyboard on the coffee table, then knelt before it. “Thank God for batteries.” Valerie pressed a button, and a simple drumbeat emerged.

Hunching over the device, she began to expertly punch the keys, finding a funky bass line to match up with the rhythm. “Check this out!”

She hit a few more buttons, then a rhythm guitar meshed with the bass to create a compelling groove. Valerie stood up, flushed and happy.

Didi could only stare as Mom moved towards her, still gloriously nude. She extended a hand, coaxing Didi to her feet… and then they were dancing, moving and shaking it to this cool music, clapping to the beat… and actually bumping butts! Then they’d do it again — and again!

“Good times! These… are… the… good times!” Her mom sang along, working her hips in time to the churning rhythm. Didi was loving it. And bu-ump! And bu-ump!

Valerie was laughing. “Oh my God, our butts are so sweaty!” Didi blushed at that but continued to move, still caught up in their sexy dance.

Eventually, they were both a bit out of breath. Valerie bent to press a button, cutting the music off in mid-beat. She sighed. “Good times.” She grinned at Didi. “Right?”

“Absolutely…” Didi flopped back down on the couch. She drank in the view of her mother: sweaty, flushed, beautiful… and still bare naked.

Setting the Casio on the bureau, Valerie turned to her daughter. “Ohh-kay…”

Didi raised her hand. “My turn!” She burped. “Oops.”

“Go for it!” Valerie plunked down opposite her daughter, one knee up, and took a sip of her beer.

Didi couldn’t take her eyes off her mom’s voluptuousness; her full, mature breasts, those protruding nipples… the plump lips of her sex, nestled within the thick fur…

“Truth or Dare, Mom?”

Valerie raised both eyebrows. Didi hadn’t called her that for at least three years. “Umm, Truth.”

“Okay. So, um, tell me about… who taught you how to kiss. I mean, who taught you, and… and what else did you do with him?”

Nibbling her lower lip, Valerie gazed thoughtfully at her daughter. “This is a Truth, huh?”

Didi, now sitting cross-legged, nervously scissored her knees back and forth. “I don’t know… I guess.”

Valerie drained the dregs of her beer, set the empty bottle down, then slid over. She pulled Didi towards her until they were sitting perpendicular to each other on the couch, with Didi’s feet in her mother’s lap. Valerie held up a small foot and lightly slapped the bare sole. “Yes. This is a Truth.” She kissed a toe, and smiled at her wide-eyed daughter. “Right?”

Didi whispered, “Yes.”

“Okay.” She  looked meaningfully at her daughter. “I’ve never told this to anyone. Ever. But I’m going to tell it now. That’s how much I love you.”

Cradling Didi’s feet in her lap, Valerie began to gently massage one of them. “So. First of all… it wasn’t a ‘him.’ It was a ‘her’.”  She smiled wickedly at her daughter. “Yes. When I was like, ten, eleven… pretty much around your age, maybe even a little younger… I had a piano teacher, who was also the librarian where I got all my books for school and such.” She squeezed an instep. “I was a really good student.”

Didi was already loving this story. She watched her mother tell it, hanging on every word.

“My piano teacher, and librarian, was a woman named Miss Rochelle. Miss Arlene Rochelle. She was, I guess you’d say, a mousy-looking woman – kind of thin, with glasses, and she always dressed very properly, in two-piece dresses — taffeta, chenille, gingham… with a strand of pearls. Always very prim and proper.” Valerie took the other foot in her hand. “I mean, I always thought she was pretty, even before, when I was just… one of those kids who needed her help in the library.” Her strong fingers worked into and around Didi’s metatarsals. “She had a very deceptive appearance, I’d say. At first, you’d see a mousy librarian type, but then you’d notice these enormous eyes of hers… big, and brown, like a doe’s.

“So my first day of piano lessons – which took place at her house, by the way — I went there after school, still in my old Catholic school uniform: white blouse, plaid skirt, bobby socks and saddle shoes. And there she was, all in her dress and pearls.

“She sat next to me on the piano bench… and I played, and — I was pretty awesome too, I have to say, a real little worker-ant — and after a little while, I finished my piece, and Miss Rochelle just kind of looked at me with those huge doe eyes she had, her mouth kind of half-open… like she’d been startled by how good I made her feel. And, honey, I don’t know what came over me, but I said to her, ‘You smell really good.’”

Valerie stared at Didi, making an eyes-wide, what-was-I-thinking? face. “Crazy. And she’s just looking at me with that gorgeous kind of alien spirit face… and she says, ‘Would you like to kiss me?’ At first I thought, wait, what? And I actually said, ‘What?’ And Miss Rochelle put a hand on my shoulder and said again, ‘Would you like to kiss me?’

“And I was looking up at her, and she seemed so, I don’t know, unreal, or just plain beautiful. All I could do was nod and say, ‘Yeah.’”

Didi felt a tingling all through her body, growing more intense as Mom continued to knead her feet.

“So she says, ‘All right then,’ with that really soft, low voice of hers, then turns around on the bench and tells me, ‘Come here and sit on my lap.’ Like I had you do, a few minutes ago. Right?”

Didi nodded, remembering. Oh, yes. SO good.

“Right. So I hop up on her lap. I mean, I’m small, right? I came up to her chin, I think, sitting there. And she just smiles down at me, and starts telling me all the things I told you. About kissing, remember?”

“Yeah?”

Valerie paused, took a deep breath. “So… we started kissing. And, oh my God…” She shook her head, remembering. “It was just so, so lovely… I just lost myself. And… and, I felt her hands like, stroking my back, running along my sides… rubbing my little bottom through my skirt…”

Didi let her foot be fondled, feeling the tingle move up her legs, getting deeper. “Did you kiss her… other times?”

Valerie giggled. “Oh my God, I can’t even…” Raising Didi’s foot to her lips, she gave it a shy kiss. “I’ll just say this: she was my piano teacher for about four more years. So…”

“So?”

Valerie stared at her for a long moment, then set Didi’s foot down on the couch and stood up. “Nope, that’s all you get! That was your Truth!” She picked up her empty bottle, held it aloft and announced, “One more!” And she headed, moving a bit clumsily, into the kitchen.

Didi watched her mom walk. Her naked mom! This was such a weird night! She drew her knees up and thought hard. Her turn was next. Truth? Dare? What would her mom come up with next? Hmm…

Her mother returned, swigged from her fresh bottle, and splatted down on the stool, legs splayed… oh my gosh, wide open.

Taking a deep breath, Didi looked into her mother’s eyes. “Truth or Dare?”

Valerie opened her mouth, and held it open. She seemed a bit puzzled, then she laughed. “Umm… Truth!” And took another sip.

Caught up in the moment, Didi was so taken with the view of her naked mom, with her closeness, that she honestly had no idea what to ask. “Okay…” Off the top of her head, she came out with, “Have you ever, umm… done something ‘of a sexual nature’… to someone who was… asleep?” Where did that come from? Too late, she realized where… and hoped against hope that Mom wouldn’t call her on it.

Valerie’s mouth opened, and she stared at Didi in disbelief. “What?” Then she giggled. “When they were asleep?” She shook her head, confused. “Baby, that is so weird, why would I even–” Then she gasped and put a hand to her mouth. Her eyes opened wide.

Didi sat up. “What?”

Valerie began shaking her head, waving a hand as if shooing something away. She set her beer down with an awkward clunk.

Didi persisted. “Mom, what?”

Now Valerie was pacing, waving both hands. “No, no, no, no…”

“You have to, Mom.”

Valerie continued to shake her head.

Didi held out both hands. “’No wrong questions? No Mad Zone? Truth, Mom? Truth?’”

Pausing in mid-step. Valerie studied her daughter. Yes, she’d made the rules. She heaved a deep sigh. “Oh, my GOD. I’ve created a monster…” She seated herself at the other end of the couch and turned towards Didi. Noticing the girl’s frown, she was quick to add, “Not you, I don’t mean you, you’re not a monster, I don’t mean that. Just, this game. I didn’t know…” Falling silent, she crossed her legs.

Didi watched her mom for a long moment, finally extending a leg to poke her. When she looked up, Didi said, “It’s about getting to know each other. Right?”

With a rueful smile, Valerie grabbed her daughter’s small foot and gave it a squeeze. “Yeah. Right.” She sighed again. “Ohhh-kay… Jesus… well, hmm.” She let go and smoothed both hands over her thighs, moving back and forth, unable to look at Didi just yet. “Okay, wait.” She got to her feet, swaying a bit. “First things first — I have to pee really bad!”

Didi stood. “Me too.”

“Then bring a candle with you. Oh my God, I’m about to explode.” Valerie made a beeline for the bathroom. Didi followed her with one of the lit candles in a holder.

As soon as they entered, Valerie flopped down on the pot. Didi carefully set the candle on the rim of the sink, then leaned back against the wall, watching her mom.

Damn, I needed that…” Valerie moaned. She looked up at her daughter. “What’s up, hon?”

Didi gazed expectantly at her mother. “Truth?”

“Oh, yeah,” Valerie sighed. “Well, if it’s really what you want to know.” Tearing off a long strip of toilet paper to wipe herself, she began her story. “Remember back when you were little, like six or seven, and I was going out a lot and, well, partying after work?”

“Yeah. Kind of.”

Valerie looked up at Didi with a tight smile. “Yeah, well, around that time, there was one particular night when I got home, and paid the sitter, and came in to see you sleeping… to, you know, kiss you goodnight, and, umm…” Her voice trailed off, She looked up at Didi again. “No, honey, I can’t… really, it’s, it’s–”

“Mom.”

Valerie was still absently clutching the wad of toilet paper. “What?”

“Mom… after you tell me this… then I’ll tell you, um, what I did. And you’ll probably get really mad. Or just, you know, think I’m weird, but–”

“What? What did you do? What do you mean?” It was amazing how abruptly Valerie seemed to morph back into normal, concerned Mom.

Didi shook her head. “No, you have to tell yours first. That’s the rule, right?”

Valerie opened her mouth, then closed it, rolling her eyes. She murmured, “This is so weird.” Once again, she began to slide both hands up and down her thighs. “Okay, so, umm… remember when you were, like – it was that time when you refused to wear anything to bed? You had to sleep naked? I think it for a couple of years, around when you were five, six, seven…”

“Kind of. Yeah…” Didi was watching Mom rub her legs, not exactly sure why she found the sight so fascinating.

“Yeah,” Valerie continued, “ you had to be naked. So when I came in that night, there you were, and you’d thrown your covers off, so you’re lying there on your back, completely bare… aaand, I started rubbing your tummy, and your chest, and, you know, just looking down at your beautiful little body… and your… your missy.”  She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering. “And so I… I started just, like, running a finger along your little slit.” She extended a finger towards Didi, who didn’t move. “Like this,” and she touched her daughter’s opening with the tip of her finger. Didi took a deep breath, held it. Studying her daughter’s reaction, Valerie moved her finger ever so slightly. “I… I just lightly petted you.” She did this. “And you were so warm down there. Your slit was so… cute, and warm…”

Didi’s lower lip went between her teeth, her heart thudding wildly. Mom’s touching me, she thought.

Valerie’s hand fell back to her lap. “And you just… opened up. Your knees fell apart and you sort of… spread yourself open for me. And you were still asleep! Kinda snoring, even. But your little missy, it somehow seemed to know what it wanted.” She shrugged. “So I just… went for it. I leaned down and I… I kissed it. Then, I started licking you.”

Didi’s eyes got huge, and her mouth fell open. “You…”

Valerie still wouldn’t look at her. “Yep. Just started, like, tasting your little missy.” Now she looked at Didi, almost defiantly.

“How… how long…?“

Valerie smiled slightly. “Oh, it was probably something like… fifteen, twenty seconds? I don’t know… I just hadn’t done anything for so long, I wanted to feel you, to… to taste you, to taste your beautiful little girl slit, your pretty pink insides…” She slowly shook her head. “So yummy… and you…” Valerie looked up at Didi, pointed a finger at her. “You. I sensed the flavor of you, changing.” She took a breath. “Your missy started to taste different, it was a new taste…” She closed her eyes. “ And I knew it was my sweet darling child, getting excited in her sleep… and I was making it happen. It was wonderful…”

Didi felt herself melt and liquify inside. She shifted her body, moving for the first time in several minutes.

“That’s when something just said ‘Stop,’” Valerie said, opening her eyes. They were misty. “So I did. And… yes. That was it.”

Moistening her lips, Didi asked, “Did you ever–”

“Nope. One time only.” She smiled. “Worth it.” Her eyes widened. “Your mom’s pretty weird, huh?” She slapped her knees. “Now you.”

“Okay,” Didi replied, blushing from her mother’s steady gaze. She felt incredibly wet, as if she’d peed herself. And the house was still too warm, even without clothes. “I’m so hot.” She bounced on her toes. “And if you don’t get off a’there, I’m gonna pee on the floor!”

Valerie immediately stood. “Ohh, honey, of course, I’m so sorry. You must be bursting.”

“Potty piggy,” Didi murmured as she sat, all too aware of the seat’s warmth. She immediately let loose a powerful stream.

Valerie giggled. “You’re so cute.”

Didi had her tongue poking out slightly, concentrating. “What?”

“No, you just,” Valerie had switched places with her, and was now leaning against the wall. “You always pee like you’re trying to put out a fire ten stories down…”

Didi’s brows rose, and she suppressed a smile. “When you gotta go, you gotta go.”

Valerie tilted her head, watching carefully as Didi wiped, flushed, and stood. Picking up the flickering candle, she extended a hand. Mother and daughter returned to the living room and took their former positions on the couch.

Sitting back, Valerie brought both knees up to her chin. “Okay, then… it’s your turn to make a confession. What’s this… this thing you promised to tell me about?”

Didi took a breath. “Okay, first… you can’t get mad, right? I mean, even if it was something like… I don’t know…” She turned, sat forward on the couch and gazed up at her mom. “Just… No Mad Zone. Right?”

Valerie looked like she was trying to be okay with this. Finally, with a shaky laugh, she slid over next to Didi. “Right, honey.” She stroked the girl’s curly red hair. “I mean,” she laughed again — “did you hear what I just told you? Can I seriously get mad at you for… for anything?”

“I guess not…”

“I guess not. So…” as she slid back to her end of the couch, “go on with your story. Wait!” Reaching for her beer, she took a deep swig, then set the bottle back down on the table. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Didi settled back into the couch corner, facing her mother. “Umm… so, remember a few years ago when you had the faculty party at that bar? Finnegan’s, or Finian’s… ?”

“It was Flanagan’s, and that was last year. Yes?”

“Oh. Right.” Didi took another deep breath. “So, you know how, when you’re drunk–”

“I wasn’t drunk, I just–”

“I mean, when you’ve been drinking. You have a – you know, it’s hard to wake you up. Right? Remember when the fire drill–”

Valerie raised a hand. “YES, I remember the fire drill, I know sometimes I can be a very deep sleeper. So what’s your point?”

“Umm, my point is…” Didi looked down, murmuring, “See, you’re kinda getting mad already…”

Aaugh!” Valerie threw her hands in the air, then folded both arms over her head. She stared at her daughter, who stared back. Valerie let her arms fall to her sides, giggled, then shook her head. “I am, you’re right. Unfair.” She slapped her cheeks, like she was applying aftershave. “What is wrong with me?” She blew out air, then glanced at her daughter. “Okay. No more mad. Really. Go ahead.”

“Okay. So when you come home late, you usually look in on me… but that night I heard you in your bathroom, and then the next thing I heard was you snoring.”

Valerie made a face. “Oooh.”

“Yeah, so… I, umm, wanted to make sure you were okay, and, umm…” She fell silent.

Pointing a finger, Valerie sternly said, “The truth, now…”

Didi looked at her and nodded. “Right. ‘Cause, um, I was, I was really feeling like, I don’t know… like I just wanted something. To be near you, I guess. And so, um… when I heard you snoring, I thought that maybe I could come in, and you wouldn’t know.”

Her mother’s face gave nothing away. “And…?”

Another deep breath. “And… so I came into your room, and the light was still on… and you were lying on your tummy, with just the sheet over you. So, umm, I… I pulled the sheet down, and you had on, you know, what you usually have on when you go to bed, that long t-shirt.” She paused, nervously moistening her lips. “You… you looked so beautiful, Mom, the way the light was shining. Anyhow, I poked you, to see if you’d wake up… but you didn’t. And your t-shirt was all bunched up, and I just thought… I don’t know… all of a sudden, I just wanted to see your bottom.” She bit her lip. “Naked.”

“Okay…” Valerie murmured, her expression still completely neutral. “What then?”

“Yeah,” Didi swallowed. “So I, umm, I kinda… pulled your underpants down.”

A hint of surprise. Valerie’s eyes widened. “Like…all the way?”

“No, not at first, just – just down to, like, your knees.” Didi was breathing through her mouth, as if she wasn’t getting quite enough air, thinking I can’t believe I’m really telling her this. “And, it was so… your bottom was so amazing, beautiful… y’know, you were tanned everywhere else, but your bottom was so white. And smooth…”

Sitting perfectly still, Valerie studied her daughter thoughtfully. Waiting for more.

“I just wanted to touch your bottom, I wanted to…” Didi stopped. For an instant, she seemed to lose her nerve, but somehow rallied herself. “So I put my hands on both sides, and I kind of… spread it open…”

“Oh.”

“I just wanted to see your… I don’t know, I was thinking that nobody ever gets to, to see that part of you, but I could right then, if I wanted. And I really did want to.” She stared at her mom. “So I did. I looked.”

“What?”

“You know, your…”

“My asshole?”

Just that word from her mother’s mouth stole Didi’s breath away. She could only nod.

Valerie waited for more. Finally, “Is that.. all that happened?”

Didi shook her head.

“What did you do?”

“No, no – I didn’t, like… touch in there or anything. I just, uh, smelled you.”

Smelled me?”

“Yeah, I came really close and, and… smelled you. There.”

Her mother nodded, slowly. A hint of smile was playing on her lips. “And… what did I smell like?”

Didi bit her lower lip. “Just… you. You know, a little sweaty, a little dirty, kind of… flowery. I don’t know. You.”

Valerie felt her body getting progressively warmer, and a delicious tingle was building beneath her belly. “So… that was it?”

Her daughter hesitated, then nodded.

“Okay…”

“Okay.”

Valerie gazed in awe at Didi. Oh my lord, she’s so sexy. She took a deep breath. “Wow.”

“Yeah. I know.” She idly teased the top of her slit with the tip of a finger. “Sorry.”

Valerie’s eyes widened. “No, are you kidding me?” She threw her head back and laughed, then pointed at her daughter. “We are such perverts!

Relieved, Didi smiled. “Yeah. I guess we are.” God, her tummy was doing somersaults. She covered her missy with one hand, gently cupping it. Her mother was watching, but Didi wasn’t feeling nearly as shy now. “Truth or dare, Mom?”

Once more, her mother’s expression became unreadable. “Dare.”

Didi took a deep breath, bracing herself. Say it. Say it. “Then I dare you, to… to show me what you did with your piano teacher.” It came out in a rush. She licked her lips.

Valerie stared at her daughter, mouth slightly ajar. “Show you…?”

Didi nodded, unable to speak over the frantic poundpoundpound of her heart.

A long silence filled the room. Valerie sat motionless, lost in the need she saw so clearly in her child’s sparkling green eyes. She looked over at her stool, then back at Didi. “Okay.” Standing up, she went to the stool and sat, then gestured to Didi. “Come here, baby. Join me on the Seat of Learning.”

Didi stood, a bit unsteadily, and wandered over to sit on Mom’s lap – facing her, like before.

“Scoot in closer,” Valerie said.

Right away, Didi noticed how different it felt this time, now they were now both naked. Better. A lot better. She keenly felt the press of her mom’s sweaty thighs; the tenderness of her own legs as they hugged Mom’s hips, clutching her sturdy pelvis. She felt a tickly sensation as Valerie’s pubes brushed against her bare bottom.

Valerie looked down at her awed daughter. Didi looked up at her. So trusting. Those red, red pigtails; those freckles; even her braces! Such an eager young girl… 

“Okay.” Valerie touched the tip of her index finger to Didi’s lips. “Now, I want you to be very clear here.” She brushed the back of the hand against her daughter’s freckled cheek. “Tell me exactly what you want. Exactly.

Didi felt the weight of her mom’s edict. “Umm… I want you to… show me what you did with your piano teacher –”

“Arlene, hon. You can call her Arlene.”

“What you did with Arlene, then.” Her mother was silent, waiting to hear more. “Like, I’m you… and you’re, um… you’re Arlene. Like that.”

When Valerie did speak, she did so very softly. “You’re sure? That’s what you want?”

Didi nodded. “I’m sure.”

Valerie smiled. “All right, my dove.” She touched her lips to Didi’s forehead. “Now. Let’s kiss, the same way we did before, okay? To seal the deal.”

That made Didi grin. “Yeah!”

As Valerie leaned in, Didi met her halfway, and they came together in a passionate kiss. They both made sounds as their tongues met and mingled: moans, sighs… They touched, too, stroking and grasping at each other’s bodies in ways they hadn’t before. Naked, they felt much freer to explore.

Eventually, Valerie pulled back. Their faces were inches apart, and a small string of saliva hung between them. “Oh, my darling girl,” she sighed, then kissed Didi again on the forehead. “Let’s go to my room now, okay?”

An overwhelmed Didi could only nod.

“Hang on. I’ll carry you.” Valerie stood, setting Didi on her feet, then tiptoed around the room to blow out the candles. Returning to her daughter, she lifted the girl, cradled her. Eyes closed, Didi clung to her mother, burying her face in those soft, sweet-smelling breasts as she let herself be carried. She basked in the maternal beauty of her mom, utterly content.

Once they’d crossed the threshold of her bedroom, Valerie murmured, “Time to get down, honeylamb.”

Didi felt herself slip slowly downwards until her feet touched the floor. Opening her eyes, she saw Valerie looking down at her, smiling. They were standing by Mom’s bed.

Valerie pointed at the bed. “Lie down there, honey. I’m going to show you now. Everything you want to know.”

Didi climbed onto the bed without a word, stretching out on her back, looking up at her mother.

Lying down beside her child, Valerie began smoothing a hand down Didi’s slight body, caressing every part of the girl that she could reach: legs, tummy, chest, back… speaking to her in a soft, low whisper. “Okay… this is what Arlene did to me, after we’d been kissing for what seemed like days…” Valerie leaned in to give Didi a tender kiss, then met her daughter’s wide-eyed gaze. “You’re sure about this, honey… right?”

Didi looked up at her mother’s lovely face in the flickering candlelight. “Oh, Mom, I am so sure…”

Valerie smiled. “I’m glad.” She could smell her daughter’s excitement, pausing to breathe it in before whispering, “Kiss me, baby girl.” She saw Didi’s lips part, and leaned in. As they came together in a lover’s kiss, she felt Didi’s little hands gliding over her shoulders, her neck… and Valerie responded in kind, trailing a hand along her daughter’s thighs, then between them, cupping her missy. Her middle finger traced a line down Didi’s wet, warm groove.

“Ohhh…” Didi sighed as she felt that finger slide into her secret center. “Oh, Mom…” And she renewed their kiss, sucking, licking, her tongue dancing in Mom’s mouth.

She felt the urge, the wonderful, scary pleasure that was building inside. It tingled, it flashed, it seemed to possess her completely. Mom’s finger continued to move in and out, filling Didi with such deep, deep love… So, SO many good feelings coming at her from every direction, getting bigger, stronger!

Then Didi was bucking and thrashing about as she cried, “Mmmm – ohhHH! Mom! Mom!”

Valerie broke the kiss, still fingering Didi’s wet pussy. Her daughter’s mouth was open, eyes wide with wonder… perhaps a little fear, too. Valerie hastened to soothe the girl, crooning, “Oh, baby, it’s okay, it’s good, let it happen, honey…”

An instant later, Didi’s back arched, her whole body went rigid for a few heartbeats, then she began to shudder, a long, drawn-out cry of ecstasy escaping her throat. Finally the girl lay completely still, but for the rise and fall of her chest.

Gazing down at her dazed child, Valerie felt a sudden urge to cry. Instead, she bent to place a tiny kiss on Didi’s belly button.

Panting for breath, Didi lay with her legs wide apart, feet splayed outward. Her bare pussy was pink and shining with wetness. She gazed up at her mom, her green eyes warm with love.

Valerie looked fondly down at her daughter, reaching out to brush a strand of red hair from Didi’s forehead, then trailing her fingers down the girl’s flushed cheek. “So… it felt good?” she murmured.

Didi swallowed, then hesitated, fumbling for the right words. “Good? Good? What does that even mean…?” She shook her head. “It was… wow!”

Valerie giggled. “I know, right?” She lay back down beside Didi, patting her tummy. “Come here, honey. Lie on top of me, like you did when you were little.”

Didi immediately climbed onto her mother. The feeling of the woman’s slick, humid skin against hers was amazing. She wriggled her body to get the full effect of it, feeling her soft tummy, her Hershey Kiss-nipples, her thin, freckled legs… and most of all, the sensitive cleft of her pudenda, sliding deliciously against Mom’s belly…

Didi felt gentle hands on her back – circling, then gliding down to sweep along the back of her thighs. She raised her head to meet her mother’s gaze, and what she saw there made her heart feel so… full. “Mom…”

Valerie was smiling, lower lip caught between her teeth. “What, baby girl?”

Losing herself in the sight of that breathtakingly beautiful face, Didi reached out, gently cradling it in her little hands. She whispered, “Mom, I just…” Her chin quivered. “I just love you so, so much.”

Valerie’s eyes shone. “Ohh, my pretty girl. My baby girl… come here.”

Didi leaned into her mother and kissed her. They kissed, and continued to kiss with a rising passion, their tongues meeting in a lover’s dance. Still caressing her daughter, Valerie allowed both hands to slide up Didi’s legs until they were cupping her sweet little bottom. She gave it a playful squeeze.

Breaking their kiss, Didi raised herself just enough to smile down at her mother. “What else?”

“What else?”

Didi flexed her butt cheeks against Valerie’s hands. “Duh! What else did you do with Arlene?”

“Ah, yes… me and Arlene,” Valerie murmured. “That’s what got us here, isn’t it?” Didi nodded. “Yes…” She felt her daughter relax, and gave the girl’s butt another squeeze.

Didi giggled. “I loved when you played with my bottom before. Y’know, when you were teaching me how to kiss.”

“You know…” Valerie murmured, “Arlene just loved to play with my butt. I mean, yes, in the beginning, when she’d just rub it through my skirt… then she started slipping her hand underneath to touch my panties. And after a few days, I felt her hand slip inside my panties, and I’d kind of lift up to make it easy for her…”

She gave Didi’s bottom a light slap. “But it wasn’t until, like, a month or so after I’d started piano lessons that we actually got a chance to… to do the stuff she really wanted to do.” Valerie’s head tilted. “And I wanted it too, I guess.” Her fingers strayed between the cleft of her daughter’s buttocks. Didi started, then gave a nervous laugh.

Valerie caressed Didi’s freckled face. “God, you are so beautiful…” she sighed, running a hand up her daughter’s bare back. “Anyway. Arlene got my parents to okay my taking a trip with her to the State Music Conference, about sixty miles away, where the two of us would be staying together in a hotel. So… that’s when I learned a lot of good stuff. Just… wow.”

Didi loved how it felt to have Mom’s hands exploring her body. “Like what?”

“Well… like…” Valerie peered into her daughter’s eyes, studying Didi’s response as she ran a finger down her back, slipping into the groove between those perky cheeks until she found Didi’s rosebud — her crinkly, humid little hole.

The girl’s eyes widened; her mouth opened. Valerie rested the tip of her finger on her daughter’s anus, then lightly pushed. Didi let out a small gasp.

“How’s that feel?”

Didi remained focused on her mom’s deep, caring brown eyes, savoring the odd thrill of having her butthole touched. She wanted to be totally truthful with her, this amazing woman she’d somehow fallen in love with. Madly in love. “It’s… I like it.. I mean, it feels… weird, but good. I like how it feels…”

Victoria continued to gently trace small, insistent circles on her daughter’s tiny anus. After a moment she withdrew her finger, held it under her nose and sniffed. “Mmm…” she grinned. “Smells like… Didi. Like you, my precious girl.”

Didi blushed, grinning hugely. ”Aww…”

The girl’s eyes widened when Valerie slipped that finger in her mouth and swirled around it with her tongue. Then Didi felt her mother’s other hand on her bottom, a finger brushing her nether hole again.

Mother and daughter stared into each other’s eyes. Didi swallowed, then said, “Put it in, Mom.”

Valerie felt her daughter’s little anus contract against her fingertip. “You sure?”

Didi nodded, spreading her thighs open until they framed her mother’s hips. She maintained eye contact with Valerie as she felt the fingertip probe, then slowly sink into her bottom. She gasped.

Valerie paused. “Okay?”

Didi wiggled her bottom slightly, welcoming the intrusion; so nice, so new! She took a moment to enjoy the lovely getting-filled-up feeling, then nodded to her mother. “Yeah,” she whispered. “More.”

Valerie lifted her head to place a kiss on her little girl’s cleft chin. “Sure, baby girl.” And she pushed her finger in further, feeling the slick snugness of her daughter’s insides. A small groan from Didi. “Still okay, honey?”

Didi nodded, breathing heavily. “Oh… oh, Mom…” she whimpered. The probing of her mother’s finger was giving her this rushing sensation; starting deep in her bottom, then spreading into her belly – and her missy! It was getting stronger, too…

And her mother sank that finger in deeper still, then started moving it around inside her. “Oh… Ohhh…” Didi was squirming now, her eyes wide in astonishment.

“Kiss me, baby girl. Kiss me.” And Didi swooped down to do just that, thrusting her tongue into Mom’s mouth, sucking on Valerie’s tongue when it mingled with hers.

All the while, Valerie’s finger sawed back and forth, moving in and out of Didi’s tight little asshole, twisting inside, pumping, pressing into her daughter’s body.

That was when Didi came – then a second time, before she’d got through the first one. She was moaning into her mother’s mouth, panting, her tight little bumhole squeezing, impaled on Valerie’s strong finger…

On to Part Three!

 

Amy’s Gift, Chapter 11

  • Posted on October 8, 2025 at 2:26 pm

The story thus far: Seeking a missing Texas Ranger, our old acquaintance The Tequila Kid comes across a poor family named Miller. Like many others in the area, this widow Sarah and her two little girls, Amy and Cindy, have been brutalized by a wealthy scoundrel named McCuller, who intends to drive away all the owners of small farms and ranches in the area and take their land. Later, drying off from heavy rain at the local stable, Sheriff Lucas Clay comes in search of The Kid, demanding she surrender her guns. Knowing Clay to be corrupt (and in league with McCuller), The Kid asks to speak with him in private. Moments later at the jail, he threatens her, and she deals him a beat-down, then informs him that she means to arrest McCuller and Tyson Avidite (a banker who is part of the conspiracy) before she leaves.

From the sheriff’s office, she goes to the Silver Slipper, the town’s saloon, gambling house and brothel. There, she encounters a young man named Jud Nelson, who she’d seen Sheriff Clay harass earlier. Recognizing him as a decent sort, she hires him to watch the jail to see if Clay leaves. Then she meets a twelve-year-old girl named Dixie, who does menial work at the Silver Slipper and is bullied by Toots, the brutish bartender. The Kid asks Dixie which girl is the most popular of the whores. Star, the girl replies, and The Kid gives Dixie the money to pay for Star’s services that evening.

Upstairs in one of the bedrooms, The Kid enjoys an intense hour of sex with Star. Afterwards, she asks the prostitute a few questions about the town and its doings. She learns that Clark Hansen, the missing Texas Ranger she seeks, disappeared around the same time as Dixie’s older sister Dallas, who was one of the whores at the Silver Slipper. The Kid asks about Ben McCuller, but Star refuses to answer, claiming “it’s too dangerous.” When The Kid goes back downstairs, Jud returns to let her know that Sheriff Clay just left town, riding hard in the direction of McCuller’s place.

Figuring she’s done as much as she can for one night, The Kid decides to join an ongoing card game, where she ends up winning a decent amount of money, as well as a neglected horse, which she takes to the local stable where her own horse is being kept.

The next morning, The Kid is informed by Jud Nelson that Cy Warren, McCuller’s enforcer and dirty-jobs man, has just entered the sheriff’s office, using a key. On their way to confront him, The Kid is taken aback to recognize the horse Cy has hitched up outside as Thunder, who she knows to be the property of Clark Hansen, the missing Texas Ranger she is seeking. More determined than ever to get answers from Cy Warren, she boldly strides into the sheriff’s office, a nervous Jud close behind.

The Kid quickly catches Warren in an obvious lie about his having purchased Hansen’s horse, and arrests him on the spot, drawing her gun before he can. Once Cy is locked up, she and Jud set off for banker Tyson Avidite’s office. With the genuine ranch deeds in her possession, she and Jud quickly establish that the ones Avidite is holding for McCuller are obvious forgeries, created in an effort to steal the area’s small ranches from their rightful owners.  Confronted by the evidence, Avidite breaks down and confesses to his role in McCuller’s crooked conspiracy. 

Later that day, The Kid steals onto McCuller’s land while he is away. She encounters his vicious pair of trained dogs, and deploys Indian methods she learned as a young girl to make friends with them. That accomplished, she carefully breaks into his study, where she fiddles with a certain something in the man’s desk drawer before making her escape.

The Kid has one more task to accomplish before turning in. She drops by the Silver Slipper to liberate the young girl Dixie from her menial position. The vicious bartender Toots is intent on stopping The Kid, but she takes him down with a couple of well-placed punches, then helps herself to a large wad of cash from the man’s pocket for Dixie’s back wages. The Kid and the girl then depart, leaving an enraged Toots behind.

The Kid takes Dixie out for a decent meal, buys her a new set of clothes, then gets them a room at a local boarding house. After a bath, The Kid plans to turn in for the night… but Dixie has other ideas, insisting on making love to her benefactor as a way of saying thanks. The Kid finds the sweet young thing impossible to resist. 

The next morning, on her way to the sheriff’s office, The Kid happens upon two men loading a large wagon with food and supplies, and quickly realizes they work for McCuller. When they beat a man for begging for a little flour, she arrests them both, putting them in jail along with Cy Warren. Once they’re locked up, she asks Jud Nelson to return the deeds McCuller stole to the families he took them from — along with a thousand dollars for each family, taken from McCuller’s bank account, and the contents of take the wagon of supplies.

By that time, The Kid is obliged to cut Warren loose, but she refuses to give him back his horse (who belonged to the missing Ranger Hansen), forcing him to walk back to McCuller’s ranch. Needless to say, Cy Warren is quite displeased.

The Kid takes Dixie to the Miller home, asking Sarah if she can take the girl in. Sarah immediately consents. Her daughters Cindy and Amy quickly take a liking to Dixie (whose real name, we learn, is Clara), and agree with their mother. 

That night, The Kid beds down in the Millers’ barn, keeping a lookout. Before turning in, Sarah gives her daughters a bath, along with Clara/Dixie. Later, Sarah pays The Kid a late-night visit, and ends up slipping into The Kid’s bedroll to keep warm. There, she mentions having bathed the girls. The Kid wonders out loud why Sarah’s daughters don’t wash themselves, then gets the young mother to admit that she very much enjoys seeing the girls nude. By then, Sarah is so aroused that The Kid easily seduces her, and they begin to make love.

Meanwhile, Clara is in bed with her new sisters, teaching them some very intimate games. Cindy and Amy have already explored kissing with one another, but Clara gets them to go much further. They all have a lovely time.

Sarah, on the other hand, is so troubled by illicit thoughts of her daughters that she pulls away from The Kid, apologizes and leaves. Returning to the house, she is surprised to find Clara waiting in her bed. Sarah resists, but Clara’s seductive skills are so well-honed that she ends up giving in, allowing the girl to make love to her. One at a time, Any and Cindy are awakened by the sounds of passion, wander to their mother’s room to investigate, and end up joining in the sexual abandon. Sarah gives into her newly discovered desire and makes love to both her children, as well as Clara.

Meanwhile, evil rancher McCuller has assembled an army of rough men to drive the small farmers and ranchers out of the area for good, killing them if need be. He also hires notorious gunman Kid Coley (who widowed Sarah Miller a couple of months earlier when he shot down her husband) to kill the Tequila Kid. 

After releasing McCuller’s men Sam and Cookie, The Kid heads over to the Silver Slipper for a drink with Jud. When the bartender Toots sees them, he seizes a gun and tries to shoot The Kid, but Star blocks the shot and dies herself.

As McCuller’s army prepares to ride, Kid Coley, on his way to kill the Tequila Kid, pays a visit to the Miller home, intent on raping and killing Sarah Miller and her little girls, unaware that The Kid is lying in waiting for him. She challenges hum. Coley accepts, but his attempt to cheat backfires, and The Kid gets off a fatal shot. Before he dies, Coley triumphantly lets The Kid know about McCuller’s invaders and their plan to burn out the local small ranches and farms. Horrified by this revelation, she slings Coley’s corpse over his horse and sets off for McCuller’s ranch, with only enough time for a shouted farewell to Sarah and the girls. 

And now, dear readers, we make our way into the thrilling final installment. Read on…

by Purple Les

Sam and Cookie returned to the ranch with their empty wagon just as McCuller’s crew of toughs was preparing to ride. The men were armed to the teeth, and half of them carried cans of kerosene and coal oil, earmarked to burn down the sodbuster homes.

Nervously approaching McCuller, hats in their hands, the two cooks told McCuller of their ordeal – how The Tequila Kid put them under arrest, clapped them both in jail for the night, then stole the supplies in their wagon.

To their enormous relief, the boss wasn’t too bothered. Cy Warren had already filled him in on their arrest, and though McCuller hadn’t known about the stolen supplies, he brushed off the loss for the moment. “Boys, you can forget about that damned Tequila Kid. We’ve got a hole dug for her out back, and that bitch will be lying in it this time tomorrow. As for the supplies…” McCuller mulled it over.

“We can go back, boss,” said Cookie, eager for the chance to make things right. “Just need to swap out the horses–”

“Not right now,” McCuller said, shaking his head. “I need you to ride out with the boys. The raid’s about to happen, and I can’t spare a man. We have enough grub to hold us for a couple of days. For now, get a horse and saddle up.”

“Yessir, boss.” Cookie made for the stable.

Sam began to follow, but McCuller stopped him, “Not you, Sam. I need you here to get that side of beef smoked. I’ll help you hoist it up on the spit when you’ve got the fire right.”

As the men prepared to depart, McCuller moved among them with words of encouragement and slaps on the back. Soon the lot of them rode off, headed for town and the sheriff’s office.

Sam had a fire pit ready to barbecue, with a cord of fine mesquite to smoke the meat. It would take a couple of hours to get the fire to the intensity he wanted before the beef could be put on the spit. In the meantime, the sauce needed to be made – about five gallons, he figured.

He’d just come out of McCuller’s house to fetch water, lugging a large oaken bucket. Glancing off into the distance, he stopped cold on the porch at the sight of a rider and two horses. The second horse bore some kind of load, and as the rider drew nearer, Sam realized it was a body, draped over its back.

Must be Kid Coley with that dead Ranger, He thought. Good. Mr McCuller’s plans are all comin’ together..

As the rider approached the porch, Sam’s eyes widened. “Well, I’ll be goddamned,” he whispered, setting the bucket down.

The Kid said, “Go tell your boss I got a Christmas present for him.”

Sam scurried into the house without a word. A moment later Ben McCuller stepped onto the porch, his face ashen at the sight of the body that had been cut loose from the saddle, then unceremoniously dumped on the ground. The light from the open door of the house shone on Kid Coley’s pale, dead face.

McCuller snapped his fingers twice. His dogs emerged from the open door to stand on either side of him. When he stepped down from the porch, the huge beasts followed. In the cold air of early evening, steam issued from their nostrils and mouths. In the light from the lantern they seemed more like black shadows, only with white fangs jutting behind their curled lips.

McCuller finally tilted his head to look up at the rider. His eyes smoldered with fury, but he wore a tight smile. “Well, I suppose you must be that Tequila Kid, the Texas Ranger I’ve heard tell of. And you’ve come calling with a corpse, I see. Now why don’t you step down and tell me what this is all about.”

Glancing around, The Kid rode Button back about thirty feet to a corral, leading Coley’s horse along. She dismounted, tied the horses’ reins to a rail, then began to make her way back to McCuller.

Ben McCuller’s voice was barely audible as he hissed, “Sic ‘em.”

Snarling, the huge black beasts plunged forward and raced toward The Kid, their jaws gnashing furiously.

Squatting down, The Kid rested both forearms on her knees with hands extended, the way Four Feathers had taught her years ago, then loudly intoned a few words in Mojave. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done, remaining utterly motionless in the face of such savage power as it barrelled toward her.

An instant before their attack, the dogs came to an abrupt stop in front of The Kid. They sniffed her hands, then the rest of her body, finally burrowing their faces into her crotch. Satisfied, they began to lick her face. Slowly getting to her feet, The Kid scratched both dogs behind the ears.

McCuller was thunderstruck, No one, no one had ever bested his dogs. He whispered to Sam, “What the hell’s going on here? They should’ve torn her to bits by now.”

Sam had gone pale. “I’ve heard tell ‘bout that gal,” he muttered “There’s some kinda strong Injun medicine she got. They say she can command any animal, and bullets can’t hit her.”

“Bullshit,” McCuller snorted. “Go make that hole a little bigger. When you’re done with that, dig through Coley’s pockets and gear and find my money.”

“Yessir, Mister McCuller.”

The Kid watched Sam run off as she strode toward the house, a dog on either side. She came to a halt before McCuller, who could clearly see her tattooed chin and clear blue eyes in the lantern light. He noticed the bullet hole in her Stetson hat. Did Coley do that? he wondered.

McCuller gave a sharp whistle, and the dogs ambled over. He said, “Sit.” and they took up positions on either side of him. “Uh, my apologies for the dogs. Sometimes they get a bit too excited when strangers appear. Now, then, what’s this all about?” He pointed at the body. “Why did you bring this man here?”

The Kid prodded the corpse with the tip of her boot. “Well, now, ‘this man’ is what’s left of a well-known gunman known as Kid Coley. Said he worked for you, so I brung him back. I admit, he’s kinda the worse for wear.”

McCuller was already shaking his head. “No… no. I do recall encountering him a time or two. It’s hard to forget a face like that. But I have no need for the services of a gunman.”

The Kid spoke a couple of words McCuller didn’t recognize. The dogs stood and wandered over to where Coley lay. They sniffed it, then each dog raised a back leg to mark the corpse with their urine.

McCuller’s eyes widened a bit, but he held himself steady. Giving The Kid an oily smile, he said, “I think we got off on the wrong foot here. Come on in the house, young lady. We’ll have a drink and a chat.”

Looking from one dog to the other, McCuller said, “Heel,” then mounted the porch to enter the house. The dogs followed him inside, The Kid close behind. As she closed the large oak door, McCuller addressed his dogs again. “Down. Stay.” The large black beasts settled down on either side of the fireplace, and The Kid followed McCuller through a door to his office.

McCuller gestured at a worn leather chair placed before his desk. The Kid seated herself, but without removing her coat or hat.

Bending to open the bottom left hand drawer of the desk, McCuller took out a bottle of whiskey and a couple of glasses. He poured two drinks, then handed one to The Kid. He leaned against the front of his desk, took a sip and said, “Well, then… what is it you want from me, miss?”

Without missing a beat, The Kid said, “It’s Ranger, not ‘miss’. And I’m here to arrest you.”

McCuller assumed a surprised expression. “Arrest me? For what, pray tell?”

“Land and bank fraud.”

“Oh? Very interesting. Anything else?”

“Probably murder. The fraud for certain, though.”

McCuller crossed his arms and laughed. “Oh, I see. This is that business about the bank and the deeds they hold for the farmers in these parts… sodbusters, I think they’re called. That other ranger talked about it. I keep my money in that bank, and it upset me something fierce to hear they might be caught up in crooked goings-on. I’ve always known Tyson Avidite and Sheriff Clay to be decent, upstanding men, so it was hard for me to believe they were in cahoots on some… some scheme to fleece honest families of their land.”

Topping up his glass, McCuller thoughtfully scratched his chin. “There was this one rumor I’d heard, and I passed it on to that Texas Ranger – Harlan, was that his name? – about some deranged farmer who stole a passel of deeds and made up that whole silly land-snatching story.”

Keeping her voice even, The Kid said, “Would that ranger’s name be Clark Hansen?”

“Yes, indeed,” McCuller smiled, “That was it. Clark Hansen. Well, young lady, he did some investigating and found that farmer’s story to be a load of hogwash. The three of us – Avidite, Clay and me – were innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. Ranger Hansen wrote out an affidavit to that effect and gave us each a copy. Mine is right here in this drawer.”

“Where’d he go after givin’ you them reports?”

McCuller shrugged. “Heard he ran off with a saloon girl.”

The Kid said, “All right, then. Why don’t you show me that paper Hansen wrote. I’d like to get this matter cleared up.”

“Of course,” McCuller said. “I have it right here.” Moving behind his desk, he opened the top right drawer and reached inside.

The Kid did her best to look surprised when McCuller took out a pistol, aiming it at her. “I’m afraid you won’t be arresting me today,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t believe they’d send another dull-witted Texas Ranger out to arrest me.”

“I’d advise you not to pull that trigger.” The Kid said.

McCuller chuckled. “Why on earth not?”

“There’s already one Ranger gone missin’. If I don’t send a telegram by Christmas Day, there’ll be a half dozen more Rangers here the day after. You can’t kill ’em all.”

“The telegraph’s over in the next town. And I can kill them all. Me and my men.”

“So you killed Ranger Clark Hansen, did you?”

Perched on the corner of his desk, McCuller nodded. “Yes, I did. Shot him right next to where you’re sitting.”

The Kid swallowed hard, her jaw clenched as she said, “How’d you get the drop on him?”

“He told me he’d be back to arrest me after he stopped at the bank. He thought enough of me as a man to turn his back on his way out. I put a bullet in it.”

The Kid sat still as a statue as McCuller dipped back into the drawer. Taking something out, he tossed it in her lap. It was a Texas Ranger badge with a little nick on the left side. Hansen’s badge.

“What happened to that crooked Sheriff Clay?” The Kid asked, running her thumb over the badge.

“I had to dispose of him. He came here scared of you, no idea what to do about it. I knew right then that he was no longer of use to me. I told him he could hole up here in the bunkhouse for a few days… and the moment he stepped off the porch, I let the dogs take him down. When I called them off, he begged me to kill him. I had my men plant his body alongside Hansen’s, out by the chicken coop. You’ll soon be out there yourself, along with Coley. Hope you don’t mind sharing the same hole.”

“What about that Dallas gal?” The Kid asked, still not looking up.

“Oh, her. She came up here a few hours after Hansen, begging me not to marry her sister. She grew very tiresome to me after a few minutes. Finally, I told her I’d reconsider if she sucked my cock. She wasn’t very good at it, but got the job done. I told her I’d forget her sister and marry her instead. She was happy when she left… well, almost left. I set the dogs on her, too; let them rip her apart. I wouldn’t shoot a woman.” Drawing the hammer of his pistol back, he continued. “I don’t consider you a woman, just another goddamn lawman… and to be honest, I’m bored with you. Stand up, now. I don’t want blood on that chair. It belonged to my father.”

Instead of getting to her feet, The Kid wondered aloud, “Why is it you want to marry Dixie, anyhow?”

McCuller chuckled. “Know what? I don’t mind saying it aloud to someone this once. You’ll be dead in a couple of minutes anyway.” He paused to pour more whiskey into his glass. “I had to start running my father’s ranch when the old man passed away. I was just twelve, but the men respected me; lent a hand when I needed it. At fourteen, I’d expanded the ranch and was making good money, the new man of the house.

“I was in love with my sister Betsy. We’d always been close, and she loved me too. When I was sixteen, we decided to marry. She was twelve then. Our plan was to tie the knot when she turned thirteen.

“We told our mother, and she pitched a righteous fit. She called it incest; said it was a mortal sin. After she ranted and raved at us, we told her nothing would change our minds. Come what may, we intended to marry.

“Mother went into her bedroom and came out with my father’s gun in one hand, her Bible in the other. She shot her. She shot Betsy. And as my sister lay dying, Mother dropped the gun, knelt by her and said, ‘There, my child. I saved you from the torments of hell.’ And then my sweet Betsy died.”

Pausing to sip from his glass, McCuller said, “I killed my mother. Picked up Father’s gun and beat her to death with it, right next to where Betsy lay. I gave the law a cock and bull tale about a burglar breaking in while I was making the rounds, but I knew that story wouldn’t hold up for long, so I cut my losses and moved on.

“I started over here and was doing just fine – that is, until the foreign scum and white trash started moving in, taking land that was meant for me… but you wanted to know about Dixie, didn’t you?

“I first saw her in the bar, wiping down a table. I was… thunderstruck. She’s the very image of my little sister. My mother was wrong about us, you know. That’s why I had to take her life. The Almighty knew the love I shared with my sister was right and good… so he returned Betsy to me, even if she doesn’t understand it herself just yet. But she will, she will. I bought her from Toots and asked him to make her work hard, so hard that she’ll be happy when I come to take her away and make her my bride.”

Still aiming his gun at The Kid, he took out a silver pocket watch; flicked it open. “In a couple of hours, my men will dispose of that boy Jud… this ranch hand who thinks he can wear a sheriff’s badge. Then they’ll drive those sodbusters off my land.”

“It ain’t your land,” said The Kid. “That’s the law, McCuller. It’s why I’m here to arrest you.”

“To hell with the law!” McCuller thundered. “I can take that land, and I can hold it. That makes it mine.” He gave a derisive snort. “Know what the problem with you Rangers is? You put your trust in man’s law. Words on paper! My law is that of the wild. A wolf needs no lawyer, no writs. He takes what he wants; makes it his.”

McCuller picked up his glass; took a swallow. “Once those dirt-scratchers are gone, this ranch will be my kingdom. Betsy will turn thirteen soon, and I’ll marry her. She’ll bear children for me, and I’ll rule this land.” He snickered. “That’s right, I’m a king. You should address me as Your Highness or Your Majesty.” McCuller aimed his pistol at The Kid. “Tell you what. If you call me, ‘Your Majesty, King McCuller,’ I just might let you go.”

Try as she might, The Kid couldn’t conceal the loathing she felt. “Know what? I’d rather you shot me, Your Assholyness. And by the way, I still mean to arrest you.”

McCuller went from amused to enraged in an instant. “Bitch!” he snapped. “My God, I’m sick to death of you. Get up and die now.”

The Kid slowly rose, still holding Hansen’s badge in her left hand, the whiskey glass in the other. Finally meeting McCuller’s gaze, she said, “Ruth and Clara.”

“What? Who?” McCuller growled.

“That girl you killed, her name was really Ruth,” The Kid said softly. “The girl you bought is named Clara. They were sisters. Someone’s daughters. Ruth and Clara Lamb. Just thought you might want to know.”

“Nothing you say interests me.” McCuller took aim. “I’ll still let you have your last words, though.”

The Kid’s cool blue eyes peered into his. “It’d be best for everyone if you didn’t pull that trigger.”

McCuller gave a derisive laugh, then fired. A loud explosion went off in his hand, and he fell to the floor, howling in agony.

The Kid watched him for a moment, then drank down her tot of whiskey. The detonation of the gun had filled the room with rancid smoke, so she let her empty glass drop to the floor, then opened the office door. Perhaps drawn by their master’s cries, McCuller’s two dogs came in, positioning themselves on either side of The Kid. Slipping Hansen’s badge into her pocket, she petted them both.

The Kid squatted down next to McCuller, who was writhing where he lay, his face a mask of pain. “Told you not to shoot, didn’t I? Y’see, I was in here the other day, makin’ friends with your dogs and diggin’ through your desk drawers. I blocked up the barrel of your pistol. Yep, you sure ought to have listened to me.”

The Kid stood, folded her arms. “Y’know, Clark Hansen wasn’t just another Ranger. He was a good man. A true friend. I’d never have got to be a Texas Ranger but for him vouchin’ for me. And you shot him in the back, you…” She shook her head in disgust. “Well, you won’t be shootin’ anyone with that hand now, you piece of cow shit.”

McCuller groaned. The thumb of his right hand was hanging loosely, almost detached. Through bloody lips he managed to speak. “God damn you… You cunt. I’ll d-destroy you.” Twisting his body to the left, he gazed at his dogs and stammered, “Si – sic…”

The Kid smiled. “Oh, are you tryin’ to talk to your dogs? What’s that word you want to say? Let me see now… sarsaparilla? No that weren’t it. Hmm… succotash? Sesame?”

Suddenly the rage and pain in McCuller’s eyes was colored by fear as The Kid nearly voiced his own attack command. Damn her! he thought. Can she control my dogs?

“How ‘bout I do somethin’ to stop that blood?” Tequila asked. By then, the sleeve of McCuller’s white shirt was drenched in crimson.”Then I’ll take you to town to heal up until you’re able to stand trial.”

McCuller rasped, “Go to hell, bitch.”

The Kid didn’t reply, just moved behind McCuller’s desk. Returning to that top drawer, she found a locket with a picture of Ruth and Clara inside, and put it in her vest. Making her way toward the door, she glanced at the dogs, then McCuller. Suddenly she snapped her fingers, muttering, “That’s it.” She bent to pet the dogs one last time. Then, pointing at McCuller, she quietly said, “Sic ‘em.”

The Kid abruptly turned and walked out, shutting the door behind. She heard the dogs thunder across the floor – then Ben McCuller’s scream.

Drawn by the noise, Sam was hastening into the house as The Kid approached the front door. She said, “Reckon your boss wants you, Sam,” but the man was already stomping down the hallway to McCuller’s office.

Outside, The Kid unhitched Button, rode her close to the house, then waited, listening closely. Soon the sound of two shots came from inside. That’ll be Sam killin’ the dogs. Now there should be one more shot. If McCuller’s the man I think he is, he’ll be beggin’ Sam to kill him… and Sam’s the kind of man who’ll do what he’s told.

She waited. A moment later, another shot. Within seconds, Sam staggered out of the house, a pistol in his grip. He screamed, “You cunt scum bitch! Them dogs tore Mister McCuller almost to death. I had to kill him, God damn it! You ruined everything, you fuckin’ whore!” He raised the gun.

Instantly drawing her Colt peacemaker, The Kid shot the pistol out of the man’s hand. Sam howled, clutching his wounded fingers.

“Way I see it, your boss got what he deserved,” she said. “Was I you, I’d high-tail it out of these parts afore you get what you deserve… and that’s somethin’ a lot worse than a hurt hand.”

With that, she tugged the reins, turning Button away from the white-faced man and into the night. Nudging her mare into a gallop, she prayed to whatever gods there were that she could reach Jud before McCuller’s hired thugs did.

***

Jud Nelson was getting a taste of being sheriff. First, he’d had the town undertaker remove the bodies of Star and Toots from the Silver Slipper. Going through the desk, he managed to locate the paperwork that needed to be done after. It didn’t look too difficult. Now he sat at the desk in the sheriff’s office filling out forms, making a report. I’ll check it all out with the circuit judge when he gets here next week, make sure I did it right. Jud had just signed the report when he heard horses come riding in – at least half a dozen, from the sound of it.

Peering out the window, he saw McCuller’s men dismount, led by Cy Warren. Jud drew a deep breath to brace himself, knowing he could well be dead before the next hour chimed.

Time to see what you’re made of, boyo, he told himself. He checked his pistol, put on his coat and hat and walked out the door.

“Howdy, fellas,” Jud said. No one replied; they just looked at him.

About thirty feet down the street, Cy Warren folded his arms. “I’ll be takin’ over as sheriff, Nelson. Just hand over your badge and gun there and I’ll let you be.”

Jud knew Cy was lying; even that far away, he could read it in the man’s eyes. The Kid made him look a fool, and I was there to see it. Ain’t no way he’d let me live after that.

He answered, “I guess you’ll have to take it off me, Cy. If you’re man enough.”

Warren’s face darkened in anger, more so when a few of the men chuckled. He took a step forward.

Jud pushed the right side of his coat back to reveal his gun. “Don’t come no closer, or I’ll have to draw on you.”

Cy snorted in disdain. “Reckon I’ll have to kill you then,” he said, pushing back his own coat.

Cookie spoke up. “Listen to me, Jud. No one’s got nothin’ against you. Do like Cy says. We’re gonna drive out the ranchers and sodbusters, and there ain’t a thing you can do to stop it.”

“He’s right,” Cy said. “Drop your gun and badge and ride out. That Tequila Kid is dead; she got shot down by Kid Coley. You’re alone now. Best give it up.” Coley must of taken care of her by now, he decided.

Jud felt his stomach tighten. Never been much at pullin’ off a bluff at the poker table… but now I got to come up with the best bullshit I ever told.

“Listen to me now, boys,” Jud said, glancing around at the various men. “You got it all backwards. Earlier today the Tequila Kid sent a telegram from the next town, lettin’ the Texas Rangers know what’s goin’ on. Hell, she was here not half an hour ago. She killed Coley; now she’s headed out to McCullers’ to collar him.”

The men all seemed to be paying close attention. Okay, Jud told himself, they seem to be buyin’ what I’m sellin’. Just gotta keep ‘em with me.

“If you split up and head out to the ranches, you’ll be dead men for certain,” Jud continued.

Cookie frowned. “What’s that mean?”

“The Tequila Kid didn’t come back alone,” Jud said. “She brung a posse. There’s a couple of Texas Rangers at each ranch and farm, and they’re just waitin’ for you men to show up. I’m tellin’ you this because I ain’t got hard feelings against you.”

The men began to talk to each other. Shit, I best take him out now, Cy told himself. He’s tryin’ to buffalo them into backin’ out on me and McCuller. He took a step forward.

Jud said loudly, “Stop right there, Cy… or by God, I’ll draw.”

Cy took another step, and Jud pulled his gun. He hadn’t cleared the holster when Cy fired, but the shot went wide. Just like I remember him, Jud thought. A fast draw, but his aim’s shaky from a distance. Stay calm, get off one good shot.

He was taking aim as Cy fired again. This bullet tore the sleeve of Jud’s thick coat, but didn’t touch his arm.

Cy was about to take a third shot when Jud fired. Cy’s right arm flew out to his side, sending his gun sailing into the street, and his left hand went to his ruined chest. He stood still for a moment, then dropped to his knees. Looking up at Jud, he whispered, “You killed me,” then fell forward onto his face.

Quickly approaching, Jud bent to feel Cy’s neck for a pulse. Nothing. Turning to the men watching, he shook his head. None of them drew their own guns, so Jud said, “You want to take him with you? Or should I make the arrangements?”

Jud watched carefully as the men grouped together. A few of them spoke, the others listened closely. Eventually, they grew silent, and a couple of them nodded.

Cookie approached Jud. “We’re movin’ on. You take care of Cy. This whole thing’s got too messy for us. We ain’t gonna get ourselves kilt doin’ McCuller’s dirty work… and if we go back to him without the job done, we’re dead.” He shook his head. “Truth be told, I’m startin’ to think our boss is a few bricks shy of a load.” He shrugged. “So long, Jud. Reckon you done earned that badge.” With a brief nod, he trudged back to his horse.

The men mounted up and drifted off into the night. Jud stood there, his heartbeat gradually returning to normal as he watched them go. After a couple of minutes, he paid another visit to the undertaker.

***

“I never killed a man before.”

The Kid had told Jud what she’d done, then she listened in silence while Jud filled her in on what had happened in town. When he’d spoken those last words, she stood and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I know it will haunt you for a spell, Jud. All I can say is I recall the first man I killed. I didn’t like doing it either. If it helps ease your mind any, Cy Warren was for sure a killer of innocents, and you done the world a favor killing him. ”

“It’s not much comfort,” Jud said, “If it makes you feel any better, Kid, the Doc told me he’d been giving Star laudanum for a cancer she was sick with. He said it was almost a blessing for her to go quick like she did.”

Jud watched a tear roll down The Kid’s cheek as she shook her head sadly, saying, “It ain’t no comfort to me, either.”

Jud sat in silence for a minute before saying, “That sure was good work you did.”

Kid shook her head, “I was sloppy all the way, Jud. Took too many gambles, and I’m damn lucky it come out okay in the end. Kid Coley almost shot me dead. Them dogs of McCuller’s might just as easily forgot who I was and ripped me to shreds. And what if McCuller had checked his gun after I’d messed with it? Worst of all was, I didn’t watch out for Toots when I should of. Star died ‘cause of that.

“McCuller would have had the last laugh, ‘cept for you, Jud. You took care of Cy Warren and got them men to leave without doing what they was supposed to do. You saved the farmers, and this town.”

“Shucks,” Jud replied, his cheeks slightly flushed, “Can’t say I put much thought into it. I just went with my gut.” He paused, then added, “Sure is funny that McCuller sent a man to kill the girl he wanted to marry without even knowin’ it.”

“That’s what happens to men who spend their lives makin’ other folks suffer. Sooner or later, they end up hurtin’ someone they don’t mean to hurt.” The Kid patted Jud’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to take a life, but you saved a lot more. If you want to take the badge off now, you got the right to. You come through for me and the town both. I can’t thank you enough.”

“I’ll keep on being sheriff for a while, I guess. I liked the way the sodbusters treated me when I gave ‘em their mortgages and money. I’m glad I got to help the town, too.”

“Then wear this badge instead.” The Kid said as she tossed the real sheriff’s badge on to the desk. Jud picked it up as she added, “McCuller kept a little collection of badges and whatnot from everyone he killed.”

“I’ll be damned,” Jud said. “Guess that makes it official.”

“Reckon so,” The Kid said. “I also think Clark Hanson would of liked you to keep Thunder. You and that stallion are a good match.”

She watched Jud pin the badge on then said, “I got to get over to the next town to send a wire.” Quickly bending down, she kissed his cheek. Jud felt his face grow hot and his heart fluttered for a moment as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

The Kid put her hat on, made her way to the door and opened it. Just before leaving, she glanced over her shoulder. “Adios, Jud.”

Jud said, “Merry Christmas, Kid,” to the closing door. He looked up at the clock. Just after midnight. Opening the lower drawer of the desk, he took out a bottle of whiskey and poured himself a drink.

***

 The town was silent and dark as The Kid approached the front door of the general store. Using a set of picks she’d filched from a burglar years ago, she quickly jimmied the lock. She took a few things, then placed the last of her poker winnings on the counter for payment.

Leading Button to the stable, she found Abner studying a half-played checker game, taking an occasional nip from his jug of applejack.

He looked up. “Hiya, Kid! Come for a rematch?”

“Sorry, Ab, not tonight,” she said. “I got important business to see to. Listen – you know how to write?”

“I can read and write some, if I need to. What for?”

She placed some brown paper, a small can of red paint and a brush before Abner, then let him know what she wanted. When he was finished, she nodded her approval. “That looks real good. One more thing – you got a saddle to fit a child? I’ll need the bridle, too.”

While Abner looked over his gear, The Kid visited Thunder in his stall, petting the stallion, as she gently spoke. “Well, from here on, you’ll have Jud looking after you.” The horse nickered softly. “I know, big boy, I know. I miss Clark awful bad too, but you’ll be happy with Jud. Why I reckon he’ll fuss over you just like Clark did.”

“Hey, Kid! Got that saddle for ya!” she heard Abner call. Patting the horse’s nose one last time, she made her way to the front of the livery.

The saddle was exactly what she wanted. Giving the grizzled old man what money she had left, The Kid shook his hand. He opened the stable door for her, and as she led Button out, along with the palomino she’d won from Final Preston, The Kid said, “Much obliged, Abner.”

“So long, Kid,” Abner replied. “Be sure to stop by next time you’re in these parts.”

“That I will. Adios, Abner,” she said with a tip of her hat. Mounting Button, she rode off, the wind blowing and snow beginning to whip around her as she disappeared into the distance. Abner watched until she was gone from sight then, with a sigh, returned to his checkerboard.

***

From up on the ridge trail, The Tequila Kid could see Sarah’s home. The snow had stopped and the sun was rising on a cloudless sky. She could see a light come on through a window, then smoke began to emerge from the chimney.

The Kid put her battered telescope back in the saddle bag. I wonder what little Arabella’s doin’ right now. Havin’ a nice Christmas morning with her family, most likely. I figure she’s sure to have forgot me. Don’t reckon I’ll ever forget her myself. The Kid shook her head sadly as she pictured Arabella, touching the gold ring on its chain under her shirt.

“Well, they’re up now,” the Tequila Kid told Button, stroking the horse’s mane. “Soon enough someone will be headin’ out to the barn.” With an impatient snort, Button beat a front hoof into the snow. “I know, girl. We could of made it to the next town by now if we hadn’t come to the Miller place first.” Button’s response was a shiver and a toss of the head. “It was somethin’ I had to take care of, girl. Don’t fret, now… you’ll warm up, soon’s we start movin’ again. Here – this is for you,” she added, pulling the apple out of her coat pocket.

Button shook her head up and down excitedly as The Kid removed the yellow ribbon tied around it. “It’s from that little Amy girl. She wanted you to have a Christmas present, too.”

The Kid took a small bite from the apple, smiling as its sweet juice ran down her chin. Then she offered it up on the palm of her hand, and Button devoured it in a few gulps.

Wiping her hand on her jeans, The Kid reached into another pocket, feeling for the hard-boiled egg Amy had given her. Carefully cracking the shell on her saddle horn, she peeled and ate it.

Finally, The Kid took out the child’s last gift, the pine cone Amy had decorated for her. Admiring it, she said, “Look, Button… this here is what they call a Christmas decoration. Ain’t it pretty?”

Button sniffed it. Deciding it wasn’t food, she snorted and shook her head, jingling the bridle. The Kid returned the cone to her pocket. Taking up the yellow ribbon, she tied it in a bow on the black forelock of Button’s mane.

“Don’t you look nice, girl. Now let’s get to the next town.” Mounting up, she continued to talk to her horse, as she often did when riding on her own. “I got to wire Captain Richards, let him know about all them dead bodies on McCuller’s land. Reckon he’ll want to come deal with this mess himself.”

Tugging the reins, she guided Button onto the trail. “I better wire Andromeda, too, let her know I won’t see her for a spell yet. She won’t be happy with me missin’ Christmas again… and I can just see her rollin’ her eyes when she gets that telegram collect. Know what she told me last time I saw her? She said, ‘Kid, I love you to bits, but you treat money as if every pair of britches you own has holes in all the pockets’.” She laughed, then fell silent.

Her thoughts strayed to Dixie. It’s Clara now, she reminded herself. I reckon Captain Richards will be the one to let her know what happened to her big sister. I imagine Sarah will have poor Ruth buried at the ranch. Hope she does, anyhow.  She’ll rest easier there.

Got to make sure I give Richards that locket for evidence, and tell him to pass it along to Clara when the case gets closed.

Taking one last glance down at the Miller home, she rode on.

***

I don’t know when I fell asleep. The last thing I remember was laying my head in Ma’s lap, but I was curled up in the big chair wrapped in a blanket when Amy woke us all up yelling, ‘It’s Christmas!’ We all slept in our clothes not knowing if Ma would be having a shoot out with McCuller’s men. But no night riders ever did come by.

We were mighty glad to still be alive and safe. Ma figured either the snowstorm or the Tequila Kid kept us from being attacked, and she said we should thank God for sparing us the next time we said our prayers.

Amy wanted to go see what Santa Claus brought us right away, but Ma gathered us around her first. She said ‘Girls, I don’t know what gifts the day will bring, but I promise you this. We will have the gift of each other’s love tonight.’ 

Then Ma gave each of us a kiss. It was the special kind, where she put her tongue into our mouths. I was first, and when she kissed me, I felt her hands move down my back till she was touching my bottom. Then she did the same for Amy and Clara. I saw Clara reach up to touch Ma’s titties when they kissed. I wished I thought of doing that! But I figured that night there would be plenty of chances to touch my mother anywhere I liked. 

When we were all done kissing, Clara said something specially nice. She gave all of us big smiles and said ‘Ma, Cindy, Amy, you are the best Christmas presents in the whole world, and I can’t wait to unwrap you later tonight.’ 

The way we were looking at each other right then made me think we were about to get started early on the loving part. But Ma just patted Clara’s bottom and told us to go see what Santa brought, then we needed to get breakfast started. 

When me, Clara and Amy went into the parlor we saw stockings hung on the mantle, three of them. Each had an orange and a hand full of walnuts in it. I like busting open the walnut shells with our nut cracker. I decided to save them for later but dug right into my orange. Amy said she’d eat her orange later. Clara wanted to wait and enjoy hers another time.

Amy was happy with her stocking, but she was wondering what else Santa Claus left for us. Just for a moment, I thought cause of the stockings that maybe Santa did come after all. But when I heard Clara  saying thank you to Ma in the kitchen, I knew that was who had got us the oranges and nuts. But I didn’t say nothing. I just hoped Amy wouldn’t be too sad when that was all there was that we got. Me, I didn’t mind so much about there not being a Santa Claus to leave us presents. Long as we had love for one another, it would be a good Christmas.

Ma said while she and Clara got breakfast started, me and Amy should go out to the barn to look for eggs, so we put our coats on and went out into the cold. The snow looked so beautiful in the sun light. I remember thinking it was a gift from God to us for Christmas. I hated for us to spoil it by leaving tracks, but we had to get those eggs. I seen snow a couple times before, but not so deep as this. Amy had a huge smile on her face, cause she’s not seen snow since she was a baby. It did my heart good to see her so happy.

Amy ran ahead of me and opened up the barn door, then she stood stock still, staring at something. All of a sudden she yelled, ‘Cindy, Cindy, come and see!’ I was scared a fox had got at the chickens so I hurried over. 

I looked inside and there was the most beautiful horse in the whole world, standing there with the sun light hitting her. She was a palomino, golden with a white tail and mane. Pinned on her saddle was a big piece of brown paper with red paint on it that said:

MARY X MAS 4 SINDY FROM SANTA KLAWS

It was like something out of a dream. I walked up slowly to the horse to pet her, and she seemed to like me right off. I was so excited! I moved her over near a stall wall and climbed up on her and had Amy get on behind me. I rode her out of the barn and to the house yelling for Ma and Clara to come see. They both rushed out of the house with their mouths hanging open.

Now I saw there were packages hanging off the saddle horn. One was a big envelope saying, 2 SARA, a small box said, 2 AIME, and a brown paper bundle, 4 KLARA.

Clara ripped hers open. It was a pretty store bought dress. She held it up and then ran inside to try it on. Amy opened hers and it was a brand new harmonica, nicer than the one that got shot.

Clara came back out and she sure did look pretty in her new dress. Ma told her she would sure look fine in it when we went to the Vales for the Christmas party. I don’t think she was wearing anything under it, and thinking about that made me warm and trembly inside. She said she would go make the biscuits, and Ma told her to hang the dress up first. 

I was so glad I never said nothing to Amy about there being no Santa Claus, because I figured now there had to be. No one else could of done all that. If it had been a person there would of been footprints all over around the barn. Besides, nobody could have ever known I wanted a horse except for Santa. I guess he can’t spell very good though. 

***

Sarah stood on the porch, listening to Clara whistling and humming in the kitchen as she made the biscuits. She looked at her oldest daughter beaming as she rode the golden palomino around the yard. Behind Cindy sat Sarah’s baby girl Amy playing “Joy To The World,” the sun glinting off the shiny new harmonica.

Noticing the envelope in her hand, Sarah opened it and peered inside. Her eyes widened, and she pulled out a bundle of cash. Quickly counting it, she whispered, “Eleven hundred dollars?”

Also tucked into the envelope was a bill of sale for the horse. Sarah glanced at the list owners. The last name on the list was TEKILA KID, followed by a small drawing of a raven. At the very bottom it read, FROM THE KID 2 SINDY MILLER.

Sarah held it to her breast for a moment. Now she knew who all this had come from. She would never know the money the Tequila Kid gave her had been taken from the dead body of Kid Coley, the blood payment given to him by McCuller to kill her, the girls, all her neighbors and the Tequila Kid.

There was something else in the envelope. Sarah reached in once more, and her eyes filled with tears as she held the gold watch she’d given her husband. The same watch Kid Coley had taken off Eric’s dead body. Opening the watch, she looked at the small picture of her, Cindy and Amy.

Stepping into the yard, Sarah went to the grave marking her husband’s remains. She whispered, “We’re going to make it, Eric. Me and the girls, we’ll be fine. You can rest easy now.”

As she made her way back to the house, Amy came running up. She hugged Sarah around the waist, then took her hand. “Are you happy, Ma?”

Sarah picked the small girl up in her arms and swung her around until Amy squealed in delight. Then she kissed her child and said, “Yes, sweetheart. I’m the happiest woman on earth.” She set the girl back on the ground. “What about you, my love? Are you happy?”

The child gave her mother a dazzling smile. “I sure am. I got what I wanted for Christmas. More, even.” She paused. “I’m gonna go in and help Clara now. Thanks for lettin’ her stay with us, Ma. I like havin’ two sisters!”

“And I love having three daughters. Tell Clara I’ll be there in a minute myself,” Sarah told Amy before she scampered off.

A moment later, Cindy rode up on her new horse. “Isn’t she beautiful, Ma? I’m gonna name her ‘Tequila,’ after that girl Texas Ranger.”

Sarah could think of quite a few reasons why a girl of ten shouldn’t give her horse such a name, but instead of protesting, she said, “That’s a good choice, sweetheart.”

She watched contentedly as Cindy continued to ride around, then looked up toward the trail on the hill, shading her eyes with a hand. Squinting hard past the glare of bright snow and low sun, she carefully scanned the ridge.

Looking intently, she could just make out the small dark figure of a horse and rider against the snow.

Knowing she wouldn’t be seen, Sarah waved anyway. “Merry Christmas, Kid,” she whispered. “Thanks, and may God keep you safe.”

***

Arabella Elizabeth Hodgekiss DuMount had enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day with her new mother Clementine, and her new sisters Mimi and Susie. That evening as they finished singing carols by the piano, Clementine suggested the four of them head up to her room to spend the rest of the night doing what they enjoyed more than just about anything: undressing, slipping into bed and making love.

Arabella said, “I just want to step out for a breath of air, Mama. I’ll be up directly.”

Now she stood on the front porch, gazing up at the stars. “Kid, wherever you are, my Christmas wish is for you to come back to me some day. I love my new family, but I still miss you somethin’ awful. I can’t ever be all the way happy ‘til I see you again.”

She stood quietly for a long moment, then wiped away a few tears and went back inside.

***

After sending a brace of telegrams, the Tequila Kid hung around the office, waiting for replies. Once she’d explained how she’d never learned to read, the telegraph operator kindly offered to read each one to her. She’d had to send all the cables collect, as she’d run out of money yet again.

That night The Kid camped outside of town. As she waited for her coffee to brew in a crimped-up can on the campfire, she bedded Button down – talking to her all the while, as she often liked to do. It helped with the loneliness she sometimes felt on the trail.

After hobbling Button’s forelegs for the night, The Kid draped a blanket over the horse. “Sure was good of Abner to give me this old horse blanket for you, girl. You’ll be a little warmer tonight.”

She seated herself by the fire. “Well, girl, Captain Richards got the wire I sent. He cabled me back to let me know he’s on his way. He’ll be meetin’ up with me, him and a few Rangers. See, I got to show him where McCuller had all them bodies buried. Hope he don’t need me to help him make out the reports. I sure do hate doin’ that.”

She paused to pour her coffee, then continued. “And hell’s bells, is Andromeda ever hoppin’-ass mad at me! First, ‘cause I couldn’t spend Christmas with her… and ‘cause I cabled her collect yet again. Reckon I’ll have to treat her extra nice when I make it back to Knuckle Ridge in a couple weeks.” She chuckled. “Aw, once I’ve had me a bath and got her into bed, she’ll forgive me just about anything,” The Kid smiled, picturing the face of her steady lover. “Wonder how she’s been doin’ with her bone diggin’ since I saw her last. Maybe she’ll have one of them dino-saurs put together to show us when we get back.”

Taking the last swallow of coffee, she put her can away, then carefully spread out her bedroll next to the dying campfire. Before settling in for the night, The Kid wrapped both arms around Button’s strong neck and pressed her face against the horse’s side, listening to the mare’s beating heart. “Goodnight, girl. Andromeda told me not to forget to say how much she loves you. But I love you even more.”

Tugging her boots off, she climbed into her bedroll and tried to relax. In spite of herself, she gazed up at the sky, suddenly overcome by a surge of melancholy. The stars grew blurry as her eyes filled with tears,  and she fumbled for the gold wedding ring that she wore on a chain over her heart. The ring that Arabella had given her, the one that had belonged to the child’s late mother.

The Kid heaved a sigh. Damn it, Arabella… seems like every day, every night I’m left thinkin’ of you. I’m glad you’re just a little girl, and probably forgot all about me by now. I wish I could do that, let the memory of you go and move on. But I can’t. The love I feel for you still burns in my heart.

The Kid turned onto her side, then winced in discomfort. Reaching into her coat pocket, she found the pine cone Amy had decorated for her. Inside her bedroll, she cradled it to her chest, lost in thought.

Somethin’s been worryin’ my mind ever since little Amy sat on my lap and told me about Santa Claus. And what Jud said about Santa made it nag at me even more. Somethin’ I recall from a long time ago. Or was it a thing that happened to Amy, and I got it mixed up in my head?

She kept puzzling over it, like a child keeps picking at a scab on their knee.

At last a faint memory came to her out of nowhere, like the white wisp of smoke from the embers of the camp fire.

She was sitting on a sofa. Moonlight spilled through a window to illuminate a small scrubby pine tree and five stockings hung in a line above a hearth. The room was cold, but there was no fire lit. On the mantle of the hearth, a small glass of milk was placed next to a plate of cookies.

She was startled by a woman’s voice. “Why, Mary Ann! What are you doing out of bed at this hour?” The woman sat down, drawing her child into a warm embrace.

“I want to see Santa Claus, Mama.”

“Dear, you know Santa won’t come till everyone’s asleep. Pa and your brother and sister are all sleeping. You don’t want to be the one who keeps him from coming, do you?”

“No, Mama.”

“Come on, then. Let’s put you to bed.” The nice-smelling woman bent to pick her up, cradling her in the crook of an arm. She wrapped both arms around the woman’s neck, allowing herself to be carried to bed.

The woman gently laid her down next to her older sister, who was already fast asleep, then sat down beside her, humming a lullaby. Gently brushing a shock of rusty red hair from the little girl’s forehead, the woman lightly kissed her cheek, whispering, “I love you, Mary Ann.”

The Kid could almost recall the tune of the lullaby, but the whole of it evaded her. As she tried to call the melody to mind, she fell into a sound, peaceful slumber.

The End

 

The Beekeeper’s Lament, Chapter 10

  • Posted on October 3, 2025 at 2:41 pm

For a list of the many characters who populate this saga, check out Dramatis Personae.

Thus far in our story…

Prologue: Hailey Ellis has returned to Morcant-On-Sea after several years away, only to find the coastal town is a shadow of its former self. Amidst this decline, Hailey navigates her various relationships, but a shocking encounter with her selkie aunt foreshadows a chain of events that will change all their lives forever.

Ch1: Several months later in the village of Derwold, the summer holidays begin for the Newton girls. Eleven-year-old Freya struggles to cope with the changes that adolescence brings, and wonders why she feels so angry and alone. To add to her unhappiness, she experiences her first period. 

Ch2: The next day, Freya has a chance meeting with Elsa Hart, wife of the new lord of Derwold Manor. A little later, Freya joins Sadie and her sister Millie for a lesson in alchemy, but things don’t quite go as planned when Millie inadvertently amplifies the potency of the love potion they’ve brewed. After the effects have worn off, Millie visits the churchyard to pay her respects to an old friend. Whilst there, she has an encounter with a black panther, and discovers she can communicate with the creature.

Ch3: Several days later, Simon and Elsa host a housewarming party in the grounds of the old manor. Elsa treats Freya to a tour of the recent restoration efforts, and the seeds are sown for a burgeoning friendship. Meanwhile, post mistress Sally Jeffries has a few too many drinks and ends up accidentally setting fire to pompous druid Bernard, then has a few choice words for Simon Derwold, who she remembers from decades before. Georgia, Sadie and Millie make their way home, where they indulge in a night of passion in the lounge, only to be interrupted by Elsa and Freya. Elsa comes to suspect her new neighbours are not all that they seem.

Ch4: The vicar of Derwold has been murdered by an unknown assailant. Unaware of the events that are about to unfold, Sadie tries to fathom the mysteries of the ancient standing stone near her cottage with the help of Freya and Millie. Later, Freya pays a visit to Derwold Manor, and she and Elsa enjoy an afternoon of passion. It turns out Elsa is using Freya for her own ends, and the eleven-year-old is tricked into revealing all their secrets.

Ch5: Sadie receives a concerning call from Vivaan Dinesh, Derwold’s resident doctor. At the surgery, she is confronted with the murdered vicar. Meanwhile, Millie rescues Bernard from the mysterious black panther, and the traumatised man confesses he’s not a real druid at all. 

Sadie sets out to investigate the vicar’s murder, and discovers that someone has set an arcane wall around the village, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. In the woods that surround Derwold, she meets Astris the dryad.

Ch6: Astris tells Sadie that Elsa is the one who has sealed off the village, though for what purpose she doesn’t know. The dryad also hints that Elsa is a witch, and that she harbours great power. Sadie researches the Derwold family and discovers they have a troubled history. She also discovers Elsa changed her name to conceal her past, and is inexplicably older than she seems. 

At the post office, Sally Jeffries tells Sadie a disturbing childhood story, in which an eight-year-old Simon tortured and killed his pet dog. Suspecting the vicar’s murder may have been Simon’s doing, Sadie hastens to Beekeeper Cottage to make sure everyone’s safe, but Freya has already gone to the manor to meet with Elsa. Sadie races to retrieve her.

Ch7: At Derwold Manor, stark truths are revealed. Elsa has sealed the village off to protect Simon. More than that, she intends to set the stage for a new world order, one where women rule and men are consigned to history. She asks Sadie and Millie to join her, but Sadie refuses. She and Freya arrive back at Beekeeper Cottage only to find Georgia and Millie missing. They are captured by Elsa’s thugs, and reunited with Georgia and Millie, the four of them are imprisoned in the manor. 

Discovering the large rock in the cellar where they are confined is actually an ancient standing stone, Millie manages to tap into its magic, and she and Sadie are transported to an unknown location. 

Ch8: Enraged, Elsa threatens to kill Georgia if Freya doesn’t tell her where Sadie and Millie have gone, but Freya manages to convince her they know nothing of their whereabouts. Taking no chances, Elsa locks them in a room full of taxidermy specimens. Freya opens up to her mother, expressing her fears and doubts.

Meanwhile, in the Cornish town of Morcant-On-Sea, a tribe of Selkie rescue a near-drowned Sadie and Millie, then point them in the direction of the lighthouse. Sadie hopes that whoever lives up there can help them get back home. Having reached their destination, they discover a strange cocoon-like object. Before they have time to consider exactly what it is or what it means, they realise someone has followed them into the lighthouse.

Ch9: Elsa uses the menhir to determine Sadie and Millie’s whereabouts. Having discovered they are in the town where she spent her childhood, the enraged woman prepares to recapture them. 

Meanwhile, Sadie and Millie meet Hailey and Derek. Hailey tells them that whatever’s sleeping inside the cocoon was once her selkie aunt, Rita. Sadie explains that she needs to get back to Derwold to rescue Georgia and Freya, but with no easy way back to the mainland, they will need to wait until morning. Meanwhile, Sadie’s cat familiar, Billy Buckham, sneaks into Derwold Manor with plans of his own.

Some time later, Millie is awakened by a strange voice summoning her to the top of the lighthouse. There she meets a spectral version of Rita, and the two of them enjoy a moment of intimacy, culminating in an exchange of old magics. Over on the mainland, Elsa makes her way towards the coast to prepare an invasion.

And now, dear readers, we make our way into the next installment. Read on…

by BlueJean

1

Jack knelt bare-chested on the floor of his lounge, his arms forcibly held out to his sides by things that had surely been conjured from his worst nightmares.

He’d been sold a dodgy batch of weed, that had to be it. The bastards must’ve put some kind of hallucinogenic chemical in it. What other explanation for the shifting green mass of dead-eyed creatures that occupied his living room?

He closed his eyes and shook his head from side to side, trying to pull himself together. When he opened them again, the spectral horrors still haunted his vision.

And if that wasn’t madness enough to contend with, now the apparitions were parting to allow a woman through. Her hair was a shocking flame peppered with two streaks of grey at the temples. Jack felt a palpable sense of relief to know he wasn’t alone with these creatures anymore.

The woman folded to her knees before him. “Hello, handsome,” she crooned, brushing her fingers lightly against his cheek. “I saw your light on. I hope you don’t mind me calling at this late hour. I used to live in this house, you know. I love what you’ve done with the place.”

Jack stared terror-stricken at the newcomer. “I think there’s something wrong with me. I’m seeing things. Can you s-s-see them, too? Can you?”

The red-haired woman tittered gleefully. “Of course I can s-s-see them, s-s-s-silly boy,” she told him mockingly. “It was me that summoned them, after all.”

“What the fuck are they?”

“The dead, sweetling. The dead. Of course, they don’t know they’re dead. If they did, they would’ve returned to the Great Cycle by now. And the longer they linger between life and death, the more of their humanity they forget, until eventually there’s nothing left but hate and regret. A perfect army of mindless rage, ready to be utilised at a moment’s notice.”

“M-make them go away. Please.”

The woman trailed her fingers down Jack’s bare torso. She pinched a nipple between thumb and forefinger and twisted painfully. Her mother had done the same thing to her many times, right here in this lounge.

Jack cried out, and the creatures in the room surged forward at the shrill sound.

“Sála!” the woman commanded, and it seemed to Jack that her voice came from all directions at once. He was unfamiliar with the word, and the language it belonged to, but somehow he still caught some sense of its meaning: Heel!

“No, you mustn’t make a fuss, my sweet,” the woman told him with mock concern. “The slightest thing can set them off. They despise the living, you see.”

She took his other nipple and twisted slowly, her nails digging into the tender flesh there. Jack clamped his mouth tight against the pain, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. “Shhhh…” she whispered. “Not a sound, lovely boy. Not a sound.”

A dark patch appeared on the crotch of Jack’s lounge pants and spread outwards. The woman released his bloody nipple and gave him a sympathetic look.

“Oh, dear. It looks like you’ve had a little accident. Well, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

She patted him on the head, and Jack flinched away from the contact.

“Dear me, you and I were having so much fun, I almost forgot the original purpose of my visit. What a scatterbrain I am!” She leaned into him. “I’m looking for a young woman and a little girl, you see. The woman is in her late twenties with long, chestnut hair. She’s very pretty – the kind of woman little boys like you sniff around like dogs. The girl is eight or nine with hair that’s dark blonde. She’s quite adorable, in a nauseating sort of way. Perhaps you prefer girls her age? Well, I’m not one to judge. They’re strangers to this town. Have you seen them?”

He had seen them, and he would’ve given them up without much thought to whatever this sadistic woman was going to do to them. He didn’t know these people, after all. They weren’t his problem. No one was asking him to protect two complete strangers, were they? No one had any right to demand that when a horde of undead were bearing down on him. That just wouldn’t be fair at all.

But he’d seen where the woman and her kid were headed from his bedroom window. Up towards the lighthouse. Up where Hailey and Derek lived. And Hailey and Derek were his concern. Derek was his friend and former captain. And Hailey was…

What was Hailey to him? Friend? Lover? Fuck buddy? Hailey had never made that very clear, and sometimes Jack needed people to spell things out for him, because it was too complicated to figure out that stuff for himself. She liked him, he knew that much, and he definitely liked her, enough that he didn’t want to send this spectral shitstorm heading her way.

Jack gave tiny shakes of his head, praying it would be enough to end his ordeal and make the lady and her pets go away.

The woman brought her face close to his, her breath warm against his ear. “I see the lie in your eyes, pissy boy,” she whispered. “I can do terrible, terrible things to you. Slow, painful, horrific things. You’ll beg me to kill you, but I won’t, not right away. And when I’m finally bored of playing, I’ll set my friends on you. They’ll tear you apart and claim you as one of their own. You mustn’t lie to me again, sweetling. I can’t stress that enough.”

She sat back on her haunches and smiled at him amicably. “Now. Let’s try again, shall we? Where did they go? Tell me.”

“L-l-lighthouse…” Jack whimpered, and in uttering that single word, some irretrievable part of his soul flickered out like a candle. He’d sold them out. As easily as that, he’d sold his friends out. And he could never take it back.

“The lighthouse, you say?”

Jack gave an almost imperceptible nod.

The woman tenderly pushed his lank hair back behind his ears. “Good boy. What a good boy you are.”

She rose to her feet, then turned to leave. The undead closed around her like a protective wall until both she and they were gone.

Jack collapsed to the floor and sobbed. “Sorry, Hailey… So sorry…”

Then he remembered his phone lying on the coffee table.

2

Hailey awoke with a start. Her phone was buzzing away on the nightstand next to her bed. In a fug of semi-awareness she reached out to see who the caller was, but knocked it onto the floor instead. Blindly fumbling around on the carpet, she managed to retrieve the device before it rang off.

It was Jack. Why the hell was he phoning her at this hour?

“Jack, what the fuck?” she groaned. “It’s 4:am.”

“Hailey! Get out of the house!” a frantic Jack cried, causing Hailey to pull the phone away from her ear with a wince.

“Wh-what? What’s happening?”

“Get Derek and run! She’s coming up to the lighthouse!”

“What the hell are you talking about, Jack? Have you been smoking that shit again?”

“Hailey, listen to me, I’m not fuckin’ around here! There’s a woman. She has an army of… I don’t know what the fuck they are – dead people! She’s lookin’ for a lady and a kid. She was gonna kill me, I had to tell her. She’s on her way. I’m hangin’ up. Get out of there! Now!”

Hailey stared at her smartphone for a moment, trying to make some sense of the bizarre call. She stood on the bed and peered out the porthole window. A sickly green glow roiled and undulated down by the harbour and the lower part of town. It looked like the Northern Lights, but that made no sense – Northern Lights happened in the sky, not down on the ground. And that green mass was moving through the streets at an alarming rate, like a wave of poison.

There’s a woman, Hailey! She’s coming!

“Oh my god…” Hailey murmured, then in a considerably louder voice: “Derek! Sadie!”

Sadie shot awake with a cry when Hailey crashed through the lounge door a few moments later.

“Sadie, there’s something coming!”

The witch brought her hands up in front of her. They were tingling like crazy, the power in her fingers readying itself, warning her something was near. She leapt from the couch and peeked behind the curtains. The night was awash with spectral energy, a green glow on the horizon that was rapidly encompassing the rest of the sky.

“No… Oh, bloody hell, no. This is not ideal.”

“What the hell is it?” Hailey demanded.

Derek barrelled into the lounge in a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt. “That’s what I’d like to fuckin’ know. Last time I saw summit like that was out on the boat with Sully. He swore blind it were the ghost of old Captain Bren and the Siren.”

“Elsa’s raised the dead,” Sadie murmured, her face gone pale. “The silly bitch has raised the dead.”

“The dead? Like… the dead dead?” said Hailey. “W-we should probably go, right?”

“Go where, girl?” Derek said. “You know as well as I do the only way out is right through whatever the fuck’s headin’ our way.”

“It’s too late,” Sadie said with a note of resignation. “She’s here…”

The sea of dead crashed into the old stucco cottage with a ferocity that took the witch’s breath away. They clamoured at the walls and the windows, their numbers so great it sounded for all the world like some living, seething earthquake bearing down.

Elsa must have summoned them from miles around, millennia of seafarers lost to the depths, unaware of their plight and thus prevented from returning to the Cycle. Most times these spirits were benign, unable to interact with the living world in any tangible way, but once given a conduit into the physical realm, Elsa would use them to command havoc. It’d been much the same with Isabel – Sadie’s ancestor had only been able to cause such harm because she’d anchored herself to the great oak and leeched off the dryad’s power.

Sadie could hear them clawing at the weaker points of the building – the glass of the windows, the slate tiles on the roof, the floorboards beneath their feet. She knew the old cottage wouldn’t keep them out for long.

She backed away from the window, regarding her tingling hands absentmindedly, as if the answer might be found there. “Uh… Okay. Okay.” When she turned back to Derek and Hailey there was steel in her eyes. “Stay close to me,” she told them. “Whatever happens, do not run. I can’t protect you if you do. Millie, get up, I need your help!”

Sadie pulled back the quilt on the inflatable bed only to find it empty. “She’s gone. Millie’s gone… Millie! Millie, where are you?!”

3

Millie dreamed she was slumbering on a huge egg. It was warm and moist, and pulsated against her body like a beating heart. It invoked memories of the womb, safe and comforting.

It was the tingling in her hands that woke her. She’d felt it before, that day in the cemetery when the dead had stirred beneath her. But now it was greatly amplified, like a bad case of pins and needles, the kind of tingling that could drive you mad.

Millie opened her eyes and found herself draped naked across the Rita-Cocoon, her limbs wrapped around its egg-like circumference. It smelled of the sea, and something else beneath that – the earthy promise of sex, or perhaps the remnants of the act itself.

She slid to the floor and went to retrieve her clothes. How on earth had she ended up here? There’d been a naughty dream with a naked lady on a bed, and—

Something was coming. The lighthouse shook with the violence of its approach. Millie scrambled to slip her t-shirt and knickers back on just as the hatch in the floor flew open and the dead poured into the light chamber. She screamed in terror.

4

Sadie didn’t hear the scream, she felt it. She’d unfurled her animal senses, probing for any sign of Millie, the same way she’d found numerous lost pets and missing livestock – though the folks of Derwold had always believed their resident schoolteacher just had a knack for being in the right place at the right time, if they considered the strangeness of it at all. Elsa had been right about that, at least – hiding the arcane in plain sight was remarkably easy in the 21st century.

“She’s in the lighthouse!” the witch cried, startling Derek and Hailey. “We have to get to her!”

Sadie drew in as much power as she was able, then used it to set a ward around the three of them. She strengthened it with an ancient chant. “Ónteros pelnis dó pālājō!” Second skin to protect!

An invisible barrier shimmered into life around them. It was by no means impenetrable, more a deterrent, a portable version of Elsa’s weavewall set around the village of Derwold. Attempting to breach the ward’s boundaries would invoke fear in the dead, but convincing a spirit is far from the same as convincing a living person. The dead were without reason, mindless husks of the people they had once been. In their madness, Sadie knew the apparitions would do whatever they could to get at them. She would need to go on the offensive as well as the defensive.

This is what you wanted, wasn’t it? she told herself. Bonafide witch business. The real thing. Well, guess what? This is about as real as it gets, girl. Time to do or die.

“Stay close!” Sadie told Derek and Hailey, then began moving forward. She paused at the front door of the cottage, then turned back to them. “Get ready. Do not panic. Do not run. Understand?”

“Are we sure we want to do this?” Hailey said in a thin voice.

“We don’t have any choice, Hailey. I have to get to Millie.”

Pale-faced, Hailey gave a grim nod.

Derek made some effort to swallow his own fear. He smacked a fist into the palm of his other hand, then hollered, “Fuckin’ bring it on! I’m in the mood for spankin’ some zombies!”

Sadie gave a quick approving nod, then slung open the door. In a heartbeat, hell closed in around them.

5

“Tá sheol thú!”

Millie wailed the chant as the spectral horde flung themselves at her. It was the incantation used to send the dead back to the cycle, the same one Sadie had used on Isabel months before. But where Sadie had used it as a tool to gently persuade and compel, Millie now used it as a weapon, the old Celtic words sharp and precise, hurled out with ferocious momentum.

Spectral figures sputtered out of existence at the uttering, only to be replaced by scores more, the small light chamber seething with the vile things. Millie cried out in terror, barely resisting the urge to simply fall to the floor and curl into a little ball.

“Tá sheol thú! Tá sheol thú! Sadie! Help me!

More of them imploded into nothing, but others flooded into the chamber to replace those lost, filling the spaces their undead brethren had vacated. Millie knew she was fighting a losing battle.

Sadie had often explained to her how language was used to reinforce magic, how different languages represented tiers of power. In Europe, the Celtic dialects had always been intrinsically linked with witchcraft, the modern variants considered the weakest, the ancient precursors more potent. The root of all Celtic languages, Proto-Indo-European, or ‘Eurasian’ as the witches know it, held the most power. Millie and Sadie had been learning the reconstructed language together.

Millie uttered the tenuous words now, hoping they would be enough to turn the tide. “Egō sontejō juwetū!”

The dead evaporated in greater numbers, three or four at a time. Still they came, though now they seemed less sure of themselves. Without any clear idea of what she was doing, Millie amplified the spell, projecting it like a sonic wave. It rippled out, obliterating spectres along its path.

Power sought power, tapping into hidden knowledge locked inside Millie’s genetic code. Older words formed in her mind, a dialect never intended to be uttered by human beings. The language of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The First Tongue.

Millie pushed the ancient chant out like a tsunami, the lighthouse groaning at the sorcery unleashed within its walls.

“Mœ. Nê. Dâ!”

The dead flickered out like candles. Any that remained turned tail and fled, terrified of whatever it was the child commanded.

“MŒ! NÊ! DÂ!”

The canopy overhead suddenly shattered, raining glass down on Millie as she stood with her eyes tight shut, trembling with the power coursing through her body.

When she found the courage to open her eyes once more, the dead were mercifully gone. But something worse now stood before her.

“What a naughty little girl you are,” Elsa crooned disapprovingly, hands hooked onto her hips. She briefly considered the strange mass of the cocoon occupying the chamber. Then she was upon Millie.

6

Sadie mustered all the power she could command to both maintain the ward and send as many of the dead onwards as she was able, throwing out her chants in all directions. A single bead of blood trickled from a nostril and dribbled into her mouth. She licked the coppery taste away, then resumed her grim work.

They had reached the lighthouse, and were slowly working their way up the spiralling metal staircase. The dead seethed around them. They dogged and besieged the protective ward, becoming increasingly emboldened each time they breached its tentative membrane. Hailey clung onto Sadie for dear life while Derek thrashed around with his fists, hollering his own set of unique chants:

“Who you gonna call?! Who you gonna fuckin’ call?! By the power of Greyskull!”

Sadie didn’t think those particular phrases were part of the witch’s repertoire, but she knew any words compelled by courage held their own curious power.

Without warning, some unknown blast of arcane energy exploded towards them like a shockwave, the deep thrum of it invoking a sudden nausea. Sadie looked up towards the top landing just in time to see a throng of undead vanish into nothing. Those that remained fled down towards them, crashing through the ward’s membrane with terror-stricken expressions etched onto their pale, dead faces. The ward held for a few scant seconds more, then failed completely.

“Get down!” Sadie cried, and the three of them collapsed to their knees, arms moving instinctively to cover their heads, for all the good it would do them.

The dead flew past, clearly more concerned with escaping whatever power had been turned against them than harming the three living humans left so suddenly exposed. The spectres that had harried them from behind were now retreating too, what little rationale they still possessed informing them it was probably wise to put as much distance between themselves and the lighthouse, and indeed the town, as possible.

Sadie peered down the stairs after them. “They’re gone.”

Hailey held onto Sadie’s arm so tightly her nails were beginning to dig into the flesh there. “W-what’s happening? Are we still alive?

“Permission to shit my pants,” Derek said, his eyes wide with fear.

Before Sadie could deny the request, a child’s scream echoed through the lighthouse. The three of them raced to the top.

7

When they scrambled up into the light chamber, they found Elsa with an arm clamped around Millie’s throat, her other hand held out limply in front of her, blood dripping from a wound between thumb and forefinger.

“You bit me, you savage little bitch! How dare you!”

“Let her go, Elsa!” Sadie demanded.

Elsa regarded the young teacher with surprise. “Miss Laine, you’re alive. Bravo! What on earth have you been teaching this revolting little hobgoblin? She severed my link with the dead and sent them all running back to the sea.”

Derek stepped out in front of Sadie and Hailey, using the bulk of his arms in a foolish attempt to shield the two young women. “I ain’t never hit a woman before,” he attested, “but God help me, if you don’t let the littl’un go, I’m gonna stick my boot where the sun don’t shine.” Like the others, he was barefoot, but the sentiment was sincere enough.

With a look of pure fury, Elsa snaked a hand out towards the big man and projected a single word at him. “Kruwós!”

Blood erupted from Derek’s nose, spraying out in a wide crimson arc. He fell back against the wall with a wail, cupping his face with both hands in an attempt to stem the flow. Hailey folded to her knees beside her uncle.

“You’re lucky I have more pressing matters, Captain Birdseye,” Elsa hissed. “I’ve drained men dry for less.”

“Let Millie go, Elsa,” Sadie said. “She’s just a child, for Christ’s sake.”

“You’re not in control here, Sadie. I’m calling the shots, do you understand? The three of us are going home, and everyone is going to do as they’re fucking told!”

“I’m not helping you! Neither is Millie. Face it, you’ve made a mess of things. Find someone else to help you with your insane plans and leave us all alone.”

Elsa curled her lip up into a snarl. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with, do you? I tried to be nice, but I see now that was a mistake. Unruly children need discipline, not mollycoddling.”

“What happened to you, Elsa?” Sadie said, trying to buy them some time until she could work out her next move. “I know your mother and her boyfriend died here in this town. I think you killed them, but you must have had a good reason.”

Elsa’s brow darkened, her eyes gone to flint. “I strongly advise you to shut your mouth, Miss Laine.”

“They hurt you, didn’t they? They hurt you and you lashed out. I don’t think you meant to kill them. You lost control. It wasn’t your fault. Stop this madness before it’s too late, Elsa. I can be a friend, if that’s what you need. Come back to the—”

Elsa held her palm out and thrust it forward. Sadie fell to her knees upon the cold metal floor. A terrible heat welled up inside her, kindling in the marrow of her bones. She screamed in agony.

“Tân a gwaed!” Elsa hissed. “Fire and blood! These are the weapons with which I killed my bitch of a mother, and I have kept them well honed, sister!”

“Leave Sadie alone!” Millie wailed, clamping her teeth over Elsa’s wrist and biting down hard enough to cause a jet of blood to spurt from the artery there. When she drew her mouth away, a small white tooth sat embedded in the flesh. Elsa roared in pain, but it wasn’t enough to make her release her grip on the child. Millie brought a foot out in front of her, as if she were about to frogmarch away, then swung it back with all her might, cracking it against Elsa’s shin.

Elsa howled, shifting all her focus to the child beneath her. She locked both hands around the girl’s throat and squeezed. “Vicious little monster!” she screamed. “You awful, awful people! I’ve had enough! I’m going to kill you! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!”

8

The creature inside the cocoon stirs from her long slumber.

She senses danger all around her, and the most primal of instincts rouses her to action: the need to protect the thing growing inside her at all cost. It is an utterly alien concept, for her kind do not give birth, but the other part of her understands the sentiment intimately, the old part, the part that remembers.

She is being pulled in two different directions. The wrongness of it induces a kind of breathtaking panic. The old part of her wants to escape, to use the thing growing in her belly as a vessel. Even now, memory and rationale migrate. What remains is base and animal – predation, hunger, instinct.

She can hear them outside. Angry, frightened, weak little creatures. Prey.

One of them is louder than all the others. Its sorcery washes against the walls of her cocoon. She can taste its arrogance. It believes it is all-powerful. It wants to dominate and control, but nature never intended its species to be apex predators, so it asserts its will fearfully, furtively. She will teach it the error of its ways.

Her stomach cramps with excruciating pain. The thing inside her grows with such speed and urgency. Such speed!

How dare these noisy, squawking primates invade her nest. How dare they disturb her rest and threaten her offspring.

The One Who Got Away. The name means nothing. And everything.

She’s angry. Very angry.

Her eyes flutter open.

9

A sudden urgent sound came from somewhere behind Elsa, like something tearing through flesh. From that shadowy part of the chamber, where the dim light of the single halogen wall lamp couldn’t quite reach, a grey mottled arm burst free of the cocoon, followed by the unfurling of a great membranous wing. Then another arm; another wing.

Elsa turned towards the ruckus, the rupturing cocoon no more than three feet away from her.

“What’s this now?” she said in wonder, and in answer, the full form of whatever had been gestating inside that sac for so many months chose this moment to unleash itself upon the world.

It exploded from the cocoon in a shower of amniotic fluid and, towering over Elsa, wasted no time in sinking its razor-sharp teeth into her right shoulder before the woman even had time to register the attack.

Elsa roared, a sound that was equal parts outrage and pain. She released her grip on Millie, affording the eight-year-old the brief opportunity to scramble quickly away. Hailey reached forward to grab her, shielding the child with her arms.

The creature thrashed its wings violently, their span so wide there was nowhere in the cramped confines of the light chamber to escape their reach. Sadie, now free of Elsa’s sorcery, noted with some horror that the creature had no choice but to keep beating them – with a long, serpent-like tail in place of legs, it would’ve collapsed to the floor otherwise. This was a thing designed to both swim beneath the water and fly through the skies.

Its upper body was that of a woman, pale grey breasts protruding from its chest. But its face was merely a mockery of womanhood, a death mask incapable of displaying the full spectrum of human emotions. Mimicry, plain and simple, the way a Death’s-Head Hawkmoth imitates a bee.

“Rita!” Derek cried, stumbling in front of Hailey, for it was indeed Rita’s face the monstrosity wore. “Rita, stop!”

The creature struck him with a wing, knocking the big man off his feet and into the wall. It was in a frenzy now, attacking anything it could reach, no doubt panicked to find itself in such inexplicable confinement. It grabbed the elevated dais in the center of the chamber that housed the huge lamp and lunged downwards, snapping at Hailey and Millie, its tail whipping back and forth in the air.

Hailey dragged the girl with her as she scrambled back towards the open hatch in the floor, her momentum inadvertently slamming it shut.

“KRUWÓS!” Elsa howled, unleashing a burst of sorcery at the thrashing creature. Blood sprayed from its sickly grey nipples, like grim sustenance intended for some hellish offspring. More blood trickled from its soulless black eyes. The thing screeched, a sound so loud and piercing in the confines of the light chamber, it made the eardrums pulsate. Millie covered her ears, burying her face in Hailey’s chest.

The creature flew at Elsa and caught her in a deathly embrace. Arms locked to her sides, Elsa could no longer direct her sorcery at the thing. It let out another nauseating screech, then bit down on Elsa’s right ear, ripping the appendage away from her head as if it were tissue paper. Elsa let out a howl that almost rivalled the creature’s in intensity and volume.

The monster lifted itself into the air, beating its wings with such force and alacrity they cracked the surrounding air with miniature sonic booms. Then it flew up through the shattered canopy and away, Elsa still clutched tightly in its arms. The dark witch’s screams echoed into the night, then faded to nothing.

10

No one moved for several long seconds.

“What the hell was that?” Hailey whispered, too afraid to speak the words out loud.

“A siren,” Sadie answered as she shuffled towards Hailey and Millie. She took Millie in her arms and began picking shards of glass from the child’s hair. “I believe it was a siren.”

“Aye,” Derek agreed, nursing the impressive collection of wounds he’d accrued. “Never seen one ’till tonight, but it were a siren all right.”

Hailey put her hands to her face and sobbed. “My god, poor Aunt Rita… This is terrible.”

“We need to get out of here,” Sadie said, “before it comes back.”

“She ain’t comin’ back,” said Derek.

“What makes you say that?”

“A siren don’t hunt its prey, it lures it in.”

“Yes, of course. The Siren Song. But still, if I’m to get back to Derwold, this may be our only window. If that thing’s out there, it has Elsa to – to deal with. At least for a while.”

Sadie made a reasonable assumption that Elsa would be the creature’s first meal upon entering the world, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to voice the notion.

“Don’t call her a thing,” Hailey whimpered. “She was my aunt.”

Sadie shook out Millie’s soft blonde curls of any remaining glass while Derek put a comforting arm around his niece.

“We’re going home, Millie,” the witch said softly. “How does that sound?”

“My tooth came out,” Millie said in a quiet voice, as if it were of little consequence.

Sadie pulled the child close and held her for a long moment, fighting back the urge to burst into tears. Millie looked so small and helpless. She didn’t much like the way the eight-year-old stared off into some imaginary distance, either.

11

When the four of them emerged barefoot from the lighthouse, the night had given way to the first rays of morning.

“What the hell,” Hailey murmured, gazing out towards the sea.

“What’s wrong?” Sadie asked.

“The lighthouse was never this close to the cliff edge.”

Hailey walked out to investigate. She stopped a metre from the edge, then sank to her knees, hands clutching despairingly at her head. “Oh my god…”

When the other three joined her, they offered their own versions of shock and disbelief.

Morcant-On-Sea was gone.

Elsa had vowed to wipe it from the map, and it’d not been an empty threat. Almost the entire town had collapsed, a gaping maw of chalk, sandstone and mud where once there had been roads and houses. A few roofs still peeked through the rubble, but most of the buildings had gone the way of the rest of the cliffside, shuttled down until whatever remained was piled up in the harbour district.

At least some of the houses on that lower part of town had survived. Hailey felt some measure of relief at knowing Isla and Madeline’s beachside property had remained largely untouched, but then a knot of despair welled up inside her – Jack’s house had sat halfway up the town. Like everything else around it, the building was nowhere to be seen.

“Jack… oh God, no! How could this happen?”

“It’s all gone,” Derek muttered. “I can’t believe it.”

“Was it Elsa?” said Millie.

“The dead came through like an earthquake,” Sadie said, by way of an answer. “If the cliffs were already unstable…”

“Let’s just get down there,” Derek said. “See what’s what.”

12

The four of them stopped off at the cottage first to get changed into their clothes and pick filaments of glass from bare feet and hair as best they could. When they were done, they made their way to the edge of the cliff, where the gate to Hailey and Derek’s property now opened out onto a yawning void.

“How’re we going to get down?” Sadie asked.

“Slow and careful,” Derek replied, lowering himself into a squat. “Climb aboard, shipmate,” he told Millie, gesturing to his back.

Millie clambered onto the big man, wrapping her limbs around his sturdy form. Derek lowered himself over the edge and began picking his way down while Sadie and Hailey followed closely behind. The four of them avoided any sheer drops, opting instead for the slopes, but the ground was loose and unstable beneath their feet, and more than once they found themselves slipping and sliding until they were able to gain purchase once more.

When they’d reached the halfway point, where the cliffside levelled out to a temporary wide ridge before continuing down, they found a handful of residents toiling away at the buried remnants of a house. Among them were Madeline and Isla, the two of them sifting through rubble and detritus. When Hailey saw who was with them, she sobbed with relief.

“Jack!”

Pale-faced and haggard, Jack pulled away bits of wood and brick from the destroyed home. When he saw Hailey and Derek, he clambered over to them and drew Hailey into a rough hug. “I thought she was gonna kill you! I couldn’t’ve lived with myself if she had. I’m so fuckin’ sorry!”

“It’s alright, Jack,” Hailey told him, kissing him on the mouth. She drew back and winced at the sight of the angry black bruise on his bare chest, the nipple there torn and bloody. There was no time to ask how he’d come by it. “I thought the worst about you, too. How did you manage to escape your house?”

“I got out just before the town collapsed. I figured goin’ in the opposite direction to those… things was prob’ly the best idea, so I ran down to the harbour. Then everything just started comin’ down.“

Jack looked shame-faced at Derek. “I feel like a right coward. I led them your way, didn’t I? But them ghosts, see, they was bad. I never saw nothin’ like ’em before. And that woman, she was a nasty piece of work.”

Derek lowered Millie to the ground, then put a rough hand on the back of Jack’s nape, drawing their brows together. “Don’t be fuckin’ daft, boy. They would’ve killed ya, and then found us anyway, most likely. I saw ’em with me own eyes. Don’t know any man that’d be brave enough or foolish enough to try and stand up to the dead.”

No, it takes a woman to do that, Sadie considered imparting.

You would, Derek,” Jack told his old captain. “You would’ve told ‘em to go fuck themselves, wouldn’t you?”

Aye, boy, Derek thought. I wouldn’t’ve sold my friends up the river like you did. I would’ve let ’em tear me apart before I did that. But then, I ain’t got much to live for these days.

“We all made it out alive, didn’t we?” Derek said instead, not wanting to make the boy feel any worse than he already did. He looked across at the destroyed house. “Well, most of us.”

“Are there people buried under here?” Hailey asked Madeline.

“I can’t be sure, but we think this was Elsie Ryder’s house,” the doctor said.

Elsie was old and had lived alone in her bungalow for many years. If she had died here, Hailey prayed it’d been in her sleep, unaware of her plight and the horrors that’d caused it. “We’ll send help,” she said.

“Where’re you going?” demanded Isla. “You can’t just leave!”

“We have to get Sadie and Millie back to the mainland. It’s a matter of urgency,” Hailey answered, then realised how that might sound.

“More urgent than this?” Madeline asked incredulously. She brushed her hands against her slacks and trudged towards Derek. Her hair was in disarray, and she was devoid of makeup. The sleeves of her cotton shirt were rolled up to her elbows, then tied into a knot around her waist. She looked for all the world like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind.

Hailey couldn’t help but feel a grudging admiration for the woman – Madeline was the last person she’d ever expect to see knee-deep in dirt and rubble, toiling away with the rest of Morcant’s dwindling populace. But despite her many faults, Madeline Guiliani was still a doctor, and was it not a doctor’s instinct to preserve life at all cost?

“What the hell is going on?” Madeline hissed. “Does this have anything to do with Rita, that thing up there in the lighthouse? God knows, the cliffs were unstable, but a town doesn’t just collapse like that, Derek! And that weird green mist? Jack was near hysterical when we found him down by the harbour, spouting some nonsense about the living dead.”

“It weren’t nonsense, Madeline!“ Jack cried.

“It ain’t easy to explain, Mad,” Derek told the woman. “And there’s no time to. But we’ll be back, don’t you worry.”

Madeline seemed ready to say more, but instead she waved a dismissive hand and turned back to the grim task of searching for survivors.

Hailey placed one last kiss on Jack’s brow before the four of them continued on down to the harbour and Derek’s boat.

13

While Hailey, Sadie and Millie climbed aboard the fishing vessel, Derek refuelled the boat via a large tub of diesel kept on deck. After several attempts at turning the ignition, it seemed uncertain whether the neglected trawler would start at all, but eventually it did, and they were on their way.

As they moved at a brisk pace along the coast, towards the river Severn, Sadie surveyed the utter destruction they were leaving behind. “What have we brought to your doorstep?” she murmured. “I am so very sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Hailey told her. “This is all on Elsa.”

“Do you think Rita ate Elsa?” Millie asked quite seriously as she sat on Sadie’s knee.

Despite themselves, the two young women looked at one another and smiled. It was a bizarre notion, until they stopped to consider that it might very well be true.

“To be honest, I’m not sure if sirens enjoy eating sour old harridans or not,” Sadie offered. “Personally, I prefer sweet little girls.” She wrapped her arms around Millie’s waist and pretended to nibble at the child’s neck. Though disheveled, feverish, and utterly exhausted, Millie still found room for a smile. She laced her fingers into Sadie’s.

Hailey could not have failed to recognise the signs – the way they touched one another; gazed into each other’s eyes. An intimacy like that went far beyond the boundaries of teacher and student. She was quick to recognise it for what it was. Hadn’t she experienced the very same forbidden passion with Rita, Madeline and Isla all those years ago? It was like discovering someone else who spoke the same secret language.

She yearned to ask, to know how they had come to such a place, perhaps even to speak of her own experiences. But Hailey couldn’t be completely sure she had the right of it, and regardless, there were more important things to think about right now. “Rita’s not Rita anymore, is she?” she said.

Sadie was quiet for a time. “No,” she finally answered. “I don’t believe she is.”

“I think Rita’s still there somewhere,” Millie said. “She called me to the lighthouse.”

“Is that why we found you there, sweetheart?” asked Hailey. “Because Rita spoke to you?”

Millie considered that for a moment. “I think so. She wanted something from me, but I can’t remember what.”

“The Selkie project a kind of glamour,” said Sadie. “It seems to draw people to them.”

“Oh, believe me, I know,” Hailey replied with a bitter smile. “Rita’s been using it on me for years. The same with Derek, I suppose. In some way, I think she set her own trap when my uncle stole her skin and hid it away.”

Sadie made a soft hum of agreement. “It’s incredible to think that some Selkie transform into Siren, but it must be a rare occurrence. Now that I think about it, it makes a certain sense. They both use a glamour; they’re both creatures of the ocean.”

“We’ve lost her for good,” Hailey murmured. “Poor Aunt Rita…”

Sadie gave a wince. “I’m such an idiot. Here I am prattling on with no thought of what you’ve lost. I’m sorry, Hailey.”

Hailey shook her head. “It’s okay. I lost my job too, and now my home, I guess. But I met you and Millie, so you know, every cloud.”

“But we dragged that bitch along with us.”

“I already said that wasn’t your fault. I’m just glad—” Hailey cut herself short. She peered around her, brow creased into a furrow. “Wait, why are we turning round?”

Hailey entered the wheelhouse where Derek was driving the boat. “Uncle Derek? What’s wrong? Why are we heading back towards Morcant?”

Derek’s face was set firm. “I can hear her, Hailey. She might be hurt out there. We should go to her, you know? Just a little detour, tha’s all. It won’t take long.”

“What’s happening?” Millie asked.

“Shh,” Sadie told her apprentice as she scanned the open water, a silencing finger held to her lips.

The sound was faint, but had a strange pitch to it that seemed to echo through air and water, a tremulous thrum that resonated in the pit of the stomach. If Sadie had been pushed to describe the sound (and never having heard anything quite like this, it was difficult to describe), she could only think to compare it to the sound of both whale and bird. It was strangely compelling.

Siren Song. What else could it be?

Sadie slipped Millie off her knee and rushed to the wheelhouse. “Derek, listen to me,” she said, placing a hand on the man’s broad shoulder. “That’s not Rita out there. Not anymore. Turn the boat around or we’re all going to die.”

“You don’t understand, girl. It is Rita. Why would she be callin’ to me if she didn’t remember who I was? It don’t make no sense otherwise. After everything I done to her, I got to help her now.”

“I have to get home, Derek. I can’t waste any more time, do you understand? Close your mind against it. She’ll hurt you if you go to her.”

Sadie gave Hailey an imploring look. Hailey nodded her understanding. She turned her uncle’s face towards her.

“I hear her too, Uncle Derek. We’ll come back here to look for her, if that’s what you want, but not now. We need to get Sadie and Millie back to their village. Their friends are in danger. Turn the boat around, okay?”

Hailey put a hand atop her uncle’s and gently turned the wheel. Derek looked back at her with tired eyes. “Aye. You’re right, girl. You’re always right, ain’t ya? Dunno what I would’ve done if you hadn’t come back to Morcant and set me straight. What a fuckin’ mess I’ve made o’ things.”

Hailey kissed her uncle on his hairy cheek. “Shut up, you big drama queen. You don’t have a monopoly on making a mess of things. We’ve all done our fair share of that.”

Derek smiled. “Aye, true enough. True enough.”

Set back on course along the coast, Sadie and Hailey settled into their seats once more. Millie sidled back into her teacher’s lap.

“I wanted to go to her too,” Hailey admitted. “But it wasn’t particularly hard to resist.”

“Not for you,” Sadie told her. “But Derek would’ve found it much harder to ignore.”

“Why?”

“Because men are the weaker sex. Mentally, at least. It’s no coincidence that all the old Siren tales mostly involve men sailing to their doom.”

“Wait, back up, girlfriend. Men are the weaker sex? Is that official?”

“Pretty much.”

Hailey threw a fist into the air. “Yes!”

Sadie and Millie laughed.

14

As they entered the Mouth of the Severn some time later, Sadie and Millie had drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms while Hailey took a seat next to her uncle in the wheelhouse. She offered to take a turn driving the boat, but a thin mist had settled over the water, and Derek told her it’d be best if he kept the wheel for now. For all his bluster and high-spirited bravado, Hailey couldn’t deny her uncle had always taken his job as captain seriously.

She left him to it and sat back down opposite Sadie and Millie. Oblivious in her slumber, Sadie had let a hand wander between Millie’s thighs. Hailey watched as she stroked the child through her leggings, the eight-year-old emitting content mewls in her sleep.

Sadie’s eyes flickered open and saw Hailey staring back at her. She noticed where her hand was poised and pulled it quickly away, then gave a yawn. “Hi.”

“Rita seduced me when I was eleven,” Hailey declared, her voice low enough that Derek couldn’t hear. “I found a video of her and Madeline doing things to Madeline’s daughter. Isla was only five then. I had sex with Madeline, too. I later found out she had a long history of sexual encounters with children, usually with their mothers’ approval. She can be very persuasive. I enjoyed my time with them very much, and think about it often when I masturbate.”

Sadie stared back at her for a long moment, reluctant to so much as blink. “Why are you telling me this?”

“You know why. I’ve seen the way you look at Millie. I just need to know she’s happy with what you’re doing.”

Sadie felt like she was suddenly backed into a corner, panic threatening to make her do something rash. She forced herself to keep her cool. Lashing out wouldn’t help here.

No one had ever found them out so easily before. Except for Elsa, she supposed, and that was only because Freya had opened her mouth. She could’ve kicked herself for her complacency. There had been a kind of protection over them back in Derwold, an air of acceptance that comes from familiar neighbours who have little reason to scrutinise people they know so well. It was Elsa’s hide-in-plain-sight theory at work again. And something else, something indefinable – old magics at work that kept trouble from their doors. Derwold was a special place. Derwold was an old place.

But leave the confines of home and everything changes. Strangers see things that friends miss. Strangers open their eyes and look.

“If Millie didn’t consent, I wouldn’t do it,” Sadie finally said. “Yes, she’s happy.”

“And her mother? Her sister?”

“If you’re asking if they know, then yes. If you’re asking if they participate – I don’t believe that’s any of your business.”

“I didn’t mean to pry,” said Hailey. “You’re right, it’s none of my business, and if everyone’s on board with it, then it’s all good. I just… seeing you touch her brought back some fond memories, that’s all. And Millie… she’s so cute.”

Millie was stirring now. She stretched her arms in a big yawn. Some colour had reached her cheeks again, and she looked healthier for it. “I am cute, actually,” she agreed. “Everyone says so. To be honest, it’s a bit of a pain being so adorable sometimes, but we work with what we’ve got. Right, ladies?”

Hailey clapped her hands together and shrieked with laughter. “Omigod, I’ve heard it all now!”

“Oi, stop havin’ fun back there!” Derek hollered from the wheelhouse – and just like that, the tension in the air evaporated.

“You’re going to be trouble when you’re older,” Hailey told Millie sincerely.

“Oh, she’s already trouble,” Sadie insisted. She glanced at Derek over Hailey’s shoulder, then settled her gaze on the young woman opposite her. Bottom lip trapped between her teeth, she snaked a hand back between Millie’s legs.

Millie pulled her leggings up higher, stretching the material over her mons to form a camel toe as she gave Hailey a naughty grin. Hailey could only stare in wonder.

“Do you like watching me do this?” Sadie asked Hailey, sliding a finger back and forth through the narrow crease of Millie’s vulva.

“Yeah,” Hailey replied, mesmerised.

“How about this?”

Sadie slipped her hand beneath the elastic of Millie’s leggings and panties. Penetrating the little girl’s pussy, she pumped her finger in and out, knuckles stretching the thin fabric.

Hailey peered back over her shoulder briefly. Derek was oblivious. Poor Derek had always been oblivious. “I like it,” Hailey confessed. “I like it a lot.”

“But she’s only eight, Hailey,” Sadie cooed. “Doesn’t it bother you that I’m finger-fucking an eight-year-old girl?”

Hailey could only shake her head. Her sex pulsed with a steadily rising heat.

Sadie pulled her hand from Millie’s leggings and held up her middle finger. It was glazed in a thin sheen of liquid. She brought it to her nose and sniffed. “Mmm… smells so nice.” She crooked the offending finger in Hailey’s direction. “Come closer, Hailey.”

Hailey leaned forward in her seat. Sadie spun the finger round and round, moving it ever closer towards the beguiled young woman. When it found her nose, Hailey breathed in the scent of little girl pussy, raw and heady.

“Taste,” Sadie said, and popped her finger into Hailey’s mouth.

Hailey had time to savour the slightly sour taste before Sadie drew her finger away and slipped it back inside Millie’s knickers. Back out it came a few seconds later, then found its way between Hailey’s open lips once more.

“Doesn’t she taste divine?” Sadie asked, checking to make sure Derek was still occupied. Thankfully, even had he glanced their way, Hailey was mostly obscuring his vision. The coast clear, Sadie peppered kisses across Millie’s neck, her tongue teasing at the girl’s nape. “Let’s pull your knickers down a little bit, poppet,” she said, and Millie lifted her bum, allowing Sadie to roll the leggings and panties down just enough to expose her bare slit.

A groan escaped Hailey’s lips.

“Shhhh…” Millie whispered with a finger to her lips. “You can touch me if you like, Hailey. Don’t tell anyone though, okay? It has to be our secret.”

“I won’t tell,” Hailey agreed.

In a carefully calculated move, Sadie took Hailey’s hand and brought it between Millie’s legs. Millie was warm and smooth, and Hailey wasted no time in brushing the tips of her fingers over the girl’s puffy labia.

Good, Sadie thought. Hailey has crossed the line with us.

It was uncharacteristically devious of Sadie. Millie wasn’t hers to share, and she knew Georgia wouldn’t approve, but it was necessary if they were to avoid complications.

Christ, I’m starting to think like Elsa, she considered with some alarm. Is this how it begins?

Sadie unbuttoned her jeans and slipped a discreet hand inside. “Lick your finger if you want to fuck her with it,” she told Hailey. “She’ll take all of it, won’t you, sweetie?”

Millie nodded enthusiastically. “Go as deep as you can, Hailey. I like to feel it moving in and out.”

“Oh, God,” whispered Hailey, though what dark deity she was invoking was anyone’s guess. She sucked her index finger, coating it in saliva, then brought it to the entrance of Millie’s vagina.

“Fuck her,” Sadie hissed, a hand toiling beneath her knickers. “Finger-fuck that little girl.”

Hailey slipped her finger into Millie’s cunt, all the way up to the third knuckle. She slowly drew it back out, then slipped it back in again.

“Faster!” Millie whispered, so Hailey began pumping her finger back and forth. Millie was so tight. So warm and wet and tight.

Hailey checked on Derek once more, then quickly popped the button on her own trousers, tugging the zip down. She strummed her fingers across her engorged clit, moving in time with the finger she was using to fuck Millie.

Millie leaned across and whispered in Hailey’s ear conspiratorially. “Do you want me to put my fingers in your pussy, Hailey? I will if you want.”

Hailey responded by pulling her jeans and knickers down until they ringed her thighs, then placed one of the girl’s hands against her throbbing sex. Millie felt around for a few seconds before plunging two fingers into the young woman’s cunt. If it hadn’t been for the thrum of the boat’s engine, and the lapping of water against the hull, the liquid sound of Millie’s fingers pumping back and forth would’ve surely drawn a curious glance from Derek.

Sadie came against her own hand, the climax unusually intense after so much pent up stress was finally able to find a means of release. She pulled her fingers from her sodden pussy and popped them into Millie’s mouth.

The sight was enough to send Hailey over the edge. She bucked against Millie’s fingers, whimpering as quietly as she was able, finally nodding to indicate she was spent.

Retrieving her hand, Millie brought two glistening fingers to her nose, breathing in the young woman’s  scent. She grinned at Hailey sheepishly. “You smell good.”

Hailey returned the smile, then regarded the finger she still had buried deeply in Millie’s snug little hole. “Shall I keep playing with you?” she asked the child, then to Sadie: “Is she able to come?”

Hailey had no reason to assume Millie knew what ‘come’ meant, of course. How could Hailey possibly comprehend the full extent of everything they’d indulged in.

“She doesn’t always come,” Sadie told her.

“Mummy says I don’t always have to, because I’m too young for it to matter much.”

“Land ahoy!” came a loud holler from the wheelhouse, making the three of them jump.

Hailey hastily jerked her finger from Millie’s pussy, and the three of them scrambled to reinstate their clothing.

“You don’t need to bloody shout, Uncle Derek!”

“Oh, beggin’ yer pardon, m’lady! I’ll write a fuckin’ letter next time, shall I? There ain’t no whisperin’ at sea, girl! Look lively!”

***

Breaking news: Picturesque Cornish town, Morcant-On-Sea, fell victim to a catastrophic landslide in the small hours of last night, completely destroying homes and infrastructure. The peninsula, home to the famous Seahenge, has suffered from severe coastal erosion in recent years, leading to the town becoming largely abandoned. Eyewitnesses report seeing a strange green cloud just before the incident, leading to speculation that a gas explosion may have played a part in the disaster. Rescue teams and the emergency services arrived on the scene an hour after the incident. The search for survivors has begun, and continuing support is being offered to residents. We’ll bring you updates as we have them.

National News Agency

15

A short while later, the trawler glided into the small harbour of the Anglo-Welsh border town of Lydney. The sky had taken on an ominous appearance, dark clouds roiling on the distant horizon. The air was cool and still. Derek tied the boat up to the jetty, and the four of them disembarked.

“How will you get back home from here?” Hailey asked Sadie.

“By rail is quickest,” Sadie told her. “There’s a train from here that stops close to Derwold.”

“And then what?”

“We’ll see when we get there, I suppose. At least we don’t have Elsa to deal with anymore.”

“You could just call the police. Let them deal with it.”

Sadie shook her head. “I’ve thought about it. But I have no idea if the village is still inaccessible. And besides,” she peered across the jetty at Millie, “we have too much to lose if the police start asking questions.”

“Sure, I get it.“

“What will you and Derek do now?”

Hailey watched her uncle carry out a rudimentary maintenance of the boat. He performed the task half-heartedly, his attention frequently returning to the open waters, as if he were anxious to be back out there. “We’ll return to Morcant and offer what help we can,” she said. “After that – I have a feeling we’ll be searching for Rita.”

Sadie placed a hand on the young woman’s arm. “Let her go, Hailey. You must. You saw what that thing’s capable of. It’s suicide to go looking for her.”

Hailey’s mouth tightened. “I told you not to call her a thing.”

“I will call her that! Because she’s not your aunt anymore. Whatever happened to Rita can’t be undone. You need to understand that.”

“He’ll go out there looking for her, regardless,” Hailey said, nodding towards her uncle. “I can’t let him do it alone, so if I can’t talk some sense into him, it looks like we’re going.”

“To do what?” Sadie asked incredulously.

Hailey offered a wry smile. “We’ll see when we get there, I suppose.”

The point was well taken. Hailey and Derek’s dilemma was not so different from Sadie’s. They all had their own problems to deal with.

“Make me a promise,” she told Hailey. “If you run into trouble, fall back and call me. Maybe I can help.” They had all exchanged numbers back on the boat. Sadie had given Hailey her home number, as well – their smartphones had been taken by Elsa’s thugs, and she had no idea if they’d ever see them again. “If you’re doing this, then do it smart.”

Hailey nodded. “I will.”

Promise.”

“I promise.”

The two women stood and regarded one another wistfully for a moment. Then Sadie drew Hailey into a hug. “I wish you could’ve met Georgia and Freya. I’ll miss you, Hailey.”

“Me too,” said Hailey earnestly.

16

Millie sat on the gunwale of the boat, legs dangling over the edge. Peering out across the water, she considered the extraordinary events of the last day. It seemed like forever since she’d last seen her mum and sister, though in reality, it’d only been yesterday. So much had happened since.

One of the tasks Sadie set her students during the summer holidays was to write an essay about something they’d done during the extended break. Millie knew she could never tell the other kids about her adventures, but if such a thing had been permitted, she thought it might’ve gone something like this:

On my summer holidays, I was kidnapped by Lady Derwold, who turned out to be a dark witch, and a bit of a nutter to boot. Luckily, there was an ancient standing stone in the basement where we were imprisoned, so I used it to teleport me and Miss Laine to a Cornish town miles away.

Unfortunately, we came out the other side underwater, and would’ve surely drowned if it hadn’t been for the timely intervention of some nice selkies. Selkie are people that turn into seals, if you didn’t know. Or possibly seals that turn into people. Then we met Derek and Hailey, who live in a lighthouse.

Later that evening, Elsa raised an army of undead and tried to re-kidnap us, but I used my magic to scare the dead away and thwart her nefarious plans. She was so angry, she nearly strangled me to death, but just in the nick of time, Hailey’s Aunty Rita (who used to be a selkie, but then turned into a siren) burst from a giant egg, bit Elsa’s ear off, and then flew off with her.

We quickly made our escape, but the entire town of Morcant-On-Sea had been destroyed, so we had to climb our way down the cliffside. Safe and sound on Derek’s boat, we made our way home.

Millie tittered to herself. How’d you like that, Mia Pissypants? Makes your holiday in Greece look like a trip to Butlins.

She felt a big pair of hands settle on her shoulders and turned to find Derek peering down at her. She gave him a gap-toothed smile.

“It suits ya,” Derek said of the missing tooth.

“I quite like it, actually,” Millie agreed. “I think I might keep it like this.”

Derek nodded gravely, his attention drawn back to the open water. “How we doin’, Millie?”

“We’re doing okay,” Millie told him. “You’re going to look for Rita, aren’t you?”

Derek let out a big sigh. “Aye. To end it once and for all, whatever the hell that means.”

Millie furrowed her brow into deep lines of concentration. That thing was happening again – ideas floating around in her head she couldn’t quite grasp. She’d had the same feeling about the Dryad, wondering how the forest spirits had come to be, and again when she’d met the Selkie. It was like a big jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces missing. And now she was on the cusp of understanding once more. So unbelievably frustrating!

“Derek,” she began. “Rita is still there. Don’t give up on her.”

Derek regarded the child with wonder. “Where is she?”

Millie thought about it for a long moment. Finally she touched her stomach. “Here? Maybe?”

“Er… in yer belly?”

“Not my belly.” Millie shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed.

Derek looked seriously at the girl for a spell, then broke into a grin. “I reckon yer ‘avin’ old Derek on. It ain’t nice to take the piss out of the elderly, ya know.”

Millie took the opportunity to show off her new smile again. “You’re not that old. I had a friend who was much older than you. His name was Mr. Dalliard.”

“Boyfriend, was he?”

Millie shook her head seriously. “Just a friend. You remind me of him.”

“Well, I’m honoured.”

Sadie called up to her from the jetty. “Millie, we’re going now.”

Millie and Derek climbed back down from the boat, and the four of them said their goodbyes. Sadie and Hailey promised to keep in touch, and Millie promised to send a big jar of Newton honey in the post, though it was far from certain whether Derek and Hailey would ever return to their home on the cliff, or even if the old cottage was still deemed habitable.

A short while later, Sadie and Millie were on a train bound for home, and whatever awaited them there.

On to Chapter Eleven!