“You’re hurt,” Rachel said, panicking when Sadie came through the door with another woman--about Rachel’s age. “Sadie, who’s--”

“Beverly,” the woman said, holding out her hand as Sadie went to the stairs. “I’m a friend of...not really of Lu’s...but friends of a friend.” Rachel looked her up and down as she shook her hand, trying to accept this new side of her family’s life.

“Come down,” Sadie called up the stairs. “And anything and everything rugged. Nylon. Leather. Anything that can take a beating or be used to restrain someone.” Sadie turned to Rachel, looking more like a woman than a girl to her surrogate mother. Her eyes were shaded by the light in the room, and there was something soldierly about her. Executive. Ready to act on something.

“Sadie, what’s--”

“I need your boots,” Sadie said. “Most of them.” Some of Sadie’s things were already parading down the stairs, starting with her long socks and pantyhose. She looked back up the stairs. “Anything and EVERYTHING that belongs to Gabby,” Sadie said. “And...anything I associate with her.”

“What’s going on here, Sadie?” Rachel asked, approaching her and taking her shoulder. “Where’s your sister?”

Sadie gave her a stone look for just a moment before breaking into a weep. She collapsed into Rachel’s arms and sobbed. Rachel simply held her.

“I lost her!” Sadie howled into Rachel’s chest, clutching her tighter. “I can do ANYTHING. I could tell a convoy of trucks to cross the country by themselves. I could...make an army out of everyday objects. I can fucking transubstantiate myself into the fabric of reality, and I...I couldn’t protect her!”

Rachel was terrified. She couldn’t make sense of most of that, but from the way Sadie sounded--

“Maddie?! Sadie--where is she? What happened to her?” Rachel asked, taking her by both shoulders now and looking into her eyes.

“Something has her,” Sadie said, sniffling. “But...Bev’s going to help me. And I’m bringing the familiars. And maybe others who can help.” She tried to compose herself completely now--ashamed for snapping like she did. Even if it was to Rae. She let Sadie go to direct the rest of the entourage descending from the second floor.

“What...has her?” Rachel asked. Sadie took a deep breath.

“Mitch...Maddie’s Mitch,” Sadie clarified, “apparently has blood that descends from the same place we do.” She shook her head, thinking about the horror Mitch’s mother had become. Such a fluid command of magic, and mind-breaking capacities that Sadie and her sister hadn’t dared exploring yet.

“I’ll kill him,” Rachel’s eyes shone. “I don’t care what he descends from.”

“No, Rae--it’s not like that,” Sadie said. “Mitch is a prisoner too. His whole family is. Something deep in his ancestry was able to...resurrect itself in some way when it made contact with Maddie’s magical abilities. It’s taken his mother’s body--and...in some kind of way, his sister’s, the maid’s...and Maddie’s.” Sadie’s lip turned down, but this time she stifled herself from weeping again.

No.
No crying.
Hold on.

She had to hold on to every drop of sorrow for what she did--and what she would have to do. She needed to concentrate her anger and her power precisely where it needed to be. She had to wipe this plane of whatever force had taken Sandra--and she had to do it with minimal physical injury to all four of the women.

She had to know how.

* * *

The McCune household was shuttered up in every room, though the high windows in the grand entry showed that something was certainly going on inside from the various reflections of light inside.

It was a hellish, hedonistic scene of total depravity. Doug hung in the air, restrained by Sandra’s gear. He was being milked again and again for every drop’s worth of his energy, even past the point of exhaustion. What might have started as an extremely vivid wet dream was becoming a never-ending nightmare.

He didn’t know the mercy he was afforded by his blindfold. Were it off, he’d have seen his son Mitchell on the opposite side of him, getting the same treatment. Of course, Mitchell had more to offer, so he had so much more taken from him. It was as if the enchantments knew they could press him harder.

Upstairs, in the master bedroom, the real power was concentrating. The three women under total control of the being possessing Sandra’s body were hovering around her in a triangle. The possessed Sandra faced Maddie, her palms drawing glowing mist from the young sorceress.

“I shall spare you, child,” The thing said, “Though I can’t help the others. What I must take from you to bond you to me forever...well, I must take the same from those two.” Sandra’s body cackled. “And when I take it from them, it will leave them as less than ash and light.”

“Alaina…” Maddie faded, seeming to acknowledge something for a second.

“Will sacrifice herself for you, child,” Sandra grinned. “As any honorable acolyte of a great sorceress would do.”

Maddie nodded, staring forward.

* * *

“I can’t break anything she’s already enchanted--it sucks my energy in like quicksand,” Sadie said. She figured that was probably what happened to Maddie. They hadn’t experienced a feeling like that in their training with Jen and the others, so it made sense that Maddie might have tried and kept trying to push her way through it. Sadie had to avoid that.

“Have you asked Jen about it yet?” Bev asked her, a pair of leather gloves rubbing her sore shoulders as Rachel treated a couple of Sadie’s cuts and scrapes.

“She’s occupied, I think,” Sadie said. “She’s not at the tower and she said she couldn’t really help me directly.” Sadie’s lips pursed. “If not Jen--or you and Rosa--who would I ask?”

“Well,” Bev turned away, looking sheepish. “At the risk of sounding insensitive--and forgive me,” She directed that last appositive at Rachel. “--have you tried asking...your mom?”

Sadie got the same sullen look in her face again, then stiffened up once more before she answered.

“No one seems to know where my Mother is,” Sadie said. “Maybe Jen does...but like I said, she’s not available.” 

“No, Sadie. Think like a sorceress. I mean, have you tried reaching into the ether and calling out to her?” Sadie blinked Bev a couple of times and thought about it. After everything her and Maddie had learned, it blindsided her that she hadn’t at least considered the possibility. The message from her mother in the enchanted card at the start of all this was one thing--they only just learned about their identities. But now...there were impulses and senses that they hadn’t really explored. Means of doing that which seemed wholly impossible before.

Sadie thought of the void. The emptiness from which she was able to condense herself. In that state, at least for a few hours, she felt like she was both everywhere and nowhere. Didn’t that mean that there was a possibility--if even a sliver--that some atom of her, some minute enchanted quanta of herself was with Lu?

“Sadie--I want to be as supportive as I can here,” Rachel said, wringing her hands a little. “I don’t want to get in the way, but...the McCunes are real people, here on the--I don’t know--the boring side of reality,” She shrugged. “I know that we can’t exactly call the police and get your sister back or anything, but if we were to put some real world pressure on them--on this thing that has her and the people in that household--do you think it would know how to handle a situation like that?”

Sadie and Bev glanced at each other, and Bev raised her eyebrows.

“You know, that’s actually a decent question,” Bev said. “I mean--they overpowered us, and even if I don’t want to admit it, she had the strategic upper hand. If she wanted to come after us, she would have, right? She certainly had enough magical juice in her to send Maddie and the other two flying after us...but she chose not to--”

“Which means that some part of her is probably motivated to keep quiet on the mundane side, to some extent,” Sadie continued. “For whatever reason, I don’t know.”

“She’s been around,” Bev said. “She said so herself. Remember, we burned witches on this side of the continent just a couple hundred years ago. I mean, maybe she was alive for that.” Sadie nodded in agreement.

“Rae, I need something of Mom’s,” Sadie said. “The most, like...psychically charged thing you can think of. Whatever we have that you’d expect to be the most sentimental thing Dad’s still hanging on to.” Rachel took a deep breath and thought about it.

“Give me a couple of minutes...and some helpers to carry things,” Rachel said. Sadie closed her eyes and nodded, and a pair of rubber gloves from the kitchen entered the room. "Okay. We'll be back," Rachel said, ascending the stairs and heading toward the attic.

Sadie’s phone dialed Gabby and hovered in front of her, turning on the speaker.

“What’s up, Sadie?” The voice on the other end asked.

“Something happened to Maddie, Gab. Something bad.”

“Oh my god! Is she alright?”

“For now she is, yeah.” Sadie struggled with what came next. “But I need to ask you for a huge favor--something that might be kind of dangerous. I don’t want to obligate you to it or anything, but I need someone I can trust with this stuff who isn’t a magic user, and--”

“Hey, hey--I trust you. Just tell me what you need.”

“This is going to sound really dumb, but--does your Miss Adventurers troop uniform still fit you?”

* * *

On the other side of reality, Concordia had her audience with the ultimate authority. She wasn’t exactly telling on Jen...but she had to say something. She needed advice.

“It’s something old. Something that’s been hidden away in the Archoan sub-fabric for some time. She’s gotten an anchor from one of the twins, and right now she’s content feeding from that vast well of energy, or so it would seem. A spike like this from that side hasn’t manifested without one of us directly interfering in...well, since long before my time, for sure.”

Concordia sat in front of a mirror that didn’t seem to reflect anything. Only a voice came through.

“Does this bother you, Connie?”

“I mean, it is an unbalancing, isn’t it? It’s my charge and my responsibility to maintain the flow of their realm. If she’s latched on to the power of just one of these twins and revealed unprecedented mysteries to the uninitiated, what should happen if she gains them both?”

“What do your inner eyes tell you, my dear?”

“I’m clouded by my thoughts. I don’t understand why Lucretia hasn’t given me any guidance, and I’m worried about her reaction if she returns to find her daughters enslaved by this rogue. What’s more is that if I don’t step in now, she could create a panic there. The Archoans have become so accustomed to understanding their world. Their communications have become light-speed, and the greater mass of them--their minds are untested to our ways for generations now.” Concordia sighed and dipped her head toward the intricately-carved surface of the wooden table in front of her. Her hair pulled itself back over her shoulders.

“Balance begins with you first. If you cannot see clearly, you cannot effectively act--or restrain yourself from acting.”

Connie’s face twisted into a scowl as she pulled her hair back again, this time using her own hands. A golden tie appeared around it now, holding it back in a ponytail.

“Nin, must I act, or must I keep myself still? Can you not help me with this? Isn’t my duty to keep these worlds balanced? It’s one thing for Jen to chide me about these things, but can’t you see I’m reaching out for guidance? Am I not your student?”

No voice came from the other side this time, though she knew from the energy that Nin was still listening. Clearly she’d gotten all she was going to get.

* * *

Rachel looked like she wanted to pull out her hair as she brewed a pot of tea--insisting to the house that she be allowed to do it herself this time. She was visibly frustrated, but Bev sat at the breakfast bar patiently, waiting for Rae to bring over the two delicate cups before making her approach.

“Part of me has been where you are,” Bev said. “Another part can’t begin to understand what you must be going through.” Rachel glared up at her, then softened her expression.

“I have faith in her, you know…” Rachel said, shaking her head. “And, honestly--Lu, too. I just...I feel absolutely powerless. You people seem to just...do whatever you like; but then in a situation like this--” Rachel stopped herself. “I mean, I’m not trying to--”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Bev said, blowing on her tea. “You know I’m not like them, right? Sadie and Lu, I mean. I’m from this side. Like you.” Rachel laughed at this.

“But, you, um...I thought I remembered hearing your name from Maddie. You taught them how to become invisible, didn’t you?”

“Only because Jen extended those abilities to me--and only with the time I’ve spent on the other side,” Bev admitted. “My focus and learned ability is only half of the trick. The other half is absorbing the water, air, and food over there for years.” Rachel gave Bev a look, and Bev simply nodded. “It’s true, Rachel.” She sipped her tea. “Born mortal, to mortal parents.”

“Does it...ever get easier? Does it get--I dunno--normal?”

“Well, you raised two girls that are...I think...destined to be on Jen’s level. Like--fulcrums of reality level.” Bev stared at her tea, sighing. “And I shouldn’t be saying any of that, but it’s not like I know it because I was told that in confidence. I just feel it, and as a fellow mortal--I think you deserve all the information I can give you. I’m not a mother, but--”

“I’m not a mother either,” Rachel said, shrugging. She frowned a little, and tried immediately to shake it off. “I’d like to think I love them as much as Lu does--but I just don’t know how much help I can be now that they’re...now that they’re--” Rachel choked back a word now, and Bev reached out telekinetically to gently grasp her shoulders and rub them, hoping she wasn’t overstepping when she did it.

“You’re their family,” Bev said, smiling when Rachel didn’t flinch at the ghostly attention. The woman across from her loosened a little, dropping the tension across her upper back as she placed her teacup on the counter. “No matter how much of reality they can bend, Rachel--they’re human--and they need their family.” Rachel looked over at one of her shoulders, watching the fabric of her turtleneck warp and press under unseen fingertips. She let out a little sigh and a quiet laugh.

“That’s...why I’m trying,” Rachel said, looking at Bev. “That’s not my turtleneck doing this, is it?” She asked. Bev shrugged and shook her head ever so slightly.

“I figured it was less intrusive than crossing the table,” She said sheepishly. “I don’t mean to be presumptuous. I just know that tension. Some part of it, at least.”

“I’m not trying to offend any of my helpers here,” Rachel said to the wider room--maybe to the house itself. “But I could tell. There’s something about it that feels more…”

“Human,” Bev said, nodding. “We’re all human, Rachel. Especially Sadie and Maddie. We get each other through these things--and anyone important to Lu is...well, I don’t really know her, but I know Jen--so we’re still family. In some weird way.”

“Bev,” Rachel said, staring at her teacup. “George is going to be back in less than a week. What am I going to tell him? I mean, what am I allowed to tell him? Is there some sort of code about this stuff that I’m completely ignorant of?”

“Well,” Bev took a deep breath, cracking her knuckles as Rachel’s massage stopped. “That’s something that--”

“Keep going with that, would you?” Rachel blushed, stretching her shoulders with a shrugging motion. “If I’m not being intrusive by asking?” Bev hissed a little laugh, sipping her tea again.

“Not at all,” Bev said as her telekinesis gripped Rachel’s shoulders again. “Not at all.”

* * *

As Sadie requested, Rachel had left her alone with what she retrieved from the attic. The spare trunk of what George had kept of Lu’s belongings contained letters, a few pieces of jewelry and clothing, a pile of photographs, and a couple other odds & ends that Sadie couldn’t place exactly. She went item to item, holding them in her hands and trying to get some ethereal sense of each of them.

There were a pair of leather driving gloves. Sadie took a deep breath before she took a hold of them, focusing her intentions carefully.

“I need your help, Mom. Wherever you are, I need your advice. I need you to guide me.” She grabbed hold of the gloves and closed her eyes, doing her best to dive into the ether surrounding them.

She was swept into a sort of wormhole, her consciousness evaporating for a second. It was somewhere between the crossing point of using a magical door and re-experiencing the void that she was caught in earlier. Then, she felt herself moving, humming across distances in a direction she couldn’t be sure of.

Then she smelled the ocean. She could see blazing light over green water, and she found herself able to look around. Her gaze travelled up a shore of near-white sand, and a figure in the distance. Hazy. Multiplied and divided by the heat from a beaming sun.

There was some kind of memory here--Sadie was sure of it--though she couldn’t place the beach from anything she’d seen from the Sound, or when they’d gone to summer vacation on the North Shore.

“You’ve become such a beautiful young woman, Sera.” The voice was distant--coming to her like a reverse echo. It wasn’t sound travelling over air, but she knew it came from the figure, far up the surf--in the haze. It called her ‘Sera’...as in ‘Serafina’. The name no one called her. No one but--

“M-Mom?” Sadie could hear her own voice muted by the crashing sea.

“There’s so much I want to tell you, darling--but it’s not time yet,” Said the voice.

“Mom, I know by now you must have your reasons, but--she has Maddie! She’s under her control, and I don’t know how to fight her without--”

“The fight you’re preparing for with all the enchantments in the house will not help you, Sadie. She will only subvert them through your sister. You already have the answer. You’ve already examined it in your second sight.”

“So she really can use our own abilities against us, even if I go in with that stuff under my control?” She asked, waiting. When no answer came, she continued. “Mom, if she feeds on every drop of magic I try to use against her, then--” Sadie stopped. She felt the pull of the void--of her insubstantiation--and realized something.

“That is the answer, Sera.” The voice said. “You already have what you need. Do not give her your power, or your passion, or your rage. Do not let her have them.”

“Starve her…” Sadie muttered, realizing something.

“I miss you terribly, Sera. You and your sister. But I will see you again.” The voice was fading.

“When?! When will we see you again?!”

“When I am sure that my presence will no longer endanger you. When your strength of self is proven.” Sadie squinted, glaring down the beach as the light became brighter. Blazing off the sand and water. The figure faded into the illumination, and even through closed eyes, Sadie had to shield herself from the light.

When she opened them again, her arm was lifted to her face, still bracing from light that was no longer there. Her mother’s driving gloves lay on the floor of the attic, and Sadie took a deep breath.

“Starve her.” Sadie pondered. There was a twinge--an odd feeling she had inside her that reminded her of hollowness. Emptiness. Not in some emotional or spiritual way...just...void. Some detail about Sadie’s own dispersal at the club told her everything she needed to know. She couldn’t approach the way she planned. The first phase of the fight would have to be a completely different strategy. “I’m coming, Maddie.”

* * *

“But...you’re sure?” Bev asked. “Sadie, what if she--”

“I’m positive,” Sadie said. “You stay here with Rae. If Gabby comes back without me--or I’m not back by...say, sunset...get Rae to the other side--and bring more help.” Sadie looked at Rae, who was shaking her head.

“Sadie, no--you can’t do this alone,” Rae said. “You and Bev together had to retreat, right? Why can’t you get the help you need NOW, and--”

“Rae...it’s a test.” Sadie shrugged. “Something about what Mom said made me realize it--and I don’t think she set it up or anything--but it’s just meant to be this way. I have to handle this.” Rae was about to protest again when Sadie stepped in to hug her. “I’m not alone. I’ll have Gabby with me.”  Just then, Sadie’s phone buzzed. She broke away from Rae to look back toward the entry to the kitchen and nodded her head a bit, sending a silent command to the front door.

“It’s open!” Sadie shouted. When she heard the door squeak, she called out again. “We’re in the kitchen.”

Gabby slowly stepped in, feeling stupid about her outfit. It still fit...physically, but--

“That’s PERFECT!” Sadie laughed. “Thanks for being a trooper.”

“Yeah, could we not mention ‘troop’?” Gabby sighed, waving at Rae and Bev before looking down at her plaid jumper. “Now--why am I in this getup?”

“Because you’re about to make a very important sales pitch,” Sadie grinned.

* * *

It felt more stupid than dangerous--though Sadie warned her several times. Gabby waited a couple blocks from the McCune house, staring at her phone and waiting for the text. It felt like she was idleing forever--then…

I’m in place. Drive up to the house, grab the cookies we bought--and just before you head up the sidewalk, send me a ‘GO’.

Gabby thumbs-upped the message on her phone, heading toward Mitch’s house. When she got there, the setting sun was just beginning to blaze paths through all the other McMansions in the private drive--except the McCune household--which seemed to have every blind and curtain drawn.

“Creepy,” Gabby said, finally feeling a tinge of fear replacing her embarrassment in being dressed up like she was headed to give a presentation at the Community Leadership Club with her troop. She grabbed the reuseable shopping bags full of storebought Miss Adventurer cookies from the back of her car and sent the signalling text on her phone before psyching herself up. “Annoying as possible. Annoying as absolutely possible. I can do this. I can annoy anyone. I’m always annoying.”

She rang the doorbell and waited.

* * *

Sandra’s possessed body reacted to the sound, ignoring it at first. She was watching Doug--forced on his knees to eat out his maid. Alaina was suspended off the ground in front of him, her thighs on either side of his head as she moaned. Mitchell and Stacie were both worshipping Maddie, each of them sucking on her tits as she pulsed magic throughout the house.

The doorbell rang again, and Sandra’s eyes burned. She snapped her fingers, summoning a long robe to cover the latex governess dress she was currently wearing. As she passed back into the entry, she gestured at the pocket doors leading to the living room, making them close on their own. She peered out the shade of one of the entry door’s side windows, seeing a girl toting two bags of...something. The girl seemed to notice the opened shade and waved.

“Hi Mrs. McCune! Do you have a second for the--” The shade drew again, and door popped open. Gabby started again. “Mrs. McCune, I’m here with Troop 351, and we’re trying to meet a one day goal of--”

“I’m...a little busy inside at the moment, darling.” Sandra said, smiling. The look on her face bothered Gabby somehow, but she wasn’t sure what it was. Something about her reminded Gabby of the kind of people she’d met on the other side, at Sorgina tower--except that there was something insincere about her. Sinister.

“Well...this’ll only take a second, Mrs. McCune. Like I said, we’re trying to meet a one day goal of $5000 across troop earnings, and you’ve been so supportive in the past that we hoped we could count on you to--”

“Certainly!” Sandra beamed. “Whatever you need, hon. I just need to make this quick. I have...things inside that can’t be left unattended.” Gabby knew that was too easy. She had to kill time here.

“Well, I have a LOT of stock left here,” Gabby said, looking down at her bags. “I’m certainly not asking you to buy me out, but anything you can do would be--”

“All of them,” Sandra said. “I’ll buy all of them. What do you need from me?” Gabby swallowed hard. She was supposed to draw this out, and she was hoping for resistance. Behind the mostly closed door Sandra was still standing halfway in, she snapped her fingers, and her pocketbook dutifully hovered down the stairs toward her outstretched hand.

“Well, uh--Mrs. McCune, normally we’d take cash, but you’re certainly good for a check if you’d prefer to...Mrs. McCune?” The woman seemed distracted, like she was trying to focus on something in the background.

“Yes! Yes, I’m sorry. Cash, you said? How much?” Sandra opened her pocketbook.

“Well...let me check my stock and count it all up to make sure I’ve got the right number of boxes...I can’t thank you enough for your generosity, Mrs. McCune! You’ve always been such a great supporter of 351, and--”

“$500. It can’t possibly be MORE than $500, right?” Sandra asked, getting impatient and looking even more distracted as she held out all the cash she found in the pocketbook--four crisp bills and a shortstack of twenties.”Anything left over--consider a donation.” That sinister smile again. Gabby had to try harder.

“Now, Mrs. McCune, this isn’t a donation drive. I couldn’t just overcharge you like that,” Gabby said sweetly, fumbling with her phone. “Enterprise is one of our core leadership responsibilities. Let’s see, now--I know I have five boxes of Fudge wafers, six of…”

* * *

Sadie forced her way into the back door of the house, popping the lock with her mind. She could feel the swirling ether, and she carefully made her way around the rear, into the formal dining room. She could feel immense magical energy through the next doorway, and she stood behind the wall, carefully peering through to the next room using just the slightest displacement of her etheral copy through the wall.

It was her sister. Still in a trance state--wrapped up in pleasure and the affections of both Mitch and Stacie. None of the three women seemed to detect Sadie. If they did, maybe they needed the entity to command them directly. If Sadie could just break Maddie away first…

* * *

“TAKE the money and leave the cookies, girl. I have things to do.” Sandra seethed now, staring into Gabby’s eyes in a way she didn’t like. As if she was looking into her. “I think I’ve been as generous as anyone could possibly be.” Sandra took a sharp breath, and her eyes went wide, as if she’d just been hit with something.

“Mrs. Muh-McCune, I’m almost done adding it--”

“She’s HERE, and you’re WITH her, you wicked RAT of a mortal...” Sandra hissed. She quickly scanned the immediate neighborhood, holding her arm out to Gabby when she found she was clear to act.

“Aughh!” Gabby’s body propelled itself to Sandra’s outstretched hand, and Sandra took her by the neck and threw the girl inside, the door slamming behind both of them. “Sade--” Gabby choked, sliding across the floor. “SHE KNOWS, SADIE! SHE’S ON TO US!” Gabby belted out before her arms were twisted behind her by her blouse.

“I’m going to STRANGLE YOU with those jumper straps!” Sandra shrieked, storming toward Gabby. “GIRLS, HELP MOMMY!”

“We have to help Mommy,” Stacie said in the other room. Maddie nodded at her, following behind as Alaina followed, leaving the men in the room.

“Sleep,” Sadie said, coming around the corner and touching Mitch just as the girls left. He shifted backward as Sadie caught him, lowering his body with her own physical strength. Doug looked up at her.

“She--she--you have to--” Sadie put a finger to her lips as she approached the head of the McCune household.

“Sleep,” She repeated, touching his shoulder. “Until I come back for you. Sleep.” Doug listed forward, still on his knees. Sadie gently put him down as she did with Mitch, careful to use only the magic she needed.

“Left your friend to lick her wounds, did you?” Sandra taunted, looking around at the doorways. “Did you think that you’d fare better against me with an idiot mortal?” Sandra nodded at Maddie, who raised her hand to Gabby.

“Maddie, no!” Gabby said, rising off of the floor. Her jumper straps undid themselves from the front and began to coil around her neck. Just as soon as they started tightening, though--they went loose.

Sandra’s eyes narrowed. She looked around the house again, calculating. Searching. Maddie’s face twisted in anger, and now the sorceress tried harder to get Gabby’s clothes to comply. Alaina raised her hand toward the girl as well, apparently to no effect.

Sandra cocked her neck now, swallowing hard.

“Wait! Wait, girls. Stop.” Sandra watched as Gabby slowly drifted back down to the floor--able to untangle her jumper straps with her own hands. Sandra looked around again. “That’s clever, young one. You’ve changed out that blind rage for a little bit of strategy, have you?” Sandra looked down at her swollen hand, making a fist and feeling the pain of Sadie’s bite from hours before.”Well, child, I can snap her neck with my bare hands just as easily as my enchantments can,” she said, walking up to Gabby and grabbing her hair. “I don’t need her clothes.”

Gabby squealed as she was pulled up, balancing herself enough to go with the direction of the pull. Sandra pointed to the living room, and Maddie and Alaina started toward it without a word.

“You will face me, or I will BREAK your toy,” Sandra shouted.

Alaina walked into the room first, and Sadie came from around the corner like a flash, grabbing the maid and slamming her into the opposite wall. She felt Stacie grab a hold of her as she pinned Alaina, but Sadie was already in Alaina’s face, staring her in the eyes.

“All that comes from my blood,” Sadie whispered into Alaina’s ear. “Sleeeeeeep.” Alaina and Stacie both tried to throw her off, but not before Sadie was able to plant a kiss on Alaina’s lips.

And suddenly, it was illumination. The pendulum of causality’s clock slowing as Sadie emptied herself--touching the void with the back of her mind. The glow in Alaina’s eyes drained as it flowed through Sadie and back out of her--away from her body and her etheral self. She could taste the corruption on the charge as it fed through her, as if Sadie was working like a magical filtration system. She was holding on to the aspects of the enchantment Sandra force-fed to Alaina while letting the bulk of the power--Maddie’s power, originally--slide through her body and into the infinite void that she had some primal connection with.

When she detached from Alaina’s lips, scared hazel eyes were all that Sadie saw. She smiled at the freed girl and whispered again.

“Sleep,” Sadie whispered as Stacie finally pulled her away. “Until I come back for you!” Alaina slumped against the wall as Sadie turned to face Stacie, slugging her in the stomach and gritting her teeth--more in apology than in anger.

Stacie coughed hard. Her mind was still locked into Sandra’s corruption, but Sadie had nearly knocked the wind out of her. Sadie knew she didn’t have time to deal with Stacie like she’d dealt with Alaina. She had to get to the well of Sandra’s power--now.

“Help Mommy,” Maddie said, the glow of corruption in her eyes as she raised her arms toward Sadie. Sadie felt herself pulled by the magic, and didn’t try to stop its physicial effect.

“With everything you’ve got, sis,” Sadie whispered. “Give it all to me.”

She could feel herself starting to rise off the ground as Maddie’s magic pulsed against her. Maddie was going right for her throat, trying to strangle her. Sadie offered no resistance this time, pulling in all the breath she could before letting the rest of her body comply with the enchanted grip. She didn’t attempt to flail--didn’t try to break it using magic.

She just felt it. The current of the energy--mapping it just like she mapped what she sensed in Alaina. As the pressure around her neck threatened to close her airway...the channel to the void burst open--yawning wide like a blow-off valve.

“Har--der…!” Sadie gritted her teeth, taunting her controlled sister. “Help...mom-my!”

“Help mommy!” Maddie growled, her eyes illuminated with pulsating magic. Sadie began drifting toward the ground again--slowly--steadily...as the telekinetic grip on her throat faded.

“Maddie! Wai--” Sandra howled as Gabby kicked behind her, planting a foot hard on one of Sandra’s insteps. It was just enough to offset the possessed woman’s focus, stopping her from issuing a command to the young sorceress she’d corrupted into protecting her at all costs.

“HARDER, MADDIE! HELP MOMMY!” Sadie screamed.

“HELP MOMMY!!!” Maddie echoed, pouring everything she had into trying to strangle her sister. Her corrupted body and silenced mind didn’t care why its magic wasn’t having any effect--it didn’t consider any other factor but compliance with Sandra’s wishes. She was programmed to protect the entity, and she would try as hard as she needed to in order to achieve its ends.

And now Sadie was a golden conduit--a magical catalytic converter of sorts--dumping vast amounts of raw energy into the void through her soul while she collected Sandra’s corruption from her sister. It was beginning to take a shape now--a scent--and soon Sadie would have enough of it to know it intimately. She’d have enough of it to--

“Maddie, STOP!” Sandra cried, bursting in through the doorway. Both sisters turned to her. Sadie could already see how far along she was. Sandra’s true age was showing again. Maddie had spent enough power on Sadie’s assault that the entity controlling Sandra was losing its reservoir of magic. Her control over Maddie had to take precedence over her magically-fueled physical augmentations. 

While Maddie complied for a moment--stopping as she was asked--trying to change up her strategy now wouldn’t do the entity any good. Gabby, who was precariously thrown aside once the entity started losing its magically-augmented strength, saw another window of her own.

Sandra’s back arched as she was tackled at full force. She and Gabby tumbled into the room, Gabby clinging to her waist like a rugby player.

“Help mommy!” Stacie reiterated, finally recovered from Sadie’s sucker punch enough to react to Gabby’s physical assault on Sandra.

“Help mommy,” Maddie agreed in reply, redoubling her efforts on Sadie again. As she raised her hands to her sister again, Sadie lunged forward to weave her fingers with Maddie’s own, locking up both their hands in a tight grip.

“With all your power, Maddie! HELP MOMMY!” Sadie shouted. Maddie snarled at her, and Sadie could feel the heat of the ethera coming off her twin sister’s palms. Their arms trembled with struggle, and Sadie could feel the well running dry. Maddie had been being used as a magical battery, and now the last of her reserves were being directed at her perceived enemy, flowing into the void and depleting everything else she was powering.

Sadie could see the glow fading, though Maddie didn’t give in. She would try until she passed out.

“YOU LAPDOG BRUTE!” Sandra cried, trying to pull Gabby off of her. “M-MADDIE, NO!”

It was the end. Sadie looked into her sister’s eyes, gripping Maddie’s hands tightly with her own.

“All that comes from my blood,” Sadie said softly--Maddie’s twisted anger fading as her magical energy flowed into the void, running her dry--“Sleep.” Maddie’s eyes fluttered. “Until I come back for you, Mads. Sleep.”

Maddie went limp, and Sadie held onto her hands, setting her down as quickly as possible without letting her drop. A tear rolled down Sadie’s face as she caught her, knowing the hardest part was over.

“Stacie!” Sandra cried. “Stacie, help mommy!” The entity struggled, no longer endowed with superhuman strength--her mortal body vulnerable once more now that she was drained and all but disconnected from her corrupted sorceress.

“M...mommy? I mean, mom? What the--what the fuck is going on here?!” Stacie looked around, horrified. Her brother and father were lying on the carpeted floor on the other side of the room, mostly naked except for some stray BDSM restraints. Maddie and the maid were nearby, both slumped to the ground. “What the hell is going on here, and what the fuck are you doing in my house?” Stacie asked Sadie. “And, ugh, mom--WHY ON EARTH are you wearing that?!”

“Gabby, let her go!” Sadie shouted. Short of a couple scratches and bruises, the otherwise unharmed Gabby twisted herself off of Sandra’s trunk and stood up as Sadie motioned to Stacie. “Get her out of the room, Gab. I need to finish this.”

“Wait--what? Somebody--” Gabby took Stacie by the wrist. Stacie tried to pull away, but was weak, mostly unaware of her unconscious sexual marathon while under the entity’s spell.

“Listen--it’s not your mom! Just trust her.”

“Stacie!!” Sandra shouted, struggling to get up. “Help me!” She reached out a hand to her daughter, and this time Stacie managed to pull away from Gabby, heading to Sandra again.

“No,” Sadie said, “Gabby, st--” The moment Stacie went to help Sandra up, she spun the girl around, twisting her arm behind her back and grabbing her by the neck.

“Mom!?” Stacie screamed. “What the f--”

“SHUT UP!” Sandra shouted. “You whining, miserable excuse for my half-breed descendant!”

“Let her go,” Sadie said. Her expression was flat.

“You think I give a SHIT about this world or ANYONE in it?” Sandra shouted, twisting Stacie’s arm again and making her cry out. “I’ve been trapped in the cells of these mundane HALF-BREEDS for generations, and it is NOTHING to me to mutilate one of them right here in front of you!” Stacie was lost, knowing only that her own mother was screaming brutality--and hurting her. She started crying.

“M--mom...what--why are you doing this?”

“I SAID SHUT UP!” Sandra screamed, nearly dislocating Stacie’s arm when she shook her. “You have more power than your sister,” Sandra said. “You clearly outmatch me in every way except the last one that MATTERS...you’re the weakling who will shed tears for the dead among the mundane. I WILL NOT.” Sadie closed her eyes, carefully planning her next move.

“Now--how do you expect this is going to end?” Sadie asked, staying as calm as she could. “You corrupted this entire family. You tried to make my own sister kill me.” The witch was drained of power, barely hanging on to the body she occupied. 

“So serve me my reprisal!” Sandra cackled. “A body for a body.”

“That body isn’t yours,” Sadie said. “You know that. You don’t get to sacrifice it.”

“This is MY LINEAGE!” Sandra said. “Now you will do what you must to stop me, or I will dispose of it as I see fit.” Stacie struggled to break free, and Sandra tightened her grip, hanging on with pure rage. “These creatures hunted our kind like ANIMALS while our Aetaran betters sat on the other side of the barrier muttering some nonsense about balance.”

“Listen--I don’t know what they did to you,” Sadie said, “but that time...is over now.” She looked into Sandra’s desperate eyes, trying to get a foothold on whatever was left of the force inhabiting her. Stacie squealed as Sandra pulled up on her arms again.

“GET OUT of my head, you miserable bitch--or I will break this one!” Sandra shouted. Sadie broke her pull, believing she reached inside just enough to find what she was looking for.

“Stacie,” Sadie said, “Is that your mother talking?” The crying girl looked up at Sadie, shaking her head. Sandra pulled at her again, nearly breaking her arms now.

If you can hear me, Sandra--your family is suffering. Sadie was working on faith now, hoping her silent message was going to the right place. I only need a moment. I only need you to make her drop Stacie. I can get your body back, but only if you give me the window I need.

Now Sadie focused on the garage door outside, hitting the button with her mind and breaking her focus from this confrontation for just long enough to throw Gabby’s car into neutral and command it inside. Sandra shook something off, squinting her eyes.

Stacie felt the grip of her raving mother weaken, and struggled against Sandra once more, breaking a wrist free, turning and surprising the entity inside her mother’s body.

“That’s it…” Sadie whispered, telekinetically pushing Stacie back once her arms were no longer twisted behind her. She felt the kitchen door leading to the garage fly open. “NOW!” Sadie leapt toward Sandra,.

“I’ll force you to kill her, witch!” Sandra spat, grabbing hold of Sadie and clawing into her back. Sadie tried to lock Sandra’s eyes, but found the woman flailing--doing anything she could to try and hurt either herself or Sadie now.

But now Sadie had all the help she needed. A storm of clothing paraded in from Gabby’s car. Having been dormant at the start to protect Sadie’s magic from being detected--now an army of sashes, boots, gloves and anything with restraining power flowed into the house, entering the living room.

“H-holy shit,” Stacie said, watching the entourage enter. Something came over her, and she suddenly remembered the start of the entire ordeal. “This is--this is just like--”

“No, they’re on our side,” Gabby said, finally able to pull Stacie away with her cooperation. “They’re gonna help her. She’s trying to keep that thing from hurting your mom.”

Sandra attempted to grab Sadie’s face to gouge her--but the moment she thrust her fingers toward Sadie’s face, a leather glove jumped onto her fingertips--its mate holding her wrist.

“Get...off me!” Sandra shouted, trying to pull at the leather glove. Before long, she was struggling with the other, and by now, two boots slipped onto her feet, allowing Sadie to break away. “No!” Sandra bellowed one last time before a pair of knee-length socks wrapped around her face, gagging her.

“Stand her up,” Sadie said. “I need her eyes.” More and more clothing restrained her, spreading her limbs wide and holding her up in front of Sadie. Her face twisted with anger as Sadie just stood watching her.

“What--what are you going to do to her?” Stacie asked.

“I’m going to pull that thing out,” Sadie said. “I’m going to bring your mom back.” Sandra’s body refused to meet Sadie’s gaze--her eyes clenched shut as her body continued struggling against the clothing holding her. Sadie put her hand on the center of Sandra’s chest, searching the energy emanating from her. “But I’m not just throwing you to the void to seethe,” Sadie said. “No...you’re not going to become someone else’s responsibility later.” She scowled. “You’re going to pay penance for this--with service.” Sadie felt the latex dress under her fingertips.

She exhaled, her extrasensory pulse trailing along Sandra’s body. The woman quaked under her telekinetic touch, her face twisting with anger for the last time.

“W-witch! You...y--you--ungh…” Sandra’s eyes rolled back as a smile curled on Sadie’s lips--her own eyes closed as she let the entity’s pleasure soak into her. “You--can’t…”

You wanted to be one with this power, Sadie said telepathically--her touch reaching into Sandra’s body as the possessed woman’s clit danced on its own, wiggling back and forth with Sadie’s psionic manipulation. I’m giving you the opportunity.

“I--I’m not going to...oooh…” Sandra gritted her teeth, but couldn’t hold on to the tension. Now the governess dress started to move on her body, fully under Sadie’s control as it began squeezing her tits.

“What is...she doing?” Stacie asked Gabby. Gabby half-shrugged and awkwardly grabbed Stacie by the hand, pulling her toward the entry again.

“We’re gonna just, uh...wait out here,” Gabby said. “You got this, right?” Sadie nodded silently, keeping her focus on Sandra’s body.

“Listen, I don’t know what you remember, but…” Gabby began trying to explain things to Stacie, hoping she could help some of it make sense. She assumed it’d be better coming from the only other conscious normie in the house.

The entity inside Sandra had been a woman once--a red-blooded woman who craved the pleasures of the flesh more than was acceptable for her time alive. Her time in Sandra’s body--optimizing it to receive Maddie’s power, soaking up every drop of carnal lust she could generate--made her every bit as susceptible to firing neurons from Sandra’s erogenous zones.

And now, it was Sadie’s turn to feast. The rage flowing through her in their last meeting--the binding energy with which she could have destroyed both Sandra and herself, had she gone about this the wrong way--now it was channeled. It was like raging water, held behind a reinforced superstructure and flowing through turbines running at capacity. Clean. Efficient.

Now Sadie pulled from both the entity, and what she’d held temporarily in the void. Her telekinetic abilities began working her own body alongside Sandra’s--each breath getting heavier as she used her psychic touch to coax the entity into the same surrender it had used against the entire McCune household.

In the dress, she built a base--a construct of a human shape somewhere between Maddie’s and Sandra’s. She baited it with magic--like a trail of etheric breadcrumbs as she led Sandra’s body closer and closer to orgasm. Sandra was wet now, her clit still vibrating with Sadie’s remote touch as her latex dress pawed at her chest and squeezed her ass with emulated hands.

This is the power you’re going to submit to, Sadie proclaimed in her mind, reaching through the substrates of latex and flesh, her voice reaching into Sandra’s core. This is the power that you’ve called to--the power that you will serve faithfully.

Sandra’s eyes popped open, her breathing short and shallow as she squirmed under Sadie’s psychic grip. Now the entity was staring through human eyes at something far more intimidating than some simple girl with untrained magical ability. Now she beheld something she had only heard of in her time on earth, among her coven.

“Y--you’re really one of the…ungh!” Sandra cried out, stopped mid-sentence as Sadie’s foreplay turned to raw psychic congress. Sandra’s cunt was filled with something invisible--something savage and untamed, plunging between her labia and filling her.

Sadie stared at her, unflinching as she thrust a telekinetically-generated cock into her target. Fire danced in her eyes. Maddie attained her acolytes through charm, trust, play, and revelation--but Sadie would take her first by absolute force. By domination.

I am your better. And my reprisal is not your destruction… Sadie’s voice echoed in her mind before letting her voice take over. “It is your rebirth in perfect loyalty to a power you were destined to serve,” Sadie’s own cunt dripped beneath her now. She took a deep breath as she savored the sexual energy running through both of them. “And mine is a power so absolute, that you will choose to continue serving me--even after I release you. Even after all your debts are repaid.”

Sandra’s face was drained of all tension now. Her eyes were fixed on Sadie’s--unblinking, without rage, without dissent, without any will but to surrender. This was the face of an entity who didn’t realize the war it had started. The face of true terror and genuine awe.

“M...my queen...please, please forgive my--” Sandra shuddered as a second psychic member penetrated her, slowly filling up her ass. Her hips shook as she was taken--the pressure building in her as Sadie broke the ethereal entity occupying Sandra’s body.

“You are already forgiven...” Sadie whispered, her voice paired as she sent the same message burrowing into the entity in Sandra. ...because you are already mine.

Sandra’s body tensed--her pussy contracting as she convulsed in total surrender. Sadie came at the same time--standing firmly on both of her feet, pulling the psychic energy in Sandra into that which she was wearing--the smooth, glistening red latex dress. Sadie could taste Sandra’s cunt. She could feel the surrender--the absolute oblivion of the entity’s will to any power but Sadie’s own--and in the end, every magical spark infused with the entity’s corruption flowed willingly--graciously into the new container its sovereign provided.

* * *

“Ohhh, omigod--FUCK!” Rae exclaimed, trembling as she lifted a few inches out of her recliner. Bev watched in awe, hands to her face as Rae clasped a hand over the crotch of her jeans. She was held aloft by empty space as her other hand clasped over her mouth, her eyes jumping to Beverly, who stood up to try and help.

“Rachel, are you--” Rachel shook her head, taking a deep breath and giggling awkwardly--her face blushing with embarrassment at the strange moment.

“I’m--I’m fine,” She said, looking under her as she slowly sank back into her chair--gravity returning to her as quickly as it left. “I mean--that was a little...abrupt, but...other than being a little humiliated from just--doing that--and grabbing my-…-self...in front of someone…” Rachel put her hands to her chest and sighed. “It’s Sadie, Bev. I dunno why I know this, but...I think she won. I think the girls are okay.”

“Wait,” Bev said with a puzzled smile. “Rachel, you...”

* * *

“Just ...came!” Diane said on the phone. “Like--out of nowhere. And, honestly--I wouldn’t be just openly saying this to anyone else...I still feel stupid even saying it to you, but, does that even make sense? Like--have you ever had anything like that happen?”

“You aren’t on that magic drug that makes you cum when you sneeze, are you?” the voice on the other end joked.

“No...and I didn’t even sneeze, okay? I was just watching TV...there was this...I dunno, warm feeling, not like temperature-wise or anything, but...something...and I just--just blew. Like a cork.” Laughter on the other end now. Diane smiled, shaking her head. “Well, I’m glad you just find it hilarious.”

“Come on, Diane--this is like the best start to a phone call I’ve EVER had,” the voice said. “Like, ‘Have you ever just HAD AN ORGASM out of nowhere?’ Jesus, I wish.” Diane felt stupid, looking at herself in her living room mirror and sighing.

“I know, I know. I told you I felt stupid calling, but...it’s totally off the wall, right? I’m not crazy?”

“Totally off the wall,” The voice agreed. “Do a girl a favor and let me know how you did it if you end up figuring it out?” Diane turned around, looking at her bedroom doorway. When she was glancing at it through her mirror, she swore she saw something move.

“Yeah...I’ll...keep you updated,” Diane said. “And keep me anonymous if you MUST pass this story on, okay?” Hard laughter buzzing from the other end of the phone again.

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll be sure to leave out your personal deets when I tell my social circle about my college BFF coming out of nowhere,” the voice said.

Once the pair said their goodbyes, Diane slowly stepped toward her bedroom door. She had something specific on her mind, but that was a part of the story she absolutely wasn’t going to share with Katrina.

“S-Sadie?” Diane whispered.

* * *

When Sandra’s eyes opened, she was on the living room sofa in nothing but a robe. There was a girl standing over her--one she faintly recognized. She gasped and sat up abruptly, looking around at the quiet room.

“Easy, Mom--you’re okay. We’re all okay,” Stacie said. Sandra turned to look at her daughter, standing at the far end of the couch. “It’s you, Mom--right?” The girl standing over Sandra nodded her head.

“It’s her,” Sadie said. “Sandra--do you remember what happened?” The woman searched herself, appearing more and more worried as she shifted through the fog of memory. Embarrassment. Shame. Cruelty. The young woman standing over her shook her head.

“No, listen--that wasn’t you. Don’t worry. It’s over now,” Sadie said. “You just need some time--and I’m going to explain everything.” Sandra leaned toward an end pillow--anything to hold onto at this moment--and she and Stacie both gasped as it leapt from the end of the sofa and into her arms. She threw it back on the floor in the same instant.

“Wh-what--how did that--” Sadie put up her hands, visually trying to calm Sandra down, but ethereally trying to soak up the the raw emotional power built-up in the room--especially in the McCune matron, who’d apparently retained some of her magical capacity...even without the entity in her ancestry occupying her body.

“Sadie,” Stacie said, looking worried. “She just--”

“I know,” Sadie said quietly, trying to keep everyone calm. “I said that might be a possibility.” She turned to Sandra, smiling. “Sandra...Mrs. McCune,” she corrected, “We’ve never met, but I’m Maddie’s sister.”

“M-Mitch’s Maddie?” She asked. Sadie nodded.

“Yeah. Like I said--this is going to take some time, and things are going to sound...like, really weird from here on out, but...there’s a lot we need to talk about before the rest of your family wake up.” The worry came back into Sandra’s eyes.

“Oh, Dougie--and Mitch. I--” 

“Shh--they’re fine, Mrs. McCune. They’re fine. Stacie and a friend of mine took care of everything. They’re in their beds, sound asleep for right now. Unharmed.” Sadie rolled her eyes. “Well, I mean, mostly. Physically. Anyway--just relax, and when you’re ready, we’ll talk about what you remember,” Sadie said, sitting next to her on the couch, reaching down and handing her the pillow she was reaching for before she tugged at it with her newfound abilities. “We’ll start here, I guess...did you know you came from a line of witches?”