The Enchanted
Chapter 9. Down Under

The air was fucking hot, but it was a dry heat…ugh! I’d popped exactly where I expected to. Just a few yards from a small animal rescue center just outside Adelaide. I remembered it from our trip here when I was 10. Dad was researching something – always something – and mom wanted to see some Koala’s up close. It was apparently still up and running and luckily there were only small marsupials to herald my entrance.

I remembered we had stayed in a small chain-y sort of hotel about 5 miles east, so I started walking. I put in my headphones and listened to some Adele. Seemed about right for my mood. The road was paved, but the shoulders weren’t so I kept to the soft dirt and just put one foot in front of the other. I’d estimate I had walked about 2 miles when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and another pulled the wires of my headphones, making them pop out of my ears. I jumped and screamed, prepared to fade or pop, though I knew both were bad ideas since it would give notice to the locals that one of our kind was in their midst.

“Lala, Shane wants you back. He’s beside himself and it’s only been a few hours.” A quiet voice, Josh or Jer, spoke and I’m not sure if initially it was out loud or in my head, but it caused me to stop and turn instantly to be faced with the twins.

“What the fuck!? How did you guys find me? I know I mentioned Australia, but that’s a pretty fucking big country – and this isn’t exactly a great metropolis, so how is it that you’re standing here right now?” Snotty was something I generally did well. And frankly, I was a little pissed. There was clearly something someone wasn’t telling me.

“Actually, Shane sent us. You probably didn’t know since you don’t talk all that much about our abilities, but Shane can track any one of the Enchanted anywhere at any time. He’s like our own little homing beacon, so he found you and sent us. He said to tell you, and I quote, ‘It’s not going to work. We have to finally fight back. We need you to do it, so get your ass back to the Island right fucking now’, end quote.” The fingernail test told me it was Josh speaking, but he was right, the words were 100% Shane. Though I admit I was a bit curious what he meant about finally fighting back. I guessed I was about to find out, and popped back to the Island, in Shane’s house. I thought mine might be too dangerous, just in case. Within seconds the twins were behind me. Shane was sitting on the couch and jumped up as soon as he saw me.

“Don’t you ever do anything like that again! How dare you leave us all hanging like that?!” His hands gripped my shoulders so hard that if I could bruise, I’d be willing to bet I would have. He pressed his lips to mine in a demanding kiss. No finesse or tenderness, it felt like being claimed. Marked for ownership, and I realized that that was exactly what it was, and I kissed him back, claiming him just as hard, letting him know we were on the same page.

The vertigo came on suddenly. I had never experienced anything like it before, but my head began to swim and the dizziness caused my joints to give way and I could feel myself heading for the floor, and remember completely not understanding why. None of the Enchanted had had so much as a sniffle since the Event, and I had never been prone to fainting spells. Shane was definitely a great kisser, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t enough to buckle my knees!

My head was still muddled as I found myself on the couch. Shane’s concerned voice was echoed by Jessie and Eric’s as well as the twins. I could hear Max in the background as well as Ellie, so it seemed that the gang was all here. But what I didn’t understand was why. And more importantly, what had put me on the ground, and what was that buzzing in my head?

“Focus, Lala. I need to know if you are tagged or not. I know it’s a little uncomfortable, but it’s the only way to make sure you weren’t bugged like some of the others.” Max had an amazing southern drawl, and I could listen to him talk all day, but what the fuck was he on about? Tagged? Bugged? Who the fuck was bugged? And how the hell did they allow that to happen?

“She’s clean guys, no tags or bugs. Since she was an outlier I didn’t expect any, but you never know.”

I had to know what the hell was going on. “What do you mean outlier? Who the fuck is being bugged? What the hell is going on here, you guys sound like some kind of weird paramilitary organization. I repeat – What the fuck is going on here!” I looked to Shane for answers as it seemed that everyone else did too.

“Well, who’s going to talk first? Someone starts sharing right now or I go back to Aussie Land and you people are in my rear-view. I don’t like being kept in the dark.” Yeah, I know…lot of room I have to talk.

Shane’s voice mirrored my own thoughts. “Hello Pot, meet Kettle!” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, the bottom line is that we’ve been meeting regularly for the last few months because we are all sick of being trapped here like animals. We aren’t supposed to leave the Island without permission, we aren’t allowed to interact with the Normals, they have armed guards on our Island and tell us it’s for our protection, and we are treated like some kind of plague. We’re tired of it. We don’t need their fucking protection. We’re human beings, or at least we started out that way, and what we are now is what they made us, so everyone here agrees we need to take some kind of action. We’ve petitioned til we were blue in the face and they keep getting rejected or ‘lost’. We are just beginning to wonder why we submit to the will of the WSGF anyway? Who said they got to control us? When did we get a vote on that? We need to stand up and be heard, physically if necessary.”

Whoa! Shit! How was I so far out of the loop? And what the fuck was the loop anyway? What were they talking about? “Wait…what the fuck are you guys talking about? You want a physical confrontation with the WSGF? Are you serious? People will get hurt. Possibly even some of them will be us. And there are those among us who would turn traitor in a heartbeat, so they’d have Enchanted on their side as well. You guys can come and go any way you like and you know it. Especially the poppers, but the rest of you use the skis any damn time you want and there have never been any concerns. Granted, it’s not optimal, and yes, we are going to be here for a long time, but frankly, I’d rather be isolated. The normals are not nice people, and we have Andie and Adam as living proof. Why would you want to mingle with them anyway? And last, but certainly not least, I have no intention of being part of any violence. Maybe it’s better if I do just go away. I don’t want you guys worrying about me screwing up whatever your plans are.” I meant it. I wasn’t going to join their little coup. I may have agreed that our lives weren’t fabulous, but I certainly wasn’t in any hurry to rejoin the human race. From what I’d seen in the last 5 years, they kinda sucked rocks, but I wasn’t up for hurting them either. I’d defend myself and my friends, but I didn’t have any intention of initiating the conflict.

“Lala, we need you! You have abilities none of us have, and yes, I told them all about the ‘sharing’ thing.” He looked a little contrite as I blushed about 6 shades of red, but continued “We can trust these people – and only these people – with everything. You are the lynch pin for all of it. With your level of control of the Island, and the mental push thing, we have a fighting chance. Without you we’re sitting ducks.”

“Maybe you should have checked with me before deciding I was your secret weapon. I will not be a weapon of mass destruction, Shane, and it literally makes me sick to my stomach that you might think I would consider it.” I wasn’t kidding. I was about to hurl. I grabbed the waste basket and blew chunks. It seems a bit silly to be in this predicament when I really didn’t even have to eat. I had gone for days without before with no negative side effects, but I liked food, so I ate. Normally there was no problem, but apparently that was no longer the case.

Jessie’s eyes got wide and a look of concern fell across her pretty face. Jessie was a sweet girl. Brilliant with plants, and truly kind-hearted. She was girl-next-door pretty, with a blonde pony tail and a boyish figure. She was the kind of girl I would be friends with, and I was glad I was. “Are you OK, Lala? I’ve never seen you so much as sneeze before. Did you eat something bad?”

“I’m fine, thanks. I wonder if it was just making that pop all the way to Adelaide threw something out of whack. I’m sure it will go away.” And I was. I was pretty sure we were immune to bacteria and viruses, so maybe it was food poisoning. That was the only think I could think of.

“I’m going to need somewhere to stay. I don’t think I should go back to my place since I’m the one the WSGF is after now. And I still think you guys need to reconsider letting me leave. I know now that Shane can find me, so I can’t really run away, so the only option is to do it with everyone’s knowledge and approval. I think it would be for the best, and I think it would take the heat off the Enchanted. I don’t want bloodshed, and if you guys continue to stonewall then I’m the only freak with orgasmic possibilities and they’ll come looking for me. I can avoid them easily, so they can’t hurt me.” It really did seem like the best option.

The twins looked at each other with puzzled expressions. “Ummm, orgasmic freak? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Shane wraps his arm around my waist and whispers in my ear, “I told them about the ability, not what it does to the participants. I wasn’t going to share anything quite that personal.” He looks like the fucking Cheshire cat. Damn.

“Well, the ‘sharing’ has a sort of added side effect. It’s extremely erotic, and causes some significant and pleasant sexual responses.” Shane couched it as politely as possible. I guess it would have been rude to say it was better than Viagra and made you cum so hard you couldn’t breathe for a while.

Max’s face lit up. “Hey, me next then. It’s been forever since I’ve had any good wood!”

Shane turned to glare at him. “Lala isn’t ‘sharing’ with anybody but me. Period. But maybe others can do it to. Josh and Jer you guys are both strong fades, does one of you want to try it with Jessie? Or Max?” We all knew Max was bi, but he was a picky bi. Jeremy was gay, Josh wasn’t, which always threw us for a bit of a loop, but it might be an interesting experiment. Both twins piped up simultaneously “I’m game if you are”, each looking at either Max or Jessie.

“Hey, what about me?” The voice from the background was Eric. He was kidding, you could tell by the sound of his voice, but Ellie piped up right away. “I’ve got a strong fade, we could work together if you like.” I had always had a suspicion that there was something there, so maybe this way Ellie could make some headway.

Shane looked at me. “Can you explain how you do it? Maybe we should show and tell…”

“OK, So you guys know how we piss off the normals by walking through them, or fading so that they walk through us? Well, it’s kind of like that, except that you release the fade as you are passing through each other. Shane doesn’t do much fade, so I set a full fade, and I don’ t know if it will work with both doing the fade, so you might want to try it with one person setting as full a fade as they can, and if it isn’t enough then maybe both can set a level that will make it work. Here, I’ll show you.” I set the fade and stepped forward to Shane. I noticed he was sporting a semi at just the thought of doing this again, and it made me smile. When I released the fade and disappeared into Shane’s body I could feel how it made him feel. It was intense, to say the least.

“Holy Shit, Lala, you totally disappeared! Are you in there?” Josh waved his hands in front of Shane’s face.

“Yes, dipshit – I’m not blind.” I have to admit the facial expressions were priceless. “you should also be aware that you can control each other’s movements, though I haven’t tried it much with Shane, I know I had the ability to override the other person’s movements when I did it with Andie. Also, you can easily access each other’s thoughts, so if there’s anything you don’t want to share you should concentrate on blocking out what you don’t want to share. And it’s emotionally connecting as well. You will generally know how the other person feels about you. So be careful that when you join with someone you don’t give them a negative impression. OK, so which of you guys has the best fade?”

Jeremy piped up. “Probably me. Max, are you willing to do this? It seems quite…ummm..intimate, so I will understand if you aren’t comfortable with it.” Shrugging his shoulders, Max stepped out of the group. “Go for it. It doesn’t seem to hurt, and from the looks of the bulge in Shane’s pants, he wasn’t kidding about the erotic part. I’ll admit, I’m curious, so let’s do it.”

Jeremy stepped in front of Max and we watched him set a fade. It had always fascinated me to watch others do it. Becoming almost ephemeral, it was kind of beautiful, and eerie at the same time. He stepped forward and into the space occupied by Max. I couldn’t necessarily tell when he’d released the fade, except that Max dropped to his knees with his head thrown back in a howl.

I shouted “Jer – back out man, you’re hurting him!”

“NO! God no! Fuck no!!!! This is amazing, sorry, I just need to regain my composure.” It was Max’s voice, which repeated itself a second later “Yeah, me too. Fuck, this is phenomenal. I think someone needs to get us both a change of underwear though.” Which we all knew would be Jeremy. The duality that was Maxemy stood slowly.

Shane’s voice broke through the moment. “Are you guys OK? You need to talk us through what’s going on, and you need to be aware that joining may be intense, the separation will blow your fucking minds, so be prepared for it.”

“Damn, you mean even more than this? Holy shit, I’ve never felt anything even remotely this sexual in my life. Every nerve ending is screaming at me – in a good way. How can you even think when you’re like this?”

“OK, who is asking? And it would seem that having 2 men joined is a bit stronger in intensity than having opposites join, and two women, according to my previous experiences, is much less intense, so that’s all good to know. I’m not sure how useful this would be to us since you guys haven’t taken your hands off Max’s cock since you stood up.” I was pretty sure they weren’t even aware that they had whipped it out and were masturbating in public at the moment.

Ellie and Jessie both giggled and Shane and Eric just groaned. Max looked down. “Damn it Jeremy, not cool! Put my dick away now!” Needless to say this resulted in gales of laughter from everyone but the person (persons?) in question.

Once he was able to stop gasping for air and laughing, Shane spoke up. “OK, I’ think it’s time to separate you two sex fiends. Jeremy, exiting works the same way – set the fade and step away. Do it slowly, and be prepared for the after effects.”

The expression on Max’s face changed slightly and we saw Jeremy begin to emerge. Both men groaned loudly and Max’s body shook with his second orgasm in under 5 minutes. Jeremy continued to move forward as Max fell to his knees again, with Jeremy doing the same and releasing the fade to a solid form in a ball on the floor, wracked in pleasure.

“Wow. That was fucking Hot!” Jessie managed to say what we’d all been thinking. It didn’t matter if you were gay, straight or any other definition, watching what happened there had been a level of erotic heretofore unknown to mankind. It was in a category all to itself.

Jeremy spoke first “That, ladies and gentleman, was the best sex I have ever had, bar none, and I’m not even sure what it was! But I have to agree with Lala on this one, I’m not sure male/male pairings will work well since I know I couldn’t focus on anything else. I’m so fucking horny right now I’d do just about anything for a good fuck to take the edge off.” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Max tucked himself back in his pants and leaned over to whisper in Jeremy’s ear. I didn’t hear what was said, but they looked at each other, then at the rest of us and left the room together without saying another word. I’m assuming they were going to solve that edge problem, but we didn’t ask and they didn’t volunteer.

“Umm…wow. Not sure how anyone could follow that up, but is anyone else still interested in trying it?” I was willing to bet no one would back out after what we just witnessed. In fact, I would have laid wager that even the guys were going to have a talk with Jeremy later.

Ellie stepped forward. “So, Eric, you interested? I think I’ve got the strong fade, and I’m willing to try.”

Eric walked up behind her. “OK, but stay the fuck out of my head. It’s not that I have a lot of really juicy secrets, it’s just creepy.”

“No worries, and ditto.” Ellie nodded in agreement. We all watched as Ellie dissipated before our eyes and walked toward Eric. When she had disappeared we watched the smile bloom on Eric’s face.

“This feels fucking fabulous. If the boys felt better than this then I may have to consider switching sides!”

And what we all assumed was Ellie added her two cents “Too bad that won’t work for me! Lala, you and I should try it once to see if it’s different with an Enchanted than a Normal.”

That was actually not a half bad idea. While we were talking we saw Josh and Jessie join. It was odd watching it be Jessie standing there as Josh disappeared. The look of bliss on Jessie’s face told the story though. I wasn’t sure if it was Josh or Jessie making that face, but it was a good face.

Shane smiled. “OK guys, it’s time to figure out if there’s any benefit to doing this. Jessie, do something that wouldn’t normally work quickly and we’ll see if the two together enhance. And in the reverse, Ellie, you do something so we can see if it matters which person is involved.”

I was impressed. It was a good idea. Now I could see how Shane had ended up as the de-facto leader of the group. Before I could congratulate him on his savvy his phone buzzed with a text and I felt the ground vibrate as well.

Shane’s eyes were bugging out as he read his message. “Well, it looks like we have our answer. It looks like there are reports from all over the island of plants blooming out of control. Jim says the garden just went ‘fucking ballistic’, his words, and we have a giant strawberry patch now.”

Jessie smiled. “I love strawberries!” “Wait, I’m allergic to strawberries!” It was unnerving to watch the facial expression change on a dime.

“And I think we can thank Ellie for the tectonic stuff, am I right?” Shane turned toward Eric/Ellie as they nodded. “Have you ever had it be that pronounced before? I know you’ve moved small hills and rocks, but have you ever caused an earthquake before?”

Shaking his head no, Eric/Ellie looked a little shaken. “No, never. I hope no one got hurt!”

I was pretty sure it wasn’t strong enough to have done any damage and I told her so. “That was just a baby tremor, no harm done.”

Shane’s face was serious. “OK, now we know that having two of us joined enhances our abilities. So let’s try some other things. First, you guys need to separate. I suggest you sit down because it’s kind hard for the boys to keep their legs under them when that happens.”

Watching Josh and Ellie step away from their partners was intense. It was clear they were feeling the pull that the rest of us did as well. And as anticipated, both the boys were rather sticky when it was over, so I suggested they head for their own places and change clothes and meet back in 15 minutes. In the meantime Ellie and I would try the two girls thing, and see what that did, then we’d all sit and discuss what was going to happen going forward.

Everyone agreed, and Jeremy and Max weren’t back yet from wherever they ended up, so it was the girls, me and Shane. We agreed that it should probably be Jessie and I who joined since Ellie had the stronger fade. We would try a mutual fade at a later date, but for now we’d play it safe and I’d share with Jessie. The plan was to make it quick, since my previous experience with a girl had been a bit of a let-down and had left me feeling iffy, we didn’t want to have both of us feeling bad. By this time pretty much everyone had left except Shane and Jessie.

Within seconds of releasing the fade Jessie was jumping up and down and squeaking, and I’m left wondering what the fuck was going on so I stepped back away. Jessie gushed at me “Oh my God Lala, that’s so awesome! Who? When? How!?”

I couldn’t answer any of her questions because I hadn’t a fucking clue what she was talking about. “Who, when , how…ummmm more like What?”

Jessie gave me a puzzled look. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Jessie, cryptic is not my thing. What don’t I know?”

“Lala, you’re pregnant! I could feel it when you stepped in with me. It’s still really early, from what I know about human anatomy I’d say probably only a couple weeks.” Her smile was so bright I hated to burst her bubble.

“Jessie, I haven’t had sex in 6 years, so I don’t really think that would be possible.”

“Really, 6 years? Before the Event? Seriously? Wow! Um, OK.” Shane stumbled adorably over his words, making it pretty clear he was happy to hear it.

“But, Lala, it’s there, I felt it. Really. I may be a botanist, but I do have a strong background in human sciences too, and I know pregnant, and you, you lady, are knocked up well and truly, so did you do anything that sort of resembles sex a couple weeks ago?”

“Nope, haven’t been near a guy naked or even anything remotely resembling naked until a couple days ago with Adam, and I left before anything happened with him, and then there was a rather unusual exchange of bodily fluids with Shane yesterday after the WSGF fiasco, but nothing even close 2 weeks ago. I’m definitely not immaculate conception material, so you have to be mistaken!” I was arguing the point, but somewhere deep down I knew she was right.

“Maybe it’s us…Enchanted, I mean. Maybe it’s different for us.” Shane was clearly curious. “What if it happened yesterday Lala? What if what when you walked through my ..um. when I….um, OK …” It was so fucking cute that Shane couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

“Do you mean when I walked through your orgasm and you got cum all over me?” Blush crept up his face and he nodded. “I suppose it’s possible, weirder shit has happened. No, wait, not really. Well, it’s not like we can tell anyone or take a test, so I guess we’ll just have to wait a while and see what happens. If it’s moving that fast then we’ll know soon. Shit!”

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