Tales From the Fae – Part V: The Academy of Dana

Chapter 29 – After Effects

Classes were canceled for the rest of that day, and Candice and I spent the evening in our dorm. Neither of us really wanted to talk about what had happened in the healer’s wing, and the idea of going anywhere just seemed like tempting fate. Douglas joined us about an hour later, and we sat quietly letting the events of the day fade away until some time later there was a loud bang and the door flew open. Michelle stood in the entrance panting, her eyes wide and frantic. When she saw me, she gasped slightly and then visibly relaxed.

“Miranda… shit… I just heard…”

I smiled and nodded. “It’s okay. I’m fine, we all are… physically at least. I think it’s going to take a while for things to sink in though.”

Michelle closed the door behind her as she came forward. “Look, Ran… I just want you to know… I acted like an ass. I’m sorry. I should have been there.”

I patted the bed where Douglas and I were seated and indicated that she should join us. “Nonsense,” I replied shaking my head. “I should have told you about my MOS sooner. It just all happened so fast. It wasn’t something I even did consciously.” I saw Candice staring at the charred spot on the wall where the tapestry used to hang.

“Still, I should have known better. I shouldn’t have let my personal desires get in the way,” said the sandy-haired girl looking angry with herself. “It won’t happen again, I promise.”

“Hey, relax Michelle, really,” I said soothingly when I saw that the girl was almost shaking. “You’re not responsible for my safety. You’re not my protector you know.”

Michelle froze, staring at me with wide eyes. She swallowed once and then said in a near whisper, “Actually, Miranda… I think I am.”

The look on my friend’s face told me there was more going on than I was aware so I waited quietly until she could explain.

“It started with something that the Dominion Queen told me when we first arrived here. You remember, our Readings.”

I nodded that I did.

“She told me to have faith in my friends, even when it seemed they had betrayed me…”

“I would never betray you, Michelle,” I interjected.

“I know I should believe you,” she continued. “I even knew that when I stomped out of the healer’s wing. Since we’ve arrived here I’ve been having dreams. Weird dreams. Stuff like I used to get as a little kid when I lived mostly on the streets. Back then, they were horrible nightmares of accidents and murders… sometimes rape. I’d wake up in the middle of the night sweating like crazy and scared out of my mind.”

“You were just a child,” said Candice from her own bed.

“That’s not it. That’s not what made me so scared. It was the dreams themselves. Ran, those things would happen. Maybe the next day, maybe a few weeks later, but they would come to pass, almost always in exactly the way that I saw it.”

“Time sight,” I said at once. “Like the faeries.”

She shrugged her shoulders nervously. “I don’t know. They see choices. I… I don’t get to choose.” She shivered slightly and I put my hand on hers which seemed to help a bit and she went on. “About the same time I got my period the dreams stopped. It was great. I could sleep without having to worry I’d see somebody I knew getting killed in a dream… Somebody I cared for.

“And then we all came here and they started again. They weren’t quite the same… Not about murder and death, just the four of us,” and she looked over to include Candice. “Little things, like my tournament at the Market or Douglas hitting his head in the main hall and knocking himself out cold. I didn’t understand until just recently because I thought I had outgrown the dreams… I hoped I had. And the pieces were so disjointed and crazy that I couldn’t put it all together.”

“So you have a gift,” I said with a smile. “That still doesn’t make me your responsibility…”

“I’ve dreamed about you too,” she interrupted and I went silent. I also saw that her face was wracked with conflicting emotions. “I’ve seen you alone… with a weapon in your hands,” she closed her eyes as if trying to see it clearly. “A sword, or a spear maybe. And you’re fighting something…. horrible. And sometimes you’re in pain… great pain.” Tears were streaming down the girl’s cheeks.

“Michelle, stop…” I said as my heart started to pound and my face went hot with fear. “I don’t want to know this.”

“No, there’s more and I need to say it, Ran, please…”

“Why? If it’s the future then there’s nothing you can do. You can’t blame yourself.”

“There’s a voice. A woman’s voice. I can hear it in the background. She’s saying, ‘help her’ over and over…”

“Don’t do this,” I pleaded.

“I have to!”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve also seen you standing in the Unseelie Court!”

The room was suddenly very quiet.

“There are a hundred ways you could be misinterpreting that dream, Michelle,” said Candice quietly from her bed.

The taller girl looked over at her without changing the mask of emotion on her face. “Maybe. But I can’t discount it either. If it weren’t for that voice…”

“The woman?” I asked, a little confused.

“Yes,” she answered turning back to me. “She not just talking, she entreating… me. But I’m not present in my dream.”

“Are you sure it’s you she’s talking to,” asked Candice.

“I’m sure.”

“How, I mean it could be…”

“Candice,” she snapped. “I’m sure, okay? I’m supposed to protect Miranda, but I don’t even know what from. But it sure makes it hard to trust you…”

I was shaking my head. “I’ll say it again, I won’t betray you – or the Tuatha. You need to believe me, Michelle.”

“I do believe you, Ran. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here now. But in my dream, you’re not being held captive or coerced. You’re smiling… Laughing!”

I sighed and reached out again for Michelle’s hand. I saw her resist for a moment, then accept my grasp.

“I can’t explain it,” I said truthfully to her. “And frankly, I don’t want to. My reputation is complete shit right now as it is. Even the headmaster is having second thoughts.”

Candice saw Michelle’s look of confusion and explained.

“He has Dramia following her around to keep an eye on her.”

“What!” she spat in disbelief. “Why would he do that?!”

“He seems to think Miranda has enemies that might take Cara Lang’s death and attribute it to Miranda,” said Douglas, speaking up for the first time since Michelle’s arrival. I couldn’t help note the smoothly sarcastic tone to his voice and inwardly smiled appreciatively. My lover’s simple boyish appearance was a front for a highly skilled and thoughtful player. He was ever so subtly guiding the mood and direction of our conversation and I was very glad he was on my side.

“No shit she has enemies,” replied Michelle rolling her eyes. “And Dramia’s presence is going to deter someone who really wants to get at her? I don’t think so. You don’t have to physically attack someone to make their life hell… I know.”

From what little I knew about our fighting friend’s background, she probably did know. Growing up mostly homeless and surviving on the streets was a world I never wanted to have to get close to. It made my screwed up childhood sound like a real picnic.

“So what do we do,” asked Candice. “Classes resume tomorrow.”

Michelle fixed her eyes to mine. “For certain, don’t EVER go out alone, not even for a minute. Have one or more of us present no matter where you go. I’m sure they won’t try anything with Dramia around, being Administration and all, and even one other witness is probably enough to deter the worst of the mischief. But Ran, don’t let your guard down. I don’t mind being late for a class to escort you if needed, but I sure as hell don’t want to have to visit you in the healer’s wing, you know?”

We chatted for a while until Shawn Hems knocked on the door and asked for Candice. A few minutes later, they left together, giggling. It was nice to see that the rumors between the two of them at least, seemed to be just that and not based on any fact. When Michelle noticed Douglas eyeing me, she stood and made some excuse about wanting to check the combat logs.

“Hey, it’s a serious long shot, but maybe with everything going on I’ll get lucky and they will have forgotten their check-out vigil to keep me from reading the things.”

I wished her luck and turned with a smile to Douglas when she closed the door. He grinned and pulled my face to his for a long, slow kiss that left my nipples perky and my stomach queasy with lust.

“It took them way too long to leave,” he commented when we broke for air. “I was hoping to have you naked hours ago!”

“Well,” I replied with mock horror. “I guess we had better hurry up and rid me of these terribly impeding garments right away, sir!”

He grinned and reached for my shirt. “What time is it anyway,” he asked as he peeled my top over my head.

I unfocused my eyes for a second and responded almost at once. “Four after eleven. Your belt is stuck, why don’t you lay ba…”

“Eleven! Holy shit,” he said pulling himself off of the bed, and subsequently nearly me as well since I refused to let go of his buckle. “I was supposed to meet Professor Poppins almost fifteen minutes ago! I had no idea we had been sitting here that long.”

I groaned and pouted. “Don’t go… Douglas, you can’t leave me like this,” I said sitting back up and holding my arms out to indicate my half naked state.

“Sorry, luv. It’s important and I really do have to run… Damn,” he said staring down at my bare chest as he collected his bag. “Hold that thought,” he said as he gave my left nipple a little tweak and then leaned forward for a quick peck on the head as he turned to the door.

I sat there with my mouth open several seconds after he had left, trying to figure out how I had gone from a room full of friends to ‘sole occupant’ in such a short time.

“Fuck,” I pronounced to the empty room. The explicative seemed enormously appropriate but somehow mocking in the near silence. Flopping to my back, I sighed and was trying to decide what to do next when my MOS came up.

“Right,” I resigned and started to pull up some of my latest assignments. It was then that I noticed the silently hovering glyph above me.

“Sheila-Kay…” I remembered. She had said to activate it when I had some time alone. I really didn’t know how long Douglas would be gone, but… The memory of my Illusions professor pinching my nipple hit me so hard that I gasped softly. Damn it all, I had been ready for a good mattress pounding by Douglas. I seriously needed something to take my mind off of that.

Without waiting for the more prudent part of my brain to talk me out of it, I reached up and lightly touched the hovering ball of magic. Almost at once it began vibrating softly, unfolding and growing until it was nearly four times its original size. And then it disappeared.

I frowned in confusion, trying to decide if I had missed some key step in the activation process. I concluded that I hadn’t, and was already trying to think of how I was going to tell Sheila-Kay that her glyph had been a dud when I happened to look down at myself. Now, instead of just a missing shirt, I was completely nude.

“Whoa…” I whispered and felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned, half expecting to see my faerie instructor, but there was no one there. Still, I could clearly feel a warm hand just to the left of my neck, and more so, could see a thick, slightly warm, amber liquid appear out of nowhere and drip slowly down over my chest in three or four runnels that tickled as they moved. Several more lines of liquid were making their way down my back as well, and I shivered slightly at the strange feeling.

I knew it had to be an illusion, but it was a damn real one. A second hand lighted on my other shoulder and the two of them applied a gentle pressure forward. Allowing the magic to guide me, I let myself lean until it became obvious that I was to lay on my belly, which I did, smiling. The hands moved to my scapula and began what was quickly the most relaxing massage I have ever had the pleasure of receiving. The amber liquid was smoothed over my entire back and sides until I must have looked like a bronze goddess laying there.

It was a little unnerving when two then four, then finally eight soft warm hands joined in to work on my legs, arms, neck and feet, but I sighed happily and tried to enjoy the present. It wasn’t hard, and in a few short minutes I was humming softly, hoping that Douglas would take his time. I had almost started to doze off when the hands started to drift up my inner thighs. Another pair was sliding along the sides of my breasts, and the touch was decidedly more erotic in nature than therapeutic. My eyes widened and my heart rate doubled as the hands grew more and more bold. There was something about the touch that was familiar, and when I understood what the rest of my senses were telling me, I gasped and actually looked back.

The room was still empty save for myself, but the touch and scent was unmistakably that of Sheila-Kay. I realized this just as the first pair of hands started to press my thighs apart.

“Oh my god…” I moaned, lust suddenly flooding up from my center. My need returned anew and magnified. It was all I could do keep myself calm as the slippery invisible fingers ever so slowly inched up my thighs toward my apex.

“Ummm…” I groaned, giving in to the erotic caresses and wishing fervently that the non-existent digits would move faster. When they finally did reach their destination, I was slick with desire and practically squirming. With very light and gentle strokes, the phantom touch eased along my sex, causing my breath to catch in my throat as I twitched in quickly rising delight. But to my great frustration, the feathery contact only teased me. For a time that couldn’t have been more than five or six minutes, but that felt like an eternity, I was slowly immersed in a game of foreplay that left me panting and nearly shaking with need. It didn’t help that the hands at my sides had quietly eased under me so that they were now invisibly cupping my breasts and doing very stimulating things indeed to my nipples.

I consciously understood that what was happening to me, what I was feeling, wasn’t real. It was just an illusion created by a very complex magical machine that was incredibly adept at fooling my senses. But I didn’t care. My pleasure was real, and so was the hard orgasm I experienced several minutes later when those imaginary fingers became much more intimate. I shook and trembled in wonderful bliss and then let my now very relaxed body puddle on the bed like warm clay. I noticed that the internal touch had vanished, but that the hands along my back and legs were quietly continuing their gentle but firm massage. It was an absolutely delightful bit of pampering that I usually didn’t get after sex with Douglas since we were usually both too tired to do more than pant and drift off to sleep. I expected to be equally lulled into slumber by the glyph, but to my surprise, I felt invigorated. In fact, I was startlingly rested and awake, so much so that I turned over and sat up to check the clock on Candice’s night-stand. I didn’t trust my internal clock when it came to magically induced napping.

Only twenty-five minutes had passed since Douglas had abruptly left. I did a bit of a double take on myself and was equally startled to find that my clothes were back, minus my shirt, which was still piled on the bed as it had been when my lover peeled me out of it, and the invisible masseuse had returned to its genie bottle.

“Shit…” I muttered to the empty room and marveled at the abilities of my Illusions professor. Out of curiosity, I looked up and found the little glyph hovering silently over my head as it had been before. Smiling, I understood the full magnitude of the magical gift Sheila-Kay had given me. Any time I wanted or needed it, stress relief was literally ready at hand.