Cassie gasped after Melinda had finished her tale while the Harbingers stood in the school parking lot, her hand fluttering to her bosom. "You're not ... you're not actually going to do that, are you?"

"Of course not!" Melinda piped. "But Aunt Jo will be expecting me to get suspended or expelled today. What the hell am I going to do about that?"

"Looks like we gotta call in another favor with Mr. S.," Ned said.

Cassie hated having to draw on him yet again but realized everyone was tired of hearing that mantra from her. "All right, I'll talk to him later. Goodness, what a mess this is turning out to be already!"

"Maybe I should go home with her," Heather said.

Cassie gave her an awkward look, and Melinda shuffled her feet. Diane looked uneasy as well, and Richie narrowed his eyes. Only Ned was able to look on with some degree of equanimity. "I don't think that will be necessary, Heather, but thank you for offering," Cassie said in a polite but stiff voice.

"I figger they'll hafta have someone take her home," Ned said. "They'll prolly call fer Melinda's mother."

Melinda did not react, but when Cassie glanced at her, she averted her eyes. From what Richie had told her, Cassie was not sure whether Melinda would help them. She wished she had been there to have sensed Melinda's emotions at the time. Now Melinda's emotional state was dominated by this latest crisis.

"I really think I should go home with her as well," Heather said.

"I want to spend some time with you after school," Diane said in a quavering voice. "I mean ... I-I'm not trying to make you choose between me and Melinda, but--"

"Heather, you don't need to come home with me, okay?" Melinda said. "Just let me deal with this."

"You do remember what I told you, right?" said Heather.

Melinda shivered. "Yeah, I do. Aunt Jo doesn't get off work until four, you'll have time."

Heather nodded and slowly smiled.

"I really don't have much more to say," Cassie said as she gazed at Richie. He had been unusually quiet that morning, his attention focused elsewhere. He appeared like he had not had much sleep, same as Diane. "We know what we're supposed to do."

"Maybe someone can fill me in later as to what's going on," Heather said.

"Yeah. Tomorrow," Melinda said.

Heather gave her a puzzled look. "Why would you want to wait until--?"

"Yo, cool it, everyone," Richie growled, his hands curling into fists.

Ned followed his gaze. "Something wicked this way comes."

Cassie turned and uttered a short gasp. She felt the collective tension of everyone around her suddenly rise.

"Good morning, all," said Jason as he stepped up to them, smiling.

Richie narrowed his eyes. Melinda's eyes shimmered, and she looked away.

"I need to speak with Diane alone when you're done."

"No, you fucking don't," Richie snapped.

"Richie, wait--" Cassie started.

Richie pushed past the others and gave Jason a hard shove. "You're not getting her, asshole. We're not letting you."

Jason uttered a long sigh. "Really, can you spare the hostility just for once? I am sure Diane will have no trouble with wanting to talk to me."

"Oh yeah? Well maybe you need to do some talking with Mr. Fist."

"Richie, it's okay," Diane said in a soft voice.

Richie's head whipped around. "Huh?"

Diane extricated herself from Heather's arm to her lover's confused look. Her lips twitched into a soft smile as she stepped next to Jason. "I'm okay with it. I'll talk to him."

"Wait, what the fuck is going on?" Richie demanded.

Jason grinned. "Perhaps you don't know everything you think you do."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Stop speaking nerd, or--"

Cassie grasped his arm and forced him to turn around. "Richie, it's ... it's okay."

Richie gave her a nonplussed look.

Cassie sighed. "I'll explain it inside. Please, let's go."

Richie frowned and yanked his arm from her hand. He threw both hands into the air before stomping towards the school entrance, muttering curses.

Diane had been dreading this moment. As the others moved away, she let her enslaved persona take over. Her smile widened and became more natural, and her voice became husky as she said, "Yes, Master, what may I do for you?"

Jason smiled, and Diane shivered as her pussy rose in gentle pleasure. "Hope you enjoyed my little present to you on the bus."

"Mmm, yes, Master," Diane moaned as her hips squirmed. "You're so very good to me."

Her pleasure remained at a low plateau, just enough to want more and make it difficult to stand still. Her body moved in a slow, sensual dance to the rhythm of Jason's desires.

"I'm going to need your help quite soon," Jason said.

"Anything for you, Master."

"I really need to end this division among the Harbingers. I want to bring Cassie around to my way of thinking."

Diane shuddered from the force of the reaction from her protected self. She had expected he would try to use her like this, but not this soon!

"I'm going to talk to her later today," Jason said. "And see if she'll listen to reason. I'm expecting she won't, not from what I've been observing since she took over as leader of the Harbingers."

"What do you want me to do, Master?" Diane asked, the question prompted by her protected self. Her enslaved self might not have thought to ask until later.

"If she fails to come around, I'll want to use your power to help me overcome her defenses. I could likely do it myself, but it would take awhile, and I don't want a messy back-and-forth battle. I want it to be quick."

"Today, Master?"

Jason hesitated. "That would be ideal, yes."

Diane's mind raced. She knew she was throwing caution to the wind with that question, as he was not expecting her to show that much initiative.

She wanted to ask him more questions. If Cassie looked like she might come around, would he leave her alone? Would he wait until tomorrow before taking her? She had to hope the answer would be yes.

Diane moaned softly as her pleasure rose before falling again to the low level buzz she had experienced ever since he had "enslaved" her.

"That's all for now," Jason said. "Run along and keep being a good girl for me."

Diane squirmed in delight and smiled at her master before heading towards the school. She risked a glance behind her and saw him following her, but at a more leisurely walk, slowly falling behind her.

Diane's protected self took control and risked a faster pace. Once she was inside and hidden from view by the throng of students, she took off to find Cassie.

Richie smashed his fist into the locker door. "What the hell, Cassie?! Why the fuck doesn't anyone tell me about this shit?!"

Each curse word was accompanied by another blow. "Because of the reaction you're having right now," Cassie said. "Please, it's been done, and the potion is protecting Diane from falling to him completely."

"Yeah, I know that, but ... fuck! Right under my freaking nose! AGAIN!"

Richie underscored the last word by pounding both fists against the door. He heard Cassie sigh and say, "Richie, please, calm down! There's no point to this."

Richie glared at her, but removed his fists from the locker door, which now bore a faint indentation. "I'm going to be so fucking glad when this shit is over," he said in a lower voice.

"No more so than me," said Cassie. "I am not looking forward to this afternoon. It's going to be chaos if we can't coordinate this."

"One or two rings and hang up, right? That's what you're gonna do?"

"Yes, and I really hope I don't mess up the timing. We're going to have to hit it all at once if we have any hope for--"

"Cassie!" Richie suddenly heard Diane's voice from inside the crowd before she emerged into their midst, panting. "Cassie, I have to tell you something. It's about Jason."

Richie surged forward, fists clenched. "What did he do to you? You need me to pound on him?"

"Richie, please!" Cassie cried, giving him an exasperated look. She turned to Diane. "What is it?"

Diane glanced at Richie for a moment. "He might have the right idea for all I know. He wants to use me to try to get at you, Cassie."

"Like fucking hell he will!" Richie roared.

"Let me hear Diane out!" Cassie cried in a shaky voice.

"He wants to talk to you later," Diane said. "He said he hopes you'll see his side of it and come over to his way of thinking."

"You mean he wants to fucking control her," Richie grumbled.

"I-I know what it means, Richie," said Cassie. "Are you certain of this, Diane?"

"Yes, very, but I think he meant that he'd use me to get you only if you don't go over to him yourself. So maybe you can just humor him?"

"I don't know if that would work. If I do say I'm willing to do things his way, is he going to try to e-enslave me right then anyway?"

"That's just it, I don't know! I couldn't risk asking him any more questions or he's start to suspect that I was not really enslaved. He gave me an odd look when I forced the question about whether he wanted to take you today or not."

Cassie nodded and swallowed. "You did the best you could. Thank you for warning me."

"So what the fuck are we gonna do?" Richie demanded. "He can't do shit if I beat the crap out of him."

"And get you in trouble with the school administration?" Cassie said. "Or even the law? You know as well as I do how much the school board is cracking down on that kind of bullying! We don't have time for any delays today."

Richie fumed at her for a moment, then turned away long enough to give the locker one more strike with his fist.

"I know you're frustrated," Cassie said in a tired voice. "But we have to be very careful. We'll get only one shot at this."

"Okay, fine," Richie said. "What are you gonna do, then?"

"I'm going to try to delay him. I'll tell him I can see his side of it but need to think about it. I'm hoping that will make him hold off until tomorrow."

"That's what I was thinking, too, Cassie," Diane said. "It's really the only thing you can do."

Richie wanted to yell at them, but he realized that they were likely right and he was wrong. It would not be the first time. He felt like he had the wrong end of the stick for weeks now. He had to remind himself that tomorrow it would no longer matter. His mother will be free, and then he could fix everything else at his leisure. The effort would be trivial by comparison.

"We better get going," Cassie said as the crowd thinned. "I'll talk to Seeger after this class."

Seeger waited until the halls were devoid of students, scowling at the final stragglers before doing one more final sweep. He heaved a heavy sigh and headed back to his office.

He took his time, his gaze wandering over the walls, the floors, the lockers, the classroom doors. He had not realized how this had become a second home. Despite all his former talk about retirement not coming soon enough to suit him, he would have still missed the place.

Lost in thought, he was halfway across the threshold before he realized his seat was occupied. Seeger flinched, then drew himself up straight and narrowed his eyes. "Yes, Laura, what may I do for you?" he asked in a polite but stiff voice.

Laura leaned back in Seeger's chair and gave him an amused look. "Why did you bother to come in today, Seymour?"

"Because until I am told otherwise, this is still my job. Kindly remove yourself from my chair so that I may go about it."

"Oh, you have very little to do today," Laura said as she stood, though she remained behind the desk. "Except, perhaps, pack up your belongings."

Seeger marched inside and closed the door behind him. "The understanding was, as I recall, that this would be my last day. I took that to mean I would serve out the entire day."

"So are you finally admitting defeat?" Laura said with a silky smile. "That you have absolutely zero evidence of any of the ridiculous accusations you have leveled against me?"

Seeger slapped his hands on the desk and leaned forward, surprising Laura enough to make her flinch. "Regardless of what evidence I may or may not have, Laura, I know precisely what you have done," Seeger growled. "And I know who you have done it with. I will always know."

Laura leaned forward was well, her face barely an inch from his. "Prove it. Unless you can do that, I do not care what you think you know. Face it, Seymour. Your foolish attempt to challenge my authority has cost you dearly. If I were you, I'd head home right now."

Seeger ground his teeth until his ears rang. He straightened and backed up a step. "I have until the end of the day to summon up evidence."

Laura straightened as well, her smile never waning. "That you do. Very well. Serve out your day. Live in the fantasy world that some divine messenger will magically bestow upon you this supposed evidence."

Seeger wanted to tell her everything that had happened over the weekend, how her laptop had been broken into and her activities recorded, just to wipe that insipid smile off her face. Somehow, even with all his towering rage, he managed to stop himself. He did not want to take the chance that tipping her off would allow her to mitigate the damage.

For all intents and purposes, this was indeed his last day. He would not have the needed evidence in his hands by the end of classes. This was what really got to him; no matter what happened, Laura would leave the school that afternoon believing she had secured victory over him.

Seeger had to have the evidence by the next morning. Perhaps he had overextended himself yet again, but he realized he could not go into this cold. Late Friday he had contacted a member of the school board, one with whom he was still on decent terms, and informed him of the accusations he intended to make.

He had taken a gamble. Laura's influence was such that the board member could have alerted her. Instead, he had been revolted enough by Laura's "arrangement" with Heather that it had managed to override his loyalty.

Seeger knew he and the other board members feared Laura. They would never seek to prosecute her. So be it. He would be satisfied with forcing her resignation. He just wanted her out.

"In that case, may I have my office back so that I can execute my job?" Seeger said in a voice of forced calm.

Laura paused, then gave him a smirk and sauntered out.

Seeger closed the door behind her and stood with his fists clenched. For the first time, he could sympathize with Richie Gardner's tendency to want to hit things when he was angry.

Melinda spent much of her class time furiously taking notes and flipping through textbooks trying to remind herself of what schoolwork she had done over the past few weeks. This was the last day of review; exams for the semester started the next day.

She had tried to keep up, and her mother had even insisted on keeping with the tradition of carving out a specific amount of time each night for studying. Unfortunately, being nude or near-nude with a buzzing and wet pussy was not conducive to study.

It helped that she felt almost normal again, as she kept her protected self in the fore. However, she could do nothing about her enslaved self's effect on her body. Despite having no immediate urges, she felt the uncomfortable sensations her clothes made against her skin, as well as the growing warmth in her pussy from the prospects of stripping them off.

Melinda was keenly aware of the looks from the boys. Few had given up hope that Melinda would start flashing her pussy at them. She considered flashing one boy just to show him she had panties in place that would stay in place, but she doubted he would ever get the latter part of her intent, even if she punctuated it with flipping him off.

Having something else to focus on helped her keep other worries at bay. She still had no idea what she was supposed to do that afternoon. If she simply thought about freeing her mother, would it just happen? If only it could be that easy!

At the sound of the bell, Melinda quickly gathered her things and dumped them into her book bag so she could be one of the first one's out. She pushed past other students along the way. When a boy tried to grab her skirt and lift it himself, she slugged him in the arm. A second one she kicked in the shin.

At this rate, I'll punch someone's face out and be suspended anyway for that, Melinda lamented as she headed to her locker.

Jason found review time to be an exercise in tedium. Why did they have to have a review? Shouldn't everybody be doing the work during the school year as he had? He supposed not as he looked around, seeing others feverishly taking notes or looking bewildered, as if they had not remembered learning the topic under review.

He spent some of the time choreographing his mother through an orgasm, building her up slowly over twenty minutes before finally giving her release. He thought about doing the same to Diane, but she may be one of those who actually needed the review time. He'd make sure to put a stop to that. From now on, she would follow along just as well as he did.

Jason had a lot of improvements he wanted to do to the Harbingers as a whole. All the things which used to bother him about them would soon be a thing of the past. Once he got Cassie on his side, the rest would be easy.

He smiled. He was looking forward to it.

Seeger folded his hands tightly to stop them from trembling. When Cassie had finished her story and her request, all Seeger could do was stare at her. Just when he thought he had seen and heard enough depravity to last him a lifetime, more was dumped at his feet.

He could say how unconscionable he found the actions of Melinda's Aunt Jo, but it was beside the point. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly before replying. "I am grateful that the younger Miss Sovert has the necessary means to prevent herself from falling to this urge."

"But you see the problem, Mr. Seeger," Cassie said. "Her Aunt Jo is expecting this to happen. If it doesn't, she might get suspicious."

"I was under the impression she was not one of those you were targeting today in the grand rescue attempt you had just conveyed to me."

"No, but these plans are very delicate. I'm already fighting two or three other things which threaten to disrupt it. I can't take any chances something will fall out of place."

Seeger took another deep breath and nodded. "Agreed."

"So we thought we could just claim that it happened, and you decided to suspend her and send her home. You could clear it off her record later." Cassie sighed. "I really hate to ask this of you, I know how you feel about the integrity of--"

Seeger waved a hand and shook his head. "Please do not concern yourself with it. Mr. Lussander explained it sufficiently. We fight an enemy so evil it forces us to break our own morals to fight it."

"Then you'll do it, Mr. Seeger?"

Seeger's jaw clenched. "I am willing to do it, yes. But therein lies the problem, Miss Kendall. I am willing, but I cannot. I can only recommend such things as suspension or expulsion. The final decision must come from the Principal."

Cassie's eyes widened. "Oh dear."

"And now you tell me that Laura intends to gain the younger Miss Sovert for herself through her older sister," Seeger said in a strained voice. The plot sounded too much like a bad soap opera to be real.

"Yes, I just realized what might happen," said Cassie. "She might agree to it, only to send Heather home with her. Heather had even volunteered several times to go home with Melinda, so even she realizes it would be her chance."

"You told me you have someone intending to intercept the older Miss Sovert?"

"Yes, Diane wants to stop her, but that was assuming Heather came home by herself on the bus like she always does. But if Heather goes home before Diane is out of class--"

Seeger shook his head. "I will see to it that Laura does not attempt to send the two Sovert girls home together. However, Miss Woodrow normally takes the bus going in the opposite direction. May I assume alternate transportation will be available?"

"Yes, we've already arranged things with Mrs. Radson."

"Excellent. Then she would have a head start on the older Miss Sovert." Seeger leaned back and scrubbed his face with his hands. "This is quite a tangled web. I do not envy you your task. I wish I could do more."

"Mr. Seeger, you've already done far more than I felt I ever had a right to ask."

Seeger tilted his head. He wondered now how Cassie fared at home. He was well aware of the reputation of the Kendalls and had the unpleasant experience of meeting Cassie's mother prior to Cassie's first year of high school. The woman seemed more interested in appearance than substance.

Cassie was definitely not taking from her mother's book.

Now Cassie was giving him that curious look again, as if she knew what he was thinking.

"Miss Kendall," Seeger said in a soft voice. "I am going to ask something which may seem ludicrous to you, and you may refuse to answer it on the basis of that, but ... do you have the ability to sense my thoughts?"

"Emotions," Cassie answered. "I'm empathic. I can sense other people's emotions."

Seeger let out a long sigh of relief. "Quite a skill to have, Miss Kendall, and it explains the curious sensations I have had during our discussions."

"I apologize if that disturbs you, Mr. Seeger, but it's not something I can turn off."

Seeger shook his head. "No, Miss Kendall. In fact, I prefer this, as it means nothing I say will be taken as anything but how I intended it."

Cassie smiled faintly. "If it helps any, Mr. Seeger, you're one of the few people where your words tend to exactly match your emotions. I haven't met a more honest and forthright person in my life."

Again, Seeger felt his eyes go misty, and he smiled. "Thank you, Miss Kendall. That means a lot to me."

"Hey, Cassie, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

Cassie's heart leapt into her throat, and she fumbled one of the numbers of the combination to her locker. She glanced at Ned, who gave Jason a wary, narrow-eyed look.

Cassie tried not to look as nerve-wracked as she felt. She paused to open her locker, then turned and gave Jason a nod. "Um, sure, that's fine."

"I don't consider it fine," Ned muttered.

"Ned, please. I ... I can handle this."

Ned gave Jason a scrutinizing look which lingered even as he headed down the corridor.

Jason sighed as he glanced at him before returning his gaze to Cassie. "Really, I wish he would stop treating me like the enemy."

"What can I do for you, Jason?" Cassie said in as even a voice as she could muster.

"First of all, Cassie, I want to thank you for taking on the leadership of the Harbingers," Jason said.

Cassie nodded. "Um, you're welcome. It's been an, um, interesting challenge."

"Yes, I know. That's why I want to relieve you of the burden. I want to take up the mantel again."

Cassie paused, her mind racing. "I see," was all she could think of to say.

"But I know you're going to be very much at odds with where I want to take the Harbingers."

Cassie repressed a retort and simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"In the past two weeks I have learned there is no point in having power if it is not applied. Many of us in the Harbingers -- you, especially -- have untapped potential in this regard. If you applied even a fraction of your powers more aggressively, we could do a lot more."

Again, Cassie held back a retort and carefully crafted a response. "Yes, I understand what you're saying, Jason, and ... well ... I guess I have given some thought to that."

"Indeed?" Jason said.

Cassie sensed pleasant surprise from him, and she hoped this meant she was on the right track. "I've had to use some of those powers to unravel my past," Cassie said. Ned had told her earlier when she was struggling to come up with what to say to Jason that the best lies were built upon kernels of truth.

"Hmm, really?"

"I don't remember anything of my childhood prior to puberty. So I've had to get into my mother's head to coax the truth from her."

Jason smiled. "This is excellent. This is some of what I was thinking about."

Cassie forced a small smile in return. "So, yes, I've been thinking along those same lines." She paused. "You want me to expand that to others, right?"

"Yes, exactly. We could do a lot more if we could influence some faculty members or other students. I've lost count of how many times we could have avoided unnecessary hassles had you influenced a key person or even outright controlled them, even if just to get them out of the way."

Cassie shuddered and hoped Jason had not picked up on that. "This ... this is a big step, Jason. Even though I ... I-I can see the merits of your argument, I think I need some time to think about it."

Jason considered, looking dubious. "I really don't want to drag this out, Cassie. The Harbingers have been divided over this for far too long."

Cassie's heart thundered. "I know, and I agree we can't have that division continue. One day, Jason, that's all I ask. By tomorrow morning I'll have a decision for you."

Jason looked thoughtful and remained silent.

"I don't think one day -- less than one day, actually -- will make that much difference. Giving me that time will mean I have a chance to get over some of my remaining objections. You'd want an informed decision rather than an emotional one, right?"

Jason finally nodded. "You've made a good point. All right, we'll take this up tomorrow. I should remind you that I will want to see the Harbingers united around a common methodology. I'm going to be a hard sell against anything else."

Cassie nodded. "Yes, of course. Thank you."

Jason smiled and headed away.

Cassie watched him go, then uttered a relieved sigh and leaned against the lockers, her heart still thundering.

By the time she finished exchanging books for her next class, Ned wandered up to her. "How'd it go, babe?"

Cassie sensed his wariness. "It's okay, Ned, he didn't do anything to me." She took a deep breath. "I think he fell for it. He said he'd give me another day to think about it."

Ned shook his head. "Man, this is gettin' ta be a three-ring circus. How many other freakin' hoops are we gonna hafta go through?"

"I know what you mean." Cassie closed her locker. "I'm more frightened of the lead-up to my confrontation with Jason than the confrontation itself. It seems like anything could go wrong between now and then."

Jason stood by his locker in thought as he exchanged his books for the next class.

It was obvious that the Harbingers were up to something. Cassie had been far more accommodating than expected. He wondered if she had indeed intended to delay him. But for what? What were they planning?

He was also growing suspicious of Diane. She was exhibiting too much independent thinking, yet he could find no flaws in his control over her. She was responsive and obedient. Every time he entered her mind, he found nothing but total loyalty.

Jason had thought she had fallen a little too quickly, as if it had been intended. Were they planning on working through her to attack him? He could not see how.

Of course, if they actually had the potion that Elizabeth claimed would ...

Jason shook his head. That was a silly idea. The potion never really existed in a form which would be useful. It was all just Elizabeth's vivid imagination, as she herself had stated in the journal. He had nothing but circumstantial evidence.

Yet would that be enough to warrant ...

No, he had to stop dwelling on this. It was a dead end, and would only distract him from the real threat. Whatever was going to happen, if anything, it would happen that day. Fortunately, he planned to go to the Inn after school. It would be very difficult for anyone to strike a blow at him there, regardless of whether he had Diane with him or not.

He closed his locker and headed to his next class. All he could do now was wait. Without any more data on which to base further action, they would have to make the first move. He was confident he would be ready for them. Once that was over, he would direct Diane to help him take Cassie and end this charade.

"Well, you got lucky, Mike," drawled the heavyset, balding man who sat at the opposite end of a table in a tiny greasy-spoon. He had already polished off his breakfast and pushed the plate aside in favor of his laptop.

"Uh-huh," Mike said in a distracted voice as he nudged a half-eaten sausage patty on his plate.

"Got you a cab with a sleeper on top. Scarcer than hen's teeth these days."

"Okay."

The heavyset man eyed his companion before typing on his laptop. "I gotta get the boys in maintenance to hustle a bit more on fixin' some of the older ones."

"Yeah, that's fine."

"So now you have something better than just the seats to sleep on. Too many truckers gettin' back problems these days, and I don't want to see that happen to you."

"Sounds good, Harve."

Harve raised an eyebrow. "I'm just sorry I couldn't get you the cab with the jacuzzi."

"No prob."

Harve closed the lid of his laptop and rested his chin on his hand. "But it does have a nice wet bar and cable TV."

"Works for me."

"Mike, dammit, are you even listening to me?"

Mike finally set down his fork with a clatter and looked up. "Sorry, what?"

Harve sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You are one distracted guy, Mike."

Mike appeared as if to protest but instead grabbed his cup of coffee and gulped it down, only to grimace when he found it had gone cold. "Sorry, I got things on my mind these days, y'know?"

Harve nodded. "Yeah, I know. And you know I can fix that for you."

"I told you 'no' before, and I meant it."

"One little visit, Mike," Harve said. "You don't even have to stop in town if you don't want to."

"I said no!" Mike shouted, pounding his fist on the table. Cutlery rattled and coffee splashed.

The restaurant had suddenly quieted. Mike gave the other patrons and then Harve a sheepish look. "Sorry," he said in a lower voice. He averted his eyes from Harve until the background drone of conversation and kitchen noises returned.

"What's eating you, Mike?" Harve said. "I've never seen you this tense."

Mike knew what the problem was, but he would sound like a madman if he said it. How would anyone react to hearing that a man was afraid of his own cell phone?

He had more calls from that one stupid number that had no caller ID. Each time he had let it go to voice mail. Something spooked him about it, but he was not sure what.

The messages were not spam. The length of the voice mails were different, suggesting a real person was at the other end. He had tried several times to bring himself to play the voice mails to no avail. He could not delete them, either. He was stuck in a limbo where his fear grew each time a new message arrived.

He felt as if someone were leaving him messages about the impending apocalypse, and he was too scared to either acknowledge or deny it.

"I've just had a lot on my mind, and going to Haven in any way, shape, or form is not going to solve it," Mike declared.

Harve paused as he observed his friend and finally nodded. "All right, fair enough. Far be it from me to presume what's good for you."

"Thank you."

"But if what you're going through starts to affect your performance on the job, that makes it my fucking business."

Mike sat up straight and only now noticed the steely look in Harve's eyes. Harve rarely cursed, so when it did, it was to be taken seriously. At the same time, it put him on the defensive. "I have not had a single write-up in--"

Harve held up a hand. "I'm not saying you have, but I've seen other drivers get as tense as you are right now, and that's when they start making mistakes."

"Don't you worry, Harve," Mike said in a sour voice. "I'll keep making the company look good."

"While that's always a concern, it's not what I'm talking about now."

Mike frowned and raised an eyebrow.

Harve sighed. "Mike, I care about my drivers. Yeah, I don't want you making the company look bad, but I don't want your rig wrapped around a tree or buried in a ravine. The worst of the winter is not even here yet. I need you working at top capacity given the scarcity of good drivers."

"I'll be fine after today, Harve," Mike said.

Harve eyed him. "Oh?"

Mike had no idea what prompted him to say that. It was not entirely true. He was hoping everything would be okay after today, but all he really knew was something big was going to happen. He didn't know what the outcome would be, only that everything was going to change.

Harve looked at him expectantly.

"Something personal," Mike said. "Don't ask me about it as I'm not about to say anything more on it."

Harve nodded. "In that case, you want the day off?"

"Absolutely not. Give me something, even if it's a short haul."

Harve considered before lifting the lid of his laptop.

The last thing Mike wanted was to be alone with his thoughts. He needed to keep his mind focused. The dreams about Richie were becoming agonizing to experience or recall. If they were indicative of anything actually happening in Richie's life, then the kid was a step away from a nervous breakdown.

"Okay, I can give you something that will put you in Montana by nightfall," said Harve. "And, no, you don't have to go through Haven."

Mike nodded. "Fine, I'll take it. Just point me to the truck and hand me a manifest and I'll be outta your hair. What you got left of it, anyway."

Harve smirked. "Yeah, that's more the Mike I know."

Ten minutes later, Mike left the restaurant and walked towards the truck dispatch. He wrapped his jacket around him tighter when a cold wind blew.

He hoped Harve would stop obsessing over visiting Haven again. What would he do there? See Richie? See Sandra? He could do neither. He didn't want to see the black shit on the latter and feared he would see it on the former.

It had not been limited to her. He had seen it on some other people in Haven just as he was leaving for the last time. One was a police officer.

For awhile he had feared he would see it everywhere. He was reminded of a dumb sci-fi movie he had seen once, something about aliens infiltrating Earth society and only special glasses would reveal them. That and the movie's silly drawn-out fist fight were the only things he remembered from the flick.

He saw nothing of the sort anywhere outside Haven. Perhaps that was what he was most afraid of, that he would see it on everyone in Haven now, and they would only be stark reminders of how he had left with his tail between his legs.

He wished he knew how he got the ability. He started seeing them soon after fucking that spitfire of a redhead just outside town. He had not thought of that woman in years. At first he had thought she was a prostitute, but she would not accept his money. Which was too bad, for her performance had been spectacular. She had deserved the money for that.

He shook his head as he reached the truck dispatch. Enough wallowing in the past. He had to refocus his mind on the present if he ever expected to have a future.

Though he still had the uneasy feeling that the events taking place in a town he never wanted to see again were about to decide the course of that future.

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