The morning-after prescription was easy enough to obtain and I took the pill immediately. Dad was still a little nervous about it, but I tried to not let my own concerns weigh too heavily on me. I had enough in my head to keep me occupied. We went home right after and cuddled again, eating some soup for a late dinner, and then falling asleep.

This dream started like the last, a shimmering stone corridor and a door. But this time, the door was closed before me. It opened slowly and a tall, elegant looking woman of many years stood watching me with narrowed eyes. Her dark eyes and dark-red strands contrasted with shocks of white and gold in her hair and eyebrows. I found myself unable to speak.

She looked me over. I glanced down. I was not naked this time, but wore a simple light-tan tunic, loose at the top where the cords were unraveled. I couldn't see below.

"You're late," the woman told me sternly.

"Huh?" I managed to breathe.

"Come, then. Follow me. They're waiting for you."

My mind was unfocused and I felt compelled to move forward, one long step at a time. The woman's black and raspberry gown flowed just above her ankles, swishing as she walked, the straps above mostly covered by her hair. What is going on?!

She led me into the room and through another door, then a hallway, stone and grey like the other, then down a short flight of polished marble steps and into a modest room, walls covered in rich fire and moon and sky-colored tapestries. Candles lit the scene well. A single red couch was placed in the exact center of the square room, small colorful cushions piled just in front on the floor, a thick brown pelt stretched into a rug underneath.

On the couch sat two women. Well, one woman and a young girl of perhaps nine or ten. Like me, they both had orange-copper hair, both wore it down to their breasts, which were bared, the woman's full and somewhat-heavy, the girl's nothing more than two small pink buds over a flat chest. Below, each wore a colorful wrap around their abdomens and down past their mid-thighs. Each of them watched me approach.

"She's here," said the dark-haired woman to the others before turning back to me to say, "they're ready for you now."

The woman swept around and glided past me, disappearing into the shimmer I saw over my shoulder. I turned back to the woman and girl, unsure what was expected of me. They said nothing, even, calm expressions on their freckled, pale-beige faces.

An odd sensation began to grow from my groin. I looked down in shock to see an erect penis extending out from below my abdomen. I jumped back in surprise and saw it stay with me. It jerked and bobbed as I started to stumble. "What the hell?!" I yelled.

The girl's voice was soft but amplified to the point of discomfort. "It is easy to use. You will see."

"Huh?!" I exclaimed. I reached down and took hold of the cock, and felt my warm grip all along it's length. "I've got a dick?!"

The woman's smile was easy but stiff, "Of course you do. We all do when necessary. And right now, it is necessary. Come," the woman said as she leaned back on the red couch and lifted her wrap, sliding her buttocks to the edge of the cushion and spreading her legs wide, "I'm ready for you."

My fright and shock were swamped by an overwhelming lust like I'd never known. I wasn't so much compelled by some outside force as my own body, and even my mind, conspired to send me forward, holding my pulsing erection in my fist.

The woman smiled more sweetly as I approached and leaned over her, the tip of my penis right against her wet, pink pussy, the hairs there curly orange and soft like down. "Yes," she told me, "penetrate me again..."

I thought nothing of her words, consumed by the raw desire to fuck this woman. I thrust my hips forward and sank into her cunt as deep as I could. The woman gasped and rolled her head back, hands reaching for my waist, pulling me against her. "Yessss..." she breathed.

I had no experience with such things, but my body understood what to do. I pulled back and slid in, over and over, starting to growl in pleasure and desire. I looked down to see my penis sliding in and out her pink folds, cream smearing along my length.

Only then did I remember the young girl. I snapped my head to see the girl sitting calmly as before, her head turned towards us, eyes sparkling. Her hips danced with each motion I made, shaking the couch, but some of it was the girl herself. "Oh, that's lovely!" the girl said.

I should have been horrified, yet I couldn't stop, so caught up in my lust. In. Out. The woman's pussy felt so good! I looked back at the woman, her eyes on me, she told me, "Ready yourself, little one... She's close now..."

I turned again and saw the child matching the woman's position, leaned back, buttocks on the edge of the cushion, wrap drawn aside, and legs opened and welcoming. Between the girl's legs was a smaller, hairless version of the woman's pussy. Pink and small, wet smears along her slit. I swelled inside the woman at the sight.

"Now finish in the little one..."

Somewhere inside my head, I understood her command and drew myself away from the woman, my erection plopping out with a wet slap, creamy juices smeared along my shaft, more dangling in a thin strand hanging from the woman's gaping cunt.

I knelt between the young girl's legs. She smiled at me and said, "I'm ready."

Cock in hand, I moved forward, pressing the tip against the child's vagina. It didn't give easily. I pushed harder and felt resistance. The girl was holding her breath. The woman told her, "Almost in. Almost through your barrier..."

I felt a sudden opening and my dick slid deep into the girl's pussy. The girl grunted, "Nnnng! Nnnng! Uhnnnng!" My body was moving on it's own, sliding in and out of the child's wet vagina, so tight that it took effort to push back inside each time. Her little pink cunt was stretched around my penetrating cock, and I felt myself burning and boiling over in just a few thrusts.

"That's it," the woman said in a whisper as loud as a scream, "finish in the little one."

Pressure and burning fired up my dick and I felt myself pulsing, pulsing, pulsing, orgasm crashing in. Was I ejaculating? Yes! I came hard, unlike any orgasm I'd ever had before. I spurted a thick, heavy load of semen into the young girl's pussy, rutting, fucking, jerking into her body and squeezing out every drop of my seed. The girl tensed throughout, letting me fill her completely before she began to relax and a smile spread over her face. "I've done it."

"Yes you have, little one," the woman told her. "You've done so well."

The girl giggled, then looked at me. "Thank you."

"I... I..." My mind was starting to lose focus and I stumbled back, yanking my still-erect penis out of the young girl's little, raw hole, semen trailing away and leaking from her body onto the rug below. "Wh-wh-what's going on?" I managed to stutter as the lust and desire were swept away and replaced by confusion and horror at what I'd done.

"That which must go on," the woman said.

The girl finished her thought, "That which will always go on."

"What?"

Shimmering. Shimmering. And I was lost.

- - -

I was slow to rouse, heavy with lost thoughts and dreams. Dad was beside me and it was night time. I raised my head just enough to see the clock which said it was just past four in the morning. I was drenched in sweat and yanked away the covers, even moving slightly from Dad's warm body to try to cool down.

Dad didn't stir when I stepped lightly from the bed, both of us naked but Dad still covered by the sheets. As I righted, I felt wetness spread down one thigh and swept my hand down to find that I had gotten very wet in the night, enough that a thin cream had drooled out of my vagina when I stood up. What had caused that? I tried to recall.

In my mind, I emptied myself once more in the young girl, and I raced to the bathroom and shut myself inside.

These dreams were more intense than real life, in a way. Each and every detail was vivid in a way my real experiences were not. I could still remember every sensation of the woman's pussy around my cock. The same was true for the girl. My clit was growing heavy and hard when I recalled what it felt like to cum in the 'little one,' as the woman had called her. Why does this turn me on? And why these dreams all of a sudden?

Perhaps, I realized, my mind was reeling from what was going on with my father. That was a pretty extreme experience, really. Maybe I've gone just a little loopy to try to rationalize and my dream-mind is working overtime to handle everything. Maybe that's all it was.

Whatever was going on, the dream about the woman and girl didn't drift off. I realized that neither had the earlier one with the withering old man. I could still feel every pulse of his cock as he emptied himself inside my body. Why were those memories so much stronger than those of fucking my dad? I could recall much of those times with Dad, but not in such detail, not with such clarity. By comparison, the memories of my father were black and white compared to the lush landscape of tones I experienced in the dreams.

It horrified me to the point of nausea, my head swimming. I knelt in front of the toilet and hung my head over the side, swaying a bit as my stomach turned over. The next few minutes were disgusting and pitiful, but once I'd emptied myself completely, I felt just a little better, though no less confused or worried than before.

I showered slowly, washing every inch of my body.

Warmth spread out from my abdomen. I thought I might get sick again and cut off the water. I stood a moment, noticing that the warmth was not nausea, but sort of like that feeling you get when you take a painkiller. It spread and grew, soon consuming me. I sank down in the tub and turned on the water from the faucet this time, filling the tub and resting in the hot bath with a smile on my face.

An image formed in my mind. An image of a baby girl. Thin bright-orange hair on her pale head. Freckles along her nose and cheeks. She was laughing, wiggling. I felt the warmth grow stronger still, a comfortable flame in an otherwise cold room.

The image and warmth lasted only seconds longer, then the girl was gone and my body began to return to a less euphoric state. I opened my eyes, confused and uncertain what to think.

Apparently, my brain had had too much already and I was barely able to dry myself and return to bed before I lost the battle to the blackness.

- - -

A shorter dream followed.

Inside a small shop, a man stood and stared at a rack behind a counter. On the rack were clocks. Small, wooden ones. Larger ones made of bone or some smooth stone. The shop looked old, perhaps a hundred years or more in the past. I watched through a window as the man pointed and the clerk took down a modest-sized clock. Even from a distance I could see every detail. It showed an oversized bird, yellow and light-green, sitting on top of a blue-roofed barn with red sides. The clock face was a dark brown wood with white stones marking the hours, two thin white hands marking the current time.

The man turned the clock over and twisted something, opening a small panel on the back, and looked inside. He nodded, closed the panel, and handed the clerk several coins. On his way out the door, clock under one arm, the man glanced at me, not pausing his steps, and then steadily disappeared into the shimmering expanse to my right.

- - -

"Tera? Sweetheart?" Dad's voice called to me from somewhere above. "You're burning up, Tera."

"Hmmm?" I muttered, confused and feeling very thick.

"You might have a fever, Sweetheart."

He pushed a thermometer into my lips and a moment later, he said, "One-oh-one. Damn. Let's get some medicine in you. Right back in a minute."

I didn't much process his words, instead drifting and dozing a while before I felt him proding me awake again. I swallowed a pill and a spoonful or two of something saccharine-sweet, then Dad sat on the edge of the bed, wiping my forehead with a cloth. "You look like you don't feel well..."

"I... don't... got sick... last night... threw up..."

Dad frowned, "Sorry, Tera... Hopefully the meds will help. If not, I'll get you to a doctor."

I felt really warm but also chilled. I alternated tightening and loosening the sheets around my body.

"Don't leave me," I pleaded as images from the night flooded in. The dreams. The odd experience in the tub.

Dad kissed my forehead. "Not going anywhere. Well, that's not true. Need to pee, Sweetheart, but I'll just be right in there if you need me."

"Kay," I muttered, already drifting again but glad that he knew I wanted him with me.

- - -

"I'll find you, you little whore!"

The brusque male voice shook me and I opened my eyes. I was laying on a small cot in what could have easily passed for some Soviet-era prison cell, drab grey and olive paint had peeled and cracked on the walls, scratches, tears, and foreign writing all over. The cot was a bare, thin mattress held just inches off the bare concrete floor. The only light in the room appeared to come from outside a small window cut into the door, which was closed.

Near my head, a man sat on a short stool. He wore an outfit which made me think of bankers or stock brokers. A suit of sorts, but out of place even there. It was black and dark-blue, fitted to his slender, tall frame, and the dark tie he wore was highlighted with swirling golden strands in patterns I didn't recognized but which appeared meaningful.

"I'll find you and I'll get it back and you'll pay dearly for what you did,'" the man growled.

"Wh-what?" I replied, as confused as ever.

He ignored me. "Fucking thieves. I know you have it. Fucking whore thief."

I started to shake and sat up. His eyes, which had seemed to be fixed on my head, never moved, the man staring down at the empty spot at the top of the cot.

"I'm close, you know. You've run out of places to hide, haven't you."

"Who are you?!" I exclaimed with rising fright.

The man, again, ignored me, continuing to watch the cot as I backed away towards the door. He muttered in a foreign tongue, something rhythmic but coarse. I reached behind me and grabbed the thick, curling metal door handle, pulling quickly. It opened and I turned to rush out.

The door opened into a room exactly like the one I was in.

Same grey and olive walls.

Same bare mattress.

Same man on a stool muttering something to an empty cot.

I screamed.

The man's head in front of me snapped to look at me. When I turned behind me ready to retreat, I saw that the first man was staring right at me, as well.

- - -

"Dad!" I screamed as I jolted upright in the bed, throwing back the covers and turning my head all around.

"Tera?!" he replied from behind me, sitting up on the bed, "What is it?"

My eyes were straining to see in the dim light of the room. The clock showed it to be two-oh-five in the afternoon. I panted, trying to resolve my fear, uncertain a moment why I was so scared. I remembered the man.

Men, rather.

What the hell was going on?

"I... I'm okay. I'm okay," I offered, less certain than I tried to sound. "Bad dream..."

"Awww, come here," he said, sweeping back the sheet. I crawled in and pressed as hard against Dad as I could, shivering but not cold. "Fevers do that to you sometimes."

I wasn't so sure it was the fever, but I admitted to myself I was not really in a state of mind to know the difference.

Dad felt my forehead. "Hey, will you look at that. You don't feel so hot to the touch. Maybe the meds are working. Hungry?"

I couldn't even process the idea, some nausea returning as the fear only slowly withdrew. I shook my head.

"Mind if I go get something to eat?"

I shook my head.

"Maybe a warm bath might feel good for you, Sweetheart?" He asked. When I nodded in agreement, Dad got out of bed and added, "I'll get it going for you. I'll be just downstairs if you need me. Promise. I Love you, Tera."

I hugged Dad tight, not really wanting him to leave, but I felt too weak to hold on long.

I made my way slowly back to the bathroom and couldn't help remembering, with intensity, the odd events which had taken place there in the night.

I relaxed in the hot water a long time. It felt nice but I didn't have the same strange experience as the time before. I admit, I was a little disappointed.

- - -

For the next two days, time moved both fast and slow. My fever broke for certain. I didn't feel well, but I didn't feel worse, even perhaps a little better. The following day, I was surely better, eating more, feeling more energy returning to my body. I'd had none of the odd dreams or unnerving hallucinations, and I'd begun to believe the fever might have caused everything.

Dad and I hadn't been intimate beyond cuddles and kisses. I wanted him inside me again, but my energy was too low to say so.

But I awoke before my father that third day, feeling fresh and reinvigorated, a smile on my face as I rolled over and found Dad on his back, snoring loudly. I carefully slid under the covers and found Dad's cock. It was soft, resting along his thigh, moving up and down gently as he breathed.

Without using my hands, I slid wet my lips then slid them down over the head of his penis, sucking on him slowly. Dad began to harden in my mouth, moments later his hands were slowly sliding down to run through my hair. I could hear him moaning softly outside the covers. The sheet was thrown back quickly and I saw my dad looking down at me sleepily, mouth open, while I sucked his dick deliberately.

He pushed me away, then forced me onto my back. My legs spread on their own, and for long, wonderful minutes, my father ate my pussy like a starving man eating ice cream without a spoon. I came twice, then again moments after he slid his leaking erection into my vagina. Dad stretched me around him, and then we mated, lips pressed together, bodies sweating, until my father emptied himself inside me, his cock twitching long after he'd squeeze his last drop into my body.

I breathed deep and pleasantly, content and feeling my best in days. Dad asked me if I was doing better, and I kissed him and said I was. He offered to make us breakfast, and I said I wanted to take a shower before eating.

"Love you, Tera. So glad you're feeling better," he told me before going downstairs.

I lounged on the bed a while, letting my legs remain splayed open, Dad's cum dripping slowly out of me. I played with the hairs over my Mons. They'd begun to grow longer, I thought, maybe thicker, too. Or maybe I was just noticing it more since my eyes were often looking down there while my father ate me or fucked my pussy. I rather thought my pubic hairs were sexy.

The vivid memories with the woman and girl rushed in, the hair between my legs nearly matching that on their heads. I'd fucked the woman and then the young girl, cumming inside the latter's tight hairless vagina. I felt a rush of arousal and begun to twirl fingers around my clit. I remembered, almost perfectly, what it had felt like to have a cock, to penetrate a woman's pussy. To penetrate a young girl. I swelled with lust again, my hips rising up with the exciting memories.

- - -

Shimmering. Shimmering.

A white light turning light green and then fading into a hillside.

I sat atop a small, cleared knoll, sometime late in the year when the grass has started to brown. It was windy, but the sun was warm. I looked around and realized I was naked and alone, one hand between my legs, frozen in motion touching my erect clit.

What was I doing here? I could hear grasses blowing where they grew taller down the hill a ways, and birds called out from above, circling or diving or gliding along on soft currents of air. I caught the scent of vanilla and lavender, shuddering because it all felt so pleasantly surreal.

Suddenly, a young girl sat beside me. It wasn't the redhead from before, but an older girl, maybe twelve or so. Like me, she was completely naked.

I said nothing as she kicked her legs straight out, then bent them at the knees, toes tickling the grass below. She leaned her head back, then slowly lowered herself to the ground, thighs spread wide.

My eyes wandered.

The girl's dark hair was matched by soft, curly dark hairs on the lower half of her Mons Venus, less dense trails of lightly-hairy flesh running down the sides of the girl's slightly-open labia. The outer lips were swollen as if aroused, dark-pink or light red, a curve of one splayed slightly over the other lip. I could see she was wet.

"I'm ready." The dark-haired girl told me.

"What must I do?" Some part of my brain made my mouth say.

"What you want to."

"What I... want?" I didn't understand.

"What you want, yes," the girl said, never opening her eyes. Her smile widened, though. "What I want, too."

I shouldn't have been surprised to find my penis in my hand again, hard, throbbing, leaking precum. The girl's lovely budding breasts were tipped by hard, dark nipples, and her little, blossoming pussy was surely tight and ready for my entry.

I slid over her, enjoying the way she moved her arms to embrace me as I sank inside her. The girl was tight and shallow, my penis sliding only about half-way inside before I hit her cervix. She moaned in a lovely, singsong way, almost trilling her enjoyment, her voice echoing from nearby trees and hills, much louder than it should have been.

We rutted a moment, and I was in heaven. We kissed and she tasted like caramel and candlelight. I could smell her sex as we mated, I could feel her love, her desire for me in every movement. My cock slid in and out of her tight, lightly-hairy channel, her pussy trying to milk my seed.

The girl began to giggle and I slowed and stopped, "What?"

She finally opened her eyes, looking right at me, and said, "I do like it there too... but that's the wrong place this time..."

"Huh?"

She giggled again, pushed me off her, then pulled her legs back, spreading her buttocks with her hands. "There," she told me.

I looked down to see that the girl's butthole was wet and a little raw. "Your butt?"

Laughter, then her reply, "Yes. There."

I was too lustful in that moment to think about it any more. I'd been close to cumming in the young girl, so close, and I needed to be inside her again to release.

Pushing forward, my erect penis opened the young girl's butthole slowly, the head plopping inside. She urged me deeper and I obeyed, sinking, sinking, my cock burning inside the little girl's ass. She only smiled and moaned, no sign of discomfort at all. I moved down to her as she drew me in again. "Yes," the girl told me, "there."

I started to hump her again. Her pussy had been very tight, but her butthole was even tighter. I began to rut faster, faster, opening her anus wider, stretching her. I heard her grunting with each slap of my groin against her buttocks and thighs. I burned. Burned. I was consumed with lust and desire and I desperately wanted to cum in this pretty dark-haired preteen.

I felt myself tensing, tensing, and as I plunged, three... more... times... into the girl, I felt the tip of my dick burn wonderfully as I spurted semen into the girl's bowels. "Uhnnnnnn... Uhnnnnn..." I moaned and cried out, slamming down against her, slamming deep into her ass while I emptied my seed there.

She held me close to her all the time, letting me release fully and relax before she finally let her arms fell away, and I understood our time together was over. I rolled back and got to my feet, shaking. My penis hung half-hard, shiny and a little dirty, the tip drooling a little semen in a long strand.

The girl's pussy was wet, but her anus was messy, some of my cum leaking out of the gaping raw hole. She slowly closed her legs, then stood facing me. She smiled. I started to ask her name, and what was going on, but all she said was, "Until next time..."

- - -

"Uuuuuuhhhnnnnnnnnn... Uhnnnnnnnnn... Oooohhh... Goooooooood" I cried over and over as I climaxed. My mind spun circles, I was confused, orgasming, writhing, moaning in pleasure. I let it roll through me, my hand still between my legs. I could feel cum leaking out of my pussy, my vagina clenching and tensing and burning so good.

I took a deep breath, trying to collect myself. I looked down, half-expecting to see a penis in my hand, but instead, all I saw was my puffy Mons covered with wet and brilliant orange hairs, just a hint of my labia below. I was almost disappointed.

If I'd created that fantasy myself, it was the most intense one ever. I regularly played out erotic scenarios in my mind when I masturbated, but none had ever remotely matched the one with the dark-haired preteen. It was much more like the vivid dreams than anything else. This one scared me less than the others. Sure, the girl was sorta young, but she'd been in puberty, at least. And unlike the woman and girl, she seemed to genuinely enjoy what they did. It felt less... forced.

I had to admit that the dreams or fantasies about having a penis made me ask myself what it might really feel like. Were the dreams accurate? Was my female brain just making up the details? Odd things to think, for sure, but the idea really turned me on, and only when I'd finally collected myself a little did I finally set the fantasy aside and go see if Dad had gotten breakfast finished.

- - -

I didn't make it. Not at first.

Somewhere down the steps, I blacked out, or at least that's how it felt. I sort of melted into myself and only emerged some time later, slowly recombining and becoming me again. Every sensation was simply real. I immediately dismissed the idea that I was dreaming.

My eyes opened and I stared up at an older woman with wild grey hair, a large frilly, fluffy red and black hat on her head. Her eyes were bright orange and seemed to give off a light on their own. The smile on her broad, short face was wide and toothsome. "Hello!"

I jumped, the woman's voice a little shrill and overly excited. I tried to sit up and found that I could not move anything below my neck. "Help!" I exclaimed, already starting to panic.

"Oh, my Dear!" She exclaimed, bringing a red-gloved hand to her mouth, "So sorry! It will pass. I promise. Just relax!"

"Relax?! I'm paralyzed!"

"Temporary. Only temporary!"

I started to struggle again, but the woman pressed her gloved hand to my forehead and hissed, "Shhhhhhhhhh..."

My body relaxed immediately, sedated, almost pleasantly warm. I sucked in a deep breath or two and felt much better. "Thanks..."

The woman smiled at me. "My pleasure. Forgot that part. Woulda saved you a few seconds of discomfort. My mistake! What's your name this time?"

"Uh... Tera."

"Uh-Tera it is!"

I shook my head, a little dizzy, but in a good way, "No. I mean. My name is Tera."

The woman scratched her chin, shaking her head, and told me, "I thought Uh-Tera sounded like a rather odd name."

"What's yours?" I asked.

She beamed. "Maganstovinidakzonschloyarian."

"Uhhh... That... is a pretty odd name..."

The woman narrowed her eyes, then grinned, "I told my father the same thing. Call me Maggie."

"Okay... What's going on, Maggie?" Calm though I was, my brain was trying hard to chain together the events of the day, and it was failing horribly.

"Big things, sweet girl! Big things." The woman whirled on her heel and I turned my head to watch her walk along a small rock-lined path to sit on a low stone bench.

I seemed to be in an English garden of some sort, high green hedges, rose bushes, arches of vines, and darling statues of gnomes and gargoyles and cherubs. Feeling returned to my arms and I was able to lean up to sit straight. I was seated on a bench similar to the one Maggie had settled on, only now she had taken up knitting needles and was working strands of hot pink, white, and orange cream into some sort of shawl or wrap. In fact, it seemed the woman was no longer paying me any mind.

"Maggie?" I said, able now to spin and drop my feet to the soft grass. I looked down, and once more, I was naked. It bothered me less than it probably should have. "Where are we?"

The woman looked up, muttering rapidly to herself a moment before she asked, "Who are you again, Dear?"

"Tera."

"Tera. Oh, right!" She put down her knitting and leapt to her feet. The woman's outfit surely matched her ornate hat. She wore a black and red dress with elaborate, exaggerated edges, high on one side up above her cheeks, running low down the opposite shoulder, extra folds and layers making it difficult to tell the shape or approximate style. There were small, golden ornamental balls hanging from near her wrists and somewhere near her waist, the dress seamlessly giving way to ballooning pants of the sort you might see on a jester or clown. Oddly, her feet were as bare as mine. All-in-all, she looked like she belonged in Wonderland with Alice or the Cheshire Cat. I half expected a big smile to appear and grow into a sarcastic feline.

She walked up to me as if on gliding, one hand up, her arm bent, a cup of tea in her hand. I hadn't seen her pick it up. Maggie stopped just a few feet from me. She was rather short, I realized. Possibly no more than four feet tall, and with the outfit, almost as wide. Her eyes met mine and they twinkled when she smiled, "Are you comfortable, Dear?"

"Pardon?"

"Your clothing. It's warm today, you're quite... overdressed."

Given that I was naked, it seemed like an odd statement. Then I felt the sweat on my brow and looked down. I was now wearing a heavy winter jacket over top at least two more layers, thick woolen pants and heavy boots below. "How... how did you do that?"

"I didn't," she laughed, "you did."

"Me?"

"You." Maggie replied, standing still with a smile, occasionally sipping from her cup.

"It is rather hot," I admitted, confused about how I went from naked to fully dressed without noticing. I shed one layer after another until I was wearing only a camisole and what I assumed were some sort of ancient underwear, mostly just soft, gathered shorts which felt somewhat silly.

Maggie laughed again. "That was the hardest way to do it. Besides, it got you nowhere."

A trickle of sweat dripped down over my eye, and once more, I was clothed in layers of winter gear. "What's happening?"

"You keep trying to hide, I think. Only... you're not very good at it, now, are you?"

"Hide?" I asked, really confused. "Hide from what?"

Maggie's face grew tight and serious. I swear I saw her features darken before she said, "From Him, I expect."

"Who?"

"The one who seeks you always," Maggie spat, "The fallen one."

I shook my head, overwhelmed.

I started to tug off clothing again, but Maggie stopped me with an outstretched hand, her features lighter and brighter again. "My Dear, my Dear. Quit struggling. You're an infant. You've only just gained possession of the essence. How it missed you the first time... Old Garish is still trying to piece that one together... Odd that this time things went differently, but..." Maggie threw up her hands and shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

My voice grew firm and loud, "I don't understand anything, Maggie! I've had crazy dreams. Crazy hallucinations. I've... done things in them... They seem so real!"

"Mmm... mmm-hmmm. That's because they are real, my Dear."

"That's not possible," I said, now drenched in sweat. I started again to pull off the clothing. Maggie's hand touched my arm and once more I felt relief and relaxation. I sank back onto the bench. "Tell me what's going on, Maggie... Please!"

"It's gonna be fast, this time, the sequence. Fifteen years later than usual on one hand, fifteen years too early on the other. Can't you just feel the pressure between them?" The woman's hand now held a small umbrella, the top shaped like an elephant but not nearly broad enough to cover all of the woman's form.

"I don't understand anything you're saying," I pleaded. I remembered one of those odd moments. "There was a man. In a room. Well. Two rooms. Two men, but... they were the same man. They called me names, like 'whore.'"

"Lan-guage!" Maggie said sternly, pushing a finger into one of her ears.

"That's what he called me!" I replied, finding some strength in my fears. "He said he was going to find me. That I'd... stolen... something. He didn't say what."

Maggie's features went pale, and she brought her free hand to her chest, mouth open in horror. "Nooooooo..."

"Who was he? Is he the fallen one? The one who seeks me?"

Maggie ignored my question and leaned back. "This man... did he see you? Did he hear you?!"

"I... not at first... but... right before the dream ended, I screamed... and he turned towards me," I swallowed, remembering the fright. "Both of them turned towards me."

The woman started muttering in what sounded like Latin, crossing her arms up and down, left and right, corner to corner, and then in varieties of geometric patterns in front of her chest. This went on so long that I screamed at her, "Maggie!" Her head snapped towards me and her hand stopped moving. I yelled, "Tell me!"

"I can't, my Dear," she said in a low, small voice. "But you don't want him to find you. Better the fallen one finds you, mmm-hmm. Better that one of the two."

"What's going on?!" I screamed, feeling pulled and stretched and warped, naked again though I'd not finished removing my clothes.

Maggie's image shimmered, then the garden did the same. As the misty fog closed in on my vision, I heard Maggie said evenly, "Don't tell your father... he isn't ready...," felt something snap around my left wrist, and then I lost track of everything and became nothing for a little while.

Tera, Female, 15

	- Narrator, High School Freshman, daughter of Quinn

	- 5'7, pale-beige skin, 135lbs, shoulder-length bright copper-orange-red hair

Quinn, Male, 41

	- Project manager, father of Tera

	- 6'0, beige skin, 190lbs, wavy blonde-brown hair a few inches long