“So, you think you can replicate it to all three of us?” I asked.

  “Yes, so…” She paused, looking at Harp, then nodded. “Actually, Harp thinks we need a lookout, someone to get a good vantage point and look for movement.”

  “Smart,” I admitted. “Be safe, okay?”

  Harp nodded.

  “She says she’ll let us know if there’s a problem,” Laurel said.

  I frowned. “How, exactly?”

  “Trust me, we’ll know.”

  Giving Harp a quick hug, I cloaked and watched Laurel disappear at my side. Once Harp had flown into one of the trees and perched, we started down the decline toward the base.

  “I’ve been experimenting with my powers, too,” I hissed as we approached, not really sure how close Laurel was.

  Her voice came from my right, close enough that I could feel her breath on my cheek. “Maybe we’ll find reason to try them out, soon enough.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  Her hand took mine. It was an incredibly strange sensation, holding hands with someone you couldn’t see, but then a shimmer of light hit and I could make out the glimmer of the side of her face. We weren’t invisible, simply cloaked. A point worth remembering.

  Still, as we continued on, the warmth of her hand in mine made me wonder what it would be like to do other things with us both cloaked—another time, I told myself, annoyed that my mind always went there. It didn’t seem to matter the circumstances, at least lately, my mind would find a way to make it about the physical.

  I needed to focus, so I blew out a white charm. My nerves were instantly put at ease, my ability to cloak feeling like it came even easier now.

  We moved around back to where we could see Trance and Ice talking, to assess the fighter craft they had there. Laurel guided me to a vantage point and pulled me down to her side, hand now on my lower back. Her touch sent warmth tingling up my spine.

  “We need to get closer. Even with my ears, it’s not easy to hear what they’re saying from here.”

  “No need,” Laurel replied, and then I noticed the glowing light in the pine needles on the forest floor moving toward us. It faded when it reached us, and Laurel gasped. “Tomorrow. The attack’s coming tomorrow at midday. A massive attack, bigger than we could’ve imagined. And… the super they’re going after… Dammit, no, these two don’t know the super’s name.”

  “I thought you couldn’t read minds?”

  “Technically, I can’t.” Then the light glow reappeared, reflecting off of the cloaked hand holding it. Now that I saw it up close, it reminded me of a small prairie dog. “But my friend here can. She’s a spiritual familiar.”

  “Damn,” I said, completely impressed. Not only had I not been expecting that, it was the first I’d ever met someone with an actual spiritual familiar. “Gotta get me one of those.”

  A chuckle came from her direction, then she took my hand again and gave it a gentle tug. “That’s all we need, for now. Come on.”

  In light of everything else going on, I was relieved by how easy that had actually been. We raced back to Harp, waited for her to land, and then moved a bit away again before stopping to discuss and share what we’d learned.

  I turned, indicating the direction we’d come from, where we’d stashed the bike. “And the plan from here? We shouldn’t linger because—”

  “Ooh,” Laurel said, looking past me with a frown.

  Dammit, I should’ve figured they would’ve found us. Still, turning to see Anone was a relatively welcome relief, considering I had been expecting Prancer or someone worse.

  “He said you were captured,” Anone said, eyeing me doubtfully, eyes moving over to the other ladies and then across to their Supralines outfits. “This isn’t looking much better.”

  “Anone, my sister…” I stepped toward her, taking a chance. “I need to see her.”

  “She’s… on her way.” Anone didn’t move away, but her eyes were darting over me. “You and her, you’re not as alike as I’d have thought, you know.”

  “Sorry to let you down. I need you to tell me when and where. I need to see her.”

  “Who are these two?” Anone turned to my friends, eyeing them.

  Laurel opened her mouth to respond, but I held up a hand.

  “Again, my sister…” I stepped closer again, uncomfortably so. “Can you tell me?”

  Anone frowned. I could tell she was about to turn and run. Her eyes moved first, then her feet, but I reached out and grabbed her arm, hard. When she tried to hit me with her free arm, I took that one too, then breathed pink into her face.

  I didn’t know what charm would be best here, and the first thought that came to mind with that red hair and the way she was acting all feisty was that she was hot. So yeah, the charm hit her and instantly changed her, but it also affected me, as always. Unfortunately, in this case it was almost as bad as the last one had been, because pink was apparently a seduction charm.

  Anone stopped trying to pull away, instead pressing herself up against me, her perky breasts pressed hard against mine. She breathed heavily, nostrils flaring as a look of desire took over.

  “What…?” Laurel asked but must’ve sensed it before finishing the sentence. “Oh, Charm, you didn’t.”

  “You’re going to let us go,” I directed Anone, trying to ignore the urge to throw her down and rip through her clothes with my claws. We both wanted it, but we were both heavily under the influence of my charm. “When my sister arrives, you’re going to find a way to inform me, and let her know I need to speak to her. Understood?”

  Anone tried to pull her arms free, rubbing her body along mine, but when I wouldn’t release her, she growled playfully.

  “Understood?” I repeated.

  “By Oram, you’re sexy when you take charge,” Anone said. “You and me, right here… them watching.”

  The way my charm was hitting me, I almost went for it. Instead, I shook my head, lowered her hands, and looked her straight in the eyes as seductively as I could. “Anone, do this for me, and I’m yours. But one last time, I need to know you understand.”

  “I do. Oh, fuck, I do.” When I released her, she started to undress.

  Hating myself for it, I stopped her. “After.”

  She frowned, giving me a sexy pout, but nodded.

  “Come on,” I said to Harp and Laurel. “We need to get out of here.”

  They followed me back to the bike, quickly, so that I could fly again with Harp while Laurel rode. The whole way, Laurel went on about how that had been wrong on so many levels.

  From there it was a quick journey to our meeting point, where Olena and Trell waited with supplies to last us the night.

  “What’s it going to be?” I asked.

  “You’re right,” Olena said. “The school is up in arms against you three, but they didn’t notice us. Guess they don’t realize we’re all a team. But,” she handed over a blanket, “we have a plan. Tomorrow is the tryouts—we need to find Lamb there, as it’ll be easiest to sneak you in with all the commotion.”

  “I think we can do that,” I said, readier than ever. “And in the meantime, get back there so you aren’t missed. We need to ensure we’re not all in this boat of outcasts.”

  They smiled and gave us hugs, wishing us good luck, then helped us put up the small tent before taking off. The idea of sleeping in there with the other two got my heart beating. To my surprise, once I was in I was so exhausted that I immediately drifted off to sleep.

  25

  The next day, we got an early start. We descended on the opposite side of Supralines, moving around the hill there to another lake, where we’d be able to approach while being less likely to be detected. It was also closer to the Mehen field. I was pleased to see the chaos of the tryouts was in full effect around the school and wondered what the status was with the supervillains captured during the raid on the enemy base.

  I laid low while Harp took to the sky to get a better view, but a moment later she landed and shook her head.

  “The tryouts haven’t started yet,” Laurel explained to me.

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning we have time to kill. Best to go in when there’s a crowd for cover, and when we know we can reach Professor Lamb.”

  Fine, so we had to lay low for a bit. We all found a shady, grassy area under a tree, reclining, ready to wait it out. A glance over at Harp showed she was looking my way with curiosity, no doubt remembering our flight over as I was. Laurel noticed, grinned, and, under my gaze, shrugged.

  My energy was bubbling over. There was no way I could just sit there, waiting. As one might imagine, there could be another way to get this pent-up energy out. Sure, I could simply use a charm on myself, the calming one… but what fun would that be? Instead, I turned to Laurel first and crawled over, tail waving from side to side as I growled.

  Her eyes went wide with surprise, then the smile came. Damn, that smile was hot.

  “Now?” she said and glanced around. Harp was watching.

  “What better time?” I asked.

  Laurel smiled, bit her lip, and leaned back, letting me move up on her, letting me undo her pants and reach in, caressing her as our lips met. She smiled as I was the one to move down first, not wanting to waste any time, in case the action started while we were in the midst of our own action. I ran my hand along the side of her breasts, moving her top aside just enough to kiss her nipple, to pull at it gently with my lips, and then move down.

  When I reached her pants, I glanced over to see that Harp was licking her lips, totally into it.

  “Shit,” I said, for some reason feeling totally self-conscious about the whole situation. I glanced up at Laurel, down to my fingers tucked into the edge of her panties… and then yanked them down anyway.

  Laurel let out a small yelp of surprise, apparently having expected me to stop. But she didn’t pull away or say anything. I slid her pants down farther, squeezing her ass and then moving my hands around to her front to finish removing her pants and all. One more glance showed Harp not only watching, but a hand moving along her breasts as she started to sit up, her eyes wide with curiosity.

  She wanted a show, I’d give her a show. I kissed the inside of Laurel’s thigh, then ran my tongue along it, left hand caressing the other thigh, moving down to feel the wetness of Laurel’s pussy. I was craving it, so I continued down until my face was buried, my tongue lapping up her sweetness, my hands reaching behind to grab handfuls of her ass.

  As she’d pleased me, I wanted to show her I could be great lover too. I ran my tongue along her insides, searching for her clit until I found it, hardening, and began to lick it while playing with one finger around her opening.

  She squirmed. Suddenly, there was a hand on me. I turned to see Harp, a questioning tilt to her head. I nodded.

  My eyes went to Laurel, who shrugged. Where she was from, this was normal, right? Wanting to show her I could be open too, that I could play along, I too shrugged as well, trying not to stiffen as Harp smiled and ran her hand along my back, slapped my ass and then… yes, she was caressing my tail.

  As odd as that was, it felt fucking good. I buried my face back in Laurel’s pussy, fingers moving inside her, and felt the cold air of my ass being exposed. Harp had pulled down my pants, and now she was eating me out from behind. I giggled as her nose tickled my asshole, and then squirmed as a finger went in it, but hell, who was I kidding? It felt strange and great at the same time. When her tongue took the finger’s place I nearly bit Laurel. She had to pull my face away for a moment, but then she shoved me back down, moaning and rotating her hips, pushing into me. A glance up showed her watching Harp do her thing to me, and it was turning Laurel on even more, so I went with it.

  When Laurel moaned and twitched, her hands went through my hair, over my long ears, and even caressed them. In all my years of life, I couldn’t remember anyone ever touching my ears, let alone caressing them. It was another level of satisfaction. Between that and Harp reaching around and caressing my left breast while fingering me with her right hand, I wasn’t sure how long I could last.

  This wasn’t supposed to be about me, but Laurel had already cum, so I buried my face in her chest, moaning and trying not to shout out.

  “Now you two,” Laurel said, inching away and indicating Harp. “Kiss, caress each other while I watch.”

  Again, I was hesitant, but now that I’d turned to face Harp, she looked just as uneasy. She had no problem when I was facing away from her, but this was a different situation. Her timidness turned me on. I went to her, pulling her large breasts free—much more there to work with than either Laurel or I had. She crossed her arms over her chest as if unsure, insecure, and then I moved in, kissing her. Her mouth was warm, and sweet like cherry jam. When I took her arms and wrapped them around me, lowering myself to take as much of her nipple and breast into my mouth as I could, she started to get back to the confident lover she’d been moments before, when I’d still been facing the other way.

  My guess was that eye contact made it awkward for her, so I kept my eyes shut, turning and opening them only to see that Laurel was watching and gently caressing herself. Harp blushed, clearly into it but uncertain whether she should be.

  “No need to be shy,” I said, coming back up, eyes open, caressing Harp’s cheek.

  She shrugged as if to say she couldn’t help it.

  “Want me to try out one of my new charms?” I asked, and she looked skeptically at Laurel before shrugging, then nodding.

  I wasn’t sure if it would work, but figured I’d give it a try. Blowing out red like a mist, I watched as it surrounded her face. She breathed it in, and then it was gone. The effect on me was instantaneous, so I knew it would hit her at least twice as hard.

  Suddenly we were on each other, rolling, caressing, fingering. She had her tongue on my breasts, her lips on my naval, her hand caressing me, massaging, her mouth sucking at my clit, and then mine hers—and when she let out a gentle hum, it sent a vibration through all three of us that left us speechless, tingling warmth caressing our bodies from the inside out and exploding into body-warping orgasms… at least three for me.

  When it was done, I realized I couldn’t open my eyes at first and panicked, then realized they were already open, but my face was buried between her legs. I needed to push back but lacked the energy.

  Laurel laughed, caressing my back. I found my muscles strengthening, my awareness returning.

  “Breathe,” Laurel said. I let out a charm that was green like young grass after a heavy rain. Instantly, we were all alert again. I wondered if we could handle more. That opportunity didn’t happen right then, however, because just then a cheer rang out.

  Laurel turned back toward the school, her antennae erect and glowing. “It’s time.”

  26

  Once the excitement of the Mehen tryouts took hold, you couldn’t really blame the guards for doing a piss-poor job of keeping the likes of us from sneaking in. We worked around the back, where other students were already running around in excitement, some returning from the lake, others calling to their friends or showing off other skills in preparation for their turn at the tryouts.

  Essentially, it would be a big day of people blowing shit up, moving items with their minds, flying as fast as they could, and displaying all manner of other powers to see if they had what it took to impress the captains of the teams from the previous year.

  Before we’d reached the gate, however, Trell and Olen noticed me and came running over, one of those blue balls from the sport in Olena’s hands.

  “Charm, good timing,” Trell started, but noted the look in my eyes and nodded, tossing me the ball. “Pretend like you’re just one of us, here to practice.”

  I tossed the ball to Harp, while looking around to see if we were in trouble. Harp tossed the ball to Laurel, who threw it back to me. Behind her, a girl showed off in the sky with a fiery-spinning flip behind her.

  “I didn’t tell you all last night,” I admitted, preparing to toss the ball. “I think my sister’s part of it.”

  Tossing the ball to Olena after saying that was apparently a bad choice. She growled, shaking her head in frustration, and her hands heated up before she caught it. When the ball hit skin, it instantly popped.

  “Sorry,” Olena said. “It’s just… my sister used to pull shit like that, always breaking rules and getting me into trouble, but nothing as bad as this. I can’t begin to imagine.”

  I chuckled, looking at the flattened ball in her hands, and indicated the gate. “And Lamb? Have you seen her?”

  “We’ve been looking, but… no.”

  “Damn.” I nodded to the entrance. “We could use help, then.”

  Of course, they were in, so we worked our way through the crowd of students practicing or gossiping. Some recognized me and moved out of the way. Their eyes darted from me to their surroundings, no doubt wondering if there was a teacher or guard nearby to report me to. As we went, I explained that I was pretty sure the diversion earlier had been to work someone out of the dungeons.

  “There are rumors,” Laurel said, leaning in and lowering her voice. “Well, thoughts, really.” She held out her hand in a way that showed a sparkle moving up her arm, the one I’d noticed when we’d first arrived. “I have my methods.”

  “And the rumor?”

  “A certain level of the prisons, where some of the worst have been kept. But even the staff don’t know who exactly they’re after.”

  “Meaning the enemy has been doing a good job,” Olena said.

  “Well, we’ll put an end to that.” With a look around, I decided it was time. “I’m going to cloak.”

  “You’ve mastered that now?” Laurel asked.

  “Mastered… not sure. But able to do it the last couple times I tried? Yeah.” As soon as we ducked through the entrance, I faded out of view, but kept my hand on Laurel’s back. “I’m right here, sticking close.”