Also, Sam The Ham contributed a few parts to this story. <samtheham2235@gmail.com>
Reviews and support came from Charles Well and Sam The Ham. Thanks to each of you for your help.
(C) 2019
The Sandy Jacobs story was at first only going to go through the Choosing Ceremony that Jonas Henley had been building towards but never got to. However, many readers wanted to know about the `White Party,' another path the original writer began but never wrote. So with help from others, I took on the task of writing much of that chapter. As the Selection Ceremony was nearing completion, I saw that there was a lot of things that had been developed and never closed, and convinced Mr. Well to let me write a closure, which became chapters 11-13 of SJ.
We thought that would be the end, but a third writer wanted to continue the story beyond 1995, and as I write this, that work is ongoing.
Also, a reader who made several very good suggestions wished there was more to the Kelly Tucker – Casey Harris story, and more about the magic that Jonas Henley had used. Charles and I never wanted to emphasize the magic. That had the potential to make the story too much of a fantasy, instead of being a story about the lives of an extended family.
However, I was not satisfied that I had ended the relationship the way I wanted, and after much thought, decided I would add another story to the saga in order to improve the ending. In addition, I could extend the development of magic created by the original author. This will not be a long story like KOIS or SJ, rather I just want to address these two ideas. I hope readers will find it interesting.
Since SJ is still being published and written, I can't use that title. I also will minimize the creation of new characters. This story will focus on ten people, and all but two of them were in the SJ chapters. A lot of readers will miss having Malcolm and Sandy around as much as in my other work, but since they are playing key roles in the continuation of SJ I don't want to create confusion; therefore, those characters, and many others, will play minor roles or won't even be brought into this story.
KOIS can be found at: https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/kids-of-indian-spring/
SJ can be found at: https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/sandy-jacobs/
In the link for SJ you will also find a family tree of the extended Mackey Clan and a map of Lower Indian Spring. These might be helpful to understand the story here.
Pietar, AKA Sarge. You can reach me at pietar_the_fearless@yahoo.com
This story uses characters developed by several authors, including myself, in "Kids of Indian Spring" and "Sandy Jacobs." For readers who have not read either of those stories, a very brief background is provided.
Jonas Henley gave several of his characters certain innate magical abilities. Ian Cormack had the gift of persuasion and the power of suggestion. He could manipulate anyone (with some exceptions) into doing what he wanted, which was frequently sexual.
Jack Lanham, like his brothers, had some mostly unspecified powers. But one was the ability to take another person's power and use it against them. Near the end of what Jonas wrote, Ian, who had previously manipulated Jack to allow him to fuck his cousin, made the mistake of giving a boy he controlled (and who had a golden tooth) to Jack. Jack was able to use that to get his revenge, stripping Ian of his power. However, he didn't understand what he was doing.
There were some problems with what Jonas wrote, and because of them I made a few changes in the SJ chapters that I authored. In chapter 26d of KOIS the original author introduced four very evil characters – Soge, Pike, Fagin, and Scain. He described Scain and Soge as Korrigan and one of the others as Amandan. In Irish and Scottish mythology, there is no such thing as an "Amandan," but there is an Amadan, so I can only guess that he misspelled it. According to myth, an Amadan is the Bringer of Madness and Oblivion.
In SJ, I made Scain the leader and made him the Amadan. Scain brought the others from where they were resting, or in Soge's case, imprisoned. I made a vague reference only to Pike and Fagin, and it is safe to assume they were destroyed by Duncan and James Cormack as one could guess from reading KOIS 26d. In SJ, Kelly Tucker had Scain sent back to where it came from.
In this story, I want to present Soge as described in some Scottish stories and to some degree, in accordance with that version of mythology, which differs a lot from the Irish version.
In SJ chapters that I authored I completed what Jonas never did. Jack and Ian both lost their powers. Kelly Tucker, who was bound by prophecy, managed to return Scain to a cave. In the end, Ian and Jack discovered they had a new power – their brains were connected. They could see, hear, taste, and feel anything the other was doing. And not just them, but also a boy named David Mackey.
Kelly Tucker has the gift of Immunity. He is immune to the gifts of others, he has neither good nor bad luck, and he can see through lies and false presentation. He can see people for what they really are.
Kelly's youngest brother, Ashton, is Clairvoyant. At the very end of the sections I wrote, and developed further in this story, Ashton is just learning a new gift. One of smell.
When writing Sandy Jacobs, we tried to minimize the use of magic. It was the very nature of Kelly and could not be ignored there, and since Jonas stopped writing before he completed his story (We can only guess at what happened to him, no one we know truly knows,) so in SJ I closed the events of what happened to Ian and Jack.
There are other characters who have magic abilities in the above stories. I am not including them here, as Kelly, Ashton, Ian, Jack, and David will be the focus of this story. If someone else comes along and uses an ability, I will explain it briefly in the text. I encourage you to undertake the task of reading at least Sandy Jacobs. It is long, but well written and enjoyable. And it will make it much easier to understand the events in this story.
In order of appearance, the characters in this chapter are:
Casey Harris (12 years, 9 months). A shaggy-headed dark haired boy. He lives in one of the most south-western houses in Indian Spring.
Ethan Tucker, (11 years, 2 months) The middle brother behind Kelly and before Ashton.
Ashton Tucker (10 years, 1 month) A bright kid with blond hair that darkens every summer. He spends as much time outdoors as he is allowed to, and is just at that age where he is starting to resent having his two older brothers always looking after him.
Ian Cormack (11 years, 2 months) One of 9 children. Ian once had the ability to make people do whatever he wanted, which most often involved sex. Many members of his family have magical abilities, but Ian lost his powers when he and his cousin Jack Lanham used each other without realizing the danger.
Jack Lanham (10 years, 2 months). The youngest of three boys behind Geoff and Patrick. Jack knew much about his older cousin, but like Ian, he didn't have a full understanding of what can happen when magic is mis-used. He robbed his cousin of his ability, and then lost it himself to something he had set free due to his actions.
David Mackey (13 years, 1 month) Middle child, behind Darrell and before Denise. Taken over by rage when he learned his older brother was working hard to make him a Mackey Community bottom, he planned to shoot his brother and as many other boys as possible at the 1995 Choosing Ceremony. Only he was quietly discovered and sent to California for mental health assessment. But his rage had fit will with the thing that Jack and Ian had released, and it took over his body. It wasn't until Kelly Tucker saved him from his brother and abusive father that he learned he now had a connection between himself and Ian and Jack. He now lives in Coolspring with one of his uncles, but still attends school in Sweetwater and is a frequent guest at many houses in Indian Spring.
Kelley Tucker (sometimes Tuck) (12 years, 9 months) Eldest son of Halford (Hal) and Silvie Tucker. Brother of Ethan and Ashton. He is a non-Mackey (A Near Springer) and the main protagonist in Jonas Henley's original story and a major character in Charles Well's "Sandy Jacobs" story.
Malcolm McEwen (12 years, 10 months) Malcolm will be a minor character in this story.
Seth Mackey (12 years, 11 months) Son of Hollis, grandson of Jacob. Very deep Mackey clan. He is an only child, but close friends with the Tuckers and an original friend of Malcolm's. He will be a minor character in this story.
Andrea Harris (14 years, 3 months) The older sister of Casey. She is fearful that her brother will have a sexual contact with a boy at school and she will be forever after known as the sister of the gay kid. Her goal is to convince her parents to send Casey off to another private school. She knows that Casey and Kelly had sex and assumes that both of them are gay.
Kathy Noble (13 years, 4 months) This is a new character. Her family just moved into Sweetwater.
Kurt Noble (12 years, 6 months) Younger brother of Kathy. He, like her, is a new character.
Soge (Monster): Soge is a Scottish Banshee, and more powerful than most. She is not just bound to one family to announce an upcoming death as is the Irish view of such creatures. In accordance with some Scottish mythology, she can, and has, killed. At the beginning of this story, Soge is very weak, harmed by the Cormack magic described by Jonas Henley in KOIS. More about her will become known as this story moves forward.
The Warriors of Indian Spring, Chapter 1
"It had been the Golden Age. But gold was also the color of sunset, of autumn: and only Karellen's ears could catch the first wailings of the winter storms."
"And Stormgren hoped that when Karellen was free to walk once more on Earth, he would one day come to these northern forests, and stand beside the grave of the first man to be his friend."
Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End
Casey was mostly pleased with how things had turned out. He'd finally made a workable piece with Kelly Tucker. They were friends again. Not like before, there was no sex involved (unfortunately, he sometimes felt) but friends none the less. They could meet and it wasn't awkward.
He'd managed to convince his parents to not find another boarding school for him to go to. They agreed, but for the worst reason. They assumed he wanted to remain in Indian Spring to be with his `boyfriend.' He hadn't convinced them that he and Kelly were not gay.
And Andrea was being a major pain. His sister was convinced that Kelly was the reason he had turned gay. And she made it plain to him and their parents that she didn't want to be the sister of a gay kid when the kids at school found out. And she was positive they would. So positive, Casey was worried she was going to tell them herself.
Yet Christmas had come and gone. They went to stay with his dad's brother for a few days down south, where the weather was much warmer but still cold and wet. All of his cousins were girls, leaving him with little to do.
There were traces of snow on the shady side of trees, but the yards were brown and the road pot-holed and wet. He'd hoped to be able to go sledding before Winter Break ended and he had to return to school. The last time there had been enough snow to do it was when he was nine, three years ago. He was almost thirteen now and would soon be considered too old to ride a sled down a shallow hillside.
Mostly, he just wanted to get away from the house. His sister had a friend coming over to spend the night, someone who had just recently moved to Sweetwater. The girl had a brother who was his age and she had invited him to spend the night as well. Knowing her, the kid was probably gay and was expecting something fun to happen. Well, the kid would have to get by with jacking off or having a wet dream.
Casey was more interested in the girl and what she looked like. She was a year younger than Andrea, so that made her thirteen, but her birthday must be close because she and his sister were in the same grade.
He decided maybe it was time to go and see if Kelly was doing anything so he wouldn't have to spend the rest of the afternoon with the unknown kid.
Ashton hadn't wanted to go to the Cormacks. He had been invited to the Gastons house. Mikey had gotten something called Ridge Racer for Christmas, and he promised he'd let his brother Phillip and him play it. He and Phillip were the same age, having just recently turned ten. Mikey was almost twelve.
He knew nothing about the game, but assumed it was another one for the PlayStation the Gaston boys shared. What made it more interesting was when Mikey discovered Ashton had no idea that his pee-pee ("Wiener, not pee-pee," Mikey had told him) could be used for things other than peeing. He was sure that the three of them would end up naked in the bedroom with the door closed again.
But Kelly was off with his friends, and his mom thought he'd be better with Ethan at the Cormacks. So that was where he was. He liked Patrick Cormack, but the boy was a year younger than him and smaller. Not in size, but in how they thought and the games they played. He bet Patrick didn't know what you could do with your wiener. Kathern was his age, but she was a girl. And then there was Ian, but he was about to turn twelve.
But it turned out to be perfect because the other Patrick was there. Patrick Lanham was there along with some of his brothers, and the Patricks stuck together with Ethan and Ian. That left Jack Lanham, also ten-years-old. The Cormack and the Lanham mothers were sisters; thus, the boys were first cousins. Although the Tuckers were not related by blood, there was a bond that went back years and as far as anyone knew; The Tucker boys were considered cousins too.
It was the first time he'd seen Jack since last fall when the evil smell had left the Spring (and Kelly!) and he noticed right off that his pretend cousin smelled different now. Ashton had a keen sense of smell, and he could not just smell those who had magic. He could differentiate between magic like Kelly had, as opposed to Jack or Ian or the other Cormack and Lanham kids. And Jack's magic smell was now different. At first it was something to be explored. But then he got just a slight whiff of the other smell – the evil scent.
Kelly had felt bad about lying to his parents, and even worse about lying to his brothers. He wasn't going to spend the day with Seth Mackey. Well, he was, but not at his friend's house. Malcolm had told him they needed a few hours without any interruptions. He wouldn't say anything more.
"Trust me, it's cool," Malcolm had told him. "It's just not something for Ethan or Ashton. And your parents wouldn't approve." It was that statement that encouraged the lie.
Before saying goodbye to his mom, he made sure she would be gone all day. She had errands to run and was going to have lunch with his dad. His father had so much work now that it wasn't practical for him to do it from the house as he used to. He had an office in Coolspring and spent all afternoon there. Kelly left, but hid until he saw his mom leave with Ashton and Ethan in the car. Then he returned to the house and called his friend.
Fifteen minutes later, Malcolm and Seth arrived.
"You have a VCR I hope," Seth said.
"Yeah, of course. Doesn't everybody?" Kelly was glad Malcolm didn't let on that the VCR was less than a year old. "Why do we need it?"
Seth went to the kitchen and came back with a handful of tissues.
"Trust me, you'll want these," was all he said. He went to the VCR and loaded a tape. A few seconds later the screen showed the title, "Night Trips."
The movie had no more than started when the doorbell rang, scaring the three boys. They quickly paused the machine while Kelly went to answer the door.
"Hey Casey," he said.
"You doing anything?" Casey asked. "I had to get out of the house for a while."
"Uh, well, hold on," Kelly said, casting suspicion on himself that he was doing something wrong.
"Hey guys, its Casey Harris. Is it okay if I invite him in?"
"Sure, no problem," Malcolm and Seth said at the same time.
"We're, uh, just starting a movie," Kelly explained as he held the door open. "I think it's a porno."
"No shit?" his friend questioned as he shed his coat. He saw Seth laughing and Malcolm smiling. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, shit, I never told you," Kelly said, his face turning bright red. "Remember that night I woke you up and we went out to your backyard?"
"Yeah, that was just a month ago or so. My memory is better than that."
"No not that time," Kelly said. "The time before that. Back in June."
Casey blushed. "You told them about that?"
Malcolm joined Seth in openly laughing.
"I didn't need to. They were there. They watched us."
"Fuck," Casey exclaimed, the surprise clear on his face.
"Yeah, we saw you doing that," Seth said through his laughter. "You had boxers with little sailboats on them, and you sailed hard into Kelly's ass!"
"Shit! Who else knows?" asked Casey.
"Nobody," Malcolm said. "And nobody will ever hear it from us. Come on, have a seat. If I know Seth, this movie will take your mind off that."
Just over an hour later, the four boys had their pants to their knees and each had used several of the tissues.
"Wow," Kelly said, unable to fathom what he had just watched. "Where the hell did you get that?"
"Borrowed it from another Mackey," said Seth. "Third time I've seen it, and it still wasn't boring. Could you imagine being connected to a machine like that?" In the movie, the main character, a beautiful woman, had been connected to a dream machine that indulged in her fantasies while her male therapist and another woman watched.
Kelly suddenly thought of Ian, Jack and David Mackey, who could all read each other's mind and realized they wouldn't have to imagine it.
"I'd better air this room out before my mom gets home," Kelly said.
"I can't take the tape home tonight. Can I leave it here for a day or two?" asked Seth.
"Say yes Kelly," said Malcolm. "Tell him he can leave it as long as he wants to."
"I guess," Kelly answered. He couldn't imagine what would happen if his mom or dad found it. "I think I know the perfect spot to hide it." After the tape had been rewound, he took it upstairs. His mom had washed sheets yesterday, so he knew this was a safe place. He went to Ashton's room and put it as far under the mattress as he could reach.
Ashton quickly came to the realization that the Gaston boys weren't the only ones who knew about his newly discovered thing called jacking off. Jack knew all about it too, and a great deal more, which he promised to discuss once the fun part was done.
They sat back-to-back. Ashton was embarrassed and unwilling to do it with Jack able to watch. But the older boy needed to work hard to keep himself from laughing out loud. Deep in his mind, Ian Cormack was begging him to turn around so he could get a view of the Tucker boy through their connected eyes.
Jack finished first, still without cum. David had assured him it would happen, but probably not while he was still so young.
"Maybe when your eleven," David had said.
But Ian had laughed. "I had spermies last fall."
Jack heard Ashton's breathing change, and was tempted to turn and give Ian the peek he was begging to see. He would have done so too, if Ian hadn't been looking. Then he remembered, he could block the others out. He did, and turned just as the kid behind him reached his climax.
"You don't shoot either," Jack said, letting his cousin know he'd looked.
At first, Ashton blushed and covered up his dick with his hands. Then he realized, he should have known that Jack would do that, but hadn't seen it coming. Then he remembered. He could read most people enough to know who they were and what they might do, but not the Lanhams and not most of the Cormacks. The magic of the two families worked (and smelled) different. The Lanhams had some kind of charm that blocked his mental view, and the Cormacks were just protected from his ability somehow. He didn't understand it at all.
"Here, have a good look," he said as he rose off the bed with his pants and underpants still around his knees. "And let me see yours."
"Sure," Jack said. Just to please Ian, he removed the block and let his cousin see too. He stood up with his hands to his sides. "We look the same down there," he said. "Ian's bigger, and has a few hairs, but nowhere near as much as David."
"You've seen David Mackey's pee-, uh, wiener?" Ashton asked.
"Can I tell him?" Jack asked his connected partners. Both Ian and David immediately said it was okay.
"Uh, I have a secret to tell you," he said, turning serious. He bent over and pulled up his pants. Ashton did the same. "There are some people in my family that have Leprechaun abilities."
"Yeah, because you're Irish," Ashton agreed. "You, Geoff, Patrick, and your mom all have that smell. It's a different smell than Ian and his brothers have, but they have magic too. But yours is different now than it was before. Something changed."
"What? What smell are you talking about?" Jack asked. He knew that he wasn't supposed to talk about his or other's powers, but he also knew that like the two Patrick's, Ashton was clairvoyant, so he figured it would be okay.
"The magic smell you have. It is different now. I can smell the difference. And something else I can smell on you. It smells like the smell Kelly had when the monster was part of him."
"You can smell magic?" Jack asked with total astonishment. He'd never heard of anyone who had that ability.
"Yeah, can't you? I've got magic too, you should be able to smell the difference between me and Ethan `cause Ethan doesn't have any. Or between me and Kelly, `cause his magic is different than mine. Only he won't tell me what it is. He says never to speak about it with others. But you're like a cousin, so it should be okay."
"Wait, Ian wants to know how you know about the monster. And David wants to know why you can still smell it on me. Me and Ian have been cured. Something Kelly did that nobody will tell us about."
"You're confusing me," Ashton said. "How do you know what David and Ian want?"
"Not now, not here," Jack said. "David says we're to meet him under the Spring Drive bridge. Ian's gonna get away from the others and come too."
Ashton was uncertain. He'd never been allowed to take off on his own. But this was a mystery, one he wanted to be part of. And the bridge wasn't that far away. He made up his mind and grabbed his coat and followed Jack out the front door of the Cormack house.
The Korrigan named Soge sensed their approach. She had barely escaped being destroyed by the Cormack family. Only a luck and a charm had prevented her from suffering the same fate as the others. And it had destroyed the male body she'd been borrowing. The plan put together by the Amadan, Scain, had fallen apart so rapidly. The boy was supposed to die, Scain had promised he would. That would have freed her to return to her home. The Cormacks were supposed to be powerless against them, but somehow that had failed. Scain had escaped, but never came looking for her.
And even now, a half a year later, her wounds had barely healed. She was tied to the earth, and that kept her from healing properly and regaining her full powers. Even though those coming toward her were weak, she had no idea what powers they had. And one of them was a Cormack. That was enough for her.
She had to head somewhere else.
She followed the stream to the south until there was nothing but woods to the left. Then she climbed the bank and entered the trees, seeking some shelter where she could continue to heal the damage to her body. The next full moon was three nights away and that was the only time she could heal. She couldn't leave until wailing over a planned death; until that happened (or she decided to kill someone important) she had to hide. The history of banshees was considered myth, but she was un-living proof that banshees really existed.
***
"It's freezing out here," Ian complained. The wind had come up, and even though the temperature was well above freezing, the stiff breeze made it very uncomfortable.
"It'll be warmer under the bridge once we're out of this wind," David said.
"Why under the bridge?" Ashton asked. "No one is home at my house. We could go there."
"No, we have to get back to Aunt Elizabeth's house before we're missed," Jack said. "Ian and I are still on short leashes because of what happened."
"Tell me," Ashton asked, suddenly very interested. "What happened?"
"We'll tell you when we get there," David said as the group turned left onto Lower Spring Drive. The bridge was just a couple hundred yards ahead of them.
Suddenly Ashton stopped and looked to his right.
"I don't like it here," he said. He drew a long breath in through his nose. "Something bad is over there, near the stream."
"You mean like a dead animal?" David asked. "I don't smell anything like that."
"No. Evil smelling. Like Kelly smelled last fall. Like I can faintly smell on the three of you now. I don't like it here. I want to go back." Ashton turned and headed back towards the Cormack house. None of the rest of them could get another word out of him and had no choice but to follow along.
***
Kelly and Seth left the Tucker house with Casey and Malcolm and they all walked together until they reached the point where the other two boys turned off the road to get home. Since he'd told his parents he'd be at the Mackey house, he and his friend continued along Lower Spring Drive. As they were getting close to the bridge over the stream, he saw Ashton, Ian, Jack and David coming south, and suddenly sensed that Ashton was afraid of something. No, not afraid, terrified. He took off running, leaving a startled Seth behind.
"What did you guys do to my brother," he yelled as he approached them. They all stopped except for Ashton.
"Nothing. He said something evil was over there," David said, pointing to the east.
Kelly ran some more to catch up with his brother.
"Ashton, what's wrong? Did these guys do something to scare you?"
His blond-headed brother turned and looked at him for a moment and then looked straight ahead again. He continued walking.
"Ashton, stop. It's me. Talk to me. Tell me what they did?"
"They didn't do nothing," Ashton said. "It's the monster. It was by the stream, and now its heading towards our house."
"Hey, the monster is gone, I told you that," Kelly said. "I took care of it."
"No, you didn't. There is some of it in Jack and Ian. And it was by the stream. Its evil." The boy wouldn't say anything more.
Kelly apologized to the others for accusing them of doing something to scare his brother.
"He says he can smell evil," David said. "And that he could smell it on you last fall. And he is positive he could smell it from near the stream. We didn't smell anything. Are you sure it is really gone?"
Kelly looked closely at the Mackey boy. He saw the fear in his eyes too. David had reason to be afraid. The monster, no matter what name it was called, had been a part of David for over a month. It had helped him to escape the treatment facility back in California he'd been sent to. And when he returned to the Spring, it made him burn Old Knot and do a lot of other evil things.
Kelly pulled David aside. "I sent it back to its cave," he said softly as Ashton continued walking away. He wasn't concerned that Seth was there; he'd already told the Mackey boy more than he was saying here now. "I saved you, which saved Ian and Jack. You all know this. Malcolm is healing the community. It's gone."
David nodded, but in his head, and the head of Jack and Ian, he expressed doubt. If the kid could smell it on two younger boys, maybe it was still around.
"Seth, I've got to go with Ashton," Kelly said. "Sorry we can't hang out today."
"Yeah, when I saw how scared he was, I knew you had to be with him. I hope he's okay. I'll see you later." Seth turned back towards the bridge, wondering what, if anything, had scared off Ashton. He felt uneasy himself as he crossed, half expecting a troll to come out from underneath.
It took an hour back at the Cormack house before Kelly could get Ashton to calm down. His brother wouldn't tell him anything other than he smelled the monster.
"David said you could smell it on me too," he said. "Is that true?"
"I don't want to talk about it. Just like you won't tell me about your magic. I know you have some because I can smell it on you. But you always say not to talk about your own or other's abilities. I can smell stuff. That's all."
"Okay, fair enough," Kelly said softly. "What do you want to know? Nobody can lie to me, trick me, or fool me. I can always tell when someone is lying. That's about it for me. And I know you aren't lying about being able to smell something. So will you tell me more?"
Ashton looked around. He hated when Kelly wouldn't take the bait and get mad at him. It would be easy to get out of telling him if only he'd gotten mad. But he never did. Except when the monster smell was on him. But it was gone from him now.
"I can smell things. Evil things, magic, I don't know. And I can smell the difference between the Lanham magic and the Cormack. They just smell different. And different abilities have different smells. Things like that. Oh, and I can still tell who's calling on the phone or ringing the doorbell; or what mom is going to cook next. Stuff like that."
Kelly hoped that the ritual of checking under his brother's bed wasn't going to return. Ashton had been scared of monsters when he was a little kid, and it wasn't until he was seven that it had finally gone away. Now it sounded like it was back. His brother wasn't lying, or even being evasive. He'd never mentioned that he could smell the monster on him. It had been with him, or in him, making him angry much of the time. And it wanted him to spend the gold coin he had. It didn't leave until he tossed the coin into Indian Spring Pond. But the Indian girl had told him she had sent the monster back to its cave.
After that, things had returned to normal in Indian Spring. Surely the monster must be gone. Unless it escaped. He wondered if there was some way he could contact the Indian girl again. He'd done it once, and understood that she was the Weeping Squaw of the Brave Who Never Returned. She'd died over a century before. Yet he was absolutely positive he'd seen and spoken to her. He did it once without knowing what he was doing. Maybe he could do it again. Only this time, he didn't have any gold.
And maybe Grandma Corbin would help him understand what he needed to know. She had known he had magic. Maybe she could smell it too. He'd have to ask Seth to help him go to her cabin again.
"Hey, hi Kathy," Andrea Harris said as she answered the door. "And you must be Kurt. Both of you, come on inside."
"Casey snuck out somewhere," she said as her guests arrived. "But he'll be back by dinner time at the latest." Kathy and Kurt Noble had recently moved to Sweetwater, but their house needed repairs before they could move in, so the family was living in a motel for now. Andrea had met Kathy the first day they were there. The girl was about to make a major faux pas.
It happened at the Fashion Designs clothing store. Andrea needed a new sweater as the school never seemed warm enough. While in the store, she saw a girl about her age she'd never seen before. The girl had three of the new miniskirts, they had on sale, and was heading for the cash register.
"You must be new here," she said. "I'm Andrea Harris. And if you're buying those to wear around here, I would recommend you put them back."
"They're for school," the girl explained. "My name is Kathy Noble. Why should I put them back?"
"They won't allow them in school. This isn't New York or California. Skirts that short will have adults who see you in them calling you names you won't like. The colors are nice, but find something longer. Will you be going to Joplin Middle School?"
"Yeah, my brother and I will be there as soon as winter break is over," Kathy said.
And that kicked off a long discussion about what Indian Spring and Sweetwater considered `acceptable clothing styles,' as well as other things that were different from Seattle, where the Nobles had just moved from. The next day in town when she saw what the other girls were wearing, Kathy was thankful she hadn't purchased the miniskirts. She said she owed Andrea a favor.
That had been two days ago. Now it was time to collect on that favor. Andrea invited Kathy and her brother Kurt to have a seat. Kathy took the chair and Andrea sat next to her brother.
"You said you had an idea of how I could repay you for saving me from social disgrace," Kathy said.
"Yeah, I do, but only if you're sure about it. This is going to sound really strange, but I need for you to prove that a boy you'll meet in school is gay."
"What? How am I supposed to do that?"
"Get to know him. Hang around. Maybe show up somewhere dark in one of those skirts. Or talk dirty. I don't know, but I'm sure you could think of something. Get him interested in you."
She leaned forward. "It's so hot in here. My mom keeps the temperature too high." She pulled off her new sweater, making sure it exposed her belly as she pulled it up. She saw that Kurt hadn't missed it.
"Make him interested in you and your body." She unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse. Out of the corner of her eye she saw she had the full attention of the boy seated next to her. But his attention wasn't on her face. It was about a foot lower.
"Oh, damn, my bra came undone. Kurt, could you please hook it for me?" She turned her back on the boy and raised her blouse. She had unhooked the bra straps just before answering the door.
The boy's hands were cold as he fumbled around, trying to connect the two ends. Andrea let him struggle for a few seconds and then said, "Never mind, we're friends now. I don't need it anyway." She pulled off her bra and flung it across the room and sat back down. The poor boy was obviously trying to look past the two open buttons to see her tits.
"Anyway, then all you have to do it this." She suddenly reached out and grabbed at the boy's crotch.
"I can tell that your brother isn't gay," she said as she maintained a tight grip on his dick. "He's hard as a rock from hoping to see my tits. But I'll bet if you do something like that with Kelly Tucker he won't be even a little hard. He's gay, I'm sure, but he denies it." She pulled her hand back after getting a good feel of about four inches of dick through the kid's jeans.
"You can help too," she said as she turned to look at Kurt. She leaned forward and gave him a brief view of her boobs. "My brother is also gay and says he isn't. But I know he's had sex with Tucker. I need you to prove it."
"Uh, how?" The kid's face was bright red and the front of his pants were noticeably tented out. "I'm not gay, I can't offer him sex."
"But you can make sure you're in the same gym class as him. Watch him in the shower, see if he's checking out other boys or if he gets an erection. Or you try and get him to blow you. Have you ever had a blow job? Do you even know what one is?"
"NO," he said. "I mean yes. I mean, I know what one is, but I've never had one. Like I said, I'm not gay." But it was a lie. He wasn't gay, but he and a friend had traded blowjobs one night after `borrowing' a few of his dad's Colt 45 beers.
"She isn't saying you are. In fact, she clearly proved you aren't," Kathy said with a sly smile. "Help her out and I won't tell mom about you pulling off her bra."
"I didn't! I couldn't figure out how to hook it and she pulled it off."
"And mom will of course want to know why you were trying to hook her bra in the first place," his sister said. "Does she have nice boobs? Was that the first pair you've ever seen?"
"Leave me alone," Kurt said. He stood up, and then realized how apparent his boner was and sat back down.
"I need this. Do your best and I'll give you another look," Andrea said. "A better look. If you can prove he is gay."
"I'll, uh think about it," he said. "Where am I sleeping tonight? I need to put my stuff away."
"You'll be in Casey's room, first door on the left upstairs. Have fun getting rid of that."
He ran off with his overnight bag pressed across the front of his jeans as the two girls laughed.
It was actually Ian's idea for Jack and Ashton to have his room to themselves. They started out on opposite sides of the bed, but Ashton wasn't tired yet. To distract his buddy from thoughts of monsters and evil things, Jack brought up an idea he had.
"Get undressed," he said as he pulled his whity-tighty underpants down and removed them. Ashton hesitated, but was interested in what his non-blood cousin had in mind.
"Scoot over," Jack said as he moved to his left. The two boys ended up with their shoulders and hips an inch apart in the center of the bed.
"We look almost identical," he said. "Like little kids. Ian looks different. He has some tiny hairs, and his dick is half an inch longer than ours. His balls have wrinkles, but ours are still smooth."
"You, uh, know an awful lot about your cousin," Ashton said cautiously. "I mean, I've seen him naked a few times during the water wars, but I never paid that much attention to him. Not what he looks like down there."
"That's because you weren't in bed naked next to him. I want to tell you stuff, but first I want to do what we did earlier today. Right here, next to each other. Are you okay with that?"
Ashton saw the dick to his right twitch and start to grow. It was something he'd never seen before. He'd seen his dick, but never watched it go from soft to hard. His own dick decided to play along.
"Okay," he said, still a bit uncomfortable, but interested. He knew that both of his brothers had done this with friends in their beds. At least, he was sure they had; he'd never seen it. But the next morning Ethan would yell at him and tell him to get the hell out of his room when he lifted the sheet to see him and his friend. Kelly was nicer, allowing him to satisfy his curiosity before pushing the sheet back down.
"This time will be different," Jack said. "Last time, you wouldn't let me watch. I want to see if we do it the same way." What he didn't tell Ashton, because he knew it would freak him out, was that Ian was also watching. David was aware, but as always, didn't want to intrude on something sexual.
"Okay, I guess," Ashton said. This was certainly a lot different than what he'd done with Mikey and Phillip Gaston.
He showed Jack how he held it, not telling him he'd been shown that by an older boy. Their touch was about the same, and since they were both right-handed, his hand blocked much of the action from his cousin. Their dicks were not much bigger than their thumbs, and Ashton was somewhat surprised and a bit jealous when nothing came out of his dick, but a few drops of clear fluid came from Jack's. Not like Mikey Gaston, who shot thicker, darker, smellier stuff.
"Hey, you shot, almost," Ian said in Jack's head.
"Shut up," was Jack's silent reply.
"I want to do it again," he said out loud. "Only this time, a bit differently." He reached over to Ashton's still-hard dick and wrapped two fingers around it. "I'll do yours, and you do mine."
"Just like we did that first time," Ian offered.
"Only I'm not going to fuck him like you did to me, asshole."
"Unless he wants you too. Ask him when you're done."
Ashton quickly overcame his shock at having his cousin's hand on his dick and reached over to return the favor. It was obvious to him that Jack had done this before, because the hand jerking him was almost as good as his own. He closed his eyes and lightened the grip on the dick in his hand, and soon they both managed to cum at almost the same moment.
Their orgasms were powerful, but much more so for Ashton. For him, it was like the first time he'd ever done it under the tutelage of Mikey Gaston.
They collapsed back on the bed, both spent after two dry cums inside of ten minutes.
"I've got to tell you something, and you're either gonna be pissed at me, or not. I don't know which. It's what Ian and David and me were going to tell you under the bridge."
"Why would I be pissed at you?"
"Because Ian watched what we just did," Jack said honestly.
Ashton sat up and looked around. "How? Is there a hidden camera or something in here?"
"No," Jack said. "I'll explain how in a minute, but I want to start at the beginning. And before you ask, I have his permission to tell you all of this."
He paused, remembering the night. "It was in Duncan's room, back last June. Ian and I were both in his bed, and we both did the exact same thing that you and I just did. It was my first time to know about orgasms, but not Ian's. And it was fun, I enjoyed it. Just like you did."
"Something happened," Ashton said.
"You knew? Did you see it with your power?"
"No. Maybe I would have if it was two other boys I liked. But I can't sense things from you or your brothers or from most of the Cormacks."
"Yeah, I can explain that later," Jack said. "Anyway, Ian's ability was to get people to feel okay with what he wanted to do, even if they really weren't okay with it. When we were done jacking off, he used his power on me so I wouldn't complain when he pushed a finger up my ass."
"Oh, yuck," Ashton said.
"It really wasn't that gross, and it actually kind of felt good. I was unsure, but told him it was okay. But next, he pushed his dick into me. That also felt good, but I told him several times not to fuck me. But I didn't resist, because of his power."
"Is that what you think you're going to do to me?" Ashton started. "Because I ..."
"If you want to try it, we can. But neither me nor Ian will ever make you do something you don't want to do." Jack paused, and gave his cousin time to think about it. "The reason I told you is because I wanted to get revenge. I had a plan to make him let me fuck him. It was a poor plan, and would never have worked, but I was younger and a lot stupider than."
"Two weeks later, we were back at his house, only he had a friend over. A kid who he had manipulated into giving blowjobs. And then gave me a gift, a blowjob from the kid. Without going into a lot of boring details, I used magic I didn't even know I had. But I released a very dangerous creature into Indian Spring. It stole my power and Ian's, and used them against other kids. Two kids got hurt real bad. My brother told me that somehow Kelly got rid of it. I don't know how; you'd have to ask him yourself. But here is the important part. My brain and Ian's brain are connected. They are one brain now. So what I saw, what I felt a moment ago, Ian did too. And that is why you might be pissed at me. What we did you basically did to Ian too. He enjoyed it."
Jack paused, waiting to see how Ashton would handle the news.
"I guess ..." Ashton hesitated, trying to sort out all that was in his head. "I mean, I'm not pissed. Well, maybe a little `cause you didn't tell me first, but you were going to. Until I smelled the monster."
"There is one more part," Jack said. "David Mackey is connected to our brains too. Only he respected your privacy and didn't watch, or experience it like Ian did. But he could have. And he is just as frightened as you right now. That's because the monster took over his body and made him do stuff. Mean stuff. And when your brother fixed it, he went back to being David. He's even better now. Before, he had some mental problems. But that's fixed. He wants to know a lot more about what you smelled."
It was a lot to take in, especially since it was getting late.
"You told me about your power. You shouldn't talk about your powers."
"Ian said his mom warned him about the same thing, only he didn't follow her warning. But she also told him that sharing, in the right moments and ways, can make it better. We think this is the right way, and we want to share."
"By fucking me?" Ashton asked.
"No, I'm sorry I told you that," Jack said. "By talking. You, me, Ian, and David." He paused. "If you ever want to try fucking, or being fucked, all you have to do is ask me or Ian. We'll do it, but only if it is what you want to try. If you never want to try it, we're okay with that. We're not gay, and Ian's power to make you let him do it is gone forever."
They made plans to get together the next day. They pulled the cover over them without bothering to put their underpants back on and fell asleep.
Casey returned home earlier than he wanted. His mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner, and told him to shower because she could smell him. He blushed, hoping his mother couldn't smell what he'd done several times at the Tucker house watching the movie.
He was surprised that the door to his room was closed. It was open when he left. Inside, a boy about his age was lying on his bed holding one of the new Sega Nomad's. Casey had seen them at the boarding school he'd gone to, and wanted one, but his parents were afraid it would interfere with his studies.
"I guess you must be the new kid," he said with a slightly sour voice.
The boy paused the game he was playing and looked up. "And I guess you must be Casey. Your sister said I could hide out in your room. She and my sister teamed up on me. I'm Kurt."
Casey looked the kid over. They were both about the same height and build. He had short, auburn hair, and was light-skinned. The oddest thing was that he appeared to have different colored eyes. The right eye was light brown with some gold tinting, but his left eye was a light green.
"I already know that my eyes are different colors," Kurt said with some annoyance. He always hated it when people stared at his eyes.
Casey forced himself to look away. "Sorry. Yeah, my name's Casey. If you could excuse me, I need to take a shower."
The kid grinned. "Yeah, I can smell what you've been doing," he said with a sly smile. "Go ahead, I'd rather not be with the girls again if I can avoid it."
Casey was put off. He couldn't even undress in his own room. He was sure the kid was gay and wanted to see him naked. He grabbed clean clothes and went to the bathroom and did something he'd never felt the need to do before – he locked the door behind him.
Kurt just wanted to get his assignment over with. He considered lying, and telling the older girl that she was wrong, but after what had happened in his first meeting, he didn't trust her. When he could hear the water running, he went to the door and noticed it was locked. He found a pen in Casey's room and used it to unlock the door as silently as he could. He'd used the bathroom to jack off earlier, and knew he'd be able to see into the shower through the mirror while standing at the door to the room.
The image was blurry because of the shower curtain, but there was no doubt at all that the boy was jacking off. Maybe he was gay, but shy. Making sure to lock the door again before closing it, Kurt returned to the kid's bedroom.
That night there was no avoiding it. Casey wasn't about to dig out a pair of old pajamas. Besides, the cot that Kurt would be sleeping on was in front of his dresser. He'd have to strip to his boxers with the kid watching.
Only Kurt wasn't watching. He seemed to be embarrassed to be stripping down too, and had his back to him. Once they were both in bed with sheets over them, Casey was curious about something the kid had said earlier.
"What did the girls do to you?" he asked. "You said they teamed up on you."
"It was mostly just your sister," said Kurt, glad it was too dark in the room for the other boy to see him blush. And to see how his dick twitched when he remembered it.
"She took off her sweater, complaining the house was too hot. Then she undid the top to buttons of her blouse. Only her bra came unhooked and she wanted me to connect the two straps. I didn't know how to do that, and she pulled it off and tossed it next to me. Then she turned and bent over, and I was trying to see her tits."
"Did you get to?" Casey asked. "I saw them once about two years ago, but they were just tiny little mounds. I'll bet they're big now."
Kurt was confused. Did the other boy have the hots for his sister? Was that something gay boys were into?
"No. Instead she grabbed the front of my pants and squeezed my boner. And she told my sister I was hard, and she laughed."
Now it was Casey's turn to think things over. The kid got hard trying to see Andrea's tits? That didn't sound like something a gay kid would experience. Maybe he really wasn't gay.
On that note, they had a few more minutes of conversation about the game Kurt had been playing, something called `Sonic the Hedgehog.' Casey had never heard of it, but the boy said he'd show him how to play tomorrow.
With little else to talk about, they both rolled over and wished they could jack off again as they fell asleep.