Tales of Carrion Mansion

Chapter 28

Freedom Shocks.

By Skytower

Elvira Peterson woke up slowly. Feeling returned to her body first and then to awareness to her mind. She was on her back, not tied up for a change and not even nude. Well, not completely anyway. She was still wearing her boots, gloves and halter-top but her mask was gone. So were her pants but they had been normal cloth. Her arm was sore, as was her ass.

'I shrunk,' Elvira realized groaning. She had been fighting two women when one of them grabbed her from behind and pressed a chloroform soaked cloth over her face. While she wasn't ready for it Elvira had been hit with chloroform too many times not to know what to do. Slowly she exhaled what air was still in her lungs to keep the fumes from affecting her. At the same time she started to go limp. Normally she would have gone semi-limp for a few seconds to let her attacker think they had her. Then Elvira would have crushed their toes with her foot and slammed her head back, hopefully breaking her attackers nose or even a few teeth. But in grabbing her from behind the attacker had also grabbed her throat, triggering one of the three gems on her choker. It reacted, sending a signal to the thousands of nanites in Elvira's body. The signal caused the nanites to activate, shrinking her. The physical shock of shrinking drove the air from Elvira's lungs and she had to breathe in again. At 12 inches tall the chloroform put her out instantaneously.

"How you feeling?" Mindy asked.

Elvira growled and opened her eyes. Mindy knelt next to her. Mindy McConnel wasn't a fairy all the time, but she was one now. Fairy or human she was still beautiful. Mindy had long blonde hair that framed a strong Nordic face with pointed ears that showed through the hair. Above each eyebrow was a ridge that traveled along it from the temple to near the center of each eye. From that point the ridge turned into a pair of antennae. The antennae were the same shade of white as the rest of Mindy's body and ended in pink nipples. From her back Mindy sprouted four dragonfly style wings. Her body was voluptuous, even at her slightly above 12 inches height, with large breasts and wide hips. A large patch of v shaped blonde hair grew between her legs.

"Not great." Elvira said sitting up. In contrast to Mindy Elvira's body was shorter by a head. She was stockier with slight breasts and wide hips. Her hair was brown and hung around her shoulders. "What's my record for number of times being knocked out and tied up in one night?"

"Five." Mindy said. "Remember the Peterson triplets?"

Elvira shuddered as images of ping-pong flashed into her mind.

"Oh yea. Well this night has been almost as bad." Elvira looked into Mindy's face, blinking away the last of the drug-induced cobwebs. Mindy's eyes were normally the most striking part of her face. They were clear blue and sparkled when she was happy. But now there was a watery look to them. A fatigued glaze that spoke of little rest and much worry. "You ok?"

"El..." Mindy started then stopped her lower lip quivering. "It's... it's been... I didn't know..."

Elvira sat up and wrapped her friend in a comforting hug, being careful to avoid her sensitive wings.

"It was a week before I found out that you beat that robot." Mindy said. "And I didn't know what happened to you after that, or Tim or... my god El my family must be worried sick about me..."

"It's ok." Elvira said holding her friend tightly. "Believe it or not your family doesn't know you've been gone. Neither did mine."

"What?"

"Jeremy and Helga replaced us with robots." Elvira said.

"Robots?" Mindy drew back and looked alarmed. "A robot is running my life?"

"Be thankful, my little sister has mine running around being her personal maid."

"Guenivere has control of a robot double that looks like you?" Mindy started to giggle then stopped. "My god what if my step brother has control over my double?"

"I doubt it." Elvira said.

"I hope not." Mindy agreed. She looked at Elvira and fingered the costume her friend was wearing. "Guen's work?"

"Yep. Unstable molecules so I don't have to change cloths when I shrink or grow."

"No pants?"

"I lost em a bit earlier. Guen made a costume for you too."

"Cloths..." Mindy said wistfully. "I've almost forgotten what its like to wear cloths."

For a moment Mindy trembled again. She pulled herself together with an effort, but it was short-lived one and she started to tremble again.

"Cloths..." she whispered.

"It's ok." Elvira said more softly than anyone who knew her casually would have believed.

"No it's not." Mindy said at last pulling herself together with a visible effort. "Like you always say El, let it out when you're safe, not when your still tied up."

Elvira looked around as Mindy gestured and saw that they were both in a cage.

"Oh great, another cage."

"This has been home ever since they caught me." Mindy said unable to keep the pain out of her voice. "I haven't been outside this room except for the stage upstairs and they never let me out of this cage when I'm in here. When I'm out of here I'm in chains."

The cage wasn't the elaborate birdcage Calliope, Clara, Lucinda and Riddle had been kept in. This wasn't a cage for pampered exotic birds. This was a cage for lab specimens. It was 2 feet high and four feet long. The floor was a sheet of textured aluminum with holes worn into one or two places. The bars were rusty and blackened with age. There was no food or water anywhere.

"Don't." Mindy warned quickly when Elvira started to touch the bars. "It's electric. At our size even those gloves might not protect you."

"This is it?" Elvira asked gesturing at the inside of the cage.

"Except when I'm on stage." Mindy said.

"What do they feed you?"

"They don't." Mindy said. "The closest I get to food is when one of them drops me into their soup. I haven't eaten since I got caught El. My body just doesn't seem to need food or water or anything any more."

"Bathroom?" Elvira asked looking around again.

"Not even that." Mindy said blushing.

"Where are the ones who got you?" Elvira said looking past the bars to the room they were in.

The cage was on a fold out table tucked up against an old brick wall. The table was a faded brown card table with what might once have been a festive pattern on it. Two wires ran from under the cage to a box that was plugged into an outlet. A red light blinked on the box. Dust covered everything including the cobwebs that hung from the ceiling. On the other side of the room was a washer/dryer. Beside that was a brass bed that had probably never been made. Elvira could see her jeans on it as well as various other bits of clothing. There was a wardrobe, a tv/vcr combo and two computers on the far side of the room. A set of stairs led upward to a closed door. The place was lit with a worklight suspended from a pipe. Newspapers, fast food bags and empty beer bottles littered the floor.

"They went to the hospital." Mindy said. "You broke one arm and fractured a leg before they chloroformed you. El we have to get out of here. They almost tore you apart when you were out."

"Why didn't they?" Elvira asked looking around the room.

"Dulcy wanted too but Judy is going to give you to her father, the Troll." Mindy said shuddering.

"He's got enough problems." Elvira said. "Last I saw he was wrestling with a 15 foot long two headed snake creature."

"What?"

"Long story." Elvira said. "Are you sure they left? They can't be dumb enough to leave someone here alone, for all they know I can shrink and grow out of this thing."

"They think they shrunk you." Mindy said. "The chloroform they used was their own brew. They think it caused you to shrink."

"No one is that dumb." Elvira said.

"They are." Mindy replied and Elvira's eyes snapped to her friend's face at her tone of voice.

"That bad?" Elvira asked taking one of Mindy's hands in hers. She felt Mindy squeeze, the extra long fairy fingers wrapping themselves around her own.

"Worse." Mindy said closing her eyes. Her breathing deepened as her face flushed red and her wings trembled.

For a long moment the two friends stood there silently. Then Mindy opened her eyes again. Her wings stilled and her face returned to its normal color.

"Later." She promised. "I'll tell you."

"Right." Elvira agreed. "Then we'll decide what to do with them."

Mindy nodded and that alone gave Elvira an indication of how bad it had been. Mindy was a faithful Trekkie, following the shows philosophy of non-vengeance to a degree Elvira often thought foolish bordering on idiotic. In Elvira's view if someone hurt you, you hurt him, her or it twice as bad. Mindy always argued that all that did was invoke fear. Elvira countered that she liked fear.

It was a constant argument between them as Mindy always held Elvira back. That Mindy might not stop her this time, indeed that she might join in showed Elvira that Judy and Dulcy were as evil as two people could be.

"First things first, we have to get out of here." Elvira said. "Once out of the cage how many ways out of this room are there we can use besides the door?"

"Three that we can use." Mindy said all business. "The door is out, it's a locked metal fire door with an alarm on it." She pointed to the washer/dryer. "We can go through the dryer exhaust; the lint trap is loose and we can crawl through. There's a mouse hole under the bed that leads to the sewer and that small metal door in the wall besides the tv leads to an old chimney. They ran the cable for the tv and the cable modems through it."

"How do you know about the hole under the bed?" Elvira asked spotting the black coaxial cable.

"I know the mouse." Mindy said.

"What?"

"I..." Mindy started to talk and then stopped. She turned away from Elvira and sat down.

"These two use me for performance art El. Play acting. Atrocious scripts." She sighed. "For a while they used me with a mouse."

"Used you with a mouse?" Elvira asked sitting down across from her.

"He was my prince." Mindy said. "I was supposed to free him with a kiss. Well, with more than a kiss."

Elvira's jaw dropped and anger flooded through her.

"How far..."

"I don't want to talk about it." Mindy said tears starting to run down her face. Her voice rose. "I never want to talk about it! Not ever! NEVER!" She took a deep breath and steadied her voice. "But as a fairy I was able to talk to him. Sort of. I can't describe it in English. It was communication anyway. But he was able to get out of his cage and find the hole. He told me about it. He wasn't a prince but he was my friend."

"What happened to him?"

"One night he didn't come back." Mindy said her body shaking once more with the effort of self-control. "I cried that night El." She laughed though her sobs. "He was a mouse and he was the only one I had..."

Again Elvira hugged her and it was a full minute before Mindy was able to reign her pain in once more.

"I guess after aliens and Calliope and now a mouse I really should start looking at the human race huh?" Mindy asked adding a half-sob/half-laugh to the end of her question.

"Maybe." Elvira agreed. "Tim's our size at the moment."

"But I wasn't human this time." Mindy said a sort of desperation coming into her voice. "I mean this body wasn't really my body, so it doesn't really count does it?"

"Nope." Elvira confirmed.

"This body has urges El." Mindy hugging her knees to her chest. Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. "I'd forgotten about them. I wasn't ready for them. I should hate them but I can't. If I ever get human again I'm not sure if I'll hate... I mean..."

"What'd you name him?" Elvira asked suddenly.

"What?"

"What'd you name the mouse? Come on Mindy, you name the squirrels that you feed outside your window. What'd you name the mouse."

"Pinky." Mindy said smiling slightly.

"And you're the Brain?" Elvira asked smiling back.

"Well I did get him to say "narf" at one point." Mindy admitted.

For a moment they both laughed and Mindy slowly un-clenched her body.

"Ok." She said at last trying to keep her voice steady. "Enough emotional support, how do we get out of here?"

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Nearly and hour."

"Ok." Elvira looked at the bars. They were spaced too closely for her or Mindy to squeeze through. "You'll have to tickle me."

"What?"

"Jeremy did some upgrading." Elvira said pointing to the gems on her choker. "I can control the size change now."

"Oh." Mindy said suddenly understanding. "So that's why you shrunk?"

"Yep." Elvira said.

"Is that what you've been doing all this time?" Mindy asked some anger showing in her voice. "Practicing?"

"Long story, quick re-cap: remember Return of the Jedi when Luke was in the bath?" Mindy nodded. "Well that's where I was."

"Oh."

"Anyway I can control the size change, but after I trigger the gems they need an hour to recharge. So if..."

"If you shrink enough to slip through the bars you'll need an hour before you can grow again." Mindy finished.

"Two." Elvira corrected her. "One to grow back to 12 inches and another to grow back to normal. I'd rather go through the door alarm or no alarm. We might not have much time left."

"I don't think they'll get back from the hospital that quick. Judy and Dulcy are whiners, they'll stay there until they get drugs."

"I'm not worried about them." Elvira said. "Remember that snake thing I told you about?"

"That's after you?"

"No it's after you. It's a fairy hunter."

"Oh." Mindy said, then her eyes went wide with shock. "The Fairy Hunter? The Last Elvish Family!"

Mindy screamed and sank to her knees holding her hands over her ears as if to protect them from some deafening noise.

"They aren't here!" Elvira shouted kneeling beside her. She took hold of Mindy's wrist and pulled them away from her ears. "They're not here yet!"

"I..." Mindy started to say then stopped. She looked up and both of her eyes were glowing red. "They are close, I can feel them..."

Mindy sighed and sagged to the floor breathing as if someone had just stuck a knife into her chest.

"Mindy snap out of it!" Elvira said putting as much command as she could into her voice. "If they're that close we need to move."

"Righ... ri.. Right." Mindy said her voice starting as a whisper and ending in nearly a normal tone. "Sorry. It's been happening for a while, something triggers the fairy part of my mind and it just explodes. It was like that with Pinky sometimes. That spell Cathay put on me frays at the edges and suddenly I've got like ten thousand voices in my head."

"It's ok." Elvira said letting go of her wrist. "Don't worry, Jack and Jill are at the mansion, they can help."

Elvira didn't mention that both fairies were near death when she left them. Mindy had been though too much to take away any hope she might have.

"Ok." Mindy said. "Lie down then."

Elvira lay down on her back and Mindy sat down next to her feet.

"On your stomach." She ordered.

"What?"

"When you start flailing about I don't want to get hit." Mindy said. Taking hold of Elvira's legs she twisted them a little. "So lay on your stomach."

With an annoyed grunt Elvira let herself be rolled over.

"We really have to find something else to do with our nights." Mindy said trying to force some lightness into her voice.

"No kiddin."

Mindy started to tickle. She tickled lightly at first, running her fingernails on the soles of Elvira's feet. Usually Elvira tried not to laugh, but not this time. For once she let the laughs come though it was torture to try and stay still. Mindy knew how and where on her foot Elvira was the most sensitive. Worse with her fairy fingers Mindy seemed to be better at it than she used to be. Soon the cage itself shook as Elvira laughed. Her body tensed and coiled then re-coiled like a captive snake and it was all Mindy could to do hold her down. She stood to get better leverage, forcing Elvira into a wrestling hold. Elvira pounded the cage like some enraged lion caught in quicksand. Just when Mindy was about to stop and suggest she tie her friend down before continuing it happened. Elvira grew hot in her hands, then cold and then as slippery as ice. Suddenly Mindy couldn't hold her grip and Elvira's legs slipped from her arms. Spinning around Mindy beheld her friend. Elvira was lying on the floor of the cage gasping for breath. Mindy's jaw dropped open as for the first time in what felt like years she beheld someone shorter than herself. Mindy was normally nearly 6 feet tall. She had come to take for granted that she would have to look down on most people. But as a fairy all she had been doing was looking up. Now she saw Elvira, half-naked, her exposed skin flushed from the effects of shrinking. As her friend gasped for breath an image of Elvira fully nude popped into Mindy's mind. A flush that matched Elvira enveloped Mindy's face.

"I..." Elvira started then took a deep breath. "I HATE..." again she stopped and took another deep breath. "I HATE THAT!"

"You are so cute!" Mindy exclaimed looking down at her.

"What?" Elvira looked up at her friend and saw a strange look on Mindy's face. Her eyes were boring into Elvira's and her antennae were quivering. "That turned you on?"

"Your beautiful." Mindy whispered picking her friend up. Gently she reached out and traced her finger over Elvira's chest. "So tiny... So beautiful..." Mindy said starting to massage Elvira's body.

"Mindy." Elvira said softly. She stopped and Elvira took one of Mindy's fingers and brought it too her face.

"Ouch!" Mindy shouted as Elvira bit hard into the finger. She dropped Elvira and shook her hand. "You bit me!"

"Uh-huh." Elvira nodded.

"Oh." Mindy said as her mind replayed the last few seconds before pain brought it back to her. "Sorry El, like I said, this body has urges."

"It's ok." Elvira said. Getting up she walked over to the bars.

"It's going to be tight." Mindy said.

Elvira nodded. At 12 inches it would have been impossible, at 6 inches (she guessed) it would be a tight fit. Slowly Elvira walked around the cage and found two bars that had been spread slightly further apart than the others. Some animal she guessed tried to escape. From the scorched fur still clinging to the bars Elvira doubted he made it.

"I hope I got better luck." Elvira whispered starting to step through them. At her height the bars hummed with power. She could almost see them vibrate back and forth with the alternating current coursing through them. Slowly Elvira put first one leg through, then when her foot had a solid set beyond the bars she eased through a bit more. She paused, one foot in the cage and one foot out. The bars couldn't have been more than a millimeter from her skin and for once Elvira praised her small breasts. Slowly she eased the rest of the way out.

Elvira let out her breath and sat down on the tabletop.

"You made it look easy." Mindy said.

"It's a gift." Elvira replied. Walking around the cage she climbed onto the box with the red light. Standing on it Elvira read the lettering.

"ACME Humane Animal Containment Unit."

"Humane like hell!" Mindy shouted.

Elvira kicked the toggle switch with her foot and the light blinked out. Then she walked over to the cage and pushed the spring latch up. The latch released.

"Just this simple." Mindy said stepping out of the cage. "One step. Just one step. I've dreamed about this El." She stood and walked around the cage, looking at it from the outside. "Dreamed about it." She repeated. Suddenly Mindy looked at the computers. "I have to wipe those hard drives before we go."

"What?"

"Judy and Dulcy use the Internet to sell false credit cards, do identity theft... They even sell drugs! They have a lab somewhere in Heavenly Swamp. Not only that, they play quake online and just stand in one corner with the plasma gun waiting for other players, they spam, they go into chat rooms and troll for arguments..."

"Mindy!"

Mindy stopped and looked at her.

"We're not out of here yet." Elvira said.

"Oh, yea."

"Look fly me to my pants, we can get your costume and I'll masturbate to 12 inches again. While I'm busy making myself happy you can take out the computers."

"Good idea." Mindy said. "Trust me El, I'll settle down after a bit, but I've been in this hell for three weeks now. You don't want to know what they've done to me."

"Yes I do, but not now." Elvira said. "Vengeance later. Think you're strong enough to fly me over to the bed there?"

"That's gotta be the strangest thing you ever asked me." Mindy said smiling brightly. Her eyes sparkled as her wings started to vibrate. She rose gracefully into the air and hovered over Elvira for a moment. "Practicing hovering was one of the few things I could do in there. I'd grab hold of the bottom the cage and try to lift it. It was dangerous but it helped keep my mind off things." Taking Elvira's wrist Mindy flew over to the bed and landed her on the jeans.

"Soft landing." Elvira said.

"Thanks." Mindy said landing beside her.

Elvira dug into the pocket of her jeans, almost sneezing as she displaced some lint, and pulled out a tiny silver mini-skirt with a bare back halter-top attached to it.

"F, F?" Mindy asked reading the blue letters on the halter.

"FireFly." Elvira said. "Guen thought I needed a side-kick."

"Side-kick!" Mindy protested. Stepping into the skirt she pulled it up and pulled the neck strap of the halter over her head. She did it carefully holding down one antenna at a time.

"Her idea." Elvira said handing her the mask. Mindy grunted in annoyance and took it.

"No mask for you?"

"Judy and Dulcy must have taken my mask after they knocked me out." Elvira said. "Even with cloths that shrink I'm having trouble keeping them!"

"This feels great!" Mindy said putting on the mask. She ran her hands up and down the fabric and tried to move her wings. "It doesn't even bother my wings! This is great!" Mindy repeated giggling. She started to bounce up and down. "You can't see my boobs! You can't see my pussy! I'm wearing something!" she shouted.

"Mindy!" Elvira said coldly. It had the effect she wanted. Mindy stopped giggling and dancing. Taking a deep breath she spread her arms out wide and let it out as she closed them.

"I forgot you knew yoga." Elvira said.

"So did I till just now. My fairy side thinks it's silly." Mindy said. "They are great cloths." She was composed but for a slight tick in her left eye.

"Guen can sew." Elvira said pride mixing with annoyance in her voice. "Go take care of the computer will ya, I got stuff to do."

"Right." Mindy said. Taking to the air she flew over to the computers and started to move the mouse.

Elvira watched her for a few minutes. She had never seen Mindy go through so many mood swings so quickly. Elvira had far more experience being held captive while shrunk, but that was always by children, not adults. She could imagine what was done to Mindy and it took a great deal of effort not to let that imagination fuel her anger. After she was sure Mindy was absorbed in her task Elvira stretched out on her jeans and sighed. Anger wasn't an emotion she could afford to have just yet.

Mindy McConnel's mind stood in the center of a maelstrom of emotions. She was the eye of an unstable hurricane. Every so often the emotions buffeted her with an intensity that could cause insanity if she wasn't careful. The young woman strove with every bit of self-control she had not to let them overcome her again. Elvira was with her now and Mindy burned with shame at the way she had acted.

But after weeks that felt like months of complete imprisonment Mindy was finding self control very hard indeed. Seeing Elvira, being free of the cage and now getting to wear clothing once more was like the first day of spring after a long winter. She was free. Mindy had never appreciated what sort of luxury freedom was before. Had never, despite the hundreds of science fiction and adventure books she had read, realized what a loss of freedom could be like. Those few times before when aliens or drug dealers had captured her had been short. A few hours at a time and for many of those hours Mindy had been unconscious. The experiences while unpleasant had been brief.

But this time had been different. To Judy and Dulcy Mindy wasn't a person, or even a toy. She was a gift from god and they had the right to do whatever they wanted to her. Had she been a human, or at least still in human form, Mindy corrected herself, she would have been better off. Maybe. That was another problem that threatened to overwhelm the young woman's precariously balanced mind. She was in a fairy body, with senses that were different from a human's body, with urges and thoughts that no human could imagine. The last time she had been transformed there had been no time for those thoughts and urges to take root. No time for the urges to twist her will power and self control into silly putty. But as a captive time was all she had. It ate away at her control. Sleep, far from being a sanctuary was a trap. While Mindy slept the dreams of fairy kind, memories really since all fairies shared a common memory, played in her mind. As time went on they tore at her human identity, whispering at its lack of all things fairy-ken. Mindy had started out wanting nothing more than to get back her human form, by the time Elvira showed up... Mindy just wasn't sure.

Even as she sent copies of Judy and Dulcy's files to the address listed on the F.B.I.'s web fraud division websight Mindy wasn't sure. A part of her knew that as a human she would be denied the memories and senses of a fairy. Age would claim her beauty, her mind. Being a fairy, immortal and with the memories of other immortal's teasing the edge of her awareness every night, made Mindy realize how short her own human life was going to be. Why, a part of her asked, did she want to go back to that?

And then there was the sex. The pure erotic sensual energy that formed the core of a fairy's power. There was nothing her human body could experience at it's best that Mindy's fairy body didn't experience at it's least.

Mindy finished what she was doing and realized that her fairy senses were doing it again. Even though she wasn't looking at Elvira her antennae were aware of what was going on. That awareness showed in Mindy's fairy body. She was becoming aroused. Her wings grew warm and restless, her breast felt the air pressing against them and her stomach tightened. Turning around she saw what her antennae had already told her was there. Elvira lying on the bed. Her friend had hiked her top over her breasts and was caressing them with one hand while the other hand moved between her legs.

The sight drew Mindy like a moth to a flame. Her human morals and limits snuffed out by the incredible lust of her fairy nature. Mouth dry Mindy flew over too Elvira, not realizing that a dust had formed on her wings. The fairy dust sparkled as it was shook off by the wings flapping movement and fell to the floor. It left a trail sparkling clean though the debris.

Elvira would have bet she could have made herself come any time, any place. She'd had a lot of practice after all. But this time it was different. Nothing was working. Not the physical stimulation, not the bondage fantasies. Not even her favorite wrestling-with-the-Undertaker-and-Kane fantasy. Nothing. Her record was five minutes. It had been at least ten by now and her body was only just beginning to respond.

Suddenly every nerve in Elvira's body spiked her nervous system with raw energy. Elvira's eyes opened wide with shock as her previously cool body erupted in erotic heat. Mindy hovered above her. Some strange glowing dust drifted off of her wings onto Elvira's body.

"What the hell!" It started as a shout of surprise and ended as a whisper of ecstasy. Mindy floated down and kissed her friend with an intensity neither of them had ever known before.

Even as turned on as she was Elvira still found enough strength push Mindy away.

"Come to me." Mindy whispered her voice hoarse with passion.

"No way Mindy." Elvira said her own voice filled with lust. "This is a self starter operation."

She dodged as Mindy flew at her, grabbing her friends foot as she went by. With a twist Elvira brought Mindy down to the bed and held her there. Mindy moaned and twisted in her grip.

"Mindy snap out of it!" Elvira shouted spanking her friend on the ass. She had to do it a few times before Mindy suddenly cried out in pain. After a few seconds her wings stopped vibrating and no more dust fell from them. Elvira let go of Mindy's ankle and collapsed. For a while neither of them said anything. Mindy took in gulp after gulp of air trying to cool her body down. Finally she spoke.

"I'm sorry El. When you got hot... the fairy part of me just took over.

Elvira screamed and Mindy's head whirled around to see her friend grow back to 12 inches. Elvira lay there for a few seconds before she spoke.

"Should have named you Dusty, not Firefly." She said. "Used the last of that stuff to put me over the edge."

"Glad to be of service." Mindy whispered bitterly. "I'm sorry El."

"Forget it." Elvira said sitting up. "Sorry I had to spank you."

"Hard." Mindy protested rubbing her butt.

"Think of it as an early birthday spank." Elvira said. She stood up and walked over to Mindy, offering her hand. After a second Mindy took it and stood up.

"You know we came real close to doing what everyone in school thinks we do anyway." Mindy said. "In this body I can't stop myself El. Even now..."

A loud bang stopped her in mid-sentence. Both of them looked at the door at the top of the stairs. After a moment another crash was heard and the door shook.

"The Fairy Hunter!" Mindy shouted. Her eyes were glowing red. "It's here!"

"No it's there!" Elvira corrected her. "If it were here we'd be dead."

"Big difference!" Mindy protested.

"Come on!" Elvira shouted sliding down the bed sheets to the floor. "Let's hope Pinky's exit is still open."

Mindy flew down to the floor and the two of them ran under the bed.

"There it is!" Mindy shouted pointing to an irregularly shaped hole in the way.

"What is?" Elvira said looking around vainly. There was almost no light under the bed and she had trouble seeing the wall.

"There!" Mindy said pointed toward one of the beds supporting poles.

"You can see in the dark!" Elvira realized.

"Of course I can." Mindy snapped at her. It took a moment for her to realize what she had said. "Sorry, I forgot. Things look clear as day to me."

"Great." Elvira said taking hold of her hand. "Lead on."

The closer they got to the hole the darker it became. It was small and Mindy got down on her hands and knees and pulled her wings down against her back.

"We have to crawl."

"Get going." Elvira ordered. "I'll follow the sound of your breathing."

The hole turned into a tunnel that twisted and turned at least three times before opening into a larger tunnel. Mindy stood up and looked around. A few seconds later Elvira bumped into the back of her leg.

"Sorry."

"It's ok." Mindy helped her up. "We're here."

"Oh joy. Where is here?"

"It's a pipe, but not a sewer pipe."

"Again I say joy." Elvira said. "Give me details Min, I'm blind here."

"The pipe is approximately 2 feet wide and goes in two directions." Mindy said. "It's dry. Looks like an old ceramic pipe, say the 1800's. I can't smell anything. No sign or life or dust so it's probably an old storm drain that was put here for the last building on built on this spot." She looked back at the entrance they had come through. "The entrance is not natural. The sides are too smooth, but not melted, so it wasn't made by Calliope's friends." Mindy ran her finger over the side of the doorway. "But it is smooth. Filed down so some intelligent life must have made it."

"Glad to know you can still slip into Star-Trek speech when you want too." Elvira said grinning

Mindy made a face at her and then realized Elvira couldn't see her. Suddenly Mindy realized that Elvira blind was very vulnerable. Almost of it's own will Mindy's hand floated up and hovered near Elvira's breast. Mindy used her other hand to grab it and bring her arm down to her side.

"Well we have two directions to choose from." Mindy said. "Right or left."

"Let's go right." Elvira said.

"Why?"

"Why not?" Elvira groped for Mindy's arm and took hold of it. "Lead on Mr. Spock."

"Mr. Data." Mindy corrected.

Hand in hand they started to walk.

... To be continued.

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