Return to Stillsville

by Zero and FreezAntix

Chapter One

Stillsville, Utah

            “Well isn’t this a quaint little town!” Cecily remarked as she steered her brand-new Ford Fusion down the town’s main street. The Ford was bought in Los Angeles, Cecily's first major purchase aside from her downtown Malibu apartment since moving out west. It mainly was bought in order to make the trip, as Cecily hopped the road trip would be a good bonding experience for her and her girls. The Decker State College Lady Raptors had another successful year as defending champions with a near perfect record, only losing to Trinity College, a loss that did not count as much since it was out of conference. The Lady Raptors, along with cross town rival Lady Sharks who had finished their season off only losing twice, were invited to Salt Lake City to compete for the conference title. The Raptors were slated to win the eight-team tournament by many sports analysts while their rival Sharks were rated as heavy contenders and underdogs.

            The Raptors had not been to the town since last year, when half of the B-squad was stranded there after their bus broke down. The small group had found that the town was mysteriously frozen in time, thanks to a magical camera. Kat and Julie, with the help of town Sheriff Deputy Debra Sanderson, were able to unfreeze everyone by outsmarting the Carter twins, who had been behind everything. The Carters were then frozen with their own camera and locked away. The town went back to normal, or as normal as it could be. Stillsville lost more of its residents after the incident. The few who remained were able to live off of the rise in tourism that picked up after rumors of the town being frozen in time. The lure of seeing something so extraordinary brought visitors from all over. Tourism had picked up so much that a new hotel was built in town. The building was actually the back half of the town hall building, which had been one of the most modern in town. Despite its other half being the government center of the small town, the hotel offered all the services of any typical hotel. Being that the Raptors were honored guests, half of the hotel had been rented out for their stay.

            Cecily looked at her girl Katherine, known simply as Kat to everyone, who was seated in the back seat. For the trip the team had to dress in business attire to create image of professionalism for the school. To Cecily’s dismay Kat had elected to go with a gray pants suit and white blouse, neither which seemed to fit her that well. She knew her daughter had a great athletic figure and, non-stereotypically, silently wished she would have at least worn a skirt to help show it off. Sitting in front next Cecily was her other daughter, Kat’s twin Julie. Julie was a cheerleader and Cecily thought conversely that she showed off her body too much, a funny contrast to Kat. True that she had softer features than her sister and was a bit more pleasant to look at, especially to the opposite sex. Though her girls were twins, Julie had always been the more attractive one, which was due to her having less muscle tone and also Julie was a sweet girl with an infectious personality. Julie’s downside was that she was bit naive when compared to Kat, who was quite mature for her age. This worried Cecily, since Julie would often dress in revealing clothing. She was currently dressed in a pair of denim shorts that looked to be just tad too high and a black tank top under a fitting short-sleeved plaid buttoned-up top. The top was open, revealing the tank-top underneath. Cecily could clearly see her daughter’s nipples through the top and hoped the girl was wearing underwear. She hoped that boys wouldn’t get the wrong idea about Julie and hoped that she would be smart enough to watch out for such boys, though her current boyfriend Tucker seemed nice enough. It was Kat's boyfriend that Cecily had yet to meet.

            At the moment Cecily noticed that both of her girls were looking around nervously as they drove through town. Some of the town’s people had gathered along the street to watch the caravan of two brand new yellow Blue Bird school buses with about a dozen trailing family cars enter the town. “What’s wrong, girls, you don’t like the welcome? I think this is nice.”

            “It’s fine,” Kat answered, giving her mom a cool smile.

            “We just have some memories…” Julie then said but was unable to continue as Kat suddenly kicked the back of her seat. She turned around angrily, “What gives!”

            Kat threw her sister a warning look and gestured at their mom, “Shut up…” she whispered urgently.

            “Hey!” Cecily shot back, “That’s enough you two…you are both grown women, so stop acting like children.”

            “Sorry mom,” both girls said in unison.

            It was silent for another block before Cecily asked, “What memories?”

            Kat shook her head in annoyance. Their mom had not yet learned what had happened last year and though she had heard rumors, she didn’t know if they were true. If she did surely she would have taken her girls all the way back to Rhode Island. “It was nothing mom; Julie was just being stupid.” Julie turned around and frowned at her sister but before she could say anything, their mom cut them off.

            “Kat, that is enough!” Cecily scolded. “You do not call anyone in this family stupid.” She hated yelling at her girls but she loved them too much to let that kind of rude behavior slip by. Kat and Julie shared a special bond that would probably be never broken, but there was no room for that kind of disrespect.

            “Hey mom, we’re turning,” Kat replied, looking ahead and wanting to change the subject. Up ahead there was a Stillsville Sheriff’s department cruiser blocking the road. A blonde-haired female deputy stood directing the caravan with hand signals.

            “We will talk about this later Katherine,” Cecily said sternly. Julie turned around quickly and stuck her tongue out at her sister. Kat only sank in her seat knowing that she was in trouble since her mom just ‘full named’ her. Looking at her mom’s reflection in the rear mirror, she could see that Cecily Vaughn was no longer in a good mood. At least she wasn’t asking any more questions, which was really the only good thing that Kat saw from the exchange.

            The caravan parked in a large parking area that was reserved for them in front of the hotel, which was essentially the back half of the city hall building. The parking space, up to a few months ago, had been a dirty swamp that separated the local school and city hall. The school buses parked along the edge end-to-end while the cars took up random parking places. The parking area was large enough to fit another two buses and at least twenty regular cars. As the team started to disembark, a group of people stepped out from the building, heading towards the team members.

            Julie got out of the Ford first while her mom was applying some make-up and Kat was gathering her things. She spotted in the group Lance Raymer, the local tow truck driver and mechanic who had saved them when they were stranded here the first time, helping their driver Gabby fix the broken bus. The man was dressed in dirty work overalls as he made his way to group, in particular their coach Glenda Peyton. Though it wasn’t official or known by many, Glenda and Lance were in a nice long-distance relationship. The blonde-haired coach was dressed as smartly as her team, clad in a tailored dark red skirt suit that she had picked up from Vicky’s the prior week. The team thought the reason why Glenda had made them dress up was that she didn’t want to be only person dressed up as she wanted to look nice for Lance. The two embraced with Glenda not caring about getting her outfit dirty; the love clearly there.

            Also among the group was Mayor Myra Cooke, an attractive charismatic dark-haired woman with alluring hazel eyes. Myra had been the town’s mayor for years and had been the town’s leader when it was frozen. The sharp looking forty-one year old was dressed in a brown tweed skirt suit, with pantyhose and matching brown heels. Her dark hair was tied up in conservative bun. She smiled brightly as she greeted the players and their families. The last time Julie had seen the woman she wasn’t wearing anything at all, so the tweed suit looked good on her and it also made her look a bit younger. Tailing the mayor was tall dark-skinned woman clad in simple gray pants suit, upon seeing how she was interacting with everyone; Julie figured she was also a government official too. There were some police deputies and more town folk in the crowd too but Julie didn’t know them.

            “There are my girls!” a voice to Julie’s right snapped her from her observation of the meet and greet. She turned around to see a female deputy walk up to them. The officer was a brunette and looked cute in the tan and brown uniform that she wore. She had her hair styled in an old-fashioned 1950s ‘do though she was barely thirty years old.

            “Debra!” Julie remarked giving the older woman a hug.

            “Hey Deb,” Kat then greeted giving the deputy a hug after Julie was done.

            “You ladies look great! I see Glenda down here every month, I keep on telling her to bring one of you guys but she always forgets; always focused on Lance probably. Congrats on making it to the tournament,” Debra said as she looked the twins over. She then noticed the attractive blonde that had stepped out from the driver’s side of the car. The woman was gorgeous and on first glance Debra honestly thought she was an older sister to her twin friends. Upon closer observation she could tell the eye-catching woman was their mother. Debra was jealous to say the least; the Vaughn twins came from good stock. “Hello, I’m Deputy Debra Sanderson,” she greeted, extending her hand and offering a friendly smile to the older blonde. The woman was clad in a red one-piece skirt suit and stood in pair of simple black high heels.

            “Cecily Vaughn,” she greeted, forcing a smile and accepting the deputy’s hand, as she was still upset with Kat. “Very nice to meet you.”

            “Are you the older sister?” Debra asked, which caused Julie and Kat to chuckle.

            Cecily couldn’t help but smile and blush, “No I’m a little older than that… I’m their mother.”

            “Well I can see where they get their dazzling good looks from,” Debra said.

            “Thank you, Deputy Sanderson, you’re too kind. I am curious though; you do seem like a nice person but how do my girls know a Sheriff’s deputy?”

            “Oh they help…” Debra began to say but stopped abruptly when Kat stepped on her boots. The younger blonde just gave the deputy a warning look that told her what she needed to know. Debra smiled awkwardly at Cecily, who was looking daggers at Kat. “They volunteered... last time they were here.”

            “Is that so,” Cecily said, looking at Debra suspiciously and then at her daughters. Kat was looking away and Julie gazed down at her feet. They were all hiding something. “Shall we check in?” Cecily then asked. She was tired and she was growing annoyed that something was being kept from her; she didn’t want to deal with it at this moment.

            “Sure… the hotel wasn’t here the last time, I’ll give you women a tour,” Debra said, turning around and leading the women towards the rest of the group. She knew upset moms and right now Cecily Vaughn was an upset mom.

* * *

            “And this is your room,” announced Lance, opening the card-lock to the hotel room. Glenda had been taken on a more private tour of the hotel by Lance after helping get everyone started on checking in, and now the couple was on the fifth floor, Room 508. The hotel had five floors, with the bottom floor of having fourteen rooms, the middle two floors twenty each, and the top two level only having eight due to the building being smaller up top. The hotel stood two floors taller than the town hall building, so the two top floors had a great view of the town, making it the tallest building in Stillsville. The bottom floor, in addition to being the lobby, also had an indoor pool and a meeting area where breakfast was served every morning. While the hotel didn't have a restaurant of its own, there was a family restaurant a very short walk away. The restaurant actually catered the breakfast for the hotel every morning.

            “Not bad,” smiled Glenda, ignoring the decent hotel room with its king-sized bed, modern TV and a nice source of lighting in favor of moving in to kiss her boyfriend. Thanks to only seeing each other a dozen times or so during the year, Glenda and Lance were just getting used to the idea of actually calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend despite having admitted they loved each other a couple of months ago.

            “I really am sorry about your jacket,” offered Lance after breaking the kiss, the room door having closed behind them. “Also I’m sorry we can't spend the night at my place...”

            “Sadly, I do have responsibilities that I can't just skip out on,” lamented Glenda with a playful sigh. “Still, you know how it goes... We can't exactly move in or anything if we keep going like this.”

            “I know...” frowned Lance, pulling in Glenda for a soft embrace, the coach resting her head on his shoulder. “We're both stubborn people... I love my job. You love yours, neither is willing to budge to step forward...”

            “I guess the question really is that at this point in our lives, what are we waiting for,” mused Glenda. “Still, I do love you. And I do want to be with you. It's just... The college...”

            “I know; I love you too, but I inherited this job from my father...” echoed Lance, sighing slightly. “Well let’s just, for now, enjoy the moment. I think after you've spent a few hours on the road and I've been working all day we could both use a shower...”

            “I... Not just yet,” declared Glenda, slowly moving away while smiling apologetically. “I do need to make sure there are no issues downstairs with everyone checking in. Once I know everyone's settled though...”

            “I understand. I'll unpack your bag while I wait,” offered Lance, indicating the small bag they'd brought into the room with them. “I seem to recall someone liking their bathroom products to be organized a specific way...”

            “Well, aren't you a gentleman,” laughed Glenda as she gave her boyfriend a wink and headed out of her room. As Glenda started down the hallway however, heading for the elevator, she did begin to wonder what she was doing with Lance. Glenda was approaching forty and while she'd had her share of relationships none had made it past six months. Glenda had told at least three men she'd loved them, but as they even started considered moving in together things had fallen apart. Now Glenda found herself in a long-distance relationship with a mechanic who was most likely to never leave his job, and she loved working at Decker State College too much to ever leave there.

            Shaking off her thoughts, Glenda rode the elevator down, passing a group of women after she disembarked on the first floor. Glenda didn't check but judging by them she figured they were members of the massive Vole family; Tess Vole having brought all three of her sisters as well as her parents this year.

            Entering the lobby, Glenda saw that the young clerk, a brunette with blue eyes named Jodi Ruger, was sitting behind the desk with no one lined up in front of her. Jodi was easily of college age and was wearing a purple blouse with her first name stitched into just below the left lapel. The lobby had white tiles and the desk was a fine dark wood, circular in nature. Over on one side of the lobby was a large water dispenser that had ice and lemons floating in it, a coffee machine next to it, as well as a jug that appeared to contain hot water for tea. On the other side of the lobby were a couple of couches, which was where two of Glenda's players now lounged.

            “You notice that the youth center is now just a rec center?” Danica Riley asked Chrissy Pak. Both girls were dressed nicely, Danica in a black skirt suit with her blonde hair down in curls while Chrissy had gone for a teal and black pants suit, her hair dyed her signature red but pulled back into a tight bun.

            “Well I guess with people leaving town they had to make some changes,” sighed Chrissy, but Glenda focused on Jodi for a moment.

            “Has our group fully checked-in?” asked the soccer coach, leaning against the desk and noticing for the first time the smell of grease coming from her clothes.

            “Yes, all set; I just needed to reconfigure a few things for that last family as one of the sisters demanded a single room,” commented Jodi, tapping a few keys on her computer as she spoke. “She said something about being too famous...”

            “Probably Belle,” muttered Glenda, rolling her eyes. One of Tess's older sisters was Belle Vole, a professional soccer player who played for Los Angeles, though if Glenda remembered right she'd originally played for Boston. Glenda hadn't spoken with Belle much but got the idea she had a rather large ego. She had read from somewhere that the striker was a bit of a diva, though she was great and talented player the personality trait did affect the locker room. It was probably the reason she was traded. Since Jodi seemed to have everything well in hand, Glenda stepped away, moving over to where Chrissy and Danica were chatting.

            Seeing Glenda approach the two players stopped their conversation and looked up from the couch. “Is there something up, coach?” asked Danica.

            “Can I talk to you, please?” requested Glenda, indicating a second exit from the lobby.

            “Sure thing coach, I'll catch up with you and the rest in a couple,” agreed Danica, then speaking to Chrissy before getting up and following Glenda out of the lobby. The pair walked a short distance before coming to a stop just outside the entrance to the pool.

            “You know I think I miss you calling me auntie,” commented Glenda once the pair were alone.

            “Hey, I'm not twelve anymore, and you're the one that said we should downplay the fact that we're related,” Danica reminded her aunt. “So what's up?”

            “I talked to your mother the other day, it seems she didn't know you'd gotten a job offer with law enforcement,” revealed Glenda, crossing her arms. “I only found out after Kat mentioned it.”

            “So that's why she seemed to be avoiding me yesterday,” realized Danica, tilting her head back to sigh for a moment. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

            “Well before I recite everything your mother told me I should probably at least get a better understanding of just what this job is,” offered Glenda, trying to be diplomatic as her sister and her niece didn't have the best relationship. “Kat mentioned London.”

            “Yeah, I the news a few days ago I got confirmation that I'm working for an agency whose name I can't actually use in casual conversation,” confirmed Danica with a nod. “They're based out of London. They're definitely legit, the recruiter even put in a voice chat with their director. Easiest way I can describe them is being like Interpol, sort of.”

            “And they need a science major?” asked Glenda, a bit incredulous.

            “They also do research and they were impressed with my grades, as well as just the fact that I'm a physics major with a chemistry minor,” revealed Danica. “Look, it's going to suck leaving the US, I mean, everyone I know is here... But I took the job. I know it’s a big step; it's going to give me a chance to make a real difference, and if the place is secretive, well, they probably have some of the best lab toys... I figured you if anyone would understand moving around a lot. You were in Canada for years before moving down to Malibu...”

            “You're right, I guess your mother just hoped you might move back to Seattle, or at least somehow get a job with the Center for Disease Control,” noted Glenda, shrugging and nodding. “Okay, I'll spare you the lecture, but I need you to still call her or something. Even go home for a couple of days before you leave the country...”

            “Well I need to go home to make sure all my stuff gets sent to my new apartment, er, 'flat,' but can you at least reassure her I'm not going to be put in the line of fire or anything?” requested Danica, crossing her arms and smiling.

            “Sure, and for what it's worth: congratulations,” agreed Glenda, and the family members shared a quick hug before Danica hurried off. Glenda watched Danica go for a bit and couldn't help but wonder if she'd end up like her: having a career she loved but no real certainty on building a family. For years Glenda had been fine with the idea not having a husband or children by her age, but she did feel that having children, adopted or otherwise, was one of the most important things people could do.

            Shaking off her insecurities, Glenda decided to perk up and headed back to the lobby, planning to check with Jodi one more time and then go upstairs. Glenda's optimism came to a screeching halt, however, when she returned the lobby and saw two unexpected but familiar faces standing at the desk.

            “Peyton?” observed Lady Sharks soccer coach Denise Cameron, standing up from where she'd been leaning on the hotel front desk. Denise in some ways could have been Glenda's sister, the pair possessing the same complexion and same hair, though Denise had more pronounced cheekbones and blue eyes. The soccer coach for Malibu State College was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and a pair of worn jeans, her hair back in a ponytail and a baseball hat with the college logo on it atop her head. Standing with Denise was Mei Lueng, her young assistant coach of Chinese descent. Mei was dressed similarly to Denise, her sweatshirt was blue however.

            “Cameron, I didn't expect to see you here,” commented Glenda, trying her best to fake a smile. “I would have thought your team would be staying in Salt Lake City tonight...”

            “The Cabin Fever hotel where we were booked had a fire, and there wasn't a hotel in our budget left in the city,” sighed Denise, taking off her hat and rubbing her forehead.

            “I'd heard about this interesting village online, so I suggested it,” added Mei, Glenda noticing Jodi tried not to wince at the description of her home being a 'village.' “What about you?”

            “We made some friends out here last year when our bus broke down, so we thought we'd come back,” admitted Glenda. “So you're all here? Your whole team?”

            “Everyone; even the cheerleaders,” confirmed Denise, her expression souring.

            “So our rival teams get to share a hotel,” remarked Glenda dryly, noticing Jodi was in fact making keys as they were talking. “This will be... fun.”

* * *

            “So this is what I missed last year,” commented Michelle Gim as she walked into the hotel room she was sharing with Julie Vaughn. Michelle had gone with a rich purple skirt suit, one Julie was a bit curious about since it didn't seem to be hers. Michelle casually threw her bags onto the bed at the far end of the room, by the window, not even discussing it.

            “This hotel is new; we were only here for a few hours last year,” pointed out Julie, Michelle having been lucky enough to ride on the first bus the previous year and thus making it to Salt Lake City without incident. “People here are very nice... Almost a shame next year's conference final will be in San Francisco.”

            “Not a big fan of being in the heartland of the Mormons,” remarked Michelle, plopping herself down on her bed while Julie placed her bag on hers, beginning to search for something. “Not bashing religion or anything; I just really like caffeine...”

            “I know what you mean, I can't imagine you giving it up,” agreed Julie, at which point she raised the magic Polaroid camera she'd packed and casually took a picture of her roommate. Michelle was reclined against the back of her queen-sized bed, glancing towards the open window with her hands in her lap. The charmed camera came originally from Stillsville, created by the now-frozen Carter twins, or possibly their long-missing parents. Thanks to the triggered spell of the camera, Michelle was frozen in place as a picture of her in her motionless pose printed out.

            “Ah, magic,” breathed Julie, slipping the photo into her bag. Julie had at one point liked Michelle but as the year had worn on she'd started to realize her teammate was quite the manipulative bitch, having been aggressively working to oust Rachel Xanders from the position of head cheerleader. Being randomly assigned to share a room with Michelle was not what Julie had hoped for, so she'd decided to solve the problem herself.

            Julie took a few minutes to unpack, pulling out her laptop and placing her bathroom items in the room they got their alias from, and it was after then that a knock came at the door. Glancing through the hotel room peephole, Julie saw her twin and at least a few other girls, all of whom she let in without question since they all knew about the camera. “Hey everyone, what's up?” greeted Julie as piled in.

            “We have a pretty big problem,” revealed Ayane Nakamura, the team's resident blonde Japanese girl, as the whole group filled the room. Ayane and the rest, save Chrissy Pak, had changed out of their formal attire into more casual clothing, Ayane in both black jeans and a black T-shirt, with couple of white arm bands on her right arm. Britney Summers, Ayane's best friend, was in a yellow spaghetti-strap top and a loose orange skirt that was knee-length. Mel Donavan, the Irish goalie who could be a walking stereotype, had slicked back her blonde hair and was in a green sleeveless shirt with a white rabbit's foot image on it, torn jeans on her legs. Veronica Parker, former player and now assistant coach, had her curly hair hidden under a red fedora and was wearing a white short-sleeved blouse with dark green pants. Tess Vole had her hair in a conservative semi up-do, wearing a navy sweater-vest over a white long-sleeved blouse and a brown plaid skirt around her legs. Diane Cruz had a blue T-shirt with a cartoon marshmallow on it, jeans on her legs. Finally Kat entered the room, wearing a yellow tank top and dark blue jeans under a brown leather jacket.

            “What's going on?” asked Julie as she closed the door behind everyone. Some were glancing curiously at Michelle. “Oh, just froze her. Wanted some quiet time... You know.”

            “Good; saves us having to do it now,” shrugged Kat, turning to look at her sister while Brit and Mel moved over to get a better look at the silent cheerleader. “The Lady Sharks just showed up.”

            “What?!” exclaimed Julie. “Why?” Brit and Mel meanwhile had started by standing Michelle up on her feet, moving her arms to rest on her hips and turning her head to face straight ahead.  Though unable to lift a finger on her own, the frozen cheerleader could easily be posed, as they wanted.

            “They checked in now; their hotel in Salt Lake had a fire,” revealed Tess, frowning. “You know, I can put up with a lot... I kind of have to, and I try to roll with it. Still, my whole family is here. I can't have them chatting with our bitter rivals... But...”

            “Basically you're endorsing whatever we decide to do about this, but you can't partake?” clarified Ayane, who'd plopped down on Julie's bed.

            “Sure, let’s go with that,” shrugged Tess. “Now that it's been said, I'm off to go help them find a place to eat for dinner...”

            “Thank you for the cameo,” quipped Veronica as Tess left the room. “Right, so obviously we can't have these bitches causing trouble. I mean, we lucked out in the tournament drawing, so the only time we could hypothetically face them is in the final. We don't need this; I liked feeling like things were going our way this year.”

            “Well, we are in Stillsville,” Mel reminded the group as she walked away from Brit and Ayane, who'd posed Michelle to be cupping her own breasts while bent forward forty-five degrees at the waist. “We've got the camera. Why not freeze them for the night?”

            “The whole team, staff and all?!” exclaimed Diane, aghast. “That's crazy!”

            “No, I think we can do it,” disagreed Kat, shaking her head. “I mean, I do want to regulate the camera a bit, but...”

            “No way; I gotta talk to coach,” insisted Diane, heading towards the door. Diane then suddenly froze in mid-step however, a bright flash coming from the direction of the bed where Ayane had picked up the camera and employed it.

            “Your welcome,” commented the blonde, pulling the ‘still’ photo from the camera and waving it.

            “Just don't try to convince me to leave my roommate like that all night,” commented Chrissy, looking at the statue-still Diane. The curvy Latina had her right arm forward along with her left foot and was frowning, a flash of actual anger in her eyes.

            “I'm in, let’s do it,” decided Veronica, tapping her hips.  “Freeze ‘em all!”

            “Ditto,” agreed Kat.

            “I'm with Kat,” confirmed Julie, the sisters sharing a nod.

            “And it was my plan,” pointed out Mel.

            “Honestly, I just want to relax, but yeah, do what you gotta do, I won't stop you,” declared Chrissy. “I'll even stay here; keep an eye on Michelle and Diane for you.”

            “Well I guess that just leaves us,” noted Ayane, having gotten up and rested her elbow on Brit's shoulder, her friend and hotel roommate running her hand through her hair. “What do you think, Brit?”

            “Freeze my sister and her stupid teammates?” asked Brit, referring to the fact that her sister Tracy Summers was a member of the Lady Sharks. “Well...”

* * *

Main Street

Stillsville, Utah

            Olivia was still upset that they had been forced to leave the comforts of a modern city for a back-roads town that had buildings that were older than her parents. She was even more upset that they were currently sharing a hotel with their cross-town rivals, the Raptors. Her team, the Malibu Sharks, had just finished checking into the hotel when they learned about their roommates. Coaches on both teams had already warned their players that there would be no pranks or immature contact during their stay. Thanks to a history of bad blood between the teams however, Olivia was fairly certain the Raptors weren't going to honor the promise. The Sharks had also called a meeting for later that night to figure out what kind of pranks they could get away with.

            “There was a restaurant next to the hotel; why are we walking this far?” Olivia whined. After they had checked in her best friend, teammate, captain and roommate had felt an urge to eat. Deidre Howard didn’t look like it but she was bit of a food admirer. She had pretty much eaten at every food establishment back in Malibu and even had a blog to review their specialty dishes. Deidre was a culinary art major and if her soccer didn’t get her anywhere she planned to become food critic, traveling the world while tasting and reviewing gourmet cuisine. When she wasn’t playing soccer or in class, she was out exploring restaurants in neighboring cities. She loved the food scene in LA in particular.

            “That’s just a family diner… I don’t want a big meal, just a snack. I’ll try it out later,” Deidre replied, focused on looking at the businesses they were passing. It was late afternoon and the town’s foot traffic was light but for the few people that were out, the two perky girls from Malibu were a fresh sight. Aside from being outsiders, the two soccer players were stunningly attractive. Deidre was blonde and had classic girl-next-door look while Olivia was a brunette and had appearance of the exotic city girl, even though back home she was considered average, especially when hanging out with her blonde buddy.

            “There were peanuts, chips and soda in the hotel room,” Olivia pointed out.

            “I’m not eating that junk. I don’t go for that stuff at home what makes you think I’ll eat it here?”

            “You don’t want a meal and I just mentioned a snack and you just say you’re not eating that… what are you going eat?”

            Deidre stopped and looked at her friend seriously, “If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to, No one is putting a gun to your head.”

            “I’m sorry Deidre… but my feet are killing me. At least tell me where we are going so I can at least see an end to this.” For their little adventure Olivia had decided to wear her brand new blue heels that matched with the sparkling collarless top she was wearing over her white skinny jeans. If she knew she would be walking this far she was would have ditched the heels. Deidre had dressed a little more down for the outing, sporting her soccer jersey, a pair of worn jeans with torn knees over pair of pink cross-trainers. Olivia secretly hated how she had to dress up just to be noticed when hanging out with Deidre, whether it had to be new shoes or a skimpy outfit, she was always putting in that extra effort. Deidre on the other hand never cared about her looks unless she was going to a club or something. The girl was always a jeans and t-shirt person and though she never spent any time on her hair it always looked perfect, being naturally straight. Deidre actually shared a lot of her clothes, as she only owned jeans and sweats. If Olivia didn’t know better she figured her friend to be a boy trapped in a girl’s body.

            “I read on the town’s website that there’s a butcher shop called McVicker’s that also serves as a sandwich shop too. They advertise they make the best club sandwiches in Utah. I want to try it,” Deidre replied. She looked over at her friend and frowned, “Why did you wear those swanky shoes?”

            The pair finally reached McVickers’ Butcher Shop; it was small shop nestled between a video rental place and a shoe shop. Inside the two story building was an ‘L’-shaped white counter with a sturdy old oak counter top. There were two warmers with fresh baked bread along with three large glass-faced coolers containing shelves of different types of meats organized neatly in rows within the cooler. Between the bread warmers and meat coolers was a swinging door that that led to the back of the shop. The area in front of the counter had half dozen small tables that could fit four or two people each. The tables were tightly clustered in the small space. In the corner next to the short side of the counter was another glass-doored cooler, this one containing a variety of juices and soda bottles.

            “Hello girls,” greeted a tanned brunette behind the counter. The girl looked about the soccer player’s age, her hair was tucked under a hairnet while she was dressed in a pink short-sleeve top under a maroon apron with ‘McVickers’ written in fancy yellow print on it. “My name is Petunia, welcome to McVickers. How could I help you girls this evening?”

            Deidre stepped up to the counter while Olivia thankfully sat down at one of the tables. She was eager to take her new heels off but thought against it since they were in a food environment, plus they weren’t the only customers in the store either. There was a blonde woman that looked to be in her forties standing at the far end of the counter. She was dressed in a pair of old khakis and a denim button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up at her elbows. A pair of brown worker boots and a wide brim straw hat that sat next to her on the counter top completed her rustic look. Olivia thought the woman had gardener written all over her, only missing gloves or shears.

            “I would like the club sandwich please,” Deidre ordered looking down at the counter. She noticed there was a small menu taped to it that listed about a dozen different sandwiches and since they were in a butcher shop they were all meat sandwiches. She looked at the sides available. Though she didn’t eat chips regularly, traditional clubs were served with them. “I’ll have on whole wheat bread with a side of potato chips and a pickle too.”

            “You got it; what do you want to drink?” Petunia replied as she reached under the counter and slipped on a pair of latex gloves. She then moved over to the short side of the counter. The short side contained a sandwich counter with refrigerated bins holding cold cuts.

            Deidre moved over to the short side of counter and looked at the glass cooler containing the drinks, “I’ll have an orange juice,” she replied before leaning against the counter top to watch as Petunia retrieved two slices of wheat bread from the bread warmer.

            “No problem-o,” Petunia replied cheerfully, “You could go ahead and have a seat with your friend and I’ll bring it to when it’s done.”

            “Do you mind if I watch?” Deidre asked, catching a slight tone of eagerness in her voice. Petunia looked at the girl oddly with a raised eyebrow. Deidre quickly waved her hands, “Oh I don’t mean that I don’t trust you or something, I’m just interested in see how the best club in the state is made.”

            Petunia gave a chuckle, “That website… Mr. McVicker’s gets a little too ahead of himself, I’m good but I don’t know about being the best in the state! But whatever, you’re more than welcome to watch. You Cali people are weird.”

            “I’m actually from Rhode Island; I just go to school in California,” Deidre corrected but her eyes were locked on the sandwich artist’s hands as she worked.

            “Gotcha,” Petunia said not looking up from her work. “I thought you folks had orange jerseys?”

            “You’re thinking of the other team… I’m a Shark.”

            Petunia stopped working and looked up, “Are sure you’re not from Cali?”

            The sandwich was finished and Deidre paid for it along with two drinks, one for Olivia for her troubles. The two girls sat at corner table with Olivia nursing a fruit punch while Deidre ate her sandwich like a critic. She had to admit it was damn good sandwich, as simple as it was, there was just something about it that made it stand out. As the soccer player took a few more bites she wondered is the quality was merely due to how good each of the ingredients were, in particular the bacon and turkey. Petunia and the older woman made quiet conversation by the counter as Deidre ate and Olivia drank.

            Deidre was nearly done with the club when Mr. McVickers himself emerged from the back, carrying four paper wrapped steaks in his gloved hands. He was a slightly balding man with a gray mustache who looked to be nearing fifty. The shop owner was dressed in a stained cook’s smock over khaki trousers. He saw the new faces in his shop and welcomed them. Deidre complimented him on the club, which only made Petunia smile from her spot at the counter. The shop owner and the soccer player critic then had a brief conversation about sandwich making before McVickers had to reluctantly cut the shop-talk short to deal with the waiting woman.

            The woman at the counter's name was Barbie; from what the soccer players could pick up from their seats. Usually Deidre didn’t eavesdrop but Olivia had silently poked her when she heard something about the Raptors' last stay here. Barbie had brought up how she didn’t like the soccer team staying in town, something about bringing back unpleasant memories. Mr. McVickers assured her that everything was fine. Deidre and Olivia shared a look, curious at just what had transpired before.

            Barbie paid for her steaks at the counter, with Petunia ringing her up. As she paid, Mr. McVickers made his way over to Deidre’s table and the two continued their conversation. The older man was intrigued by how a girl who looked like Deidre would know so much about food. Olivia was bored out of mind until an old primer-coat 1970s Chevy Chevelle pulled up the shop. A brown haired boy hopped out of the muscle car. He was in striking contrast to his car, with his unkempt hair and relatively chubby frame clad in simple red plaid shirt, jeans and old sneakers. At first Olivia wasn’t interested in him but he looked at her and smiled. His smile was cute and Olivia couldn’t help but smile back. The boy made his way to the counter where he started chatting with Petunia. Olivia was sure the two weren’t in a relationship since their conversation about plans for later seemed too casual, plus Petunia seemed too attractive for him even if she was a townie. As Petunia and the boy talked, the boy kept looking back at Olivia, making her feel that she had one up over her best friend for a change. She was now curious about the boy’s plans for later too. There was a slight chance Stillsville wasn’t so bad after all.

Chapter Two      

            “And snap,” muttered Julie with a smile as Kat took a 'still' photo of their latest group of Sharks, or in this case a Shark and Sharks associates. Tracy Summers, Brit's older sister with hair that seemed more red than brown, was frozen just outside her hotel room along with two MSC's cheerleaders. Tracy had been smiling, clad in a fresh white blouse and a nice pair of jeans with her hair loose, her right arm forward while in mid-step. The cheerleaders looked like they were sisters, one around average height and the other pretty short, both dark-brunettes with blue eyes and somewhat fair skin. Both were still wearing their cheerleading uniforms that were MSC's blue and white, the taller one caught smiling and pointing at the other one, who had closed eyes and looked like she was about to laugh. Kat had jumped the trio by popping out from around the corner and taking the photo, freezing them instantly.

            “Brit will be sorry she missed this,” commented Veronica as she circled the corner to join Kat and Julie, Mel not far behind.

            “You heard her, they wanted to hit up the youth center,” pointed out Mel. “I think I just realized why too, as they've probably got a private hot tub there and the one here will be busy...”

            “Clever bitches,” muttered Kat as she handed the photo to Veronica, who'd been put in charge of keeping them; Julie meanwhile moved forward to pick Tracy's pocket. “So who are the cheerleaders?”

            “Dina and Lina Leone, sisters and pretty much your typical stuck-up bitches from a family that's probably well off if not loaded,” recalled Veronica, pocketing the photo. “Working-class princesses might be a good nickname for them.”

            “Wait, Leone?” stopped Julie, having just found Tracy's key-card in her pocket.

            “Yeah, what's up?” asked Veronica, but Kat seemed to nod and get it, as did Mel.

            “My boyfriend's ex- has the same last name; these are probably her cousins, she mentioned once they went to MSC,” revealed Julie, leaving out the fact that her boyfriend was in fact now dating said ex- again, though also dating her at the same time. Only a handful of people knew that was going on, Veronica and Mel not being amongst them.

            “Score, even more revenge,” chuckled Mel as Julie used the key to open the room the trio had just left. Kat then moved in to hold the door while Julie, Mel and Veronica each grabbed a frozen girl, dragging them into the room on the sides of their feet. The door was then closed and the three stiff girls were stood up. The group was their first trio, the Raptors having previously frozen Brea Montgomery and Yumi Motochika individually.

            “Gotta go with the sexy girl trio spy pose,” declared Kat, snapping her fingers and pointing at the group of three as the girls tried to decide what to do.

            “Finger guns for all!” cheered Julie, and the four got to work making the image happen. Tracy was put in the middle with her right hand on her hip while her left was raised above her head in an open gesture, her body turned slightly to the left. Lina was put down on her right knee to Tracy's right, her hands up as if making a cheesy martial arts gesture that involved chopping. Dina ended up being the only one they stuck giving a finger gun to, down on her left knee to Tracy's left. All three women were made to look straight ahead and given intense expressions, their smiles molded to appear more serious.

            “I am keeping this one,” declared Mel, snapping a picture with her camera phone. “Desktop image, I'm thinking.”

            “Nice,” laughed Veronica, and the girls started to head for the door. To their surprise, however, there was a knock.

            “Let’s do it,” whispered Kat, readying the camera. Julie slipped over to the door of the room and stood behind it, grabbing the knob. Veronica and Mel hid in the bathroom, Veronica leaning out to do a silent countdown with her fingers from five to zero. As Veronica reached zero Julie opened the door and Kat immediately took a picture, without even seeing who it was.

            “Oh this is gold!” exclaimed Kat a moment later when the flash faded and she saw who they'd caught. Malie Kealoha and Harper Whyte, two more Sharks, were frozen in the doorway. Malie had her hair straight, parted down the middle, wearing a black tank top and green knee-length shorts with flip-flops. Harper, meanwhile, had the right side of her blonde hair pushed behind her head and was in a white shirt that only had one sleeve, with pink and yellow dots all over it like form of abstract expressionist art. Down below, Harper was wearing a knee-length dark blue skirt and pink heels. Malie was standing with her thumbs hooked into her waist while Harper had been reaching up to her face with her right hand, both women smiling obliviously.

            “Is there any pose we can do with five girls?” wondered Julie out loud, glad to be having so much fun in Stillsville this time around.

* * *

Meanwhile at McVickers's

            Usually Olivia was not that forward but the conversation between Deidre and George McVickers was really killing her. She excused herself from the table, not that it mattered as George and Deidre were in an engaging conversation on the subject of French bakeries, she wasn’t even sure how the subject had went from a club sandwich to that. Olivia made her way to the counter where the brown-haired boy and sandwich-maker were leaning against it and talking. They both stood as Olivia stepped up to the counter. The boy smiled again at her; she was really starting to dig that smile.

            “Hello there, what could I get you?” Petunia asked.

            “Nothing I’m good…” Olivia replied, not looking at the sandwich-maker who frowned at her briefly. Olivia’s attention was fixed on the boy, “What’s your name?”

            “Corwin Picket?”

            “Is it Corwin? You don’t seem so sure,” Olivia giggled.

            Petunia rolled her eyes, “It’s Corwin, he’s just an idiot when it comes to talking to women.” Olivia ignored the girl’s comments and only smiled at Corwin.

            Corwin shot a stare at his friend before turning back to the brunette outsider that was talking to him. “Yeah, sorry… I’m Corwin Picket… and you are?”

            Olivia extended her hand, “Olivia Daniels, a pleasure to meet you Corwin.”

            Corwin took Olivia hand and it took all of his will not giggle. The girl’s hand was so soft and smooth. “The pleasure is all mine…”

            “Now Corwin… as you already know my friend and I aren’t from around here… I was wondering if you could show us around?” Corwin nodded his head, way too eagerly in response.

            “What sights are you going to show them?” Petunia asked curiously. “Last time I checked, we live in Stillsville. You gonna take them to the rec center?”

            Corwin shot his friend another look, “Pet, shut up!” Turning back to Olivia he smiled nervously. “You want to go to the rec center?”

            Petunia let out a laugh before turning around to clean the sandwich station. “Sweetie you know she’s a soccer player right, I mean the signs have been up around town for damn near a week, letting us know there was a team coming to town. She’s an athlete from Cali I’m sure doesn’t want to go to the rec center and work out or watch a movie from last month.”

            He smiled nervously, “Sorry… I completely forgot.”

            Olivia smiled and patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry about it.”

            “No rec center?”

            “No.”

            Corwin racked his brain as panic began to set in. There was literally nothing to do. Normally he and his friend would catch a movie at the rec center; said movie would be a late one, since Stillsville had to wait for a new movie to be released to Blu-ray. The rec center did have other things to do but Olivia and her friend were from California, he was sure they’d get bored real quick. “We could stargaze?”

            Petunia let out another laugh that included a snort, and that made her laugh harder. She imitated Corwin’s low and unsure voice, “We could stargaze?” The voice was nearly dead on aside from the fact that a girl had said it.

            Olivia couldn’t help but laugh at the impression, “I’m sorry…” she quickly apologized.

            “Jesus Pet, stop it!” Corwin demanded but it came out as almost a whine that made his cheeks flush.

            Olivia tugged at Corwin’s arm to keep the conversation focused on her, “Is there some place no one goes? Like an abandoned house we could maybe have some fun at?” Petunia perked up at the question, returning to the chatting pair.

            “The old Carter house?” Petunia interrupted.

            “What’s the old Carter house?” Olivia then asked, annoyed that Petunia was back, though she had never left.

            Before Corwin could answer, Petunia explained, “The Carter house is this old and huge Victorian-era house... Creepy, some say it’s haunted or full of mysterious magic. There's also a rumor about something being buried out back... Some kind of box.”

            “Buried treasure could be cool,” Olivia said and then added. “I don’t believe in ghosts, but I can think of some fun things that could happen in an old house…”

            Petunia looked at the brunette, “If you were in a horror movie you’d be the first to die, unless there's someone who's a visible minority. Are you stupid or something? Listen to yourself.” Looking back at Corwin, she prodded, “Are you sure something is buried there?”

            “Hey I’m a guest in this town, don’t talk to me like that!” Olivia blurted. Petunia reached over and grabbed Olivia’s hand. Olivia felt something hard pressed against her skin. She tried to look down but found her eyes locked with the other brunette. 

            “Petunia, is there a problem?” George McVickers asked from his spot at the table next to Deidre. Deidre was also looking at the group curiously too. She gave her friend a ‘what the hell’ look.

            “No problem sir,” Petunia replied, letting go of Olivia and playing with a charm bracelet she wore on her right wrist. The bracelet had a dangling chain with an ornament on it that she was twirling with her fingers.

            “Good, go clean the sinks in the back,” he ordered. “Corwin, get out of here if you’re not going to buy anything.”

            Petunia grabbed Corwin’s hand with her right hand, making sure the ornament at the end of the chain on her bracelet touched his hand. The boy looked at his friend. “You will not go to the Carter house without me,” she said firmly. Corwin slowly nodded. Petunia looked at Olivia once more before turning and heading to the back of the store.

            “What was that about?” Olivia asked after Petunia had left.

            “It’s nothing… she wanted to hang out tonight. So, you want to see the house?” Corwin suggested.

            “Yeah sure; maybe we can find this mystery box too.”

            “Sure, I think I know where it is. I was driving by when the cops were burying it.”

            “Aren’t you curious?” Olivia asked.

            “Not really, but since you’re guests I’ll be happy to take you and your friend up there to check it out. We can tour the Carter place after… there’s nothing in it since the mayor had the place cleaned out, but like you said there are some fun things that could happen in an old house, right?”

            “Right, that is very true,” Olivia replied, playing with Corwin’s collar. The act managed to turn the local boy beet-red.

            “Let’s take Petunia with us,” he added after a few seconds to calm down.

            “Why? She was a total bitch to me.”

            Corwin couldn’t answer for a moment; it was like the suggestion had somehow escaped his lips without his knowledge, “I don’t…” he began to reply.

            Olivia smiled and winked at the boy, “Ah I see your point… not that we believe in ghosts or anything but if the place is haunted, we need someone to take one for the team.”

            “Yeah…” Corwin replied with a wink, still not sure what had just happened. He quickly shook the thought off and pointed out, “We’ll have to wait for her to get off work, which gives me enough time to contact another friend so we could get some refreshments.”

            “Sounds like a plan.”

            A few minutes later Deidre and Olivia were leaning against Corwin’s Chevelle. Corwin was just out of ear shot at a payphone talking to his friend with the food and drinks connection. “What is this place?” Olivia muttered, “He using a freaking payphone… It's like the 1920s. 'Hello? Operator? Get me Capone!'”

            “We’re not in Malibu anymore, the place is in a dead-zone, we lost cell reception when we rolled into town,” Deidre replied stuffing her hands into her jeans. “Is this buried box worth it?  Can't we just check out the house?”

            “It was buried last year, after the Raptors left, apparently… it could have some embarrassing photos in it or something,” Olivia replied.

            “Good point,” Deidre agreed. “We’ll check it out just for that… but I don’t want to be wandering around too late.”

            “Great, you won’t be disappointed, maybe a photo of Kat Vaughn looking uglier than she really is?”

            “Whoa, back up there… Kat is a lot of things but I wouldn’t call her ugly…”

            “Why not?”

            “Got enough things actually wrong with her to make fun of; no need to lie… so what’s up with you and Corwin?”

            “He’s cute and maybe I can do something fun in this town after all.”

            Deidre sighed, glad that her friend was easily distracted. Olivia was always scatterbrained in that sense. Deidre suspected that the girl might have ADHD or something. “He’s not that cute; don’t do anything stupid.”

            “Like go to an abandoned haunted house at night?” Petunia asked, joining the group, having just locked up the front of the butcher shop. The girl had changed out of her smock and was just dressed in her pink top, along with a pair dark denim fashion jeans tucked into brown Ugg boots. Her hair was long and wavy and looked great once free of the hair net. A small hanging bag across her shoulder finished her look; the purse strap crossed between the girl’s ample breasts making them stand out more behind an already-tight top. Deidre found herself staring that the girl’s bust a little too long and quickly turned away. She hoped no one noticed as she causally checked her lips for signs that she’d drooled.

            “Well you’re going with us, so who’s stupid?” Olivia shot.

            Petunia smiled at Deidre, who wasn’t looking at her any longer. She was finding the blonde girl who had a strange fascination for sandwiches and dressed like boy but looked like a beauty queen to be interesting. Turning her attention back to her friend, whom she guessed had the weaker personality of the duo. Petunia always had a knack for reading personalities. Though it had been her idea to head out with the townies to the Carter house, the blonde was really running the show. “This town already has a shady past. I don’t want us to make the news when some rich bimbo from Cali falls through the floor of an old house and breaks her neck.”

            “Hey, you can’t call me a bimbo!”

            “I’m not working anymore. So I don’t have to be nice to you. What are you going to do about it, Malibu?” Petunia asked stepping up to Olivia. As she expected, the other brunette backed off immediately.

            “D?” Olivia quivered.

            “Enough,” Deidre said, stepping between the two women. She looked at Petunia. The local girl had deep dark eyes that were alluring, to say the least. She swallowed hard to keep her composure. “Back off Petunia,” Deidre simply warned.

            Petunia stepped back and smiled; she had been right the blonde was the stronger one of the two. She only stepped up when needed though, a sign of a strong leader. Petunia put her palms up in surrender, “Sorry.”

            “That’s r…” Olivia started to say but was cut off as Deidre stepped up to her and pushed her back. It was gentle push but it was enough to draw her attention.

            “Olivia be quiet, we’re guests, we will behave,” Deidre ordered. She was quiet, so not to embarrass her friend in front of the locals. Olivia dropped her eyes and nodded.

            “Hey guys… what’s going on?” Corwin asked worriedly as he returned to the group.

            All three girls answered in unison, “Nothing.”

            “Okay… well, Caroline is actually ready to go she scored us some chips, dip and wine coolers.”

            “Great – a party in an abandoned house… fun,” Petunia muttered.

            Caroline McVickers was the daughter of George McVickers; she was a heavy-set girl with a pretty face and dark hair. She and Corwin were co-workers and also childhood friends, along with Petunia. Though she was obviously overweight she carried herself well and the fact that she was surrounded by girls half her size didn’t bother her spoke volumes of the type of person she was. She was dressed in her work clothes, which consisted of jeans, flats and an open collar black short-sleeved top; essentially just casual clothes as the store she worked at didn’t have a proper uniform. They had picked her up from the town’s only department store where she worked as a cashier and was just getting off of work. She loaded the party favors into Corwin’s trunk and due to her size grabbed the shotgun seat. Petunia, Olivia, and Deidre took the back seat, which was more than enough space for them, the muscle car being bigger than modern coupes. Deidre sat in the middle to ensure peace between the local and her friend. As they drove to edge of town, in the darkness of the back seat, Petunia’s hand began caressing her thigh. At first she had been tempted to pull the girl’s hand off her thigh but she loved the touch and she soon reciprocated by rubbing Petunia’s thigh. The two caressed each other’s thighs for remainder of the trip, looking straight ahead while sitting in silence. They only stopped when they reached the old house, with Deidre wishing the trip was longer as Petunia had only began to move her hand further up.

            “I’m having second thoughts,” Caroline said, looking up at the old four-story Victorian house. They were still seated in the Chevelle, which was parked right in front of the house. The house itself was located on the east side of town where it sat pretty much by itself. The town’s eastern boundary was a mere fifty yards from the edge of the house’s plot. The old dark house had nearly been the same size as the town hall building before the hotel was added to it.

            “That is a big house,” Deidre observed, leaning forward and looking out through the windshield. She felt a chill go up her back as she looked at the building, which looked even creepier in the dark with the only the headlights of muscle car lighting it. She felt Petunia’s hand wrap around her own and gave it a squeeze. “Where is this box buried at?” asked Deidre, her voice managing not to betray her excitement at the hand action.

            “It’s in the back,” Corwin replied, putting the car back in gear. The throaty V8 revved up and the back tires spun a little as the car left the paved driveway and drove off road, through overgrown weeds around the back of the house. “I’m not sure where it is exactly. It’s been so long and the weeds have grown up…” Corwin said, leaning close to the steering wheel as he drove. “Everything looks the same.”

            Petunia looked down at her bracelet and rolled her wrist, unseen to the other two girls in the backseat with her who had their eyes glued to what was going on outside the car as the piece of jewelry sparkled.

            “I think that’s it!” Corwin suddenly exclaimed as they came up to area where there were no weeds, just bald patch of dirt. There were weeds lying on the ground around the patch as if they had just been uprooted and thrown to the sides.

            “That’s weird… we just drove past here and it wasn’t like this before,” Caroline said, eying the empty patch of dirt.

            Petunia reached up from her spot behind Caroline and touched her shoulder with her right hand, making sure the ornament was touching the big girl’s shoulders, “It was there, you saw it.”

            “Oh... it was there,” Caroline agreed, though her voice sounded dream-like. Corwin didn’t seem to notice what Petunia had done, and to Deidre's surprise Olivia didn't seem to catch it either, while just glancing out the window.

            “Are you okay, Caroline?” Deidre then asked, looking at Petunia suspiciously.

            “What?” Caroline asked looking around, for a second she looked confused and didn’t know what was going on; then it came back to her. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

            “What the hell was that?” Deidre asked, whispering and looking at Petunia.

            “I’ll tell you later,” the brunette replied with smile. “Let’s dig up that box. With any luck there will be money, or maybe a nice jewel...”

            Corwin had two shovels that he kept in the trunk of his car along with a bunch of blankets and some work overalls. There was also a toolbox and a hunting rifle that shared the space along with the party favors. The two local girls thought that the contents were normal as they didn’t say anything, but Deidre and Olivia shot worried looks at one another, regretting not telling anyone where they were going. Petunia sat on the hood of the Chevy, its headlights keeping the dig site lit while Caroline leaned next to her against the grill. Both girls had opted out from digging, Petunia since it wasn’t her idea and Caroline since she just had her nails done. There were two shovels and Corwin was obviously going to use one, leaving the other for Olivia or Deidre. Olivia was soon out since she didn’t look like she knew how to dig; she soon stood and watched.

            “That is a nice car you've got there,” Deidre said with grunt as she dug.

            “You like it?” Corwin asked.

            Deidre smiled, “Sure, I like it, sounds like you've got a V8 in there; what is it a 492?”

            “I like your car too,” Olivia said, not wanting to be upstaged by her friend.

            “Thanks,” Corwin replied, but his gaze remained on the blonde that was digging with him. “I wish I had that 492, but it's a 402.”

            “Sweet, still a big V8 like that makes over 300 horsepower,” Deidre observed, though she was more focused on the digging.

            “Wow, that’s hot; how do you know about cars?”

            “My dad owns a shop back in Rhode Island. I grew up with brothers.”

            “Nice, you must have a cool car then.”

            “I like cars too.” Olivia cut in desperately, “Deidre has a red convertible.”

            “Uh cool…” Corwin replied, not sure what else to say as he had asked Deidre the question.

            Deidre only rolled her eyes, ignoring her friend. “It’s a Mercedes C320… non-turbo and before you comment, it was my mom’s car… My dad isn’t going to give his princess a ‘cool’ car, though I wouldn’t mind a nice ‘68 charger though.”

            “Ah, a Mopar girl,” Corwin chuckled.

            “Damn skippy; I mean come on: the Cuda, the Dart, and how about the new one the Viper… must I say more?”

            Corwin smiled and shook his head, “A little mainstream, but I see your point.”

            “Hey… enough about cars; let’s see what’s in this box so we can check out the house!” Olivia demanded.

            They had finally reached the box, which was buried almost five feet underground. Corwin was nearly out breath when he finally dragged the VCR-sized metal box out the hole. Deidre was little dirty and sweaty as she sat down on the ground at the edge the hole. Corwin had lost steam halfway through and she'd had to pick the slack. She was starting to think this was a bad idea regardless of what they found. “Oh man, it’s locked!” Corwin wheezed, looking at the metal lock that held the lid of the box shut.

            “Crap; what are we going do, D?” Olivia asked.

            Deidre frowned at her friend, “Jeez Olivia, I don’t know, it was your idea!”

            Petunia and Caroline joined the group, “Wow, a rusty metal box!” Caroline remarked sarcastically.

            “It’s locked, so there might be stuff inside,” Olivia whined.

            Corwin shook the box and they all heard something shift inside, though it was evident there wasn’t a lot of whatever that was inside. “Yeah, there’s something there.”

            “Doesn’t sound like a lot of money though…” Caroline chimed in.

            Petunia took the box from Corwin; putting it on the ground, she took his shovel and soon smashed the lock with blade end. Opening the box, she looked inside and shook her head, “It’s empty.”

            “What?” Corwin sighed.

            “Wow, an empty metal box… my what a productive night,” Caroline nodded, looking into the box.

            “Waste of time!” Olivia remarked.

            Deidre chucked her shovel into the hole and stood up, brushing her jeans off, “Waste of whose time? You didn’t dig! I need a freaking drink…”

            Corwin and Deidre shoved their way in through the house’s weak back door. As Corwin had reported, the house was empty; all of its furniture cleaned out and sold in auction months ago. Mayor Cooke’s little revenge towards the Carters. While Olivia, Caroline, and Petunia looked for a place to set up, Corwin and Deidre looked for the breaker box. Stillsville didn’t have an advanced electrical network, so the town really couldn’t cut power to piece of property, thus they would have simply shut the power off in the building since it was vacant. They shortly found the breaker box in the kitchen and moments later there was power in the large house, but they only turned a few lights on.

            They had set up in a large back room that had once been the living room. This was so other people or the deputies wouldn’t see that the mansion was lit; Corwin’s car was parked in the back so they were safe in that sense. Petunia had brought the empty box in with her and was using it as a low table to place the chips and dip on. They had also brought two blankets in with them and laid both out, making a nice area for the five of them to lounge on without fear of getting dirtier. After everyone had at least half of a wine cooler in them, the accusations for the pointless dig died away and the group started having some fun. Deidre and Olivia told stories from California, while the trio of locals explained what it was like to be frozen for more than a year, revealing to the visitors what had happened before the Raptors had passed through the previous year. For the most part, their experience was barely noticeable. The last thing that Petunia remembered was being at work and she was still there afterward when she came to, though she was dressed differently. Caroline and Corwin had been at home, but when they were unfrozen they found themselves at work. The most evident thing that the trio took from the experience was that they had been dressed and posed like mannequins in some museum diorama.

            “Let’s go exploring, Corwin,” Olivia urged, standing up and slipping her heels on. The girl was little tipsy, having already had one cooler; she swayed a little after getting her heels on, causing Corwin and Deidre to rush to her side. “I’m good!” she assured, pushing Deidre away but staying close to Corwin.

            Deidre took her friend aside as Corwin picked up the other blanket. “Don’t do it,” she warned quietly.

            Olivia pulled away from her friend, “You had your fun with him D; it’s my turn now…”

            “What are you talking about? I’m not even into him...”

            “You know what I’m talking about… took you guys forever to dig that hole.”

            “Are you serious?”

            Olivia smiled, “He’s mine,” she mouthed, hooking herself to Corwin, who held the blanket under his arms.

            “Explore the first level only; I don’t want you falling through the upper floors of this old place,” Deidre warned. She then looked over at Corwin, “Anything happens to her, I’m cutting you. With a wrench.”

            Corwin put a hand up, but smiled, “First floor; got it.”

            “I can’t believe her!” Deidre huffed, sitting back down on the remaining blanket, where Caroline and Petunia were still seated. “She’s my best friend but sometimes I just want to… argh!” She added, making a strangling gesture with her hands. The local girls laughed, with Caroline taking a swig of the wine cooler she had been nursing; it was her second one. Petunia had only drunk half of her first. She currently held the chilly bottle and stared at Deidre. Seeing the sandwich-maker eyeing her made the hairs stand on the back of her neck and she quickly took a swig from her own bottle.

            “So, how long have you known?” Petunia, asked sipping at her bottle.

            “Known what?” Deidre asked, a little nervous.

            “That you were into girls.”

            “Wait, you’re a lesbian?!” Caroline asked. “I would have never guessed, but then you’re from the same city as Erika Stone so that makes sense!”

            Deidre’s cheeks had flushed red and she looked mortified at the two local girls. “I’m not…” she tried to object, but she couldn’t since Petunia was right.

            Caroline stared to laugh but suddenly stopped when Petunia placed her right hand on her friend’s hand, making sure the ornament was touching the girl. “Freeze.” With the simple command, the big girl froze. She was seated with her legs crossed, leaning back on her left hand while her right held wine cooler over her knee. Her face was turned towards her friend. Caroline’s eyes were shut, being caught in mid-blink while her lips bore a smile.

            “What the hell!” Deidre screamed, standing up.

            “Whoa, D, relax…” Petunia said, standing up too. “She’s okay.”

            “What in the hell did you do to her?”

            “She’s been hypnotized; I froze her… I figure she’ll be better this way while we talked. She’s in there but no one is home,” Petunia explained, patting the motionless big girl on the head.

            “How?” Deidre asked, a bit calm now, since she had a somewhat explanation. She knelt in front of Caroline and poked her on the cheek. There was no reaction, but she could tell the girl was still breathing, though it was in slow, shallow breaths.

            Petunia sat back down, “Oh no you don’t; you answer my question first and then I’ll answer yours. I even got the elephant out the room… no pun intended…”

            Deidre sat down across from Caroline and caressed the girl’s cheek with the back of her hand. Her skin was soft and smooth; the girl knew skin care. She felt herself get warm being close to the big girl, even though she wasn’t even her type. Deidre looked at the girl’s large bust, “I found out when I was high school, my senior year. There was this girl… I knew I was in love with her, but she didn’t feel the same. It really confused me…I got really bitter, started hating things. My life spun out of control; I lost things… but I did gain a love for women. Thinking back, I don’t regret the change, but only my ability to not admit it… until now,” Deirdre explained as she pulled her attention away from Caroline’s breasts to face Petunia. “How did you know that I was into women… you touched me first in the car; that was a big risk.”

            Petunia shrugged and leaned back on her hands, “I’m sorta good at reading people… plus you were eye-fucking my breasts pretty hard.”

            “You saw that…” Deidre blushed and turned away. “I was…”

            “Seeing if I was wearing a bra?” Petunia chuckled.

            “Were you? I thought you were… I didn’t see any…”

            “I am; I’m not from Cali after all, my mom raised me to be a good girl,” Petunia smiled. “Well, at least that’s what I want her to think.”

            Deidre chuckled, “So… I just told you my deep secret, now tell me about your hypnosis thing.”

            “Who was the girl you were in love with? It’s not Malibu Barbie; you are way too good for her!”

            “That wasn’t part of the agreement… I’m keeping my crushes out of this and Olivia is not that bad; the girl has a rocking body.”

            “Fine, fair enough,” Petunia smiled, sitting up. “I just know how to hypnotize people, really fast, simple as that; I use this bracelet,” she explained, lifting up her bracelet. “Once I have them under my control I just need to touch them with the ornament to trigger their hypnotic state.”

            “I see… you did that in the car earlier,” Deidre said, looking back at the frozen Caroline. She found her eyes slowly drifting down to the woman’s bust once more.

            “I also did it to Corwin at the shop,” Petunia confessed. Deidre glowered at her, “Hey; he would have never taken me along… he wanted to get into Malibu’s pants and I was embarrassing him.”

            “Should have just frozen him…” Deidre muttered. After a few more seconds, she couldn’t help it anymore as she reached over and cupped the big girl’s large breasts. She was indeed wearing a bra but the full melons felt nice nonetheless. “Why did you want to come, anyways?”

            “I was bored,” Petunia replied as she watched Deidre cupping Caroline’s bust. “You want to get her naked?”

            Deidre quickly pulled her hands back, “What?”

            “She’s completely out of it… she won’t know… she’s ours to play with,” Petunia whispered, reaching across Caroline and removing the wine cooler from her stiff grasp. “I’ve seen her naked before; she has a nice set on her. She was a blonde once like you… but I found out later that she was a natural brunette… you want see how I found out?”

            “Well since you put it that way, I’m kinda curious now… plus I’m going to have to see them for myself to agree with your claims,” Deidre smiled. “Are you?”

            “I’m an equal opportunity gal,” Petunia replied, standing behind her frozen friend. “Help me stand her up.”

            Caroline was soon upright, posed doll-like, stark naked atop the blanket. Deidre and Petunia were both sucking each of her of nipples. Petunia’s hands caressed the big girl’s bare thighs as Deidre probed the girl’s bushy snatch. “I’m not even into big ladies, but she’s hot right now…” Deidre moaned, pulling away from the nipple. Petunia did the same, nodding and pulling the blonde’s hand from Caroline’s snatch.

            She sniffed Deidre’s slick fingers and then sucked them, “She tastes good too… I’ve done this to her so many times, but this never gets old…”

            Deidre pulled her hand back, “Hey, I worked to get that,” she giggled, sucking her own fingers. Petunia then moved to stand in front of the blonde, tipping Caroline over. The large girl fell over with a crash, all her fat jiggling like jelly when she hit the floor. Both girls only giggled before they started to make-out, Deidre taking the first move as she was determined to not let Petunia control the whole night.

            Petunia started to pull up Deidre’s jersey but the blonde stopped her and she separated from the kiss. “What’s wrong, D?” she asked, stroking Deidre’s chin.

            “My tits are rock-hard right now and as much as I want to do you right now… I love that girl and I wanted to save myself for her,” Deidre explained, stroking Petunia’s chin in return.

            The brunette smiled warmly at her, “No problem-o… you want to play with Caroline some more?”

            “Well…” Deidre cooed and played with Petunia’s bracelet, “You think you could hypnotize me?”

            “Of course!” Petunia remarked, taking Deidre’s hand and pressing the ornament against it. She looked deeply into the girl’s blue eyes. Deidre only let out a slight moan as she slipped under the spell of the bracelet. “I was planning on doing it anyway…”

            “What…” Deidre asked dreamily, her eyes locked on Petunia.

            “Freeze.”

            The blonde remained frozen at attention, more or less, as Petunia lifted Caroline back up to a standing position. “Thank you for speeding up the process…” the brunette grunted as she moved Deidre over to stand next to the naked dark-haired girl. “I already hypnotized Malibu back at the shop; just need to go get her and Corwin now… then it’s time for fun,” she told the silent Deidre before kissing her on the cheek and leaving.

            She had no trouble locating the other two, homing in on the sounds coming from the front room.

            “Freeze,” Petunia casually commanded after casually but quickly touching the pair, doing the soccer player first, then Corwin after she had sneaked into a room on the other side of the house. The pair barely had a chance to react before going rigid, with Corwin gasping in surprise and Olivia not noticing at all as she was in mid-orgasm at the time. Corwin was frozen on his back, his hands pressed against Olivia's hips as she sat on top of him in a cowgirl position. Petunia ignored the expression on Corwin's face and focused on Olivia, who was looking up at the ceiling with her hands running through her hair, her mouth held open and her eyes closed.

            “What's up, Malibu; I thought you were too cool for this town,” mocked Petunia before stepping around behind the frozen girl and carefully lifting her off of Corwin. Glancing at the stiff brunette, Petunia had to admit that Deidre was right about Olivia's superb body, taking a moment to kiss her soft nipples before starting to drag her back to where the others were standing like a couple of dummies.

            Petunia dipped a chip nonchalantly into the cheese dip, ignoring the others as she examined the old metal box that they had pulled out the ground earlier. She shook the box and could feel something move but the box looked empty. “Why did they bury this if it had nothing in it… but why is it making that sound?” she asked the frozen audience before her. Corwin now stood naked between Olivia and Caroline, with his member just losing its erection. The brunette soccer player was also in the buff too, her hands now on her hips. Standing next to Caroline was Deidre, who was the only one that was still wearing clothes in the group aside from Petunia.

            She ate another chip and looked at the box again. Then an insight hit her. The inside of box was shallower than the box itself! “A false bottom… the police in this hick town aren’t complete losers…” she chuckled, pressing one side of the box’s bottom, which lifted up the opposite of end of the false bottom. Her bracelet began to sparkle; she looked at it. “I know little one, I know.” Tipping the box over, a single Polaroid photograph fell onto her lap. “Bingo!” she exclaimed, throwing the box aside. Picking up the photo, she smiled in satisfaction but didn't want to rip it up; not just yet.

            “Only got one chance at this...” muttered Petunia. She'd wanted to dig up the box for months but while finding patsies in case she got caught weren't a big issue, thanks to her hypnotic bracelet, finding a way to keep the town distracted was. Before finding out the Raptors were going to be passing through, Petunia had considered making the sheriff think someone had gotten lost in the woods and to launch a manhunt, but she'd been worried that the police would come back to town too soon, find out what was wrong, and then they'd be screwed. As Petunia reminisced about her past plans, she suddenly heard the floorboards in the house creak.

            “Sheriff's department!” came a voice a few rooms away; Petunia didn't need to see her face to know it was Judy Conley. Thinking fast, Petunia buried the photo in her pocket and hurried to meet the deputy before she got too far into the house and discovered the frozen tableau. Judy was in her uniform, her blonde hair tied down in a low ponytail with her right hand on the butt of her gun; her hat was off and most likely waiting for her in her car. The deputy, in her late thirties, nearly drew her gun as Petunia approached before letting out her breath.

            “Christ Petunia, you know better than to be out here!” exclaimed Judy, her dark blue eyes flashing in the low light. “What are y'all doing?”

            “Just me. Corwin had convinced me there was money hidden in the walls,” lied Petunia, sighing and giving a pathetic smile. “Came out to have a look-see...”

            “Well, good thing someone always checks in every half hour or so,” commented the deputy, glancing around. “Okay, you'd better come with me; I'll drive you back home.” Judy extended a hand and Petunia happily took it with her right hand.

            “Freeze,” Petunia then commanded after getting eye contact. Judy's left hand remained extended and she carried a caring look on her face but she was as stiff as the group of friends on the other side of the house. “Oh my dear deputy... What's the point in power if you can't use it on people?” Petunia grinned ear-to-ear, unaware that deputies were still checking the house but now glad they did, since Judy would be invaluable for keeping her secret. In her glee, Petunia put her hands behind Judy's head and gave the deputy a big kiss.

            “Okay, so I'll need Corwin's keys... Right here,” recited Petunia to herself, pulling out the Chevelle’s keys from her pocket, having previously looted them from Corwin's pants when collecting him. “Judy's my ride... Just need to make sure Caroline and Corwin are dealt with...”

            Walking back to the frozen group of four, Petunia focused on them one at a time. “Olivia, I want you to go back to the room you were in with Corwin and put your clothes on, and then come back here. Deidre, you'll take the key to Corwin's car from me and grab his coveralls from the back. Caroline, Corwin, you two will just fall over and get some sleep. Everyone, unfreeze.” As Petunia's last order was given, the two townies immediately fell over on their backs. Deidre and Olivia meanwhile as expected left the room, the former taking the key from Petunia's hand first. Neither was moving exactly normally; they were both practically sleepwalking, but they were obeying.

            “Oh my dear Caroline... You're the best,” whispered Petunia, laying down next to her dozing friend for a moment and stroking her breasts. A short time later Olivia and Deidre returned, at which point Petunia got up and pulled out the photo.

            “Deidre, Olivia, you're coming with me on a drive,” declared Petunia. “And with this... It's a whole new ballgame.” The still photo, held securely in Petunia's hands, was quickly torn in half.

* * *

Sheriff's Office

            “Oh come on, who doesn't love Back to the Future?” asked deputy Hank Mueller as he leaned against Debra's desk. The day was winding down, so Debra was trying to get some paperwork done back at the office, though her co-worker was a welcome distraction. Hank was only a couple of years older than Debra and was easily one of the handsomest men in town, possessing striking blue eyes and a chiseled face.

            “I've never been a big fan of science fiction,” confessed Debra as she typed a few mindless keystrokes, filling out the date on one of her reports.

            “So, what you only go for romance flicks?” questioned Hank, smiling with crossed arms.

            “Honestly Hank, you've known me for years and you still don't know what my favorite genre is?” chided Debra. “I'm beginning to think you're never going to make detective...”

            “We don't have those around here,” pointed out Hank, leading Debra to sigh and chuckle.

            “She was implying she likes crime thrillers,” chimed in Angie Sweet, who was sitting a short distance away. The sheriff's office, like a lot of the town, was fairly small, really just being one large room with a big desk up front for the receptionist and then scattered ones in the back. The sheriff, Edgar Fuller, was the only man who had a private office, way at the back next to the bathrooms. Angie, the department receptionist, was right in front of Debra's desk. Angie was a decently attractive woman in her early forties, possessing well-groomed black hair that stopped just shy of the base of her neck, dark brown eyes, and a very white smile. It was quiet this time of day, so Angie was filing her nails, sitting in a nice dark aqua skirt suit with whatever blouse she had underneath not visible, thus showing a fair amount of cleavage.

            “Thanks, Angie,” grimaced Hank, closing his eyes for a moment. “So... The Usual Suspects? Goodfellas? Heat?”

            “Now those I might be interested in, but just a movie?” questioned Debra, deciding to stop typing and turning in her chair to look at Hank. “Come on...”

            “I can promise you the finest popcorn you've ever had,” insisted Hank, turning from Debra's desk and moving to put his hands on her legs. While the contact was technically not appropriate, Debra didn't mind. It was only in the past few months that Hank had started to show any interest in her while Debra had actually been nursing a small crush on him for years. She wasn't however just going to agree right away; she wanted to be sure since dating a co-worker could be perilous. “Maybe a couple beers, a little barbeque duck?”

            “What, no vegetables?” balked under-sheriff Frank Hammond, having just walked in from outside, deputy Dena Rutledge trailing right behind. Frank was in his late forties and had black hair he kept slicked back, also possessing a somewhat imposing height of just over six feet. Dena was Hank's age, had curly blonde hair and blue eyes, and possessed a very soft face. At Frank's arrival, Hank moved his hands away from Debra's legs and stood up, being intimidated by his superior.

            “Careful Deb, one evening at Hank's and you'll need to spend weeks jogging to make up for it,” warned Dena, having actually dated Hank briefly in the past. “Did he mention the popcorn?”

            “Of course,” chuckled Angie, answering for the others.

            “He uses duck-fat and rosemary,” revealed Dena, shaking her head. “Tastes great, but darling your body won't forgive you...”

            “Alright, alright, I think we all know that Hank's good at making tasty food but bad at making it healthy,” interrupted Frank, then focusing on Debra and Hank. “Do what you kids want, just remember that if there's any bad feelings because of this I'll have to string you both up by your shoes until the blood returns to your brains.”

            “Thanks, Uncle Frank,” smiled Debra, Frank being her uncle on her mother's side. “I guess Judy's doing patrol?”

            “Yeah, she volunteered; apparently she didn't like handling traffic earlier when the buses came to town,” confirmed Frank, moving to sit down at his desk near to Debra's. Hank quietly slipped away, but he shared a nod with Debra that made them both confident they might finally go for it. Dena, meanwhile, began to quietly gossip with Angie. Near the back of the office was Jake Hampton, a decent-looking forty year old deputy who had his cowboy hat pulled over his eyes while reclining in his chair, making it clear he was asleep. The deputy would be working the overnight was catching up on sleep before his shift. In the sheriff's actual office was Shane, their round, freckled and curly-haired deputy, who was being chewed out by Sheriff Fuller. Ed was going to turn sixty-six that year but he clearly didn't seem keen to retire, still being in fairly good shape despite looking a bit ragged around the face; the hair on his head was nearly all white along with his stubble. “What did Shane do this time?”

            “He may have flirted with a married woman from out of town without realizing she was actually married,” revealed Debra, smiling in amusement. “He didn't say anything stupid, really; but her husband just called to complain so Ed has to read him the riot act.”

            “Out of towners; ugh,” muttered Frank, spinning in his chair to look at the one thing that was out of place in the room: the large glass case containing the Carter twins. A dark-haired pair of fraternal twins with blue eyes that were in their late twenties, both stood at rigid attention while dressed only in black underwear. Isaac was in boxers while Annabelle wore a thick bra and panties. “Brings back memories; bad ones...”

            “Remember when they were naked?” mentioned Debra, nodding at the pair of waxwork-like figures.

            “Yeah, we just got so used to them that way, it took a complaint from Kay to make us change that,” nodded Frank, smiling at the memory. “You think prison jumpsuits would have been better?”

            Debra's answer to Frank's question would have to wait, as it was right then that the unthinkable happened: Isaac and Annabelle both blinked and started moving. “Movement!” Debra immediately shouted, going for her gun while trying to stand up. The twins meanwhile quickly held hands, and in an odd move raised their clutched hands up while turning to stand back-to-back, pressing their free hands' palms together. At that moment, all other movement in the sheriff's department stopped instantly. Debra had pulled out her gun from her holster, was up on her feet, but she'd yet to point her weapon. Frank had nearly actually stumbled forward but had managed to pull out his large revolver and point it more or less in front of him. Hank, over at his desk, had grabbed a shotgun and was about to pump it. Dena was standing behind Angie's desk, shifted to her right, her hand only grasping her gun in its holster. Angie's eyes were wide with surprise, as she'd turned to look at the twins, her hands raised as she remained in her chair. Jake had fallen backwards but had somehow managed to clear his gun from his holster. From inside the office, both Shane and Ed had just peeked out; Shane's hands were nowhere near his gun, while Ed had already pulled out his own large revolver.  The Carter twins relaxed and took a moment to assess the frozen scene the office had become.

            “We need to move,” muttered Annabelle from inside the glass cage, quickly finding that the door to it was unlocked and easily pushed open.  Amateurs, she thought.

            “Right; and we need to find out how long it's been,” agreed Isaac, for once not using his silly redneck accent. The pair jumped out of the display case and Annabelle, seeing Debra, headed straight for her, with Isaac meanwhile moving past to arrive at Angie's desk.

            “Hello deputy bitch; nice to see you the way you belong,” taunted Annabelle, taking a moment to stick out her tongue at Debra’s motionless form. “Still dressed like its World War II I see... Oh, no wedding ring yet, either? How sad for you... Clearly your old-timey sensibilities won't abide for you to reach thirty and still be single!” Annabelle was tempted to slap Debra but elected instead to simply knock her gun away. Once the frozen deputy was disarmed, Annabelle gave her a big revenge kiss before starting to strip her where she stood.

            Annabelle knew they had to hurry, since the time-stopping ability she and her brother possessed did have its limits. It had only been in the last few years before their capture that the twins had learned about their power, but given its lack of permanence and restrictions in needing them to be together, they'd preferred the camera. Annabelle scanned the room as she continued to strip Debra, soon pulling the clothes she'd removed from the deputy onto her own body. Though she didn’t need the woman’s underwear, Annabelle removed Debra’s matching red panty-and-bra set just for the hell of it. Debra was a good three inches shorter than Annabelle so the uniform was a little tight and short on her but it was better than roaming the town half naked. There was a lot the Carter twins needed to find out, which wouldn't be easy since everyone knew their faces and was probably still mad at them for before, not that Annabelle really cared what her dolls thought.

            “Okay, find anything?” asked Annabelle as she finished dressing herself, pushing a now-naked Debra back onto her desk chair. “Isaac!” She yelled, interrupting her brother. Annabelle's twin jumped up, having been under Angie's desk, and the drool around his mouth made it clear to his sister that Isaac had been sucking the older woman's toes.

            “Sorry sis, Ah wass jus-” began Isaac, his fake accent returning.

            “Cut the crap; we need to get the hell out of here and now you've wasted time spent not getting dressed or finding information!” yelled Annabelle, moving over and grabbing her brother by the ear.

            “I know it’s been over a year,” revealed Isaac as Annabelle led him towards the door. “I checked the calendar, its April 2009, not 2008.”

            “Son of a bitch, then our camera could be anywhere,” grumbled Annabelle, assuming it hadn't been destroyed since that would have unfrozen them. Then again, Annabelle wasn't sure if the camera being destroyed right now wasn't the reason they could move again, after all. Pleased that Isaac had learned something, Annabelle let go of his ear as they approached the door. Upon opening the door however, they were surprised to see a familiar brunette, along with another police officer, standing in front of it.

            “Whoa!” exclaimed Petunia Greer, holding up her right hand to show her bracelet. “Hang on, guys! Look! I'm on your side!” Petunia wasn't alone, Deputy Judy Conley standing next to her but appeared to be in some sort of dream-like state, her weapon absent from her holster.

            “Wait a moment...” gasped Annabelle, looking at the bracelet Petunia was showing them. “That's a Hecate's Charm! You're with the Children of Hecate?!”

            “The who?” asked Isaac; Annabelle felt the urge to slap him.

            “Mom and Dad's cult, you idiot!” Annabelle almost screamed, but hushed herself since she wasn't sure who else was around. “Why didn't you come to us before?”

            “Long story; I'll explain later, but for now we need to get you out of here!” insisted Petunia, indicating the sheriff’s cruiser parked out front of the station. “I used the charm to hypnotize a couple of soccer players from out of town into helping me dig up your photo and destroyed it. I'll have Judy lock-down the station while you two head for the school.”

            “Why the school?” asked Annabelle as Petunia led them down the steps, allowing her to see that inside the car that there were two pretty young women, a blonde and a brunette, both looking as mesmerized and out of it as Judy.

            “Last I checked, and that was yesterday, your big book of spells is in the library there,” explained Petunia. “No idea about the camera, unfortunately, but obviously it wasn't destroyed or else you'd have been freed much earlier. I know no one in town seems to have it...”

            “They must have hidden it; we'll worry about that later,” shrugged Isaac, once again showing a flash of genuine intelligence. Opening the car doors, Petunia grabbed a pair of coveralls for Isaac along with an old pair of boots.  Then she had the two out-of-town players slowly exit the car while he pulled the clothing and footwear on.

            “I'll come and get you later, explain everything; you just wait here,” Petunia assured the pair, with Isaac electing to drive. Annabelle hopped in the passenger seat, blowing Petunia a quick kiss before the cruiser sped off; the Carter twins were not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

* * *

Stillsville Public School

            The school was the fourth largest building in town being behind Town Hall, the Carter mansion, and the department store. It had a staff of nine and currently taught twenty students in grades K-12, it was a spacious learning environment to say the least. The building itself was mostly a one-story building with a basement but had a second floor library, which also served as the town’s library as well. Kay Schultz, a forty-two year old teacher, was one of three of the staff of nine that taught grades 9-12.  She pulled up her shoulder bag while checking the front door of the school. It was the brunette educator’s turn to lock up for the night and she couldn’t wait to get home to her husband; it had been a long day and she still had papers to grade. The door was locked and secured and she jiggled it one more time for good measure before turning away.

            Kay adjusted the shoulder bag as she headed for the lone car parked in the school’s nearly empty lot; only four school buses were parked off to the side. The lot was well lit and she felt safe at night when it was her turn to lock up. Looking through the trees, she could see the brightly lit hotel; there was some activity since she’d heard there were two college soccer teams spending the night in town. From the library one could see everything that was happening in the hotel’s parking lot, which had once been a peaceful swamp. Kay had once looked out at the swamp for solitude during the day and missed its presence. She wished they had never built that hotel, she considered as she looked through the trees while strolling to her car. The teacher was digging for her keys when she noticed a police cruiser pulling quickly into the lot. The Ford stopped a few yards from her own car, its headlights blinding her. Putting down her bag, Kay shielded her eyes as she walked over the cruiser.

            Two figures emerged from the Ford before Kay was only halfway there; she couldn’t make out who they were, only that one was female and the other was male. Still shielding her eyes, Kay stopped as the two people approached her. They paused just in front their headlights, leaving only silhouettes for the teacher to look at. “May I help you officers…there’s no one else here; it’s just me.”

            “Perfect,” replied a woman’s voice.

            “Exactly,” a male’s voice followed.

            “Excuse me?” Kay asked, confused. Just then the figures held hands and then shifted to stand back to back, touching their free hands. Everything for Kay Schultz faded an instant later. The teacher was clad in a maroon knee length skirt; a white blouse was tucked into the skirt while a gray tweed blazer covered the blouse; sensible and plain black heels finished her academic look. The woman’s hair was tied up in loose bun and she stood frozen with one foot in front of the other with one hand stilled while moving up towards her face, the other hand was held up at forehead level shielding her eyes.

            “It looks like one of your girls has come to welcome us home,” Annabelle said, walking up to the motionless woman and looking her up and down. She adjusted the heavy police belt on her hips. Even though there was no gun, the thing still felt bulky and cumbersome.

            “Well howdy, little lady,” Isaac greeted caressing the woman’s cheek with the back of his hand.

            Isaac looked the brunette over, remembering the last time he had seen her back at their home. She had been part of his personal collection then. He was about to grope her breasts but his sister quickly slapped his hands, “Not in public!”

            “Yes ma’am,” Isaac replied sheepishly, tucking his hands into the overall’s pockets and looking down at his boots.

            Annabelle regained her composure, “You can get familiar with her later; for now park the car, and then grab her. We’re going in to look for my book.”

            With her brother doing what he was told, Annabelle walked up to Kay’s car and retrieved the bag left next to it. She rummaged through it briefly and found what she needed before shouldering the bag. Isaac had parked the cruiser and then happily picked up Kay, carrying her easily over his shoulder as if pole, her stiff body maintaining its pose. Annabelle then led the pair back toward the school. As she worked on unlocking the doors, Isaac kept an eye out; they were alone. A moment later the door came open and the couple slipped into the dark school.

            They easily found their way to the second floor library, where Annabelle used Kay’s keys to gain access. “You can get reacquainted with your girl,” Annabelle said with a smirk as she removed the flashlight from her borrowed gun belt and started to browse the bookshelves.

            “Thank you, sis!” Isaac replied happily and looked around the large room for a place to put the frozen teacher down. There were several tables that dotted the room surrounding the stacks, which in turn encircled the circulation desk. There were locked and darkened offices in the far end of the library which were used by the staff. The library itself had blue carpeting under light-colored wooden furniture while its walls were covered in educational posters. Isaac picked one of the tables near the windows facing out towards the parking lot, so he could use the lighting outside.

            Isaac posed Kay to sit on the edge of the table, with her arms down at her sides and her face molded into an odd clown-like smiling expression with wide eyes. Kneeling at the foot of the table, Isaac removed the teacher’s heels and massaged her nylon covered feet, which remained Barbie toed as if still wearing her heels. He reached up her skirt to remove the thigh-high nude stockings, rendering the suspended woman’s feet bare. Isaac began to suck on the teacher’s toes, which were covered in blue nail polish. As he did so his sister quietly made her way to the table, hugging a large leather bound book against her chest. Putting the book down and ignoring her brother, Annabelle pulled a chair closest to the window and sat.

            Opening the book, Annabelle started to flip through the pages. “Do you remember what page that ritual was on?” she asked. Isaac meanwhile, was hungrily working on Kay’s tweed blazer. “Don’t be an animal!” she snapped.

            Isaac slowed down and gently removed the blazer, “Sorry sis…what ritual?”

            Annabelle shook her head, “Of course you wouldn’t remember,” she sighed and continued to flip through the pages.

            “Sorry sis…” Isaac replied as he started to work on Kay’s blouse. The blouse was soon removed and Kay was posed into standing position and her skirt was stripped off of her. The teacher was left standing with her arms raised over her head, only clad in her matching green cotton bra and panties as Isaac pulled her hair out of its ‘do. Isaac was moving his hand behind the woman’s back to unclasp her bra when Annabelle stopped him.

            “That’s enough… she’s gonna catch a cold…you can finish later. I’ve found it,” Annabelle said, not looking up from the book.

            “But sis…”

            “That’s enough,” Annabelle ordered, looking sternly at her hulking brother. “We need to use this ritual in order to…”

            “Sis, a flash,” Isaac suddenly interrupted, moving towards the window, “It’s our camera!”

            Annabelle sat up and peered out to where her brother was looking, “Well I’ll be – and it looks like our old friends too.  This is turning out to be our lucky day...” 

* * *

Stillsville Hotel

            Petunia pulled up the Chevelle to the hotel’s driveway. She looked through the passenger side window through the trees that divided the parking lot for the hotel from the school’s lot. The brunette spotted the police cruiser and smiled, knowing that the twins were there. Sitting next to her in the passenger seat, with her hands on her knees and her eyes looking forward and an empty expression on her face was Deidre Howard. Her friend Olivia Daniels sat in the same fashion behind her. “Okay ladies, let’s get this show on the road.”

            Taking Deidre’s hand and making sure that her bracelet was touching it, Petunia suggested softly, “When I wake you up you will remember that I hypnotized you and made you feel wonderful…you will have an interest in hypnosis now and seek to learn more when you leave Stillsville…do you understand me, D?”

            “I understand…” Deidre replied dreamingly, her blue eyes still looking forward blankly.

            “Very good,” Petunia said, kissing the soccer player’s hand before letting go of it.

            Petunia turned around and focused on Olivia, placing her bracelet against the girl’s cheek, “When I wake you up you will remember the night up to the point to where you and Corwin make love but in addition to making love with Corwin, you will also remember making love to Caroline and finding the experience fun. When Deidre commands you to freeze, you will hold still like mannequin, stiff yet free to be manipulated until she commands you to unfreeze. You will also fall into a deep relaxing slumber if Deidre commands you to sleep, and when she commands you to wake up, you will wake fully relax and not remember being asleep. Do you understand me, Malibu?”

            “I understand…” Olivia replied in same dreamy tone as her friend. Petunia smiled, taking her bracelet from the girl’s cheek.

            “Wake up,” Petunia commanded, touching Deidre’s arm.

            Deidre opened her eyes and blinked rapidly, looking around. She turned to Petunia and smiled, “We’re back…was that hypnosis?”

            “It was and you did a great job D; how do you feel?”

            “I feel great actually…I love it. Can we do it again?”

            “Sorry girl, this small-time girl has things to do, plus I gotta pick up Corwin and Caroline,” Petunia smoothly lied.

            “Right…” Deidre replied, slightly disappointed. She then turned around and noticed her friend sitting blankly in the rear seat. “Olivia?”

            “Oh,” Petunia turned to join Deidre’s gaze. “A little parting gift; I just hypnotized her again and left some triggers for you use on her.”

            “Really!” Deidre remarked, looking at Petunia with wide eyes and then at her friend with a new interest.

            “It’s nothing complicated, let me show you,” Petunia explained and touched Olivia’s shoulder. “Wake up.”

            Olivia blinked and looked around, “What the hell... how did we?”

            “You had fun, Malibu?” Petunia asked.

            The brunette soccer player looked at the local for a moment, suspiciously, “I did, actually… where are Caroline and Corwin?”

            “You guys made a mess, they’re cleaning up,” Petunia explained.

            “Oh we did?” Olivia asked innocently with a smile. “It was really the best time I’ve had in long time… why are we back here? I would have liked to stay with them for a little bit more.”

            “D, tell her to freeze,” Petunia said, looking at the blonde.

            “Freeze!” Deidre commanded with excitement. As ordered the brunette froze, looking at her friend curiously. “Oh my God; did it work?”

            “Looks like it,” Petunia said with a smile, waving her hand in front of Olivia’s rigid face and not getting a reaction. “She’ll go back to normal when you command her to unfreeze, plus she won’t remember what happened.”

            “Sweet…” Deidre remarked in awe as she reached back moved her friend’s arm and turned her head to face right. She couldn’t help it as she copped a feel of Olivia’s breasts and smiled upon feeling that her friend wore no bra. “My own Malibu Barbie doll,” she giggled.

            Petunia chuckled, “Are you going to call her that now?”

            Deidre nodded, “Yeah it fits her…she is a local Malibu girl, plus for the memories…” she added, looking back at Petunia.

            “Right,” Petunia nodded, feeling her cheeks blush. She was going to miss the blonde, Deidre was interesting, to say the least. “Well, unfreeze your Malibu; I have one more trigger to show you.”

            “Unfreeze!” Deidre shouted with a flourish.

            “What the hell…” Olivia muttered, putting her arms down and looking back at Petunia and Deidre. She chuckled, “What just happened?”

            “You don’t have to yell it,” Petunia said.

            “I know, that’s for effect,” Deidre replied with a shrug.

            “Hey, what the hell are you guys talking about?” Olivia asked, looking at the two women, confused.

            “Tell her to sleep,” Petunia simply ordered.

            “What?” Olivia asked.

            “Sleep!” Deidre commanded, adding some theatrical hand gestures. Olivia suddenly crumpled to her side, her head smacking the seat bottom hard. “Oh damn… just like that.”

            “Just like that,” Petunia repeated, reaching back and slapped the sleeping girl on her butt. “She’s out like a light, wouldn’t even know if a building is falling down around her. Just like when she’s frozen, you could do anything to her and she won’t be the wiser afterward so it won’t count... you can still save yourself for whoever. Look at Malibu as a sort of test subject.”

            “Nice…” Deidre muttered, looking at her sleeping friend. Ideas were running through her head. She had been in the closet for a while with this newfound power over roommate and friend, she could start to release some tension finally.

            Petunia looked at her watch, “Corwin is going to wonder where I’m at with his ride, so I better get going… wake Malibu up by telling her to wake up.”

            Deidre nodded and commanded, “Wake up!”

            Olivia sat up with yawn and stretched, “What is going on guys?” she asked, looking around. “Are we back already?”

            Petunia and Deidre only looked at each other and smiled. “I also added something to her night; ask her about it later…” Petunia whispered, turning around to cranking on the Chevy.

            “Thanks Petunia…” Deidre started to say before Olivia cut in.

            “Raptors!”

            All three girls looked ahead in time to see a group of girls standing in front of the car. Petunia only had just enough time to register that Carter’s magic camera was held within the group before the whole interior of the car was engulfed in bright flash. Olivia was instantly frozen, pointing ahead with her mouth and eyes wide. Deidre had her eyes wide with surprise, her face masked in shock and her body turned towards the car door with both hands on the door handle. Petunia carried a focused look on her immobilized face. Her eyes looked straight ahead at where the camera was; both hands were clutching the steering wheel.

* * *

            “That’s all of them,” Kat said she walked up to the car, followed by her sister and friends.

            “Yeah…but who is the driver?” Julie asked, examining the Polaroid and letting the camera hang by its strap off her neck.

            “Some local the skanks probably found to hang out with,” Mel replied, walking up to the driver’s side of the Chevy and leaning in. She poked the frozen girl on the cheek, “she is cute and she’s got a cool car too.”

            Veronica leaned on her knees next to Mel, “Looks like a guy’s car.”

            “Girls can drive cool cars too,” Mel shot back.

            “Never said the car was cool…” Veronica replied.

            “Enough with the small talk; let’s get them out of car and somewhere else before somebody comes,” Kat suggested.

            Mel opened the driver-side door and Veronica reached and pried Petunia’s stiff fingers off the steering wheel. The brunette was then slid out, and, while still in the seated position, was carried by Mel and Veronica to curb where she was then stood up. Kat and Julie opened the passenger-side door and slid Deidre from her seat and carried her over to the curb to stand her up next to the driver. Veronica and Mel pulled Olivia from the back seat before carrying her over to join the other two. Julie then snapped a separate picture of the driver, since she wasn’t a Shark and was just collateral damage.

            “Good job Jules,” Kat said brushing her palms together, “I say we stash the Sharks in those bushes,” she said gesturing to the tall foliage that flanked the hotel’s main entrance. “Then we can free the local and let her go on her way.”

            “Sounds like…” Mel began to say before she suddenly froze standing with one hand on her hip while the other gesturing at Deidre. Veronica stood unmoving next to the Irish girl, with her arms crossed and her weight shifted onto one leg. Her face held a smirk as she looked at Kat. The blonde soccer player stood frozen, hands on her hips and eyes looking at the bushes while her mouth hung open mid-sentence. Julie stood equally still next her sister, a smile on her face while looking down at the two photos.

* * *

            “Lickity split!” Isaac remarked with a clap as he walked up to the frozen scene.

            “What does that mean?” Annabelle asked, following her brother, hugging the leather bound book. The pair had left the school and crossed its parking lot and the small wooded area. They were only hundred yards away when they froze the group of girls. The girls had not even noticed them as they been busy moving the girls that they had frozen from the car.

            “Easy as pie, sis, as pie!” Isaac exclaimed as he circled the girls.

            “You’re giving me a headache; you shush now and let me think,” Annabelle remarked, putting her book down on the hood of the Chevy. She then moved up to Julie and unlooped the camera strap from the girl’s neck. Julie only stood silently and motionless as Annabelle hugged the magical camera affectionately, “Welcome back, little one…” she whispered before kissing it. She then stepped back and snapped a picture of the seven girls, ensuring they’d stay frozen after the twins’ spell wore off.

            “What now sis?” Isaac asked, eagerly rubbing his palms together.

            “Shush! That God-awful accent is hindering my thoughts!” Annabelle demanded.

            “Sorry, sis.”

            After a moment of silence Annabelle spoke, “I’m going to go make sure the lobby is empty and you get the girls ready to move. We have to get them off the streets or we could be found out. I want our helper put somewhere safe… we’ll keep her frozen for now just in case we need her later.”

            “You got it, sis!” Isaac replied, taking the hat off of Veronica’s frozen form and placing it on his own.

* * *

Stillsville Hotel Lobby

            “I’m sure they will be back soon; there isn’t really much to do in town…” Jodi Ruger assured as she leaned on the front desk counter top with her elbows.

            “They’re college girls, they’ll find something to do and I can bet you that it’ll be nothing good,” Denise Cameron fumed, looking at her watch. “I told them the curfew, I have everyone upstairs but those two!” she remarked, crossing her arms and leaning back against the counter.

            “What are you going to do with them when they get back?” Jodi asked.

            Denise looked over her shoulder, “You know I’m not sure…they’re both a couple of my best players…one of them is actually my captain. Damn Jodi, that’s a good question. Can’t bench ‘em...”

            Jodi had put up a finger to suggest a point before the two women were engulfed in a flash of light. A moment later when the light faded, both women were left motionless. Denise was leaning against on the desk with her arms crossed and head turned to look over her shoulder. Her eyes were closed with her lips slightly parted. The desk clerk was still leaning on the desk with her elbows, with her left hand raised slightly with her index finger extended. Jodi bore smile on her face with her eyes locked in mid-blink.

            Annabelle lowered the camera and eyed the newly printed Polaroid. The brunette smiled at the photo before putting it in the pocket of her borrowed jacket. She had been standing just beyond the entrance before she started to make her way towards the frozen pair. Looking around the spacious lobby that was furnished in contemporary décor, she was satisfied that the immobilized pair was the only two people in the lobby.

            “Who do we have here?” Annabelle asked a silent Denise. Letting the camera hang from its strap, she turned the unmoving woman’s head to face her. “Lovely hair…” she purred as she ran her fingers through the soccer coach’s hair. “Delicate skin,” she admired, caressing Denise’s cheek with the back of her hand. Annabelle then moved her hands south, groping the frozen woman’s breasts through her sweatshirt. Her hands traced Denise’s hips before copping a feel at her groin. Annabelle then knelt to let her hands feel up the suspended woman’s denim-covered legs. “Athletics, the coach?” she asked Denise, standing back up. “I remember you looked different the last time I saw you,” she observed, tracing the woman’s parted lips with her finger. “Maybe a new coach?” she asked with shrug before turning her attention to the other woman.

            “Now, I do remember you,” Annabelle smiled moving behind the desk and looking Jodi up and down. “Jodi Ruger…my have you grown since we last played,” Annabelle chuckled, standing the brunette up and spinning her around. “Grown indeed but still cute and innocent none the less!” Annabelle exclaimed, eying the frozen girl up and down. Judging by the purple blouse and black slacks, she guessed that her old friend was now the hotel clerk. “I see you have moved on…well, welcome back,” Annabelle cooed as she started to unbutton Jodi’s blouse. “Where are you hiding the master?” Jodi only smiled, stiff and silent, at the twin’s question.

            Soon Jodi stood with her arms raised, while her face still bore the same rigid smile and mid-blink look. The clerk was now only dressed in her matching red and black bikini-cut bra and panties. Annabelle’s search didn’t yield a master key stashed on the clerk, but she did come up with a master desk key, which in turned allowed her to access to the desk’s drawers. It took nearly five more minutes of searching until Annabelle found what she was looking for, a card with black ink scribbled on it noting it as ‘master key’. “Thanks for the key,” Annabelle said kissing Jodi on the cheek. “Don’t worry about those clothes; I’ll put you in something better later for your scene,” she added before leaving the desk.

* * *

Meanwhile…

            Olivia, Deidre, Veronica, Mel, and the Vaughn twins stood shoulder to shoulder at attention. The six girls bore blank expressions on their faces and looked like bored store mannequins. Mel’s jeans were slightly open and sat low on her hips, revealing that the Irish footballer had gone commando for the night. Annabelle eyed the group with satisfaction when she came back from the hotel. Looking around quickly, she frowned not seeing her brother but hearing some noises coming from the back of the muscle car.

            Making her way to the back the Chevy her cheeks flushed red upon seeing Isaac standing between a pair of naked legs belonging to Petunia Greer. The frozen brunette was propped up, sitting stiffly on the edge of the open trunk. Not only were her jeans and shoes missing, but her top was gone too; the clothing was sitting in a heap on the ground. Most of her body was covered by Isaac, who looked to be making out with the girl while her arms were wrapped around his neck.

            “Isaac Carter!” Annabelle shouted, stomping her booted feet. “What on earth are you doing, that girl is like family to us now…she’s like your sister!”

            Hearing his sister’s voice, Isaac jumped and spun around. Since Petunia’s arms were wrapped around his neck, she followed and hung stiffly to him. Annabelle turned around in disgust not before catching a glimpse of Petunia’s black panties and bra. “Uh sis…sorry, I couldn’t…”

            “Shut up you brute! You get her and her clothes into the trunk of that car; we don’t have time for this.”

            “Yes sis…” Isaac replied, defeated, and did as he was told. Once Petunia was folded inside, the trunk lid was closed and Isaac approached Annabelle who was still standing with her back to him. “Sorry…”

            Annabelle cut her brother off, grabbing him by the collar of the overalls. “You will behave yourself,” she demanded, her voice laced with anger. “That girl is not one them, she’s with us; you are sick for doing that to her!” She accused before roughly letting go of her brother.

            “Sorry sis.”

            “Don’t be sorry, do as you are told! We don’t have time to fool around.”

            “Yes ma’am.”

            “Good. Now get those four other ladies inside the hotel lobby. Pull up that tall blonde one’s pants too… you’ll have more time later; not now. We have still have a lot of work to do.”

            “Yes ma’am,” Isaac nodded and did as ordered.

Chapter Three

Stillsville Rec Center

            “It was only right before we left that I realized Tess's sister was THE Belle Vole,” confessed Britney Summers as she sat in a chair across from the desk of Nicolette Barbeau, the rec center receptionist that had also held the position when the place had been a youth center the previous year. Nicolette was around thirty but looked and felt younger, having a trim figure and very pretty blue eyes as well. The receptionist was dressed casually in a white T-shirt that had Mickey Mouse depicted on it and a pair of red shorts that were right around knee-length but very tight.

            “I remember hearing a name like that once when I was able to keep up with the Olympics,” recalled Nicolette, glancing at her computer. “You've known Tess how long?”

            “This is my second season with her, and she never made it clear what her family’s connection to soccer was.”

            “That's a long time to not realize your friend's older sister is a big name in soccer. What's its rank nationally again?”

            “After a surge in popularity in 2002, they estimate soccer is tied for baseball in total viewers, losing only to football.”

            “Yeah I gotta call you a bit of an idiot for never picking up on that one then, if Belle's one of the most famous female players in the country,” concluded Nicolette, shaking her head.

            “I didn't even realize she never knew that,” chimed in Ayane, walking into the reception area with two companions. The entrance was off to the side of the building, so there was a fire exit not far from the desk as well as the main entrance. Joining Ayane were Doctor Wendy Wu, who ran the center, and another Raptor, Sarala Rohit. Wendy was in her early thirties and wore light colors, in this case a very pale yellow blouse and stonewashed jeans, her hair up in a conservative bun while Nicolette was in a half-ponytail. Sarala meanwhile had elected to wear her jersey, having discovered the respect the people of Stillsville gave individuals who wore team colors, but her hair was down past her shoulders, nice and loose. On her legs Sarala had dark blue jeans, with black platform heels on her feet.

            “I figured it out pretty much right after hearing her last name; they even look alike!” exclaimed Sarala, shaking her head. The Indian-Brit sat to Brit's left while Ayane went on the right, the three splitting a large couch while Wendy plopped down on the edge of Nicolette's desk.

            “So I was curious about this other team you guys came into town with,” asked Wendy. “Decker State College is in Malibu... And obviously Malibu State College is too, right?”

            “Yeah, and that's created quite the regional rivalry,” confirmed Ayane with a slow nod, all three soccer players sighing.

            “Doesn't help that my older sister is on their team,” pointed out Brit, letting out a much bigger sigh.

            “Or that Deidre and Kat used to be friends back in Rhode Island,” reminded Ayane.

            “Or that Olivia's been such a bitch to Diane, calling her chubs all the time, that I'm surprised she hasn't needed a nose-job,” finished Sarala, getting a couple of surprised looks as no one there, to their memory, had ever heard her curse. “What?”

            “It's no secret either that if a potential athlete applies to one school, the other will try to snatch them,” continued Brit. “My oldest sister Ivy played for DSC. Tracy applied but when she got the offer from MSC she decided she wanted to be their breakout star instead of living in Ivy's shadow.”

            “Right and since you were a C average and a popular liberal arts school not far from Elk Grove was willing to give you a shot, you just jumped right in,” observed Ayane, knowing her best friend's story very well.

            “Cripes, I hope you two don't have to face off in the tournament,” wished Wendy, a psychologist, so her concern was worth some merit.

            “They announced the brackets the other day, we're on opposite ends,” Sarala assured the head of the rec center. “Only way a showdown could happen is if we both make it to the finals... We're first in the division; they're sixth. It'll be fine.”

            “Famous last-” began Nicolette, only to suddenly stop as she stood up, her eyes wide. “R-” Nicolette got cut off again, this time by a bright flash. Nicolette, and consequently Wendy, both suddenly went rock-solid, but Brit and Ayane were more than familiar with what had happened even before noticing the state of the pair. Nicolette had her hands on her desk, her mouth open. Wendy had her arms crossed, her gaze fixed on Nicolette with a look of puzzlement on her lips and brow. Brit instinctively grabbed Ayane and Sarala's hands and jumped up from the couch.

            “What the hell is going on?!” exclaimed Sarala as Ayane spearheaded the charge towards the side exit.

            “Bad things; we need to get out of here, now!” insisted Ayane, pulling the three person human whip out through the fire exit. Brit followed but she suddenly felt Sarala's hand go stiff as they passed through the door. Outside Sarala tumbled forward, rigid as a statue, her right arm extended and a look of confusion frozen on her face, promptly doing a face-plant in the grass.

            “Sh-” began Brit, but Ayane grabbed her friend and pushed them both into a nearby thick grove of bushes. Brit ended up with Ayane on top of her, easily close enough to kiss, but through gaps in the brush the pair could see two familiar faces emerging from the fire exit. They were dressed differently from the last time she had seen them but it was no mistaking who they were. Ayane covered her mouth and Brit did the same as they saw the Carter twins bend over to stand up Sarala’s stiffened body.

            “Cool, she's all exotic, sis,” remarked Isaac Carter.

            “Yes, she'll make a lovely new addition,” smiled Annabelle, running her hands over Sarala's chest in particular; the girl possessed some decent breasts. “These were the last three, right?”

            “You were with me,” reminded Isaac.

            “Right... let’s go back to the school,” insisted Annabelle, pausing for a moment before nodding towards Sarala. “You can bring her along. We might be there a while, and you've done good for now.”

            “Thank you ma'am,” grinned Isaac, bending over and resting Sarala on his shoulder, her right arm still extended.

            “I think I liked it more when you just called me 'sis,'” sighed Annabelle as the twins walked off, circling around the rec center.

            “I can't fucking believe it,” gasped Ayane once the twins were out of sight, uncovering her mouth. “Those inbred nightmares are back! How the hell did they free themselves, and get the camera?!”

            “They called those girls the 'last three!'” exclaimed Brit, putting her hands on Ayane's shoulders. “They might have already frozen the whole town again!”

            “Shit, that means everyone, even the team,” breathed Ayane, barely maintaining her composure while Brit felt her eyes starting to water a bit as panic set in. “Kat and Julie, too... Okay, it's gotten pitch dark. We need to lay low for now...”

            “We can use the hotel, maybe hide out in one of the rooms,” suggested Brit, relaxing a bit but deciding not to try and stand up just yet.

            “Right, not ours though, just in case those assholes are smart enough to check the registry,” agreed Ayane, rolling off of Brit now and cautiously sitting up. “I've seen how those key-card makers work, we can make more, no problem.”

            “Okay, let’s sneak over,” decided Brit, but while both girls were talking big, they were clearly very nervous; it took Brit almost two minutes to slip out of the bushes quietly. Having seen the Carter twins go off in one direction, the two Raptors ended up circling around another way, soon finding themselves out on the main street.

            “Check it out, Brit; there's someone just frozen in the street,” pointed out Ayane, indicating an older blonde woman frozen in mid-step with her hands in her pockets. Brit vaguely remembered seeing the blonde before, her clothes screaming 'gardener.'

            “I really hope we aren't the only actual two left moving,” breathed Brit, instinctively reaching down and squeezing Ayane's hand. Ayane was a friend, not a lover, but Brit was pleased that the squeeze was returned.

            “Don't worry, I've got your back,” promised Ayane. “Okay, there's the school, and there's the hotel... It looks like the twins just went inside. Let’s go... but stick to grass where you can.” Glad to not be wearing heels, Brit and Ayane quickly moved through the streets and buildings, giving the school a wide birth.

            “Oh, this is really bad,” muttered Brit as she and Ayane made it to the hotel, heading into the lobby only to discover the tableau of living statues that awaited them. A grand total of eight were present: five players from two different teams, two coaches, and Jodi. Jodi had been stripped down to her underwear, Brit did her best not to stare; the other girls were more or less at attention or frozen in place.

            “I'll check the system, find us an empty room, though I dunno if there are many,” offered Ayane, “But I don't think anyone’s going to care.” She moved behind the clerk’s desk. Brit knew Ayane had picked up a lot from hotels, having stayed in her fair share, her family – her mom especially – liked to travel. Through observation she knew how the check-in process worked. Brit, meanwhile, focused on Kat, touching her friend's frozen face.

            “We should take Kat and Julie with us,” decided Brit after a few moments of silence, glancing over at her remaining mobile friend. “If we find their still photos it might be handy to have them nearby.”

            “Not a bad idea, they're probably the best allies we can get in this case,” agreed Ayane, fiddling with a small machine next to the computer. “One empty room left... We can hold up there, maybe try the sheriff's department after–” Ayane suddenly stopped and glanced up outside the window, Brit doing the same. The two active soccer players saw headlights flash in the parking lot outside the door.

            “Shit!” exclaimed Brit, instinctively hoisting Kat up onto her shoulder and dashing down the hall. Brit bumped into a frozen man on her run, almost knocking him over, but wasn't sure who it was, noting he was bald. At the end of the hall Brit shoved open a side exit to the outside, and upon glancing behind her was relieved to see Ayane had followed, having even taken the time to grab Julie.

            “Okay; I don’t think they saw us. The hotel is out, let’s try city hall,” suggested Ayane, indicating the building that the hotel was attached to. With Julie slung over her right shoulder, Ayane led Brit around to the main entrance of city hall.

            “Boy, they hit this place like a tornado,” observed Brit, glancing around the lobby of the government building at another group of frozen victims. Mayor Myra Cooke was standing, facing Rene McManus, the dark-skinned employee who'd greeted the team with the mayor when they'd first arrived in town. Myra had her mouth open and was gesturing towards her employee with open palms while Rene had crossed arms and was looking a bit annoyed, a folder tucked under her right arm. Not far away, an African-American man in a sharp gray suit was leaning against a wall, his face half-buried in his hands. Being that the immobilized trio was in the lobby, it looked as if they were caught in mid-conversation as they were leaving for the day.

            “They didn't even see the twins coming; those two really have mastered the damn camera,” noted Ayane, shaking her head as she carefully stood Julie back up, nearly causing the twin to topple over. “Okay, we need someplace out of the way... The bathrooms.”

            “Isn't that a bit obvious?” worried Brit. “I mean, if they randomly come in there they might need to take a leak...”

            “Right but remember some of that boring trivia we got earlier today when some of the rookies got their tour?” reminded Ayane. “The bathrooms were specifically given better sound-proofing, so they're less likely to hear us in there no matter what we do. There's a lot more bathrooms in this place anyhow, and I doubt they'll come here for much. Worth the risk.”

            “Well...” began Brit, unsure, but she then saw her friend wander over to the frozen man, whom she realized was Ray Chambers, another city employee they'd met earlier. Ayane casually pulled Ray away from the wall and began to drag him towards the first floor bathrooms. “Um?” called out Brit, giving her friend a 'what the hell' gesture.

            “Oh come on, like you weren't thinking the same thing when you nabbed Kat,” chided Ayane, stopping for a moment.

            “Wait, what?!” exclaimed Brit, a bit confused by Ayane's accusation.

            “Oh right, you keep telling yourself you're bisexual and when it comes to women you only like them like me,” dismissed Ayane, shaking her head. “Brit, come on: how often will both of the Vaughns be frozen like this, and you have the prime chance to mess with them? Go for it; I won't judge.”

            “Ah...” gasped Brit, glancing back at Julie; Kat was still on her shoulder. Ayane didn't say anything else, she just continued to drag Ray and eventually got him into the men's bathroom.

            “Screw it,” decided Brit, moving to shoulder Julie. The combined weights of the sisters were a bit much for Brit, but she was still able to stumble into the women's bathroom on the opposite side of the lobby.

            “Oh!” exclaimed Brit upon discovering that someone else was already in the bathroom, though that person – like the rest – was frozen stiff. This one was a cute brunette named Doreen Jensen, Brit remembered, being effectively the mayor’s chief of staff. Doreen had short brown hair with curls at the base, which rested right around shoulder height. The secretary was clad in a shimmering gold blouse tucked into a slim fitting black skirt; nude hosiery and heels finished her look. The brunette's blue eyes were fixed on the bathroom door; her lips were frowning while her hands were held under running hot water, her back bent forward.

            “Better shut that off,” realized Brit, putting the twins down for a moment and moving over to Doreen. The brunette was pivoted on her heels, after which Brit reached over and turned off the running water. After the water was off, Brit moved her hands to squeeze Doreen's breasts from behind, getting a feel.

            “Not bad, but I think I'll start with the other two first,” declared Britney, moving away from Doreen and focusing on Kat and Julie, who were both standing at attention. While Brit, like virtually everyone else, thought Julie was the hotter twin, Kat was the one Brit spent the most time with so she was a bit more eager to get her soccer captain down to her birthday suit. Kat's clothes and sporty hot pink underwear were quickly pulled off, Brit having to make Kat lie down to remove her jeans, socks and sneakers. With Kat now in the buff at her feet, Brit felt a sense of arousal, stroking the frozen blonde's nice breasts and fingering her bushy crotch.

            “Maybe Ayane was on to something, the Asian thing was just a gateway,” mused Brit for a moment. Julie was then laid out next to her sister and stripped as well; revealing Julie’s cleanly shaven snatch and a tattoo of a small female devil on the girl’s right lower hip, just off to the right of her sex. She also had gone bra-less and sported a black G-string. The cheerleader of the twins also had apparently been frozen with slightly more stimulated nipples, possibly due to feeling a chill, and with less visibly defined muscle she actually came off looking more doll-like, in a good way.

            “Boy, Kat, you just can't win, poor girl,” sighed Brit, proceeding to pull off her own clothes while quickly getting up to lock the bathroom door. Once naked Brit tried to figure out the best way to nail both twins at once, eventually settling on laying on top of them around the crotch level, eating out Julie's womanhood while fingering Kat's and then her own. The act ended up working fairly well, but as Brit moved closer to orgasm, she ended up turning to be properly parallel to the twins and placing Julie's fingers in her crotch. Using the cheerleader's delicate digits while kissing her lips was what made Brit come, and she realized she felt great.

            After two more sessions going one on one with each sister, Brit felt satisfied enough to move on. Julie was stood back up and posed to stand wide-legged with one finger hooked into her sex while the other pointed at her chin. The cheerleader bore a flirtatious smile and a wink on her frozen face. The expression looked a bit off on the girl, as Brit wasn’t as good as her roommate and molding faces. Though it looked unnatural Brit thought she was still hot. Brit sucked each of Julie’s erected nipples before moving on to Kat. The Raptor captain was placed on her knees, legs spread wide so the girl sat low and uncomfortably on her bottom, though she wasn’t in any state to complain. Kat’s hands were placed to be cupping each of her breasts while her head was leaned back with her blonde tresses falling freely behind her. The frozen soccer player was then given a closed-eye look with her mouth open and her lips in the shape of an ‘o’. Brit removed a tube of lip-gloss from her skirt pocket and then applied it gingerly onto her captain’s lips. As she did so, she wondered how often those lips were used to pleasure Kat’s hunky boyfriend Chris Pickett.

            “Ha... this was an awakening,” breathed Brit, glancing up at Doreen after tossing the tube of lip-gloss behind her. “You want in on this? Of course you do,” Brit declared, standing up and heading over to the unmoving head of staff. Brit soon propped the frozen staffer to be sitting on the counter top and then proceeded to make quick work of the woman’s clothing. The blouse was taken off with few buttons flying freely around the room while the pantyhose were ripped off the woman’s hips and were tossed to the ground in tatters. Doreen had selected a simple set of white silk ribbon-trimmed undergarments to wear for the day. Brit roughly striped theses items off the woman, even managing to tear off the panties. The secretary was in the midst of her period, Brit figured, eying the white cotton tampon string hanging from the woman’s sex. “I think I’ll stay away from that…” Brit clucked as she spread Doreen’s naked thighs apart and settled in between them so that their breasts were touching. Wrapping her arms around the brunette’s neck, the soccer player giggled as she started kissing the frozen staffer.

* * *

Stillsville Public School

            After leaving the rec center the Carter’s made their way back to the hotel parking lot, where Annabelle picked up the spell book that she had left on the hood of the Chevy. She then had Isaac pull Petunia from the trunk of the muscle car to re-dress the girl. The brunette was soon back in her original clothing, sans her shoes. She was then placed back in the trunk and Annabelle removed her charmed bracelet before Isaac closed the trunk. They were soon back at the library of the school, Annabelle decided it was the best place to hide out at the moment, just case someone might wander into town. The school would be the last place they would check, giving her and Isaac time to escape as needed. It was late and she knew it was unlikely anyone would come into town but they could never be too safe considering they hadn’t been careful last time and ended up frozen and stuck in a glass case at the police station. They had few hours to wait.

            Annabelle sat at her spot by the table by the window, where she had sat earlier, Debra’s borrowed coat hung off the back of the chair as she flipped through the spell book. She held the bracelet idly in one hand as she flipped the pages looking for a spell that she had passed over earlier. Next to her, a stack of still photographs that they had acquired plus another stack they had pulled off of one the frozen girls they stuck in the lobby. A few tables away, underwear-clad Kay Schultz stood statue like with her arms raised over her head. Isaac was on the other side of the library, out of sight with the new girl. She had let him fully enjoy the girl, but she didn’t want see him as he did so. Two more pages passed; then Annabelle sat up straight and smiled as she began to read the spell while moving the bracelet between her fingers.

* * *

Stillsville Hotel

            Keenan Vole pulled his rented Dodge Caravan into the parking spot in front of the hotel, cursing upon seeing an old Chevy muscle car parked illegally at the entrance. He was Irish-American, having immigrated to the States in his early twenties, and nearly three decades later Keenan still had the strong accent of his homeland, though he was much easier to understand. Though nearly half a century old, Keenan still looked vigorous, possessing a full head of brown hair that he often wore in the latest men's style, having always been fashionable since his youth. He had a chiseled chin, covered with stubble as well as his well-sculpted face, giving him a classically handsome look. His innate fashion sense continued into how he dressed as well; currently he was clad in a pair of fashionable stonewashed jeans, trendy sneakers, a bright orange t-shirt with a Raptor logo on it under a dark velvet sports coat. Though the t-shirt was out of place, it looked good with the ensemble, as Keenan was a man that knew how to carry himself in anything he wore. He wore the t-shirt proudly, supporting its color and the college team that his baby girl Tess played on.

            He whipped out his cell phone as he entered the hotel lobby. Keenan had been forced to drive nearly ten miles out of town to get a signal to download his emails. He now scrolled through them as he made his way to the front desk. “Oy! There’s car illegally parked,” Keenan informed the clerk without actually looking at her, frowning as he concentrated on his phone. Keenan was the distribution manager for Chocolat Bouchard in the United States, a job he sometimes loathed thanks to how often he had to be glued to his phone, laptop, or tablet. The high-paying, stressful job was however how he'd managed to afford to send his four daughters to school and still have his wife stay a homemaker. His oldest offspring, Joyce, was a brain surgeon, and while his second-eldest, Belle, had gotten a soccer scholarship, the other two, Lane and Tess, were both all on their own at their colleges.

            Not getting any reply, Keenan growled and finally looked up from his phone. “Hey, I said-what the hell...” Keenan began, only to suddenly switch from irritation to bewilderment. The lobby clerk, Jodi, was standing behind the desk clad in nothing but her underwear; her eyes were closed and her body remained shockingly still.

            “What...” muttered Keenan, turning around. There were five more women in the lobby besides Jodi, and they were effectively all standing at attention in a row: assistant coach Veronica Parker, a blonde and a brunette that Keenan figured were probably from the other team, given one was wearing their jersey, and Mel Donavan. The fifth woman who stood closest to Keenan at the desk was the other team's coach, who he remembered was named Denise Cameron. Every one of them was motionless and totally rigid, as if they were wax statues in a museum.

            “What is this, a flash mob?” questioned Keenan to the silent scene, familiar with the trendy public displays he'd seen on the Internet that involved crowds freezing in place. Feeling himself going a bit red as he looked at Jodi’s appealing figure, Keenan instead focused on Denise, the only other real adult in the room.

            “Okay, you want to explain just what's going on?” asked Keenan, staring directly into Denise's eyes. To his amazement Keenan didn't even see a flicker of life in them; she continued to stare vacantly towards the main door. Annoyed, Keenan decided to play dirty.

            “Fine then...” grumbled the businessman, reaching out and casually pushing the unmoving coach in the shoulder. The blonde rocked woodenly to her side and toppled over, hitting the floor hard before returning to absolute stillness. At no point in the action did Keenan see any sign that indicated Denise had broken character.  Lying there, she looked like a discarded mannequin.

            “Oh, bravo!” clapped Keenan sarcastically, immediately moving over and pinching Veronica on the shoulder. The pinch was deep, right on a nerve Keenan knew a little about, and he was confident not even a hardened soldier would be able to ignore it. Veronica remained as stiff as a board.

            “What...?” gasped Keenan, now convinced something else was going on than a simple prank. Paranoid, Keenan checked his own watch and saw it was still working. Glancing at the clock on the wall, Keenan saw it was ticking too, meaning that he hadn't somehow found himself able to move in a world frozen in time. As Keenan began to laugh at how silly the notion was however, he suddenly that realized maybe he wasn't too far off.

            “While I was gone, somehow everyone became frozen in time,” stated Keenan to his audience of statues, trying to convince himself of such an impossibility. Having worked for Chocolat Bouchard for many years,he'd heard some outrageous stories, including one of a senior vice-president once spending time at a place called Club Mannequin, a secret Paris club where people were essentially frozen into living display figures by some fancy drug. Keenan had just thought it was some silly gimmick, but now he wondered if that rumored drug was what made what he was seeing possible.

            “I'm sorry!” exclaimed Keenan, hurrying back over to Denise on the floor and grabbing her arms. The unmoving blonde wasn’t completely balanced and as he managed to pull her back upright, she flopped forward, ending up in his arms. “Err...” coughed Keenan, his hands having moved instinctively as she'd fallen forward. The result was Keenan's hands were now feeling Denise's breasts, making him certain the poor woman wasn't acting as he got in a good squeeze and there was no reaction at all.

            “I...” breathed Keenan, looking into Denise's beautiful, if lifeless, glassy eyes. The Irish-American found himself drawn to Denise's lips but he hesitated, being married with children, plus he didn't know if Denise was still conscious or if everyone else in the hotel was frozen.

            “Aw, screw it,” decided Keenan a moment later, giving into temptation and pressing his lips against Denise's. The soccer coach's tongue was also frozen, but Keenan managed to use his tongue to manipulate hers, resulting in a very satisfying kiss. Feeling his member getting very aroused, Keenan grabbed Denise by her buttocks and carried her, still lip-locked, over to one of the lobby’s couches, laying down on top of her.

            “Oh God,” gasped Keenan, hastily unzipping his fly and exposing Denise's crotch as well. Fully erect and excited at the idea of nailing a woman who wasn't his wife for the first time since they'd been married, Keenan ended up having an orgasm a lot faster than he'd have expected, barely getting any time inside Denise's pants. Even as Keenan climaxed, he continued to grope and kiss Denise, every sensation feeling electric to him. It was only upon recalling that other people around probably weren't frozen, given that he found Jodi in her underwear and she certainly hadn’t started her day that way, and realizing they might walk in on him at any time that Keenan quickly stopped his lovemaking.  He snapped upright and hastily zipped up his pants, glancing around to see if anyone was watching, leaving Denise as she was. The coach’s jeans were sitting at her ankles now, along with her dark blue cotton boy-shorts, leaving the woman utterly naked from the hips down, her sex only covered by a thin patch of dark blonde hair.

            “This really is like Christmas,” realized Keenan, his moment of panic fading as he walked over and casually rested his arm on Veronica's shoulder. Realizing just how attractive the much-younger woman was, Keenan couldn't help but steal a kiss, though her age – almost the same as his daughters’ – did make him feel a bit guilty. The two Sharks, Keenan felt similarly about, though again he was far too delighted to not at least give them each a peck on the lips. Mel Donavan, meanwhile, was a different matter, Keenan having watched her play in the professional leagues and secretly becoming incredibly infatuated with her. Mel was essentially that naughty, sexy Irish girl he sometimes wished he could have married back in the day; though he knew he wouldn't last with a girl like that. Mel, however, was currently vulnerable and available, standing right there; prime for Keenan to live out a fantasy of his.

            “You need to come with me,” decided Keenan, reaching down and hoisting Mel up on his shoulder. Keenan didn't want to have sex with someone else out in the open, at least not until he explored and checked if it was everyone who had been frozen or just the few in the lobby. While adultery was on his mind, Keenan also was worried about his family; but for the moment he was focused more on the advantages of the situation he'd found himself in. “Oh, this will be fun...” grinned Keenan, carrying Mel off down the hallway.

            He didn’t know why he had decided to take the stairs, as he was nowhere as in shape as he had been in his youth. Somehow for reasons beyond his understanding, Mel Donavan’s clothing had seem to remove itself in the stairwell, with the assistance of his hands. The frozen goalie was stark naked by time Keenan pushed open the second floor stairwell door. He dragged a nude Mel into hallway and stood her up against the wall. The tall Irish girl leaned stiffly with her arms raised over her head, wearing nothing but her colorful and expensive tattoos. Keenan couldn’t help but to snap a picture with his smartphone. He was curious also as to what kind of girl Mel was, as well as the girl had not been wearing any undergarments. There were rumors that the goalie was a bit loose; he wondered if those rumors were true.

            Prying his eyes from Mel’s exquisite naked form, Keenan dragged her down hall towards the elevator lobby; he’d had enough with stairs. As he moved down the hall, he noticed that all the doors had been opened and there were more frozen girls within the rooms stuck in various poses; sometimes in groups, but more often singly. He didn’t recognize any of the girls and figured this floor belonged to the Sharks. There was a dark-skinned girl in one room, frozen while posing in front of a mirror, dressed in nothing but a set of skimpy neon green undergarments that left little to the imagination. She had one hand on her swayed hips while the other was up behind her head. Judging by the girl’s toned calves, Keenan concluded that she was a soccer player. In another room there was a cute Asian girl that Keenan recognized as Yumi Motochika, the Sharks’ goalie. Yumi was frozen in mid-stride as she was stepping from her room’s bathroom, clad only in a white towel and blue robe. Her face was frozen in surprise as she looked out the door at Keenan. At first he had thought she was looking in surprise at him, but then he saw the same empty look in her glassy eyes that he had so far seen in everyone he’d encountered so far.  Yumi had been surprised by someone else, but who?

            In a room that held two brunette Shark players, Keenan recognized a familiar face in Jody Kirkland. She had easily recognizable curly hair and played defender. Jody was a local Pennsylvanian, having actually once gone to soccer camp with Tess, though the two weren’t close. Jody sat cross-legged on her bed, dressed in a yellow and green Brazil jersey while the other dark-haired girl, who Keenan didn’t know, sat across from her dressed in a cute pink nightgown. Both girls were looking towards the door with annoyed expressions on their faces. Even though they were frozen stiff like the others, Keenan still felt odd by being the target of their staring looks and hurried by, dragging his naked cargo.

            Keenan passed more rooms as he got closer to the elevator lobby and spotted more frozen people in each that looked to either be regular guests or the families of the Sharks.  As bold as he had been so far, he decided not to go into any of the occupied rooms for fear as what might happen to him if everyone were to suddenly unfreeze. What would he say? It was too risky; of course what would be his explanation for dragging a naked woman around the hotel?  The far-fetched justification that he was saving Mel from some unknown and unseen danger was a plausible excuse, he decided, as he peered into a corner room that featured five girls, four brunettes and blonde. The five women were posed stiffly as if taking pictures in poses that resembled an eighties Kung-Fu show. He raised an eyebrow at the static group and moved on.

            Near the elevator lobby Keenan ran into four women, all of course to no surprise that were also suspended in time. They were the only four women that he had seen out in the hallway so far. Three of them were young, about his Tess’s age, while the last one he remembered was named Shane Morton; hotel security. The three younger girls stood in a semi-circle around the security woman, who stood with her hands on her hips. The younger women consisted of a blonde and two brunettes. They were dressed similarly, wearing oversized gray hooded sweatshirts that read ‘MSC Cheer’ on them; the blonde of the group had on a blue and black pleated cheerleading skirt under her hoodie, while one of the brunettes sported jeans and the other blue mesh shorts. All three wore black sneakers on their feet. Shane was dressed in her uniform of a dark blazer with a white dress shirt underneath; gray slacks covered her lower half. She was tall woman already, but the simple black pumps that she stood on made her tower over the small cheerleaders even more.

            The blonde girl of the cheer trio was looking up at Shane, who had ash blonde hair cut into a men’s short style herself. The blonde had a scowl frozen her face while her arms were crossed. The brunette to her left stood with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face as she was looking up at the security guard. The remaining brunette was frozen in mid-yawn, while her head was leaned back and her mouth open wide with hands in the sweater’s pockets. Shane had her mouth open as well, as if she had been frozen in mid-speech; her blue eyes were focused on the petite blonde in front of her.

            Keenan eyed the group after standing Mel up against the wall next to the elevator door. “Some conflict of interest here, ladies?” he asked the unmoving group with chuckle. “I think we can make this little get-together a bit more interesting…”

            The two brunettes were soon posed clinching in a lover’s embrace while only dressed in their lacy underwear. The blonde cheerleader was wearing only dark blue form-fitting hot pants once her outer clothing was stripped off and she now stood clutching her naked breasts with bare legs wide. Shane’s uniform had been removed, revealing that the older tall woman was clad in a dark lace panty/bra set along with a pair of knee-high tan stockings. She being the most senior of the group, Keenan elected to strip Shane down to her birthday suit. The older woman had a messy mass of dark hair covering her sex while her breasts sagged noticeably, with her pale rose nipples angled outward. Keenan figured the woman might have once been a looker back in her prime, as she wasn’t half that bad in the present, though signs of her age were clearly evident. Shane was placed on her knees in front of the blonde cheerleader with one hand clutching a breast while the other hovered over her crotch.

            Admiring his work and surprisingly, feeling aroused, Keenan called the elevator down. As he waited, he started to make out with Mel. A moment later the elevator car arrived and Keenan dragged the frozen goalie into it. “Let’s see what awaits us on the third floor, love,” he whispered huskily into Mel’s ear as the doors slid shut.

            Arriving on the upper floor, Keenan decided to exit the elevator but leave Mel inside, leaning the rigid goalie in the corner with her hands resting on the railings to keep her upright. He pulled the ‘hold’ switch, making sure the elevator wasn’t going to leave without him. Going left first, Keenan almost immediately ran into a pair of blondes. The first was Tess's teammate, Justine Zimmerman, the tan blonde wearing a pair of jean shorts and a yellow spaghetti-strap top with her hair down. Justine had been standing still when frozen; looking across at her companion with her right hand on her hip while her left index finger touched her smiling lips. It was Justine's companion that interested Keenan, as she was Justine’s older sister Shelly. The professional wrestler also had her hair down and was wearing a dark blue mini-skirt with a gray tank top, a black leather jacket over that, while black stiletto boots were on her feet. Shelly was, bafflingly, standing with her left hand on her hip while her right held up a spray bottle to her hair, a bright smile on her face.

            “Let’s just get this out of the way,” whispered Keenan, focusing on Justine first and moving her hand away from her mouth. After getting a taste of the young woman's lips, Keenan couldn't help but be immature and stuck her extended finger up her nose. Turning his attention to Shelly, Keenan removed the spray bottle from Shelly's hand and casually dropped it on the floor. Keenan didn't watch wrestling but liked that a lot of female wrestlers easily had the toned, lithe bodies of models; Tess had told him that Shelly wrestled, so he could see that in her physique. Since Shelly was practically against the wall already Keenan decided to press against her, pinning the frozen woman. As Keenan kissed Shelly's lips, he reached down and lowered her skirt, then unzipped his pants to let his fully erect member out. Keenan thought about moving Shelly to the floor, but figured if she did suddenly unfreeze he'd have better odds of getting away if they were upright rather than on the floor.

            After lip locking for a bit, Keenan moved his tongue down to the wrestler's cleavage, meanwhile using his hands to squeeze Shelly's firm breasts. Despite having an orgasm while downstairs with Denise, Keenan was still ready to go, a bit pent up since as of late he and his wife hadn't had sex as often, and Keenan wasn't a big fan of masturbating since he did have a wife. Soon enough, Keenan was done and he pulled back, groaning in pleasure, and walking away. Shelly toppled forward, her skirt still down and thus revealing she was wearing a white thong. While he considered standing the blonde upright again, Keenan instead continued his journey through the hallway.

            The next room that caught Keenan's eye had two blondes in it, both Raptors. The girls were Danica Riley and Payson Quinn; the pair was dressed in pajamas. Danica had just emerged from the bathroom, right foot first, and was looking up at the door in surprise, her mouth neutral but her eyes wide and her hands raised. Danica was wearing pink and red plaid bottoms with a white T-shirt that looked like it hadn't been washed in a couple of days; her hair was down. Payson was seated at the foot of a bed in the room, her laptop on her knees with her gaze and hands focused on it. Payson's hair was loosely held back in a ponytail with a knotted scarf and she was wearing yellow-and-black checkered pajamas with fuzzy white slippers on her feet.

            Circling the hallway a bit more, Keenan found a room belonging to Rae Sullivan and Mandy Eastwood, two members of the Raptors B-squad. Mandy was frozen while actually standing in the doorway, holding the door open with a confused look on her face. Mandy's dark hair was a mess and she was dressed only in a white blouse that was half-unbuttoned and what looked like a pair of hastily thrown on orange shorts. Past Mandy, Rae could be seen, wearing nothing but a black sports bra and panties, her eyes were practically closed as she glanced down at the watch on her left hand that she held out in front of her.

            “Well now...” smiled Keenan, finding Mandy very striking. The soccer player was half-Filipino so there was something about her almond eyes, even as they squinted, as Mandy had appeared to be ready to call it a night. Putting his hands under Mandy's armpits, Keenan was able to lift her forward, twisting her so her left hand let go of the door's knob. Standing Mandy in the hallway, Keenan considered going for it again but he was a bit tired; plus while he planned to break the rule with Mel, he was trying to avoid nailing the players, given they were the age of his daughter. Instead of using Mandy to pleasure his manhood, Keenan elected instead to first give her a kiss, nearly knocking her over in the process. After the kiss, Keenan pulled down Mandy's shorts, revealing she wasn't a waxer but a trimmer at best, and then moved the girl's hands so her fingers were inserted into her womanhood. For good measure, Keenan gave the girl a slap on her ass before moving on.

            As Keenan began to get to the point where he'd circled the floor, he found another Raptor in the hallway; this one was Sunny Dakota. The B-squad's goalie had her left hand on her room door's knob, her left digging into the pocket of the jeans she was wearing, a black T-shirt up top and her hair up in what looked like a hasty bun, with brown sandals on her feet. Sunny's T-shirt bore a logo that said 'My Goal' and featured the image of a soccer goalpost in white. The blonde's face showed signs of annoyance, as if she had been having trouble with her door, which was one of the few closed ones Keenan had seen.

            “Broken lock?” asked Keenan, taking a moment to grope Sunny's chest and ass as he reached her. “Well, if you can't sleep in the room, there's always...” Moving Sunny's hand off of the door handle, Keenan leaned in to steal the obligatory kiss before spinning the blonde around and pressing her against her door. Off-balance, Sunny slumped down, eventually sitting like a collapsed puppet. Keenan then tipped Sunny's head forward, closing her eyes so it looked like she'd passed out in the hallway.

            Keenan's third floor exploration was nearly over when he appeared to hit the mother lode, albeit one of missed opportunities since he'd promised himself earlier he wouldn't enter any rooms. He had kept himself to his promise easily as he found most of the rooms were filled with other parents. However, within the room in question there were nine girls, all of them cheerleaders. They were dressed down into pajama outfits and fuzzy slippers, apparently having some kind of sleepover event despite being college-age girls. Rachel Xanders, the captain, actually had her hair in weaved pigtails and was dressed in a teal T-shirt with white pajama pants, sitting cross-legged on the closest bed while panting her toenails red. Watching Rachel's feet was Pamela Flipspatrick, sitting next to the captain and wearing a purple dressing gown with her hair up in a white and blue hotel towel. Kelli McAdams was standing between the two beds, grinning ear to ear; her hair was in a low ponytail while she was clad in white and pink pajamas. A giant bowl of popcorn was clutched in her rigid hands. On the next bed, reaching up for some popcorn from Kelli's bowl, was Rita Hemp, her hair down and her full pajamas a midnight blue color. Next to Rita on the second bed was Carmen Inglewood, the redhead, looking down at a make-up kit in her lap while she wore a pair of black shorts and an equally black sleeveless T-shirt. Far at the back of the second bed, with the remote control pointed at the TV, was Missy Pine, who seemed to have on what looked like denim pajamas. Standing in the far corner of the room, with a bottle of liquor open in one hand and an empty glass in the other, was the smiling Zella Krueger; she was only wearing black panties and what looked like a black halter-top. Stephanie Kinloch was seated at the room's desk but had it facing the beds, reclined with a half-smile on her face and a drinking cup raised in her right hand. Stephanie had the most unusual pajamas, with the exception possibly of Missy, hers being tiger-themed as they were orange with black stripes. Finally, Anne Noah was laying on her back on the floor, mauve pajamas on her trim figure, with her hands posed behind her head; her eyes appeared to be looking at Zella as she smiled.

            “If only...” sighed Keenan, regretting his rule but not about to break it. Zella in particular was appealing, just due to her height, though Keenan would really have gone for any girl in the room. While the room was discouraging however, the hallway wasn't. Not far away was a pair of brunettes that had been walking in his direction. The shorter of the two Keenan recognized as Brianne Walsh, one of the missing cheerleaders, who was wearing a brown halter-top and a denim skirt. Brianne was standing with her left foot forward, her left hand up as if waving, while her right held a Popsicle stick close to her smiling mouth. There was a stain on the carpet in front of her that suggested to Keenan that Brianne's Popsicle had melted, leaving only hints of orange slush on the floor. Brianne was cute and Keenan considered taking a much closer look at the cheerleader, but the second brunette felt more appropriate. Brianne's mother, Tami-Lynn, whom Keenan remembered worked at a restaurant or a bar in a Georgian town, was standing next to her daughter, also frozen in mid-step. Tami-Lynn had brown hair that was going just a bit past her shoulders, striking brown eyes and was slightly above average height for a woman. The mother was also wearing a white T-shirt and denim vest, the former having orange stains on it, and down below she was wearing jeans that matched her vest. What made Tami-Lynn so perfect however were not what appeared to be full 30D breasts, but the fact that her mouth was rigidly opened in just the right way to allow a Popsicle in.

            “I actually never have had a blow-job before,” laughed Keenan as he practically ran up to the older of the two brunettes, carefully lowering Tami-Lynn down onto her knees. The stick was then removed from Tami's raised hand and Keenan inserted his member between the brunette's fingers, then slid it into her mouth. Placing his hands on Tami-Lynn’s head, Keenan rocked her back and forth, soon allowing him to overcome his stint of exhaustion.

            “To think, if your mouth had been so perfectly shaped I might have gone for you,” commented Keenan to a silent Brianne as he continued to move her mother's head. Taking a moment to only use his left hand to work the head, Keenan used his right hand to grab Brianne and pull her in for a kiss. The cheerleader wobbled after being let go, but surprisingly didn't topple over.

            Keenan let out his third gasp of pleasure as he finished with Tami-Lynn, pulling out and leaving her as she was. Keenan's juice dripped from Tami-Lynn's open lips and she nearly fell forward, but somehow remained upright. Chuckling at his good fortune, Keenan walked away and found himself back at the elevator. “Did you miss me?” Keenan asked Mel as he entered the elevator, heading for the fourth floor.

            The two top floors of the hotel only had eight rooms, leaving the fourth floor with little to explore. A majority of the rooms held more parents or other adults staying in them, while there were two rooms that were empty. A final room housed the last few of the Raptor players. Not far from the elevator, Keenan found himself at the room of Gabrielle Ward, the Raptor’s bus driver. The full-figured African woman was frozen in the doorway of her room, holding the door open. Though he wasn’t attracted to the type, being that he was moving and the bus driver was not, he kept a bit of interest. Gabrielle had her normal wildly curly, teased-out dark hair covered up by a dark blue nightcap that bulged slightly due to mass of the woman’s tresses. Her round face was covered in pale green beauty cream, giving her an odd zombie-ish look. The cream however could not hide the angry expression that black woman held. Gabrielle was clad in tan silk pajamas under a black cotton bathrobe while she stood in a pair of brown house shoes.

            “Spooky!” Keenan mocked, wiggling his fingers in front of the woman’s angry cream covered face and chuckling. “Now I always figured you as a big breasted lass, given your size so let’s see if I was right, not that you’re in any position to protest…” Keenan suggested as he started to unbutton Gabrielle’s pajama top. A moment later the top was opened and Keenan smiled as he jiggled the bus driver’s large breasts capped with large dark nipples. He suddenly felt his member get hard again and started undoing his belt to relieve the pressure. “I think I need to shoot a load… let’s check out that large boot of yours.”

            Freeing Gabrielle’s fingers from the door handle, Keenan spun the woman by her shoulders so that her back was facing him and then stripped the robe from her shoulders, tossing it aside. Once the robe was gone, he bent the bus driver forward at the hips carefully as not to let the top-heavy woman topple over. He then jerked her pajama bottoms down, along with the blue panties she wore underneath. “Oy! Now that’s a boot!” Keenan remarked and smacked Gabrielle’s naked backside before pulling his pants and boxers down, freeing his manhood. He had to kneel a little to get his member inside of Gabrielle and then he had to lift her up slightly before he started to pump his juices. Keenan pumped the unmoving woman vigorously to the point where her cap fell off her head. Nearly three minutes later when he pulled out, he let the woman fall to the ground awkwardly, still holding her pose with her bottoms around her ankles. Fixing his pants and belt, Keenan let out a chuckle, “Surprisingly satisfying lass; I may have a touch of jungle fever!”

            The next room was empty and the one after that contained the parents of a B-squad player whose name escaped Keenan at the moment. At room after that stood Chrissy Pak, holding the door open with a slight grin on her lips while her eyes were closed as if in mid-blink when she was suspended. Behind her was another Asian girl that Keenan thought might have been another cheerleader, and Diane Cruz. Chrissy was dressed in a simple black pants suit with a teal blouse underneath; the suit seemed a bit small on the Korean’s curvy body. A pair of black flats completed her look.

            Chrissy was a defender, like his baby girl Tess, so Keenan had watched the girl a lot to gauge where his daughter stacked up and it was safe to say the his baby had come out on top; though the Korean wasn’t a bad defender, she just wasn’t as good as his Tess. He had always thought the girl was cute too, and though he had only met her parents, who were fully Korean, once; from what he could tell, Chrissy looked like she had a little bit of something else mixed into her, mostly likely Caucasian if he’d had to guess. Keenan pondered this as he looked at the girl’s beaming face and caressed it with the back of his hand. He then leaned in and gave the defender a quick peck on her grinning lips.

            He had decided to just grope Chrissy a bit before moving on, but upon grabbing at her chest something felt funny, which stirred his curiosity. Soon Chrissy’s suit jacket was opened, followed by her blouse to reveal an odd white lace bra with heavily padded cups. “Aw, a true shame, lass…” Keenan muttered as he played around the padded bra. “You’re a pretty girl… you don’t need this…” His eyes moved south, noticing a silver ring pierced into the girl’s navel; his finger played with it for a bit before he moved on.

            Just past Chrissy’s room and around the corner, Keenan came into contact with three women that stood in his way. Two of the women were parents to players and friends of Keenan while the third was daughter to one of the women, a B-squad player named Trishana Thompson. Trishana was dressed in pair of baggy orange sweat pants over a pair of unlaced sneakers; a form-fitting black tank-top finished her ensemble while her long dark hair was tied back in ponytail. She stood pigeon-toed, with her right hand clutching her left elbow while her left arm was down in front of her. Her face was looking down while her lips bore a sheepish smile. Trishana’s mom, Trini, stood to her daughter’s right. The elder Thompson had her right arm up at her side and bent at the elbow with her palm up as if presenting her daughter to the remaining woman. Her left hand rested on her hip, as she stood shifted on left leg. She was dressed in all black, save for a pair of bright orange open-toed high heels that she stood on. The top half of her body was clad in a tight fitting double breasted cropped jacket with oversized collars and her bottom half in tight leather pants. She had her excessively curled dark shoulder length hair free; her face bore an open-mouthed expression frozen in mid-speech while her eyes were shifted to glance at Trishana but carried an empty stare. The last woman of the trio was Natsuko, the mother of Ayane Nakamura, one of the team’s three strikers. The well-aged Japanese woman had her flowing dark hair free, hanging just past her shoulders. She stood with frown on her face; her cheeks were blushed while her arms were crossed across her chest. Natsuko was clad in a ribbed white turtleneck under a thin short leather jacket, and a khaki knee-length skirt with a flared hem. Her legs were masked in clear fishnet hosiery while she stood atop ankle-high zebra striped high heels.

            Keenan circled the scene for a bit, wondering on what was going on before the three women had been suspended. Trini Thompson was a news personality; she was a leading soccer analyst with GNA. Before that, she had been an internationally ranked soccer player. Keenan had actually watched her play once during the Olympics. Her playing career ended early when she had Trishana, but she landed back on her feet with the news vocation. She only rivaled Keenan as a Raptor hooligan and her daughter was only a backup too. Then it hit him. Natsuko’s daughter was a right forward, while Trishana was her understudy. He smiled as he stood behind Trini and felt her backside through the tight leather. “I see... this discussion was about whose daughter is better?” Keenan guessed aloud but was fairly certain he was dead-on, seeing the frown on Natsuko’s face. The Japanese woman was an art critic, working for Los Angeles-based magazine Main Street. She wasn’t really much of a soccer fan, but was one of nicer parents that Keenan knew as well as one of the better looking ones. He was lucky that it was Natsuko here instead of her husband. The couple regularly alternated who came to their daughter’s games, though it was mostly Natsuko who appeared. The Japanese woman was always calm and cool; seeing her frown seemed odd to Keenan. Then again, Trini was one of the more vocal supporters of the team and soccer fan, not as if Natsuko or any other parent wouldn’t be upset if some intense supermom had labeled their child as second-rate. Keenan had seen both Trishana and Ayane play and Ayane was clearly a lot better. Natsuko’s girl was among the top five scorers within the division.

            Feeling Trini’s tightly packed backside had aroused his member once again. “You’re hungry tonight, boyo…” he muttered as he stepped behind Trishana and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m going to move you love… grown up business,” he said into the girl’s ear as he dragged her away. He moved the backup striker around the corner to stand in front of Chrissy. He would return them later he decided, after his meeting with the moms.

            Back around the corner, he started with Trini first; the woman was so demanding at the parent meetings with coach Peyton, she had a strong presence to say the least. Then again Keenan had remembered he had been the same way when that horrible woman Diane King had benched his baby, so he couldn’t really blame Trini for the way she was. But he liked the silent mannequin version of the woman better at the moment. Trini’s coat was removed and tossed away first, revealing a bright orange bra holding up her decent-sized rack. The leather pants and heels went next, unmasking the orange thong that covered the analyst’s sex. Keenan stood the woman back up, having to have to lower the gorgeous mom to get her out of the clothing. He pinned Trini against the wall as he dropped his own pants and boxers. He stripped off her bra as he roughly made out with the statuesque dark-skinned woman. His lips eventually moved south and sucked on Trini’s nipples before dropping her thong to reveal a naturally hair covered sex. Trini’s thong now dangled freely off her naked right ankle as Keenan wrapped the woman’s legs around his hips and drove into her like a madman.   

            Trini was soon leaning up against the wall with only her thong sitting around her ankle as Keenan, still naked from the waist down, turned his attention to Natsuko. He roughly slammed the Japanese woman against the wall next to Trini and then savagely stripped her down to her birthday suit. He was surprised to see that Trini and Natsuko had decided to wear matching undergarments, though Natsuko wore a pair of orange panties with the Raptor logo on the back, clearly something that belonged to her daughter. The Japanese woman also had a highly detailed tattoo of a pond with Japanese carp covering most her back below the shoulders that faded artistically at the small of her back. Natsuko had smallish breasts but they were nice and round and capped with pink nipples; her sex was as hairy as Trini’s but was trimmed neatly. Natsuko’s blushing cheeks made the woman seem more naked, which turned the Irishman on even more. Keenan spun Natsuko around and admired her expensive tattoo as he made her ‘assume the position’ before enjoying another session of anal love.

            He left the two moms naked and leaning against the wall as he dressed and went back around the corner, his conquest of the fourth floor nearly done. Before he hooked back up with Mel, Keenan stripped Chrissy down to her padded bra and red panties. Trishana was stripped out of her sleepwear but was utterly naked underneath. Keenan admired the girl’s naked form but felt guilty about it; the girl was her mother’s daughter he simply concluded as he put her mom and Chrissy into a lover’s embrace.

            After leaving Trishana and Chrissy behind, Keenan took the elevator up to the fifth floor, wanting to head to his room and bringing Mel with him. “Good things come to those who wait,” commented Keenan, glancing at Mel before the doors opened. “Oh!” As the doors had opened, Keenan found himself looking at three of his daughters, all frozen like the rest in the hallway. Tess was leading the trio; she still dressed conservatively with a sweater vest and plaid skirt, her head turned back to look at her sisters while her right foot was forward, her hands touching the wall. Tess appeared to have been turning to laugh at something she’d heard as her older sister Lane, Keenan's second youngest, had her hands in her pockets and a sly look on her face. Lane was around average height and had brown hair with a bit of curl to it, like her sisters. She was frozen with her left foot forward while wearing brand new blue jeans, a light green blouse and a pair of black Croc sandals. For college, Lane was studying archeology at Trinity College Pennsylvania, a grad student as she'd just earned her Bachelors. Behind the two was Keenan's second-eldest Belle, who was barely an inch taller than Tess, if that. Belle played soccer and so tended to dress a bit less conservatively than her sisters, sporting a black leather jacket over a red tube top and a white frilly skirt below, with leather boots on her feet. The eldest sister present had her head back, her eyes closed and her mouth open while clutching her stomach, suggesting whatever Lane had said had really amused her.

            “Girls...” muttered Keenan, suddenly feeling very awkward to be carrying a naked soccer player with him. The three Vole daughters were all frozen but their presence, even as Keenan moved past them with Mel on his shoulder, made him want to leave the hallway. Keenan picked the nearest room that looked unoccupied and ducked inside.

            “Whew... Too weird,” breathed Keenan, only to have his eyes go wide when he saw whose room he was in. Lying on the bed was Glenda Peyton, buck-naked. The soccer coach looked a bit flushed, as if she'd just made love, her hands were pressed against her cheek just above her exposed breasts. Glenda's lips looked like she'd just stopped pursing them, most likely having just finished a large exhale. The blonde's hair was spilled out around her head and her right knee was bent, lying on its side while her left was straight. The sight of the coach posed that way made Keenan want to jump on the bed right away, but there was another man in the room. Keenan recognized the man as the mechanic who'd greeted the coach when they'd arrived in town, Tess having mentioned she was Glenda's boyfriend Lance. Lance had just gotten off of the bed and his back was to Keenan but the guy was naked, and seeing a naked man in the room brought down Keenan's mood.

            “Can't just let this one pass me by, though,” decided Keenan, his attraction to Glenda too strong to ignore. Keenan didn't think Glenda was the most glamorous of women but she had a great body and he loved how much she loved soccer. Making up his mind, Keenan put down Mel for a moment so he could drag Glenda off of the bed by her left foot and then hoist her up onto his other shoulder.

            “Two beautiful and naked blondes, one on each shoulder,” laughed Keenan as he exited Glenda's room. He found that carrying the two suspended women was pretty easy; he attributed that to them being as rigid as statues. Keenan figured if they were to, say, be both unconscious and limp he would have some difficulty. Two of the rooms on this floor belonged to Keenan's daughters, while the last was for him and his wife. Two of the rooms on the floor were empty, but Keenan again hit the jackpot with his final possible choice. Cecily Vaughn stood in her room, her right hand holding a smart phone to her ear while her left gestured up slightly while pointed away from her body, her mouth open and her face showing signs of exasperation. The gorgeous blonde was styled in what appeared to be a one-piece red skirt suit, her feet bare as a pair of black heels sat next to the door. While he didn’t know Cecily that well, only meeting the woman a few times, she knew enough about soccer to follow it. Keenan had been attracted to Cecily since they first met; her breasts, if nothing else, always looking perky.

            Dumping Glenda and Mel on the king-sized bed, Keenan headed over to Cecily, pulling the phone from her stiffened grip. The caller ID was frozen along with the call length, so Keenan could see she had been talking to a 'Kevin' when time stopped for her. It took a moment, but Keenan remembered that Kevin was Cecily's husband, though he'd never met him. “Missing your husband, or maybe you're not and that's the problem?” suggested Keenan, tossing the phone aside and gently touching Cecily's chin. He'd not wanted to nail someone in a room in case they unfroze, but Keenan was now fairly certain he had nothing to worry about, except maybe how this good fortune had happened to him in the first place. As he stole a kiss from Cecily's soft lips however, Keenan stopped caring, quickly pulling off his clothes.

            Once he was naked, Keenan decided to start work on Cecily, trying to conserve her pose as much as possible since he quite enjoyed it. The suit-like dress ended up coming off over the top of Cecily's head, revealing matching black lace lingerie covering her breasts and sex. “Temptress,” whispered Keenan, feeling almost like Cecily was there to seduce him since she contrasted quite a bit with his more conservative wife. The lacy undergarments were all but see-through and barely did anything to hide the woman’s assets; Keenan quickly got rid of both, rendering the blonde nude.

            “You are perfection,” breathed Keenan, dragging Cecily over to the bed and placing her between Mel, who was at attention, and Glenda, who was still posed like she'd been on her own bed. Cecily's left arm ended up resting just under Glenda's breasts so Keenan reposed it to be at her side, though her right was still up to her ear. Having held out for Mel the longest, Keenan started with her, working his member down into her womanhood. Keenan didn't need any foreplay, the sight and feeling of being with the soccer player was enough to excite him. The same could be said as he hopped to Cecily and then Glenda, managing to do a kneeling leap each time. After all his previous action, Keenan was finally starting to feel spent, but with three gorgeous blondes he didn't mind the marathon.

            Keenan didn't check how long he went for; he just knew he finished on top of Glenda. Keenan figured it would be fine. Glenda had just slept with her boyfriend so she might not notice anything amiss. The plan was to move the blondes back into less-compromising places, but as Keenan finished he actually felt his left leg go to sleep. Hopping off the bed, Keenan winced and decided to walk it off, heading recklessly out into the corridor while naked and still partially erect.

            He wasn’t even thinking where he was walking and he was in a pretty good mood having fulfilled one of his fantasies, having sex with three breathtaking blondes, albeit all three were stiff as boards but he’d take what he could get. Before he knew it, he was standing naked behind his daughters. His erection subsided rather quickly. Forgetting that everyone was frozen, panic set in and he quickly made a bee-line for his room; luckily like all the rooms in the hotel, the door was wide open. Leaping into his room, he quickly slammed the door behind him. Leaning against it, panting hard, he struggled to regain his composure. A sheepish smile crept across his lips once he remembered his situation and relief set in. His shoulders sagged and he sighed sliding down a sitting position at the foot of the door while his adrenaline rush faded.

            Looking up Keenan banged the back of his head in surprise seeing two sets of eyes looking his way. Panic nearly set in again before he remembered that everyone was still frozen. Unfortunately, this included to the two women before him. Joyce Vole was his eldest daughter, his precious princess. Though she was now an accomplished surgeon living in New York, he still considered her his princess, a nickname he called her to this day and a name she didn’t reject either. Joyce, like her younger siblings, had long dark hair that was currently let down. She had to wear it up all the time at work and she worked a lot, so in whatever free time she had she would let it down. Joyce sat barefooted in a pair of worn jeans and gray Georgetown University t-shirt, her Alma Mater. Her legs were crossed at the knees with her left hand resting on them while her right elbow rested on the small table she sat at. Her head was turned the door, though her deep dark eyes were emptily staring his way, her face held a look of confusion on them. Sitting across from her was Judith and despite all the fun he’d had so far, Keenan still felt Judith was his only true love forever, being his best friend and the mother of his children.

            Judith was as old-fashioned as they could get. She had graduated high school and went to work for her father in their hometown grocery store in upstate Pennsylvania, where Keenan had met her while on a business trip as an entry-level salesman. After that and despite his urging for her to be more independent and get a career for herself, Judith insisted on being a traditional housewife. Though she was like a 1950s housewife, not even a fan of the modern term ‘home-maker’, she was in no means a submissive woman. Keenan might be the breadwinner of the Vole clan, but Judith without a doubt ran it; she was the obvious matriarch. She was still dressed in what she had been in all day, sans the simple black heels that sat next to Keenan, along with Joyce’s flip-flops. Judith had on a brown knee-length skirt with a white silk short-sleeved blouse tucked into it. The dark sweater that she had worn was hanging off the back of the chair she was currently sitting in. She was sitting cross-legged with her hands holding a hotel mug in front her, only inches off the table. Judith’s long flowing hair wasn’t as dark as his or their daughters’. Even though she was a year younger than Keenan, Judith had developed gray hairs first. Keenan attributed this to her being the true leader of the family and raising four kids. It wasn’t like Keenan didn’t help, but Judith took the brunt of the work; it was by her choice but as a result she showed a little more age. She dyed her hair to a light chestnut color once a month, though she didn’t need to as Judith Vole still looked stunning even with the little bit of aging she did show. Her eyes were missing that usual spark as they looked towards his direction vacantly while her frozen expression carried a look of annoyance that Keenan was pretty familiar with.

            Keenan made a quick detour to the bathroom and snatched a towel to cover up his lower half before approaching the two women. His heart rate had picked up noticeably upon seeing his frozen Judith and even though his manhood has had enough fun to last it a long time, he could feel its stiffness returning. First things first; he had to get rid of his princess, even though she was frozen like the rest he really wouldn’t feel right with her standing there. He quickly wrapped his arms around his daughter and lifted her out of chair. As expected, she held her pose as he shuffled towards the door. Balancing Joyce’s rigid form on his hip, he opened the door and then carefully placed her down on the floor right outside the door, resting on her side. Keenan didn’t give his frozen daughter another look before closing the door.

            With his daughter out of the room his member sprang up once more, forcing the towel to unravel around his hips and fall to the ground. Approaching his wife, he took in her frozen pose and facial expression, “why the face love, aren’t you glad to see me?” Keenan chuckled as he pried the cup free from his wife’s rigid fingers. Pulling her chair back from the table, Judith’s stiff form wobbled a bit as Keenan moved his arms under her arms. Unlike Joyce, Keenan took time to straighten out his wife after removing her from the chair. Judith was soon standing at attention while still sporting that annoyed look on her face. Keenan cleared some strands of hair from Judith’s eyes, admiring her frozen expression, enjoying the power that he had over his normally assertive wife. She was a gorgeous woman and matched well with his own handsome looks, which had resulted in their gorgeous-looking offspring. He ran the back of his hand against her smooth cheek, before copping her feel of her breasts through her thin blouse. He could mostly feel the bra but it was enough to have his member throbbing. Stepping behind his stock-still wife, Keenan wrapped his arms around her waist and began to drag her towards the bed.

* * *

Stillsville Public School

            Usually his sister didn’t let him have this type of fun outside of their home, but since they didn’t have a home anymore and there was time to kill she allowed it. Annabelle’s only condition for him having fun was he had to be out of sight from her and quiet. He obliged, taking the exotic brown-skinned girl to the other side of the stacks. That spot had some dimmed lighting and most importantly he was out of sight from his sister. He took time to remove the girl’s clunky black heels first, rendering her feet bare. Her dark denim jeans were peeled off next, along with a pair of orange boy-shorts style panties. The Stillsville resident enjoyed the fact the beauty before him kept her sex covered naturally. Finally the soccer jersey was removed, followed by the white sports bra under it. At first Isaac stood the stiffened soccer player up with her hips shifted to the right, while her hands were raised and running through her lush dark hair. He molded her face into a flirty smile, a look that was his favorite. He circled her for moment, taking in her exotic looks and nakedness before laying her down on the carpeted floor.

            Isaac had let himself go into the brown skinned beauty three times before he heard footsteps behind him. Figuring that it was Annabelle, he quickly dressed himself and covered the girl up, piling her own clothing over her naked woman parts. Turning around, he was surprised to see Kay Schultz moving stiffly towards him. She moved oddly, not bending her knees completely and her arms did not move with her overall cadence. His eyes widened in shock; he was not sure of what to say, but then he noticed that Kay’s eyes were unfocused and blank, a look that he knew all too well. “What the hell…” he muttered.

            “Watch your language, there are women present,” Annabelle chided with glee from behind the nearly naked schoolteacher. In an instant, Kay snapped to attention and froze again and Annabelle moved to stand next to her. His sister was wearing her borrowed jacket and clutching her book against her chest as she looked down at the naked girl on the floor. “I see you’ve had your fun.”

            “I did, thank you sis…” Isaac replied and moved up to the unmoving Kay and examined her. “How did you make her walk?”

            Annabelle held up her right hand, showing her brother the bracelet. “It seems that our little helper’s piece jewelry is quite powerful; more so than she knew. “I’ll explain as we go,” Annabelle replied and turned to leave.

            “Is it time already?”

            “No, we missed someone; I just saw them head into the hotel.”

* * *

Stillsville Hotel, Keenan Vole’s suite

            Breathing heavily, Keenan rolled off his naked wife. They recently had only made love every couple of months so the sex was well welcomed, even if it was completely one-sided. He looked over at his wife. Judith now sported a closed-eye look with her lips parted. Her naked arms were raised over her head while her legs were spread wide. Judith body was really fit for her age, as she was runner, and took time to run a few miles every morning. Her breasts had begun to sag slightly and angled out a bit, her nipples were dark brown and small but also seemed to be erect. Her mid-section showed a little hint of stretch marks from bearing four children over the years and she had small love handles. Being married for a long while, Judith didn’t really groom her sex; not that Keenan cared as he liked his wife's natural look and she did keep it under control. Keenan let his eyes take in Judith’s muscular legs. Those legs were something that his daughters definitely picked up from their mother, he concluded with a smile.

            “So you are the one,” a voice spoke from the doorway of his hotel room. Keenan quickly jumped out of the bed, pulling a pillow over his crotch to cover up.

            “What the hell!” he shouted in panic, looking at the female Sheriff’s Deputy who made her way towards him. She was a lanky brunette and had an innocent look to her that made her seem non-cop like. More so he noticed the woman wasn’t armed and instead carried a big leather-bound book under her right arm. Her uniform did not seem not fit her that well either, being a little small for her frame.

            “Mind your words; someone might, oh wait, no, no one else will hear you,” noted the Deputy, with a sly smile. “I noticed a few of my dolls were out of position and, who do I find at the end of the trail, but you.”

            “Dolls?!” repeated Keenan, stunned at the woman's words. “Okay, I admit I was quite enjoying the situation, but these are human beings we're talking about!”

            “Oh hush, let’s just start this conversation over,” suggested the brunette, now keeping her distance as she hadn't moved closer. “My name is Annabelle Carter, a resident of these parts, and this isn’t really my uniform; it was... available. What you're seeing all around you my living dolls is the gift I'm providing the people of this town, one my family practically owns... They're all frozen in time. They don't age, they don't change, they don't wither, and they don't die. They're perfectly preserved... A living monument to themselves, one might say. What better legacy can an ordinary person hope to have?”

            “I’m, err, Keenan,” muttered Keenan, then focusing on what else Annabelle had just said, as strange at it had sounded. “Okay forget the benefits, we'll come back to that; how in the hell did you freeze everyone? Is time itself frozen? My phone and car still worked...”

            “Magic, simple as that,” smiled Annabelle, patting the book under her arm. “They're all completely frozen, time isn't. That's the beauty of it. This town used to be so much bigger... hundreds of people once lived here. Now there's maybe a hundred left. I won't let my family’s legacy die...”

            “And your 'dolls' remark?” probed Keenan, having a hard time accepting the 'magic' answer despite seeing it with his own eyes.

            “Well, I like to think that as the caretaker to this museum, I can have some privileges...” shrugged Annabelle, suddenly inching closer. “Come now, you can't deny me that... You, who just – I'm guessing now – violated the sanctity of your marriage with at least six other women? Power is quite an aphrodisiac...”

            “It was... is, quite amazing,” admitted Keenan, suddenly aware that despite her innocent appearance Annabelle was an attractive young woman, in between her striking eyes, alluring lips and fairly proportionate body; one that was easily shown off thanks to the tight uniform.

            “Then why fight it?” asked Annabelle, close enough now that she reached up and touched Keenan's lips with her index finger for a moment. “You're the kind of person I've been wanting to meet... someone who understands the lure of absolute control. I could share my secrets with you...”

            “I...” began Keenan, unsure whether or not to accept. “What kind of secrets? Magic?”

            “Oh yes, wonderful tricks that make this whole 'frozen' thing not really an issue,” assured Annabelle, brushing her way past Keenan. The pillow fell but Keenan didn't move to pick it up, and Annabelle just smiled a bit wider for a moment before positioning herself next to Judith. Annabelle placed her right hand, the one with the bracelet on it, on Judith's knee, and suddenly Keenan's wife sat up. Judith then quietly got out of bed and walked towards her husband, wrapping her arms around him before descending down to her knees. Keenan then found his wife doing something she never had done before: placing her mouth around his manhood. Keenan was so stunned by the act he barely noticed his wife had been moving a bit like a robot would, stiffly and with little subtlety in her movements.

            “Okay Judith, that's enough,” Annabelle suddenly said, snapping her right fingers. Judith promptly stopped, stood straight up at attention, and froze there. Her face sported a blank look with empty eyes that started straight through her husband.

            “How...?” began Keenan, baffled as he looked his immobilized wife up and down.

            “I told you; magic,” pointed out Annabelle, coming around so she was standing right behind Judith. “I can form a psychic connection with any ‘doll’ I touch... Make them do whatever I will; whatever I desire. Severing the connection is as simple as a snap of the fingers while thinking about them.”

            “Incredible...” breathed Keenan, noticing that Annabelle had put her book down. The brunette casually pushed Judith sideways; his frozen wife then fell against the wall, her pose otherwise the same, leaning like a wooden pole or some window dummy. Annabelle then pressed herself against the much-older man, being not much shorter than him. “How... how many people can you control at once?” asked Keenan, trying to avoid the temptation Annabelle was presenting, but not finding it easy. Keenan did love Judith, but the idea of such power was intriguing him.

            “Not too many; it can give you a headache unless you're really good,” mused Annabelle. “Still, it isn't tricky, she’s the third doll I’ve done it with... Look.” Keenan was dimly aware that Annabelle had wrapped her arms around his neck but instead focused on the door as he heard it open. In an instant Keenan's mood changed, watching as his daughter Joyce walked into the room, moving as robotically as his wife had.

            “That's my daughter!” yelled Keenan, outraged, but as he turned to look back at Annabelle, ready to push her away or worse, her right hand suddenly pressed against his forehead.

            “Sleep,” Annabelle commanded Keenan, and the older man immediately slumped backwards onto the floor. Annabelle sighed, glancing over at Joyce as the door closed behind her. Keenan's daughter had been manipulated to pose with her hands on her hips, her legs spread and a big smile on her lips. She eyed the young woman, enjoying the fact that she was already getting use to controlling her dolls, though she felt it was still taking too much effort. She figured it was probably due to the fact that the bracelet wasn’t hers. Annabelle snapped her right fingers, releasing her control on the daughter. Joyce snapped to attention and froze, mirroring her mother’s pose.

            “You were almost mine... Too bad,” cooed Annabelle as she laid herself down on top of a sleeping Keenan, impressed by his physique. “I'll tell you what... I'll let you in on a little secret...” Annabelle leaned in and whispered into Keenan's ear, telling him a few things she thought he should know. After that, the twin gave the man a big kiss and twisted her fingers in his chest hair for a moment before getting up, collecting her book of spells.

            “Your father is quite the specimen,” Annabelle told Joyce, approaching the immobilized woman and giving her a kiss as well. Annabelle then began to hum to herself as she exited the hotel room.

            “Isaac!” called out Annabelle as she entered the hallway. The male twin wasn't far away, standing behind Belle Vole. The back of Belle's skirt had been lifted up with one hand to reveal she was going commando, Isaac was using his other hand to squeeze the brunette's lower cheeks.

            “What, sis; I can't play?” asked Isaac, looking a bit sheepish but not lowering the woman's skirt.

            “We've dilly-dallied long enough; it’s time, lets head up to the roof,” Annabelle told her brother. “Don't worry though... When we're done, you can play with all four of these sisters as long as you want. I promise.”

* * *

City Hall

            “Brit!” came a voice, causing Brit to snap open her eyes. The soccer player realized she'd fallen asleep, and awkwardly enough had done so while sitting on the toilet, or rather sitting on someone who was sitting on the toilet. Brit was naked, perched on top of Julie, who was equally naked, her face having been resting on the twin's shoulder.

            “Comfy,” smiled Brit, then remembering someone had been calling her, most likely Ayane. “Coming!” Getting up, Brit managed to re-dress herself in under a minute. Before falling asleep, Brit had posed Kat and Doreen together on top of the row of sinks, with Doreen up on one of them looking down at Kat with her hands on the blonde's shoulders, a smile on her lips. Kat meanwhile had her hands under Doreen's armpits and was smiling up at the brunette, as if she'd been lifting her up.

            “You fall asleep or something?” asked Ayane when the door opened, as she casually walked inside. “Oh nice... You know I always thought Kat would make a good lesbian.”

            “Well, then you might have had a shot with Chris,” pointed out Brit, recalling the small rivalry Kat and Ayane had had for the security guard.

            “Eh, I'd have probably dumped him after a month, better this way, we can just be friends,” dismissed Ayane with a shrug, then focusing on Brit. “Okay, so... Good news, bad news.”

            “Hit me,” groaned Britney, already sure she was going to hate what was coming.

            “Good news is I'm pretty sure I know where the Carter twins are, and it sounds like they even have the photos they took with them,” revealed Ayane. “Really the only way I could be wrong is if they're taking their sweet time getting to where they were headed or were for some reason lying when they talked to each other.”

            “Wait, you overheard them?!” exclaimed Brit, wondering if they'd actually been around while she'd been sleeping on top of Julie.

            “Yeah, not long ago, maybe fifteen minutes, wanted to make sure they were gone before I grabbed you,” explained Ayane. “Stairs are right above the men’s bathroom, it seems. I heard them talking about where they're going.”

            “What's the bad news?” questioned Brit.

            “Well it sounds like they're up to something evil, some kind of big spell,” Ayane told her friend, looking a bit sheepish. “I may have waited too long to grab you. I don't think we have much time to plan, we just gotta rush in and stop them.”

            “Ah crap,” groaned Brit, not liking the sound of any of that. “We need to ambush the Wonder Twins? They've got the freeze camera and who knows what else up their sleeves! Where are they, anyway?”

            “The hotel roof,” answered Ayane. “Tallest point in town, they believed.”

            “Figures,” sighed Brit, throwing her hands up. “Okay, let’s go. If we find a baseball bat or something heavy to smack those two with though, we should grab it.”

            “Way ahead of you, I found a stun gun in Ray's desk,” Ayane told her friend, reaching into the pocket of her jeans to produce the device in question. “No idea why he needs one in a small town though... If anyone mugs him he'll probably know who it is.”

            “Funny; let’s go,” chuckled Brit, then getting serious. Brit was regretting wearing a skirt with crappy fake pockets now since real ones had their advantages, but then realized she couldn't have exactly predicted that the twins would break out when they had come back through town.

* * *

Stillsville Hotel Roof

            The hotel's stairs to the roof were accessible from what was labeled to be a maintenance closet on the top floor, but it wasn't hard for Ayane and Brit to find the door since it had been left open by the Carter twins. Ayane led the way up cautiously, the cheap-looking stun gun she'd found in the desk belonging to Ray Chambers held at the ready. Brit hadn't asked why Ayane had been searching in Ray's desk, and Ayane was a bit too embarrassed to admit it felt wrong to nail him without a condom on his member, so she'd fished one out of his desk; finding the weapon was an added bonus. The stun gun was typical of its sort, being only useable basically as a prod, so Ayane would need to get close for it work. It became quickly clear that getting close was going to be a problem as the two soccer players reached the roof.

            There wasn't a second door for the stairs to the roof, just a cement staircase that led up, so Ayane and Brit were able to climb only a few steps and peer up, getting a look at the roof without fully exposing themselves. While a few air-conditioning vents and the like were up top, as well as a hot water tank, there was a still a lot of exposed space on the broad flat surface, which was the problem. The Carter twins had drawn up some sort of circle there with what appeared to be charcoal, putting a second circle inside the first with strange-looking candles dotting the space between the circles. The brother, Isaac was currently slowly walking around the outside of the circle, sprinkling what looked like metallic dust over the candled area. Annabelle sat in the center, cross-legged. The camera was next to her and an old book open in front of her. Not far away, Ayane could see a cardboard box that appeared to be full of Polaroids.

            “Well, I guess we should have expected some kind of weird full-on cultist mumbo-jumbo from those two,” whispered Ayane as she ducked back down out of sight, Brit having done so before her.

            “Yeah, except unlike those weird Wiccan kids we see around campus, whatever they're doing here might actually work,” pointed out Brit, her voice also low. “How are we going to get in close?”

            “Distraction,” suggested Ayane. “You slip up there. Use the vents and water tower for cover, but let them see you. They'll come after you and I can sneak up on them after you get their backs turned away from the stairs.”

            “Hey, why me?” hissed Brit, nearly breaking the low tone. “Why am I the bait?”

            “Because I've got the stun gun,” pointed out Ayane, hefting the weapon.

            “I can use it too,” fired back Brit, crossing her arms. Ayane sighed, realizing she'd have to use the trump card she'd been saving for whenever she needed Brit to do something. Not eager to be the bait, knowing Brit was the faster runner while she could move more quietly, Ayane decided there was probably only one way to get Brit to do it that wouldn't take forever to negotiate.

            “Fine, here's why,” declared Ayane, suddenly leaning in and planting a wet kiss on Brit's lips. It was quick but soft, and while not gay or even bisexual Ayane did feel a tingle as she did it, though she imagined it was more of a rush for Brit. It had never really been a secret that Brit had a thing for her friend, though it had been made clear some time ago they'd never be lovers.

            “There's a bigger one waiting for you if you do the plan my way right now,” revealed Ayane, regretting promising the second kiss, but willing to admit the first one was brief by pretty much anyone's standards. Brit paused, touching her lips before smiling.

            “You drive a hard bargain...” grinned Brit, suddenly apparently fearless as she practically jumped out from out of their hiding place, not even looking first.

            “Hey sis, trouble!” came a male voice a moment later. Ayane heard Brit take off and what sounded like a scramble; Ayane waited a few seconds before getting up to chance a look. The stairs came out on the north end of the roof and Brit had run toward the southwest corner, ducking behind a vent. Isaac and Annabelle had both turned away from their magic circle, which was in the middle of the roof, to head towards Brit. Ayane proceeded to sneak up the rest of the stairs and, using another vent as cover, watched the Carters move closer to where Brit was hiding.

            “It's no good, you're already trapped,” declared Annabelle, holding the magic camera aloft. Annabelle led Isaac around, flanking so they'd be facing Brit from the North, meaning if Ayane approached from that side they wouldn't see her. Walking as softly as she could, Ayane moved closer as Annabelle brought up the camera.

            “No wait!” cried out Brit, but the camera then went off with a blinding flash. Brit instantly froze in her tracks, with her arms raised and her head turned.

            “Gotcha!” Annabelle gloated.

            “I think I remember her from last year,” commented Isaac as Ayane closed stealthily to within twenty feet. Holding her breath, Ayane charged, stun gun extended out in front of her.

            “Hey-” began Annabelle, twisting around; suddenly hearing Ayane's footsteps, but it was too late. Annabelle hadn't even turned ninety degrees when the stun gun jabbed her in the neck with a ‘Bzzztt’ sound, dropping her immediately while Ayane used her right hand to catch the camera, the left still holding the stun gun.

            “Sis!” exclaimed Isaac, catching his falling sister instead of focusing on Ayane, who'd backed up. As Annabelle dazedly tried to get her brother to let go of her, Ayane focused the camera, managing to even cut Brit out of the frame, and snapped a quick photo. Annabelle was sitting upright, her arms outstretched and her face frozen in annoyed alarm, Isaac meanwhile was looking down at his fallen sister with his hands on her shoulders. Ayane then realized Annabelle's clothes were a bit tight on her, clearly made for someone a bit shorter than she was. Glancing at the nameplate on the uniform shirt Ayane saw the clothes belonged to their friend Debra.

            “Poor Brit, won't get to see Debra naked,” smiled Ayane, then finding the latest picture of Brit on the rooftop. The photo of the twins that had been produced went into Ayane's pocket while the camera was set down for the moment, resting atop the vent. The only not-frozen person on the roof then moved over to frozen Brit and lowered her arms, turning her roommate's face to meet hers. Wanting to laugh before she did it, Ayane leaned in and gave Brit another kiss. Unlike the first one, this was longer and deeper, with Ayane even working her tongue. None of it felt that great to the soccer player, but she was content in the knowledge that she'd outsmarted Brit; now she had still another trump card she could play later if needed.

            Moments later she tore up the photo of Brit; Ayane was grinning ear to ear. “Huh, I’m in a different pose than before,” observed Brit, having gotten so used to being frozen she now noticed when she was standing differently. “Wait... My tongue moved...” Brit looked up at Ayane and stared horrified daggers through her roommate. “Ohhohh... You bitch! You kissed me while I was frozen!”

            “Hey, I never said when the bigger one was coming, just that it would happen,” smiled Ayane, the grin she was sporting probably putting the term 'shit-eating' to shame.

            “I should get you back...” suggested Brit, eying the camera between them.

            “Hey, hey, hey, need I remind you that we just saved the whole town?” pointed out Ayane, her grin still just as big. “We can ask Julie and Kat, as well as anyone else we can tell the full truth to, for anything. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnything. Like, say, borrowing this camera or other related things...” Even before reaching the roof, Ayane had known what she'd demand of the Vaughn twins if they succeeded, and as she watched her best friend start to grin like a super-villain she knew Brit had figured it out, too.

            “Okay, so should we be destroying the photos?” asked Brit, walking over to the big box of Polaroids. “We can probably use the candles and just burn them all; that'll be efficient...”

            “You don't want to maybe clean up the town first, make sure no one's going to wake up naked in the bathroom or something?” suggested Ayane, referring to the people they'd slept with in city hall. The pair had also seen a few other people in a state of disarray around the hotel; however Ayane was just mentioning the most obvious example.

            “Nah; it's funnier this way,” giggled Brit, grinning wickedly.

* * *

Stillsville Town Hall Lobby, Some Time Later

            The large space was filled to capacity and was buzzing with angry voices belonging to the parents of both teams as well as the towns’ residents. There were a handful of revived deputies standing around the horde, acting as crowd control. Everyone was promised an explanation as to what had happened as soon as the town officials found out. With the lobby being so crowded with frustrated people demanding answers no one noticed that there was a small group of girls from the Raptors who had gone missing. They had sneaked away from the crowd after Glenda had done a head count. The soccer coach was frazzled to say the least, having wakened up naked next to one of players and a parent. On top of that embarrassment and others, the parents of her players wanted answers. Natsuko Nakamura and Trini Thompson had both chewed her out having both woken up naked in the hotel’s hallway. Trini’s daughter was also naked nearby, which didn’t make the former Olympian and booster club member any happier. Tami-Lynn Walsh, who had come to with a questionable substance in her mouth, had also joined in on the verbal lashing. Glenda’s best friend Gabby, who had woken up nearly naked herself, came to her friend’s defense as did her boyfriend Lance. Glenda was thankful for them; had it not been for their support, she would have broken down and cried.

            With their coach and parents occupied, the girls found a break room on the second floor and locked the door once they knew they weren’t being followed. The group sat silently, though a couple of them were fuming, as they let Ayane and Britney explain what had happened. The two friends had already put a credible story together. Most of it was even true; they only left out the parts about the little side fun that they each had in the bathrooms.

            “Well it seems you two saved the day…” Kat breathed a sigh of relief after her teammates had finished explaining. She was still taking it all in after waking up from her freeze in the ladies room with a naked strange woman standing before her. Making matters worse, she had been naked herself along with Julie. Julie, oddly, didn’t seem too phased by it. Her twin only smiled and shrugged when Kat looked over at her. She sat between Mel and Chrissy; both didn’t look too comfortable, though Chrissy had come to at least dressed in her underwear. She came aware while hugging a very naked second-stringer Trishana Thompson. Trishana, who was furious and embarrassed, had already started tell other team members that Chrissy was flat chested. The small-breasted Korean girl sat with her arms crossed and cheeks red. Kat felt bad for her as she wiped tears from her eyes. Mel seemed like she wasn’t there; the tall goalie had woken up in Kat’s mom’s room, naked with the elder Vaughn and Coach Peyton, knowing from the way her body felt that something had happened while she was out of it. Her mother had worn the same distant, dishonored look as her friend did as Kat and Julie had snuck away. She hoped her they weren’t too traumatized.

            “The day wouldn't have needed to be saved if you guys hadn’t decided to play pranks with that darn camera!” Tess Vole suddenly shot out. Tess had been sitting quietly at another table with Diane and Veronica. Veronica jumped at the outburst. Though she was the ranking figure of authority in the room, she kept her mouth shut and looked down at the table.

            “I knew it was bad idea; that’s why I wanted to tell coach, and look what happened!” Diane piped up next, following her friend.

            “My parents were found naked!” Tess remarked, sounding more hurt than angry. “This is all your fault Kat!” Tess accused, flaring, standing and charging over to Kat who flinched and stumbled back.

            “Hey shut the hell up, Vole!” Mel ordered standing up suddenly and stepping between Tess and Kat. “Weren’t you listening? It was the Carters’ doing, not Kat. Your parents aren’t the only ones to wake up in compromising positions... if you haven’t forgotten, Kat and Julie were both naked too when they woke up.

            “What do you think you’re doing!?” Diane shouted over Mel. Everyone’s attention turned towards Julie, who held up the camera, aiming it at Tess. “After all this you’re still messing around with that? What are you going to do freeze her again? She’s telling the truth: none of this wouldn’t have happened if you guys weren’t playing with that camera.”

            Julie narrowed her eyes and turned the camera to cover the Mexican, “Keep talking...”

            “Stop it!” Chrissy pleaded, pulling the camera downward. “It’s over. Isn’t that enough?” She asked, standing up. “We all know what happened. We can’t do anything about it anymore. Let’s just leave it be.” Chrissy looked down at Julie, “Carters or not, it was a bad idea to mess with that camera,” she commented, her quiet words having more sting than the others’ yelling. With that, Chrissy left the room.

            “We should get back… they’re going to start to wonder where we went,” Veronica added, following Chrissy.

            “This is far from over or forgotten,” Tess seethed, eying Kat. Julie got up and walked over to stand next to her sister. Tess continued, “I’m not like the others, I see who you really are, both of you.”

            “Watch it sister, I don’t want to mess up that pretty face of yours,” Mel threatened, taking a bodyguard stance in front of the Vaughn twins.

            “I’m not afraid of you Mel; you hurt her, you’re in for something!” Diane blurted out, stepping up to Mel.

            Tess put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “Not here; not with that camera. “Come on Diane, let’s check on Chrissy.”

            Mel and the twins watched as Diane and Tess left the room. It was silent for a moment before Ayane added, “She might be a problem...”

            “Are we going to be okay for the tournament?” Britney asked. “Diane and Tess are both pretty good players. Their backups kinda suck. We really need them.”

            Mel looked at her best friend worriedly, “We should be good, and Kat knows what to do.”

            “Yeah…” Kat smiled assumingly at the two remaining players.

            “Their backups aren’t that bad….” Julie added, petting the camera. Kat moved to snatch the camera from her twin but Julie was fast and quickly shifted the magical device away. “I was just saying, that’s all; Tess is really becoming a pain in the ass and Diane isn’t far behind.”

            “They’re just mad… to be honest it is kind of our fault... Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle it,” Kat told her sister and warned, “No camera.”

            “Before you ban all use of the camera…” Ayane then piped up. “Britney and I have something to ask.”

* * *

Stillsville Sherriff’s Department HQ

            Myra Cooke and her staff had come up with a cover story for the victims, involving escaped convicts. In which the said criminals had gotten access to a non-lethal chemical sleep agent that they unleashed on the town. There were a few deputies that were out on patrol who were not affected by the chemical agent and were able to subdue the criminals. The town doctor, Harley Fuller, was able to administer a mass counter-agent to revive everyone. It was a farfetched story, to say the least, but after the hotel had offered a free stay for the guests and the town kicked in free utilities for a month for the locals, everyone seemed to be happy. Even though some of the locals knew about the evil Carter twins they still accepted the story, simply because if they spoke the truth they would have to either leave town or run Myra and her officials out of it. The issue was finally put to rest nearly an hour and half after the town hall meeting as the affected parties slowly departed. It was nearly two in the morning when the officials turned their attention to the real culprits.

            “Are they frozen for good this time?” Myra Cooke asked her chief of staff Doreen Jenson as she entered the small police station; Deputy Mayor Rene McManus and her assistant Ray Chambers trailed her. “They had better be – their little walkabout just cost us a large amount of tourist revenue and, pardon my French, the budget is all shot to shit now.”

            “Yea Ma’am, they’re both as solid as store dummies,” Sheriff Fuller replied with his thumbs hooked into his gun belt. Behind the old Sheriff were two of his deputies, Hank Mueller and Debra Sanderson. While Hank and the Sheriff were in uniforms, Debra was dressed in blue polo shirt over jeans and sneakers. A Sheriff’s department baseball cap on her head was the only thing that proved she belonged there. Behind them the Carter twins stood stiffly, shoulder to shoulder at attention, still dressed in what they were found in; the villainous siblings both carried blank looks on their faces.

            “Where is everyone? I thought the mayor ordered the full force to be on duty until the situation is resolved?” Rene then asked, noticing the lack of personnel in the room.

            “Well Ms. Deputy Mayor, I had to send Shane and Carly off to escort your ‘escaped convicts’ back to wherever the hell you said they escaped from. They will return in the morning when the Californians leave… I figure that’ll end this sideshow quite nicely. They’re actually running a speed trap south of town… that’s between us though,” he said with a wink, before continuing. “I sent Judy home; she was not feeling well, something really screwed with her head. Had Angie drive her; my wife will check her out in morning if she’s still not feeling good. Jake and Frank are out on patrol… also thought it’ll be good if we don’t have all of our eggs in one basket, if you catch my drift.”

            “Do we have enough security?” Doreen asked. The chief of staff was still feeling uneasy about being manhandled by Isaac Carter. She knew the man did something to her as her tampon had been removed.

            “They’re stiff as boards, Doreen… I’m sure that Edgar and his two deputies are more than enough security,” Myra assured, moving past her lawman and his deputies to stand in front of the two twins. She groped Isaac’s sex through his coveralls and waved a hand in front of Annabelle’s blank eyes before painfully poking them in the chest. The action garnered no reaction. “They’re as good as dead.”

            “Is their photo safe, this time?” Rene then asked.

            “Locked away in my house, in my gun safe,” Edgar replied with a nod.

            “And the camera?” Myra asked, turning to face the group.

            “It’s gone,” Debra answered. “I was informed it was destroyed after the Carters were frozen.”

            “Are you completely sure, deputy?”

            Debra opened her mouth to reply but Hank interjected, “I saw the pieces myself.” The male deputy put in, shooting Debra a quick look. Debra only nodded in turn. In truth, Debra wasn’t sure that if the camera had actually been destroyed or not but she was assured by her friends that it had. She felt unsure but the girls did save the town from spending an eternity as statues, so she trusted them. She was glad that Hank jumped in when he did, even though he didn’t need to, since he didn’t know anything about the conversation Debra had with her out of town friends.

            Myra looked at the two deputies doubtfully for a moment before she said, “Very well, shall we store them? Seal them into that case and I don’t care who says what, I want them naked this time.”

            It was decided that Hank, Edgar and Ray would take care of Isaac while Myra, Debra, and Rene would process Annabelle. Doreen would stand watch in the front of the main office and run for help if either of the Carters suddenly started moving again. Isaac was taken back to a holding cell while Annabelle remained in the back main office area.

            “I’m going to have to burn this uniform now,” Debra muttered as she removed the gun holster from Annabelle’s hips.

            “Did she take your underwear too? You woke up naked, right?” Rene asked as she removed the jacket.

            “No…thankfully, don’t know where it ended up,” Debra replied blushing as she unbuckled the belt and then roughly worked on the trousers. She was still fuming over the fact that nearly all the people she worked with had seen her naked. She was considering leaving the force, and town, when the whole thing was over. 

            “Why did she target you, dear?” Myra then asked as she worked on untying the boots.

            “Remember, Mayor, I did put her away the first time,” Debra grunted, jerking down the trousers along with the generic panties that covered Annabelle Carter’s sex, which was masked with dark curly hair.

            “That’s right,” Myra nodded, remembering the details as she pulled the boots off and then peeled off the black socks.

            “That was a pretty good story you came up with, Ms McManus,” Debra said as she removed the trousers and panties from Annabelle’s ankles and feet.

            “Thanks. I have friend that works for Interpol and he tells me all these fantastic stories… never thought one of them would come in handy,” Rene replied, tossing the uniform shirt into the growing pile on the floor. “Supposedly there is a secret organization out there that handles situations that are similar to what I described,” she continued, removing Annabelle’s bra and finally rendering the frozen woman naked.

            “Now that just seems ridiculous: freeze drugs and time-stoppers… your story was farfetched enough,” Myra remarked as she idly played with Annabelle’s nipples.

            “I’m just telling you what I hear, Mayor,” Rene said, stifling a smile.

            “Ladies, I would love to chat about secret agencies and weird occurrences but I’m beat and I still have to burn a uniform; let’s see if Isaac is ready and then call it a night?” Debra remarked as she removed a bracelet from Annabelle’s right wrist and dropped it into the pile.

            “Let’s!” Myra smiled and walked off. “As I remember, that crazy boy has some body on him.”

            “Mayor, watch yourself,” Rene warned as she followed.

            “Oh relax Rene, we’re among friends and I’m just stating the obvious; isn’t that right Deputy Sanderson?”

            “You’re on your own on that one, Mayor. His craziness is just too much for me,” Debra replied, following the other two women.

            “Is Lance still going to do what he was planning?” Rene then asked.

            “Are you kidding, after all this?” Debra asked rhetorically.

* * *

Stillsville Hotel

            It was nearly three-thirty in the morning when Julie finally heard her mom’s soft snoring next to her. After everything that had happened, her mom had wanted Kat and Julie to sleep in her room. Kat had talked her way out of it, saying that she couldn’t leave Mel alone. Surprisingly their mother had agreed. Julie had tried to do the same, since she wanted to help Britney obtain her wish for saving everyone but her mom wasn’t having any. Julie had looked at Kat, pleading for support, but her twin only shrugged at her. Bitch, Julie had thought to herself as she crawled into bed. Making her situation even harder, her mom’s room only had one bed, so the two of them were sharing a king size. The sheets and mattress had been changed per her mom’s request, since she had woken up naked with Mel and Glenda earlier on that very bed.

            Julie carefully rolled off the bed. She had to be silent and not try to move the mattress so much. Her mother was not a heavy sleeper. Lucky for her, she had slowly started move away from her mother as soon the lights went out, so it wasn’t long before she was kneeling next to the bed. She could just make out her mom’s mounded shape in the darkness. Julie silently pulled the camera from her backpack, which she kept at the foot of the bed. Her eyes went wide as the magical device scraped loudly against the zipper of her bag. Her mom had stopped snoring and Julie could see her start to stir. She quickly pulled the camera up all the way and snapped a picture of her parent. The room went bright for a second followed by silence.

            “Mom? You frozen?” Julie asked into the darkness after moment. There was no answer. Turning on the lamp next to the bed, she smiled after her eyesight adjusted. “Yeah, you’re frozen…”

            For the second time that evening Cecily Vaughn had been turned into a life-size doll. She had rolled onto her back, no doubt ready to roll completely over to where Julie had been lying as her head was turned to face that direction. Her blonde hair was loose in a tangled mess while her eyes were halfway open and her lips slightly agape. The elder Vaughn’s body was covered by the blanket up to her chest, with her arms tucked underneath.

            Just looking at her mom’s face and its utter stillness, plus the fact that her mom the light sleeper still remained unmoving even after the lights were turned on, Julie knew her mother was captured in time. She looked at the Polaroid that had slid from the camera before carefully placing it and camera on the nightstand. Moving over to her mother’s side of the bed Julie pulled off the blanket, revealing her mother completely. Cecily lay with her right hand over her stomach while her left was slightly raised at her side stiffly and her legs were crossed at the ankles. She was clad in dark blue silk pajamas and barefooted.

            Feeling a sudden urge come over her, Julie couldn’t stop herself as she reached down and sat her mother upright stiffly. For some reason it felt good to be in full control of the woman that had raised her. Soon she got her mother standing at the bedside and Julie stood in front of her, playing with Cecily’s frozen features. Julie was having so much fun putting her mother’s face into odd expressions that she almost forgot she was supposed to contact Britney when she was ready. “I’m not really tired, mom. We shall continue this when I come back. Plus, I think I’ll put a little picture show together for Tucker… starring you…” Julie told her silent mother as she opened Cecily’s mouth wide, and then shifted her lower jaw to the right before pulling her tongue out and down to her chin. Cecily’s right eye was pried opened unnaturally wide while her left was opened more naturally. Since the older Vaughn had been sleeping, her blue eyes were rolled up giving the already odd expression a creepy touch. “Damn mom, didn’t anyone ever tell you make a great zombie?” Julie asked as she lifted her mother’s arms to extend straight out in front of her. “Yeah, zombie soccer mom,” she giggled before giving her mom a peck on the cheek. “Don’t you move; I’ll be back!”

            Britney had been watching TV and waiting anxiously for the text from Julie. Though it was nearly four in the morning, the soccer player was not tired. Ayane had been right. The twins had been very receptive to giving her and her friend special rewards for saving everyone. Ayane had requested the frozen form of their old nemesis, Coach Diane King. Mel, who had been keeping the frozen woman, happily gave her up stating that she was getting bored with the older woman and that she was starting to creep her out. Britney wasn’t sure what were Ayane’s plans with their old Coach King, but since they were roommates she was going to have access to the frozen woman too. Britney had an idea of how she might want to use the mannequin-like former coach.

            As for Britney’s request, she had asked to have a night of fun with Chrissy and Diane, since the two were rooming together for the trip. Though the twins and Mel hesitated a bit before actually agreeing, they did in the end agree. Figuring that if the desired pair were to be nabbed while they were asleep, they wouldn’t know the wiser. Ayane then pushed for Britney to get a third playmate since she did act as bait and she really couldn’t keep her gifts. Mel and Kat both rejected the idea but then Julie added that she could throw in Michelle, which ended any debate. Julie had also agreed to be the one to help Britney as Kat didn’t really want to use the magic camera any more, especially on Diane and Chrissy. She also didn’t want Britney running around by herself with the camera either.

            Setting the stage for her nightly activities, Ayane had offered her mother’s room to Britney since it was a bigger and located on the penthouse level. After coming to and finding herself in the buff, Natsuko was a bit traumatized and wanted to spend the rest of the night with her daughter. This worked out well as Ayane and Britney’s rooms each featured to two beds. Since it was on the fourth floor as well, Natsuko could even avoid Trini, who at the moment was feeling just as traumatized. So the room trade was made before everyone turned in for the night.

            Having the room to herself was an odd feeling, since Britney had always had a roommate but she wasn’t complaining. She was currently stretched out on the sofa in the room’s small lounge area. On the wall mounted TV played the sports channel, to which she wasn’t paying too much attention. She picked up her phone and wondered what was taking Julie so long. Just then, as if reading her mind, her phone chimed indicating that she had received a text. Sitting up excitedly, she opened the message. It simply said: ‘Hallway’.

“It’s about time,” Britney muttered, standing up. Dressed in a pair of old soccer shorts and her high school gym shirt, the blonde stepped barefoot into a pair of trendy cross trainers. Finally grabbing her key card, she was on her way.

            Britney had just stepped out of her room when she heard a door open and shut quietly down the hall from her. Looking down that direction, she saw Julie look and smile her way. She was dressed in pair of black leggings and an orange ‘Raptor Cheer’ hooded sweatshirt. Finishing her eclectic ninja look was the magic camera hanging around her neck and pair of white fuzzy slippers. “What took you?” Britney asked with a hush, moving towards her cheerleader friend.

            “Took forever for my mom to fall asleep,” Julie replied, adjusting the strap to camera around her neck. “You ready?”

            “Been ready since I got back to the hotel. You’re not worried about your mom waking up?”

            “Nope,” Julie replied with smile, patting the camera.

            “Got it,” Britney nodded with a smile. “What’s the plan?”

            “We’re going to need to get the hotel’s master keycard first so we could get into their room.”

            “How are we going to do that?” I think the front desk person is already gone to bed,” Britney asked and pointed out remembering not seeing the clerk when they had returned. That girl had woken up in her underwear in front of some guests. That had to suck; when they returned to the hotel after the town hall meeting, she was gone.

            “She is, but that security lady is still around somewhere,” Julie answered and patted the camera again.

            “I see where you’re going with this. Let’s go find her.”

            They had decided the best course of action to find the security guard was to use the stairwells and walk the floors, thinking that they could catch her while she was doing her rounds. Lucky for them they only had to go down one floor to find her. The timing had been perfect too as tall woman had just walked past them and didn’t even hear the blonde duo step into the hall from the stairway. Julie waited for the woman to reach the end of the hall before she snapped the picture. The guard abruptly froze in mid-step just as the Polaroid slid out the camera. Julie slipped the photo into her hoodie pocket as they moved towards the unmoving woman.

            “Shane,” Britney read the nameplate that was pinned on the right pocket of guard’s blazer. The tall blonde guard stood in midstride, her face held a blank look with her lips slightly agape. “What’s up with hair Shane?” She then asked with giggle running her hands through it, though it was cut short it was still womanly. “I heard she was frozen naked in front of some Shark cheerleaders.”

            Julie was already digging around Shane’s pockets, as Britney looked the woman over. “Well, I was naked too…but I guess in the bathroom is better than being naked in front of some Sharks,” she replied as she ran her hands along Shane’s rounded backside. For some reason she felt an urge to pinch it and without Britney noticing she did so. Julie shrugged to herself, not sure what to think before moving on.

            “What’s with that shrug?” Britney asked with a smirk as she played around with Shane’s arms, moving them up and down.

            “Nothing…I was thinking of something,” Julie fibbed, moving her hands into the guard’s pockets inside the blazer. “Got it,” she then declared, pulling a keycard out.

            “Cool, now for my prizes…who’s first?”

            “Hold on we have to stash tall, blonde and butch here first,” Julie replied and gestured at the motionless woman. “We can’t have her waking up; she might notice her card missing and most importantly she could catch us. Can’t leave her out here either for obvious reasons,” she then explained in case Britney didn’t see the reasoning.

            “Right, where are we going to stash her?” Britney agreed looking around.

            Julie took a quick look around the hallway and remembered that the floors were set up similarly, “There should be a supply closet around the corner.”

            The two blondes picked up the frozen woman by the shoulders and knees and made their way towards the maid’s closet. They used the master keycard to open it. Shane kept her stiff pose as they lowered her back down on her feet once they had reached the closet. She wobbled a bit and was steadied by Julie before Britney closed the closet door.

            The closest room from the hiding place was Julie’s old room, now Michelle’s room. Both girls quietly approached the door and pressed their ears against it. Britney frowned and smiled, “Is that her snoring?”

            Julie pulled herself from the door with Britney following suit. “Yeah; she sounds like she’s cutting timber… claims it’s a family thing,” Julie answered and pulled out the keycard. “Before we go in there I want to warn you… Michelle looks a little odd when she sleeps…”

            “How odd?”

            “Well you just have to see,” Julie replied, sliding the card into the slot. The door beeped and clicked.  She readied the camera and quietly pushed the door open as she entered the dark room with Britney trailing her. They could hear the snoring loud and clear now. Judging from where it was coming from, the two figured that the Korean cheerleader was sleeping on the bed furthest from the door.

            “How could anyone room with her?!” Britney whispered, suppressing a laugh.

            “Shhhh…” Julie hissed but then replied in a lower whisper, “With ear plugs.” She had that unfortunate luck of rooming with the loud sleeper as of late. Though at first she was okay with Michelle, it quickly had gotten bad. Julie felt that Michelle was always hiding something and she always seemed to talk down people. When Julie had gone to stay with her mom, her roommate had made a remark about Julie being such a child. She was glad that Michelle was going to be Britney’s for the night. With that thought in mind Julie aimed the camera in the direction of the snoring and snapped the picture. The room went bright for a second, illuminating the sleeping Michelle, before going dark again. With the darkness came also silence, the only sound that was heard was the Polaroid coming out the camera.

            “You were right…kinda weird but she hot so I don’t care,” Britney pointed out. They had turned on the lights once they were sure that the Korean was under the camera’s spell. Michelle’s blanket, which was pulled all the way up to her chin, was then victoriously stripped away. Not only did Michelle sleep with her eyes open in a bored gaze, but her lips were parted to allow the snoring. She slept on her back with her body straight and arms crossed over in an ‘X’ across her chest while her long black hair fanned out under her head. She was dressed in a spaghetti-strapped black nightgown with a lace hem that stopped just under her crotch. Britney lifted the hem to reveal a black satin G-string underneath. “Very nice.”

            “Yeah, whatever…” Julie muttered, slipping Michelle’s photo into her pocket. “She looks like the freaking the Queen of the Damned.”

            “From what I hear, she could possibly be that,” Britney said and asked, “You think she sleeps like that after making love?”

            “Doubtful; we’d be hearing rumors about it by now if she did,” Julie replied, waving a hand in front of Michelle’s blank eyes and then flicking her forehead hard. If the girl had not been frozen she would have surely woken up. As it was, Michelle only continued to stare emptily and silently at the ceiling.

            “She is tonight,” Britney said with a chuckle.

            “Right, let’s get her up and out of here; two more to go.”

            A few minutes later the cheerleader, soccer player, and frozen Asian succubus found themselves outside the room shared by Chrissy Pak and Diane Cruz. Michelle had been stood up to the left the door near the wall. Britney had decided to keep her vampire pose as she thought it was cool and funny. She just adjusted Michelle’s naked feet so the girl could stand. As before, Britney and Julie pressed their ears against the door. They both frowned and pulled away from the door quickly. “They’re both still awake!” Britney remarked.

            “Shhh…quiet down!” Julie hushed, putting her finger to her lips and pressing her ear against the door again. She couldn’t hear all of what was being said but could tell it was a heated conversation. Pulling away, she shook her head. “No go on them.”

            “We can just ambush them though…” Britney suggested.

            “They’ll see us and know what we did…Chrissy is on the fence about the camera and Diane is against it…we can’t risk undermining Kat any more.”

            “Damn; true…” Britney replied, defeated, as she looked over at Michelle and caressed the frozen Cheerleader’s cheek with the back of hand. “I guess it’s just you and me.”

            “Hold on,” Julie said, looking up at the ceiling and thinking. Her fingers drummed her camera as she did so. She remembered that her friend had a thing for Asians; she was running through her head who was left after Chrissy. It then hit her. “I got an idea. Grab the vampire queen and follow me.”

            “Cool beans,” Britney cheered and leaned over, picking up the stiff Michelle like pole, balancing the rigid cheerleader on her shoulder.

            They only moved a few doors down and across the hall before they reached the destination. Britney eyes shot wide when she realized where they were. “Are you serious?”

            “Why not?” Julie asked with a shrugged and pressed her ear against the door. It was dead silent. She pulled her head away from the door just Britney set Michelle down. “They sound like they’re out.”

            “Man, Ayane wouldn’t like this…her mom is in there, too. She wasn’t too happy that the twins stripped her mom naked,” Britney said, pressing her own ear against the door. Her roommate had gotten in a kick to the balls on Isaac Carter as the deputies hauled him away, after finding out what had happened to her mom.

            “I mean… you could just have Michelle and maybe have Shane join in…” Julie said, putting her hands on her hips.

            “Oh wait there now… I told Ayane she wasn’t going to like it. I’m perfectly fine with it,” The soccer player said, pulling her ear from the door. “Plus this gets her back.”

            “For what?” Julie asked as she readies the keycard and camera.

            “Oh… inside thing…”

            “Whatever; you ready?”

            “Heck yes!”

            “Shhh!”

            As with Michelle’s room the two girls stalked into the hotel suite, with Julie leading and Britney behind, hefting Michelle. Julie could just make out the two forms lying on the two queen size beds that dominated the suite. She could barely hear the breathing and soft moaning coming from the mother and daughter in the room. Moving to the corner of the room so she could capture both beds in one shot, Julie raised the camera in that general direction and snapped the photo. The room lit up for a second before going dark and very quiet. The pair stood in the dark for moment making sure the camera did its work. After hearing nothing, Britney hit the lights.

            Natsuko had been sleeping in the bed closest to the door. She slept on her side with both of her hands under her pillow while her blanket was pulled up to her shoulders. Her hair was tied back into a lose bun, keeping it away from her face. Ayane’s mom bore a relaxed closed-eye expression on her face while her mouth was slightly open. The nightstand next to her bed was littered in chocolate treats, along with glass of milk. Ayane, in the next bed, lay on her back, clad in pink baggy pajama bottoms, a black tank top and one black ankle sock. The other sock sat at the edge of bed. She lay wide legged, with the blanket only covering her midsection; one arm was raised over head with her wrist bent awkwardly against the headboard while the other was out wide at her side. The Japanese girl’s blonde hair was a mess around her head while her face had a slit-eyed look with her mouth open like her mother’s.

            “Does Ayane thrash around when she sleeps?” Julie asked as she walked up the bed, letting the camera hang off her neck. She took a look at the Polaroid before slipping it into her pocket.

            “Yep, apparently she has really vivid dreams,” Britney replied as she stood up Michelle up next to Natsuko’s bed.

            “Interesting,” Julie simply said, moving to stand over Ayane. Letting into an urge she reached down and pinched one of the frozen girl’s nipples through the tank top. She wasn’t wearing a bra and the nipple was erect. “Her nipples are erected,” Julie said to herself in thought, with shrug.

            “Must be a really vivid dream then,” Britney replied thinking the cheerleader was talking to her. “So that’s mission accomplished?”

            “Yeah…” Julie replied snapping out of her thoughts and turning to face her friend. Britney peeled away Natsuko’s blanket to reveal the mom clad in an orange t-shirt and black yoga pants with white ankle socks covering her feet.

            “She’s just as nice as Ayane…” Britney remarked in awe, kneeling down and stroking the frozen woman’s cheek.

            “Right… anyways, I know the plan was to get them up to your room so you can have your fun but I’m seeing a logistics problem here,” Julie pointed out, looking at her cell phone to check the time. “It’s almost four in the morning already. Wake up is at seven since we’re leaving ten. So you have three hours, max.”

            “Oh that’s more than enough,” Britney replied with grunt as she manipulated her friend’s frozen mom so that she was sitting upright on the bed. “I see the logistics issue too,” she then said as she pulled Natsuko’s hair free letting it cascade down her back. “Two of us and three of them…back and forth, that’ll be bitch for sure.”

            “Yeah…so just have your fun here,” Julie suggested.

            “No problem that works, I’ll just bring my goodie bag down here,” Britney agreed as she groped Natsuko’s breasts through the t-shirt. She was grinned, knowing that the older woman was braless.

            “Whatever, just remember to be out of here before seven and have Michelle back in her room, that’s when I’ll rip the photos,” Julie warned. She couldn’t help but feel a little curious about what was in Britney’s ‘goodie bag’. She was about to ask but hesitated; Britney didn’t notice since her attention was elsewhere. “I’ll leave you to your fun… enjoy it, you deserve it,” Julie said as she started making her way towards the door. Before she leaving, she was sure to leave the master key card on the nightstand.

            “Oh I will, I will…” Britney replied absently as she moved over to her friend’s bed. She only looked back when she heard the door open and close. “Shall we get started, ladies?”

* * *

            After returning to her room Julie, posed her mom some more. She played with mom’s face, molding odd expressions on it and taking pictures with her phone afterward. Then she propped her mom atop a table and posed her to look like she was surfing before snapping another picture. Another picture had Cecily balanced rigidly between two chairs, with her head on chair and her feet on the other. Julie took over twenty photos with different poses and facial expressions before putting her mom back into bed. Tucker had given her some sleeping pills just in case if she needed them after freezing someone, as it was an easy cover story. Making sure her mom was comfortable, Julie pried open her mom’s lips and dropped the single pill into it. She figured if the pill worked she could wake up in a few hours and tear the photo up now without her mother knowing.

            Turning off the lights, Julie got back into bed and tore her mom’s photo up. Her mom stirred slightly and muttered something incoherent before groaning and going silent. Julie reached over and shook her mom. There was only a soft moan in response. “Good night mom,” Julie whispered, settling back into her spot. She held her camera atop her chest as she thought about the night’s events, wondering what the future might hold.

* * *

            “So I guess I was pretty lucky that it was your mom’s turn to come your game,” Britney said as she stood naked and adjusted the bright orange ten inch strap-on that was secured around her hips that sat snugly over her sex. “Cause now I get to mess around with two generations of Nakamuras,” she giggled, looking at Ayane’s blank face and then Natsuko’s, who stood to the right of her daughter. Both mother and daughter were now naked, flanked by two other naked women. On Ayane’s left was Michelle Gim, who still sported her bored look despite now being in her birthday suit. To Natsuko’s right was the security guard, Shane Morton. Britney had figured since the woman was already frozen, why not just add her to the mix? Shane was stripped down once again for the second time that night. Britney had wet her hair though and slicked it back, giving her a more womanly look.

            Britney gave Ayane a hard kiss on the lips, the younger Japanese girl rocking a bit when Britney separated. “It feels so good when you’re stiff, babe!” Moving over from the blonde she then kissed Natsuko just as roughly. When she separated she looked over at her motionless friend again, “Your mom’s lips are better than yours...” Walking to the end of the row, Britney eyed Michelle taking in all of her lush nakedness. She was the obvious winner of the bunch, “I think I’ll save you for last… question is, who will go first?” Britney padded a few steps to Shane at the front of the row. “Boy, do you look so much better naked… I bet you were a hottie, back in the day,” she said, playing with Shane’s nipples. Britney felt her own nipples harden as warmness washed over her. “I think we got a winner. Shane will go first…followed by Mrs. Nakamura then little Nakamura and finally the vampire queen. Awesome; I got the order right,” Britney nodded before knocking Shane backwards so she fell stiffly onto the bed.

 Chapter Four

Outside Stillsville Hotel

The Next Morning

            Despite the events of the previous night, the Raptors did still have a tournament to begin playing that day, with the first round set to begin at one in the afternoon. Rising by eight, the exhausted Raptors managed to have breakfast and shower all before ten, thus they were ready to go. Kat was having trouble waking up but she did plan on getting a bit of a nap once on the road since they still had a bit of a drive yet. Julie meanwhile, looked positively rested. Kat wanted to accuse her twin of being used to her boyfriend's time-freezing wand, thus how she always seemed to enjoy what little sleep she got, but they were in the presence of several people who didn't need to know the secrets about Julie's boyfriend.

            The Raptors were all dressed up again and gathered in a loose definition of a line in the parking lot, several of them shaking hands with locals and offering departing words. Around the corner, more or less, were the Sharks, quietly getting organized before departing. The twins' mother had already said her piece and decided to go sit in the car, which actually made them thankful since Debra wanted a word. The brown-haired deputy smiled at the pair, a male deputy hanging back as Debra approached the Vaughn twins. “You know, despite everything, it was great seeing you both again,” offered Debra, the three women sharing a warm hug.

            “I really feel terrible about the Carters getting their hands on the camera again,” offered Julie, no one close by unfamiliar with what had really happened the previous night.

            “We're still not sure how they got out, it might have been intentional,” reminded Debra. “I'm planning on examining that book of theirs later with Miss Schultz, trying to figure out just what the hell those two were attempting to do. I’m just glad that that treacherous camera is gone for good this time.”

            “Yeah… right… gone; might be nice to better understand just what they can do with it in the first place,” mused Kat, starting to wonder a bit more about magic as a whole since she'd started to encounter more of it. “Give us a call if you find out anything interesting. Some big city resources might help your research.”

            “Definitely,” agreed Debra, giving the pair a knowing wink.

            “Hey Deb, I think it’s time,” suddenly announced the male deputy; Kat remembered now that she'd learned his name was Hank the previous night.

            “You girls may want to watch this part,” smiled Debra, stepping away and slyly slipping her hand into Hank's. Glenda had just been shaking hands with Mayor Cooke when, all of a sudden, Lance's truck pulled up. The tow-truck quickly parked and from it emerged the mechanic, though he seemed much different. Gone were Lance's stubble and his typical grimy overalls, instead he was wearing what looked like a tailored black suit with a Raptor orange slim tie. The mechanic smiled as he quickly passed through the crowd to approach Glenda, who looked shocked by Lance's overnight transformation.

            “Glenda Peyton, I used to think running the family business was the most important thing in the world to me,” announced Lance, taking Glenda's hands as she watched him, bewildered. “However, since I met you, that view has changed. I don't care where I am... So long as I'm with you.” Lance dropped down on one knee, using one hand to produce a small box from his suit's breast pocket. Flipping it open, he revealed a diamond on a platinum ring.

            “Glenda Peyton, will you marry me?”

            There was a hushed silence all of a sudden, with even the mayor clamming up as everyone waited to hear Glenda's response. Tears began to flow from the coach's eyes and she smiled.

            “Of course!”

            Everyone began to clap as Lance quickly slid the ring onto Glenda's finger and jumped up, the newly engaged couple embracing and kissing passionately. Kat noticed that even over at the other end of the parking lot a few of the Sharks were applauding. Kat's eyes briefly met with those of Deidre, who looked exhausted, before focusing back on her coach's happy moment. Julie hurried over as did Kat, the pair wanting to congratulate the couple.

            “I'm so happy for you!” exclaimed Julie, giving Lance a hug while Kat offered one to her coach. “So does this mean you're leaving Stillsville?”

            “I just sold my garage to the bank this morning,” confirmed Lance, releasing Julie as Kat moved in to get the next hug. “Given it’s the only place for several miles, I actually got a nice price for it, it'll more than cover the wedding.”

            “What about a job?” pried Kat, regretting being so nosy but the words just slipping out.

            “Well it so happened I recommended him to the college last week,” revealed Glenda with a knowing smile. “It seems like someone was keeping whether or not they wanted to hire him a secret...”

            “Yep, I start work next week as the new campus mechanic,” confirmed Lance with a chuckle, letting go of Kat only to be practically blindsided by Gabby.

            “Oh, someone competent to help me with the buses!” exclaimed the bus driver with glee. Everyone laughed at that, and as everyone finished hugging it became clear it was time to leave. Julie headed over to their car but Kat hesitated for a moment, glancing back at Debra. The deputy smiled and nodded at her despite Hank squeezing her hand and whispering something to her. Kat returned the smile and felt confident she could go.

            “Mom, are you crying?” asked Julie as Kat got into the car. Glancing forward, Kat could indeed see that their mother did have a couple of tears running down her face, though she was wiping them away.

            “I love those kinds of proposals,” confessed Cecily, Kat then wondering if it reminded her of how their dad had proposed to her. “Well, let’s get on the road. I really need to loosen up, I'm feeling a bit tired and stiff...” Kat and Julie shared a knowing glance at their mother's remark, with Julie grinning while Kat just rolled her eyes.

            “Tell you what mom, I'll drive,” offered Julie.

* * *

Sheriff's Office

Two Hours Later

            Debra had arrived at the office five minutes ago but elected to take her time getting inside; Hank had pulled her aside so they could make up for lost time making out. It amused Debra a bit that it had taken her nearly getting turned into a permanent statue a second time for him to seize the moment, she having approached Hank the previous night after everything was done. Most of the visitors seemed to buy that it was some chemical a couple of escaped convicts had used on them, though some of the townspeople suspected otherwise from previous experiences. Only a handful of people knew the exact truth most of whom were a small group of trusted Raptor players. Debra was just glad that, unlike the previous time, she had only lost a few hours of her life, not an entire year.

            Entering the office, Debra was surprised to see Petunia Greer, who looked like she'd gotten very little sleep, standing in front of Angie Sweet's desk. Petunia's hair was up in what looked like a hastily done ponytail and she was wearing a disheveled black T-shirt and jeans, neither of which looked like they were clean. “I'm telling you, the bracelet is mine!” insisted Petunia.

            “And I'm telling you it’s evidence from a crime scene; we need to check it out before releasing it!” fired back Angie, the secretary wearing a dark red skirt suit with a gray blouse; she looked none the worse for wear. Debra approached the desk.

            “What's going on?” asked Debra, thinking she knew but wanting to hear it straight.

            “She's claiming the bracelet we recovered from Annabelle Carter belongs to her,” revealed Angie, glancing further back in the office where the frozen figures of the Carters had been returned to their display case, currently naked as per request by the mayor.

            “It is mine!” insisted Petunia.

            “Look, how about I talk to the sheriff, see if we can move that to the top of the pile so you'll have it back in an hour, at the most?” offered Debra. The bracelet was being checked for prints like everything else, against the town's fingerprints on file. Shane Billick wasn't the greatest deputy but he was good at comparing fingerprints, so they were hoping to find possible suspects for who might have helped the twins escape based upon them.

            “I... okay, please do,” agreed Petunia, though Debra could tell she still wasn't very happy. However Petunia took a seat across from Angie as Debra walked into the back of the office. The sheriff was in his office once again, on the phone with someone. Shane was at his desk, two stacks of fingerprints in front of him. Jake was at his desk, guarding the boxes of evidence that had been collected, while playing with some cards. The sheriff's wife and town doctor Harley was speaking with Judy at her desk, the deputy holding an ice pack to her forehead. Hank, Frank, and Carly were circling the town, double-checking everyone's stories. Finally, sitting by the twins outside the glass case was Kay Schultz, who was examining the strange book the Carters had been using to apparently cast some sort of spell. The law enforcement personnel were all in uniform, though only Jake was wearing his hat. Harley, who was a long-haired brunette in her early fifties, was wearing a white doctor's coat over a pink blouse and black pants, using a light to check Judy's eyes. Kay was dressed casually in a white tank top and tan slacks, a jean jacket over-top and her hair down.

            “Shane, can you prioritize that charm bracelet?” requested Debra as she passed her fellow deputy.

            “Can do; I was probably going to do it next anyhow,” confirmed Shane, nodding. Debra smiled and grabbed Hank's desk chair, pulling it over to Kay and sitting down next to the teacher.

            “So I think I've figured out what this was written in,” revealed Kay as Debra finished sitting. The teacher had a stack of language books on the desk next to her and held up a smaller paperback one. Debra glanced at the name of the book.

            “Ancient Greek?” recognized Debra from the book's title, written in English below the script letters. “Really? I thought you said it was probably Latin...”

            “I wouldn't even say that it's Ancient Greek, exactly,” clarified Kay. “It certainly has the basic feel of that language, but it's a bit off. I thought it was Classical, but now I'm pretty sure it’s an offshoot, a dialect of Mycenaean. It's been a phonetic nightmare...”

            “Mycenaean?” repeated Debra, not overly familiar with the sub-forms of Ancient Greek.

            “It's believed to go back to the sixteenth century BC, much older than the Ancient Greek most people who took world history classes might know a bit about,” explained Kay, shaking her head as she looked at the pages she'd opened the book to. “Magical spells; dating back to one of the earliest known languages of the Greeks... Probably the tenth-oldest language we currently know about? I'm starting to wonder if some of the more fantastic legends of the past might be true...”

            “Creeps me out,” confessed Debra, shuddering a bit. “So, were you able to translate any of it?”

            “I've gotten 'circle of time,' 'ward' and 'limit,'” revealed Kay, indicating a few scattered words. “I can't be confident, I'm just doing the best to take the written words and get the interpretation. If we'd only had an audio recording, but we'd probably then need a professor of ancient languages.”  She spoke a few words with an intonation that sounded very foreign, yet sinister.  “That’s how I’d interpret it,” Kay suggested.

            “Circle of time?” asked Debra. “What do you think it means?”

            “I'm not sure, I'm still trying to grasp this description that sounds something like a passage of time,” confessed Kay. “Pity it doesn't reference the Greek gods, I remember stories about using the passing of Helios as a record of the passing of days in some old texts. I think that's what this means though... the passing of a day. 'By the sun that is nearly... half'?”

            “That must be referring to high noon,” suggested Debra. “So when it’s nearly noon... what?”

            “Oh my God...” gasped Kay, her jaw suddenly dropping as she glanced at the wall clock. “It says... 'stop.' And then 'time' again.” Kay and Debra's eyes met, the latter's eyes going as wide as saucers. As Debra tried to make sense of what she'd just been told, her body suddenly froze as well as her mind, locked in the midst of a realization. Debra sat looking at Kay, her hands squeezing the armrests of her chair. Kay remained holding up in the book with both hands, her mouth open as she looked at Debra. Inside his office Edgar Fuller stood motionless, his corded phone held to his right ear as his left hand scratched his head. Jake had just flung a playing card from his hands towards his desk; the card itself was suspended in mid-air. Shane was holding aloft two sets of fingerprints, one from the bracelet Petunia had been asking about and the other her prints on file. Judy was leaning against her desk while sitting, her right hand holding the ice-pack while her left touched the back of her neck, her eyes closed but her mouth open as Harley had been swabbing the inside. Angie was reclining in her chair, her right fingers extended in front of her as she'd been filing them with her left. Petunia was glancing over her left shoulder, looking out the window as she sat with crossed arms and her right leg on top of her left.

            The sudden stoppage of movement didn't just keep itself within the sheriff's office. Not far down the street in the yard of Timothy Walton's home, Barbie Westwood, wearing a white sleeveless blouse with pink flowers on it, jean-shorts, a straw hat and gardener's gloves had just pruned an excess daisy, the flower itself suspended in mid-air as the blades of the shears remained where the stem had been cut. Barbie was on her knees, her left hand reaching out to catch the falling flower. Walton was sitting on his porch, getting set to smoke a corncob pipe while wearing an old brown dressing gown. Cleo Singh, the mail clerk, was frozen with her right foot forward not two houses down, a bright smile on her face and her mail bag resting on her right hip, a letter clutched in both hands.

            Over in the main shopping district, the supermarket was at a total standstill. Dena Rutledge was holding the door open, her hat pulled back and a smile on her unaware face. Inside Caroline McVickers was standing behind the cash register, her index fingers riffling through the coins in the open tray. Corwin Picket had been juggling apples and oranges, all suspended in mid-air, and not far away the owner Joseph Leland was standing with his arms crossed, an eyebrow raised in Corwin's direction. At McVickers the owner had just been planning to hang sausages in the window. Nicolette Barbeau was setting at one of the tables, her mouth wrapped around a sandwich.

            Wendy Wu was frozen outside the rec center, her keys in her hand as she glanced up at an approaching Frank Hammond. At the hotel, Jodi Ruger was leaning on the counter; her mouth open, as she'd been in mid-conversation with Hank Mueller, Shane Morton meanwhile was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. Finally at city hall Mayor Cooke had just been shaking the hand Rene McManus, the two women smiling at one another while Ray Chambers and Doreen Jensen both sat at nearby desks, frozen in the middle of doing work on computers. Rene had just been in the middle of being congratulated for doing such a good job handling the false official statement on the events of the previous night.

            Back at the sheriff's office there was sudden movement as the twins, who'd been standing at attention from within their case, once again showed signs of life. Isaac quickly broke the lock, opened the door and Annabelle hopped out first, scowling. “They ruined everything!” exclaimed Annabelle. “Damn those soccer players!”

            “You sure they've left by now, we could have gotten lucky...” suggested Isaac, a hint of his hick accent in his voice as he glanced around. “Sis, it's the Petunia girl!”

            “Dammit, she's frozen too!” cursed Annabelle, eying Debra and Kay but ignoring them in favor of hurrying over to their immobilized ally while also covering herself up. Placing her hands on Petunia's stiff shoulder Annabelle began to shake the girl, but there was no response.

            “Must'ah not gotten 'er amulet thingie back before the spell went off,” observed Isaac, his speech pattern undercutting his insight. Unlike his sister, he did not care about his nakedness and stood in the buff naturally.

            “You see it around here?” called out Annabelle, glancing around. “If we put it back on her she might be-”

            “-right here!” interrupted Isaac, plucking the bracelet from the evidence box on Jake's desk. Isaac tossed the object, sealed in plastic, to his sister, who began to pull it out as he made his way over to the frozen accomplice. Once the bracelet was out of the bag Annabelle extended Petunia's right arm and wrapped the jewelry around it. There was a brief pause before Petunia suddenly unfroze, blinked, and quickly stood up.

            “The spell worked?!” gasped Petunia, grinning ear to ear at the frozen scene around her and the naked Annabelle Carter standing before her.

            “Yes, but that's not exactly a good thing,” revealed Annabelle, not noticing Petunia’s leering eyes as she continued to cover herself up as best as she could with her hands.

            “Wait, why not?” asked Petunia, confused. “You froze the whole town; my bracelet protects me now that I'm wearing it... What's wrong?”

            “If the conditions aren't ideal, spells can... backfire,” revealed Isaac, frowning sagely. “The town is ours again, yes, but things ain’t that simple...”

* * *

Highway 4, Utah

Two Days Later...

            Keenan Vole was glad to be driving back in the general direction of Los Angeles, the tournament over and time for his family to return home. Belle would be staying in Los Angeles, since that's where her team played, Tess would go back to Malibu, Joyce would return to New York, and Lane would join Keenan and Judith in Philadelphia. Decker State College had paid for the Lady Raptors to delay their return until the next day if so desired but many in Keenan's van had to get home, not the least of whom was himself, as he had a business meeting in a few days and a flight to Paris the day after. Keenan wasn't sure who had elected to stay the extra night and who hadn't, but he did know he was the only person taking the highway that would pass through Stillsville.

            “You feeling better, hun?” asked Joyce. Judith was next to Keenan; Belle and Lane each had a seat in the middle of the Dodge Caravan, and Tess and Joyce were in the back. Tess had been fairly quiet since they'd left, upset at the result of the tournament.

            “Not really,” admitted Tess with a sigh. “I hate feeling this way, I really do.” Tess had her hair in her favored half up-do and was wearing a blue sweater-vest over a light blue blouse, with a green skirt on her legs. Joyce was in a white short-sleeved blouse and black pants, her hair down. Belle was in a very short purple skirt and a pink sleeveless T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a very loose bun. Lane's hair was in a ponytail and she was wearing a blue and yellow striped tank top with white shorts. Judith was wearing a green blouse and tan skirt that sat just past her knees, her hair twirled in a conservative bun. Keenan himself was wearing his gray suit with a white shirt, minus a tie.

            “It's understandable though,” offered Belle. Lane had been fairly quiet, working away on her laptop on a school project, or so she'd claimed she was doing.

            “Hey, your team did really well; third is nothing to feel bad about!” encouraged Judith, trying to keep a positive spin on things. Keenan knew, however, that Tess was furious.

            “We shouldn't have even lost to UU, they were ranked sixth going into the tournament!” insisted Tess in a full-on whine, having lost her composure. “Kat is slipping, she should have figured out they were using a three person misdirect strategy. Maybe one of their goals should have happened, but not all three! Mel was so not there mentally... no idea what was wrong with her.” UU was the University of Utah, the home team in the case of Salt Lake City. “Bad enough on day one Ayane practically fell asleep and had to be swapped out... and her backup wasn’t even ready!”

            “Hey, you bounced back to crush UCLA,” pointed out Belle, being oddly positive since Keenan would have expected his arrogant daughter to focus on the perception of Kat's failure as a team captain.

            “Yeah, but then the freaking Sharks ended up in second!” scoffed Tess, leaning back and crossing her arms. “I dunno, Kat was really good last year… I think she’s done… there needs to be a big change.”

            “Maybe you need a fresh coach?” suggested Belle. “Glenda seemed kinda distracted, being engaged now and all... And I don't know how good Veronica is...”

            “Well, there's a rumor Glenda's getting promoted, so we might get a new coach anyhow,” noted Tess, shrugging. “Veronica's good, but I think she trusts Kat too much. Mel too... Someone really should have figured out how to stop that from happening three f... darn times.” Keenan tried to hide a smile, admiring his daughter's self-censoring.

            “You know what I think?” asked Lane suddenly, but whatever Keenan's otherwise silent daughter had to say would have to wait. Keenan had just passed the sign indicating they were a quarter mile from Stillsville and would have sworn he felt something. The fact that Lane never followed up on her caustic remark made Keenan sure something had happened, so he temporarily stopped the van to check his passengers.

            Judith had turned to her left to look at Lane, her hands in her lap. Lane had her left hand holding her laptop on her lap while her right index finger was raised, the girl turned to her right with her mouth wide open and no real readable expression. Belle had elected to look out her window on her right, her hands behind her head. Tess had her hands up on top of Belle's headrest and looked slightly agitated, her lips in a frown. Joyce was leaning back in her seat, her hands on her knees, and was glancing warily at Tess; her teeth visibly clenched as her lips were slightly parted near the center. Everyone was frozen stiff, just like the night before.

            “I'll be damned; Annabelle was right,” chuckled Keenan, starting the van again and heading towards town. After Annabelle and her brother had been caught, Keenan figured the spells he'd been told about wouldn't occur, despite Annabelle’s assurances that they would. Now it seemed Keenan's little experiment of visiting the small town again was to be rewarded.

            Soon enough, Keenan arrived in Stillsville town line and upon rolling past the welcome sign he was already sure something had changed. The sign that read Welcome to Stillsville bore a new addition that was painted over where the population number had been, reading: The World’s Largest Wax Museum. Flanking the sign were two seemingly motionless men. One man stood leaning against the sign at his shoulder, with his arms and legs crossed at the ankles. The other man stood with a fishing pole resting on his shoulder while his other hand was up in a waving pose, a motionless greeting aimed at those who would be driving into town. Both men were dressed similarly in khakis and flannel. Keenan slowed and stopped to examine the two men.

            The men were old and artificial looking. Their skin carried a plastic-like shine to it while their gray hair looked a bit off, being more similar to string rather than human hair. Keenan recognized one of them as the town Sherriff, Edgar Fuller. The other man he was sure he'd seen at some point during his first visit but didn’t recall ever learning his name. Glancing in the back of his van he noted his family was still just frozen, not transformed, so he wondered if the town figures’ appearance change was due to something else.

            Driving down Main Street towards Town Hall, Keenan noted a few more people posed stiffly around the town, though he didn't see any children. The shops looked occupied and he spotted a couple old women, an attractive gardener and a male deputy all dotting the area, each with a plastic glint to their skin and a lacquered sheen to their hair. The way these people looked made Keenan think of life-sized dolls. Eventually Keenan pulled up in front of town hall, where he noticed a black Chevy SUV was also present, and climbed out of his Dodge van. Glancing, around Keenan noticed several solar panels and generators were present, as well and what looked like a couple of small wind turbines, all wired up around the area. It was seconds later that the doors the town hall building opened and a veritable entourage of people exited, making Keenan do a double take.

            Leading the group was Annabelle Carter, dressed in a blue skirt suit with a nice white blouse underneath, her hair down and a pair of librarian-style glasses hanging from her breast pocket. Annabelle was holding hands with a woman Keenan recognized as a deputy named Debra Sanderson from what he recalled. Debra was now wearing a black skirt-suit and had her hair up in a half-bun, different than the old fashioned hair do that Keenan had remembered seeing her in last. Close behind them was a man who looked related to Annabelle, possessing the same blue eyes. The man was wearing a sheriff's uniform, right down to the big hat. The sheriff had his arm around a black-haired woman who was wearing nothing but a red two-piece bikini and black heels; she looked around ten years older than him. A tan-skinned girl Keenan thought he had remembered seeing previously was yet another face in the group; she was wearing a black halter top with a pink mini-skirt and cowboy boots. The young woman was also wearing what appeared to be a diamond tiara and a lot of jewelry. Keenan assumed the swag had all come from people's homes they'd most likely looted. Hovering behind the young woman with all the jewels were three people: an African-American man in a grey jumpsuit that looked to be in his thirties, a brown-haired man dressed similarly that looked around forty, and an Asian woman in her early thirties dressed in a sleeveless tight-fitting jumpsuit. Three more completed the entourage; Keenan was certain he'd never seen them before: a blonde who looked to be in her early twenties wearing a tan skirt suit with a black blouse; another blonde around the same height but in her forties wearing a beige blouse and white slacks; and a brunette around the unknown blonde's age in a white tank top and red shorts, moving a bit like a robot.

            “About time you showed up,” chided Annabelle, letting go of Debra's hand and approaching Keenan, surprising him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “We expected you earlier... Didn't your daughter's team lose out in the second round?”

            “We had a consolation round...” explained Keenan, glancing around at the large group who all looked at him, the sheriff, tan brunette, and short svelte blonde all slowly approaching. “I knew you were planning to freeze the town, but what exactly is going on?”

            “I think, first, introductions?” suggested the blonde of the three that had approached. “You know Annabelle... She's now the museum's curator. Isaac here is her brother, and the new sheriff, since the old sheriff has a new job…as you probably saw driving into town.”

            “Howdy,” greeted Isaac, tipping his hat. “That sexy woman over there? That's my new wife, Angie.”

            “I'm Petunia Greer,” greeted the brunette, nodding but not offering a hand. “I'm the one that set the twins free. I pretty much head up the town’s maintenance now...”

            “And my name is Tabitha St. Claire,” finished the lovely blonde, indicating herself. She spoke with an aristocratic Texan twang. “So you're Keenan Vole? My, oh my... Annabelle didn't mention what a handsome man you were...”

            “Wait; I don't exactly understand just what's going on here,” insisted Keenan, though he felt himself go a bit red at Tabitha's remark. “You froze the town, right?”

            “Pretty much, yep,” confirmed Isaac, Annabelle meanwhile stepping back as he continued, “Problem was, there were complications. Magic is its own logic, seems like. See, my sister and I were supposed to be immune, but since we were frozen when the spell went off, well... Complications. Petunia too, she was supposed to be immune, but she wasn't wearing her protection and got frozen too. You only got off okay because you were out of town and my sister made sure to exclude you from the spell when we set it up.”

            “So that's why my family froze and I didn't,” acknowledged Keenan, nodding while noting Tabitha had circled behind him, possibly to do a full inspection. “What complications though? You're not frozen.”

            “Right now. But, we can't leave the radius of the spell though, without freezing up too… that’s about a quarter mile outside of town,” revealed Annabelle, who'd actually gone to glance inside Keenan's van. “I tried it the other day; had to be dragged back in with a rope. The spell’s effect makes time a bit of a mess, too. Everything was frozen when the spell activated, even objects. If an object leaves the radius but is returned, it isn't frozen. People, however, will re-freeze. The opposite is true for Petunia, Isaac and myself. We can’t leave, otherwise we’ll be frozen.”

            “Okay, not sure I got all that, but okay,” nodded Keenan, starting to feel a headache coming on. “So I haven't heard your story, Tabitha. How do you fit in? And what about these townspeople you have here that aren’t frozen?”

            “Almost a year ago now I discovered my family had ties, lost ties, to a cult,” explained Tabitha, now standing closely in front of Keenan again and gently touching his shoulder while smiling at him. “They're known as the Children of Hecate. I found out one of my ancestors, Imogen St. Claire, lived in Stillsville once. I came here and learned about the twins... I also met Petunia, who I found out has ties to the cult as well.”

            “She opened my eyes,” confirmed Petunia, meanwhile playing with an odd old-looking bracelet.

            “We found a couple of the old Hecate's Charms,” revealed Tabitha, holding up her own wrist to show she wore an odd bracelet just like Petunia’s. “We wanted to reunite with the Carters, but we needed a distraction... Luckily two whole soccer teams coming to down managed to do just that. And now we have a whole town to operate out of... Perhaps to bring the Children of Hecate together again.”

            “These... charms, they let you control people?” questioned Keenan, trying to fill in the last of the blanks.

            “Yep, though I'm the best with them!” declared Petunia, grinning proudly. “When Tabitha showed up not long after the spell triggered, she helped us get the solar panels and everything to get electricity going again... I supplied the labor.”

            “My assistant and bodyguard Jillian helped with securing those resources,” added Tabitha, indicating the older blonde of the entourage, who silently nodded when she was pointed at. “She's very loyal... A true friend. My other assistant, Melinda, remains more in the dark, however...”

            “Sounds like you've got everything well in hand,” observed Keenan, focusing on Tabitha now as they locked eyes while she continued to rest a hand on his shoulder. “So are you the mayor now?”

            “Debra will be acting mayor, she's a good puppet,” smiled Tabitha, indicating the former deputy. “We are, however, interested in recruiting... You came back; I assume you're interested in joining?”

            Keenan looked at the women and back to the van at his frozen family, but in particular his frozen wife. Putting his hands on his hips, he grinned, “What do I have to do?”

            “You were right with this one Annabelle; he’s a smart man,” Tabitha said, touching Keenan on the shoulder and walking back over to the rest of the group. “Come with me, I think I should show you something...”

            “Go on, we'll watch your family,” assured Annabelle, Keenan noting her smile but as he watched Tabitha gesture for him to follow her he couldn't resist. Tabitha was young enough to be his daughter yet her flirty nature felt real, and he couldn't help but be intrigued.

            As Keenan was led away, Petunia watched them go. Jillian looked a bit bemused about the whole thing, Isaac had gone back to put his arm around his wife, and Annabelle and finished inspecting the van. The Angie and Isaac marriage had just happened the other day; Petunia had controlled the town minister into performing the ceremony. Isaac seemed very happy despite Angie basically being a puppet, not having been willed to have a personality or anything like that, which is what Petunia was planning to do with Debra.

            “Okay, so who wants to have first go?” asked Annabelle once Keenan and Tabitha were finally a distance away, the rich girl having led Keenan around the back of city hall.

            “Annabelle, Isaac, Jillian, freeze!” Petunia suddenly ordered. In the past few days, Petunia had gotten enough time alone with the three to hypnotize each one of them using her charm so that they'd obey the command they were just given, and so they did. Annabelle stood with her right hand on her hip, her left holding a thumbs-up pointed over her shoulder with a big grin on her red lips. Isaac had been scratching his belly with his other arm around his wife, and Jillian had been in the midst of rolling her eyes with her hands on her hips.

            “Melinda, freeze,” Petunia said next as she approached the unresponsive brunette, the assistant going rigid while standing at attention. Tabitha had explained to her that Melinda Warren had been once kidnapped by her sister Mona; she had used an electronic device called a Chip to control her into being a sex slave. Melinda had been rescued, but Tabitha had then hired her as an assistant, only to put the Chip back on her. Petunia found the Chip technology was fascinating, however she was convinced her charm was better for controlling people.

            “Angie, Debra, freeze,” finished Petunia, watching them stiffen in place. “Ray, Wendy, Jake, I need you to continue setting up the panels. I want all of Main Street to have electricity by nightfall.”

            “We obey,” replied Ray Chambers, Wendy Wu and Jake Hampton all with one voice, the three now acting as Petunia's helpers. Petunia meanwhile, walked up to Annabelle, looking fondly at the motionless blue-eyed woman.

            “Sorry my love, but I'll be having the first go,” declared Petunia, taking a moment to plant a big kiss on Annabelle's stiff lips before moving to the van. Opening the passenger side door, Petunia found herself looking at an athletic brunette in a pink shirt and purple skirt. The woman was gorgeous, and Petunia happily put her left hand on the woman's shoulder.

            “Obey, and get out of the car,” Petunia told the brunette, and as the local girl stepped back the controlled woman unbuckled her seat belt and climbed out, moving slightly like a zombie but fairly quickly. “What is your name?” Petunia asked.

            “Belle Vole,” replied the brunette in a dreamy voice, standing at attention while gazing blankly ahead.

            “Okay Belle Vole, how about you get naked?” suggested Petunia.

            With the Vole women under her bracelet’s command, Petunia was able to get them undressed in record time. She looked over the row of five women, all standing at attention with blank grinning faces. Going from right to left were Belle, Lane, Joyce, Tess, and finally Judith. Belle Vole was easily the best looking in the family of already good-looking women. Once her outer clothing had been removed, the girl only had on a blue thong before she was in her birthday suit. She kept her sex shaven clean, with only a thin wisp of dark hair. Her body was well muscled, but sexy at the same time. Her breasts were natural but a decent size with dark pointed nipples. Lane was the tallest and the thinnest of the group. Her skin was evenly tanned; her breasts were on the small size but perky at the same time. Her sex was masked in dark hair in the shape of a heart. The girl had been dressed in bright pink bikini style undergarments before she was finally naked. Joyce Vole, the eldest sister, had been wearing a set of blue cotton old fashion panties and bra before she peeled them off. Of the group of daughters, she was the only one with a normal frame, having a hairy covered sex, a slight belly and nice round breasts capped with dark nipples. Tess Vole mirrored her older sister Belle with a muscular frame, perky breasts matching her sister Lane, and a naturally covered sex that was similar to Joyce. Tess had been clad in pair of bright orange boy shorts and simple white cotton bra that she slipped off at Petunia’s command.

            Petunia walked up to Judith and looked her up and down, admiring her mature but shapely body. She could clearly see that Judith was the mother to the four attractive women standing to her left. Petunia fondled the woman’s sagging breasts for a moment before she turned around and walked back over to Annabelle. As the Vole women got naked, Petunia had ordered Annabelle to turn face the group. “Now that’s a nice looking family,” she said, looking at Annabelle’s blank face. The twin remained silent. “I think it’s your turn to join them madam curator. Annabelle: strip yourself naked.”

            “I obey…” Annabelle replied dreamily as she began to work her coat off. Petunia only grinned ear to ear as she watched her desire become reality.

* * *

            At some point along the walk, Keenan had started holding Tabitha's hand, and he wasn't sure when it was. Tabitha had mostly told Keenan few details about the captured town as they walked, such as the children under eighteen all being placed in a school classroom out of the way, that room being locked as it wasn't meant to be a part of the town's grand design. The Carters’ idea for the town was to make it a tourist attraction; Tabitha saw this as allowing a way to finance the cult's activities while working in plain sight. The business plan was still in the works, as they needed to figure out how to actually make money from the frozen town; they had come up with some ideas. Since the utility’s electricity being fed into the town had frozen, their idea was to use the solar panels and other local power sources to give the town a temporary boost until they could find a way to properly rewire a supply from outside the radius of where the freeze spell occurred. Keenan, in turn, had explained a bit about himself and how he worked for Chocolat Bouchard.

            “So you're the distribution manager for the whole country?” confirmed Tabitha as she led Keenan towards what looked like a beat-up large old house that stood all on its own. A pair of ATVs sat out front, one having what looked like a truck bed attached to it.

            “Yes; we're not number one in the market, but we've got our specialty shops, and we're slowly penetrating supermarkets,” explained Keenan as Tabitha led him up to the door of the mysterious-looking house. Keenan figured the huge house would be a good place to tell ghost stories about.

            “So you think you could use your business contacts to help us get the town properly outfitted for its new role?” asked Tabitha, turning to face and smile at Keenan as she used her other hand to slowly open the door to the house.

            “I could arrange something... possibly,” was Keenan's coy reply. The house was dark and dusty, but Tabitha showed Keenan a quietly humming generator right near the door and, attached to it, a power bar. She flicked the switch on the bar and the house seemed to brighten up a bit as portable work lamps came on.

            “We can supply you in return, say, with some magic potions?” offered Tabitha, guiding Keenan towards a large room. “Sleeping potions, freeze potions... We have all kinds.”

            “That does sound appealing...” nodded Keenan, only to then find himself in a strange room. What appeared to have once been an ordinary living room had a fresh coat of white paint on the floor and walls, the pole lamps in the room lighting up the open area with a blue tarp on the floor. Standing on the floor currently were about half a dozen women, ordered in two rows of three. The first woman looked to be around fifty and was a bit busty, at slightly below average height with shoulder-length brown hair and big cheeks. The woman was beaming a smile and wore a teal waitress outfit as well as a tan apron; her nametag read: 'Lorraine.' Lorraine's hands were raised up over her head, as were those of the other women on the tarp. Her waitress skirt had been lifted up and her panties were down, revealing legs that looked like wax. Next to Lorraine was a slightly shorter but younger woman with black hair in a braided bun. Like the waitress, the woman was flashing a bright smile; she was thinner, having fair skin and smoky blue eyes. The shorter woman was naked; her skin also held a wax-like sheen, though her hair looked normal. The third woman in the row was the most striking, and not because she looked the youngest, nor because she was a gorgeous blue-eyed blonde. She looked to be average height for a man and was both thin and lanky, though her probably enhanced breasts were of a nice size. The blonde's hair was tied in a full-bodied ponytail; she was posed holding a stack of dollar bills, smiling brightly close-mouthed as she looked up. The blonde was wearing a money-green blouse and brown slacks, a nametag on her blouse reading: 'Ashley.' Ashley however, had shiny skin that looked a bit like plastic and puffy glistening hair that looked like it belonged on a doll.

            Standing behind Ashley, with arms above her head, was a dark-skinned woman. Keenan almost didn’t recognize her without her sharp business suit, plus her eyes were closed as well. The woman was Rene McManus, the town’s deputy mayor. Along with her eyes being closed as if she was sleeping, her mouth was opened and her long dark hair was slicked back and behind her shoulders. The woman had smallish breasts with dark nipples but as Keenan had expected, being that the dark-skinned woman was tall, wonderfully long legs. Standing next to her was an older woman, a brunette. She stood rigidly, similar to the others in that her eyes were closed as well as her lips. Her body, however, was completely shiny and her brown hair carried an artificial, wig-like look to it. Keenan had to look at the woman twice to realize that she was the town doctor, Harley Fuller, the woman had checked him out when he had come to. He had to admit she looked completely different the buff, especially standing with the other women that were in her row. The final woman was the only foreigner in the room; looking to be eastern Indian. She possessed dark hair and brown skin. Keenan figured her to be a postal worker, as she was dressed in an obvious uniform. The light blue short-sleeved shirt was unbuttoned in the front, revealing a black lace bra underneath, while her dark trousers were pulled down to her ankles along with her dark colored panties, leaving the woman naked from the waist down. A nametag pinned on the woman’s shirt identified her as ‘C. Singh’. Her face carried a neutral staring expression, as she stood before Keenan half naked. 

            “This is where we turn our townspeople into works of art,” revealed Tabitha, indicating Ashley and then the others. “The stunning blonde there is Ashley Simmons, she works at the bank. Too bad; she could have been a model. Lorraine Hammond is married to the under-sheriff and runs the local diner. Maya Hampton, here, is the hotel manager and is actually married to another police deputy. Small town; you know how it is. Of course you know the deputy mayor and the town doctor. The last woman, if you haven’t guessed yet, is Stillsville’s lone mail courier, Ms. Cleo Singh; she’s an exotic one.”

            “How do you get them to look like that?” asked Keenan, indicating Ashley and glancing over at the naked doctor. “I'd certainly think she was just some pretty mannequin if I saw her in a shop window...”

            “Ah, yes, by using liberal amounts of these fine products,” answered Tabitha, going over to a corner of the room and picking up a pair of large bottles. Looking at the labels, Keenan saw they were Sun Shield Protection and Sun Cap Protection, two special forms of sun cream. Sun Shield seemed to be made like a normal sunscreen, while Sun Cap appeared to be something special to protect hair. Both items, noted Keenan, carried the stamp of Stone Enterprises.

            “I've never heard of these,” commented Keenan, inspecting the products. “So, too much of the one makes someone look like a wax statue, and the other stuff makes their hair look fake?”

            “Too much? Try only a little,” giggled Tabitha, shyly stepping away to stand next to the still figure of Maya. “The reason you've never heard of them is that despite being marketable, they tend to not leave people looking... Proper. They're mostly sold to companies in bulk where their employees are outside all day. At work no one cares if you look like a plastic mannequin.”

            “Well I'm sure I could find a way to help buy you more in bulk,” offered Keenan, moving close to Lorraine. “The last time I saw people when they unfroze, they had no memory of what had happened to them... They're so perfectly preserved, it's amazing.”

            “That's what drew me to all this,” confessed Tabitha, taking a moment to pose Maya so her hands were now on her hips, then turned her head to the right. “I've dealt with enough people to hate a great deal of them... You know what I mean?”

            “People can be frustrating, it is true,” agreed Keenan, impulsively moving Lorraine's hands so they rested on her breasts. “So, your goal is to get rid of that frustration?”

            “Isn't it better that way?” questioned Tabitha as she bent Maya over at the waist. “Our world is so full of chaos... The Children of Hecate once had the power to end it. We can, once again. The lesser can be statues or puppets... Only those who deserve to be in power will be.”

            “Poetic, I suppose,” shrugged Keenan, running his hands over Lorraine's ass before moving to Rene to give the naked Deputy Mayor a closer inspection.

            “I must admit, I was on the receiving end a few months ago of something similar to this,” admitted Tabitha, letting out a sigh and simply tipping Maya over so she fell on her face before tipping onto her right side. “It was a wake-up call. Before that experience, I was mostly just interested in learning magic and such... Now I know it's my destiny not to be a victim, but be the one in control. I can't have idiots like my sister Mona remain the ones with the power... It has to be the right people.”

            “And you're the right people?” asked Keenan, moving up to Tabitha. The blonde took Keenan's hands, but then led him away from the human statues. There was a doorway to a stairwell, and Keenan could make out a bright light underneath the doorframe. “What's this?” asked the businessman.

            “Ah, our greatest secret, which I'll happily now reveal to you,” declared Tabitha, opening the basement door before taking Keenan's hands again. The Irish-American was so taken with the slim blonde that he barely took his eyes off of her, only doing so when they made it to the bottom of the steps. The house's basement was surprisingly large and deep; Keenan noted the ceiling was at least twenty feet above him. A bright light was also shining below, and Keenan reluctantly looked at.

            “Holy Hell!” exclaimed Keenan, seeing what was emitting the blue light. A large disc-shaped mass of shimmering blue light sat in the middle of what appeared to be an otherwise empty basement. The blob of energy shone with glints of white but was primarily a wave of sky blue; Keenan picked up on an electric-arc sound that reminded him of the noise a stun gun made. The mass could only make Keenan think of the sun itself, but up close and turned blue to make the light less blinding.

            “Do you trust me?” whispered Tabitha. Keenan looked at the blonde, baffled, only to then find her quickly giving him a peck on the lips. The young woman's kiss made Keenan's fears melt away, his daily woes in life vanishing the instant her soft lips made contact with his.

            “Yes,” answered Keenan, and with that Tabitha dragged him into the blue wall of energy. Keenan felt for a moment like he was flying, and then his eyes were blinded by the light. Then he found himself walking on the ground again; upon opening his eyes he realized he was in a much bigger room than he had been in just a moment ago. This room also had a ceiling span of at least twenty feet but it was all cast concrete; a large stack of heavy corrugated cardboard boxes was also present. Keenan spotted amongst the boxes what appeared to be digging tools and bags of cement mix. Besides the sounds the blue wall was making, Keenan could faintly hear what sounded like the horns of cars.

            “This, Keenan Vole, is how we're be able to return to Stillsville with ease,” announced Tabitha, moving in close and wrapping her arms around the older man. “This dimensional portal is a direct connection between Stillsville and where we are now... Imogen Hall, Los Angeles.”

            “Los Angeles...” repeated Keenan. “You could be there and back in a flash... Could another one like this be made for me in Philadelphia?”

            “Of course; I think I'd like that very much,” nodded Tabitha, leaning in and giving Keenan another kiss. The second kiss was longer, deeper, and held the promise of more pleasures to follow; any fears Keenan had about just what he'd agreed to get into vanished.

The End

CAST

Julie Vaughn – Katrina Bowden

Kat Vaughn – Katrina Bowden

Cecily Vaughn – Heather Locklear

Judy Conley – Marley Shelton

Myra Cooke – Minnie Driver

Rene McManus – Gina Torres

Lance Raymer – Liev Schrieber

Glenda Peyton – Julie Benz

Debra Sanderson – Hayley Atwell

Jodi Ruger – Daveigh Chase

Danica Riley – Arielle Kebbel

Chrissy Pak – Jenna Ushkowitz

Denise Cameron – Jessalyn Gislig

Mei Lueng – Nan Zhang

Michelle Gim – Park Gyuri

Ayane Nakamura – Ayumi Hamasaki

Britney Summers – Ashley Tisdale

Mel Donavan – Lena Gercke

Veronica Parker – Leighton Meester

Tess Vole – Lea Michele

Diane Cruz – America Ferrera

Olivia Daniels – April Pearson

Deidre Howard – Kaitlin Doubleday

Petunia Greer – Marielle Jaffe

George McVickers – Stanley Tucci

Barbie Westwood – Cynthia Watros

Corwin Picket – Kyle Sullivan

Tracy Summers – Jennifer Tisdale

Dina Leone – Mekenna Melvin

Lina Leone – Lyndsy Fonseca

Malie Kealoha – Q'orianka Kilcher

Harper Whyte – Erin Heatherton

Caroline McVickers – Nikki Blonsky

Hank Mueller – Chris Pine

Angie Sweet – Parker Posey

Frank Hammond – Garret Dillahunt

Carly Rutledge – Rachael Caprani

Jake Hampton – Jason Wiles

Shane Billick – Patrick Renna

Edgar Fuller – R Lee Ermey

Isaac Carter – Jake Gyllenhaal

Annabelle Carter – Maggie Gyllenhaal

Kay Schultz -  Rose McGowan