Neflite realized, not for the first time, that he was performing human functions. He had a normal job, one which he was actually quite good at, and worked normal hours, got paid, came home and ate dinner, and went to bed. Or maybe “normal” wasn’t quite the correct adjective.
        Felin was the only one of his lieutenants at Tickling Dungeon I. Syia was setting up Tickling Dungeon II, and Megan and Jelex were at the tiliking warrens. Felin seemed to enjoy the situation. She certainly was scaring the stuffing out of the girls.
        Felin had taken each one, blindfolded them, and walked them down to the Venus tickle trap room. There each had taken a turn suffering the full and undiluted attention of the plant for an hour. In every case, the girl had fallen unconscious and had to be carted back to the rooms. Oh well.

        Megan and Jelex were tormenting Molly again.
        Molly was very ticklish. Furthermore, she had that odd quality that encouraged tickle torture, similar to Sailor Mercury’s problem. This trait made life rather unpleasant for Molly.
        Right now they were putting her though something Megan had dubbed the flex-arm hang, survival style. As the name implied, Molly was hanging from a horizontal bar some ten feet off the floor. A crowd of tiliking had gathered below, in anticipation of her fall. She would fall, but only in time. Her wrists were cuffed to the bar, with just enough slack that if Molly fell, her feet would be just over the tiliking, a delightful treat that few would pass up; Molly’s feet were bound together. It was Jelex’s job to make her fall.
        Jelex had hooked her legs over the bar, so she was hanging upside down. She was positioned right over Molly. Her hands were free. “Ready, Molly? Those hairless hollows of yours are so inviting.” Jelex extended her soft feather. It teasingly brushed under Molly’s arm. Molly shuddered and twisted.
        “Oh, pleeeeeeeeeeeze staaaaaap!” Molly sobbed. “No more tickling pleeeeeeeze! Aahaaahahaahahaha ahahahaahaha hhah ahaaa heeheeehe eeeeeeeeheeeeea aaaaaaa!”
        “Tickle tickle! Oh, I love this,” Jelex laughed softly. Two feathers tortured Molly. Her grip began to weaken. She fell, again, and her feet hung suspended just over the tilikings’ heads. Hissing broke out and they reached with their tongues for her feet.
        Nothing Molly could do would bring her any relief. Essentially, she was helpless until Jelex or Megan intervened. Molly knew from experience that that could be as long as eight hours.
        “So long, Molly!” Megan waved. She and Jelex left the room. The heavy metal door cut off the screeching abruptly.
        They went out into Megan’s main chamber. There were a few tiliking scattered about, mainly the sleeping ones.
        “I’m going out,” Jelex announced. “I need some exercise.”
        Megan chuckled. Jelex’s “exercise” could be very unpleasant for others. As Jelex left, a tiliking entered, accompanied by a few tickle imps and an unconscious girl.
        The tiliking walked into the main room, dragging the girl. It dumped her in front of Megan and promptly leapt into her lap, where it curled up and began to snore. Its snoring sounded like the rustling of dry wheat.
        Megan smiled protectively and looked at the catch of the day. It was a familiar girl… oh! Suddenly Megan’s day went from merely good to excellent, for Sailor Venus lay in a heap on the floor before her. The imps began to chatter.
        “This girl here, we catch her in the park. She stupid, walk alone in dark.”
        Another one chimed in. “Yes, yes, tiliking caught girl and we tickle her. So ticklish she is, much fun.”
        The third one finished the story, finishing the sentences and thoughts of other tickle imps as they were prone to do. “She think we dumb, play dead to make us go away. We use sleep-gas that Felin gives. Now she is sleeping, yes?”
        Megan looked her prize over thoughtfully. She would also make an excellent tickle slave. There was a spare eyebolt on the other side of her throne, and a spare set of everything that would be needed. Setting the tiliking on the floor – they slept like logs – Megan got to work.

        Lita was scared. This new Nega-creep was a lunatic! She had a creepy look in her eyes all the time, and Lita knew what she was thinking. Lita shuddered with the power of bad memories as Syia floated her into the old aircraft hangar.
        “We have constructed a second Tickling Dungeon,” Syia said smugly. “Now we can torment you closer to home. This is a major step forward.”
        “Whatever.” Lita was trying hard not to show fear or other emotions. Earlier Syia had teased her for showing emotion.
        The hangar was clean now, all the useless junk thrown away or converted into useful things. The room was lit well, but the windows had been sealed. Of course, Lita reflected. You didn’t want busybodies buzzing around your deceptions and accidentally poking holes in them. The most marked contrast, Lita thought, was the emptiness of the place. Only one girl, a tall, red-haired one, sat miserably in the stocks.
        Michelle looked up at the new arrival. Her eyes were tired, Lita noted, and she wondered how long Michelle had been going through this. “She will be your roommate,” Syia said. “But right now we have more important business to discuss.” Lita floated a foot off the floor, already minus her shirt, and waited helplessly while Syia disrobed her. Lita’s arms floated over her head.
        “Now, let’s play a little game…” Syia whispered. “Where are you ticklish? I can find out.” Lita unconsciously recoiled from Syia’s fingers, already wiggling in anticipation of digging into her helpless, ticklish body.
        Syia reached her armpits and began to rub lightly. Not too hard, just enough to tickle. Lita gasped and began to chuckle through clenched teeth. Syia loved this. These foolish girls who thought that they could outlast her were a great deal of fun to play with. Syia brought all ten fingers in and crawled over Lita’s sides. Lita was twisting as much as her bonds would allow, and whipping her hair about.
        Syia dug a single fingernail into Lita’s bellybutton. Lita began to squeal and titter. Syia’s face lit up at the reaction. “Ticklish here, are you?” she teased, twisting her finger around in Lita’s navel. Syia’s fingers danced all over Lita’s body, seeing where they could get the most laughs. When Syia was satisfied, after about ten minutes, Lita breathed a sigh of relief. Syia laughed at her and drew in close.
        “What, you thought that you were off the hook? Not a chance. I still have to explore your feet. Oh, my, big feet too,” she said as Lita’s legs elevated so that it seemed like Lita was sitting down on the air. “These will be a lot of fun. What do I see here?” Syia asked rhetorically. The light reflected off of her glasses in such a way that Lita couldn’t see her eyes. “Your toes are long. That means I shall have easy access to the ticklish niches between your toes. Let’s start there, shall we?” Syia took Lita’s foot and began to lick and nibble at her toes.
        “Ohohohhaaaahaha ahaahahaahah don’t do thaaaaaaaaaat! Noooooo! Pleeheheheeheheheeeeze! Aahahahahahaaahaaha ahaahah ehehheehehee eheeheh aahaahahaaaaahahaah!” Lita went wild as Syia licked her sensitive toes and the gaps in between. Syia merely grinned wider and licked faster. Lita was shaking now, fighting her invisible restraints, but she gained no ground and her feet stayed vulnerably presented before Syia’s torturous tongue. Tears sprayed as Lita whipped her head around, laughing maniacally.
        “Do you like tongues?” Syia asked, taking a quick break from licking and raking her nails on Lita’s soles. She adjusted her glasses and grinned. “It sure seems like it. We’ll have to pay a visit to Megan later. The tiliking will give you the ride of your life!” Syia sniggered. “But we have excellent attractions here, thank you very much. We have some Devil’s Ivy-?” Syia broke off at the look of unreasoning fear in Lita’s eyes.
        Lita was recalling that awful time in the first Tickling Dungeon, when Aven had made her watch as some plant had tormented Raye. It had looked awful, and Lita had silently given thanks that it hadn’t been her. Lita did not know the name of the plant, but the way Syia said the name could only mean they were one and the same.
        “So, you have seen the Devil’s Ivy before?” Syia asked, as a new, crueler idea came to her. Lita shook her head fearfully.
        “N-never heard of it.” Which was true; Lita had only just now heard the name.
        Syia walked away to get a cart of the plant. “I’ve made some, oh, improvements, shall we say? I guarantee this won’t last longer than fifteen seconds,” she said condescendingly. The plant skipped the normal weakening phase, noting that Syia had already done that, and deployed the ASPAT immediately.
        The floppy hand-like appendages adhered to Lita’s feet and armpits. The slight buzzing heralded the activation of the vines.
        Lita shrieked and bucked. “AHAAAAHAHAAHA OH MY GOD OH MY GOD MAKE IT STAHAHHAHHAHHAHHAAAAHHHAHHHHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAP!” That was her last sentence before she fell unconscious.

        Serena noticed that Lita was not in school today. Skipping out on the endurance session she was supposed to have done a week ago? Maybe. But Serena had problems of her own, most notably that her archenemy was only about fifty feet down the hall. Neflite had obviously done something to the previous vice-principal to cause him to resign, and now Neflite was the Vice-Principal of Discipline at her school. Neflite’s disciplinary methods made Serena shudder.
        Unfortunately, Serena couldn’t even gripe about it because Neflite was actually respected among the student body. He was always fair, and excellent at ferreting out liars. Or so the stories went. To Serena, he was the evil mastermind of this whole tangled plot to tickle her out of her mind. And, Serena admitted privately, doing a very good job of it. It wasn’t fair that she had to be so ticklish. Compounding her misfortune was the fact that she wasn’t building resistance or anything like that. Instead, it seemed to be worse each time. She remembered that even before this whole hoopla, her friends had tickle tortured her from time to time. But they’d always let her go when she, or they (usually they), decided that she’d had enough.
So long ago, it seemed, when Floran had wrapped her in vines, all the way back at the greenhouse. They’d come so far. Neflite’s first real attempt, kidnapping them and bringing them into the Negaverse, had only been foiled by internal politics. That awful day when she’d spilled the beans on her friends under Jelex’s torture. After a short break, Neflite had come back with his Tickling Dungeon, and Serena had killed Neva with the energy of pure rage and despair. Neflite had struck back with his goofy inventions, and Felin had entered the scene. Then had followed the days of despair as the Negaverse played head games, and won for the most part. Megan had been twisted into a monster, and fully served the Negaverse. Raye’s belief that she was not, in fact, ticklish, and the whole mess that had resulted in. Aven’s house of horrors, and the climactic finish at the top. A counterstrike by the Negaverse: Jelex and Neflite had invaded the school, leaving her nowhere to hide. And that pretty much brought them to the present situation.
Serena had found that every pair of her underwear had been contaminated with the feather-torture. But the Negaverse had underestimated a woman’s capacity to purchase clothing; Serena had spent all yesterday restocking her underwear supply. The next goal was to find Jelex and take her down. That was proving difficult. Wherever Jelex was hiding, it was a good spot. Serena had ventured a guess, saying that Peggy Etilfen might be Jelex in disguise, but Amy had noted that Jelex had said that she was gunning for Peggy next, so that was out.
And such a wonderful cover it was, noted Jelex. The Sailor brats still didn’t have a clue. For heaven’s sake, she had even tormented Sailor Moon in front of everybody and they still didn’t know! Jelex was going to try for Sailor Moon today if it was possible.
“Peggy?” Miss Horuna queried. “You’re wanted at the vice-principal’s office.”
“All right,” Jelex/Peggy replied. Serena felt a pang of sympathy. Would Neflite tickle torture Peggy? If Jelex had said that she’d wanted to, probably yes.

“To the vice principal? But why?” Amy asked as she was handed an office request slip. The office monitor who’d delivered the paper merely shrugged and left the classroom. Amy knew that Neflite was the vice-principal, but she had no legitimate reason for not going. Amy was beginning to realize how much influence Neflite had in the school. Amy walked down the hall and entered Neflite’s office. The secretary waved her through – what if she was Jelex? Amy thought suddenly. That was a question for later, though. Amy walked into the main office.
Neflite had his back to the door, as usual. This time, the purpose was not to conceal his identity but to draw attention from Jelex, peeping out from the closet. “Welcome, Amy. Won’t you sit down?”
“I’ll stand,” Amy said flatly. Serena had discussed the traps in the room at length.
Neflite merely chuckled. “As you wish. Close the door, if you don’t mind.”
“No,” Amy said. Neflite wasn’t getting angry, though.
“I see. You must think that you are well prepared. I imagine that Sailor Moon told you about the room. It won’t save you.”
The door slammed. Neflite grinned. “The door is motor-driven as well as manual,” he explained. “So now you are trapped anyway. I’m sure that my associates will want to chat with you.”
“I’ve already spoken to your ‘associates’ at length,” Amy sniffed.
“Is that true, Jelex?” Neflite asked the closet.
“Yes,” the closet answered. Jelex opened the door and walked into the office. “Amy here was a little slow in dressing yesterday, so she was the unfortunate victim.”
Amy backed against the wall. This was trouble.
Jelex smiled and crooked her fingers in a pantomime of tickling. “Come on, now, just surrender to us. You won’t get away.”
Neflite raised what looked like a TV remote control and pressed a button.
With a squeak and a little hop Amy realized what he had done. Giggling madly, Amy tried to remain standing. It was difficult; her knees wanted to buckle. Dignity was no longer a consideration; Amy was flushed red from embarrassment, but it was a drop in this bucket of torture.
The sound of a ringing phone interrupted the scene. Scowling, Neflite pressed another button, took a second to compose himself and answered the phone. “Yes?”
Amy couldn’t hear, but Neflite wasn’t too pleased with the development. He hung up with a grimace and said, “Lucky. There’s trouble in the cafeteria, and I have to go.” Neflite viciously wrote out a pass and shoved it at Amy.
Amy left.

“Amy, how bad was it?” Serena asked.
“I got off easy,” she admitted. “Neflite had to go do something, and he let me go. He’s got the remote for the feathers,” Amy said, squirming. “Do you realize what kind of trouble we’re in? We have absolutely no legitimate reason to refuse an office request.”
“Yeah, I know. But look on the bright side. There’s a way to counter the feather-torture.”
“How?” Amy nearly leaped at Serena.
Serena giggled. “Buy new underwear.”
Amy looked flabbergasted. “How come I never thought of that?” she wondered.
“Because I’m a shopaholic,” Serena laughed. Then she turned serious. “Where’s Lita and Mina? I haven’t seen either one of them.”
Amy frowned. “Lita is probably trying to stall off her turn. But I can’t think of a reason for Mina to not be here.”
“Maybe she’s just sick,” Serena suggested.
“Do you really believe that?” Amy asked quietly.
“No,” Serena admitted.

Mina… Sailor Venus… Mina… Come on, wake up… Sailor Venus…
Mina opened her eyes slowly. She felt groggy and disoriented. Where was she? Right, she was in the park. Thank goodness for that. Mina tugged at the collar of her shirt. It was a little tight. A cool gust of air blew around her, and she shivered as it touched her bare skin. …? Wait a minute… Sailor Venus? Who’d said that?
“Awake at last, Sailor Venus?” Megan asked.
Mina jolted upright. This wasn’t the park! She was… uh oh…
Mina saw a lot of tiliking behind Megan’s chair. She hated tiliking. How could Megan like them so much? She was petting the one in her lap like it was a puppy! That tiliking turned its beady eyes upon her. Megan smiled at it. “Do you want to torture her?” The thing nodded. Megan leaned back and smiled. “See if you can convince me.”
Mina watched in fascination as the tiliking extended its long tongue and began to tease Megan’s ribs. Megan giggled. “Oh hehheeaaaha that tickles!” The tiliking pinned her in place and began to tickle her in earnest. Megan thrashed and laughed as the tormenting tongue played with her ticklish body. “OHAHAHAHEHEHEEH AHAHAHA HEEHHEHEE HEAHAHAHHAHA STAAAAAAAAAAAP! You win! You win! Okay!” Megan said, still laughing. “Go ahead and have fun.”
Mina turned and ran, only to be caught short by a chain that was connected to her! Mina took in her current state. She was wearing a collar, a skimpy silver bikini and nothing else. She was leashed to the chair in which Megan was sitting.
Hissing with anticipation, the tiliking surrounded her. Mina screamed and ran at the nearest one, trying to break through the circle. She shoved it aside, and fell over as a tongue curled around her ankle. The tiliking who’d caught her raised her foot into the air like it was a carnival prize or something. Mina was lying on her back, and with her foot in the air she had no leverage whatsoever. Then she saw the tongues.
There were at least a half dozen, slowly creeping up to her foot. Mina kicked with her free foot, but another tiliking lashed that one to her already immobilized foot, and both her feet were bound together, awaiting the pleasure of the tiliking.
The soft skin on her soles was a decided weakness of Mina’s. The shimmering tongues played out over her feet with touches like electrical shocks. Mina gasped and began to giggle.
“Heheehe ahahaa hehehehehahahahaahah hey! Staaaaaaaaaaaap! Disgusting creatures! Let me go! Nooooooo ahahaha haha heheheheheh ahahahaaha staaaaaaaaap that!” Mina managed to work in a few words between bouts of helpless laughter.
Megan smiled. Her pets were so skillful, and this was only Mina’s feet. Megan activated her scanner… there, on her stomach and armpits, those looked like good spots as well. Not the best she’d seen, but then her whole body seemed ticklish, so it didn’t matter too much.
Mina was pounding on the floor in ticklish agony. Her arms flailed about indiscriminately as she writhed in her torment. This was probably a bad idea. The flailing attracted the attention of tiliking who had nothing to do yet. Mina’s wrists were carefully caught and pulled over her head.
“Noooooooo pleeeeeeeeze!” Mina begged between laughs. “Not there! Aahahaahha hahahaha heheeheheeh ahahahaaha oh pleeeeeeeze no!” The tiliking ignored her entreaties, though they weren’t deaf to them.
The tongues worked up her sides and licked under her arms. Mina pleaded to Megan now, but Megan had no more sympathy than did the tiliking.
Megan frowned. Something about sympathy… another victim…? Oh, shoot! Megan had forgotten about Molly. Well, it had only been about six hours, well short of the record. “Keep up the good work; I’ll be back,” Megan told the tiliking. Megan walked up to the balcony of the room where Molly was tortured and opened the door. Molly hung silently, and the tiliking who’d preferred to stay here were asleep. They usually slept after feeding. Megan unlocked Molly’s shackles and hooked her back up to the leash. Megan carried Molly out to the throne room and chained her to the chair again, and Molly was set on her bed. Megan had learned that sleeping on the floor made her sore, and pain diminished tickling greatly. Molly was fast asleep… Well, the tiliking didn’t bother her when she slept. They seemed to have an unusual respect for sleeping beings of any kind.
In the meantime, the tiliking had been teasing Mina. The mass torment had stopped, but the tongues that held her down remained. Instead, one tiliking danced its tongue over Mina, not quite touching her, and saw how much she squirmed. Mina really disliked tiliking. It seemed that they were having a contest, to see who could make her squirm the most.
Mina couldn’t help it. There was no way she’d let those things touch her if she could avoid it, and if these things laughed at her for doing so (she was fairly sure that they were laughing), so be it.
Megan crouched by her. The tiliking respectfully made room for Megan. “Well,” Megan said, addressing the tiliking, “where is she most ticklish?” This question prompted much hissing and gesturing with tongues, but in the end, every tongue pointed at the same spot: just to the right of her bellybutton. Mina squirmed again. They were right, unfortunately.
“Okay, who’s ready for the ASPAT?” Megan asked with a grin. More hissing broke out. Megan punched a red button on the bracer she wore on her right arm. A green vine grew from it, with a flat handlike thing on the end. This hand stuck to Mina, and she heard a slight humming.
It felt as if the tilikings’ tongues had been combined into one ultra-tongue. The extremely fine hairs on the hand seemed to probe right into her skin, stimulating the very nerves that carried the tickling sensation. It was very efficient, with little wasted effort.
For Mina, it felt as if the whole world had blanked out, and all that existed was that small area on her stomach. It was a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times worse than anything she’d ever felt before. The constant tickling sent her mind into overdrive, and she burned out very quickly.

Serena and Amy walked together to the temple. They talked business on the way, as the events of the past few days outweighed idle gossip.
“We have to find Jelex,” Serena insisted. “She’s going to pick us apart if we let her roam freely.”
They had waited for about twenty minutes after school, hiding in the locker room and waiting for Jelex. Jelex had never shown up, and Amy suggested that they find Peggy, since Jelex had hinted at going for her.
They’d found her, all right, outside in a quiet courtyard minus all her clothing, which was strewn about the area. Serena had shaken her awake, after which she screamed.
“Aaaaaah! Oh! I…” Peggy gasped. “I… thought you were a monster.”
“Monster? Like the one that did this to you?” Amy asked.
“Yeah, like red skin, kinda short, with braided hair. She’s got at least thirty hands. Ooh!” Peggy had shuddered. She began to sniffle. “It… it was so awful. I hate being tickled, you know. Endless… over and over, those hands just tickling me all over, and that creature… laughing pitilessly…” Peggy began to sob. “You - you don’t believe me, do you?”
Amy knelt next to her. “I believe you,” she said quietly. “I saw the monster too.”
“You did?” Peggy asked.
“Why don’t you just go home and sleep,” Serena suggested. “If you don’t want to come to school tomorrow, we can cover for you.”
“No, I’ll be… okay. Just tired, that’s all…” Once fully dressed, Jelex had left the courtyard and nearly burst out laughing at their naiveté.
“No. Neflite is the real threat,” Amy said as they rounded a corner. “He commands immense power over us, since he’s in charge of discipline. He’s smart, too. His popularity is up, and he can rely on the student body to blunt criticism. We can’t reveal him, and we certainly can’t fight him in school.”
“Which is why we should go after Jelex,” Serena countered. “She we can do something about.”
“True,” Amy conceded. They walked up to the temple.
Raye looked up when they walked in, and then immediately looked at the clock. Even with the delays, they were five minutes early. “This clock is wrong,” she muttered. Raye set the minute hand forward twenty minutes so that it was fifteen after four.
“It was five of,” Amy said.
“No, it wasn’t.” Raye was fighting a grin. “Serena’s never on time. Therefore, the clock was wrong.”
“Raye!” Serena fumed.
Raye laughed. “Just teasing.” She set the clock back. “Let’s begin, shall we? I don’t want to waste any of our extra time.”
Luna jumped down from the bed and began to pace the floor. “Mina and Lita are both missing. Do any of you know where they might be?”
“I haven’t seen Mina since two days ago,” Serena said. “But Lita was in school yesterday, and I saw her walk home.”
“Hmm…” Luna mused. “I’m stumped. Any ideas, Artemis?”
“Well, I think that Mina was probably sneaking around when she shouldn’t have been. She left yesterday only a half hour before sunset, despite my expert advice.”
Raye merely rolled her eyes. “So you’re saying that the tiliking got her.”
“That’d be my guess,” said Artemis.
“Do we know where the tiliking go?” Serena asked apprehensively. Walking into a building full of those things was the stuff of nightmares.
“I was going to try a computer search, but there’s not enough data on their whereabouts,” Amy replied negatively.
“Let’s move on, then,” Luna suggested. “Lita?”
“She must have been caught by Neflite,” Serena said. “He could have caught her while leaving school.”
“I haven’t seen that convertible lately,” Raye objected.
Amy shook her head. “He doesn’t drive that to school. I think Serena may be on to something. Raye, is there any possible way you can pick up on them with your powers?”
“Yeah! Raye, you can use that fortune-telling whatsis or whatever future-seeing power you have,” Serena said, her voice picking up eagerness.
Raye sighed. “Lately I’ve been drawing a blank. I’m getting the feeling that someone is suppressing my influence, because the feeling I get whenever I try to communicate is an overpowering silence. It’s unnatural.”
Luna considered. “To block you like that, would a person need to be close?”
“I don’t know,” Raye admitted. “I think so, because I can’t sense things too far away.”
“That’s it!” Amy exclaimed suddenly. “The Negaverse has a new base somewhere near. It’s the only thing that fits. The person blocking Raye is there, and I’d guess that’s where Lita and Mina are too!”
“It seems reasonable,” Luna ventured. “But where would it be? Tokyo is a big city.”
“Uh, I have no idea,” Serena put in.
“I think I can help,” Raye said. “It’s probably in an abandoned building. Right?”
“Probably,” Artemis said.
“And if some old building starts drawing power again…”
“Right!” Amy finished. “We can search the abandoned buildings around Tokyo for one that shouldn’t be powered but is. Off the top of my head, that would be the industrial complex, the old docks, and the… west airport…” Amy slowed down as her mind went into overdrive.
“You think… the airport?” Serena guessed
“It feels right,” Raye said. “I think so too.”
“You’re not going today,” Luna interjected suddenly. “Last time you went on a snap decision it was trouble. Plan this one out. Lita and Mina won’t die of tickle torture.”
“Easy for you to say,” Serena grumbled.

Lita’s face was puffy from a day of crying.
Syia had discovered that she enjoyed torturing Lita with her soft tongue between the toes. It was an almost unspeakable torment for Lita, whose long toes created more area to be tickled. To that end, she had slowly curled her tongue through the spaces and slowly rubbed. Lita had thought that she was going to roll over and die of laughter that day.
        If that wasn’t bad enough, the first group of tickle imps had arrived, and while Syia contented herself with tormenting Michelle with soft down feathers the imps had teasingly dragged other feathers over her armpits. That had nearly driven her insane.
        Lita had also been treated to a session in a Feather Chamber. As she had been chained in an X-shape, the cloud of feathers had been able to brush all over Lita’s body. It was not quite as bad as the imps or Syia, but it was constant, and it was everywhere at once. Furthermore, they could leave her in there as long as they liked. Lita hadn’t even been able to support herself at the end, and had collapsed onto the floor when the Chamber was opened. She dimly remembered being dragged into a room and set on a rather soft and comfortable bed. There she fell asleep.
        Syia was clucking to herself as she oversaw the new equipment being delivered with the imps. More Devil’s Ivy, another Feather Chamber, a supply of feather rods, feathers, brushes and all sorts of tickling paraphernalia. Now the only things that were missing were girls. Lita and Michelle. Michelle and Lita. They were Syia’s only playmates (as she thought of them) here. She needed more. Well, who ever said that she needed to wait for Neflite? Syia thought herself more than capable enough to capture women.
        Syia left the hangar and walked down the airstrip, going nowhere in particular. She ignored the “No Trespassing” signs posted all over the perimeter fence, though she left them there to keep humans away. But she didn’t realize that she was breaking the law.
        A police car drove by the airport. Its occupant was about to end her shift and looked forward to going home. Then she spotted Syia walking around in the airport. With a much-put-upon sigh she got out and walked up to the fence.
        “Excuse me, miss, but you can’t be in there.”
        Syia nearly jumped out of her skin. A human law enforcement officer… this should be no problem. She walked over to him (she thought that it was a male, from that distance) putting on her shy-schoolgirl act. Syia did not have much experience differentiating a male and female voice, especially the nearly inflectionless commanding tone, and the sunglasses hid the officer’s face. ”What did you say, officer?” Syia’s syrupy tone would have melted any man where he stood.
        The female cop grinned to herself. This one thought that she was slick. That who-me cute schoolgirl act, coupled with the balloons on her chest, probably would have turned any male officer into a stammering wreck. But not her. She was already smiling with anticipation at throwing the book at this one. It seemed like she’d had lots of practice with this, probably meaning numerous run-ins with the law. Well, no one slipped out of her grasp, no sir. “Can’t you read the sign? It says ‘no trespassing’.”
        Syia cursed to herself. It was a female; from far away, with her hair tucked into her cap and wearing the creased uniform it seemed to be a male. Well, she had other ways to deal with women. “I can read quite well, thank you.”
        The cop grinned openly. Her voice had changed, sounding surly and arrogant. Probably because she’d realized that her trick wasn’t going to work. “Well, you are breaking the law and you will have to pay a fine.”
        “I don’t think so.” Syia leveled her arrogant stare at the officer.
        The police officer was sufficiently startled to lower her sunglasses in surprise. “What?” Then she saw Syia’s white skin. Through the glasses she had just seemed really pale. “What are you?” she blurted out.
        Syia grinned evilly. “Your worst nightmare.” Syia took control of the officer’s muscles and locked them, then pulled her along through the air. Along the way Syia appropriated her handcuffs. She twirled them idly. “You know, I’ve always wanted to bring down someone with authority. Someone who thinks that they’re in charge because someone else told them to tell other people what to do.”
        “Are you some kind of maniac?” the woman asked incredulously.
        “You might say that.” Syia slammed the heavy door and locked it. The cop gaped in amazement.
        “What is this place?” she gasped. Syia didn’t respond, merely locking her into a set of stocks. A few imps flew over, jabbering excitedly.
        “Oh! A new girl! Quite ticklish she is!”
        “Yes! Yes! Right here, on feet! Under toes, right here.”
        “Where are feathers? It is time for fun!”

        Raye was meanwhile sneaking around the airport. This time, though, the others had full knowledge of her plan. Her mission was to gather information, primarily to find out if this was indeed the new base. The old hangar… a good place to start. It was the largest building on the premises. Raye walked around, noting first of all that the windows were welded over. A good sign… the front door was locked. Raye decided to enter through the ventilation unit on the roof.
        It was a tight fit, but she managed. Raye smiled tightly as she crawled along, having caught herself humming ”Mission: Impossible” in her head. She crawled along the duct a short way, then peered through the grille to the scene below.
        The officer was crying a flood. The imps slowly brushed feathers at the base of her toes and worked their tiny hands into the gaps. She hadn’t been tickled like this since college, when a bunch of jokers had rolled her in a carpet and tormented her tootsies for hours. Syia wasn’t helping; she was indulging her newfound passion for licking, adding to the tickle torture. The cap had come off, revealing a mess of black hair that clung to her face. Even as Raye watched, two more imps landed on her stomach and began to dig into the quivering flesh.
        “Ohhohohh noooooo pleeeeeeeeze! Don’t tickle me! Aahahahah hahahahaha ahahahahaha hahaah heehheheheh oh no! Pleeeeeze staaaaaaaap! Pleeeeze ahahahaahheheheeheh ahahahaheheehaaa!”
        Raye shook herself and resumed her reconnaissance. The place seemed rather empty. There was no sign of Lita or Mina, but there was a door that led somewhere else, presumably to the prisons. They should be there. Suddenly the grille shifted, producing a rusty screech. Immediately all the activity ceased. The officer’s hands fell limply as Syia cut off the power holding them up.
        Raye cursed silently and did not move.
        Syia frowned. A spy? Only a Sailor Scout could be so bold. Well, to make sure… Syia decided to practice some more with tickling by thought. She was getting rather good…
        Raye heard taps echoing off the metal duct around her. What was going on? As noiselessly as she could, Raye curled up, making the smallest possible target.
        Syia frowned. This mind had suddenly gone clouded, shielded somehow from her probes. All she could tell was that it was in the vicinity, and now she’d need to look.
        The taps came closer to Raye, until they marched right over her body, up her legs, over her sides and past her. Raye quivered as they poked her, feeling like fingernails probing at her ticklish skin.
        Syia grinned. Right there, the mind had become a little more distinct… she must be there. Syia set to work.
Raye felt light touches walking up her sides. What was there? She couldn’t see anything. Whatever, just don’t make a sound…
        Syia continued to torment the helpless Raye. Her heeled shoes vibrated and invisible fingers raked over her soles. Raye’s sides quaked with the restrained laughter. She slammed her eyes shut in an attempt to block the feeling out. She wasn’t going to make it…
        “Eeeeheheehe ahahaha aa eheeeee hehehehehee ahahahahah ahaha aha whoops!” Raye giggled. She didn’t notice that she was floating down to the ground until she opened her eyes again.
        Syia could not believe her good fortune. Both of her catches today had required minimal effort on her part, and this one a Sailor Scout! She dangled a few inches off the ground, her sailor uniform offering painfully little protection. Excellent! What a day!
        Raye cursed violently. The officer’s head jerked up, but Syia showed no reaction. “Welcome, Sailor Mars. How are you today? Feeling a little glum, I see. I can brighten your day with my patented therapy. Therapeutic touch – it’s the latest thing.” Syia advanced, her eyes staring with evil intent. She made a tiny slit in Raye’s sailor uniform from which she could sneak her hands under it. Her fingers slipped up that slit in Raye’s shirt.
        Raye shrank away from Syia’s touch. Her fingers slid over her stomach, cruelly teasing the tender skin. Raye forced down her giggles and stared Syia in the face. She immediately wished that she hadn’t. Syia’s gaze started a full-blown mating season for butterflies in her stomach. Syia seemed to realize this and let a slow grin spread across her face. She grabbed Raye’s sides.
        Raye let out a squeal and a hop. Her eyes screwed shut, and she bit her lip as she fought the swelling laughter. It was really like trying to sandbag a rising river; the river was always coming up, probing for weaknesses in the wall, and when the wall broke there was no way to stop the water. In Raye’s case, the dam had already cracked, and it was only a question of time before the ceaseless tickling widened the breach and spilled out.
        Syia crawled up to her armpits. The outline of her hands was visible through the tight shirt Raye wore. Raye was losing it, Syia could tell. The torment was beyond her resistance. Oh, but she was ticklish. What fun! Raye looked ready to explode. Syia decided to draw it out, to slowly build the level of tickling until Raye burst. Raye’s feet elevated to about chest height on Syia.
        Syia slowly withdrew her hands, tickling all the way. She took one of Raye’s shoes and nearly slid it off, then repeated with the other, so her high heels dangled on the tips of her toes. Frantically trying to work her toes and keep her shoes on, Raye winced as each heel dropped to the ground. Raye’s eyes bulged in fear as her foot was revealed for Syia to play with. Syia bent slightly and began the same routine she’d tortured Lita with. Her tongue played out over Raye’s toes.
        Raye felt like an overpumped balloon. She jerked with each stroke of Syia’s tongue, and it was all she could do to keep breathing. Syia reached her hands for Raye’s shirt again. The nails lightly dragged themselves over her sides. Raye burst.
        “AAAHAHAHAA HAHAAHAHAHA OH PLEEEEEEEEZE! NO MORE! WAHAHAAAHA AHAHAHA HAHEHEH HEEHEHEHEHHA OH STAAAAAAAAAP! NO! NOT THAAAAAAAT! PLEEEEEEZE NO I-AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!” Raye screamed. Syia was brushing feathers on Raye’s quivering sides, slowly working her way up to the armpits. Syia was totally focused on Raye now, but she hadn’t completely forgotten her police officer friend.
The officer who Syia had abandoned now made her move. Out of contempt or ignorance, Syia had left the cop’s sidearm on her belt. She slowly withdrew the pistol, then whipped it up and shouted, “Freeze!”
        Syia looked up. She saw the female law enforcement officer holding something at her with shaking hands. Grinning tightly with knowing amusement, she took the pistol with her kinetic ability and held it just out of her reach. “What, am I supposed to be frightened?” Syia laughed.
        The episode had distracted enough of Syia’s concentration to weaken Raye’s bonds. With a mighty effort she broke free, and kicked Syia in the stomach. Syia staggered in pain and surprise. Raye didn’t hesitate. “MARS FIRE IGNITE!”
        Syia looked up to see a fireball streaking toward her. Dropping all her other activity, she created a shield just in the nick of time.
        Boom!
        The room filled with smoke. Raye turned, thinking to help the officer, but she heard, “Run, run! Go and get help! Quickly! Don’t let her get both of us!”
        Raye ran like hellhounds were chasing her. She was out the door in a flash.
        Syia staggered. She had a headache, and her psychic power was acting erratically. Mental overload… It looked like today had evened out after all. “Do with her as you will,” Syia told the imps. “I’m going to rest.”
        The officer’s face fell as the imps closed in, flitting about with sinister smiles.

        Raye ran as hard as she could. She was tired from the tickling torture, but her fear lent her inhuman speed. The rocks and other objects her bare foot stepped on went unnoticed as she flew towards the temple.
        Serena and Amy looked up as Raye burst in the doors. She collapsed, panting. Raye had completely exhausted herself. “It’s there,” she said. “The new base. A new tickle stooge is there. She’s psychic, I think. We… we have to be careful. I think Lita and Mina are inside the prisons.”
        Serena nodded. “We’ll wait for you to recover before we try anything. Did you see Lita or Mina?”
        Raye shook her head. “No…”
        Amy frowned. “It’ll be a risk.”
        “We go tomorrow.” Serena’s voice was cold as an Arctic front.

        Megan and Jelex leered sinisterly at Mina. Megan had a feather rod waving in her hand, and Jelex cracked her knuckles.
        None of this made the least sense to Mina. She was strapped to a table, completely immobile, but she was fully clothed.
        Megan laughed. “We’re going to play a game, Mina. Jelex and I are going to tickle you for an hour.”
        “That’s not much of a game,” Mina replied cuttingly.
        Jelex continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “At any time, you may shout ‘uncle’ and we’ll give you a five-minute break.”
        “So what’s the catch? There’s got to be a catch,” Mina protested.
        Megan smiled. “It’ll be more interesting if you don’t know what happens. But we will give you a break if you give up. Let’s begin!”
        Megan reached up Mina’s shirt and brushed her armpits with the rod. Jelex meanwhile tickled her sock-clad feet. The socks really didn’t help at all; they were so tight and thin that they might as well not have existed. Mina crumbled piece by piece, as the tickling motions of Megan and Jelex continued.
        Jelex created more hands, which tickled her stomach. This kicked Mina over the edge.
        “Aahahahaahaha ahaha hey! No fair! Ahahahahaahah heheheeheheheehhehehehe no hands! That’s ch-ch-cheating! No staaaaaaaaaaaaaaap! Pleeeeeeeeze!” Mina begged. It struck her as odd that she’d be protesting rules to the likes of these two. “Okay! Okay!” Mina cried. No matter what the catch was, it couldn’t be as bad as tickling. Maybe they wanted to make fun of her with tiliking. “Uncle! Uncle!”
        True to their word, Megan and Jelex stopped. Mina was genuinely surprised. She frowned in suspicion. “So, now what?”
        Megan shrugged and removed the scissors she had holstered on her calf. She snipped at the air, grinning.
        For one horrible moment, Mina thought that they were actually going to torture her, real, painful torture not the accursed tickling kind. She quickly brushed that aside. They wouldn’t actually hurt me… would they?
        Of course not. Megan carefully began to cut away Mina’s shirt. Mina protested. “Hey! These cost money! Clothes like this aren’t cheap, you know!” Megan ignored her and pulled the shirt away. Jelex grinned with anticipation. Her newly exposed spots on her sides, stomach and armpits cried out to be played with. Mina sneered.
        “Big deal. Okay, it was only a shirt. I’m scared now!” Mina mock-shuddered. Megan re-holstered her scissors and spoke.
        “Your break has about three minutes left. Isn’t this game fun?”
        “I still don’t see how it is a game,” Mina replied. “You cut off my shirt. So what?”
        Jelex sat on a stool next to Mina’s table. She gently pointed out areas on Mina’s body as she made her points. “Well, when you are fully clothed it is somewhat difficult to get at your… choicest areas. But to just strip you down is boring. So, we decided, why not have fun? Whenever we get you to submit, you lose some clothing. Eventually…” Jelex trailed off with a grin.
        Mina felt an iceberg in her stomach. Eventually she’d have nothing left, and that would be a problem. So now it became an endurance test. She vowed not to give in so easily this time.
        A kitchen timer dinged. Jelex stood and stretched. “Break time is over.”
        Megan rummaged through a pile of things and came up with a paint can. “Do you know what this is?”
        “Paint?” asked Mina, feeling kind of stupid. Jelex and Megan thought this was immensely funny.
        “No, airhead,” chuckled Jelex, “it’s tickling oil.”
        Mina thought that it couldn’t have gotten worse.       
Megan smiled and put it aside. “Not yet, fortunately for you. We’re still having fun.”
        So it began again, Jelex’s many hands digging in unhindered all over Mina’s torso. They were experts, driven by Jelex’s skill. They probed for individual weaknesses all over, and clustered at good points. Needless to say Mina could not even try to resist.
        “Ahaahaahahahahhaha haha hey! Noooooooooooo no no! Heheheheeeeehahahahahah ah - HEY! NOT THERE! PLEEEEEEEZE! I BEG YOU - WHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AHAAHAHA EEEEEEAHAHAAHAHAH AHAH HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Megan had moved in to her most ticklish spot and was gently pawing at her flesh. Jelex took Megan’s feather rod and brushed its soft bristles under Mina’s armpits.
        Mina tried. She really did. But the onslaught was too much, all the hands crawling on her flesh, tormenting her with their quick fingers, and Jelex brushing the soft, torturous rod under her arms. Oh no oh no stop stop stop stop need a break need a break uncle! Uncle! “Uncle!” Mina didn’t realize she’d spoken the last aloud.
        Their grins all the wider Megan and Jelex stopped. Megan nearly doubled over giggling as she tried to pull off Mina’s socks. Mina wondered what was so darn funny. “Are my feet that amusing?” Mina asked sarcastically.
        “Oh, yes,” Megan giggled. “So smooth and ticklish, I just couldn’t wait to do that!” Megan burst into another fit of giggles. Jelex gave her a sideways look.
        “Come on, it’s not that funny,” Jelex protested. “Now this is funny!” Jelex attacked Megan, who was already wracked by giggling. Now she jumped with a squeak and began to laugh louder. “J-J-Jelex! Don’t! Please! You know that I…! No ahahahaha ahahahah hahaha heehehehehe no fair!” Megan cried as Jelex multiplied the hands. Megan kicked and squirmed as she tried to get away, but Jelex’s hands were just as persistent on Megan as they had been for Mina. Then, to Mina’s astonishment, Megan spread-eagled herself on the floor, as if asking for more torture. Jelex dug into Megan’s belly and began to squeeze gently. “Ohohhohhhoh d-d-d-don’t do thaaaaaaaat! That tickles too much! Aahahahahah ahahaha heeheheheehe ahahahah!”
        Jelex teased her. “Why not? You asked for it. Tell me that you love being tickled, that you love it when I torture you like this. Come on, say it! Come on!”
        Megan tried to form the words. “I-I l-love it when J-J-Jelex tortures me! I l-l-love being tickled! Staaaaaaaaaap! Aaahahaha ahahah heehehehehahaha hahaah ehehehaahahah!”
        “Why should I stop, if you love to be tickled?” It was an old joke that went back to even before Megan had been changed.
        Mina was fascinated. She’d heard from Serena that the bad guys turned on each other every so often, but it was amazing to actually see it. They were very ticklish!
        Ding! The kitchen timer signaled the end of Mina’s respite.
        “Aww!” Jelex snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. She helped Megan up.
        “T-that was a low stunt, Jelex,” Megan giggled. “I love it.”
        Jelex crept up like she was going to tickle Megan again. When Megan saw it, she fell back down laughing. “Look at me, I’m Syia! Psychic tickling!” Jelex joked, pretending to tickle Megan from three feet away.
        Syia? Mina wondered, but kept quiet. Not for long, though. It promised to be an interesting game.

        Syia awoke. It was early in the morning, about four, long before she usually got up. Time enough to use the Dream Controller! Syia remembered that she’d had it transferred here. She walked into her control center, which was empty right now. The raised orb of the Controller was in the center of the room. Syia placed her hands on it and concentrated.

        Down, down, down Raye fell through the hole in the earth. She could not remember having fallen in, but she was here now, so she must have gotten in somehow. She landed lightly on a metal deck. Curiously, she examined her surroundings. The room was large, extending far off into the distance. It was all made of a shiny silver metal that reflected light, which was also odd because Raye couldn’t see a single light source in the room. There was no sign of the entrance she’d used to come here. Raye began to walk.

        Syia decided to intervene in Sailor Mars’ dream. She was a fun toy to play with.

        Raye suddenly reached a door. Without hesitation she opened it and stepped through the portal. Old, creaking wooden floors awaited her in the dark, silent house that opened before her. The door behind her disappeared.
        Raye heard eerie wailing that reverberated around the room. Was this a haunted house? Raye felt the first stirrings of fear. She advanced now with trepidation. The moaning and crying continued. Louder and louder and…! A cold hand laid itself on her shoulder.
        Raye screamed. She tried to run, but the coldness seeped through her body, sapping her vitality. She felt limp. Raye floated slowly through the house, as if guided by some unseen force. At one point in a hallway she stopped suddenly, and a hidden wall panel slid aside. A narrow stairway dropped into the recesses below.
        Raye floated down the stairs. They spiraled downward for a long time, but finally Raye stopped at a door. The door opened and Raye went inside.
        It was an empty room, but it seemed to have been a torture chamber once. There was a large box with holes in either end, similar to a magician’s, and numerous chains hanging from the ceiling, a rack, an X-frame, stocks, and one odd thing that looked like a T, with chains on either end, and a seat halfway up. It seemed that the seat could be adjusted, but Raye had no idea what it was for. Numerous distasteful tools hung on wall racks.
        Listen, she heard a voice say. Listen, and you can hear the past. The awful history of this place, crying out in anguish. Crying out for revenge.
        Raye listened. She could hear something. Screaming, pleading, heartrending entreaties shouted out to uncaring torturers.
        Do you hear it? Concentrate, and now you can see it.
        That was something Raye definitely did not want to do. But the image came to her. Faintly at first, but getting stronger. Women now filled the empty places in the torture devices.
        Now Syia, watching the dream from afar, began to twist the dream to her will.
        Raye gasped. No… it wasn’t possible…
        She looked away, shutting her eyes again. Serena’s face, imploring, stared at her from the rack. She was stretched out to the limit. Now even as she watched, ghostly hands reached for the racks on the wall, and pulled off… uh oh. Raye suddenly knew where this was going.
        “No! Please! No more, I beg you! Oh please! Please, please…” Serena sobbed.
        A hooded figure had watched the proceedings. Now it removed its hood, revealing (no surprise) Jelex. She bared her teeth in a grin.
        “Ms. Moon, we know that you have what we want.”
        “I don’t have anything!” Serena screamed. The hands, equipped now with feathers and feather rods, began to torment Serena again. “AaAhaaAHAAH HAHAHAHA NOOOOOO STAAAAAAP! PLEEEEEEEZE AHAHAHA HEHEEHEHAH EHEAHAHAH EHEHAHAHA HAHAHA HEEHHEEHAHAH!” Serena cried.
        Raye tore her gaze away. But her eyes settled on Lita, stuck in the box. Raye could see through the box and knew that hands pawed at her inside. Other hands tickled her sensitive feet with feathers, causing tears to pour from her eyes. Finally, as an insult more than anything else, a hand danced a feather on her face irritatingly.
        Escape, I need to escape! But wherever Raye turned, she saw someone else’s torment. Mina was hung from chains, exposing her upper body, which multiple vines danced over. They slithered under her arms, eliciting howls of laughter and vain attempts to twist out of the way.
        Amy was on the X-frame. Her hands were wrapped in tape to secure them to the outriggers, and ditto for her ankles. Felin stood before her, dressed as a maid. She wielded multiple feather dusters, clucking to herself with an evil smile about how dusty this thing was. Amy screamed, begging that she was clean now. Felin disagreed and continued to brush over her sensitive skin.
        Please make it go away! Raye begged. And, amazingly, it did. The scene vanished before her eyes, leaving just the empty room and the echoes of her friends’ torture.
        That was in the past, the voice said again, Syia’s voice. Now is the present. The souls of those who suffered desire revenge. And they desire it on the one who abandoned them. They desire revenge on you, Raye. Revenge for the torment they suffered because you would not help them.
        “No! I didn’t abandon them!” Raye screamed. “Please! I didn’t…”
        Ghosts floated up, the ghosts of the Sailor Scouts. You left us to wither… Now it is you who will suffer. And remember, we have all of eternity…
        Wearing anticipatory expressions, Lita and Amy set Raye on the rack. The wheel cranked to just before the point of discomfort. Serena’s ghostly finger traced its way up Raye’s chest. Raye’s outer clothing turned to ash and blew away. Serena’s ghost laid on top of her – actually, inside her – and faced Raye. The ghost smiled, an eerie mirror of the bright, dopey smile Serena wore all the time.
        Now it is you who will suffer… she repeated. She got off of Raye and traced her fingers over Raye’s stomach. It wasn’t a cold touch as Raye had expected, but a feathery, light touch that threatened to drive her mad, so badly did it tickle.
        “haahaAHA HAHAHA EHEHEHHEEHEH NOOO AHAHAHA PLEASE! DON’T, SERENA! I DIDIDIDIDI DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEHEHEHEEEEEEEEEEEAAHAHA AHAHAHAHAAH HEHEE OH PLEASE!” Raye pleaded.
        The living cannot communicate with the dead, Serena’s voice came back, mockingly. The fingers of the others joined in, ethereal hands homing in on the most sensitive areas on Raye’s body.
        Raye found herself laughing too hard to talk. She felt sweaty, and her will to struggle disappeared. All she felt capable of doing was laughing. Soon she wasn’t breathing, but her laughter continued unabated.
        Dream… this has to be a dream… please let it be a dream…
        “It is, little Mars,” Syia said to herself. “But I am in control.”
        I am in control…
        I control…
        In control…
        I control you…

        Raye awoke with a start. The sun was coming up, and it had saved her from the awful nightmare. Had it really been a nightmare? Raye recalled the very end, where she had heard someone saying I am in control over and over again. Was somebody in control of her dream? Very likely, given that she usually didn’t have dreams like that. And that someone could only be Syia. Only she could have the power to alter someone’s perception like that. Supposedly. Or, Raye admitted, she could have just been feeling the stress of a narrow escape. That was more likely. Raye dismissed the idea that someone had been in control. It seemed to be just rationalization, adherence to the principle that something bad is always someone else’s fault. Denial did her no good.
        She did not know the mistake she had made.