Rich Boy: Awakening - 6. Chapter 6

“Not a word to anyone, right?” Josh said in a voice that bordered on a snarl as they lay back on the bed. Mikie smiled in a way that he hoped was reassuring and nodded.

“I’d prefer it that way myself.” Mikie said aloud and Josh nodded while his face relaxed a bit. He could still taste Josh in his mouth, and found it pleasant, after a fashion. They hadn’t done more than exchange blowjobs and kiss, ending with a sixty-nine that was quite enjoyable. The geas inside Mikie had remained quiet, although he could feel it watching.

It was Mikie, not the geas that pushed his mind into the red-haired guy on the bed next to them. Both of them were sweating a bit, and their breathing was just returned to almost normal. As his mind curled around the normal mind of the broad-shouldered guy who was a year older than him, Josh stiffened slightly before Mikie managed to touch the right centers of his brain and send him into a light sleep.

Stacy likely would not approve, but Mikie had to know. Why had Josh initiated this sexual encounter? The other day Josh had said he was straight, but he’d started this. What had caused him to do that?

What he found both surprised and worried him.

He was not the first guy Josh had sex with. He’d said he wasn’t gay, and Mikie could sense that he wasn’t. Josh enjoyed sex with girls, and had managed encounters with two of them. There was also another guy though, and Mikie was only half-surprised when a memory of Josh’s showed Andy on his knees. The football player had been fooling around with Andy off and on for the last two years.

“Why me, though?” Mikie wondered and the answer came to him as he looked. Josh often found himself physically attracted to guys as well as girls. Mikie was one of those guys Josh found attractive. When they had their encounter the other day, it had left Josh even more attracted to Mikie, despite the memory block that had been imposed. Today, when Josh had seen him nude, his lust had gotten the better of him, and he’d acted on it. It had nothing to do with the geas, or with what Mikie had done, really. Yes, the encounter yesterday had made Josh bolder, even if he didn’t remember it, but this had been something Josh wanted.

Mikie pulled out of the older guy’s mind and erased his tracks as he went. Doing it was almost instinctual, since he, not the geas, had never received formal training. Still, many of the skills that had been learned while the geas was free in his mind, in control, were there now, ready for him to use. What he’d done didn’t hurt Josh, he knew as the guy’s eyes opened.

“How about we go swimming?” Mikie said when Josh was awake.

“That’s a good idea.” Josh agreed with a grateful look. They got out of the bed and put on their swimwear before heading out towards the pool. Richie did show up while they were still in the pool, and seemed surprised to find Josh there. He gave Mikie a look that was a clear question, and relaxed when Mikie smiled. Yes, everything was fine.

The last week of summer passed quickly, far too quickly for Mikie to be happy. He found he was enjoying the time he was spending there with his Aunt and her family. Issues of magic and dark, evil geas aside, the life there was almost idyllic. Josh came over every day that week, and while there was no repeat of their sexual encounter, Mikie found a real, genuine friendship developing between them. When Josh invited him to ‘hang out’ with him and a few of his other friends, he accepted and was surprised when Jamie and Richie didn’t come along.

“Ride your bike.” Josh told him when giving him directions on where to meet. His new friend lived about a half-mile away, but they were to meet at a strip mall in downtown Scottsdale, the town they technically lived in. Jamie had a secretive smile on his face, but announced he and Richie were going out to a movie anyway. Mikie was happy that neither of them seemed upset he was going out without them. The truth was he could feel happiness from them that he was branching out on his own. What was more, the trust they had in him not to hurt Josh or anyone else was a comfort.

At the appointed time, he got dressed in his riding leathers, grabbed his helmet and went out to the garage to start up his Ducati. All the other cars except for his little blue BMW convertible sportster were gone, and he wheeled his bike out before closing the garage door. As it closed, he could sense the house wards closing with it, sealing the house. It never stopped surprising him when he noticed things like that now, but the geas was asleep in his mind, not even bothering to look out through his eyes. Maybe it was hoping he’d think it was scared into submission, but he knew better.

When he arrived at the meeting place, he got another surprise. Josh was leaning against a Suzuki GXR, wearing a blue riding jacket and with a helmet in his hand as he talked to a guy wearing a green and black riding jacket standing near a green Ninja. There were seven guys, and their bikes, waiting there. All of them ranged from his age, up to eighteen or maybe nineteen he guessed, and they were immediately excited about his bike.

“This is my friend, Mike.” Josh said loudly as Mikie pulled off his helmet. “He’s the guy I was telling you about, Jamie and Rich’s cousin from back east.”

“I’m Tom.” The green ninja rider introduced himself first, and Mikie slapped hands with him, and then with all the other riders. They talked about his bike, and their own of course, for a good half-hour before Josh called out “Let’s ride!”

It was a fun night as they rode all over Phoenix and the surrounding towns in a pack. Everyone took turns leading, and it was easy to tell that these guys had all been riding as a group for a while. There was an easy camaraderie amongst them, and friendly competition as well when they found less busy streets to race each other. Mikie’s bike was the best performing, of course, but he didn’t rub their noses in that fact too much. By the time midnight approached and he was heading home, there was an almost-permanent smile on his face.

“I see someone had fun.” Stacy’s voice surprised him as he entered the house as quietly as he could. Most of the lights were off, and he knew by now that the adults were usually asleep. Richie and Jamie might be awake, but they’d be in their rooms at this time of night.

“I did.” Mikie agreed.

“Good.” She said with approval. “By the way, be in my workroom first thing in the morning.”

“Okay.” He said nervously. This was the first time he’d been invited down there since everything had happened. She’d said she couldn’t, or wouldn’t teach him. Why then was she having him go down there?

He slept fitfully that night, mostly because his dreams were filled with bad images. Dinner with his parents, his father lecturing on what it meant to be a Sinclair was one particular dream. Another was his mother quietly talking about the distressing situation her family faced because of her sister’s selfishness. How could she have cared more about herself than her family? How had they gone wrong in raising her to be such a selfish person?

“Stop it.” Mikie growled at the geas when he woke from another fitful dream. This one had been about Brandon, how the weak, nearly-helpless boy was being left alone, abandoned when all he had wanted was a secure place in life, a protector and now he was being abandoned. It was obvious the dreams were the geas’s attempts at manipulating him. What made its attempts really bad was that they held some kernel of truth to make him think.

From a certain point of view, what Elizabeth had done was selfish. Family meant a lot to people like the Sinclairs and the Bradwells. Her rejection of them had been selfish, to give her happiness at a cost to them. The last dream about Brandon held even more truth. No matter that it had not really been him who had done the soul-bonding with Brandon, it didn’t change the fact that Brandon was bound to him, and was now cut off, alone, because of the choices Mikie had made.

There were consequences to any action, but instead of caving to the pressure from the geas the dreams made him think, and to analyze. Not everything he had learned so far in life was evil. In fact, the techniques of analysis and examination were neutral, not evil in and of themselves. It was the use to which they were put that made them good or bad. He understood that, and so did not hesitate to apply them to this situation.

The sky outside was growing bright with dawn as he continued to think and to analyze. What the geas had been showing him was simplistic, but then it had to be to achieve its purposes. Life was never simple. That was a lesson he had learned from an early age, without the geas or the things he’d been made to forget. Few things were ever simple, black and white. Rather they were shades of gray, or a riot of chaotic colors that had to be sorted and looked at for their intrinsic value.

Was he rejecting his family? In a sense, yes, he was. But he was not rejecting being a Sinclair. Even now he knew that he would still one day have children and continue the Sinclair family, although it might be a different legacy than the one his father tried to hand him. Would he marry a woman, though? Times were changing, and while the old families were the most resistant to such changes, and might scoff at such an open flouting of tradition, it might be worth it for him to go his own route. Then again, if it was better, he might just uphold tradition and get married, keeping a male partner on the side, if he found someone he liked that much. He had options there, as much as the geas would try to deny that, and he would hold them open until he knew what was best for him, for the children he would have, and for his family.

Friendships were fickle things at best. That was what he’d always been taught. Business, like politics, was an ever-shifting battleground. An ally today might be an opponent tomorrow, and vice versa. Basing decisions solely on personal relationships, whether positive or negative, was a bad way to survive in the business world. Thus, friendships were limited in their scope.

Yet, Mikie knew that even as Worthington, he’d always longed for something more than the ever-shifting relations that he’d always known. He’d found that in Jamie, a best friend, and now he was learning that he could also have regular friends, good friends like Josh was becoming. Tom Reynolds, the rider of the green ninja might be another such friend, he was suspecting. They’d seemed to hit it off rather well the other night. If he could, he’d want to find a way to keep those friendships throughout life. That would be nice, he thought.

Already he knew that friendships were not limited. There was no limit that he could see on how many people he could call ‘friend’, except maybe in how much time he would have to spend with each of them. His growing friendship with Josh didn’t threaten his friendship with Jamie, just like Jamie’s friendship with others didn’t threaten his place in Jamie’s heart. He understood that very well, perhaps better than the ungifted, because of their ability to link, to share their thoughts with one another.

He must have drifted off into dreamless sleep, because when he opened his eyes again, it was several hours later and the morning was well underway. Taking a quick shower, he dressed in a pair of green cargo shorts with a dark brown t-shirt that had some kind of logo on it he really didn’t understand. Jamie had liked it though, and he’d agreed to buy it based on that. Stacy was already in the workroom, along with a strange man when he entered. They had been talking about something when he came in, but stopped as he crossed the wards.

“Right on time.” She said with a smile. “Mikie, let me introduce you to Barret de Long. Barret is a licensed psychotherapist, and a Gifted Healer of the Mind.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, young man.” Barret said with a smile. He was an older man, with his black hair liberally peppered with gray. He was wearing casual slacks, and a Hawaiian shirt that was a riot of greens and blues. Inside Mikie, the geas stirred as if it was afraid.

“Hello.” Mikie said cautiously.

“I have a great deal of experience helping people in similar situations to you, although I don’t think I’ve ever met someone in a situation exactly like yours.” The man said calmly as he studied Mikie. “Stacy has explained the basics of your situation to me already. You were placed under strong compulsions as a child. I have had several cases like that and have helped all of them deal with the compulsions set on their mind, even compulsions set when they were infants. Your case is different though, because the compulsions set on you have adapted a personality of their own, according to Stacy. I would like to examine you, with your permission, before we go much further.”

“What do I need to do?” Mikie asked. What the man had said so far, and his quiet confidence in his own abilities was reassuring. He knew now why Stacy hadn’t told him before, because the geas was shifting, planning something and he prepared himself for whatever it might do.

“Relax your shields and let me into your mind.” The man said. “It might be best if we sat down.”

The man suited actions to his words and sank to the floor, crossing his legs and sitting in a relaxed manner despite the hardness of the cool stone. Stacy did the same, and Mikie followed their example. The stone beneath him was reassuring in its strength, reminding him of the rocky firmness of Stacy. With that foremost in his mind, he lowered the barriers around his mind.

The geas chose that moment to strike, firming up the barriers before he’d let them more than halfway down. For a moment, there was a struggle inside of him for dominance, for control over his body, but he wasn’t going to let the geas stop this. Neither did he want outside help just yet. Instinctively he knew that he had to do this, had to wrest control. With a snap, he did it, pushing the geas back from the control of his mind and the barriers fell.

“Good, very good.” Barret’s voice was reassuring even as the man’s presence seeped into Mikie’s mind like a cascade of water streaming down from a waterfall. Even as it filled his mind, he got the impression of being immersed in water that was cool and refreshing. Its liveliness was a surprise. He’d expected some calming manifestation of the man’s mind, but it was lively, and oddly relaxing in its bubbling happiness.

They could have been sitting like that for days, or just a few seconds. Mikie didn’t know, and he didn’t care. The simple joy of the man’s presence in his mind was enough. Oddly, it didn’t seek out the geas and attack it. Rather it blanketed the parts of his mind that were just ‘Mikie’, and the parts that were in between Mikie and the geas. He could sense it looking at his memories, but there was a barrier of frothy water between Mikie and those memories so that he saw them only in glimpses and snatches. Their awful presence didn’t bother him as he floated amidst the bubbling, frothy water. Then the water was receding, leaving his mind and he was alone, or as alone as he ever was with the geas still there.

It was still there, and untouched by the Healer of the Mind. The waters had not harmed it at all, which Mikie knew surprised it as much as it surprised him. But there were changes in his mind too. The water had cut new paths, and smoothed over old paths in his mind, and Mikie felt like it was settling into those new paths gently, as if they had always been there.

“What did you do?” Mikie asked in breathless wonder as he raised the shields around his mind. The barriers were changed. Gone was the dullness of the barriers he’d had before, the murky depths of protection. Now they were almost crystalline, shining brightly in his mind’s eye.

“Mostly I just looked, and reinforced what you have already begun.” The man said with a kind smile on his face. He looked tired, but pleased as well. “You have already started down the right path better than I had expected. You are heading in the right direction, only needing guidance and a little smoothing of the way to help you there. I’ve boosted that a bit, helped your mind find new pathways for your thoughts, pathways not corrupted by the compulsion inside of you. Unfortunately, I fear that Stacy was very much correct in her analysis of it. The compulsion has developed a personality, a mind of its own, but it is still part of you, connected to you. That is very dangerous.”

“I figured that part out already.” Mikie said sourly.

“Yes, you have, and you’ve begun doing the only thing that can be done.” Barret said in a kind, but stern voice. “I have had a great deal of experience helping people with multiple personalities learn to integrate themselves. Most of them have been ungifted, but several have had very powerful gifts like yours. You do understand you are very strong, don’t you? You have the potential to one day be one of the greatest Adepts in the world, among the top five of our kind.”

“Really?” Mikie was shocked.

“Yes, and one of those currently ranked in the top ten was a client of mine.” Barret said, causing Mikie’s eyebrows to rise. “I won’t tell you more than that out of respect for his or her privacy. What I will tell you is that this person was not born into a gifted family. It happens sometimes, with recessive genes combining in unexpected ways to produce a gifted in an ungifted family. Many times they learn a rough control over their gift, or are found and trained. This one was not found until they were in their early twenties, and their gift had developed a personality on its own. Strong gifts can do that, if not used properly.

“In this case, the rogue gift had very little in the way of ethics and was very selfish in nature.” Barret continued. “We were eventually able to achieve integration, but it was a long process. I have hope that yours will not take as long.”

“I don’t want…” Mikie started to protest, but he remembered why it was necessary and stopped. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m afraid.”

“That is a very normal reaction.” Barret assured him. “Unfortunately, most of this is going to be your doing. I will come from time to time to check on your progress, and do more of what I did today. That will help you set the terms for the integration, and make sure that you remain in control until full integration is achieved.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” Mikie said.

“It’s my pleasure, young man.” Barret said as he stood. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a long drive back to LA.”

“Um, when will I see you again?” Mikie asked nervously. “What do I do until then?”

“I will come see you in two weeks.” Barret said with a reassuring smile. “It’ll be on the weekend so I can spend most of the day working with you on a few things. Until then, I want you to keep a journal. You can sense when the geas inside of you is stirring, what interests it. Every day you are to keep a journal of those things. Write as much detail as you can about what you were doing, who was around you, what you were thinking, what people were saying. Any clues as to what motivates it or interests it are what I want. It also seems to be sending you dreams. I want you to record those dreams for me every morning. As much as you can remember, okay?”

“Can’t you just read them from my memories?” Mikie asked and the man laughed.

“Yes, but in writing them down, you will be refreshing them in your mind, and setting them down in a way that makes it easier to see patterns.” Barret explained. “You will also find yourself thinking about them, and examining them from a more remote perspective. So will I. Sometimes experiencing the memory is overwhelming, and we can miss details that the written record will make more clear.”

“Oh.” Mikie said with surprise. Maybe magic wasn’t the solution to everything after all. It seemed like doing some things the normal way were better. That was an interesting thought to mull over later.

“You’ll do fine, young man, as long as you work as hard at this as you have been.” The man assured him. “Until next time.”

“Goodbye, Doctor.” Mikie said gratefully as the man left the room. He was surprised when Stacy didn’t leave. She just looked at him for several long minutes.

“One of the boys will show him out.” She said to break the silence. “He had some sharp words for me, and I’ve been thinking about them while he worked with you.”

“You weren’t in there?” Mikie asked, and realized he hadn’t sensed her bedrock at all during the whole process.

“What he learns or does inside your head is between the two of you.” She said with a slight frown on her face. “He made it very clear it was none of my business. What was his business, and he let me know exactly what he thought, is that I am doing you a disservice in not providing you some instructions. Please, you need to understand that I did not make that decision because I do not like you, or am afraid of you.”

“I know.” He assured her. “It has something to do with traditions, right? Or is it laws?”

“Tradition.” She answered with a smile as they sat facing each other. “I know the basics of what you have learned, and some of the specifics from the other day. Obviously we did not observe everything that you were taught, but I know that what they taught you was the techniques of using your gift. They did not teach ethics, or history or anything else but how to use your abilities in certain ways. I’m sorry, but you have been trained as a Dark Mage, and I cannot teach you magics. I swore an oath many years ago to oppose the Darkness, and that oath binds me.”

“I don’t want to be a Dark Mage.” Mikie said weakly and she shook her head.

“You have been trained as one, and that is what matters at the moment.” She said. “What you do with it from this point on will be up to you, but I cannot train you and I pray you do not seek further training from a Dark Mage. I’ve said I won’t teach you the technical aspects of our gifts, but Barret is right that there are other things I can teach, and I should. These things will help you choose your path from this point on in life.”

“I’d like that.” Mikie said with a breath of relief. He was still worried that she thought he was a Dark Mage, but maybe he didn’t really understand what she meant.

“Good, your lessons begin today, and will continue several days each week before or after school as I can fit you in.” She said. “Your first lesson is going to be about the nature of magic and mages.”

“Shouldn’t I get a notebook to write this down?” He asked and she shook her head.

“Your first lesson is that we do not write anything about magic down.” She said sternly. “The mundane world has its stories about magic. Some based on truth, some outright fantasies. Most people don’t believe in magic. Of the small group who do believe, only a very few can even touch magic. They are dreamers, or posers, who want what they do not, cannot have. In all the world, there are probably somewhere between one or two million people who have the magic gift.

“Most of them are in old families, like yours, or families like mine who chose different paths than the accumulation of wealth and power. We know that the ability to do magic is genetic, and so is passed down from parent to child throughout the ages. Many of the older, powerful families like yours and Elizabeth’s constantly reinforce their bloodlines through intermarriages, but even they know the benefit of bringing in fresh blood. Sometimes they convince someone from a family like mine to marry and breed, or they marry and breed with an ungifted to ward off the dangers of inbreeding.

“Occasionally, and it has grown more common in the last fifty years, a Gifted will have an illicit child by an ungifted mistress or short-term affair. That child will be ungifted or only have a minor gift, and even more occasionally they or another of their descendents will marry either into an old family, or another from an affair like them. Most of the gifted born into ungifted families come from these types of situations. Any questions?”

“No, that seems fairly simple.” Mikie said.

“It is.” Stacy agreed. “Of course there are all sorts of complications and unique situations that can develop. Like what happened with Jamie. There is no separate government for our kind, or at least there hasn’t been in known history. Gifted have risen to power, become dictators or kings or the like, but they are few and far between. Most of us live as part of the society around us. Even the Sinclairs and Bradwells rarely seek political office, although they usually hold a great deal of secular power.”

“Why is that?” Mikie asked with a furrowed brow. “As obsessed as some of them are with power, I would think they’d go after political power too.”

“Politics is far too visible.” Stacy answered. “Most people believe in magic as a fairy tale, and we prefer it that way. Think on human nature. Even if they weren’t jealous of us, or scared of us, they would want things from us. Healers would be demanded to use their powers to heal anything and everything, and what would happen when they used up all their power and a child came in they could have saved if they weren’t drained? What happens when weather-workers can’t relieve a drought for farmers in his area because by doing so he would create an even worse drought in another area? That is why the greatest tradition, the strongest known to any of us no matter the path we walk is that the mundane are not allowed to know we exist. When a mundane finds out, we alter their memories, erase what they learned, and send them on their way. A Gifted with a mundane lover is allowed to let the lover know, but must set strict controls to make sure they keep the secret.”

“I understand.” Mikie said. She was right, the tradition was right, even though it seemed to allow for the violation of free will. “Isn’t it wrong, though, to erase a mundane’s memories without their permission?”

“In most circumstances, yes.” Stacy said with a smile. “To save a life, it is considered ethical, and by erasing memories to keep the Secret, you are saving many, many lives. Even Light Mages have killed mundanes with their powers to prevent the Secret from being revealed, and not been censured for doing so.”

“The needs of the many.” He quoted from his business ethics course. That had been a joke of a course, but it had been taught, and he’d taken it while laughing at the ‘ethics’ it tried to teach.

“Yes.” She agreed.

“So, there isn’t a government for us, and I assume there aren’t any laws regulating what we can do?” He asked.

“Essentially correct.” She agreed. “We try to keep those in government totally unaware of our abilities. There have been incidents where gifted from outside the families get involved in a government project, or cause problems, but they end up being dealt with.”

“What if I misuse my abilities?” He asked. “How do people stop me?”

“Those who find out about it will deal with it in any way they deem fitting.” She said. “It gets messy, of course, but it’s better than the alternative. There is already enough of a struggle between the light path and dark path that our own version of government and laws would make things worse. One thing both sides agree on though is that anyone who endangers the Secret is dealt with. Light and Dark have been known to work together in extreme cases like that.”

“I don’t get this Light and Dark stuff.” Mikie admitted. “Isn’t our Gift like anything else, neutral in its very nature? Isn’t what we do with it how we should be judged?”

“That is the essence of the two sides.” She agreed. “Light path tends to use their powers for the benefit of everyone, including the ungifted. Unless it is to protect the Secret, or for a greater good, they respect the free will of all people. Dark Mages tend to ignore anything but their own needs, or wants. Any good they do is simply a by-product. Let’s use the soul-bonding ceremony between you and Brandon Meyers as an example.”

“You said it was one of the worst Dark ceremonies.” Mikie said with a nod. “But, didn’t Brandon choose it? I mean, he knew what he was getting into, what it would do to him, and he still chose it.”

“Yes, and that just goes to show the pitfalls that can await those with the Gift.” Stacy said with a nod of her own. “Brandon did choose to be bonded to you. It is very clear, a requirement of the ceremony itself that he chose you to be his protector. But, it is still wrong. The binding by blood sealed him to you for all his life. Not just your life. Even after your death he will be sealed to you, alone, and in pain. He can die and you will undergo no real penalty. That is one aspect of the bargain that is unbalanced. Another is that he must obey you, but you don’t have to return anything to him. Yes, you swore you would care for him, or the geas did, but it is not binding on you the way it is binding on him. That is another imbalance. Finally, the soul-bonding forever removes his free will. He is little more than an extension of you, with any choice he may make in his life dependent on your approval. Free will is no longer a part of his life, and never will be again, even if you tried to grant it to him. Because you have to give him the ability to choose, he has forever lost his own free will.”

“I think I see that.” Mikie said sadly. He would take it back if he could, and he still had no idea what to do about Brandon.

“That is enough for today.” She said with a sigh as she stood up. “We will talk again soon. For now, think over what we have discussed, and come to me with any questions you have.”

“Thank you for this.” He said with a real smile.

“No, thank you for listening, and learning.” She countered. “Now, scoot! I know the boys are hoping to get out of here before I drag them in for lessons. They want to enjoy the last bit of summer as much as you do!”

Mike left the workroom and headed back upstairs. He found Richie and Jamie were outside, in the pool of course, and they had guests. Andy, Billie, and to his surprise Tom was there.

“There he is!” Tom shouted when he saw Mikie heading towards the pool. He was wearing only a pair of briefs instead of a swimsuit, as if he hadn’t planned on going swimming. Mikie had suspected Tom had a good body, but his motorcycle gear had kept his surprisingly lean and supple form covered. Now, Mikie could see Tom’s washboard abs, lean legs, and sun-bleached short hair very clearly, and liked what he saw.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Mikie replied with genuine pleasure.

“Oh, Josh told me where you lived and I came by to see if you wanted to go for a ride together.” Tom answered as he got out of the pool and they bumped hands. “Your cousins invited me to swim while you were doing whatever it was you were doing.”

“Go for a ride?” Mikie said with surprise. “That sounds…”

“Fun.” Jamie said with a smile. “You should go. We’re just going to the water park with some of our friends.”

“You sure?” Mikie asked, sending out a tendril of thought.

Sarah will be there. Jamie said with a tendril of his own thought and Mikie smiled. Yes, Sarah, the girl with the curly blond hair and the big breasts that had finally caught Jamie’s eyes in the last few days. Well, he didn’t want to get in the way of that.

Good luck He sent back.

“Go, have fun!” Richie called out with a grin, and he turned to lead the way to his room as Tom gathered up his pants, riding jacket, and other clothes from the pile they were laying in on a chair.

“Wow, I love your room.” Tom said when he entered Mikie’s room. “You’ve got some cool stuff.”

“I’m lucky.” Mikie said as he went to the closet and pulled out his riding gear. Tom was getting dressed in his, which consisted of a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt as well as the green riding jacket with its armored protection. Mikie approved of that. No matter how hot the gear was, it was better than riding in shorts only to wipe out and lose all your skin to road burn.

“I’ll say.” Tom replied. “Your parents must be loaded.”

“They were.” Mikie said without making it into a brag.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I totally forgot.” Tom said with a shake of his head. “Josh told me and everything.”

“Don’t worry.” Mikie said as he began to undress in order to put his gear on. He could feel Tom’s eyes examining his body, but wasn’t sure if it was just a guy checking out the competition, or something more. Nothing would surprise him anymore. “They weren’t really that good of a set of parents. Money isn’t everything you know. I find I’m much happier here.”

“Yeah, you couldn’t pay me to take Josh’s parents.” Tom snorted. “They’re always fighting with each other. Mine are all cold and distant to each other, but at least they aren’t yelling and screaming. Rich and Jamie are lucky. I’d take having two moms any day over what most of us get.”

“Yeah, they are.” Mikie agreed as he shrugged into the tight-fitting pants. Tom’s eyes were on him the entire time.

“You know, that gear looks damn good.” Tom said. “I should get me some.”

“It gets hot, but it is worth it in the long run.” Mikie stated.

“Not to mention it must drive the girls crazy.” Tom stated.

“That too.” Mikie stated. “Some of the guys, even.”

“Yeah, it could do that too.” Tom agreed in a slightly muffled voice and Mikie smiled to himself. Maybe he was like Josh, mostly straight but would play on both sides, or maybe it was the first time he’d ever even thought about it, but he got the feeling Tom wasn’t as straight as some might think.

“You ready?” Mikie asked as he got the jacket on over a skin-tight t-shirt he’d picked out. Tom nodded, and they headed upstairs.

Tom took the lead, heading East in a direction that surprised Mikie. After a half-hour, they began to get into some real mountains, and the highway became very twisty with lots of good turns that Tom took at a very high speed. Mikie had no problem keeping up, and found the surge of adrenaline on every curve to be wonderful. Even better were the times they started a turn and found a car in their path, requiring instant maneuvering to avoid a crash. It also got a great deal cooler the higher they climbed. When they stopped in some small town, Tom was laughing as he took off his helment.

“Dude, you are good!” Tom crowed as he pulled out his wallet to get some gas.

“So are you.” Mikie agreed as they bumped helmets for a moment.

“You hungry?” Tom asked.

“I could eat, yes.” Mikie replied with a grin.

“There’s a real good German restaurant just up the road a bit.” Tom offered.

“Sounds good to me.” Mikie answered, and they got back on their bikes and headed up the road. Fifteen minutes later they were pulling up in front of a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Tom was right, the food was good, but the company was even better.

His newest friend was a chatterbox, going from topic to topic as they ate with a barely concealed glee. First he started talking about the tribulations of growing up with two older sisters, parents who were hardly ever home, and similar stuff. Then he talked about basketball, his preferred sport at school, and various people he knew at school. As they ate apple streudel, he started talking about the area they were in, and how it had several old, abandoned mines – as well as some that were still operating.

“Hey, have you ever seen a mine?” Tom asked.

“No.” Mikie admitted.

“Well, there’s an abandoned one about twenty minutes from here.” Tom suggested. “We can go check it out before we head back down. I’ve been there before. It’s pretty fucking cool.”

“Okay.” Mikie agreed, enjoying the day so far. He didn’t really have much interest in it, but he was enjoying the company and that was enough. They paid their bill and headed off up the road. About ten minutes later, Tom pulled his bike onto an old road that was in poor condition. Mikie would probably have to take his bike in for servicing after this road, but he didn’t complain as they traveled up the road at a high speed, only stopping when they reached a chain link fence with “UNSAFE! DO NOT ENTER!” and other warning signs. He followed Tom’s lead, kicking down his bike’s kickstand and leaving his helmet and gloves on the machine before climbing over the fence after Tom.

“You’re going to love this, I promise.” Tom said with a gleeful grin as they walked up the old road towards some ramshackle, rusting buildings. Mikie started noticing that something seemed out of place, but he couldn’t quite place what it was until they reached the buildings and he saw the SUV parked behind one of them. It had been out of view until now, and he looked at Tom with a worried expression. The vacant expression he saw there sent his brain into overdrive as he recognized the look of someone whose mind was being controlled.

He hardened his shields to prevent any assault on his own mind, and began backing away from Tom. A little voice said he should do something to help Tom, but first he knew he had to keep himself safe. This was a trap, but he didn’t know who had set it. The geas couldn’t have done this, but it saw a moment of opportunity as a familiar figure emerged from the now open door of the SUV.

The geas struck with all its might, all its fury, and Mikie froze in helplessness as something brushed against his shields at the same time. As a second figure got out of the vehicle, and then a third, he tried to run, tried to fight back, but was overwhelmed from within by the geas, and from without as his shields crumbled to dust. Like Tom, he was frozen in place as Housemaster Byron William Jones the Third strode up to him, followed by Brandon Meyers and two other students from his school.

“There you are, my boy.” The Dark Mage said with a grin on his face. “Now you didn’t think you’d get away from us that easily did you? It took us a while, but we saw you riding with these boys the other day, and figured this one would do nicely to draw you safely out of the hold of those damn witches. Come now, we have much to discuss.”

Mikie was helpless to resist as the man turned, and his feet moved after him. Brandon was grinning at him with a look of adoration on his face, even as the boy touched Tom’s arm and led the innocent victim after Mikie.

What could he do?