The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The next time she was awake, the store was dark except for the light of Shannon’s screen, and empty except for her and Shannon. There was a blanket over her and a pillow under her head, and her position had been adjusted to be more comfortable. “Whargarbl,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster.

“It’s okay, I already told everyone to get on home to their own beds, or in Katelyn’s case, to Priya’s, since she really needed someone to hug. Some of us haven’t been constantly making out with people to bend them to their will, you know.” But the circles under Shannon’s eyes, starker in the bright harsh light of the screen, belied her bravado and gave away her weariness.

“We’ve both been through a lot. At least I got to have a little fun first,” Summer said, even as she got out her phone and texted her dad to pick them up.

“So what happens after this? I mean, if it works. I kind of have an idea of what happens if it doesn’t work, but I don’t want you to confirm it.”

“Depends. I do have a plan. The only question is whether I want to do it to everyone,” Summer said cryptically.

Shannon leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “You still don’t know your own strength, do you? One for all and all for one.”

Summer gasped, a tendril of understanding starting to unfold, before she pulled in her most trusted friend and follower for a passionate makeout. Only the sound of Summer’s phone ringing interrupted them, and she and Shannon went outside to meet Summer’s dad.

By the time they were out to the car, Shannon was dead on her feet, and Summer put her to bed in the backseat. As she strapped herself into the front passenger seat, her dad asked, “How sore are your shoulders right now?”

“No more than usual,” Summer replied, puzzled.

“Really? Because you’re carrying a lot of people on ’em right now. I know what you’re doing, and it’s about time someone did it. I had my suspicions about what was going on at the school, but I didn’t have the proof and I didn’t have the power to face them down. The safest thing to do was try and keep you and Dawn at a distance from it. But once I knew what really happened to Dawn, I knew Anya wouldn’t stop at just letting you know your powers existed, and you wouldn’t stop at just the girls who killed Dawn with their careless cruelty.” He had to stop for a moment to get past the lump in his throat. “I’ve already lost one daughter. I can’t lose you too, Summer. I wanted to be sure you weren’t in over your head. I’ve heard the whispers, and I can translate them. You’re building an army, and you’ll need it, at least for now.”

“Only for now,” Summer said instantly. “When this is all over, I’ll free as many people as I can. My top ten I’d like to keep close to me, and some of the hopeless cases like Evelyn are better off with someone they can trust. I can take care of them through the store- I have the lease and everything. Then I’ll go to college, just like we planned.”

“Not as easy as it looks, any of it. Besides... it’s a little more weight on your shoulders, but I couldn’t lie to you to stall. This came by courier today, from Russia. You know what it is, but don’t burden yourself with it until you’re ready,” he said, squeezing Summer’s hand and indicating the stuffed overnight pack in the backseat next to Shannon.

“It’s... it’s okay, Dad. At her age she was just waiting for her ride,” Summer said, but she was quiet and her eyes were bright with unshed tears for the rest of the trip.

When they finally got back to the Doby home, Summer poked Shannon awake and walked her into the house, then up to Summer’s room. “As comforting as I think we’d find it, mom’s not dimmed enough to not freak out if we’re sharing a bed, even if we’re not doing anything, even if we’re too tired to do anything. Sleep tight, Shan.”

Shannon was out like a light shortly before she hit the bed. Summer closed the door behind her, then hesitated a moment before going into the next bedroom over- Dawn’s bedroom. I was a really crappy sister while you were still alive, Dawnie. I never understood you, and I hurt you, and I couldn’t protect you. But I loved you, and I still love you, and I’m going to do right by you, even if it’s too late.

She closed the door of Dawn’s room behind her and turned on the lamp. The light left dappled patterns from the lace lampshade on her face and on the pastel pink of the bedspread. It wasn’t as dusty as she had expected; her mother must have been in there to clean sometime after the funeral. The sight of Dawn’s things was like a punch to the heart for Summer- this had been the one place her sister felt comfortable being the little girl she still was at heart. The stuffed animals lined up on the dresser seemed to stare at Summer with accusation in the black beads of their glassy eyes, and the remedial reading textbook still open on the desk was a taunting reminder of things left unfinished.

Tears stung at Summer’s eyes, but she wiped them away before they could fall. She had another burden to carry and another duty to remember. She sat down on the bed, feeling it sag in unfamiliar ways, and opened the packet from Russia. Thank you, Anya, for teaching me how to make things right, or at least as right as I can. I know what this meant to you. I know what you trusted me with. I have to live up to your name, and whether I think I can or not, it doesn’t matter.

Carefully, she read through the documents in Russian and in English, her eyes growing wider by the moment. When she was done, she looked up at the stars and offered a smile that she knew Anya saw somewhere, before curling up in Dawn’s bed and falling asleep.

The morning dawned with surprise pancakes from Summer’s mom. “It’s always so nice to have you here, Shannon. Your father called and was happy that you were able to stay the night, though your mother was concerned for some reason,” she said, the distance in her voice clear, but not to the same extent as Shannon or any of the others she knew.

“Yeah, she’s, uh, not taking the ‘your little girl is now a woman’ thing well at all,” Shannon explained, rubbing Summer’s knee in a silent show of respect for the dignity Summer had left her mother.

“Oh, I understand,” Summer’s mom said, staring blankly towards Summer as if waiting to be fed the next line.

“We’re headed out to the mall again- want us to pick you up anything?” Summer asked between scarfing down pancakes.

“How nice of you to ask! No, dear, just go have fun,” Summer’s mom replied. Summer’s dad gave her a nod of respect as the girls went out the door.

Shannon took her usual position behind the wheel, and Summer claimed shotgun. After a moment to gather her thoughts, she said, “You brought up the future before, when you were talking me off the ledge after I saw what Principal Llewellyn was doing. The future came last night, but that’s all I can say for the moment.”

“I’m sorry. I know she was like your other mother,” Shannon said, her voice soft.

“More than I knew for so much of my life. But that wasn’t what made it difficult. She was ready to go. I think she barely made it back to Alaska. And given that they cremated her at the last minute, I’m no longer sure she was being metaphorical when she called Dawn’s casket her bed.” Summer’s breath hitched, the terrible memory of her sister’s face in the wooden casket rising behind her eyes.

“You care so much. Our chains are tight, and they should be heavy, but you take so much on yourself that you make them lighter. I guess this means you have an empire to claim?”

“That’s the choice I have to face. I don’t want to talk about it right now. It’s way too complicated, and I need to figure out how much of it to claim. Right now we have a raid to pull off, a town to save, and a lunatic to stop. So, you know, no pressure.”

“Pssssh. Harper’s big paper is scarier,” Shannon said dismissively as they pulled into the mall to finish the feeding frenzy.

Summer smiled, but she knew they were both whistling past the graveyard.

“And that’s 150! What’s that, ten more than those jocks have?” Evelyn asked as she started a new line in the ledger.

“Twenty-nine more, actually. We moved faster than they were expecting, and they’re still filling holes on cheer and sports teams,” Vanessa replied.

“Even better. Anyone know that guy’s name?” Evelyn said, pointing towards the changing room where Summer was working with their latest recruit. “She wrapped him up so tight he didn’t leave his info at the door- what am I supposed to do if the cops show up? Or his mother?”

“Dazzle them with your wit and charm,” Shannon told her.

Evelyn stuck her tongue out at Shannon. The question was answered when the recruit under discussion came out of the changing room in baggy black jeans and a neon green shirt with the sleeves ripped off to show off his arm strength. The gleeful look on his face suggested how thoroughly Summer had blown his mind.

Summer followed him out with a wicked grin. “We’re good. We’re very good. That boy gives new meaning to the term ‘big and tall’.”

Everyone chuckled or smiled, or gave the new guy a nudge in the ribs. It was far from the first time she’d given in to lust while sealing a new recruit to her, not even the first time she’d done it with one of the boys. But they needed something to laugh at, something to break the growing tension, and she’d given them what they needed. All the better to avoid admitting that what made her lose control wasn’t length or width, but depth. She could already feel the heat rising again as she watched the young man hesitate at the ledger, needing Mickey and Ron to poke him awake so he could remember his name.

And that’s part of the power. Having the ability makes you want to use it- makes it a need. But I’m better than my primal needs. I’m not a rabid beast. I’m not Principal Llewellyn. I can control it. Aloud, to the rest of her people, she said, “Load the books into Evelyn’s car. Use Emma’s if you run out of room. Mickey, you’ll ride with Evelyn. Rick, you’re with Emma. We’ll rendezvous with the rest of the recruits at the skate park when we’re done at the school. We’re almost to the end of the tunnel. There’s a light.” Let’s just make sure it’s not an oncoming train.

With that, she took her usual shotgun seat in the car, and Shannon got behind the wheel, with as many of the rest of the crew as could fit in the backseat. They headed to the school, Summer texting and calling the rest of the recruits as they went to make sure everyone could get to the skate park in time for the rendezvous.

By the time they pulled up in front of Glassville High, everyone was ready. The books were unloaded, and Rick was already checking the doors to see if any of them were unlocked. Emma ran to keep up with him, hairpin in hand just in case everything was locked up.

But one of the doors opened, and Mr. McCaffrey ran out of the building, white hair standing up in every direction. “Now hold on there, what in tarnation is this? Little lost boys and girls caring about school on a Sunday?” he asked, stumbling over the words.

“Just delivering some books for extra credit,” Summer said, yanking down her shades.

“Ohhhh, pretty eyes, now don’t that explain more than those pretty girls ever could! Oh, don’t be sad they don’t work on me, I got nothing left for your little lasers to destroy. But I get it, I get it, ’cause none of them got those cheerleading panties, I get it. Lemme see those books, glorious books! Now, you young’uns always go about with those pens on everything, I don’t suppose this is any different... ohhh, yes, good old Gilbert and Sullivan, fine taste you have there in your literature! And what’s this... oh, yes, Pinkerton, what a fine gent to highlight!” Mr. McCaffrey rambled, and as he looked at green-highlighted word after green-highlighted word, something lit up on his weathered face.

Summer leaned over to Shannon and said quietly, “It’s said that if you free someone the wrong way, if you don’t lead them back to themselves first, they imprint on you and they hear your voice in their head... we know why Dawn was always a little girl, but damn, do I not want to know his history.”

“Don’t worry ’bout me, darlin’! I’ve had all my shots, and I got fewer diseases than any of the cheerleaders can claim. And if you’re highlighting Pinkerton, well, I’ll just have to bow down and worship... it’s Sunday, after all,” Mr. McCaffrey said with a strange laugh.

“What do you know?” Summer asked, running out of patience.

“Oh, I know lots of things, darlin’. I remember Pinkerton. They won, you know. But you know Glassville Grizzlies can’t lose, so if someone else wins, they gotta lose too. So, sure, they won the game, but they lost a few other things on the way. Glassville sure made sure of that. Lives, virginity, dignity... less important than a football game, but more important than staying in 5A. Ohhh, Mark Twain himself was here after that, and lots of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones!”

“Summer?”

“Yes, Shan?”

“He’s lost it. Can I run away screaming now?”

“Screaming, no; running away, yes,” Summer said, and to Mr. McCaffrey’s hoarse, cracked, off-key, out-of-tune rendition of “Sympathy for the Devil”, they made a beeline through the door behind him, through the cafeteria and into the echoing halls of the school.

Summer paced the corridors until she found the bank she was looking for. “Jock lockers. Wanna see a magic trick?” She spun the lock around five times, hitting 10, 21, 19, 9, and 1 in rapid succession, and unlocked the door. Then she did it to the next one, and the one after that, on down the line.

“But what number am I thinking of?” Shannon said, impressed despite her snark.

“Hive mind, same combination. And Principal Llewellyn took over when her brother was killed on...”

“October 21st, 1991! That’s creepy and a little morbid.”

“Okay, and I shoulder-surfed the number off Connie when she was touching up her lipstick and not paying attention to anyone who didn’t matter to her. I put the pieces together a little bit later, when I realized that it had to be everyone’s combination if it was one person’s combination,” Summer admitted.

Mr. McCaffrey appeared at the other end of the hall, still working his tortured way through the Rolling Stones, lost in a flashback. But Summer realized he wanted to help when she saw him open every locker in the battery. She gave him a nod of respect, and he answered with a warbled “whooh-ohhh” chorus before dancing away. The girls shrugged at that, and Summer signaled the teams outside to bring the books in and start filling the lockers.

Somewhere in the distance, they heard Mr. McCaffrey’s voice: “Please allow me to introduce myself... and just call me Lucifer!”

“I don’t think that’s how the line goes,” Shannon whispered.

“He’s out by the computer lab, I think. I think we’re going to regret this, but I have to go look. If you want to go back to the car... okay, no, you don’t want to go back to the car.” Summer cracked a small smile. “You don’t death glare nearly as well as I do.”

“You have an advantage,” Shannon said.

The joking stopped when they reached the open door of the computer lab. They could do nothing but stare in horror at the terminals, at the ultra-wide screens, at the large noise-cancelling headphones, at the giant projector in the front whose pulsing colors seemed more suited to a nightclub than a high school.

“What is she doing?” Summer whispered, unable to raise her voice further.

“Don’t know, don’t wanna know, probably not safe to know,” Shannon replied. Before Summer could stop her, she closed her eyes and went into the lab, feeling her way around with groping hands until she was at Miss Llewellyn’s desk. She reached into her bag and took out a dog-eared copy of Dracula. It fell open to a well-worn spot, and she left it there with a doorstop as its bookmark. “Closest thing to a stake I could find,” she said with a sheepish grin.

“Just what scene are you bringing to her attention?” Summer asked archly, finding courage from Shannon’s actions. She entered the room and ran to the whiteboard. In a dramatic flourish, she wrote, Pinkerton remembers! and ran back out.

“Never you mind,” Shannon said with a blush as she joined Summer in the hall and shut the door to the lab. “Any other hints we need to drop?”

“Not that I can think of. Kylie found some stuffed panthers that she’s leaving in the weight room,” Summer replied, striding back down the corridor.

On the way back out of the building, they saw Mr. McCaffrey again, whistling something sprightly as he went by. “Wait!” Summer shouted to get his attention, and her eyes locked on his as soon as he turned. “Thank you. I don’t know who did this to you, or who tried to fix you, but thank you.”

He nodded, in what seemed like the first moment of true clarity he’d had in years, and walked away. Summer stared after him for a moment in silent salute before leading Shannon out the door and to the skate park in order to ready the troops.