CHAPTER 94: BLACK MAGIC (2)

"Nonononono!" moaned Rose, before screaming again, "AAIEIEIEIEEEEIEEEEE!"

Madison jumped down from her top bunk and approached Rose. As she neared, Rose shook her head violently, her body shaking so hard she looked like she was having a seizure.

Speaking in a low and vicious tone, Madison said, "If you tell anyone about my power, or what has happened to you, I will ask Lord Asmodeus to violate every hole you have. You will know nothing but pain for the rest of you short miserable life!"

"Nonononono. Please. No. I beg you." whimpered Rose.

"Will you remain silent?"

"Yes! Yes, I tell no one."

"Will you keep your filthy hands to yourself?"

"YES! Yes. I’m so sorry. Please don’t-"

"Silence!"

Rose snapped her mouth shut with a loud clack.

Madison had been so focused on dealing with her pesky cellmate that she had tuned out everything else, but that focus was interrupted by a loud yell.

"What’s with all this racket?!" It was the voice of one of the jail guards.

Shit, did we overdo it?

She thought.

To her cowering cellmate, she said, "I don’t care what you tell them, but you will convince them that all this noise is entirely your fault. Understood?"

Rose nodded vigorously.

"Good."

Then Madison hopped back up into her bunk and lay down.

Bang! Bang! Bang! A moment later, two guards stopped in front of Madison’s cell and rapped on the bars with a truncheon. Both guards were large, beefy women with foul tempers.

As they peered into the cell, one of them yelled, "Rose, what the hell was all that caterwauling?"

"S-S-S-S-Sorry Officer Grady. I thought I saw a giant spider."

The other guards grabbed the microphone for her radio and said, "Open cell three seven eight."

There was a clank, and the door to the cell slid open with a clatter. One guard rapped on the Madison’s bedframe and said, "Out with you girly. Hurry up, I ain’t got all day."

With some nervousness, Madison hopped down and walked towards the door, then stepped outside and stood with her face pressed against the wall, hands behind her back.

"You too, little thief," said the guard to Rose.

Still trembling, Rose shuffled out of their cell and joined Madison facing the wall, standing as far from her as she could manage and still avoid earning more ire from the guards.

While one guard watched the two inmates, the other guards ransacked their cell.

Finding nothing, they sent Madison and Rose back inside before ordering the door closed again.

Even if all the cells would open up in a few minutes so the inmates could file out to the common room for assembly, it was procedure to keep the door closed until then.

While Rose cowered on her bed, Madison brushed her teeth and got dressed.

As she waited, she reflected on just how lucky she was.

If it were not for Jack and his Genesis Heart, her life would be over. Without him, there would have been no way to clear her name, and no way to get Rose to leave her alone.

She shuddered to think about what kinds of horrible things would have happened to her if she were all alone.

Her time in jail was, for her, a living hell, and she was certain that without access to Jack’s soul space, without parallel self, she would have shattered. Being able to retreat into her office in his soul space, to get regular hugs from him, it was the only thing keeping her sane.

Even so, if she didn’t get out of here soon, she was going to fake a comma. If she entered Jack’s soul space directly, without using parallel self, her body would just lie there, unmoving, unresponsive. The jail would be forced to move her to a hospital and put her on life support.

The only reason she hadn’t done so already was because she had worked so hard to get and stay fit. She wanted to look good for Jack and she could not do that if she was wasting away in a fake coma.

More than anything else, what really kept her going was the thought of finally being intimate with Jack. Every time he and Miranda had sex, she could feel it through their connection.

She could feel his pleasure, how much he enjoyed being with Miranda, and it ate at her.

Not that he was enjoying Miranda, but that he was not enjoying her. She wanted to make him feel the way Miranda made him feel. She wanted to see his face, to hear his voice, to feel it when he released inside her.

Sometimes she thought about asking him to take her there in his soul space. But she knew her worries would mar it, her fears intruding into her thoughts as she tried to enjoy him.

And she wanted her first time to be special. Or at least wanted to relax and enjoy it with no fears overshadowing the experience.

With a deafening clank and clatter, every cell door in the cell block opened.

"Line up!" called a voice over a loudspeaker.

It was time for breakfast and for once, the almost overpowering dread she felt whenever a new day started was tempered with just a touch of hope.

——————————

Jack was walking through the hotel lobby when he noticed that Derik, the same annoying receptionist that had called the cops on him the other night, was standing behind the reception desk, talking to a guest.

Remembering the things he and Madison had just done to her bothersome cellmate, Jack decided he was going to get a little revenge on Derik.

Instead of walking to the parking garage elevator, he sat in a lobby armchair that had its back to the reception desk and waited while his soul space self created a snapshot, and prepared little "black magic." When it was ready, he pulled out his phone and started recording a video of Derik.

AAAAAHHHHHH! Derik screamed in pain, then swore, "Mother fucker! Son of a whore bitch!"

Derik continued swearing while hopping on one leg and trying to pull off the shoe of the other. The guests gasped in shock, and one, an older woman, even said, "Well! I never!"

Aaaahhhhh! "Fuck!" cried Derik as he finally pulled his shoe off. Then he looked inside and screamed, "Who the fuck put tacks in my shoe!!!"

Jack snickered as Derik danced on one foot.

He had linked Derik’s shoe insole and several tacks from a box next to a notice board in the employee breakroom, then, in his soul space, he pushed several tacks up through the insole, at the heel, before exporting the changes.

And, et viola, the tacks appeared in Derik’s shoe, stabbing him in the heel.

By this point, everyone in the lobby was staring at Derik. Many seemed shocked at such crude behavior from an employee of such an upscale hotel, but some were clearly enjoying the show.

An older man came out from the door behind the reception desk and demanded, "Derik! What is the meaning of all this?"

"Some motherfucker put tacks in my shoe!" said Derik, incensed.

"Derik! Such language will not be tolerated!" scolded the older man. Jack assumed he was a manager.

"But someone put tacks in my shoe! And it fucking hurts!" complained Derik.

"I don’t care if your hair is on fire and you’re bleeding to death. As an employee of this hotel, you are expected to act with decorum!" said the older man.

By this point, one of the security guards had appeared, drawn by the commotion.

"You," said the older man imperiously while pointing at the guard, "take him to the back room and see if he needs first aid."

The security guard dragged a fuming but silent Derik through the door behind the desk, while the older man started apologizing profusely to the guests in front of the desk.

Jack stopped the recording, pleased with the results. He’d show it to the girls later.

He got up and headed to the elevator for the parking garage. Even with his little revenge, he thought he could get to classes on time.