The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“This is my show, Alex. Remember that.”

Alex fidgeted in the passenger seat of the modest, but well-maintained car. What was coming he had hoped for and planned for months now. What he wanted was worth the price paid. It was worth any price, really, and he didn’t care what the terms would be as long as he got the result he desired. His response was more a vent of the fear and anticipation of what was ahead than any real whine about his authority or lack thereof. “Considering how much money I’ve paid you, it feels like I should get some say.”

Robyn’s annoyance was a bit more genuine.“You paid me because I know what the fuck I’m doing. This isn’t my first rodeo. The only ‘say’ you get is that you get to try and talk your sister down like you wanted. You were upfront with that and you’re not the first one to want to try it, so I can deal. It’s never worked but it gives me time to get the layout of the place anyway and set up the best routes out. If you think you know better and can start giving me orders, I’ll quit and you can try and do it yourself.”

That deflated him somewhat, his voice taking on a more conciliatory tone. “If I thought I could do it myself, I wouldn’t be paying you. It’s just that...”

She took the change in tone for what it was because, as she’d said, it wasn’t her first rodeo and had no desire to beat him up or add to the distress that was already there. “This whole thing has felt out of control and now you want to get some back. But we don’t do that with you trying to bully me over things you know nothing about. I’ve gotten better than a dozen people out of all sorts of these cults and we’ll get your sister out, too. But we have to do this my way, okay?”

“I know.” It all happened so suddenly really Sure, Alecia had gone through the usual teenage rebellion, of course. Sometimes it seemed she was contrarian for its own sake, but it was nothing he hadn’t gone through himself, though he had to cut his short to finish raising her after their parents passed. She seemed to level out once she started her freshman year in college, turning that rebellious streak to more productive activism. Alex had not only approved, it made him happy to see her starting to channel that angst. She was buckling down in school and, for him, it meant that he could sleep at night thinking that perhaps she could make a living from her activism somehow, from sociology to biotech, to anything that would let her use that to make a decent life for herself.

Then she had dropped out.

Not just out of college, but, seemingly, her entire life. She’d decided to spend the first few weeks of her summer break traipsing across New England with some friends. She’d accepted his nagging enough that she’d agreed to at least text him once a day as to where she was and what her plan would be. He’d started to worry after three days of silence, but it didn’t freak him out too much once he’d reminded himself of where she was going. It wasn’t going to be some cell tower farm, so if she was out of contact, it wasn’t really her fault.

A couple more days passed and he found himself back on the edge that Alecia had pushed him over when she finally called. It was great at first. She was in a happy mood and the usual rant about this or that injustice in the world didn’t materialize. Instead, she’d spent over an hour telling him about the people and their calm, happiness, and their simple life. The way she’d said she was staying was so casual, it was almost a sing-song, ‘Oh, by the way...’

At first, he thought she was kidding and he laughed. She waited for him to finally stop and then explained with an unwavering placidity that she was serious and why that’s the way it was going to be. She had found a place where she belonged, a place that, unlike the rest of the world, was peaceful and just. There was no reason to fight endlessly to create the world that she wanted when it could already be found.

When he realized she was serious, he spent the each of the next times he was able to speak to her on the phone when she made it into town trying to understand and convince her of the absurdity of it all. All that happened though was he was met with that steadfast calm. It was Alecia, yet it wasn’t. When she finally told him with no small hint of exasperation that she’d be happy to call and correspond about the events in both their lives, she wasn’t going to bother if all it was going to be was him trying to talk her out of her choice and being more than a little condescending while he did.

Alex decided then and there what he would do. He’s counted to ten and then did it again before telling her that she was right. It was a huge adjustment and perhaps they should take a break from all the back and forth. They’d write and he’d call again when he could accept things a little better if not completely. She accepted that with grace and understanding, offering to help in any way she could.

He was no more than off the phone that last time before he was searching out The Way and the Truth. Everyone knew that multi-platinum recording artist Rose Khyber dropped out to live what was basically a frontier life, but he didn’t know much about them beyond that. As he read he found a few things that made him not panic quite so much. They did have cars and appliances so she wasn’t there to be yoked to a plow so some guy could get his field ready, but, the more he read, the more he got the impression that she’d be fine with it if that’s what he did want.

What he could find told him that the man was the king of the castle and the women were simply docile and obedient, pumping out babies and knitting scarves for sale in the little markets in their towns. That wasn’t his sister and never would be. Was she angry at the world? Sure. Was she confused about where to go and what to do? Yes. And that, he knew, was what cults like that looked for. The idea that they played like they were so kind and sweet while they hunted, groomed, and brainwashed not only people like his sister,but his sister made him livid.

He tried to find people with people in the cult, and, while they weren’t hard to find, they were surprisingly unhelpful. Of course, most thought it was weird, and some, like him, had panicked at the news that their loved one was going to spend their lives there, but they ended up fine with it in the end. They still contacted their loved ones and that contact included visitation that most of them spoke very fondly of. Sure, their loved ones seemed a little “different around the edges” as one mother put it, but most chalked that up to accepting the lifestyle of the place. For most of them, it wasn’t worth fighting over and run the risk of losing their relative in a real sense. “If she’s better than eighteen,” as one father put it, ”and the place isn’t some drug den or trafficking stop, there’s not shit that anyone is going to do anything about.”

Alex realized that they had all given up. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. She was his responsibility and probably always would be since they were the only family they had left. He called the sheriff and asked the man to do a welfare check. Three anxious days later the Sheriff called back, said she was fine, knew who she was, where she was, and was clear that there was where she wanted to be. There was nothing he could do, or so he said. Alex realized the guy was probably one of them anyway, so he said his thank yous and moved on.

Then he met Ivy.

Not so much ‘met’ as chatted with. One day there was just an email in his inbox from her explaining again that Alecia was fine and explained what the community was about, which was basically the same Utopian nonsense that he’d gotten from everywhere else.

Alex thought she was familiar so he looked her up and it didn’t take long for him to find her essays about the community. Ivy was once a technical guru and blogger who had chronicled her experiences with the place and its people. It was sweet and the words read the way Alecia now talked to him like everything was as perfect as could be and nothing like it came close.

She had agreed to video chat with him and he had hoped to convince her to help him reach Alecia for her own sake, but that was as dead an end as everything else. She looked at him with that untouchable serenity in that powder blue bonnet that made the world directly ahead of her all there was. “Let me chat with her.”

“She’s perfectly willing to maintain contact with her brother. It’s not for us to keep her from that if that’s what she wants. We don’t shun our outsider families even if what we truly need and want is here. We love them, too, and hiding here just sets them to worrying for nothing. There’s no such thing as having too many people that love you and want the best for you.”

He felt a bit of relief at the words. Maybe Ivy could be reasonable. “Then let me chat with her now.”

“Alecia wouldn’t want to chat with you this way. The women here don’t use the internet.”

The relief evaporated like a droplet in the desert. His response found all the snark he’d intended. “You know you’re a woman, right?”

She tilted her head and gave him the snark back, “I continue to notice that every day in the shower. Anyway, the community decided that I would be their voice here when need be. As a rule, women don’t use the internet and don’t want to. ”

“You mean you don’t let them.”

The calm found her again. “I mean they don’t want to. I know you don’t believe that, and there’s nothing I can say that will make you believe it. But she doesn’t want to, so she won’t, and we won’t force her. I’m sorry that that’s not what you want to hear, but that is how it is.”

The panic and dread that went with feeling like he was losing his sister gripped him again as a palpable thing. His heart pounded and his anxiety spiked, and it was then that he usually did or said something stupid. Like now. “Do you really want me bringing the cops in on your little town? Want them poking around in your business?”

Ivy wasn’t phased and a bit of the snark returned. “You’ll try someone other than the sheriff, you mean? Give me a minute and I’d be happy to give you the numbers to call. No outsider laws are broken here. You’re not the first person to make threats, you know. I realize that you’re upset...”

He snorted. “Upset? My sister goes to see the sights and the grass and the cows mooing around and then she meets you guys and just decides, ‘To hell with it. I’m going to put on the blue frock and toss my life and future out the window.’”

She continued to be largely unmoved by his frustration as it wasn’t the first time she’d dealt with this sort of thing from dismayed or disgruntled friends and relatives. “She hasn’t done that. She’s just found a path that makes her happier. I understand that it seems silly to you.” A grin came with the memory, “Believe me, I felt the same way when I came here. It just isn’t like that.”

Before he could fire another salvo into the pause she continued, “You are overlooking the most obvious solution: come here, visit her, and see that she’s all right and happy. Or you can sit there and wallow in the nightmare scenarios that you’ve made up in your head.”

It was then that the idea popped into his head. If he could convince Alecia to leave under her own power, great, but he had to plan for the likelihood that that wasn’t going to happen. She’d hate him for a while, sure, but he could live with that. She would be home and safe and eventually she would see that he was right and did what was best for her. “So, can I just...show up?”

Ivy was relieved both for the fact that the somewhat hostile back and forth appeared to be at an end, and that he seemed willing to give the community a chance. “There would be arrangements to make, so a few day’s notice would be appreciated, but, yeah, you can pretty much name whatever time works for you.”

Having the beginnings of a plan in mind put him in a better mood than he’d been in for a long time, which allowed him to close out the chat on a good note. A few notes left on cult education forums later, and he found Robyn Ramirez. Having extricated herself from her own experience some years before, she’d made a career of sorts in helping other people out of cults. She also had no problem helping them out whether they wanted to leave initially or not, which made her perfect for what he’d had in mind.

With the basic plan laid out that they would go there, scope the place out, make contact with Alecia, and if she couldn’t be talked down, Robyn had connections that could be called upon on an hour’s notice. They’d get in and get her out. Robyn assured him that, while it probably wouldn’t be easy, she’d done it before. After that, it was a simple matter to make arrangements with Ivy and to find themselves now on the road to a little house that had no address; just a set of GPS coordinates from Ivy’s last “See you soon.” email.

“I’m surprised she was cool with me bringing someone,” Alex said, as they turned onto the dirt path.

She glanced at him before turning her attention back to the field she was navigating, lest a deer or something else jump out in front of them at the last moment. “Why? You have to understand how these people think. Either they so don’t want you to stir up trouble, so it’s fine if it keeps you quiet, or the fresh meat is bringing more fresh meat into the fold.

Alex fidgeted again, “Not sure which is worse.”

“Fresh meat, trust me on that. If they just want to make sure you have a nice little tour and visit with your sister so you’ll get the hell out and leave them the hell alone, then they’re just going to be sweet as pie, but not try to set any alarm bells ringing for you.”

“If they see you as someone they can turn, then it’s a different game, and they’ll use your sister to do that. Remember that when you see her,” Robyn cautioned. “They’re ‘them’ and, until we can get her out and deprogrammed, so is she.”

He knew that. He had to be strong for her because she needed him to be even if she didn’t realize it just now. She’ll understand eventually. She’ll forgive me. Tell me a year ago that I’d beg to have her back as that bundle of social outrage, I would have told you you were nuts. But now...

He finished the thought as she parked the car behind the house. Pulling their suitcases from the trunk, Alex was the first to the door. He’d already gotten Ivy’s sales pitch about the fact that the community was completely crime free, so he wasn’t surprised to find the door unlocked...or absent a lock to start with for that matter.

Flipping on the light, they found the interior of the little Cape Cod-style house modest in pretty much every respect. Wood flooring and furniture dominated, and, while nothing there could be called the bleeding edge of style and modernity, it was a perfectly quaint little house. Alex looked around the house to get the lay of the place.

Robyn, for her part, prowled the little place, looking up at fixtures and running her hand under the tables. Alex watched her for a time after stepping from the little bedroom, “You really think the place is bugged?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” she said after standing up from looking under the kitchen table. “We can’t afford to make assumptions. See some primitive little pioneer-type group that says they don’t like tech, so you assume they don’t have any so you don’t go looking.” She turned on the kitchen light to see if she could see a shadow that suggested that something was in there with the bulb. “But they’ve got eyes and ears all over the place.

She looked up to see him holding a letter to his chest, writing pointing out towards her, “What’s that?”

He seemed to be processing something his mind wouldn’t quite let him grasp. “A welcome letter.”

She took it and read through it.

Hi guys,

We hope the house is comfortable and we think it’s pretty well stocked with anything you might need, but if you can think of anything that was missed you can call me and I’ll be happy to take care of it for you. The love seat is a pull-out in case you need it.

I’ll touch base with you tomorrow, I’m just not sure when. It depends on when I get chores squared away, but it shouldn’t be too late. In the meantime, our community is yours. Stay here if you like and Alecia will see you after she gets back from her family trip, or you can go into town and really see what we’re about. I recommend the latter of course, as the only way you’re going to feel better about where Alecia is is to see where she is. If you go into town, please leave a message at my home so I know where to look.

Also, if you go into town and actually want to get to know us, we ask that you wear the clothes we’ve provided you. I guessed at your size from some of your social media pictures and your lady friend will find our dresses pretty forgiving unless she’s particularly tall or wide. If they don’t work for her, let me know and we’ll take care of things. If you don’t wear them, the community will just see you as a tourist and you won’t find most of us particularly willing to engage you beyond any business you might want to do or talk to you much beyond the pleasantries.

I hope you do. I hope you want to see the place your sister and I have made a home as we see it.

Have a lovely visit.

Sincerely,

Ivy

It was like a fresh cut to be reminded that Alecia was married now and he watched Robyn’s dark eyes pick apart the letter, looking for a clue to their agenda, from a secret code to just a vibe, though she admitted she was going to feel that vibe probably no matter what. She tossed it in the air on an erratic course to the couch as she went to the closet to find the attire they were expected to wear. Neatly placed within the closet were seven dresses of pale blue. She lifted one to get a feel for it. It was thick enough to have a bit of weight, but she didn’t expect that it would be too cumbersome to go all day in.

The white lace at the sleeves and neckline was handmade and exquisite. To the right of that were seven white lace slips. After a small gap between them, there were seven men’s shirts all, gray and cleanly pressed black pants hung next to each shirt. Separate from the other clothes, hanging almost as if with reverence was a black vest with silver buttons. Directly above it on the shelf was a wide-brimmed bonnet that matched the dress trimmed with the same exquisite lace.

Alex watched her look over the clothes, “Why a week’s worth of the rest of the clothes, but only one vest and one bonnet?”

She shrugged as she hovered through the rest of the house. “I dunno. Maybe, like some special bauble; their version of a rosary or something. They want us to be like them as much as we can for as long as we’re here, so we’re more likely to accept them. If they see us as recruits then they’re trying to indoctrinate us by dressing us the same.”

The idea of being twisted up into one of them made him queasy. “That’s that then. We shouldn’t go into town.”

“We kind of have to,” she said firmly after a moment’s thought.

“How do you figure?”

“Think it through, Alex. They invited you here knowing that basically, all you’ve ever talked about with your sister is her coming back. And, really, all you’ve ever been is aggressive as hell with them when you’ve talked. Unless they’re a bunch or idiots, and they’re not idiots, they’re pretty sure you didn’t come here to make nice.”

Alex flushed with shame, so much so that he could feel his cheeks burn, suddenly wanting desperately to go back in time and have every single conversation with Alecia over again.

“They’re probably pretty clear on the fact that you’re here to talk her out or try to take her. That’s why they told you you’ll see her when you see her. They want to keep everything on their terms for as long as they can, and they’re not going to just let you walk out with her. They’ll do whatever they can to keep her so stories of what this place is really like don’t get out.”

“We go into town and make nice with the locals for a while. It might put them at ease a little bit, but I need the chance to scope the place out and find some help.”

“Help? Who do you think will help us here?”

Robyn tried to reassure him again, “Like I said, this isn’t my first rodeo. There are always a few people, sometimes pretty high up, that aren’t completely with the program anymore. They have doubts about the dogma after years in or their consciences play with them after they’ve seen or done things they know are wrong no matter what the dogma says.”

“They don’t leave because it’s all they know or they have family they can’t get out or whatever, but they’ll be willing to help. Even if they just tell us who might be watching and how they might keep her from leaving, I can work with it.” Robyn’s mind was already at work, imagining how she would deal with different things she might hear. “The point is to get her out, and the fewer hitches the better, so we go into town, be sweet, look over the bakery stuff, and find the weak links in the chain.”

He was glad for her confidence. She sounded, while understandably cautious like it was more or less a done deal while, for him, the whole experience felt like he was already walking a minefield. The stress seemed to only be worse now that everything was so close. Even so, he couldn’t make himself pace the little place half the night. He was tired; tired of driving, tired of worrying about his sister, and tired of chasing his racing mind all over as it drew every negative out to its most apocalyptic conclusion. He just wanted to sleep. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing to do about any of it until tomorrow anyway.” The fatigue began to bleed into his voice “You can have the actual bed, of course.”

She gave him a grin. “Who says chivalry is dead?” Seeing the tired in his eyes, she came to him, squeezing his arm. “It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry. Tomorrow is the first step, but, before you know it, she’ll be away from all this nonsense and safe.”

“But that’s really only half of it. Getting her out of here is only part of it, and she has to want to come back the rest of the way.”

“She will, Alex. Get her away from this place and get her some help sorting it out and, before you know it, she’ll start poking holes in the logic of this place herself. Like I told you, this stuff leaves a mark. It just does.” She paused for an instant to push her own scars back into the shadows, “But she’ll be back to her old self before you know it and she’ll thank you for loving her enough for getting her out of here. “Okay?”

That was going to make everything worth while. “Okay.”

She gave him another confident squeeze. “Two sets of hands are better than one, so I’ll help you square away the fold-out. Sooner we get to bed, the sooner we can start working Alecia out of here.”

Morning came, and with it the opening moves in the quest to bring Alecia home. Both had been up since about dawn, Alex simply because anxiety was an alarm he couldn’t shut off and Robyn because she was running through possibilities, probabilities, and how she might contend with each before calling in her friends for the extraction.

So both were happy when the time came to get going. They dressed quickly, Robyn taking her time in the bathroom while Alex dressed in the living room. Robyn had to give credit to the seamstresses, the dress fit nicely. She could take a full breath and move. The chest was a little snug, but they couldn’t be blamed for not knowing and, truthfully, she’d worn sports bras that were tighter, so she could deal.

She waited for the bonnet until last, leaving it to sit next to the sink. The angle was such that she was peering into it a bit from the side and there was the impression in her mind that it was peering back at her. Robyn hated the thing. All cults had those sort of things. Making everyone like everyone else helped keep their victims with them by making you more like the community and less like anything else until you stayed with your own out of reflex...like a herd animal.

The wide brim was there to keep her focused on what was in front of her. Everything that might distract has to be taken away, so all there is is the little tiny world they want you to have. She didn’t want to wear it. In her research on them, she looked for any justification to skip it, but could find none. Every woman wore one outside, all the time. She’d probably stick out more that way than if she’d just walked around like a tourist. Here goes nothing. She took it in hand a bit roughly, determined to put it on before she let herself spin her wheels on it for who knows how much longer. People depended on her and she had a job to do.

It fit nicely, she had to admit; snugly, but not oppressive, but even that was by design, no doubt. Wrap a string tightly around your finger, unwrap it, and you’ll feel it on your finger a while after. The bonnet was designed the same way. It would be with you after you took it off. It covered her short, but thick black hair nicely and she quickly tied the bow to just get it over with.

She took half a step back and smoothed herself out before walking from the small bathroom to see Alex buttoning his vest, which seemed to fit perfectly, brushed silver buttons almost gleaming against the black of the vest. Once done, he looked at her, his discomfort clear, and his arms outstretched before bringing them back to slap against himself in frustration before grinning just a little in spite of everything. “Do I look frontier frumpy enough?”

She looked him over to make sure everything was in place. “Everything looks good.” She wanted to help him relax, so she spun, “Look upon this year’s Prairie catwalk fashion.”

“Same as last year’s and next year’s?”

There was some of that chill she was looking for. That’s what she wanted him to take into town. The populace was going to try to disarm them, and they had to do the same. “It’s a timeless look. That it’s timeless because you think fashion stopped evolving in about 1870 is something else entirely.”

He smiled at that and she nodded. “Keep that. We’re here to make friends. Anybody that might help us won’t if they don’t like us, so watch that frustration. Keep an eye out, but let them see us have a nice time.”

With that, it was a half an hour or so of a drive into town. It was her car, but she knew only the men did that here, so she contented herself letting him drive as she watched the miles go by. The barely two lane road was pretty freshly done so the ride was smooth. It was a warm spring day with not a cloud in the sky that let the sunlight strobe through the leaves as she glanced up now and then. Small towns and farms dotted the landscape here as they would for further than the eye could see. Some of the farms had huge houses that somehow still managed to look quaint and homey despite their size. Green pastures with horses and cows sometimes alternated between those and corn and wheat fields. There were even telephone polls to be seen. It truly looked like a slice of the past brought to the now. If you have to make a nice little cult somewhere there are worse places.

As they approached the town, traffic picked up considerably as they joined the slow caravan of tourists coming in and out of town. Ivy had directed them to the parking lot of a corner store that was unofficially community parking only. Alex found a nice spot and looked to her, “Stay here for a sec.”

She puzzled as he got out, speaking as he came around the front of the car, “Like you said, chivalry isn’t dead.”

Truth.

He felt it as a quick wave of giddy excitement that quickened his step to open the door. Robyn rolled her eyes but let him do it all the same. “We’re not going arm in arm.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Glad we’re clear.”

They took the sidewalk and, as one might expect, the closer they got to the city square the more crowded it became both with members of the community and tourists milling about the streets. Small stands lined either side with handcrafted goods; everything from food, to glassware, to jewelry with enough space between that browsers could serpentine between them.

Wind chimes played a discordant tune that somehow still worked while Robyn did her best to take in the people of the community. When she caught the eyes of merchants, man or woman, they would smile warmly and she’d return the silent greeting. What she looked for though were smiles she could see through; smiles that faded just a little too quickly or people that wouldn’t quite meet or hold her gaze. Those were the cracks in the facade of this place that she could worm her way between and get the help she needed, even if it was just intel.

So far she hadn’t seen any of those little cues which was slightly unusual, but she dismissed it. The faces that met with the public would pretty much have to be the most faithful. Real doubters would be shoved to the side. Still, there were public faces and private ones. If she could find a way to get some of them more or less alone, they might at least give her a lead or two.

For now though she took in the scenes around her. A woman plied her needlepoint wares with exuberance when the people came to look. She was obviously proud of the work she’d put in without being too boastful about it.

A tourist in a business suit haggled with one of the men over building an entertainment center or some such. It was animated certainly, and almost as though both were enjoying the process. Teenagers mingled together with that youthful energy that was nearly universal and was muted to her ear only in that the colorful metaphors that often peppered teenage language as they looked for ways to explore their freedom as they crept toward adulthood where she was from were absent.

When an adult spoke to them the chatter stopped and they were friendly and respectful, which only seemed to Robyn to be very odd in that it was unlike teenagers anywhere in her experience. There were always moments of rebellion.

And not a day went by that she hadn’t wished she’d skipped a few.

Little children played in the small park in the distance and, while they looked much like their older counterparts they were without the otherwise mandatory vests and bonnets for all. The uniformity seemed to come with adulthood.Some rite of passage, I guess.

She was pulled from the thought by the irritation in Alex’s voice. “This place isn’t someplace anybody should be, but it’s not a damn zoo either.”

Robyn followed his eyes to a soccer mom and her two teenage sons snapping pictures of the men and women in community dress and making no secret of the fact that they were enjoying the ‘oddball’ nature of the place and its people, heedless of the fact that sound carried until a constable asked kindly if he could help, blocking the show until they decided to wander down the street. All in the community did their best to shy away from feeding the little frenzy, and, now that she saw what to look for she saw less overt examples from tourists whispering as community members walked past or pointing subtly. The little ones, at least, don’t deserve it. They didn’t ask to grow up here. “People are assholes,” she said quietly so as not to be overheard and perhaps break some taboo these people had. “What else is new?”

Alex and Robyn checked out the shops and made small talk with the men and women running them. They were halfway down the first block before a voice somehow carried over the crowd, “Alex, Hello.”

They turned from examining the ornate little glassware baubles to see Ivy closing the distance between them with a stride and demeanor that suggested she was genuinely happy to see them. Her smile was broad and that infectious happiness showed itself as a twinkle in her eyes too. Alex had seen some vamped up photography of the woman back when she was Lady Technomage and she was nothing short of hot.

She was just as beautiful now, it was just different. Her skin glowed and, with the sparkle in her eyes she was almost magnetic. How could I not have noticed that? He admitted that when he spoke to her before that he wasn’t exactly open to seeing her as she looked now. She clasped his hand firmly. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you.”

“You sure about that?” It came out only as a half-joke.

Ivy blushed but didn’t shy away. “You were understandably angry and I admit that I was a bit snarky, so emotions were running high on both sides. I apologize sincerely for that and hope this visit can make up for it if you’ll give me and the rest of us a chance.” Her eyes then fixed upon the unfamiliar young woman without losing her exuberance, “And who might your guest be?”

“Robyn Ramirez,” she said, moving in to get the hug that Ivy was offering, playing the game to the best of her ability. “He didn’t want to come alone, so here I am. I hope that’s all right.”

Ivy waved it off, “Don’t be silly. If it weren’t we’d have said so. There’s no reason to keep anyone else away.”

“Of course not.” Robyn thought it sounded convincing at least.

Ivy glanced around before focusing on Alex. “So what do you think so far?”

“Seems nice,” he said carefully, looking around himself. “Everybody looks happy anyway.” He sort of surprised himself by getting the thought out without emphasizing ‘looks.’

“Everyone is, I promise. We treat one another as people deserve to be treated and live according to the natural order of things.” Rather than let the comment pull them all into a deeper conversation that she didn’t want to have out here in the middle of the street. “I’m happy to take you around a little bit. We have a lot to be proud of here.”

They began to walk down the street and neither could help but notice the little waves in their direction and the smiles for Ivy. She smiled, too, and threw out little bits of small talk. Robyn noted that she walked ever so slightly behind Alex, not so she couldn’t speak to him face to face, but the deference was there. Robyn cringed inwardly at feeling as though she had to, but she followed suit anyway.

“Do you have anything here?”

“Not today,” she answered Alex. “I got a little behind with making arrangements for you, but I’ll set up my needlepoint tomorrow.”

“Do you sell a lot?”

“Quite a bit,” she said with pride. “It’s a lost art for the outsiders. They like buying what I have but don’t seem to care to try it themselves. I understand.”

“You do?”

She nodded, “The outside world is busy. It’s sort of a made up busy, but there’s not a lot of interest in sitting down and devoting time to something like that.”

“So you’re not busy,” Robyn concluded.

Ivy giggled at the bit of absurdity. “I have plenty to do to take up my time, but I love the needlepoint. It’s quiet and it allows me to center after the busy. That I can sell my efforts for a premium to contribute to my family is all for the better.”

Robyn saw an opportunity to bait her and gauge the level of indoctrination going on in this place, “And nothing is more important than your family and the community.”

Correctness.

The very thought made Ivy happy, “That’s right. They are mine and I’m theirs.”

Correctness.

Robyn could see it and had seen it before. These people are in pretty deep...but at least they don’t seem to be a violent bunch. They’re pretty benign, outwardly at least.

Correctness.

She looked at Robyn, “I’m glad you understand. Now maybe you could nudge your boyfriend in that direction a little.”

Robyn jumped and answered a bit too quickly, “Oh, we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Aw,” she said with a hint of real disappointment, “you make a cute couple. The contrast is lovely.”

They spent the next half an hour chatting and walking casually down the narrow streets. Alex had to admit that Ivy was charming. When they weren’t sparring over Alecia over the internet, her snark morphed into good humor. Ivy was intelligent, sensitive and had a sweetness about her that was almost an aura.

She’s beautiful up close, popped into his head unbidden. As he looked to the women around him, he noted they all had it. Whether they were walking with other wives, chatting away, walking with their husbands, or the two parents together with their children teaching them about the world. There was a serenity there that accented their natural beauty. From height, to the softness that came with girth, to lovely eyes and full lips, to wide hips or full breasts, they all had something that made them alluring in a way he might not ever have noticed before.

Truth.

He picked up what Ivy was saying in mid-thought, “...So that you don’t have to mill around in that little house all out in nowhere alone, we’d really love it if you came to dinner. We’re good talkers and neither of you has to cook for yourselves the first night. I know how awkward it can be.”

Alec realized at that moment that he hadn’t had lunch yet, so dinner already sounded wonderful, but he looked to Robyn, as this was her show after all. “What do you think?”

A nod came just before a shrug. “That would be great, thanks. Beats trolling around for a place to eat or cooking for ourselves.” That it might ingratiate them even slightly to the community by seeming more friendly wouldn’t hurt in the days to come. Hell, if word spread that the visitors were okay and it even brought them a few minutes at the right time it’d be worth it.

Ivy clasped her hands together with a smile that could light the world., “That’s wonderful. Don’t worry about bringing anything but yourselves. Dinner at six, so come half an hour or so before?”

They nodded agreement before Ivy hugged Robyn goodbye with ferocity and clasped Alex’s hand in hers again somewhat demurely. “We’ll see you then.”

As they made the last turn on the dirt road to Ivy’s home, Robyn summed things up with, “They really have the ‘happy place’ thing down pat. Nobody slipped that I saw.”

Alex stayed focused on the road. “It didn’t look like an act to me. Not saying it wasn’t, but they looked like they were all with the program and good with it.”

“Oh, they are. You’d be surprised what hours and weeks and years of church, and laying of hands, and chants will get you to believe and do. Before you know it, you don’t even believe the common sense things you were raised with anymore. You can even kill somebody because they’re not a believer a believer or not a believer anymore. They betrayed the truth, so it’s either divine retribution with your hand, or you’re ‘saving them.’”

“So yeah, they are all happy, happy to the tourists. It’s how they’re trained to be and it’s good business. Look all quaint and homey and like Norman Rockwell was inspired by you, you keep the tourists and their money coming in.”

Alex sighed, “So how do we get past that to someone who might help us get Alecia out?”

“We just have to get some of the girls alone. I can work the rest. Until then, we take the free dinner, nod, and smile.”

He gripped the steering wheel. “I just...wish I knew where she was right now.”

“Probably safe at home getting extra lessons so she doesn’t mess up the meeting with you. Trust me, there’s no...little trip she’s on until tomorrow or whenever. She’s probably on hour thirty-six of a coaching session.” She saw him try to crush the wheel for an instant, so she tempered the truth with some more. “But she’s all right. They just don’t want her to screw up. I’m fine. Perfect. Happy. Thrilled. Will you leave now?”

“Not without her.”

“And we won’t,” she said, squeezing his hand. “Be mellow, stay mellow, enjoy dinner.”

Truth.

Correctness.

At least some tension released with his breath. Glancing left he saw Ivy leaving the little barn a fair walk from the home. Ivy saw the car coming along and waved with yet another smile like sunshine.

More tension fled his body at the sight of her. “Okay to park in the drive?”

“We’re in for the night, so anyplace you want,” she called back.

Putting himself behind the truck they got out, taking in the impressive yet somehow still modest three-story home, blue-gray with white trim that looked like something out of a country home and garden magazine with windows enough not to miss an instant of sunlight. It’s like they’re trying to live Rockwell. “Lovely home,” she said as Ivy was now close enough to them that she didn’t have to yell it.

She turned to give it a look and it warmed her soul. “Thank you. We’re quite proud of it.”

Robyn probed again, “You guys are okay with the seven deadlies?”

“Nothing wrong with any of them. Doesn’t a warm spring day with a nice breeze demand a little sloth? There’s nothing deadly about any of them unless carried to extremes, and that’s what we and, frankly, anyone should shun.”

She sought to clarify as they walked to the front door. “We don’t follow the Bible or any particular book, though there are good guideposts to life to be found in all of them. We in the community are guided by a shared sense of correctness, truth, and propriety.”

Robyn pushed on, “But who teaches you what the rules are? Is there a priest or father figure or something?”

“Nothing like that. There’s no voice here that pretends the universe speaks only to him so that we all must listen and obey.”

“Then how…?”

“What is correct, true, and proper are already things that the heart and mind know from the moment we’re born. It doesn’t take long here to understand that. As to...rules or something, there really aren’t many to teach you. You know the way of things and what’s right. This place just helps still the rest of the world so that you can hear the voice inside you.”

Truth.

Correctness.

Robyn’s train of thought derailed as Ivy opened the door to the entryway that led to a spacious, comfortable living room as they inhaled the scent of cooking meat and that of the rest of the components of the night’s dinner. Seeing Ivy leave her shoes beside the door was cue enough for the two to do the same. Ivy walked toward the living room on her way to the open kitchen, untying her bonnet from her chin, “Everything smells wonderful, sweetheart,” she said, placing her bonnet next to another on the cherry coffee table.

The lovely blonde at the stove dialed the heat down just a bit so she could afford to leave things for a second before closing the distance between them. Her smile was just as bright and warm in return and her eyes advertised the love she had for the other for anyone to see. “It’s just a testament to how good I am that I can manage all of it by myself.”

“I stepped out to...tend some things. Left alone for twenty minutes is not ‘all’ by yourself.’” Their lips met in what started as a quick peck, but they both felt the need to pause, Ivy taking the other’s hand in hers and the next time their lips met it was longer. It wasn’t a full-fledged french, but the heat of it probably could have been seen from space. “Did you take care of things?”

“Quite well, I think”

They pulled away from one another and Ivy gestured the blonde to their guests before giving the two a quick “Sorry,” presumably for the semi-public display of affection. “This is Alex, Alecia’s brother. I told you about that, and this is his friend Robyn.”

She offered her hand to Alex, “Welcome to our home and community.”

Robyn finally got a close enough look at the woman to say probably the single most embarrassing she had ever uttered. “Do you know you’re Rose Khyber?”

The once multi-platinum artist, the arguable voice of her generation, and unarguably the community’s most famous member scrunched her eyes shut and then opened them again in an effort to process the oddity of the question before answering with a laugh. “Yes, I know I’m Rose Khyber and it’s wonderful to meet you.”

Robyn fell into Rose’s hug to try to move past the embarrassment. “I’m so sorry. That was just the dumbest thing.”

“No. Come back after you’ve tattooed my face on your chest with my name misspelled and then spend five minutes insisting to me that the way I spell my name is not how it’s spelled.”

Robyn laughed, “Wow. That actually makes me feel better.”

As they finished their introductions Ivy went to the stove to judge how close each bit was to done. “What can I help with now that you’re not left soooooooo very alone?”

“You could make the pan gravy, thank you very much.” Rose looked to the guests. “Think nothing of her behavior, she’s always this mean to me.”

“Good Lord.” Ivy didn’t turn away from retrieving flour from the cupboard.

The two began to feel awkward with the activity now going back to the normal of getting dinner ready and Alex spoke up first. “Anything we can do?”

Rose was thoughtful, eyes to the ceiling for a second. “Brandon is probably caught up in tinkering again, so I think it might take a man to finally pull him in for dinner...if you wouldn’t mind?” Alex took from her tone he was perfectly within his rights to refuse if he chose. As the man, probably.

Truth.

“Sure, no problem.” He was heading back for his shoes a moment later.

“Could you set the table please? Dishes in the far left cupboards, utensils in the drawers below.”

Robyn didn’t even think to respond. She just went to the cupboards and began collecting plates to place on the long table. “Pan gravy? Not much for health food around here, I take it.”

Rose answered as she tented to the vegetable medley. “No, it’s not tofu and spring water. The men here need good food to fuel them. They work hard and I think that the fact that they work hard sort of balances everything out. They aren’t putting permanent ass-dents in the couch while they wait for their women to deep fry everything they eat.”

“Makes sense, I suppose,” she agreed as the plates tapped against the wood. “Can I ask a personal question?”

“You can ask anything you like.”

“How common is the poly thing? Or does he not know about that.” She hoped it was the latter, as she wasn’t above a little extortion of the locals to help get someone out.

It’s not uncommon, Rose said as she went to get a serving bowl for the vegetables. It depends on what everyone wants.” She thought back to the days before Ivy when Brandon wanted another; wanted her, and then her wanting to make that happen just to bring him joy. “That it’s usually the man’s idea first doesn’t matter. I love her and she loves me and we both love him.”

“There are very few boundaries to love here,” Ivy added.

A hand gripped the knob in the distance and Rose began to glow again as she had when Ivy entered, “Speak of the adorable devil.”

Brandon took the lead through the door and Robyn took him in. He was a little on the short side for a man with short brown hair and wide, brown, almost puppy dog eyes. He didn’t seem the type to be able to manage one woman, much less two. But, judging by how they both took his arrival, he was managing both just fine. Robyn watched as Rose melted into his arms. These patriarchal cults were the worst, she thought even as she changed how she was setting the table to get a better view of them. They had the poor women convinced that they couldn’t get along without men to the point where they couldn’t even imagine trying. What could make a woman like Rose Khyber let herself be duped by these people? She was always such an empowering voice in the world. Now she’s just a mouse waiting for the man to tell her what to do.

Bad thought.

But as she watched, she was loathe to admit that she saw something else. He didn’t walk past her with that swagger that suggested that he owned the world because God said so. He didn’t look at her like her purpose on Earth was to clean the dirt from his shoes or that she was to speak only when spoken to. He looked at her with doe-eyed adoration, like the best thing he could do in this life is make her smile. At least he seems to love her.

Correctness.

They spoke softly for a couple of moments, then he closed in on Ivy from behind. When he placed his hands on her hips and kissed she had to stop what she was doing, lest some catastrophe befall dinner. “Hello, you. Sorry. Got a little lost in sorting the workspace, though I might have been done sooner without the distraction.”

“Don’t blame me.” Her hand went over his, “You were wanting to be distracted. Can’t blame a proper wife for giving her man what he needs and wants.”

Correctness.

Truth.

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Get cleaned up and stay out of the way while we women do our thing?”

“Yes, dear,” he said with a laugh and complied after giving Robyn proper greetings.

They were all seated around the table and ready to dine twenty minutes later, having passed the food around and fixed their plates. Robyn had to admit it all looked great and was about to dig in before Ivy spoke to her, “You can take that off in the house if you want. It might make eating a little less weird.

Her hand went to her bonnet. Honestly, she’d forgotten she was still wearing it as she shied away awkwardly from the embarrassment. “Oh. Right.”

“On the coffee table with ours is fine if you like,” Rose said.

She placed it in the middle between the two others and returned to the table. It was somewhat odd for a moment to have her peripheral vision back, though it didn’t seem odd to still have the lingering sensation of it as though she were still wearing it. Alex was already eating and Rose watched him for a moment, “Everything all right with supper?”

“It really is good, thank you.”

She beamed at the praise.“Glad to hear it.”

“Two of the best cooks in town,” Brandon agreed.

“That’s saying something for me,” Ivy said with a laugh. “I didn’t even know what a level teaspoon was when I got here.”

“I read your series on this place,” Robyn told her. “Pretty ‘pro’ and not a lot of ‘con.’

She shrugged off the potential criticism. “I came here to write about Rose and this place and, to be honest, didn’t find many negatives to it. They...we...live simply, but not so much so that I wouldn’t call it some version of modern. We each have our place and know our place and, because we do, everything works. There’s a harmony here that the outside world has gotten so far away from that the notion of community and harmony are almost alien and people who live with either are somehow just nuts.”

“You can just...give up your life that way?”

Brandon laughed boyishly, “Give up her life? You almost make it sound like she killed herself or something.”

“Don’t forget about Alecia,” Ivy said gently to Brandon. Alex doesn’t understand yet why she’d want to stay, so, to him, she sort of did.”

He looked at Alex and saw the frustration there. “You’re right, and I apologize. I don’t mean to make light of it. A lot of families feel weird about it at first, but almost all of them come around. They see that their sister, or daughter, or whoever is okay and that we’re not a bunch of users, then they come around. They can come visit whenever they like.

“And if anyone wants to leave?”

Brandon just looked like he was asked what color the sky was. “Anyone can walk in and anyone can walk out. You’ve been here long enough to see that while there are fences around, none of them are high enough to keep anybody in. If they want to leave, they can leave. Keeping people against their will is wrong.”

Brandon sounded like he truly believed it and that, somehow helped Alex feel better. When he took Alecia out of this place he at least felt like there might be a few people who wouldn’t stand in the way.

“But we have a good life here and that appeals to the right kind of person.”

Robyn wondered. “Who is that? The right kind of person, I mean.”

Rose fielded that, “Someone sick of all that mess in the world. That world and that life of ‘Rose Khyber, superstar’ was sucking the soul out of me. No one here cares about the money or is stalking me so I sleep with one eye open. No one cares that I’m Rose Khyber.” She looked to Brandon and then to Ivy, so heartened by the sight of them and the truth of their feelings that she could have wept. “All they care about is ‘Rose.’”

“That’s all anyone here cares about. I gained everything and lost nothing that I ever wanted to keep.”

“You never…” Robyn caught herself. “Nothing.”

Her head tilted, “It’s okay. Out with it. You can’t offend me, I promise.”

“You always seemed like a pretty strong feminist so I don’t see how you...got fine with a patriarchal bunch.”

“Feminist doesn’t mean ‘anti-man’...at least not to most feminists. Besides, do you see me on my hands and knees waiting for his whim?”

“I see that occasionally,” Ivy quipped.

Each word from Rose was punctuated with a playful slap on Ivy’s arm. “Shut. Up.”

Brandon laughed. “No man here wants a little machine. No man here wants a woman they have to...direct like a puppet. They are fiery and have an independent streak and we like that. Women are people, not things.”

“But, on the other hand,” Ivy began, as she took another bite. “You can’t have a happy family life if the man and the woman...or women...are constantly trying to fight for and keep the alpha slot. That belongs to Brandon. We have our say and sometimes we’re right and he sees that, but, in the end, it’s like a scale that tips just a little bit more towards him. It’s enough so that everything works like it’s supposed to, but not so that we feel like nothing. Does that make sense?”

“I suppose so,” Alex said.

Truth.

“Glad I could manage explaining it. Anyway, Alecia will be back pretty early tomorrow as she wants to get back into the swing and has things she wants to get ready for the craft fair herself. So it might not be a lot after dawn and you can talk to her and see for yourself.”

Alex was already anxious for the meet. “Anytime she wants.” The desire for, ‘now’ was still there, but it was manageable now that it all seemed more definite.

Rose looked to Robyn, “We all get up bright and early to help each other set up. Could we count on an extra set of hands?”

Robyn saw her chance to separate some of the women from their men for a while and maybe find the help she might need. “I’d be happy to.”

Rose was excited at the prospect. “Great. Maybe Alex can drop you off on the square on the way to visit Alecia?”

Alex was taken away from glancing at the women across from him at the mention of his name. “What? Oh, absolutely.”

Dinner finished after talk big and small and, as they took their leave, Robyn placed her bonnet back on her head. It was easier than just carrying it and it felt right there, at least as long as she had a role to play here. Brandon, Ivy, and Rose gave them warm goodbyes as the last of the light of the day was fading and the car headed back the way it came.

There wasn’t much to say about the next day, as they both knew what they had to do and just had to wait for the chance to do it. Instead, they filled the silence with idle chit-chat about the night, only agreeing that it was a decent evening. Robyn knew that they were putting their best foot forward for their own reasons and Alex grudgingly admitted that it was a passable night. “The three of them seemed to be okay,” he said, unsure about if she would metaphorically lop his head off for the observation.

“There are always people who like the program and get along well. That’s probably why Ivy’s the one everyone gets to talk to.”

“So it wasn’t all an act.”

Robyn shook her head. “Not for them. They like it fine. That or they’re the best goddamn actors ever to take it up.”

Once they got back to their little home in the nowhere, Alex offered her the shower first, which she took gratefully, starting laundry before she went in. Just shy of an hour later, she emerged in a white cotton robe. She wasn’t trying to look pretty, she just was. Her copper skin was smooth and unblemished. The sharp brows above her dark eyes gave her a look of constant intensity and the thick cotton couldn’t quite hide her hourglass figure and every few steps he could catch a hint of thigh.

He moved quickly to the shower hoping to shake off the weirdness of those moments, and, in fact, the day. As much as Robyn had tried, she couldn’t have prepared him to be in the belly of the beast. Thinking of Alecia twisted up by these people day in and day out until nothing else mattered to her...not the world, not her life, or even the only family either of them had left made him crazy when he thought too much about it.

The hot water lashed his body and the white noise of it all soothed his soul and he thought seriously about staying just like that until there was no hot water left. He washed the soap into his face roughly with both hands as he realized the issue with things that he never expected that was going to make this whole thing that much harder.

He couldn’t hate them.

He wanted to. They were keeping his sister from her life, but the more he saw of them he had to admit that they were nice people. Oh, certainly they were duped by this whole pioneer utopia thing, but he couldn’t see any overt malice in any of them, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. They were friendly, earnest people just trying to make their way who got suckered into some alternative reality.

There were people who liked it, sure. Robyn was right there. Brandon and his women sure did. He chastised himself for that bit of misogyny, but it was true. They were his women. They called themselves that without a hint of shame. It just was. Even if they hadn’t said it, anyone could see it from the way they doted on him. They looked at him like he was king of the castle and that was the way it was meant to be.

Lucky fucker.

That just was, too. Rose Khyber. Fuck. Men and women would have lined up for a chance for a night with that woman even now. The thought of it drew his soapy hand to his soapy cock out of reflex and almost without him being aware of it until the electric currents of pleasure went from tip, to base, to spine, to brain.

His hand worked firmly as he thought of how casually Ivy had just thrown out there that seeing Rose on her hands and knees for him was so regular and so...nothing.

His cock spoke to his mind, worries about his sister or this place lost in the haze of increasingly frenetic stress relief. She probably begs for it. She probably begs him to just...do whatever he wants to her and she loves all of it.

He leaned forward, hand braced against the tile, looking down at his hand frantically abusing his cock without really seeing it. Instead he saw Rose taking every bit that Brandon could dish out as she whined and begged for more like like a personal whore.

His mouth hung slack and he grunted as each rope of cum to erupt from him as his thighs quivered was driven to the drain by the rushing water. But he wasn’t done. His cock was still throbbing and his hand took the bar of soap and lathered his cock and balls anew before it dropped to the tub with a thud. His mind went to Ivy back when she was Lady Technomage, supreme authority on ones and zeros and all things that ran on them. He remembered an article that she did for a PC magazine about retro tech that had her in an ’80s retro layout between pages of articles. He remembered the big hair and leg warmers and the thick, glossy makeup that left her with full, pouting lips and with smokey eyes that drew you in.

Not a lot of makeup anymore, not to that extreme anyway, but she was still so hot. He closed his eyes imagining her. He imagined how Rose and Ivy had kissed and imagined them fucking, for themselves and to amuse the lucky fucker. His cock wondered how Brandon could bring himself to leave the house or how his cock wasn’t blistered from fucking them all the time.

He can relax, Alex thought. I bet it’s not even a big deal to him. They just do what they want or they wait for him. Beautiful women like that that adored him unconditionally. Sure, they all loved each other, but damn. He knew he would be in bed with them as often as his body allowed. And they loved him

Imagining all the ways the three of them could be together is how he spent himself entirely. The hot water was long gone and he had literally lost track of all time. He rinsed off and hurried out to find the house dark, Robyn already asleep, at least he hoped so as to save himself any potential embarrassment. He considered it a minor blessing that he managed to make it to bed without slamming his foot into something or otherwise calling attention to himself.

The other thing he was thankful for was that he was so spent that he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, not having time to think about tomorrow, much less worry.