The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Bernie was awake. She pushed herself up quickly, trying to spit the sand and seaweed from her mouth, and rolled over to look up at the dawn sky above. She remembered the yacht, and a little prank she and her friends had been playing on the guys, and then she remembered the towline parting in that wind that had risen so suddenly, and the lights fading over the wave-ripped horizon …

… Everything from there had been blackness and chaos and screaming and water coming from all directions … and then she must have passed out.

Realization came to her suddenly and she sat up, her wet sweater clinging about her body and up under her chin, and sand falling in clumps from her long red hair. Her friends—she thought above the protests of her aching muscles—were they … had they?

She was almost afraid of the answer, but, as she looked around, she saw them, all three asleep, strewn out on the beach to her left … wait: Blake was awake, lying on her back and looking at her tiredly.

Blake sat up, brushing the sand off her face and trying to shake it from her blonde hair. Her sweatshirt clung wetly on her chest and she pulled at it, trying to make herself comfortable. Further on, Shelby was stirring, and shortly afterward, Thorn was trying to wring sand out of her raven locks.

“How long do you reckon it’ll take for that to dry?” Bernie asked Shelby, as the latter finished laying her cell phone with its battery on a piece of driftwood in the sun.

“If it works at all,” Shelby shrugged her shoulders, a few bits of sand falling from her sweater, “if it even has service out here … wherever we are.”

“Imagine if Brad saw this,” Blake smiled, “four girls without a working phone.”

“We need to make a fire,” Thorn looked up at the sky, “and we need a shelter because it’s going to get cold tonight.” She made her point, moving her hands to highlight the fact that while the others were wearing long pants and shirts, she was wearing cutoffs and a T-Birds shirt, having lost her jacket in the stormy night.

“And water,” Bernie added.

“Next thing I know, Bernice,” Thorn smiled wryly, “you’ll be talking about whippin’ up a few koalas and platypuses on the Barby.”

“Well Theresa,” Bernie shot back, “we will need food eventually” and fuck you too .

“I told you, bluey, don’t ever call me Theresa.”

“Makes us even, Thorn.” Bernie turned, looking around.

“Can we try to get along, girls?” Blake intervened, “I mean, at least until we start starving and need to kill each other for food?”

“You two need boyfriends.” Shelby giggled.

“Or girlfriends,” Blake added with a slight wink.

“Well that motor launch trick was her idea, and so tonight, when you’re sleeping on he ground, cold and hungry, without your big, strong man-toys, you know who to thank,” Thorn said, ignoring their remarks and turning to walk off in search of firewood and supplies, “just sayin’.”

Thorn had been looking back down the beach, seeing only two of the others, Blake, trying to start a fire near the growing pile of debris they’d collected, and Shelby—she thought, but couldn’t be sure—in the distance and glare when she heard sounds coming from the trees just off the beach. The island they were on, if it was an island, was fairly large it seemed, with a thick growth of palm trees and bamboo coming just to the edge of the beach. Bernie was somewhere near Blake, trying to find rainwater that might be collected from the bamboo… she said she’d seen it on some TV show, and Thorn had stifled a line about how it must be some Aussie Crock Hunter thing.

She moved carefully toward the noise, entering the tree line and stopping cold. There were six of them, women from several races, walking in single file out of the jungle. They all wore their hair in identical pony tails, and walked with a rhythmic marching gait, but what caught and held Thorn’s attention was what they wore. It was like scales, from neck to toe, hugging every curve of their bodies like a second skin and shimmering golden in the sunlight. Around their necks each woman wore a thin silvery band.

“Hello!” Thorn called out after the shock wore off. The women stopped in their line and turned toward her, staring. “My friends and I, we need help.” The six softly expressionless faces, with their bottomless blue eyes—Thorn realized that all of their eyes were blue—just stared, saying nothing. “Please.”

As if at a signal, all of the women resumed their march past the confused Thorn out onto the beach and down to the water.

Thorn watched after them, and quickly realized that there were other groups of them, six in each, walking down the beach as far as she could see. She started running back to her friends, seeing that they had all stopped what they were doing and were staring at the newcomers. The nearest group of gold-scaled women paused to watch her as she ran by, and then turned back toward the water.

As Thorn reached Blake, Shelby and Bernie came to a stop nearby, and all four stared in disbelief as the women waded into the water and disappeared. “What the Hell?” Bernie said, to no one in particular.

“I tried to talk to them and hey stared at me like I had two heads.” Thorn said, slightly out of breath from running.

“I tried, too, Thorn,” Blake stood up, holding up her lighter for everybody to see, “We have to get their attention … find where they came from and get help, because this shit here isn’t going to burn for us.” She pointed at the mostly wet wood she’d been trying to light.

“No water.” Bernie said, sitting down on the sand with a tired, defeated plunk. “And what’s this about Thorn having two heads?”

The water rolled calmly onto the beach, sparkling in the sunshine as the castaways sat in the shade, trying without success to arrive at a plan and musing about the strangeness of what they’d seen. “Did anybody see any scuba gear or snorkels?” Blake wondered out loud, “They’ve been down there an hour by now”.

“Maybe they’ve got a secret base down there.” Thorn suggested with a smile.

“They’re coming back.” Shelby spoke up, pointing.

Heads began to appear out in the surf, then in lines as before, women in groups of six marched from the water, this time each group carried three woven baskets, inside of which flapped what appeared to be shrimp and lobsters.

As before, the women, shimmering in their golden scales, ignored the foursome as they made their way back into the jungle.

“Where are you going?” Blake called after Thorn and Bernie, who had begun walking into the trees.

“You have any better ideas?” Thorn answered.

Not having a reply, Blake looked to Shelby and both, after a slight hesitation followed the others into the trees along what turned out to be a well worn path.

They’d been walking for what felt like a long time when the group they were following broke out into a clearing. There were women walking everywhere, all in lines and all with the same marching cadence. Golden scales gleamed everywhere as the four stopped at the edge of the trees. There were buildings, huts made of stone, thatch and some shiny material, and pathways made of red brick.

Suddenly there were hundreds of blue eyes turned toward the four friends, who now felt naked and exposed.

“Hello,” Blake spoke, “we need to call for help …” she paused, not seeing any change in the stares facing her. “Can we use your phone … radio?”

As one, all of the women turned back to whatever task they had been about before. Two, though, were approaching the four castaways, stopping just a few feet away.

“Hello.” Bernie spoke this time, “can you help us?”

Without words, each of the women gestured with their hands, then turned and started walking.

Bernie and Shelby, being slightly in front, started to follow.

“Where are you going?” Thorn asked, as Blake started walking, too.

“Wherever they’re going,” Blake turned briefly, “unless you can pull a boat, or a radio, or something other than your soggy cell phone out of your shorts in the next ten seconds.”

Thorn started walking as Blake shrugged her shoulders and they both fell in behind the rest.

They all followed their guides into the settlement and among the seemingly hundreds of women who lived there. The women were of all types, which struck the four friends as odd, given their apparently remote location. On closer, more prolonged inspection, they realized the scaled suits the women wore looked seamless and flowed without crease as the women moved. The scales were slightly raised, and shone like polished gold. The sleeves ended at the wrist, with a triangle of scales extending out over the top of their hands. The silver bands each wore at their necks looked seamless as well, and seemed so closely fit that it was hard to imagine how they were put on.

Bernie, walking in front of the group, shook her head a bit. She was tired, for sure, but her brain felt heavy almost, like she’d been sleepwalking. She realized that she’d been staring at the backsides of their two guides for a while now, gleaming scales moving to a rhythm shared by the whole place, which seemed to be quite extensive.

“Wow,” Thorn’s voice from behind broke the spell, “look at that.”

They all looked to where she was pointing, a large, gleaming pyramid at the center of the place, rising at least a hundred feet above the huts.

All of the women stopped at the sound of Thorn’s words and stared, as if shocked at the newcomers.

Blake realized, as they all did, just how quiet the place was. The only sounds being the slight wind, and the soft padding of hundreds of marching feet, and a faint sound of running water somewhere, “Guys, I don’t think we should piss them off, okay?” she said softly.

After what seemed a very long few minutes under the gaze of hundreds of blue eyes, the procession resumed, and the rest of the women went back to ignoring their visitors. They turned slightly onto a path, which paralleled one side of the pyramid. After a time, the two guides stood aside the open doorway to one of the huts and gestured inside.

Inside it was cool, and the sound of running water was louder here. Dominating the center of the large room was a large stone with a waterfall, and, below the waterfall, a large basin filled with crystal clear water, almost glowing with a faint blue hue.

Six more of the women entered carrying bundles. Silently, four of them unrolled soft mats on the floor and placed pillows on each, while two produced four smaller rolls, displaying the same gleaming gold scales that were everywhere, placing each bundle on one of the four mats.

As the six quietly departed, one of the guides picked up a bundle and unrolled it, walking over to Thorn as she did so. The woman held up the scale-suit against Thorn’s chest, as if modeling it for the rest. Her soft smile drew Thorn in, and her bright blue eyes were easy to fall into. The next thing Thorn knew, there was one of the silver bands held in front of her face. The touch of the scale suit was like nothing she’d ever felt, like an electricity against her bare leg, so it was a slow moment before she realized that the woman had taken her hand and placed the silver band in her grasp. The electricity was magnified a hundredfold and more still, as she stared deeply into the blue eyes that filled her vision she heard a voice.

“This will help you,” the voice cooed inside her mind, “there’s no need to fear.”

Thorn came to her senses quickly as the blue eyes turned away, dropping both band and suit, which Thorn realized she was now holding, back down onto the mat. The two women walked to the basin at the foot of the waterfall and one of them swished her hand in the water, smiling, then both turned and marched out the door.

“What’s going on?” Blake spoke first.

“What was that all about?” Bernie turned to face Thorn.

“I don’t know,” Thorn hesitated. “It was really weird.”

“We aren’t seriously going to wear these things, are we?” Shelby picked up one of the suits.

“They seem to want us to.” Blake was looking toward the door.

“Well, they are creeping me out.” Bernie was still looking at Thorn.

“Keep your voices down, okay?” Thorn scolded.

“Why?” Blake turned to face her, “What’s with the whole silent treatment around here?”

“I don’t know,” Thorn answered, walking over to the basin and dipping her hand in the water.

“They don’t speak,” Shelby said, slowly, her face seeming far away and her hands holding the suit tightly.

“Shelby,” Bernie moved toward her, “Are you all right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Shelby said, dropping the suit. “Sorry, I think I’m just tired.”

“Okay, so nobody’s wearing the suits, what are we going to do?” Blake asked no one in particular.

“We need to start finding a way out of this place, a boat, a radio, some food.” Bernie offered.

“Maybe our … hosts?’ Shelby offered.

“Our hosts are seriously weird, and what is this place?” Blake began, “Why have we never heard anything about it?”

“Like one of those lost tribes of the Amazon?” Thorn smirked.

“Why is it that any people that Americans aren’t aware of are considered ‘lost’?” Bernie shot back, “If you ask me, the lost tribes are better off staying lost.”

“I’m going to take a bath,” Thorn ignored Bernie, slipping her sneakers off and raising her leg over the polished stone of the basin.

“What?” Bernie said, “are you crazy?”

“I’m filthy,” Thorn began, “and I’m tired, and thirsty, and hungry,” she settled down into the water and dunked her head under to wash the sand out of her hair. “Hey,” she said as she surfaced again, “this water isn’t salty.”

“Okay,” Blake said, “so we need to figure out a way to take some of that with us.”

“Meantime, climb in,” Thorn suggested. “The water’s nice.” She held up her clothing, one piece at a time, and wrung it before reaching down to spread it on the floor.

As Shelby was moving toward the basin everyone turned toward the door. Two more of the strange women had entered, carrying a large tray of food each. Setting down the trays on a squared-off block of stone they smiled, looking at Thorn briefly, and then each of the other three, and turned, wordlessly, to leave.

“This place is the corker, isn’t it?” Bernie said, standing over the food trays. There were shrimp, and what looked like lobster meat, and several greens she couldn’t immediately identify, along with four polished metal containers of water.

Blake was the first to pick up a piece of food and try it. “Whoever they are, they’re awesome cooks! This is to die for.”

“I’m so hungry, I don’t care,” Shelby dug in next.

“This is, like, the best thing I ever ate,” Bernie said, taking a bite of the lobster. “Of course, it being the first food in more than a day helps.”

Thorn, still naked and dripping, walked over to the trays and took a big drink of water before taking a handful of food.

“Well look at little Miss Modesty, will you?” Bernie laughed.

“My clothes are wet,” Thorn explained, “and it’s not like it matters, does it?”

“I suppose it’s nothing we haven’t seen before,” Blake said and then rolled her eyes. “But still, cover up, you shameless hussy.”

“All right,” Thorn said, sitting down cross-legged on one of the mats and pulling one of the strange suits over her more private regions. “if you insist.”

Bernie raised an eyebrow, a nagging concern she couldn’t put to words making itself known, but she said nothing. This place is just too weird. she thought, taking a drink of water.

The rest of the meal was eaten in relative quiet, as the strain of recent events started to catch up on the four.

Thorn woke, or at least partially. She was cold, very cold, and there were no blankets to be had. Quietly she felt of her nearby clothes. They were still wet, and felt uninvitingly cold, and given that they were just shorts and a tee, she didn’t feel they’d be much help, even dry so in her torpor she reached down for the only other thing, the suit she’d used, somewhat mockingly as a blanket earlier. Touching it, she felt the same sensation as before, a not unpleasurable electricity

The suit was lighter than it looked, and surprisingly supple. The scales, although metallic looking, were not of a material Thorn could identify. It looked simple enough to put on, though, being open in the back, but there was no zipper, or other apparent way to fasten it. She hesitated, but the cold she felt made her wonder about hypothermia and how cold too cold might be. She resolved herself to make Bernie pay dearly, as this was all certainly her fault, and put one foot and then two into the legs of the garment, pulling it up to her midsection.

The coldness in her feet vanished instantly as the feel of touching the suit magnified itself at least a hundred times. She hadn’t mentioned it before, but since her bath and the meal she’d felt very strange … a very aroused kind of strange, and now, with the strange fabric against her sex, it was undeniable, and, as she lay back against the mat, her hands wandered to her body, moving against skin and suit with greater and greater intensity. Her body moved of its own volition, beginning a sort of serpentine undulation, her breathing became almost ragged with heat. A stray thought occurred to her that her friends were nearby, and that she was hardly being quiet, but another realization quickly squashed that one when it became clear that she didn’t care.

Thorn’s mind was awash in sensations of pleasure and warmth, and she fell into a heated dream, flashing with visions of women swimming, of golden scales glimmering among the depths, and deep, almost glowing blue eyes.

They flooded her mind as she came, and fell into a deep, deep sleep.

Bernie awoke; realizing quickly that she had been touching herself, her hand which had worked its way under her waistband was stroking her very wet nether regions while the other had been toying with a very hard nipple. She pulled her hands back quickly, looking around to make sure no one saw what she was doing.

It wouldn’t have mattered, she soon realized. In the faint glow from the doorway she could see that Blake had both of her hands working inside her pants and could be heard faintly moaning while Shelby had her top pulled up and was teasing very erect nipples and breathing in soft sighs. Thorn she saw … What the … ? Suddenly, Bernie was very awake: Thorn was sleeping on her back, perfectly still, arms at her side, and wearing … she had one of the suits on.

Bernie sat up and looked at Thorn in the growing light. She could see her obviously still wet clothing next to her, along with the probably useless cell phone. maybe she was cold … guess it serves her … “I was wondering who else might be awake,” Blake said, sitting up … “Holy Shit!” she gasped as Thorn sat up.

“Hot outfit, Thorn,” Shelby said, teasingly.

“What the Hell are you doing?” Bernie scolded.

“What?” Thorn began, but changed tracks, “I was cold, and my clothes were wet, so I needed to put something on.”

“You put it on?” Blake jumped in, “with … all of this going on you just …”

“It’s just clothes.” Thorn replied.

“Just clothes?” Bernie questioned; even with everything going on, she had to admit that Thorn had a point.

“You just put it on? Blake pressed, “with … this place is really weird, and we need to get out of here.”

“Well,” Thorn looked her in the eye, “me freezing to death doesn’t help us get out of here.”

“Do you trust … them, then?” Bernie asked.

“Well, no,” Thorn started. “ I mean, they’re definitely weird, but, then again, they did feed us, and haven’t killed us, or hurt us, and well … if any of you came to my place I’d give you food, too, and even some clothes if you needed them.”

Thorn was right, Bernie realized. Irrational fears aside, their eccentric hosts had likely saved their lives, and Occam’s Razor being what it is and all …

“So how does it feel, Thorn?” Shelby said with a smile.

“Try one on for yourself,” Thorn answered with a wink.

“I need to wash off,” Bernie said, walking over to the basin, shedding her sweater as she went. Naked, she shook her clothes several times to free them of sand before laying them on the ground and then sliding over the side into the water.

Blake wasn’t far behind, but didn’t take the time to undress fully, removing her sweatshirt and loose workout pants to reveal panties, an athletic bra, and the toned muscles earned through years of yoga and as a physical therapist. She slid in just a few feet from Bernie.

“Hey!” Every head turned toward Shelby at her sudden shout, “Why didn’t you all tell me?” She held up her Capri pants to show that they’d been completely ripped at the crotch. “Anybody got a safety pin?”

“Fresh out,” Thorn sat down on her mat to inspect her cell phone.

Shelby was sliding into the water when two of their hosts came in. The women first looked at Thorn, their blue eyes flashed above smiles as they settled on her gold-scale encased form.

“Hello,” Blake spoke first. “We’re really sorry we barged in on you, but we’re really thankful for everything you’ve done for us.”

The women smiled and walked toward Blake, one of them picking up one of the shiny neck bands and extending it out to her.

“What is it?” Blake questioned, “you want me to take it?” Then, to her friends, “I wonder if they don’t speak English, guys”

The woman reached out and touched the band to Blake’s exposed arm.

This will help you. Blake heard, but the woman’s lips hadn’t moved. Her body jolted slightly at the feeling of the contact.

“I think somehow they use those things to communicate.” Thorn said, still sitting with her phone in her lap.

“Wow, that’s really strange.” Blake said, but hadn’t pulled her skin away.

We are going to help you be home, the soft voice sounded in Blake’s mind, everything will be normal soon. It was so very easy to fall into those blue eyes.

Blake realized the others were looking at her with concern growing in their faces. “They’re going to help us get home,” she said, still gazing deep into those wonderful eyes. “This is really weird … I can hear them speaking to me.”

“Blake?” Bernie began, but trailed off.

We were curious if one of you could help us with the gathering of nourishment.

“They want help with gathering food …” Blake breathed a long sigh. The feelings within her were impossible to ignore. “I’m going to go help them.”

The woman slowly drew back her hand, breaking contact with Blake’s skin, holding the shiny band out in front of her. Slowly, Blake reached up to take the object in her own hand and, almost in slow motion, lifted herself out of the water.

“Blake?” Bernie repeated, still not sure what she wanted to say.

“It’s okay guys, I’m the only one with scuba experience, so it makes sense.” Blake said, pulling her pants up onto her still wet legs. “I’ll go help them and you can get ready to get out of here.”

The two women paused briefly, looking at Blake, but there was no indication from her that they were speaking. A minute later she was following them outside.

“Okay, anybody else think this place is weird on the eleven scale? Bernie said, watching Thorn slide herself into the water, suit and all.

“I wish they had coffee.” Shelby said with a chuckle, raising herself out of the water.

Bernie had been daydreaming; the water really felt wonderful, and trying to ignore Thorn was a practiced skill, but a sudden gasp brought her out quickly. She looked over to see Shelby pulling frantically at one of the suits.

“What the?” Bernie said, trying to stand, on her very relaxed legs.

“I was pulling it on and it just closed up by itself!” Shelby said, almost frantic.

Thorn had been drifting on a wave within her mind. The suit had felt very good out of the water, but in the water was something else altogether, and in no time her mind had started wandering somehow into very erotic places … but the sudden commotion and an even more immediate sensation brought her quickly back to herself. “whoa!” she jumped, but slid back because her legs weren’t working quite right for some reason.

“I can’t find a seam or a zipper.” Bernie was trying to help Shelby. “Holy shit!” she said in shock at Thorn’s outburst, as both she and Shelby looked up … and then both gaped, speechless, at Thorn’s … tail.

Blake had to admit, having gotten past her hesitation about the suit, that it felt really good, and, now that her hair was all tied back and the silvery band was going around her neck—ooh!—she felt pretty amazing. The voices were a shock at first, incredibly loud in her mind, but, as she became accustomed to them, it was a lot easier to handle, and, marching toward the beach with five other women dressed identically to her, she was able to relax and fall into the rhythm. The sound in her mind was like a crowd before a concert: easy to follow words close by, but a flowing murmur otherwise.

Mostly it was her own thoughts which seemed chaotic and out of place, and, try as she might, she frequently felt the sudden stillness in her mind as a particularly loud thought escaped her. It was a jolt to go from a stream of voices flowing in unison through her mind to silence, an uncomfortable feeling that her disordered thoughts had upset the peaceful flow that had existed this way for … the information came to her from somewhere she couldn’t grasp … years, centuries, at least—the age of this society couldn’t be known—as long as the great pyramid of Atargatis had stood, protecting and guarding over her people. The Goddess had come here long ago, she somehow knew with contagious reverence, and from that day forward the Maheli-heli, her people, had lived in peace and happiness.

As she marched on, the voice told her that it was not her fault, and that she was learning, and that she was doing well. She felt good, very good knowing that she was doing well. Wait—a thought rose to the surface of her mind and she awoke somewhat from the lulling rhythms of the procession—was I just staring at that woman’s ass? She felt the flow of voices smile, and felt good again. All was as it should be, and after she helped gather food today, she and her friends would be one step closer to getting home.

Again she felt a smile, and she felt good.

By the time she and the rest emerged onto the sand and marched to the water, Blake had been doing very well, learning to accept the flow, and flow with it rather than trying to make herself think a certain way. The secret was letting go, she had learned, and it felt wonderful. Her thoughts as her feet touched the water were just like the rest of what flowed through her mind: a warm, welcoming stream of peace and safety. She felt the smile among the flow as she didn’t think about the water, but instead just felt the pleasure of the sensation as her suit reacted to it, and felt an even more pleasurable joy when her eyes saw a boat out beyond the surf, continuing along on its way, and her mind didn’t even break step.

Up to her chest in the water, her mind was overflowing with wonder at how good she felt, and how well she was doing, and then she felt it: a sort of whoosh as her feet suddenly weren’t supporting her any more. As she fell, her head slipped under the water and she felt as it surrounded her face, and, in that moment, she felt sudden panic, and her thoughts caused the almost unbearable still in the flow. Her mind went into free fall and her body thrashed, but only for a second, as there was a voice, almost a caress in her mind calm, sister and, as she opened her eyes (as quickly as she realized she’d closed them), her vision was filled with a beautiful face, one with the most heavenly blue eyes. Hands held her, steadied her gently at her sides, and she realized she wasn’t drowning. The calm returned to her, her body felt incredible, from her head to her … tail.

She had a tail! Her suit below the waist had melded and where she had felt two legs, now she couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began, not that it mattered as the flow of voices resumed in her mind. She felt the joy as her strong muscles flexed, propelling her through the water in a playful loop, darting around her smiling sisters. She smiled, too, at the way she felt, and the freedom of how effortlessly she could move through the water; her tail, she noticed, smiling, was the same blonde hue as her hair. Distantly, she wondered if her eyes were the shining blue of those around her. That thought made her smile happily as she swam off after her guides on the task of gathering food.

“Pull,” Bernie told Shelby, who had Thorn by the waist on the other side, “and please try not to get wet.”

Shelby could feel strong sensations of electricity flowing into her as her suited skin touched Thorn’s, but she didn’t say anything. Thorn, for her part, kept just sighing, and then, with a jolt of renewed concentration, using her arms to push against the stone and lift herself up.

Toppling like a bag of wet rocks, she slid to the floor. “Ow” she said, weakly.

“How the Hell?” Bernie said out loud to no one in particular. Thorn’s body below the waist had fused into one muscular limb, which ended in a fishlike tail streaked through with black as black as Thorn’s hair. Slightly above where the tail ended, about mid… calf, there were lines of triangular fins on either side, each smaller than the last, until they were just bumps which merged with her golden scales.

The suit looked like skin.

What brought Bernie back to things was how pale Thorn suddenly looked. Shelby took a little longer to notice, as she seemed in a daze, Thorn having fallen against and somewhat on her. “What’s wrong, Thorn?” Shelby said with fear tugging at her voice. Thorn was very pale, and her mouth was moving rapidly without words, only making “P, P, P,” sounds with her lips.

“What the fuck?” Bernie didn’t quite yell.

Then they weren’t alone. Two of the women entered with trays of food like the previous day, and shortly after them, two more followed, with one moving quickly to Thorn, laying herself right against Thorn’s chest, and then moving closer into a kiss.

As the color returned to Thorn’s cheeks, and the woman, without breaking the kiss brought Thorn’s hands up to the silver band around her neck Bernie looked up and realized the other of the women was Blake.

Blake stood motionless, silently looking down, looking just like the rest of the women, with her golden scales and hair tied back tightly, and the silver band that encircled her neck. “It will be better now,” Blake spoke slowly, “The skin without the center is not a complete unit and can’t be controlled and coordinated.”

“Blake?” Bernie and Shelby said together. In moments, Thorn’s tail seemed to melt away, leaving two legs and feet where it had been, all in their coating of golden scales. The woman lifted herself off of the now apparently sleeping Thorn and, looking at Blake with a warm smile, followed the other two out of the room.

Shelby shifted slightly and Thorn reacted with a sigh as one of her breasts was brushed against. “This place is too fucking weird,” she said, nodding her toward the still motionless Blake, “we need to get out of here.”

“Yes,” Bernie answered, “yes we do … Blake? BLAKE!”

“Wha …” Blake jolted slightly and turned to look at Bernie, “Hello, Bernie.”

Her eyes are blue, Bernie realized, the same blue … wait, what color were her eyes before? “Blake, are you okay?”

“Nice choker, Blake,” Shelby said with more than a note of sarcasm.

“I’m fine,” Blake said, sounding more clear, “what happened to Thorn?” her eyes drifted over the scale-covered forms of both women on the floor.

“Thorn almost died, Blake,” Bernie said, scoldingly.

“Again?” Blake said, seeming like herself again, “I mean … we all almost died just the night before last and you both almost kill each other every other day.” She could feel it, her thoughts and words disrupting the stream, but these were her friends and she had to … had to … she had to help them … that’s right. They still needed to find their way home. A feeling came to her very strongly from the flow in her mind that everything was all right, and she was doing well helping her friends, it almost made her sigh with happiness.

“What’s going on?” Thorn stirred, and then almost jumped, but her body was still too weak to carry her, “Shelby?”

“You almost died, we think,” Shelby helped Thorn to a sitting position leaning her back against the stone, “do you remember?”

“I remember …” Thorn paused, “I couldn’t breathe.”

“Blake,” Bernie fixed her with a stare, “you said something about the … skin … something about it not working without the … center?”

“I did?” Blake looked puzzled … “Um … I think the neckband and the suit are a unit, and they use the band to communicate with each other, and I think it connects everything.”

“Are you connected, Blake?” Bernie turned to face Blake straight on, “Are you communicating with them?”

“Why can’t I get the thing off?” Shelby broke in, tugging at hers.

Blake shrugged her shoulders in response to Shelby, and then turned to Bernie, “Yes … I mean I was, but I don’t think so now.”

“We need to get the fuck out of here,” Thorn said.

“Yeah …” Shelby said, moving toward the door. “I’m going to have a look around … you three try and get the cells working, okay?”

“Wait, Bernie said, I should …”

“I think I’m more dressed for the part,” Shelby said.

“Wait, shouldn’t I go?” Blake suggested, “I’m the one who can talk to them.”

“No,” Bernie and Shelby said together, and both felt guilty immediately, because it came across sounding a bit too forceful.

“What about the food?” Blake asked, pointing toward the waiting trays.

“Later,” Shelby said. “I’m not hungry now.” And then she turned and walked out the door. She really didn’t know where she was going, or even what she thought she might be looking for. The women seemed unconcerned with her walking among them, though, so she walked, skirting the edge of the pyramid. It was odd, she thought: there was no entrance; just a smooth, polished silvery surface. Turning, she moved off toward the far end of the place, whatever this place was.

“I’ve got a working one!” Bernie said, excitedly, holding up one of the phones. Blake and Thorn looked up from their meals.

“Who you gonna call?” Blake asked.

“Call your folks,” Thorn said, “or my folks, or whatever numbers you can get until the battery quits, maybe they can get a fix on the signal or something.”

“That only works in the movies, doesn’t it?” Blake went back to eating.

“I got …” Bernie began, “oh crap, it’s not working. I thought I had a signal though.”

“We can try again tonight,” Thorn suggested, “radio signals are supposed to work better at night.”

“I found a boat.” Shelby said, walking in and sitting down cross legged near the food trays.

“You what?” Bernie asked, “We have a working phone, but no signal.”

“What did you do?” Blake began, “You didn’t mess with their stuff, did you?”

“I walked around for a while until I found a boat, near the woods on the other side of this place,” Shelby explained, “The boat is a bit beat-up looking, but I didn’t see any holes.”

“We can try going tonight,” Thorn said.

“Maybe we can carry some food and water with us.” Shelby added.

“Wait a minute,” Blake intervened. “You’re going to steal their boat?”

“We need to get out of here, Blake.” Bernie countered, “but we’re going to need supplies before we can go, and that’s if we can move the boat.”

“They saved our lives, Bernie,” Blake argued, “and they said they were going to get us home.”

“This place is messed up, Blake,” Shelby said, “You said it yourself,” before.

“We go tonight … yes, you’re right,” Blake said finally. “But maybe we ought to try to get some sleep beforehand … it may be a long time before we find a rescue boat.”

Not feeling very tired, none of them felt like they needed or would be able to sleep, but there was no arguing with Blake’s reasoning. It was promising to be a long night.

Shelby awoke slowly. There were sounds in the dark, the sounds of sighs and rasped breath. She could hear Thorn thrashing in her sleep, sighing deeply, while Bernie, a few feet away, was breathing a labored rhythm herself. Shelby’s own hands, she realized, had been working hard at her more private areas through her suit. Dimly, she recognized that her fingers had found their way inside, parting her lower lips through the scales she wore; or was she wearing them? her thoughts mused, the suit felt so much like a natural part of her that she couldn’t tell at the moment. The feel of touching through the scales, and of scales sliding against scales filled her mind, letting very little else in.

“Shelby,” she heard, and felt, first a soft touch of a hand on her cheek, and then the soft, warm weight of a body straddling her waist. Then there was a face filling her vision, a face with the most captivating deep blue eyes.

“B … Blake?” Shelby said sluggishly, looking up into her friend’s eyes and feeling herself wanting to fall, “what’s happening to us?”

“It’s something wonderful, Shelby,” Blake’s voice soothed above her, sliding slowly across each syllable, and with the caress of the words came a new feeling, a not entirely cold feeling of something metallic being brushed gently against her breast.

One of the collar-things, Shelby realized. Blake was moving it in circles slowly over her scales, and the sensation was like nothing she could describe.

“Take it Shelby,” the voice was felt rather than heard, from inside her, and the feeling of it overrode everything else, “it’s time.”

Shelby’s hands moved slowly at first, but then more deliberately, taking the silver band and moving it to her neck.

Bernie thought she heard a noise, and in her sleep-fogged state it took her several seconds to realize it was her own, voice, in mid-moan, that had woken her. Her body was drenched in sweat and sex, and her brain swam with the images of dreams she couldn’t really remember. Sitting up she could see in the dim light that Blake and Shelby were not in the room, and that it was clearly night time. “Thorn,” Bernie said after a few seconds, trying without much success to convince herself that Shelby and Blake had only gone to gather needed supplies.

“Wha ...” Thorn shot quickly from sleep, vaguely registering that her hands had been working her lower regions as she sat up and looked over at Bernie, then around the otherwise empty space.

“I don’t know,” Bernie answered the question on Thorn’s face. “They were gone when I woke up … the phones and clothes are gone, too.”

“What are you doing, Bernie?” Thorn asked as Bernie was undressing.

“Going to go look for them,” Bernie answered, picking up the nearest of the suits. Her own clothes were feeling about unwearable, and something deep down told her that, if she could blend in around here, even a bit … She didn’t know if it was a good plan or not, but she also wasn’t going to wait around for a better one.

There were many, maybe two thousand, women here, and while it made the task of walking among them unnoticed easier, the idea that they’d ever find Shelby and Blake seemed remote, at best—how do you find two young women in skin-tight scales amid a sea of them? Even with the very bright full moon overhead, finding them would be pure luck.

Skin tight, Bernie thought, marching in lockstep with Thorn. It was more than that—“Trancy” Blake had called it skin, or the skin, she remembered. With very few hushed words, the two had decided to look for the boat. If they could get out to sea, maybe they could … there had to be people looking for them right now, right? Maybe, if they could just get themselves rescued, they could then rescue their friends too.

“She said there was a boat,” Thorn sputtered, then hushed herself, as several scaled women paused to look her way.

Shut up, Thorn, Bernie thought as two of the women approached, please, for once just shut up. The women approached closer, and, as discretely as possible, she tried to back away; turning, she suddenly met the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. They filled her vision so completely that she only barely realized they belonged to Shelby.

“Very good to have found you, Bernie,” Blake’s voice breathed in her ear.

Thorn turned from the two women who’d taken her attention for several moments to look for Bernie, and, to her shock, saw her being led away by two more of the women. Fool, Thorn fumed inwardly, if not for … She faded into the trees a little way and quietly paralleled the path the others were taking, I ought to just leave you, dammit.

It was strange, Bernie thought, to be just following along with her thoughts going so slowly inside her head. Her friends held her gently at either side, and the sensations from their touch were driving her over the edge. The streams of women they passed through parted silently. What before had seemed like expressionless faces now smiled in their quiet serenity at her. Where she had felt anxious and afraid about this place, she couldn’t make herself worry.

The trio moved through the crowds, almost feeling to Bernie’s feet as if they were walking on clouds, right up to the base of the pyramid. What had seemed silvery in the sunlight, now looked golden in the moonlight. There was no entrance, but still Bernie followed along with her friends, right up to the base, and then there was a flash, and she felt wonderfully cool air, and the soft blue glow of … something she couldn’t bring herself to move her eyes and look at. Inside the air flowed with a blue … not quite like just light, but almost like an atmosphere. Bernie was struck with how quiet the place was. More than a hundred scale-clad women just like her stood watching the trio pass by, and then stop at the foot of a great blue stone.

An object was placed in her hands; dimly, Bernie recognized it, without looking, as one of the shiny bands.

“It’s time,” the voice of her friends came to her, and she felt her hands move to her neck, and a warm sensation as the band seemed to bond with her skin.

Her mind filled with sound, and she almost fell over from the sensations. Her friends were there, Blake and Shelby, still holding her, helping her, and so were many other soft voices flowing through her. Slowly, sluggishly, she became aware of another voice among the flow, growing closer. It made her smile, to feel Thorn here now, and it was easy to forget anything else. In this place, the guilt, the mistakes, and the anger fell away, leaving only warm belonging in its place.

Welcome Thorn, sister. Bernie felt caress her mind, and looked up to see her friend coming close. Bernie smiled softly, warmly, and it took her several seconds to realize how strange it seemed that Thorn wasn’t smiling, in fact her face seemed strained, as if she was under tremendous effort, and almost exhausted.

She felt it then, like a tremor, growing to a shattering silence in the flow within her mind. “She’s faking it,” she heard Blake say, really heard it out loud as the wonderful flow went crashing away, “the bitch is faking it!”

Bernie nearly passed out; forever, it seemed, she had been floating on the flow of wonderful voices in her mind and through her body, and to be without them almost felt like a physical blow. “Come on, dammit!” she heard Thorn say, and distantly saw Blake fall from being shoved roughly, and then a hand grabbed hers and she was dragged away, back the way she sort of remembered coming in.

The flash came much more quickly this time, and then she was out in the cool moonlight, being dragged toward the woods. Masses of scale-clad women stood blankly around, not moving. Bernie felt it, and it made her sad. The flow was silent, and she couldn’t feel them any more. Thorn, she thought, Thorn, stop! We don’t have to run.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, snap out of it!” Thorn stopped dragging her and shook her harshly, “Don’t you fucking dare give up!” she shouted in Bernie’s face. “Fight it, you can fight it!”

“I …” some measure of clarity began to seep into Bernie’s mind, and she realized how much Thorn had risked to save her, and she could almost hold onto wanting to be saved “… thank you.”

“Shut up and move,” Thorn was dragging her again. “Even with everything … in spite of everything I’m stuck with you aren’t I?” Thorn led the way, still half dragging the dazed Bernie along, “Just fight it, okay? Stay mad at it, the peace and love vibe it’s sending isn’t any match for good old rage.”

Rage Bernie thought. Okay, but rage wasn’t what she felt was it? Confused, yes, but angry, no. Come to think of it, she felt pretty good, especially when the flow of voices began speaking to her again. She felt it smile in her mind, and it made her smile.

“Bernice!” Thorn snapped, jolting Bernie out of the fog.

Anger, Bernie realized suddenly, that was the key, but the only thing she was angry at was Thorn. Her former college roommate, and, when things came to it, first real lover. Thorn had wanted more, and Bernie had been afraid … of everything, especially the word more.

“Down!” Thorn roughly shoved Bernie off the path into some thick undergrowth. There were two boats out on the water; maybe a mile away, each plying the moonlit darkness with their searchlights, otherwise the beach was deserted. Then Thorn realized, they’re searching the water, and not the land … what the? “Come on,” she pulled the still sluggish Bernie onto the beach. “Over here!” Thorn yelled, waving her arms, as the boats continued on their way, “We’re over here! Help!”

Even with Bernie eventually joining in, there was no response, no sign they were even seen.

They can’t hear you, or see you, a voice in their minds stopped both of them cold, Our Goddess protects this island from the world … the voice trailed off in a deep, luxurious sigh, we’re invisible to all from the outside … Goddess keeps us from harm.

“Shelby?” Thorn felt the effort she had to expend in order to speak instead of thinking with the flow, “we need to get help.”

Help Shelby smiled wordlessly, look inside, Thorn, you know this is right, just let go, and feel … she breathed another heavy, very sexual sigh, tickling the inside of their minds and making it easy to want to embrace it, letting it carry them away in the feeling, Bernie knows what I mean, don’t you, Bernie?

Thorn could see Bernie drifting, smiling softly, Fuck! she screamed inside her mind and felt the flowing voices recede, almost painfully. “Lets go!” she grabbed Bernie by the arm and pulled her into the water, dragging her again, up to the waist.

Thorn? Bernie’s voice came into Thorn’s mind, why?

Thorn almost answered, and then stopped, she wasn’t asking that why, but an older, deeper why. you ran out on me … you shut me off … when I trusted you. Suddenly she felt very good … very good, and both of them fell into deeper water.

The sensation of their tails overwhelmed them, sending pleasurable waves throughout their bodies and into the voice that was even now coming back into their heads. Thorn … Bernie had been about to say something but couldn’t think; it was easy to forget, to just feel and be. The stream of voices smiled within her as she drifted, staring at her wonderful auburn tail, and her eyes drifting to Thorn’s black-as-coal one.

You … Thorn’s mind thought, and then slowed, you … her mind drifted as the voices smiled within her, and she forgot for just a few moments that she needed to focus … needed to stay mad in order to stay clear. Fuck it, Bernie … anger, rage, remember? We have to get to the boats! Yes, that’s it, with our tails we can get to the boats easy. Come on!

Bernie followed; somehow she could see Thorn, and everything with crystal clarity, even though she was swimming fast, deep under water with only filtered moonlight to light the way. The feelings excited her, made it hard to remember that she had to stay angry… Anger she thought, Wait! ... I shut you off? You felching … her body shivered with electricity as it became suddenly very easy to be angry at Thorn. You fucking goth scrubber mollbitch! her mind tumbled over how mad she was and she forgot how fast she was going, overtaking Thorn until the two collided.

What? Thorn turned and faced Bernie with rage firing her blue eyes, Fuck! it was so wonderful to let her thoughts, chaotic as they were, slide easily from her mind into the stream. You’re one to talk, asshole! for a moment she had a stray thought that wondered if Bernie’s eyes had always had that pretty blue glow.

For two years now, Bernie’s words flew from her mind, you’ve been raging and flogging, blaming … her thoughts paused as she fell briefly into the lovely lean face in front of her and those wonderful eyes. You shut me off … you walled me out … you blamed me instead of … you ... dag bogan hoony! Her thoughts tumbled over one another as their bodies drifted together in the current. The sensations of contact overriding her ability to think.

Don’t you … Thorn’s thoughts came softer, diluted, the rage melting into the sea around her as she stared into those eyes and listened in her mind to the accent and … Bernie had this charming way of tangling profanity when she was excited, mostly because she wasn’t very good at it, and, as always, it worked its magic. It felt so much better to just feel and not think. Don’t you … dare …

Thorn didn’t get a chance to finish her thought, if she had been capable of finishing it in the first place, as suddenly Bernie succumbed to the intensity of what she was feeling and fell into a kiss. Thorn’s mind blanked out as first shock and then her own feelings took over. Her arms and long tail flowed into a tangle with Bernie’s.

The two floated, their hair flying about them as their bodies entwined, scales sliding over one another and sending sparks through their brains. The flow of voices in their minds smiled warmly, filling the former silence as they forgot to think about boats and anger, and lost themselves in each other, and they were only barely aware as several of their sisters swam, twisting in loops and flourishes around them.