The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The Hash

Chapter 12: #Three #Library #Clues #Confession

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

Jen almost jumped out of her skin, hearing a voice so close behind her. She turned around to see a young man in a library uniform and a wide, helpful grin. She sincerely hoped that he hadn’t heard the word ‘Master?’ that had almost escaped her lips in a startled gasp. If he had, this young man didn’t show any sign or surprise or disapproval.

“I… uhh…” she mumbled, words momentarily deserting her.

“You’re looking for a book?” he pointed at the slip of paper in her hand, and leaned closer to look. He might have been able to make out the latitude and longitude scrawled there before Jen balled it up again and returned it to her pocket.

“No, well, not specifically,” she answered, already starting to feel her blush rising. She was in a library, and clearly looking for something. Of course the staff would offer to help. But there was nothing she could tell them. If she said she was waiting for her boyfriend, they’d be wondering about a strange choice of meeting place. And if she described what the hash was, they’d just think she was strange. All the scenarios running through her mind now ended with her humiliated in front of people who just didn’t understand her eccentricities.

She knew she had to answer quickly, because those were exactly the thoughts that could get her worked up to the extent she could no longer form coherent words.

“I’m just looking,” she said, “It’s kind of like a game, you know? A treasure hunt, working out how to decode a clue.”

“Oh, that sounds awesome!” The young man’s eyes lit up, and Jen finally recognised the gleam of curiosity that told her she was facing a fellow nerd; someone who would take on odd pursuits just to see what happened. The kind of person who might travel halfway across the district in search of a hash.

“It’d be cheating to ask for help, I guess?” he gave a half shrug. “Maybe you can let me know more when you’re done here? There’s never enough to do around these parts, and I think my brain needs some exercise.”

Jen nodded her thanks, and went back to comparing the numbers on her phone’s screen to the ones already burned into her mind’s eye. Unfortunately, the numbers here were mostly replaced by the words ‘no signal’. Jen tried to work around this by following the outside walls, getting close to the windows in case they would let in just a little more data from the satellites, or however it worked. She wasn’t having much luck; in ten minutes of walking in circles, she’d only managed to get a set of coordinates in one corner. No wonder the people who worked here thought she might need some help.

“Looking for some new reading material?” a voice cut into her thoughts, gruff but kind.

“Uh-huh,” Jen nodded, holding her phone as close to the window as she could.

“I guess you enjoyed the last one. Did you reach the… uhh… ‘climax’ yet?” She could hear the quotes dropping into place, framing a word the speaker wanted to highlight for its sterling euphemistic qualities. That was when she recognised the voice, a good ten seconds after she should have.

“Eric!” she inhaled sharply, “You’re here!”

“Only ‘Eric’?” he asked with a grin. “I’m sure you called the last guy ‘Master’.”

“I didn’t—How long have you been watching?”

“No, but you were going to. I could tell by the way your mouth opened without engaging your brain, and the blush that followed soon after. And I’m not just watching, I’m hunting for a hash.”

“How?” Jen couldn’t deny her arousal now, her mind running away with her at the slightest thought of what Eric might do with her, and all the amazing things that she was sure he was too kind for. But she could push those thoughts to the back of her mind while they solved a puzzle together. “I can’t get a signal in here, I don’t think your device would have any more luck. And your archaic instruments can’t see the sun, so I’d think we’re in the same boat.”

“Something like that,” he gave a half shrug, and she realised that the sextant was in one of the pockets on his backpack, not in his hands now. “But I recorded the position of some trees before I came in. And notable buildings around this one. So I know that if I can find a place where I can see that tree—” a finger indicated a solitary tall fir outside a window “—and the wooden statue of Jupiter in the front yard, I have to turn so that they’re on either side of me. One at two o’clock, one at ten, or similar. Same angle on either side, then I know the hash is straight in front of me. And I also know that it lies on a line between the spire on St Edmund’s Church, and the wind turbine on a farm to the West. Two lines, and you found your point.”

“That’s pretty neat,” she had to admit. “You’re not just a pretty face.”

“No, there’s plenty of pretty parts to me. But I think it’s my mind that you like best.”

“Guilty as charged. And those kind of clues remind me of the one you gave me last time, that feels like a lot of information but is just vague enough that I can’t puzzle out where you live.”

“Oh yes, I’d forgotten about that. Well, I did say I’d give you another clue if we met again. So let me see…” Jen was happy just to watch him as he thought. There were clearly gears spinning in his mind, running through the possibilities so quickly. She was sure that she’d take longer to solve his clue than it took him to produce it. And the realisation of just how eager she was to solve this puzzle confirmed for her yet again that Eric was everything she wanted.

“How about I tell you,” he started, and then paused briefly to make sure Jen was ready to remember his words before he continued: “that I went to a meeting in Dorchester this morning, so came here on the train? The walk from the station was about a third of the distance I’ll be covering to get home. The time I spent on the train was both nine times as long as the time I estimate it will take me to get home, and seven minutes longer than I would have spent on trains if I were going straight back to my place. Is that enough information for you to visit me?”

Jen was sure that it would be. But equally sure that she wasn’t that good at real world geometry problems. He’d given her those clues, and something similar the previous time they’d met, but she thought it would take at least a few more hashes before she could stalk her Mr Right to his home. Still, she was really looking forward to the challenge.

“Maybe,” she said with a smile. “So, where’s the hash? Did you solve your own puzzle yet? And are we going to get in trouble for talking too loudly?”

“Trust me, I can keep my voice down. And if anyone overhears us, I can promise it won’t be because we’re talking.”

Jen couldn’t find any words already. A whimper escaped her lips as she fell into step following her master, and he hadn’t even touched her yet. He knew exactly the right words in any situation, and he knew how to push every button she had without laying a finger on her skin.

The hash, if Eric had got it right, turned out to be in a little room separate from the main part of the library. The sign on the door said it was a reading and activity room, but the space was mostly decorated with racks of shelving around the walls. Box files, piles of books which would presumably be reshelved in the main library at some point. Pads of papers, two computers at a desk in the corner, and a large chalkboard across the front of the room.

A quick look at some of the box files indicated that this room was used by local family history groups, a sewing circle, and many other special interest groups, who might have reason to work together on whatever books they were looking into today.

“I’ve got the location within a couple of yards,” Eric explained. “That’s not close enough to say it’s certainly in this room, but I think it’s pretty probable. Here, within the accuracy of our technology. Should we take a picture?”

The two of them ended up standing with their backs to the chalkboard, taking photos with Jen’s phone and Eric’s camera to commemorate another successful hash. The first picture had the coordinates chalked on the board, but they couldn’t keep serious for that long, and took a few more with increasingly lewd texts visible in the background. And then the conversation drifted around to the contents of Jen’s shopping bag.

“There was no mystery shopping today,” she said. “But I didn’t want to disappoint. So I called in at the supermarket and bought the things that caught my eye, and a few random things just in case. I think I can guess which one you’ll—”

“This looks to be an empty box,” Eric cut her off. “Do we need to contact customer service?”

“I’m…” Jen mumbled, then leaned closer to whisper: “I’m already wearing them. Want to… I mean, should I…” In her mind, she was cursing her shyness already. The words were there, already queued up in her mind. But she couldn’t get them out without becoming tongue-tied. ‘Would you like to see? When we’re somewhere less conspicuous, maybe. This is for your eyes only.’ How hard could it be? But her mouth wouldn’t shape the words, and she started to worry what he might think of her. Or that he might tell her to strip off and show him right there, and she’d be powerless to resist.

“I say,” he purred, “That seems a little more forward than I’m used to. Playful, even. But I think maybe just a little naughty. After all, we’re in a public library. You shouldn’t be showing off your underwear in a library, and if the styling of this box is any clue, I think you shouldn’t be wearing such a racy garment in the hallowed halls of knowledge.”

“I’m sorry,” she stammered, “I thought…”

“I’m not upset. I just think that some things deserve to be left until we have a little privacy. There’s a time and a place for everything, remember. And it’s in the middle of the woods with nobody else around. Why don’t you get changed? Put your new… luxury… back in its box, and then I’ll show you the ideas it gives me at a more suitable location.”

“Okay,” she nodded, glancing around for somewhere to change. “Does this place have a restroom?”

“You don’t need to be so shy,” Eric answered. “Nobody’s watching, you know.” Jen wasn’t so sure. There were walls between this meeting room and the rest of the library, but they were just thin partitions and were decorated with more than their fair share of windows to let in the natural light from outside. Anyone in the library could see in, if they just looked past the books on a shelf to the little perspex panel behind.

“I don’t think I should…” Jen mumbled, even though she still wasn’t so sure herself. It couldn’t hurt, surely? If she was quick, and made sure there were no faces visible around the room first?

“Count down for me?” Eric’s request was more reasonable, nothing embarrassing there. Jen had responded “Five” before she even thought about what the words meant. Then she felt a wave of trust and relaxation wash over her, feeling more like a dream with every step she took into the jungle. She realised that with just a single word, she’d started pushing herself into a trance for the master hypnotist. So that Master could make her do whatever he felt like.

“No!” she gasped, as soon as she realised it. It was hard to believe how quickly her head was spinning, how soon she’d forgotten the path through the trees. She already felt like she’d need Eric’s guidance if she wanted to get out of the jungle again, so she knew she shouldn’t take another step until they were out of a public space. “Not yet, not here, there’s people around. Four.”

Jen glanced around her, looking at the jungle Eric was describing to her. Of course there weren’t people around her. She was in her internal jungle, a maze of twisting paths that mirrored the maze inside her mind. This was the third time she’d been here, or maybe the fourth, and she knew by now that if she looked between the trees, she would never see anybody but herself. She would never hear a voice but Master’s. He was guiding her now, describing a hypothetical jungle that symbolised her subconscious, and she found that with every word he said, it became more and more clear that it was identical to the very real forest she was walking through. Every word he said was right, making the path clearer, and leading her to the centre of her mind. There was no reason to argue with that, nobody watching their progress, and she knew that it would feel so good if she just took one more step along the path that her guide was marking out for her.

“Three.”