Two announcements – two new websites

First of all, I am LATE! My friend Alyx published her first story on Amazon ages ago, and I said that I would announce it on my blog. It’s not something I would normally do, but I offered to do this for Alyx because she is my friend and she has been so supportive of me since I joined this online community of F/f spankos.
So if you didn’t already know, but you probably did because most of my readers read Alyx, you can find her work on Amazon under Alyx Rancher, AND she has a new blog to promote her work. So go and visit Alyx Rancher and give her your support! Great stories and… great  covers. *wink* *wink* My personal favourite series is the Clare and Erin series…. oh my… so HOT!  😳

Announcement number deux! Anna Reilly, author of Abby’s Bodyguard has a new spanking blog. Anna has gotten an interview with three famous F/f spanking authors: Stardawn Cabot, Claire Britain and… my pal Alyx Rancher! Her interview with Stardawn is already up and I can’t wait for the other two. So hurry on over and give Anna Reillya visit. 🙂

 

Annabelle (part 25)

Although Annabelle had been tired after exploring with Eylion, she found it hard to sleep. She tossed and turned, her head full of questions, her chest tensing with worry of how she would escape this place and find Andromeda all alone. It was agony. She had been looking forward to getting out of the school, but now, knowing that she would have to leave Eylion behind and continue on her own, what was going to be an exciting adventure had become something she dreaded.
“Annabelle, are you sleeping in my class?”
“Huh?” Annabelle raised her head as somebody tapped her on her shoulder. She looked up to Lydia’s stern face.
“Care to explain yourself?”

“I’m tired,” Annabelle mumbled.
“That I can see,” Lydia said frowning. “The question is, why would you be tired when lights out is at 10.30 ?”
“I… I couldn’t sleep,” Annabelle replied which was partly true. She had also been out after midnight with Eylion exploring the secret passages, but she didn’t feel the need to give Lydia that information. It was top secret.
“Annabelle, everyone else are half way through their potion, you haven’t even started? There is no time for you to do it now, the lesson is almost over.” Lydia gave her a stern look. “I’m afraid I will have to ask you to come to my office after lessons today to you do your potion.”
Annabelle groaned. She was looking forward to lessons ending so she could sleep.
“And where is your homework for today?”
Annabelle scratched her nose. She had totally forgotten about her homework in her excitement to go exploring.

“A bat ate it?” She looked nervously up at Lydia.
“Annabelle!” Lydia gave her a warning look. “Do not talk back like that. This is not acceptable.”
“I’m sorry, Lydia but… but… I’m not feeling well… not well at all. I think I’m sick.” She pouted.
“I suppose I should take you to the nurse then?” She folded her arms and tapped her foot.
“Eh… can’t I just go up to bed and rest?”
“Oh no, Annabelle, if you are ill the school nurse must see you. Those are the rules. She will determine if you really are sick. If she says you are ill, then of course, you can rest. If she says you’re just playing sick…”
“I’m not,” Annabelle lied. “I feel awful.” The last part was not a lie, she really did feel awful. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open. “I think I should go see her… I feel so… weak.” He held two fingers to her temple for dramatic effects. “I’ll find her myself, you should stay here and help the others. It’s not fair that they should be without you because I have to go to the nurse.”
She got up from her desk. She held her hand up covering her face from the light that shone through the window. She felt groggy. All the other girls looked at her as she made her way out of the classroom.
“Go straight to the nurse, young lady. No detours.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Annabelle said giving her a salute.

*

She did not go straight to the nurse. Instead she made her way to the hidden passages. She made sure that she was entirely alone in the corridor as she went into the little cupboard with cleaning supplies, and crawled through the tiny hole behind the tapestry. She brushed dust off her uniform. She would go to the nurse’s office later, she could say that she didn’t go straight away because she had been sick in the bathroom or something. Right now she just wanted a little nap in peace, and she knew she couldn’t go back to her bedroom because that’s where they would go look for her first.
Making her way through the passages, she took the same route she and Eylion had the night before, to the library. There, she knew, was a leather couch with her name on it, and nobody would know to look for her there, except Eylion. She put her locked into the mark in the wall and the wall into the library opened for her. She brushed dust off her napping couch and as she laid down she had just enough time to remind herself she needed to learn a cleaning spell to make this space cozier before she fell asleep.

“Annabelle.”
Someone was tapping her shoulder. Again? Why? What did she have to do to get some sleep around here?
“Annabelle! Wake up, dammit.”
“What?” Annabelle opened her eyes and looked up. It took some time for her eyes to adjust, and for her to realize where she was. She saw Eylion looking at her annoyed.
“Eylion? What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be in class?”
“No, dummy. Classes are over.”
“What?!” Annabelle sat up.
“What the hell, Annabelle? Why did you come here? Everyone is looking for you. You shouldn’t have used this place, now everyone is going to wonder how you managed to hide all day.”
“I wasn’t hiding, I was just…”
“What? Going to the nurse’s office? You knew Lydia would go there straight after her class, and she was told that no students had been in that day. I was there, and right after she pulled me to the side to ask if I had seen you.”
“Oh crap. Well… I was going to go later and say I was late because I had been sick in the bathroom.”
“Right, but instead you missed lunch and all of your lessons, it’s almost dinner and now everyone is looking for you and you are nowhere to be found.”
Annabelle bit her lip. She had messed up.
“What am I going to do?”
“Well you’ll be in trouble.”
“Of course, I’ll be in trouble! What can I do to get out of it?” She had known she might get in trouble, but earlier she hadn’t cared. Now, however, she did care… very much. It was one thing to miss one lesson before lunch, but to miss the entire day?
“I don’t think getting out of trouble is an option at this point,” Eylion said giving her a look. “What we need to do now is find a way to minimize the trouble you’ll be in.”
“How?”
“You need to hand yourself in to Lydia and hope that she deals with you herself.”
“Crap.”
Eylion patted her shoulder. “It could be worse. You could be taken to the headmistress’ office or Ms. Spryt.”
“No! I can’t… I’ll find Lydia. She’s on our side… I think. I mean her family ties are questionable, but I get the impression that she is looking out for us. And I think if I go to her and explain myself, then…”
“Then you’ll still be in trouble.”
“Yes, but I don’t think she wants to hand me over to the evil hags. I think she likes me.”
“But she might have to take you to the headmistress, if you’re really unlucky.”
“And if everyone knows I’ve been missing all day, the headmistress will probably want to see me. And then… I’m dead.”
Eylion looked at her with sympathy. Then she smirked a little.
“Not if… not if she’s distracted.”
“What do you mean?”
“If Lydia takes you to the headmistress then we need to make sure the headmistress don’t have time to deal with you. I’ll go find the others, and we’ll come up with a distraction in case we need it. But we need many people, and we can’t get caught. But it will be enough to distract the headmistress and Spryt. Then nobody can blame you, because you have an alibi, and Lydia will have to take care of it herself which is what we want.”
They left the library and went out to the passages. Annabelle closed the opening with her locket.
“One thing though,” Annabelle said as they stood in the dark passage. Eylion had lit a flame that she was holding in her hand. “What is my excuse? I can’t tell them I’ve been here the entire time. And they must have been in my room.”
“We’ll tell them I found you outside. You can say you went outside for some fresh air before you went to the nurse, and then you fell asleep under a tree.”
“That’s not a bad excuse. Do you think they’ll believe I was really sick and decide that I shouldn’t be in trouble?”
Eylion laughed at this. “Not a chance.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Hey, since we’re already here. Let’s see if we can find another way out of this place. We might as well do some exploring. It’s not as you could get in more trouble than you already are.”

*

This time they continued down the passage from the library. Just a little further down they found a long and steep staircase that took them down what must have been two floors. They followed the dark passage looking for anything that would indicate that there was an entrance to another room or to a way out of the passage. The followed the passage around a corner and found more stairs. Now they could hear voices nearby, but they couldn’t make out what they were saying. It didn’t sound like a normal corridor though because the corridors were usually filled with students laughing and chatting. These voices seemed more serious and there weren’t as many.
“Where do you think we are?” Annabelle whispered.
“Not sure,” Eylion whispered back. “We’re probably on the fourth or third floor, but I don’t think we’re near the kitchen because the passage we took there the first time went the other way.”
They walked a little further and the voices became clearer. They kept quiet, not daring to speak in case they could be heard.
“Well? Have you found her?”
A loud and angry voice rang out nearby, and it was almost as if the person was in the room. They must be very close to the headmistress.
“No, headmistress,” Lydia replied.
“This is your fault, Lydia. You shouldn’t have let her leave your class,” the headmistress scolded.
“But she was feeling ill and…”
“And she was obviously lying.”
“She looked terrible. She might really be sick.”
There was a snort. “The only thing that is terrible is your inner lying detector. Maybe the family was wrong to trust you with this teaching job.”
“Why? I’m good at teaching, the girls seem to like my classes and they work hard.”
“The girls don’t respect you,” the headmistress said sharply. “And why would they? You don’t have any control.”
There was a silence, and Annabelle felt really bad for Lydia. The headmistress was her family, but she treated her really badly, and now she was blamed for Annabelle’s mistake.
“They do respect me,” Lydia finally said. She sounded angry. “They like me.”
“I don’t need them to like you, young lady.”
“But…”
“No, that’s enough from you. When you find the girl, take her to my office.”
“I can deal with her myself.”
“Can you, indeed? Well right now I don’t trust you to deal with anything as important as discipline. If you can’t control the little brat, I will see to her. I will make sure she won’t do anything like this again.”
Annabelle swallowed nervously and looked terrified at Eylion who looked equally scared.
But Lydia protested. “Please, I can do it myse…”
SLAP! The sound of the headmistress hand slapping Lydia’s cheek rang through the passage and stabbed Annabelle’s heart like a knife.
“Enough! I know what you are trying to do, you want to spare her the punishment that she has coming. I can see it was a mistake to let you work for me. Go back to your office, and when the girl comes to find you, which she will because she thinks you will let her get away with a little love pat, you take her here to see me. Now out of my sight!”
They heard a door slam shut. And then they both hurried away from there.

*

They following the passage and went down another set of stairs before either dared to speak, and even then, it was just a whisper.
“She hit her!” Annabelle managed to say shocked. “She bloody hit her! In the face!”
“That’s not on,” Eylion said looking sad. “Poor Lydia.”
“Yeah… I had no idea it was this bad. What is all that bull about nobody respecting her. She’s the one teacher in here who deserves any. She tried to help me.”
“We need to find a distraction or you are so doomed.”
“I can’t go to her office.”
“I know! She’ll beat the crap out of you!”
“Who are you talking about?”
“The headmistress, who are you talking about?”
“Lydia! I can’t go there now.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s been given orders to hand me over to the headmistress, and she doesn’t want to. But she has to, so either she’ll hand me over and feel terrible about it even if it’s all my fault to begin with, or she’ll get into a lot of trouble. If I just go straight to the headmistress, then she won’t have to feel bad.”
“Annabelle, that is suicide.”
“No… it will just really suck.”

*

They suddenly came to a stop. They were at a dead end. They looked around for while, distracted. Then Annabelle saw a familiar symbol carved into the wall and put her locket there.
“Wait…” Eylion said too late because the wall in front of them made an opening.
They stepped out into a long corridor with windows. Now it was dark outside. They were alone.
“Annabelle!” Eylion gave her a glare. “What if there were people here?”
“Sorry,” Annabelle said biting her lip.
“Close that opening. Quick.”
Annabelle did and they made their way down the corridor.
“I think dinner is over,” Eylion said pouting. “And I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” Annabelle mumbled. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
“Well no time to worry about that. ”

They hurried down the corridor. When they got to the grand staircase they stopped.
“I need to find the others.”
“What for?”
“The distraction. We need to do something big to get you out of trouble. What if we…”
“Young lady!” A voice froze them both before they slowly turned around to see the school nurse.
Annabelle had seen her around, but she had never talked to her. She didn’t even know her name. She stood still, terrified, as the older woman came over.
She was not very tall, for a witch, a little shorter than Annabelle. She was plump with shortish hair, and unlike the teachers, she didn’t wear a witch’s hat. Annabelle approved of this, she never understood why the teacher’s wore hats inside. The only teacher that didn’t wear a hat to class was Lydia, which was good because she had lovely hair.
“Umh… hi.” Annabelle smiled nervously at the woman standing in front of her.
“Don’t hi me, young lady,” she said sternly. “If you are sick I need to take you to the infirmary. Let me feel your forehead.”
She pulled Annabelle forward rather forcefully and put her hand on her forehead.
“Oh dear, not good at all. Did you pass out? Is that why you’ve been missing?”
Annabelle was lost for words.
“I found her outside, ma’am,” Eylion said quickly before Annabelle could ruin anything. “She was asleep under a tree. She went out for some fresh air because she had been sick. I think she must have sat down there and passed out. When she came to, she was very confused.”
“And you are?”
“Eylion, ma’am. I helped looking for her.”
“Inform the headmistress that I’ve taken her to the infirmary.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Eylion nodded importantly.
“And tell her that the girl is very sick, and might possibly be contagious.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Eylion said not able to hide her grin now.
They watched her run up the stairs to the headmistress’ office. Then the nurse took her by the arm.
“It’s the infirmary and bed for you, my dear. You’ll have to stay for a couple of days until you’re better. Do you think you can force down something to eat?”
“I’ll do my best, ma’am.”

*

“What do you mean she is sick?”
Annabelle could hear the headmistress’s angry voice outside the infirmary.
“She’s very ill, headmistress. Vomiting, fever… she passed out, for heaven’s sake. Lydia was right all along, though she shouldn’t have let her go alone, she should have made sure she made it to the infirmary.”
“I want to talk to her.”
“She’s sleeping, headmistress. And it would not be wise to wake her now. But whatever she’s got, she better stay put because these things spread fast and before you know it half the girls and staff will be in here.”
“That bad, is it? Then keep her here until you are sure she’s well again. I’m not getting… I mean I don’t want… my girls to get sick.”
“Of course, you don’t.”
Annabelle heard the headmistress leave and finished her meal. The nurse, whatever her name was, came back in.
“Was there no dessert tonight?” Annabelle asked, licking her lips.
“There was.”
“So… where is mine?”
The nurse raised an eyebrow.
“Do you think you deserve dessert, young lady?”
Annabelle rolled her eyes.
“I only fell asleep, I didn’t kill a man.”
“You fell asleep after you decided to lie to your concerned teacher and skip class. That doesn’t sound like a girl who deserves pudding, does it? You deserve something entirely different, miss.”
Once she had been taken into the infirmary the nurse had quit the act and scolded her thoroughly for all the trouble she had caused, but Annabelle was just so relieved that she had been saved from the headmistress’ wrath. She it was nice knowing there was another person at this school she could trust.
“I said I was sorry,” she mumbled.
“Good, you can tell Lydia that when she comes by later. Though getting her forgiveness might sting a little.”

*

It was a little before lights out when Lydia showed up. She hadn’t been able to come straight away because she didn’t want the headmistress to see her. She had waited until after curfew and after most of the staff had gone to their own rooms.
She came into the infirmary and hugged the nurse.
“Thank you, Dorota!”
“You’re welcome, dear. She believed me, but the girl has to stay here for a couple of days.”
“That’s okay,” Annabelle said sitting up. “Anything to get out of Spryt’s crap history lessons.” She smiled at Lydia who suddenly looked stern.
“You!” She came towards Annabelle with a thunderous expression. “Have you any idea how much trouble you’ve caused?”
Annabelle knew, but she couldn’t tell Lydia she had heard the conversation between her and the headmistress, because then she’d have to tell her about the passages and she wasn’t ready to do that. For now, it was only she and Eylion who knew.
“I’m sorry?” Annabelle said looking up at her from her bed.
“You will be sorry once I’m done with you!”
“But… but I thought we agreed,” Annabelle argued. “That I am very ill. Contagious even.” She coughed and put her hand to her forehead dramatically. “I have a fever.”
“The only thing that will have a fever once I’m through with you is you bottom!”
“Lydia! You can’t be serious!”
“Oh, I am very serious, missy.”
“But… but…” Annabelle looked over at the Dorota for help. “Aren’t you going to do something?”
“Of course,” the nurse said. “I’m going to go outside and stand guard in the hallway, so that nobody hears my patient,” she stressed the word ‘patient’ “getting spanked!”
With that the nurse left the infirmary to stand in the corridor, keeping lookout.
“But… Lydia, I’m sorry. I was just tired and I needed a little nap in peace.”
“That’s not good enough, Annabelle. You could have gone to see Dorota and she might have let you take a nap if she felt you really needed it.”
“How was I supposed to know she was nice?” Annabelle felt that was a good point. “You’re pretty cool, I’ll give you that, but the rest of the teachers are horrible! And your grandmother… or your… great great great…whatever. Point is… she’s pretty horrible too! No offence.”
Lydia looked shocked.
“How… how did you know that she was…”
Annabelle could have hit herself.
“Eh…
“How? Who told you?”
“I can’t remember. Probably one of the girls. I’m not sure.”
Lydia gave her a suspicious look as if she didn’t believe that explanation. However, Annabelle couldn’t tell her that she and Eylion had overheard her conversation with Spryt that time they were hiding from them.
“Never mind. Get out of bed.”
“Lydiaaaa…”
“Now!” Her voice was sharp.
Annabelle got out of the bed. She stood barefoot on the cold floor in her nightgown and looked up her potion teacher. She pouted. She knew she should feel grateful that she hadn’t been turned over to the headmistress, but after she had been taken to the infirmary she had thought she had gotten away with punishment.
Lydia pulled up a chair, sat down and pulled Annabelle over her knee.
“I tried to warn you, Annabelle.” Her left arm held Annabelle in place and her right hand rested on her bottom.
“You need to be careful. You can’t get expelled from this place.”
“I wasn’t trying to get expelled,” Annabelle argued.
SMACK! Lydia’s hand landed hard on her bottom. Annabelle whimpered.
“Be quiet.” Lydia’s voice was quite firm. “You need to be more careful, Annabelle. Do not let the headmistress notice you too much. You’ve already been labeled a trouble maker. You think I’m tough? This is nothing to the punishment that she would have given you!”
SMACK!
“Ow… I’m sorry.” Annabelle winced as she felt Lydia’s hand for the second time, knowing they hadn’t even started yet. “I know I messed up.”
“Yes, you did.”
SMACK! SMACK!
“Buuuut…. I didn’t mean to! I mean… okay… I meant to a little. But I didn’t mean to sleep so long. I was only gonna sleep a little and then say I had been sick in the bathroom and that was why I was late to the nurse. I didn’t think I’d be out of it all day.”
“You shouldn’t have lied and skipped class,” Lydia scolded.
“I know… I just felt grumpy and I wanted to be alone. I felt like…”
“Like being bad?” SMACK!

“Giving your teacher cheek when she asked for your homework that you hadn’t done?” SMACK!

“Lying to get out of class?” SMACK!
“Ow… yes… okay okay… yes. I felt like being bad. I’m sorry… and I’m really grateful that you and Dorota got me out of trouble. Well… not out of trouble because… I’m over your knee, but out of trouble with that…” she sighed “that woman!”
She had wanted to call the headmistress a hag, but she really didn’t think it would help her in this situation, and she was related to Lydia. Even if she treated Lydia horribly she didn’t know how Lydia felt about her own family.
“And you know… it’s not like I’m getting away with it. Even if you hadn’t decided to spank me, I’d still have to stay here… for days!”
“I thought you said you were pleased you got out of history class.”
“Yes… well… that’s a positive, you know how I feel about that Spryt woman, but now that I have thought about it, I think it will be pretty boring. I mean, none of my friends can come in here and keep me company. I’m supposed to be contagious, remember? It will be like being confined to my room all over again, except this time there’s a nurse around.”
“Well it’s nothing less than you deserve, young lady.”
Without saying anything else, Lydia started spanking her for real. First over her nightgown, but even with that protection it still hurt. Lydia wasn’t sparing her backside, and even if this hurt a lot, it was still much better than being handed over to the headmistress who had a big wooden paddle in her office.
Annabelle tried not to squirm and take her punishment, but it wasn’t easy as Lydia’s hand came down rapidly on her bottom. She had barely given one stinging swat before there was another.
“Are you starting to understand the seriousness of your actions, young lady?” Lydia had paused the spanking and was rubbing Annabelle’s bottom.
“Yes… I know that…umh…” Annabelle hesitated because it wasn’t easy to say.
“You know what?”
“I know I shouldn’t get on the wrong side of the headmistress,” Annabelle said. It wasn’t what she had meant to say but it was so hard to say what she wanted to. “She could make my life very difficult.”
“She could,” Lydia agreed. “And I don’t want that for you, or any of the witchlings in here. You shouldn’t give her any reason to punish you. I am trying to keep you out of trouble, to protect you, and I will gladly spank you if it keeps you in line and out of her reach. Don’t think I won’t, because when I spank you, you know it’s because I care. You do know that, don’t you?”
A tear ran down Annabelle’s cheek. She quickly wiped it away hoping Lydia didn’t notice. There was no way Lydia could possibly know how much it meant to her to hear her say that, for Annabelle to know that there was a person in this school who cared and looked out for her. It made being away from Gwen and Aisling much more bearable.
“Yeah… I know. And I’m really glad you got me out of… umh… that little situation.”

“Little situation?”

SMACK!

“Owwww…. okay okay. I mean… thank you, Lydia for saving me from that mess. Before I came here I was told to stay out of Onbush’s way. I don’t think it’s a secret where I come from and who my family is.”

It felt good calling the ones at home for family, but they were. She smiled to herself. But not for long as she felt Lydia pulling up her nightgown.

“Yes, Annabelle. I know who’s waiting for you at home, and how they feel about my great grandmother. I take it Alexis is not happy with her?”

“No, she’s not. Nor should she be.”

“No, she shouldn’t. And living with Gwen, Aisling and Alexis you surely know, don’t you, that my great grandmother is a dangerous woman? That the order is dangerous?”

Annabelle gasped. She had, by now, realized that Lydia was looking out for her and the other witchlings, that Lydia did not agree with the headmistress about everything, but this was pretty much a confession that she was not siding with the order. Within this castle that was being a traitor to the “cause”. If Kendra Onbush knew that one of her own teacher’s, that her own great great great grandaughter told students this, she would get rid of Lydia. But from what she had overheard of their conversation earlier, it sounded like she was already considering getting rid of her. Where would she go? Would the headmistress just let her walk out of her and go back home? She wasn’t a student, she was a teacher. She was a witch, not a witchling. But having been on the inside and seen what the teachers taught the students, would she just allow her to leave and spread the word? Maybe not. Maybe this was dangerous for Lydia too.

“Yes, I know that she is dangerous. I was warned not to cause trouble on the inside. Alexis told me the order did not have our best interest at heart.”

“And she’s quite right.” Lydia pulled down Annabelle’s panties. “So the questions is? Why can’t you stay out of trouble?”

She continued to spank Annabelle’s bare bottom, and she did so thoroughly. This time it did not take long for her to squirm over her knee. It hurt! It seemed that Lydia was determined to make sure Annabelle’s entire bottom was red and sore.

“Owww! Lydia, I’m sorry! I promise I won’t get in trouble again!” She mostly said this to get Lydia to stop spanking her, because as she said it she reminded herself that they were planning to organize a mischief group to make the headmistress’ life hell.

“I don’t know if I believe that, Annabelle, but I’m at least trying to make sure you will be good for a good while! The headmistress is already suspicious of you, and it’s best if you don’t let her notice you in near future. Both she and Octavia are watching you like a hawk.”

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

“I will stay out of trouble! I promise! I’ll be good!”

“Good, because if I catch you even so much thinking about making trouble, I will put you over my knee and make you think better thoughts!”

She helped Annabelle stand up. For a second she was relieved thinking the punishment was over, but then Lydia spoke again sounding stern.

“Bend over and touch the chair.”

“What?!”

Annabelle looked at her as Lydia put her hand into the pocket of her black witch’s robe. When she removed her hand it was holding a strap.

“You have got to be kidding!”

“Bend over, Annabelle.”

“But…”

“Do not make this worse for yourself. I am giving you ten, do you want more?”

Annabelle shook her head.

“No ma’am.”

She bent over. She felt Lydia pull up her nightgown that had slipped down. She closed her eyes as she felt Lydia rest her left hand on her lower back and tapped her already red bottom with the strap. Then Lydia removed the strap and it came back with a WHACK!

“Ow!” Already from the first lick, the strap stung like hell.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Annabelle almost got up. It wasn’t on purpose, it was like an unconscious protective instinct.

“Stay in position, young lady.”

“Yes,” Annabelle whimpered.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

“Do I have your word, that you will stay low and try your best not to get the headmistress’ attention?”

“Yes,” Annabelle said, tears running down her cheek.

“Do you understand what can happen if she gets fed up with you?”

“I think so…”Annabelle mumbled. “I’m not sure…”

“What do you think she is capable of?” Lydia asked seriously.

“Can she… umh… can she get rid of us? Like… lock us up somewhere? Or…kill us?”

There was a silence. Lydia took her time to think.

“Yes, I think that is a possibility. She’s not letting you go back home like this Annabelle.”

“I know… ”

“Now…  you’ve got three more. Then we’re done, and I want to see you try harder to stay out of trouble. Because you just got out of house arrest yesterday, and you were almost sent to her office today. Stay out of her way, you hear me?”

“Yes, Lydia.”

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Lydia gave Annabelle the last with the strap, and put it to the side. Then she took Annabelle in her arms and cuddled her close while Annabelle rubbed her bottom. Lydia stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.

“Get into bed, I’ll tell Dorota we’re done. And I’ll be back.”

Annabelle nodded and climbed back into her bed. She was pulling over her cover when Lydia came back, Dorota following her. Annabelle was just now reminded that the nurse had been outside, and she had probably heard her getting spanked. She blushed.

“Are you going to be a good girl now,” Dorota asked her. “Because you know… we’ll be seeing a lot of each other these next couple of days, and I don’t let anyone get away with being naughty.”

“I’ll be good,” Annabelle promised her. “You just make sure I get my desert next time.”

Dorota chucked as she went into her office.

Lydia sat down next to her on the bed. She wiped Annabelle’s tears away and continued to stroke her hair.

“Lydia?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you… are you on the other side? Like… are you and Dorota not supportive of the order?”

Lydia gave her a smile.

“Will you tell on me?”

Annabelle shook her head.

“Never.”

“Then… yes, I guess I am on… the other side. My family ordered me to come here, and I accepted the offer, not that I had a choice in the matter, but I acceped because… well… I didn’t have anything else to do, and I thought I could protect the students from those who didn’t care about them.”

“Thank you.” Annabelle took her and and kissed it. Lydia smiled.

“Lydia?”

“Yes?”

“Will you be able to stay? It’s just… if you’re so nice to the students, maybe the order will get suspicious.”

Lydia looked at her suspiciously. Almost as if she could tell that Annabelle had heard the conversation she had with the headmistress earlier, but how could she know?

“You are very perceptive, you know that?”

Annabelle didn’t answer. She only looked at her expectantly.

“I don’t want to upset you, but…” She hesitated. She looked so sad.

“But what?”

Lydia’s eyes filled with tears. Annabelle sat up. She put her arms around her. Lydia didn’t resist, instead she gave a sob and leaned her head against Annabelle’s shoulder. Annabelle had never done this before, but she had some experience from having been comforted by Gwen or Aisling.

“What’s wrong, Lydia?”

“I… I think… my great grandmother is going to ask me to leave this school.”

“And you don’t want to leave this hell hole?”

“No… yes, part of me, but no. I want to stay and protect the students, if I have to leave I failed you all. Who’s going to be nice to you with all these evil hags around.”

Annabelle gave a laugh. It was quite refreshing to hear a teacher call her colleagues evil hags.

“Dorota will be here.”

“Yes, but she’s a nurse. It’ll look weird if she sees them all the time. I’m the potion teacher, you have classes with the every day. I feel like I’m important here. Like people need me.”

“They do,” Annabelle agreed. “You’re the person they come to if they’re in trouble…”

“Exactly. I support them.”

“And you don’t have a big wooden paddle.”

Lydia laughed.

“You should sleep.”

“I’m not tired, I slept all day.”

“And who’s fault is that?”

“Well… I fell asleep in your lesson first soo….”

Lydia raised an eye brow, but she was only pretending to be stern.

“Do you need more spankings, young lady?”

Annabelle laid back down on the bed. “No, ma’am. I’m gonna be good.”

“I’ll come back to see you tomorrow when I can. But I can’t be seen.

“Okay.” Annabelle smiled at her.

Lydia tucked Annabelle in and kissed her forehead.

“Is there anything you need before I go?”

Annabelle rubbed her bottom under the covers.

“Can you ask Dorota if she has a potion for pain relief?

 

 

 

The Claus’s Clause

“Wow… it really is real.” Anna stood on top of a snowy hill and looked at the little village below with big eyes. It was dark, winter was always dark this far north, but the village was lit up and awake.

“I told you it was, where did you think we were going if not?” Charlie, Anna’s girlfriend smiled at her from their snowmobile. The village was so far away from everything, this was the only way for them to get there. All their luggage was in a sled attached to the snowmobile.

“Baby, I’m sorry, but when your girlfriend tells you she knows Santa Claus and that she’s been offered a job in her secret village in Norway, a girl is allowed her doubts.” She gave her girlfriend a look. “I mean… this is crazy. We’re literally in the middle of nowhere. There are no cars, no… well… no nothing. What were we thinking? What if we get seriously ill and need to go to the hospital? Or what if… well what if we just really need to get back to civilization? And what am I going to tell my mother? When I told her we were moving in together and that you had gotten a job offer in a foreign country, she said she was going to come visit. We can’t tell her we moved to work for Santa Claus.”

“Honey, relax. If we get ill, we’ll have a doctor in the village. If we need to go to the hospital, Santa has a sleigh with flying reindeer that can fly around the world in one night, that’s better than any ambulance. And as for your mother… well… she always says she’ll visit, but ends up inviting us over to her place. I think it is highly unlikely that she’ll actually come here.” She patted the seat behind her. “Now come on, I want to get inside. I’m really looking forward to seeing Santa again, I’m so glad she called and offered this job to me.”

“Why did you get the job? Isn’t it cronyism to give jobs to people because you are friends?” Anna got back onto the snowmobile.

“Yup, but if you’re Santa Claus… well it’s not like you can advertise for jobs in the paper, can you? And also, why shouldn’t I get the job? I am awesome at what I do, don’t you think?”

“Honestly?” Anna put her hands around her girlfriend’s waist. “I’m not really sure what it is that you do.”

“I’m a mathematician.”

“Exactly.”

*

They had parked the snowmobile outside the main building, and a man called Odd Ball had taken the keys and driven it to their cabin. He’d only been gone for three seconds when Anna opened her mouth to speak, but Charlie cut her off.

“Yes, I know, but Odd is a male name here and it doesn’t mean eh… well odd.”

“Charlie!” A tall, blond woman came towards them. “Oh it’s so good to see you,” she said embracing Charlie. She had a British accent, and she was drop dead gorgeous.

“That’s Santa?” She meant to only think it inside her head, but she said it out loud, sounding a little rude. However, Santa just smiled.

“Not what you expected huh?”

“Well… no… not exactly,” Anna admitted. “Charlie told me you were a woman though.”

“Yeah, it only took her two weeks to realize I wasn’t joking about knowing you though.”

Santa laughed. She gave Anna a warm hug.

“Welcome to my village Anna, I hope you will like it here. Shall we go inside? I’d love for you to meet my wife.”

*

Santa took them inside the main building and to her office. Inside, sitting by the fire place, was a woman. Like her partner, she was tall and beautiful, but Mrs. Claus had dark brown hair that was pulled back from her face, it made her look strict. She was also dressed for riding, with her crop next to her.

“This is my wife, Clarissa,” Santa said gesturing at the woman, who got up to greet them. “Honey, this Charlie our new mathematician, and her partner Anna.”

Mrs. Claus shook hands with them both.

“Charlie, I’ve heard so much about you,” she said smiling.

“All good, I hope,” Charlie said grinning, and… blushing. Anna observed this with interest. She imagined that she herself would easily blush around a person like Mrs. Claus, but Charlie?

Mrs. Claus raised an eyebrow. “Aspen skiing trip, 2010?”

“Oh eh… well… that’s… I bet she’s exaggerating.” Charlie scratched her neck, always a sign of nervousness.

Anna looked at her girlfriend curiously. “What happened in Aspen, honey? Do tell?”

Charlie was struggling to find words. “Eh…”

Santa grinned. “A story for later, I think. Let’s talk about your contracts. Charlie, did you sign yours?”

Charlie brought out a piece of paper. “I did, yes.”

“Good, very good,” Santa said approvingly. “As for you Anna, I don’t have anything here in the workshop.”

“Oh… bad luck,” Anna said sounding disappointed. This wasn’t the plan; the plan was for them both to work. What would she do every day if she didn’t have a job?

“However,” said Mrs. Claus, “I do.”

“Oh,” Anna said sounding more positive. “Good, I really want to have something to do.”

“You can work for me in the stable, you don’t mind animals, do you?”

“No, I love animals.” Anna smiled. She really did love animals, especially horses. But she’d never been allowed around them as a child, and as a grown-up she felt she was too old to learn to ride, even if she was only twenty-five.

“Good, then that’s settled.” She picked up a sheet of paper on Santa’s desk, “This is your contract, I suggest you read it carefully.”

Anna nodded.

Santa patted her on the shoulder. “I suggest you take it home, read it, and come to my office tomorrow morning. Shall we say 10 am? If you have any questions, you can ask me then. If there is something you’re unhappy about, we can discuss it. Then if you accept the offer, you sign it and report to Clarissa in the stables afterwards.”

“Okay,” Anna said smiling. “See you tomorrow.”

*

“A spanking clause?” Anna looked up at her girlfriend in surprise. They had settled in to their cabin, and were now huddled together on a couch in front of the fireplace.

“Yeah… I meant to talk to you about that,” mumbled her girlfriend.

“What do you mean you meant to talk to me about it? You knew? Is this for real?”

“Well… honey… I… eh… it’s not really relevant for you, at least, I don’t think it is.”

“Explain,” Anna demanded.

“Well… okay… it’s like this, in this village spanking may be used for discipline if someone is not behaving themselves. That is, those in charge of others, can use it. If you work for someone, they can discipline you.”

“Do you work for someone?”

“No, I… well… I work for Santa, we all do, but I’m kind of my own boss to tell you the truth, and I’m not likely to spank myself.” She winked.

“Can you spank someone else?” Anna tried not to sound jealous, but she hated the idea.

“No, I’m not in charge of anyone. There’s really only need for one mathematician here, so I don’t work for anyone and no one works for me. I don’t have that clause in my contract.”

“But I will be working for Mrs. Claus, and so this means that she can… you know?”

“Yeah… I guess. But honey, it’s discipline if you misbehave, you’re not going to break the rules, are you?”

“Emh… no… I want to do a good job.”

“Exactly, and look… you can talk to Santa about it tomorrow if you want. Tell her it makes you feel uncomfortable and ask her how it will affect you. She’s a good friend, I trust her, and I know she will be happy to talk about it and try to come to an agreement that will work for all.”

“Yeah… okay…”

This gave Anna a lot to think about. Her problem wasn’t that she was against spanking, her problem was… she was sooo for it! She craved it. She had, since before she could remember, been fascinated with spanking. She had so many times practiced conversations in her mind where she would tell Charlie about her desires, where she would tell her that she wanted her to spank her. She always chickened out because she scared that Charlie would think her weird, that she would not want to be with her anymore if she knew. And now… well now she had a work contract that had a spanking clause, a clause that stated that if she misbehaved she would get spanked by Mrs. Claus. It was tempting to misbehave on purpose, but wouldn’t that mean she was being unfaithful to Charlie? If she desired spanking, fantasized about it, how could she let another woman do that to her? And even if she could overlook that detail, wouldn’t she be taking advantage of Mrs. Claus, use her to get what she had always desired? It was very confusing.

She yawned. “I think I need to go to bed now, are you coming?”

Charlie grinned. “Is that a suggestion?” She wiggled her eyebrows jokingly.

“Baby, no offence, you know I love making love to you, but it’s been a really long day and I’m super tired. I don’t want to fall asleep during the act.”

Charlie laughed. “I know, sweetie, I was just kidding. I’m super tired too. However, I think since it’s so cold up here, and we’re not used to it yet, we should definitely lay close together and share body temperature.”

“Is that code for “we should cuddle?”

“It might be,” Charlie said nibbling her neck.

*

The next morning Anna went to Santa’s office to talk about her contract. Santa was sitting behind her desk, and motioned for Anna to stand in front of her. It kind of made her feel like she was in trouble and she wondered if Santa had a paddle in her desk drawer like had read in many spanking stories.

“Did you read your contract carefully?”

“Yes…”

“And?”

“Well… eh… there’s a…” Anna blushed. “There’s… a spa… spanking clause?” She stammered, embarrassed even to mention the word.

“Ah yes, see why I wanted you to read the contract and think about it overnight?”

Santa gave her a kind smile, and Anna nodded.

“And what do you think of this clause?” Santa got up from her chair and gestured for Anna to sit down on a sofa in her office, and sat down next to her, putting her hand on her knee in a comforting way.

Anna tried to keep eye-contact and not to seem embarrassed, but she found it very difficult.

“It’s just… well I… eh… I wasn’t expecting that to be in the contract, and I’m not really sure what why it’s there. Does everyone have this in their contract? And what does it take to earn a spanking? What if a someone is uncomfortable with this clause? Or what if a person signs the contract but changes her mind?”

She didn’t want to seem accusing, but she did find it weird that she, a grown woman, should have to sign a contract that allowed her boss to spank her.

“Hmm… well… it’s complicated. Not everyone has this clause in their contract, and the reason for this is because they don’t need it. Those who do have it because they are okay with it and they understand that they need it. A lot of my helpers are… well… a bit bratty at times. They are kind people, good workers, but they tend to be a little naughty. I find that this is a good a way for me to keep them in line. Sometimes, when they haven’t been spanked in a while, they tend to act out for attention.” She grinned. “And when they do, they get attention… over someone’s knee.”

Anna’s eyes went wide.

Santa carried on. “And sometimes I leave out the spanking clause in a contract, but that is because I sense that the person don’t need this clause, or because I know they would never agree with it. Maybe they are just not likely to be naughty, maybe they were born to lead, or maybe they cannot accept that kind of disciplinary action. It’s important to be able to read other people and know their needs, and I must admit that I have never been wrong in my assessment of other people so far. Charlie, for example, does not have the clause in her contract.”

“Because you knew her from before and you knew she wouldn’t need it?” Anna asked trying to make sense of this.

“Exactly. And she’s much more of a leader.”

“But why include it in my contract?” Anna found it difficult to keep eye-contact as she was asking this, because she already knew that she would be signing the contract.

“Because I sense that you do need it, my dear.” Santa pattet her cheek. “And… that you, perhaps, crave it…”

“But…” Anna looked deep into Santa’s blue eyes. “But you made the contract before you met me. How could you possibly know what I needed before you met me?”

Santa smiled.

“Because, little girl, I am Santa. You might not have met me, but I know you. I know the naughty things you’ve done, the things you thought would stay your secret forever.”

“Like?” Anna challenged her. If she was going to believe that Santa truly knew her, then she would have to prove it.

Santa suddenly looked stern. “Three years ago, you…” she whispered the rest of the sentence into Anna’s ear.

Anna’s eyes widened. “How did… but…”

“I’m Santa, Anna. I know you.” She smiled at her. “So… how about that contract? Is there anything you wish to change?”

“No, ma’am. I think the contract seems fair,” Anna said as she picked up a pen and signed it.

**

After speaking to Santa, Anna went straight to the stable to work for Mrs. Claus. She first had to hand over a copy of her contract for Mrs. C to keep in her files.

“Now, young lady, I also want you to say it.”

“What?”

“I don’t just want it in writing, my dear. I want you to tell me, woman to woman, that you trust me with your discipline and that if you break the rules I can spank you.” She kept eye-contact with Anna, and Anna found that she could not look away from Mrs. C’s stern gaze.

“Well?”

“I… emh…” Anna took a deep breath. “I trust you with my discipline, and if I break the rules you can sp…spank me.”

Mrs. C smiled at her. It was a warm smile, and she gave her a hug.

“Good girl.”

Anna felt a rush of warmth through her body at Mrs. C’s approval.

“Now… I need to take my horse Greyfell out for a ride, but I still have some work to do, so you will have to make him ready for me.”

“But… I don’t know how to make a horse ready yet,” Anna started, shocked that she was being asked to care for a horse her first day.

“Let me finish, my dear. You will get him ready for me, under the supervision of Glaze. She normally works for Santa, but since she’s worked here before, she’s filling in as the flue is going around.”

“Oh… good,” Anna said relieved.

“Yes, well… you go and find his stall. Out the door to the left, his name will hang over the door. I will be out in a minute to give instructions. Meanwhile try to socialize and get to know people.”

“Okay… thanks… I eh… I’ll go and do that.”

“Oh and Anna, before you go I should warm you about Glaze.” She looked like was trying to think what to say. “Oh dear how do I put this? She’s a very kind person, I personally care for her very much and you should definitely be friends, but keep in mind that she has a propensity for getting into trouble, and her ideas might get others in trouble.”

“Oh…”

“Yes, oh. So if you were planning on sitting comfortably in near future, think twice before you agree to any of her whims, won’t you dear?”

“Yes, ma’am. I will be good.”

“Good girl.” Mrs. C gave her an approving nod.

*

Anna backed our slowly smiling and then she quickly got out and shut the door.

She nearly walked into a girl outside.

“Hey, you’re new!” The girl walked over to her grinning.

“Hi. Yes, I’m new.” Anna smiled at her shyly. “I’m supposed to find Greyfell, could you maybe show me?”

“Of course, this way. I’m Glaze.”

“Oh that’s you! We’re supposed to get him ready together since I don’t know anything yet.” She studied Glaze curiously. She was a little taller than Anna, but she could definitely see what Mrs. C meant about naughty. She had an impish grin.

Glaze took her to the horse stalls, and stopped outside a stall. Greyfell sure had a huge… bottom because that’s all she could see of him as he had turned around.

“So… new huh?” Glaze asked, even if they had, just recently established that Anna was new.

“Yeah, I just moved here with my girlfriend, Charlie. She’s Santa’s new mathematician.”

“Cool! Eh… what does a mathematician do?”

“No idea,” Anna said shrugging. “She has tried to tell me several times, but I don’t get it.”

“So… Santa and Mrs. C seem like a great couple,” Anna said, just to have something to say.

“Oh yeah, they were made for each other, those two.”

Anna nodded.

“And they can be quite revolting about it,” Glaze added smirking. She put on fake voices and used her hands as puppets to imitate what could only be Santa and Mrs. Claus.

“Snugglepuff!”

“Oh! Santy-Pooh!” Glaze made smooching sounds.

“Ahem…”

Glaze turned around at the sound of a woman behind them.

“Snugglepuff! I mean… eh… Mrs. C! How long have you stood there?”

“Long enough…”

“Uh oh”

“Yes, uh oh, indeed.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Well… eh… oh gosh, look at the time. I have work to do. Byee!” She started walking down the hall.

“Hold it!” Mrs. C’s sharp voice called after her, and Glaze stopped and winced.

“Your work is here with Anna. She needs you to show her how to get a horse ready for riding.”

Glaze turned around slowly.

“Oh… right. Yeah, I’ll do that. And I’ll do a super duper good job!” She grinned confidently.

“You better, and you better not get Anna into any trouble on her first day.”

Glaze shook her head. “No way! Look… Santa spanked me yesterday. I’m still sore. I’m going to be really really good. Santa said if I was good, she wouldn’t put me on the naughty list.”

“The naughty list is real?” Anna looked at Mrs. C with wide eyes.

Mrs. C gave them a smile. “I’ll be in my office until Greyfell is ready. You two behave yourselves.”

She started to walk back to her office, but before she turned a corner she said. “And Anna, remember… if you wish to stay out of trouble, do not follow her example. Glaze is an expert at getting her bottom warmed, if you get my drift.”

Anna blushed. She felt a tingling feeling inside.

*

“What sort of naughty stuff have you done to get spanked?” Anna asked Glaze while they were brushing Greyfell. She was dying of curiosity.

“Oh plenty of stuff… though… last year my friend Reigh and I borrowed two of her reindeer to go skiing after curfew and then we lost them… and our way back.”

“Wow…”

“Yeah… I mean… the reindeer were fine, they just went back home, but we got in serious trouble for sneaking out after curfew and getting lost. We got caught in a blizzard and we hadn’t told anyone where we were going, so it was really dangerous.”

“So you got spanked? Like… for real?”

“Yep! Pants down and over the knee! And we had to bend over the sofa for some swats with the paddle!”

“A paddle??? Like a big one?”

“Yeah, made out of wood. We have a paddle hanging on the wall in our cabin to remind us to behave.”

Anna unconsciously pulled her hands back to cover her behind. It scared her, but it also intrigued her.

“Emh… do you always get spanked with a paddle?”

“Nope. Sometimes just with a hand, and sometimes a paddle. It really depends. I work directly for Santa so I often get spanked in her office.”

“Does she have… stuff… like… in her desk drawer?” Anna blushed, and she tried not to sound to excited, but Glaze sounded like she didn’t mind sharing details.

“Oh yeah! She has a paddle and a ruler… and… she even has… a candy cane.”

“Ah what? Candy cane? You mean those small minty things?”

“No! I mean yes. I mean… she has a cane, like to spank with, that looks like a candy cane.”

Anna gasped. By now she was totally freaked out and not at all “interested”. She had wanted to try the cane, but never be punished with it.

“And… she uses her candy cane? On people???” Anna asked horrified.

Glaze smirked.

“Well… I’ve never heard of anyone getting candy caned before…” she giggled to herself. “But… one time, and don’t you dare tell anyone cuz I wasn’t caught or nothin, but one time… I snuck into her office and snooped around.”

“Noooo!”

“Yes!” Glaze grinned. “And that’s when I found her candy cane in her cupboard. But like I said… she never uses it on people who break the rules, but she must have it for a reason. I mean… she might have it for… ya know…” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Pleasure?”

Anna grinned. “Maybe Snugglepuff is naughty sometimes.”

They both laughed. And they were still laughing when they heard someone approach behind them.

“What are you two laughing about?” Asked Mrs. C.

“Nothing,” they both said at the same time.

“Right…” Mrs. C gave them a suspicious look. “Well I’m glad you are getting along. Is my little man ready?”

“Little?” Glaze looked up at the huge stallion they were getting ready. “Eh… yeah, just about. We just need to saddle him.”

*

That night Anna laid in bed next to her snoring girlfriend and thought about what Glaze had told her. Just because one got spanked, it didn’t mean that you would get the paddle. And no one had been caned, even if Santa had a candy cane. Also, Glaze was happy to talk about her experiences with spankings, so it wasn’t like the discipline left people traumatized. Perhaps, if she did something a little naughty, Mrs. C would spank her with her hand, and it wouldn’t be too bad. She smiled as she imagined the older woman, dressed for riding, smacked her riding crop on her desk, demanding Anna to bare herself for a spanking.

Anna pulled down her pajama bottoms and her panties, she lowered her hands between her legs and discovered that she was wet. Then a loud snore got her attention and she drew back her hand and quickly pulled up her panties and pajama bottoms. She looked over at her girlfriend, sound asleep and oblivious to Anna thinking of another woman.

“No,” Anna thought to herself. “I’m not… I don’t want to have sex with her. I just… I want… I want her to…” She suddenly felt tears run down her cheeks, and she gave a sob.

Charlie woke at once. Usually a small sound like a little sob would never wake her when she was in deep sleep, but this time she woke.

“Baby? What’s wrong.” She pulled her lover into her arms.

“Nothing,” Anna mumbled. She sniffed and buried her face into her girlfriends generous and squishy chest. It was a part of Charlie’s body she found great comfort in.

“Baby, something is wrong, you’re crying.” Charlie patted her hair.

“I’m just… I’m just feeling a little sensitive right now,” Anna said still cuddling close. “You know… like… when you just feel a little sad and you don’t really know why? I think I just need to cuddle a little if that’s okay.”

“Of course, that’s okay.” Charlie hugged her closer. “I love you, baby.”

This made Anna cry even more. She sobbed more loudly.

“What? What did I say?” Charlie pulled her from chest to look into her face.

Anna always hated when she did that because she felt so ugly when she was crying.

“Baby?”

“I just…” Anna sobbed. “I just… I just love you sooo muuuuch!” She cried, and she cuddled back into her girlfriend who kissed her on top of her head.

“I’m such a freak,” Anna sobbed.

“No, baby…”

“Yes, I am.”

Charlie shook her head. “Well… Then you’re my freak.”

*

The next morning Anna spent extra time in the bathroom.

“Baby, you’re gonna be late,” Charlie called to her as she was putting on her shoes. “I’m leaving now, and you should too.”

“Yeah, I’m almost ready. You just go.” She smirked to herself as she was looking in the mirror. Knowing she would be a little late to the stable, and knowing how Mrs. C felt about tardiness.

“Okay, byee. And hurry up or Clarissa will get cross with you.”

Anna heard Charlie close the door shut. She looked herself over in the mirror.

“Oh my! I’ve forgotten to brush my teeth!” she said in a sing-song tone.

She brushed her teeth very carefully. Then she went to the bathroom again, even if she didn’t really have to go. Then she took her time getting dressed for the cold, and making sure to lace her boots properly. Then she took her time as she walked towards the stables.

*

“Young lady!”

Anna stopped in her tracks as she was walking past the main house. An angry looking Mrs. Claus was coming towards her. She suddenly stopped breathing.

“You were supposed to be at work 20 minutes ago.” Mrs. C glared at her with folded arms and she stood towering over the much shorter Anna.

“I… I am so sorry, I overslept,” she lied. She had planned to let it slip that she had spent too much time in the bathroom getting ready, but now, facing Mrs. C she chickened out.

“Your dillydally walk to work does not seem like someone who overslept,” Mrs. C pointed out. “People who know they are late hurry.”

“Well… I… I forgot myself.”

“I told you we had people sick, I need people to come on time or nothing gets done. I don’t have time to personally come and get people.”

“I’m sorry,” Anna mumbled bowing her head in shame. “It won’t happen again.”

Mrs. C sighed. “Well… make sure it doesn’t.” She patted her hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Now come along, we have work to do. There are horses to groom and reindeer to feed. We mustn’t keep the animals waiting.”

“No, ma’am.”

*

When they walked into the stable Mrs. Claus sent her to work with Glaze again.

“Boy, she wasn’t happy with you,” Glaze said as she approached.

“No… well… I overslept.”

“Liar.”

“What? I’m not…”

“You don’t look like someone who overslept. Your hair looks perfect, you’ve got makeup on, your clothes match.”

“I… well…”

“You don’t think Mrs. C can tell when someone is late or just slow?” Glaze gave her a look.

“Why didn’t I get in trouble?” Anna asked, embarrassed that she had been caught lying. “I mean… I lied to her face about why I was late.”

“Your new, she wants to give you a chance.”

“But…”

“But you want to test her and get spanked.” Glaze grinned.

Anna’s mouth fell open.

“What? You don’t think I can’t tell when a fellow brat is craving discipline? It’s not that uncommon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mrs. C knows too. She usually knows when someone needs a little extra attention, she and Santa.”

Anna blushed. “I’m so… embarrassed.”

“Don’t be. Happens to everyone. Well… to those of us who signed the clause.”

“But I have a girlfriend.” Anna was so shamed of herself.

“Doesn’t matter,” Glaze said. “You don’t want sex, do you?”

“No! Never. Charlie is the only one I’ll ever do that with.”

“And does Charlie know about the clause?”

Anna nodded.

“Then she knows you might get spanked on the job, doesn’t she?”

Anna nodded again.

Glaze leaned in closer. “I’ll tell you what… I will help you.”

“You will?”

“Yes… well…. I will tell you what to do, but you will do it yourselves.”

Anna nodded enthusiastically.

“AND, Glaze added. “You will never tell that I was in on it. Because I was just spanked, and I’m good for a while… trust me. I never told you anything.”

“Never,” Anna repeated.

“And I had no idea what you were up to.”

“No idea.”

“Okay. This is what you do.”

*

That night after Charlie had fallen asleep, Anna snuck out of bed and got dressed. She was careful to dress properly with wool under her clothes because it got awfully cold at night. She put on her outwear and shoes, grabbed the bag Glaze had provided her, and carefully shut the door.

Holding a small flashlight, she made her way through the darkness to the stables, but instead of going in the main way, which would probably be locked anyway, she made her way around the back to a big fenced area where the reindeer were. From inside the bag she pulled out twenty Santa hats complete with matching beards. She made sure to get Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolf which were the “Amazing Nine” according to Glaze. They had their own area apart from the other reindeer because it was so close to Christmas.

Prancer came closer to nibble her bag. He wanted carrots. “Oh alright gassy pants, but not too many. You know how your tummy gets.” She pulled some carrots out of her bag and made sure to spread them among all of the reindeer so Prancer wouldn’t get grabby.

That left her with eleven hats for the others. She just picked eleven random reindeer as she couldn’t name them.

“I wonder if they can fly too?” she thought as she made her way out of the area, but before she climbed the fence she pulled off her glove and dropped it on the ground.

“There… I’m leaving now, and you lay still there like a good little glove and work your magic.”

*

She came early to work the next day. People, even people who didn’t work in the stables, were outside pointing at the reindeer and laughing. The hats and beards were still on, Anna had made sure they would stick. It didn’t seem to bother them, they just went on with their reindeer business looking a bit more festive.

“Alright, that’s enough. Everybody get to work,” Mrs. Claus sharp voice rang through the crowd as she made her way towards the reindeer. “I will get to the bottom of this, so the guilty one might as well fess up right now.”

Anna suddenly felt weak at the knees, but she pulled herself together and went inside with the others. Glaze wasn’t there. Balder, the guy she had covered, for was back.

“It is pretty funny,” he said laughing. “I wonder if it was Glaze, it seems like something she would do.”

“I don’t think it’s here, she was just in trouble with Santa and said she had to be good or she’ll go on the naughty list.”

Balder laughed. “You don’t believe in the list, do you?”

“I…” Anna laughed nervously. “No, of course I don’t. But that’s what she said.”

“Well it looks like we’ll be working together outside today,” he said smiling warmly at her. “It’s your first time working outside, right? Be sure you’re dressed properly, it gets cold.”

“Oh I was hoping we’d say inside,” Anna said biting her lip. “I’ve lost one of my gloves.”

There! Seed planted.

“Oh I’m sure Mrs. C has extra. Here she comes, I’ll ask her for ya.”

Anna tried to look innocent as Balder went over to Mrs. C and explained about the missing glove. Then he went outside.

Mrs. Claus approached Anna.

“So… I hear you’re missing a glove.” There was no dangerous tone in her statement, she sounded quite normal. Maybe she hadn’t noticed the evidence she had planted for her.

“Yes, and it’s really cold out.” Anna batted her eyelashes, it was subtle, she was careful not to over-do it.

“Right, well take mine for now and I’ll see if we have a new pair somewhere.”

“Thanks, Mrs. C. I’ll be careful not to lose yours too!” She gave her a quick smile and started to make her way outside.

“Anna.”

Anna stopped in her tracks and turned around.

“Yes?”

“Come see me on my office after work, you can return my gloves then.”

A chill went down Anna’s spine.

“Yes, okay.”

She turned around and hurried outside.

*

*Knock!* *Knock!* Anna stood outside Mrs. Claus’s office door, she was almost shaking, she was so nervous.

“Enter.”

She went inside, and slowly closed the door behind her. There was no going back now. She turned to see Mrs. Claus sitting behind her desk. On the desk, right in the middle of it, lay her glove.

“Anna dear, I think I might have found your glove. Do you still have the one you didn’t lose? We can put the next to each other and see if they’re a pair.” She said this in such a sweet and dangerous tone that Anna felt like turning on her heels and running out of the office.

“Yeah, I still have it,” she said smiling and trying to look calm. She pulled her glove out of her pocket and gave it to Mrs. Claus who laid it down on the desk next to the other.

“Well… will you look at that! They do match, don’t they?”

“Uh huh.” Anna nodded.

“So,” Mrs. Claus said looking stern. “We like to dress up reindeer, do we?”

Anna swallowed nervously.

“Emh…”

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

Anna nodded and looked down on the floor. Why had she let her curiosity lead her into this situation? It was positively self-destructive.

“Emh… I’m sorry?” she tried, quickly looking up.

“No… you’re not. Nor were you sorry when you were late for work looking like you had spent hours in front of the mirror. Oh yes, my dear, I know you didn’t oversleep.”

“But…”

“That is two transgressions in the few days since you got here. They were not accidents, they were pure naughtiness. I let you off with a scolding the first time, and instead of behaving in future you went on to something bigger. You leave me no choice but to spank you. We do not play pranks in the stable, and more certainly NOT with Santa’s reindeer.”

She got up from her desk and made her way to Anna, who stood there frozen. She grabbed her arm and pulled her towards a sofa in the back of the office. Anna was lost for words, she was struggling to say anything, but suddenly everything seemed like a terrible idea. Being twenty minutes late for work on purpose? Sneaking out after curfew and messing with Santa’s reindeer? Had she gone mad? And all of this to get spanked, to go behind Charlie’s back and get what she had fantasized about for so long because she was afraid to tell her girlfriend.

Mrs. C started taking off her outwear. Within seconds it was all off, and Anna stood there in her wool underclothes looking horrified up at the stern older lady who was about to spank her bottom. A 25-year-old bottom that had never been spanked.

She sat down and pulled Anna over her lap. She gave her one sharp smack, and Anna winced and then she came to her senses.

“Wait! Stop… I can’t let you do this.”

“Excuse me?”

“I did it on purpose,” Anna confessed.

“Well of course you did, that is why you are being punished.”

“No… I… you misunderstand. I did it on purpose because…” Anna blushed profusely. This was so humiliating, but she couldn’t let Mrs. C go through with this. She looked a deep breath.

“I did it on purpose because I wanted you to spank me.” She was so glad she was staring at the floorboards and not at her face.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“I’m sorry…” Anna mumbled. “I was curious, I’ve always wanted to be spanked. So you see… I can’t let you do this because I’d be taking advantage of you, and also… I feel like I’m betraying my girlfriend. She deserves so much better. I should have told her.”

Mrs. C helped Anna up again.

“Sit down.” The command was not unkind, Mrs. Claus had a mild look about her as she steered Anna to sit down on the sofa. She took Anna’s hands in hers.

“Anna, do you think you’re the first brat who’ve been curious about spanking? The first brat to push the limits just to see if they can get a reaction?”

“Umh… I dunno…”

“Well… you’re not,” Mrs. Claus said firmly. “It’s quite normal around these parts. And what these brats also have in common is that, once over my knee for real discipline, they find that they are not so curious anymore.”

Anna’s eyes widened.

“Oh yes, they get their comeuppance, and it is not fun or sexy, it’s a real punishment that leaves them sore and sorry.”

“Oh…” Anna’s fidgeted with her hands. “I don’t suppose I could get a second chance?”

“Of course, you can,” Mrs. Claus said smiling and patting her hand.

“Really?”

“Yes, after you take your punishment.”

“Oh… well… you know… that’s not exactly what I meant,” Anna pointed out.

“I know, dear, but you’re not getting away with this kind of behavior. You need to learn a lesson, and you will learn it. Your bottom will be red and sore when I’m done with you.”

“But… but… what am I supposed to say to Charlie? I can’t let her see my bottom like that!”

“How about the truth?”

“The truth?”

“Why don’t you tell Charlie how you feel?”

“I can’t.” Anna felt like she was on the verge of tears.

“Why not?”

“Because… because I love her and I don’t want her to leave me because I’m a weirdo.”

“You’re not a weirdo, didn’t you pay attention to what I’ve been saying? Plenty of brats are curious about spanking. If you can’t tell her how you feel, you can always tell her you got spanked for being naughty. It’s not like you would be lying.”

“But that’s so embarrassing,” Anna mumbled.

“Probably not as embarrassing as actually getting spanked is going to be.”

“Look… Mrs. C… ya know… I’m new around these parts and yeah, okay maybe I shouldn’t have decorated the reindeer, but they look perfectly happy. It’s not like I harmed them. I even gave them carrots and I made sure Prancer didn’t eat all cuz he gets gassy…”

“He did eat too many… he is gassy.”

“Yeah, but it’s the thought that counts, right? And… where was I going with this?”

“Let me guess? You shouldn’t get spanked?”

“Yes! See you understand!” Anna got up smiling.

“God… you are such a brat. I see now why Santa was so sure you needed the clause in your contract.”

She pulled Anna over her knee.

“You misbehaved.” SMACK! “You will be punished.” SMACK! “And you will learn your lesson!” SMACK!

“Ow! But… Mrs. C!” Anna turned her head to look up at the older woman. “I… I’ve never been spanked before. I know I was curious, but now I’m not sure I can handle it.”

“Oh nonsense.” Mrs. C rubbed her bottom. “What did I ask you to say when you came with your contract?”

“That you could spank me,” mumbled Anna. She sighed.

“Yes, but that’s not all. What was the other part?”

“I’m not sure…” Anna admitted.

“It was about trust.”

“Oh right. I said that I trusted you with my discipline.”

“And didn’t that mean anything to you? Didn’t you believe in those words. Don’t you trust me?”

Anna thought about it for a second. She thought about the warm smiles Mrs. C gave her when she saw her, the way she patted her on the back and said “good girl” when she did something right, how even if she terrified her she also made her feel safe at the same time, and of how she took the time to tell her that she wasn’t a weirdo for desiring a spanking.

She sighed.

“I do trust you, Mrs. C. You would never treat me unfairly or hurt me. I know I’m safe with you.”

“That’s right. So, if I say you need a spanking, am I being unfair?”

“No…”

“And do you think that I will beat you senseless or traumatize you in any way?”

“No, of course not.”

“Good. Then we understand each other.”

Mrs. C continued to spank Anna over her wool underthings. She covered her entire bottom making sure she was properly “warmed up” all over.

“I think I’ll take these down now,” she said baring the brat over her knee.

“But… do you have to… I mean… since it’s my first time?”

“Oh yes, I have to. A sound spanking is best on a bare bottom.

Anna felt a cold breeze on her stinging bottom as Mrs. C bared her. Then she felt the painful sting on Mrs. C’s hand slapping against her naked bottom.

“Ow! That really hurts!”

“Well what did you expect? It’s just what you deserve, my girl.”

She hiked up her leg a little so that Anna’s bottom was more raised, then she gave her harder slaps on her sit sports.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

“Owweeee!”

“For a transgression like this I would normally use an implement in addition to my hand.”

“No! Please! It was only out of desperation that I did it!”

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK”

“You’ve been craving a spanking for that long, huh?”

“Owowow! Yeah, but I think I’m good now. Really! I think I’m good for a while… possibly forever!”

Mrs. C chuckled. “My dear, I think you will be over this knew quite a few times. Even if you choose to be honest with Charlie.”

She continues spanking Anna’s bottom until it glowed a dark pink colour and Anna was sobbing silently. She knew the brat had had enough and that she had learned her lesson. She helped her up and sat her back down on her knee.

“Owow!” Anna jumped up rubbing her bottom.

“Sit back down again, little girl. Let’s have a chat.”

“But… it hurts sitting…” mumbled Anna.

“Well that’s part of the punishment. You chose to be naughty, now you must suffer the consequences.”

Anna sat down slowly, wincing.

Mrs. C put her arms around her and cuddled her close. Anna rested her head on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. C…” she said quietly.

“I know, dear. And no doubt sore too.”

“Uh huh.”

“Will you ever mess with Santa’s reindeer again? Or any of the animals in our care?”

“No… I guess I was a little mean. I mean… I don’t think they were hurt, but it’s not fair for me to use them for my pranks.”

“No, it’s not.”

Anna yawned.

“Late night last night?” Mrs. C patted her bottom softly.

“Yeah, I didn’t sleep much after cuz I was so excited about today.”

“Well… why don’t you have a little nap here on the sofa while I finish my work.”

Mrs. C helped Anna up and then helped her pull up her underwear and her bottoms. Then, as Anna laid down on her tummy, she pulled a blanket over her.

Anna was out like a light.

*

After Mrs. C had woken her and taken her home, Anna was extra careful around Charlie. She avoided answering my she was late. If she had to sit, she sat down carefully and tried to act natural, not letting Charlie see her discomfort. When Charlie wanted to go to bed, Anna waited so she didn’t have to undress in front of her girlfriend. She put on her favorite pajama bottoms and a t-shirt and went into the bedroom.

“Darling, come to bed?” Charlie patted the bed.

“Yeah…” Anna hurried over to her, trying to act normal. She laid down on her tummy, and gave a fake yawn. “Good night, babe. Boy I’m tired.”

“Are you really that tired?” Charlie cuddled close to her. “I thought maybe I’d get lucky tonight.” She grinned, and put her hand under Anna’s shirt and stroked her back.

“Oh well… eh…” Anna tried to think of a way to turn her girlfriend down. She hated doing it, they hadn’t had sex for a while, and this time she wasn’t too tired, she just didn’t want Charlie to see her naked.

“Honey?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s going on? Why are you acting so strange?”

“Me? Acting strange?”

“Yes, you’re acting strange. Here I am trying to initiate sex, and you’re stiff as a board, you won’t look at me, and you can’t even give me a proper answer. What is going on? Have I done something wrong?”

Anna took a deep breath. Pull yourself together Anna! You’re upsetting Charlie. She forced herself to look at her girlfriend.

“Charlie, no, of course you haven’t done anything wrong. She cuddled closer and kissed her girlfriend. She tried to put a lot of unsaid things into it, hoping that the kiss would let Charlie know how amazing she thought she was, how she had always been good to her, and how grateful Anna was to have such a wonderful girlfriend.

Charlie snuggled closer, she forcefully put her hands on Anna’s bottom and squeezed it.

“Owieee!” Anna squealed.

“What? What happened?”

“Eh… nothing, nothing, everything is fine.” Anna gave a fake laugh. “Sorry, was being silly.”

Charlie sat up looking annoyed. “Anna, what the hell is going…” Suddenly her expression changed to that of a person who suddenly understood something.

“You got spanked, didn’t you?”

“Honey…” Anna blushed.

“Let me see?” Charlie demanded.

“No…” Anna started, but Charlie pushed her down on her tummy.

“Charlie, it’s embarrassing,” Anna tried, but Charlie was already tugging down her pajama bottoms and her panties, exposing her red bottom.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked Anna who had her faced buried down in a pillow, embarrassed.

“Because… I didn’t want you to know that Mrs. C disciplined me.”

“Why did she? What did you do?”  Charlie stroked her hands over Anna’s butt cheeks. “Wait here, I’ve got some cold cream in the bathroom.

She hurried into the bathroom and got the cream, and then she started rubbing it into Anna’s skin.

“Well? Explain. Did she hurt you? Should I go and have a sharp word with her? Maybe this spanking clause thing isn’t such a good idea?”

“What? No! She’d never hurt me. I did something wrong.”

“What?”

Anna told her what she did, about coming twenty minutes late and then she snuck out at night to decorate the reindeer.

“But… but… that’s not like you! Why would you do such a thing? You knew you would most likely get busted, and you knew what the consequences would be.”

“Yeah… I know…” mumbled Anna.

“So why did you do it?” Charlie put the lid back on the jar of cream, and looked expectantly at her girlfriend.

Anna started crying. “Because… because…”

Charlie wiped her tears away with her thumb.

“Baby… tell me.”

“I was curious.” Tears ran down Anna’s face. “I’ve always wanted to… try… well… ya know… and Santa said she put the clause in my contract because I needed it and that she had never been wrong. So I broke the rules on purpose because I thought this was my one chance to have that experience… but once I got into trouble I changed my mind. I told Mrs. Claus that I did it on purpose and it was wrong because I was taking advantage of her and I was betraying you…  but she said it was too late. She said I wasn’t the first to push the boundaries out of curiosity, but that I’d learn that her punishments weren’t exiting or sexy, just very painful. And it was! It really hurt! Charlie, I’m so sorry, please forgive me.” She wiped her tears and looked up at her girlfriend.

“Anna… why…”

“Cuz… I’m weird! But I promise I won’t be weird again. I’ll even tell Santa the clause needs to go.”

“No… that’s not…” Charlie looked annoyed. “Stop saying you’re weird, okay. I don’t want to hear you say stuff like that about yourself. You don’t get to say that about yourself, understood?”

Anna nodded.

“What I meant was… why, if you wanted a spanking so bad, didn’t you ask me? I mean… have I ever given you the impression that I’m a prude? I can try new things, and I’m not so naïve that I don’t know that some people enjoy spanking. If you had been honest with me, your partner, then we could have explored this fascination of yours, and you would never have gotten in trouble with Mrs. Claus.”

“You would do that for me?”

“Of course, I would, baby. I love you. And… I must admit… your butt is kinda cute when it’s pink.”

Anna sniffed and laughed.

“I love you.”

*

“Baby, wake up?”

“Hmrpf?” Charlie grunted as Anna was tugging her arm. “What?”

“It’s Christmas!”

“Yay!” Charlie said, her eyes still closed. Then she turned around, ass out, and kept sleeping.

Anna smirked. She pulled the covers off the bed and laded a healthy stinging slap to her girlfriend’s behind.

“Ow!” Charlie got up glaring at her girlfriend, but there was a hint of a smile on her mouth.

“I thought we agreed that I was the one to administer the spanks, young lady.”

Anna laughed. She stuck out her tongue and ran downstairs to their gifts waiting for them under the tree downstairs. She was just picking out the biggest of them all when she felt Charlies arm wrapped around her waist as she was hauled over to the sofa and placed over her lover’s knee.

Charlie patted her lovers pajama covered bottom. Anna was wearing a brand new drop seat onesie that Santa had given her the night before. It was red and had little reindeer all over it.

“Hmm… let me see. I just open this flap,” Charlie mumbled with a wicked grin. “Oh and look! A white bottom! It doesn’t match the colours surrounding it at all!”

Then she spanked her lover’s bottom, not until it was red, but until it was a healthy pink. It wasn’t a punishment spanking, it was a playful spanking, and Anna was enjoying it very much.

“There,” Charlie said helping her lover up. “I hope you behave now, or there might be a switch under the tree.”

She grinned and then she looked puzzled.

“Honey what are you… now?”

Because Anna was undressing, and within seconds she stood before her lover completely naked. Her pink bottom on display.

“But… honey, what about the presents,” Charlie said, gasping for air as Anna climbed onto her lap and sat astride her. She kissed her neck.

“They will be there when we’re done.” She winked. “Besides… I’m pretty sure I made it to the top of the naughty list this year.”

“Oh really,” Charlie said nibbling her ear. “Is that why we were presented with that enormous candy cane?”

“What?!” Anna turned around to see that, indeed, there was a huge candy CANE, under the tree. She got up from her lover’s lap and picked it up. A note was handing from the handle. She had to laugh at their humor. She read out loud.

To Anna and Charlie

This is an implement that can be very pleasurable when used correctly.

Do not use until you’ve had a proper workshop with us.

Happy Christmas.

Love from Snugglepuff and Santy-Pooh

 

No flying allowed? :(

The other day I saw this sign and I thought about Annabelle. 🙂 

Then I stood on a tree stump and took in the view and it felt like I was flying. I got a lot of inspiration from that hike. 

 

Annabelle (part 24)

Dear, Annabelle
How are you holding up? I hope this letter reaches you and that you have the opportunity to write back, but I imagine that you would respond with some snide remark and then complain about the horrible rules you now have to live under. We haven’t known each other for a very long time, but I feel confident in saying I know you that well.
I know this not easy for you, and I wish you were still here at home where you belong, but we’ve got to do our best and believe that we will see each other again. I think, by now, you have realized that it might be longer than we first anticipated. Aisling and I both miss you very much, but it is our wish that you stay where you are and do your best to stay out of trouble. Do what they ask of you, don’t ask too many questions, and don’t draw attention to yourself. It would be best if you lay low, it is not your job to “take down” the order, you don’t have enough experience or knowledge, it’s your job to be safe.
Since I know you very well by now, and since I know Eylion, I expect you two have already gotten into a spot of trouble, and let me just say that you are lucky not to be within swatting distance and that you better pull yourself together right now, young lady. Do as you are told and stay out of trouble!
Now, lecture over, I will give you an update on things back home. Albert is doing fine. As you might have expected, Aisling has taken on that responsibility, and she takes very good care of him so you don’t have to worry. He gets enough to eat, plenty of exercise and lots of love. He’s a very happy horse, but I’m sure if he could talk he’d say he misses you a lot.
As you also might have expected, we were not the only people who were upset by the way you girls were taken, and there are a lot of unhappy and heartbroken mentors out there. A couple of days after you were taken, all the young wizards disappeared too, but this time people were prepared. However, unlike with you, we have no clue as to where they took them. It would have been easier if they had just taken you all to the same place, but your dear Headmistress is a little too old fashion for that.
Alexis has become somewhat of a leader among those who are unhappy, and there are many. We have tried to solve this peacefully through communication for a long time, before even you came along, but we’re speaking to deaf ears and so we’re taking it a step further. It’s time we formed a resistance to overthrow the order. This is not an invitation for you to do something stupid, by the way! I’m actually glad you witchlings are out the way so you don’t get caught in the middle, but I tell you this because we also fear you will be used against us and I want you to be aware of what is going on in the outside world. You just stay put and stay safe, we’ve got this. We have plans and Alexis is in charge, though sometimes I think my mentor has many more plans inside her head that she shares with me. It’s infuriating, actually, but I do trust her, and I think she is the best for the job.
So that’s what’s been going on, I hope that helps with all the questions you must be having. Be good. Oh and do you still have your locket? Don’t lose it! And destroy this letter when you’re done reading it.
I miss you, and I love you. Aisling says she loves you too.
Gwen

Annabelle read the letter one last time, tracing her fingers over the word ‘love’ written in Gwen’s handwriting. She then took a deep breath before she put the letter in her paper bin and waved her hand over it causing the letter to burst into flames. It hurt, seeing Gwen’s words on the paper crumble together and turning into ashes. She wanted to see her so badly, she wanted to see all of them. Her eyes stung with bitter tears that ran down her check, hot and wet.
She hated the order! She wanted to mess things up for them so bad, yet Gwen expected her to do nothing, expected her to just stay out-of-the-way. Alexis had plans, she said, plans that she kept from Gwen. Annabelle gave a snort of laughter as she thought of the irony as Gwen complained to her that Alexis kept her in the dark, when that was exactly what she was doing to her. What was so important about her locket? Everyone kept saying that she had to keep it safe, but they never bothered to tell her why.
But she knew something that Gwen did not, because Alexis had mentioned to Christophe that Annabelle could go find Andromeda. Apparently she had not mentioned this to Gwen because Gwen was telling her to stay where she was. If she had known of this idea to find Andromeda, what would she say? Would she tell Annabelle to go? Probably not, which was probably why Alexis had only told Christophe, because she knew Gwen and Aisling would say no.
Annabelle got into bed and looked up at the ceiling of her four-poster. She wondered what Eylion’s letter said. Would her letter have the same information she got, or would Leda tell her more than Gwen had told Annabelle? Would Leda know of this plan of possibly running away to see Andromeda? She was her mentor, after all.
She wished she could see Eylion right away, but she couldn’t as the door to her room was locked, and it would only be opened when someone came to deliver her meals. She still had four days left of her confinement. It was so boring she had started looking forward the homework she was given every day to keep up with what the other girls were learning, just so that she’d have something to do. The punishment had sort of worked, because Annabelle had no desire to do anything bad for a while, because being confined to her room with no one to talk to was torture. She sighed and rubbed her temples.

“Just four more days.”

---

“We’re alive!” Eylion said as she saw Annabelle for the first time after a week a part. “I thought I would die in there!”

“Me too!” Annabelle said hugging her. “I’ve missed you! Let’s not do anything like that for a while, okay? I say someone else can get in trouble next time.”

“Well someone might have gotten in trouble while we were away, how would we know?”

They hadn’t. Being given an update by their friends over breakfast, they learned that the other girls had been exceptionally good for the week they had been gone. They hadn’t even questioned Ms. Spryt’s abysmal history knowledge.

“No one dared to!” Jean said frowning. “The day after you two caused trouble, we all got punished for laughing at your prank!”

“What? No way!”

Annabelle looked at the other girls who all nodded.

“We did! Everyone had to go to the headmistress office in groups where we all got six whacks with this enormous paddle. It really hurt! And all because we all thought it was funny when they talked backwards.”

“We felt that paddle too, didn’t we Annabelle? Is was this long and this thick.” Eylion measured with her hands. “But we never meant for anyone else to get in trouble for what we did,” she said sullenly. “We just wanted to cheer you guys up and to get the teachers back for being mean.”

“Oh it did cheer us up,” Tilly said grinning for ear to ear. “I’d take a paddling to see that any day! You two should get an award, it was brilliant.”

Eylion got up and took a bow. The others laughed.

“What is going on over here?” The sharp voice of Octavia Spryt rang in their ears as she came over to their table.

“What do you mean? We’re just talking,” Eylion said giving her a defiant look.

“Don’t talk back, missy. You two better be on your best behavior or I’m sure the headmistress will not hesitate to order you back to your rooms for another week.” She gave an evil smile. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

No one said anything as she walked back to the teacher table.

“That hag!” hissed Eylion. “She’s out to get us, it doesn’t really matter if we behave ourselves or not. We ought to teach her a lesson.”

“Yes, but we’re not going to, not right now,” Annabelle reminded her. She leaned closer to Eylion and whispered in her ear so that no one else could hear. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you in private. About… ya know… the letter.”

Eylion’s eyes widened like she had totally forgotten about the visit they had both gotten from Christophe. She nodded.

“Oh and… we need to explore the passages further,” Annabelle said. “Maybe we can use them to our advantage.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Jean asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” they both said in unison.

“Right…” Mina said. “I bet they’re planning something else. What are you two going to do?”

“Nothing,” they both said again.

“We’ve decided to be good for a while,” Annabelle said. “At least… we are going to try to be good. Besides… how come we have to be the ones to cause trouble? Someone else might pitch in a bit.”

“Here here,” Eylion agreed. “If we’re the only ones causing trouble, then all those hags have to do is remove us and the problem is solved. I think what we need is to team up and take it in turns to stir things up. And if there are more of us, it’ll be easier to get away with things because we can back each other up and cause confusion.”

Eylion looked around the table seriously as though expecting someone to say something. It was quiet for a while.

Jean broke the silence, but she spoke quietly so that all the other girls gathered closely together.

“I agree. We should group up. What if we ask around discretely and see who might be on our side? If we feel we can trust them, we can invite them to join us. We can create this network of trouble makers to make things difficult for the order. It will also help if we can meet and talk about what is going on. It’s not good to be alone in our anger and confusion. If we can talk about it with each other, it will be difficult for the order to brainwash us because we’ll constantly be on the alert and be critical to anything they say. If people are afraid to voice their concerns it will be so much easier for the order to get to them.”

All the other girls nodded in agreement around the table. Ms. Spryt who had been paying attention to them was walking in their direction again.

“We might know where we can talk in private, but Annabelle and I need to explore a little more to find out if it’s safe,” Eylion whispered quickly before Ms. Spryt came within hearing distance.

“Alright, girls,” she said as she approached. “I don’t like how close you are all sitting together, you look like you are up to no good. I think we better split you up.” She raised an eyebrow at them.

“We’re just talking,” Tilly said standing up looking angry. “Since when is it against the rules to just talk?”

“Watch yourself, girl,” Ms. Spryt said sternly. “Sit down, now.”

She pointed at Annabelle.“You. Go sit at that table over there.”

Then she pointed at Jean. “You, over there.”

Then she directed Eylion over to another table. When they got up looking angry, but having no choice but to obey, she said,

“I don’t want to see this group eating together for the rest of the week. If you all behave I might reconsider in the future, but for now this little group is banned at meal times. Now… go.”

---

It was around one in the morning that Annabelle heard a knock on her door. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to Eylion all day since they were separated at breakfast. She assumed that she’d come over at night to talk. She got out of bed, put on her cloak and opened the door to find Eylion waiting for her.
“Let’s go exploring,” she said, grinning.
“Just a minute,” Annabelle said. She quickly put a pillow under her duvet to make it bulge up a bit.“Just in case someone decide to stick their head in to check on me.”
They made their way through the corridors as quietly as they could. They were both bursting to talk about the visit from Christophe, but it wasn’t safe to talk until they had made it into the passages. They found the cupboard with the cleaning supplies, crawled behind the wooden crates and went through the tiny hole in the wall behind the old tapestry. It was so dark they couldn’t see a thing so they both conjured a tiny little ball of flames that they held in their hand. It was warm, but it didn’t hurt, it just tickled the skin.
“What if the teachers know about these passages?” Annabelle wondered out loud.
“It doesn’t look like it though,” Eylion said looking around. “You’d think if they did, Spryt and Lydia would have known to look further last time we were here. And it’s not exactly clean here,” she said looking up at a cobweb. “If they were using the passages, wouldn’t they have made sure they were cleaned?”
“You’re right. I just don’t want to get into more trouble just yet.” Annabelle looked around. “Should we walk the other way this time? We know we can get to the kitchen that way,” she pointed down the passage way.
“Yeah, but we got lucky. It split in some places, and I wonder what else we can find.”
“Well… okay… we know one way, let’s focus on one tonight as well. Let’s take it step by step and try to map out this thing.”

She pointed in the opposite direction from where they went last time. “This way, tonight?”
“Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

---

As they walked through the narrow passage ways they talked about their visit from Christophe. Annabelle told Eylion about her letter and the little information she got out of it. She also told her about Alexis having mentioned finding Leda’s mentor Andromeda.
“Have you ever met her?”
“No, Leda doesn’t mention her that often. I have asked her where she is, but she always changed the topic.”
“So then Leda didn’t mention Andromeda in her letter either? I guess Alexis has hidden this idea from her too.”
“Actually… she did mention it.” Eylion stopped and looked at Annabelle seriously.
“What? Really? So then Alexis told her.”
“Well… I don’t know for sure, but maybe… maybe Leda was the one suggesting it? I don’t know, Annabelle, but in the letter she wrote to me Leda did mention the possibility of you going to find Andromeda.”
“You mean we.” Annabelle gave her a look.
“No, Annabelle… you.” Eylion looked at her with a sad expression.
Annabelle’s tummy made a lurch. She was going to have to go alone? Didn’t Eylion want to come?
“Eylion… what are you saying? Don’t you want to get out of here?”
“I do, but… someone has to stay here. Someone needs to make sure that the others don’t get affected by the orders propaganda and brainwashing. Before I even got the letter I thought about it and we could never have run away with the other girls. It’s too easy to find a large number of people.”
“But we could have run together. Just the two of us.”
“But then who would make sure the others were alright? It’s not like we have found any great rebel leader here. They were without us for a week… one week, and they did nothing. They didn’t even object to being fed lies. Jean is right, we need a group, and we need to find a place for our group to meet and talk. We need to keep the thoughts of resistance alive, and I think I need to be here for that. I think that is what Leda wants me to do. Well… I don’t think she wants me to get into trouble, but I think she wants me to make sure the order doesn’t succeed.”
“But… she wants me to leave this place? Alone? Didn’t she say that I should stay put? That’s what Gwen told me.”
“I think I need to stay because I know a lot and I can teach the others things, things the order will not teach them. And I think they need me to keep their spirit alive.” Eylion brushed away a tear that ran down Annabelle’s cheek. “I think Alexis and Leda want you to find Andromeda because you have an important role to play elsewhere and Andromeda can help you with that.”
“What role?” Annabelle asked, her voice breaking from crying.
“I don’t know, Annabelle. I wish I did, but I think you might be special, and I think our mentors are suspecting this. I think Alexis knows more than any of us, but she has so many secrets it drives me insane. This locket of yours…. I mean… what the hell?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking.”
“When you got it, Leda said they had it made for you, and I believed that because it is tradition to give a witchling something when she gets her powers, but it wasn’t made for you, was it? It’s old. Heck, you haven’t even been able to open it. It can’t be new.”
“Maybe it was,” Annabelle said thinking about it. “What if… what if the locket was made for me, but not by them? I’ve been thinking about it and I think they are suspecting something about me. Gwen said she didn’t know where I came from or who my parents were, but that was just a week after I got here. They could have found out more later, and I swear, sometimes when Alexis looks at me it feels like she is looking at someone she has known for a long time. She’s the one who keeps saying I should hide the fact that I didn’t grow up here. I know she knows more than she’s letting on, and it makes me so pissed that she’s hiding it!”

She banged her fist against the wall. There was a bang and a brick fell out and landed on the other side of the wall, leaving a hole.
“Shit! Do you think someone heard? Where are we anyway?”
“I dunno,” Eylion said looking through the hole. “Hey… it’s a library. With books!”
“Well duh…” Annabelle snorted.
“Let’s see if we can find a hidden hole in the wall that leads into it.”
They went a little further, checking the walls thoroughly so they didn’t miss anything. No lose bricks, no lever they could pull or anything like that. The only thing they could find was a little mark in one of the bricks closer to the floor, with a specific shape as if someone had carved it there.
“Wonder where this comes from, think it’s significant?”

Eylion crouched down to have a look. She rubbed the sleeve of her cloak over it to remove some dust. Then she looked closer almost pressing her face to the wall.
“What the… Annabelle, come down here!”
“What is it?” Annabelle crouched down too and looked closer as Eylion backed away a little to give her some space.
“Look familiar?” Eylion asked pointing at the mark.
“No… it can’t be. This symbol…” Annabelle stroked her fingers lightly over the mark in the stone. The symbol carved into the stone looked exactly like the symbol on her locket.
“Did you bring it?”
“Yeah…” she took off her locket and held it near the carved symbol in the wall, comparing the two.
“Well? What are you waiting for?”
“Huh?”
“Place the symbol into the mark, maybe it is a key or something. I always thought that thing was kinda useless, it doesn’t even open.”
“Maybe it does open, but there’s a special way to open it.”
“Yeah, maybe, but for now let’s see if it can open this wall.”
Annabelle turned her locked to the symbol was facing the wall, then she pressed it into the carving in the stone. It was a perfect fit, almost as if the locket was a seal that had made the mark.
The mark and the locket lit up and a hole formed in the stone wall, it got bigger and bigger until it was big enough for a person to get through. Annabelle removed the locked from the mark and hurried through with Eylion behind her.
“Wow! Holy broomsticks!” Eylion rubbed her eyes almost as if she didn’t believe what she was seeing.
They were in a room and there were books, literally everywhere. Hundreds of old tomes, maybe a thousand, and only they knew about it. The order couldn’t possibly know, if they did they hadn’t made much of an effort to dust them off. The only place not covered in books were a little corner where there was a big oak desk and a reading area with leather furniture.
“So… this is the library,” Annabelle said looking around.
“Yeah…”
“I thought it would be bigger, I mean… considering the size of this castle.” She had to be honest, she did.
“Yeah, I see your point, but it’s still bloody fantastic, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah, amazing, and I can’t believe my locket is the key. What’s up with that?”
“This is getting weirder and weirder,” Eylion said nodding.
“Maybe… maybe there is more to the library? I mean… look at that desk over there, it looks like this is a personal library, not a kind of library that a lot of people can use. I can imagine that a lot of people lived in this castle at some point, and wouldn’t many people want to use it?”
“Right, and why would you need a locket to enter the library? I don’t think there are many of your lockets lying around, I’m pretty sure there are few… maybe only one.”
“Fuck…” Annabelle sat down in an old chair and buried her head in her hands, a cloud of dust came of the leather. “What the fuck is this thing?” She looked at her locket? “Who owned it before me? Why do I have it now?”
“It probably belonged to a Glasegrove? Maybe the others think you’re from that family, which is why they don’t want you to tell anyone about your mysterious past.”
“Fuck them!” Annabelle shouted in anger. “Fuck those stupid…” She made a growling noise. She was so angry, it was hard for her to keep it together. “How could they do this to me? Why can’t they just tell the fucking truth? It’s my life, I deserve to know.”
Eylion sat down next to her and put an arm around her.
“On the bright side… this castle might actually belong to you.”
“Why would that be a good thing? It’s not exactly a happy place, the stupid order has it and they ruin everything. Why would I want to be a Glasegrove? By the looks of it, they’re all dead.”
“Well from a girl with no mother and the daughter of the town drunk, imagining your family super wealthy and walking the halls of their giant castle is not so bad. I mean… don’t get me wrong, I loved that bastard, but it didn’t help my reputation much.”
“We don’t know that I’m a Glasegrove. All we have is a locket that fits into a wall in some castle.”
“A castle owned by the Glasegroves,” Eylion added. “Well I think they were Glasegroves, since this is Glasegrove castle. Do people name their castle after their family name? Dang… why don’t we know more people who own castles?”
“The owner of the locket could have worked here or something. And we don’t know if I’m supposed to have the locket. Just because it’s mine now doesn’t mean that it was made for me, or that I am related to its previous owner. I just have it because of those bothersome hags at home.”
“Wow there, girl,” Eylion raised her eyebrows. “I know you’re angry at them holding back information, but they love you and you love them.”
Annabelle took a long deep breath and let it our slowly. “I know. I’m just tired of this.”
“I know you are,” Eylion said hugging her close.

“I’m tired too. You’re not the only one in a horrible situation. I’m not trying to say that you don’t have the right to be angry, but we are both locked up in this castle, and so are the other girls. None of us want to be here, and we all miss our mentors.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I just want to know where I’m from.” Annabelle yawned and leaned in closer to Eylion who rested her head on top of hers.
“And you will, one day. Right now we’re picking up clues that might be useful, and the fact that you have been given a locket that works as a key is this humongous castle seems like an important clue.”
She got up and brushed dust off her clothes.
“Let’s go to bed. You’re tired. We can explore more tomorrow night.”
Annabelle nodded in agreement and followed Eylion back out of the library. They used her locket on the mark to close the hole in the wall, and then they made their way back.
After following Annabelle back to her room, Eylion continued to her own. Annabelle climbed into her bed exhausted and with her head full of questions. How the hell would she be able run away from this place, not get caught and returned, and find Andromeda all on her own? And if she did get caught… would they kill her?

 

A Wolfy Christmas

It was a cold and frosty December. The village was filled with Christmas decorations and music from the local pubs. One could even hear the Christmas cheer from the church at the top of the hill. There, behind the old village church, walked a young couple. They were chatting animatedly about their evening, their breath turning to steam as they spoke, and they paid no attention to anything else other than where they were going. He was tall and hansom, she was blond and beautiful, and they both looked absolutely delicious!

Without any warning the wolf jumped out from behind a tree, showing her teeth threateningly. The woman screamed, her boyfriend wrapped his arms around her and they slowly backed away from the wolf, both terrified. She was white as the snow around them, and with blue eyes. She growled, her mind was only on one thing… dinner.

Then, out of nowhere, came a second wolf; she was bigger, chocolate brown with patches of black. She attacked, not the humans, but the other wolf. She jumped on her and bit her neck, forcing the other wolf into submission as the two humans ran away. Even after they were far gone she held on tight to the attackers neck until she whimpered. It wasn’t harming her, but it was clear it was a struggle of dominance and the smaller wolf had no choice but to yield.

When the brown wolf thought it was safe she let go, still growling at the smaller one, who looked like a cub compared to her.

“What do you think you are doing, pup? Where is your mistress?” The bigger wolf changed form and turned into a tall lady with raven hair, with green flaring eyes. She was completely naked except for a small flat backpack almost in the same colour as her fur had been. It was designed so that she could wear it as a wolf without it being very visible. The other wolf just looked up at her, her ears pointing back. She tried to walk away.

“Oh no you don’t!” The lady produced a long leather collar and a leash that she used to tie the other wolf. “You’re coming with me, trouble maker.”

The white beauty struggled and growled, but the lady wouldn’t have it. She was strong, much stronger than a human, but then… she wasn’t. She took out an odd golden contraption from her backpack. It looked somewhat like a small flute, except it had a very odd shape; it sort of curled at the bottom and there weren’t any holes in it, just three buttons made of glass. She pushed down a button and blew into a thin mouth piece. The younger wolf howled, the noise was awful! A human would never notice, but she was no human… at least, not anymore. She could hear it, and she’d rather not. She tried to pull away.

The lady smiled down at the wolf, holding her still in a tight grasp. “I take it you’ve never heard that sound before? I knew you must be a pup. Well… you’ll get used to it… eventually.”

The wolf gave her a glare, she was growing tired of being called “pup”.

The lady started walking, dragging the unwilling wolf along with her. The wolf tried to stop once, but quickly learned that wouldn’t work as the lady gave her a swat on her flank.

“I do wish you would turn human,” the lady said. “I just isn’t the same swatting a wolf. Their backside is not made for swatting… but female human bottoms on the other hand…” She grinned to herself.

The wolf growled at her.

“Fine be that way, but you will turn back sooner or later. And you’ll be in trouble, my alpha is not happy with you!”

Suddenly the wolf changed into human form. She turned into a girl in her twenties. She was tall, but not as tall as the other woman. Her naked skin was milky white and she had long,natural blond hair and blue eyes.

“What do you mean your alpha? What’s an alpha? Why is your alpha not happy with me?”

“Ah look, there really was a girl in there, I was starting to wonder if I’d taken a real wolf. Would you care to explain your attack on these people?”

“They smelled tasty,” said the girl smiling at the thought. “I couldn’t control myself.”

“Well that’s obvious. Don’t you know anything, pup? You never leave the pack without having eaten this close to the full moon. Haven’t your mistress taught you anything? And I wasn’t aware that there was another pack in the area. Who do you belong to?”

“Pack? Mistress?” The girl was confused. “I was hungry,” she said. “I haven’t eaten since… since I woke up like this. I tried to control it, but I couldn’t anymore.” She looked sad. “I haven’t eaten in days. Their scent… it’s getting stronger.”

“Exactly when did you wake up like “this”?” asked the lady.

“About two nights ago.”

“And who’s your mistress?”

“My mistress?”

“Your maker?”

“My what?”

“Who bit you and turned you into a werewolf? There are rules, you know. You can’t just turn anyone, and once you do you have you have obligations. Who is this woman who has been so careless as to not make sure you’ve had a meal since you turned? Does she even know where you are? Pups are not supposed to go out on their own until they can control themselves.”

The girl looked confused. She had, by now, realized she was a werewolf. It was a surprise at first, it made her scared, but once she got used to the feeling she loved it. The cold didn’t bother her, and she was always out in the cold. She was lucky if she found somewhere warm to sleep, but now she didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember being bitten. I remember being out at night and then… then… I can’t remember what happened after that. I just woke up and I had changed, my senses were different. My sight, my sense of smell. I’d walk around humans and I could taste their smell and I wanted to bite. So I tried to remove myself from society, because I couldn’t trust myself to not attack. But I lost control. I need to eat.”

“That you do, but we don’t eat people, young lady.” The lady gave her a stern look, but there was a hint of sympathy in that look. “Are you the wolf trying to break into the chicken coop at the Johnson’s farm last night?”

“I told you, I lost control,” said the girl defensively. “I’ve been so hungry. They weren’t people, they were chickens! And I didn’t get any of them because that stupid farmer tried to bloody shoot me! Maybe I should have gone for him instead…” She grinned mischievously.

“No, bad puppy!” said the lady swatting her. “We don’t eat humans.”

“Ow!” The girl glared at her, and before the lady had time to think she had turned back into a wolf and ran off, dragging the leash with her.

“Come back here right this instant!”

Yeah, like that’s going to happen. She ran as fast as she could, to get away, completely forgetting about the leash dragging behind her and getting stuck on a tree branch.

The brown wolf came running into the forest clearing where the white wolf was struggling with the leash. She was busy chewing the leather and growling.

She had to smile as she turned back into human form.

“Tsk tsk. Such a naughty little pup.” She grabbed a hold of the leash. “Come on, the pack is here to take us to head quarters. You get to meet the alpha wolf, she’ll be interested in talking to you about your misdemeanors.”

The white wolf pined.

When they got back to the road a black van was waiting for them.

“Cressie, who’s that you’ve brought with you? I don’t recognize her.” A redhead jumped out of the van. She handed Cressie a long black cloak to cover her naked body.

“I don’t know yet.” Cressie pulled on the cloak, careful not to let go of the leash. “But she’s the one we’ve been looking for. Caught her trying attack two humans.”

“What?!”

“It’s alright, Georgie. She’s not dangerous. Poor puppy has been abandoned, haven’t you?” She patted the white wolf, who was shyly trying to hide behind her. “She hasn’t eaten since she was turned. Not for two days.”

“Awe… poor, puppy. Right before Christmas and all. What’s her name?”

“I don’t know,” replied Cressie.

“You mean you haven’t asked her? Cressie! Where are your manners?”

“I have been busy trying to keep her from running away, thank you very much.” She looked down at the white wolf. “Well? Time to change back so you can buckle up. We didn’t bring a cage.”

The white wolf growled.

Georgie pulled out a blanket from the car. She held it out for her.

“Come on, puppy. Be a good girl. When we get back we can give you something to eat.How does a juicy steak sound?”

That did it. The wolf started changing form and was suddenly a naked blonde again. She tugged at the collar around her neck, pouting.

“Oh alright,” Cressie said, helping her off with the collar. She trusted that now she had been promised food, the girl wouldn’t run off again.

“That’s a good puppy,” Georgie said smiling, holding out the blanket to cover her naked body.

The blonde took the blanked and pulled it around herself.

“My name is Rouge… not puppy.”

Once in the van Rogue was introduced to the two other women. Jess, a young brunette who looked about Rogue’s age, and Freya, another brunette, who like Cressie and Georgie, looked to be in her thirties.

“Ah new pup!” Said Jess excitedly. “She’s so pretty! Are we going to keep her? Does that mean you’ll stop calling me pup?” She looked up at Georgie hopefully.

“Not a chance!” Georgie turned from the front seat to look back. “I was “pup” for a decade at least!” She smirked. “The pack is a hierarchy, little missy, and you’re a new born still.”

“No fair!” Jess sighed dramatically.

The van drove further into the forest and took a left turn off the road in between the snow covered trees. They stopped the car and got out. Cressie kept close to Rogue making sure she didn’t try anything funny, while the others covered the car in branches, hiding it completely from view. From there they continued on foot, walking on a path through the forest until they came to a big clearing. The trees around this clearing were huge, and looking up, Rogue could see a small village built in the tree tops. It had three decks with huts built in the trees and rope bridges that connected the village together. It was quite extraordinary.

“Wow… You live here?” Rogue looked up in amazement. She had never seen anything this cool before.

“Yep!” Jess said nodding happily. “It’s the best! We monitor the paths around this place to make sure no humans come close. So here, we can be ourselves. We can be humans or wolfs, and no one looks at you funny if you’re naked. If they try to come near us… we scare em off in wolf form!” She grinned.

“But we try to avoid doing that as we don’t the humans to think they have a wolf “problem”,” added Freya looking stern. “We don’t, for example, try to break into their chicken coop…”

It seemed that Freya did not quite trust Rogue yet and her tone seemed disproving. Rogue acknowledged to herself that, perhaps, she hadn’t been on her best behavior, but she wasn’t about to discuss this now. She looked away, embarrassed.

“What’s in there,” she asked to change topic, pointing to the biggest house in the tallest tree.

“That’s the main building where our alpha lives,” Cressie said putting her hand on Rogue’s shoulder. “And that’s where we’re going, pup. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

Someone threw down a rope ladder from  the first deck and they climbed up. Cressie, who was the last one up, pulled it back up and closed the hatch they climbed through. From there, with Freya in the lead, they crossed a rope bridge, climbed a wooden stair case and made their way up to the third level, where the alpha’s hut was. As they made their way through the village many women turned to look at Rogue our of curiosity, but no one seemed surprised that she was completely nude and only wearing a blanket.

“Are there no men here?” Rogue asked Jess looking around at all the women.

“No, silly,” Jess said grabbing her arm. “Men can’t become werewolfs, only women can.”

 

Freya stopped outside a big door. She looked at Rogue and Jess.

“Alright, you pups stay here and wait. We’re going in to talk to the alpha.”

“Typical,” Jess mumbled as Freya, Cressie and Georgie went in. “They think they are soooo important. I’m sure Adalyn wouldn’t have cared if we came too.”

“Adalyn? Is that the alpha? Is the alpha like the boss?” Rogue tried to find out as much as possible about this woman as she was supposedly  unhappy with her.

“Yep. Adalyn is the boss of the pack. She’s the most powerful wolf and she is responsible for the pack’s safety and welfare.”

“Is she scary?”

“Scary? Of course not! She’s wonderful. I mean… she can be strict, but normally she leaves discipline to the other elders.”

“Discipline?”

“Yeah… ya know… if people misbehaves.” She smiled like if the thought of someone else being allowed to discipline her was totally normal.

“So… all of the elders can just like… punish you!” Rogue raised both her eyebrows in disbelief.

“Well technically, yes. Usually they tell your mistress and she deals with it.”

“Mistress… that means maker,” Rogue said remembering her conversation with Cressie.

“Yes, when you turn another person she becomes your responsibility and you have obligations to her. You have to teach her how to be a wolf and how to control her new form. This is why pups aren’t allowed to turn anyone. Usually when you want to turn someone you have to ask the alpha for permission. I mean… it’s sort of a big deal. You have to be absolutely sure it’s something you want. All pups live in their mistress hut until they can become a mistress themselves. I live in Georgie’s hut, she was the one who turned me. Cressie got her own hut last year, she used to live with Adalyn.”

“Who did Cressie bite?”

“No one yet. She doesn’t have anyone special she wants to bite. She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to, but she’s one of the elders now so she gets her own hut and A LOT more freedom. She can do whatever she wants, within reason, of course. She doesn’t have a curfew, she can leave the village on her own, and she can discipline the younger pack members. Watch out for her… she has a mean right hand.”

“You mean she can spa…”

Rogue was disrupted mid-sentence by the door opening in front of them. Georgie stuck her head out.

“Well… what are ya waiting for, pups? Come in.”

Rogue walked in slowly followed by Jess. She shyly tried to stay close to Cressie, it felt safe to know she’d be able to hide behind her tall frame if she needed to.

In the middle of the room, in a big chair covered with animal fur , almost like a village throne, sat the most powerful looking woman she had ever seen. She was very tall, her dark hair was almost black and, although very beautiful, she radiated authority. She looked to be in her late thirties, but Rogue had a feeling she was a lot older. She had a feeling that werewolfs didn’t age the same way humans did.

“Come closer, child.” She smiled and her voice was calm and soothing, and it gave Rogue no reason to fear her. “Come sit next to me.” She scooted over a little, making room for another person next to her on her “throne” and patted the seat, signalling that Rogue should take a seat.

Rogue tucked the blanket around her shoulders more closely to her body as she slowly made her way forward, not able to take her eyes away from the alphas gaze. She sat down next to Adalyn, animal furs brushed again the skin on her legs and her bear feet. The alpha put an arm around her and warm chocolate brown eyes looked into her icy blue.

“So… Rogue is it?”

Rogue nodded.

“From what I’ve heard of you lately, I’d say the name fits.” She smiled.

“My mother named me when I was still in the womb, said I was a real kicker.”

The alpha laughed.

“Good with names, your mother.”

“Yeah, she was.” Rogue smiled.

“So… Rogue. You have caused a lot of trouble lately, I don’t mind telling you. Humans are scared of wolfs in the area, I don’t think I have to tell you that this is bad for our reputation. They might even decide to take action.”

“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” Rogue said looking ashamed. “I didn’t know that there were others like me. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to remove myself from humans, but I got so hungry. Then I thought I could try to steal some of their farm animals. They’re so tame and I don’t know how to hunt.”

“But now we’ve got angry farmers scared for their sheep, cattle and chickens.”

Rogue nodded, and then, at that very moment, her stomach growled loudly. She blushed.

“This cannot go on, young lady. We wolfs need to keep a low profile. If humans get angry my pack risks getting shot when they leave the village.”

Rogue nodded again.

“I would like a word or two with you maker,” said the alpha suddenly looking stern. “She should not have left you on your own. She should take responsibility.”

“But… I don’t know who she is? And I don’t want her to take responsibility. She’s not my mistress and she can’t tell me what to do.” Rogue looked stubborn. “If I see her… I’ll… I’ll… well she better run away.” She pouted. Her stomach growled again.

“I’m hungry,” she said. She pointed at Georgie. “That one promised me food if I came here to talk to you.” It wasn’t the classy way to get a meal, but she hadn’t eaten in over two days, she would not leave this place with out food.

“You want us to feed you?” Adalyn raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“Well she did promise,” Rogue pointed out. “I did come all this way, and if you want me to stay away from humans, it’s best I leave this place with a full stomach.”

“Well you won’t be leaving this place for a while, pup,” said the alpha. “You can consider yourself under village arrest.”

“Huh?”

“If I have been correctly informed,” she said looking over at Cressie, “then you are a very unusual wolf. “White as snow with blue eyes. Very beautiful and very recognizable, and right now the village is terrified of you. As long as they think there is a threat, you will not leave this village.”

“But… but… that’s not… you can’t…”

“I think it’s a fair punishment. And then once we find your mistress…”

“She’s not my mistress!” Rogue said angrily. “And she better not show up anywhere near here, if she does I’ll kill her! Or… maybe not kill, but she will feel my displeasure! This is all her fault.”

The alpha looked at Cressie.

“Cressie, you’re responsible for her until we can find her maker.”

“What? But… but I don’t know anything about taking care of pups?”

“I’m not a pup!” Rogue said angrily at her. She turned to the alpha. “And I can take care of myself, I don’t need a babysitter.”

The alpha ignored this.

“Everyone else have their hands full with their own. Most have two pups, Freya has three. You have none. You have the capacity and the space to take someone on. She needs someone to look after her and show her the ropes. She needs stability. I’ll send someone out to look for her maker. Give it a try until Christmas and we’ll see how you’re doing, and if we haven’t found her maker.. well… we’ll need to find a more permanent solution. Agreed?”

“No way!” said Rogue.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Cressie, grabbing the girl around her upper arm. “Come on, pup, let’s get some food in you.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Rogue said to Cressie, shuffling food into her mouth. “Pass the ketchup,” she commanded Jess.

The brunette handed over the ketchup, and Rogue piled it over her fries and steak.

“You live under MY roof, little missy,” Cressie told her firmly. “And you will do as your told.”

“Oh please,” said Rogue rolling her eyes. “You don’t even want me around. I don’t have to live under your roof, I’m not picky where I live. Let’s just tell the alpha lady that I’m staying there, she’ll never find out if I’m not. I can be discreet.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Cressie said looking stern. “And you’re not sleeping anywhere else, you are staying in my hut and that’s final. Adalyn’s orders.”

“Goody goody,” mumbled Rogue, signalling for the chef to bring her out another plate of food to fill her, seemingly bottomless, tummy.

“Get to bed.”

“No!”

The two women were standing in Cressie’s bedroom, next to a big bed.

“Right now, young lady!”

“I told you, you’re not the boss of me! What if I’m not tired?” Rogue stomped her foot.

“It’s two in the morning!”

“So?”

“I swear, if you don’t get to bed this instant, I will carry you to bed… AND I’ll spank you first.”

It was an empty threat. She didn’t really feel comfortable with the idea of spanking Rogue. Yeah, she had swatted her earlier, but that wasn’t hard and it was mostly to get her attention. She had spanked younger pack members before, but she knew them and they knew they deserved the punishment. Had she known Rogue, she would have already spanked her earlier today for being disrespectful, rude, and a complete brat. But Rogue was just so difficult. She was angry, and she didn’t want Cressie.

 “You need your sleep. A wolf needs to be well rested to have maximum control. It’s good for you.”

“What do you care? You don’t want me anyway.”

“I don want? It’s you who don’t want me!” This last came out with a cracked voice. Tears filled Cressie’s eyes. She had reached her breaking point. “Fine! You know what, you can go and sleep wherever you want. I don’t care anymore. I’ve tried all day. I told Adalyn I wasn’t ready to take on a pup, but does anyone care what I want? No! So just leave me alone, little monster. I’ve had it!”

She threw herself down on the bed and started sobbing. Hating that she had lost control, hating that she couldn’t be like the other elders. She didn’t want to be an elder anyway… not really. She had told Adalyn she wasn’t ready, even though the title came with a lot more freedom and privileges. That wasn’t what she saw, she saw how loaded it was with responsibility.

“It’s okay to be scared,” Adalyn had said. “But you need to face your fears. You have so much to offer. You are going to be great, and one day, when it’s time, you will be alpha.”

Alpha? How could she ever fill Adalyn’s paw prints!

She suddenly felt something wet on her face.

“What the…”

She felt it again. A big wet wolf tongue was licking her face. Cressie looked up to see the white wolf over her. She nuzzled her head in Cressie’s side. Rogue. Perhaps she wasn’t completely heartless after all. Just an angry abandoned pup, confused and alone.

Cressie sat up and petted her. Rogue laid down on her back, showing her tummy, her tail wagging. Cressie laughed. These were things that came with becoming a wolf. You still had the mind of a human, but there were new wolf characteristics that came with, a love of tummy rubs being one of them.

“If I rub your tummy, will you please go to sleep?”

Rogue wagged her tail some more.

“Oh alright, this once. But in future, remember… no wolf form in the bed.”

Cressie rubbed Rogue’s tummy, and when the pup was almost asleep she took off her clothes and folded them neatly onto a chair. She then picked up Rogue’s pile of clothes that she had left on the floor. Then the naked woman changed form and became a chocolate brown wolf. She jumped into the bed and laid down next to the white wolf, nuzzling her head against her neck.

Over the next week Rogue got more familiar with the village and she made herself more at home. The first day had been scary because she didn’t know anyone and people didn’t really know if they could trust her or not, but now that she had lived there for a week, she could relax more around them and they around her. She didn’t want to leave anymore. She liked the village, she liked her new friends, she liked Cressie, and she loved the food. She thought to herself that Cressie was starting to become just as important to her as the food. And the village was preparing for a big Christmas celebration, all of the younger members of the pack were beyond exited. Tomorrow was the big night.

Cressie had learned that the way to get more control over Rogue was to first bond with her. She had to see past the anger and the distrust and see her for what she really was, and that was a scared, lonely pup who’s mistress had abandoned her before she had even taken her first step as a werewolf. She could not imagine what it must be like to be human one minute and then a werewolf the next, without even having any previous knowledge on this state of being. Cressie had learned from her mistakes the first day. Starting out this relationship with punishment and scoldings wasn’t going to work, she had to show Rogue that there were people who cared about her and who supported her. Showering her with affection seemed to be working great.

Cressie knocked on the door of the alpha hut and entered.

“You wanted to see me, Adalyn?”

“Yes, child, come in.” Adalyn got up from her chair and walked over to Cressie. She embraced her. “You’re come a long way since I first turned you.”

Cressie gave a weak smile.

“You don’t think so?” Adalyn with her arm around Cressies shoulder, walked with her back to her chair. She sat down, this time she didn’t scoot over like she had done with Rogue, but pulled Cressie down to sit in her lap.

“You were quite the handful as a newborn. I know it’s tough. Wolfs are not like humans, there is so much temper to calm. It requires a firm hand but also a lot of love. Don’t you agree?”

She held Cressie close to her.

“I agree,” Cressie said smiling. “At first I didn’t think I could do it, but I’ve showered Rogue with affection and she’s much more comfortable here now.” She was proud of her achievement.

“Yes, you have showered her with affection, little cub,” Adalyn said cuddling her close. “But what about that firm hand, hmm?”

“Eh…” Cressie hesitated.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“It’s just… well… she was so angry… it didn’t feel right.”

“Is she angry still?”

“Not so much…” mumbled Cressie. “She’s a lot happier now. We’ve bonded.”

“Do you love her?”

“What?” Cressie looked into her alpha’s chocolate eyes shocked.

“Do you love her, darling? It’s not uncommon that your first charge become your lover. My darling Esme was my first bite.”

“But… I didn’t bite Rogue… she just sort of came alone… and… we’ve become quite close.” Cressie looked down at her lap. “I guess… I guess I do love her, but… what if her mistress come for her?”

“She won’t.”

“She won’t?”

“No. Freya and Georgie found her maker. I’m sad to say it was Jane… she’s dead, Cressie” She looked sad.

“Jane?!” Cressie was shocked.

Jane was the same age as she, they had been pups together, but when Jane’s maker had died in an accident Jane couldn’t handle it. They had been lovers, and Jane was left a mess. When she told she wasn’t ready to be an elder, like Cressie, Jane had run away.

“Do you think she wanted to come back?”

“I don’t know, darling. But she took her own life. I think it was because she had lost control and bitten a human without her consent. I do wish she had come to us, we could have worked it out. I’m not sure we should tell Rogue, perhaps we should just leave it for now. But the fact still remains that Rogue is without a mistress and should you want…”

“I do!” Cressie said at once. “Please… I do want her. I do love her. She is a bit of a handful, but she has many good qualities. Underneath that toughness… she’s kind and caring and I think she loves me. It would be the best Christmas present ever!”

“And have you been a good girl this year?”

“Adalyn…” Cressie blushed.

“What? I thought only good girls got Christmas presents.” The alpha smirked.

“I think I’ve been a good girl,” mumbled Cressie. Adalyn always had a way of making her feel like a pup again.

“Look at the good job I’ve done with Rogue. She’s much better now.”

“Really?” Adalyn raised an eyebrow. “Then where, may I ask, is she?”

“What?”

“Where is your pup,  Cressie? Do you know where she is this very minute?”

“Eh… “

Fuck! She had no idea! 

“No, ma’am, but something tells me that you do?”

“I do, and it’s not in this village, I can tell you that…” Her alpha suddenly looked stern. “I told you that you were responsible for her, did I not? You say you have been showering her with affection, but have you at all given her any discipline?”

Cressie shook her head.

“No, ma’am…”

“That’s what I thought. Perhaps, I too have forgotten that my own pups sometimes need discipline…”

“But… I’m not…”

“You  might have the status of an elder, little missy, but I am still your mistress. I still have an obligation to teach you right from wrong, and now it seems I must teach you what it means to be loving but firm.”

Cressie swallowed. It was so typical. This was why she had been asked to come. Not to get lots of praise, she was being reprimanded, AND now she was going to get punished because Rogue was breaking the rules. That’s it, coddling time over. When she found that pup she was going to make sure her bottom was as hot as the Christmas bonfire they were going to have later that night.

She heard the alphas calm voice.

“Cressie… I think it’s time you came over my knee.”

Rogue jumped through the deep snow, she felt a wonderful sensation of freedom. She hadn’t been out of the village since she got there a week ago, and she was starting to feel trapped. Playfully following her was a grey and brown wolf about the same size. Jess was easy to convince. Being one of the newest pups she was never allowed outside the village alone. Georgie was a fun mistress, but she hadn’t given Jess free reins either. The two pups had hurried out of the village when (they thought) no one was looking for a little play date in the snow.

The two wolfs rolled around in the snow, play fighting each other. Rogue proved to be stronger even if she hadn’t been a wolf long. She bit down on Jess’ neck holding here down like Cressie had with her the night they met. They both growled playfully.

Suddenly they head a shot that echoed through the forest. They both jumped up and looked around. They quickly spotted a rifle pointing in their direction. They ran as fast as they could, hearing shots behind them but not looking back.

They didn’t stop running even thought they seemed to be out of danger, not until their way was blocked by two bigger wolves. One was chocolate brown with patches of black, and one was grey and white. They shifted form and in front of them stood two tall women in the nude. The raven haired woman approached the white wolf and put a collar around her neck, the redhead did the same with the other.

“You two are in so much trouble,” said Georgie as she pulled the pining Jess with her.

Noticing that Cressies normally creamy white skin was red on her backside, Rogue licked her leg and nuzzled close to her.

“Don’t even try it, young lady,” Cressie said angrily. “You got me in trouble with Adalyn. If you think my backside looks red…”

The two miscreants were first taken to the alpha’s hut where they had to apologize for breaking the rules. They then told the alpha all about being shot at. Ten minutes later, one of the pack members with a law degree, left in a fancy looking suit to talk to some people about illegal wolf hunting.

Rogue was then escorted back to Cressie’s hut to face the music.

“I’ve been way too soft on you.”

“Cressie… come on…”

“No, Rogue. What you did was foolish. Adalyn warned you that people might be looking for you. She said we had to lay low and not to draw attention to ourselves, and look what happened? You get shot at! You could have been killed, do you get that?”

She tapped a hairbrush against her palm as she scolded her charge.

“I’m sorry…” Rogue looked down at the floor.

“You will be. You will be sorry and sore.”

“Please… Cressie… I’ll behave. You don’t have to… ya know…”

“Yes, I do. You’ve been needing a good spanking for a long time. It’s well over due. I ought to ban you from attending the Christmas party later tonight…”

“No, please! I’ve been looking forward to that… everyone is talking about it.”

“I said I ought to… but I’m not going to because… well mostly because I wanted to take you and I don’t deserve to have my Christmas ruined. We’re going to deal with this now and then you’re going to apologize and promise to be good in the future, and then we’re going to have a good time.”

“I can promise to be good now,” tried Rogue.

“Nice try, brat.” Cressie pointed her hairbrush towards the bedroom. “Get your naked butt in there this instance.”

Pouting, Rogue went into the bedroom. Suddenly very conscious of her naked bottom she pulled her hand back to cover it as she walked.

Following Rogue into the bedroom, Cressie pulled up a chair and placed it in the middle of the room. She sat down and beckoned at Rogue to come closer. Once she was close enough, she took the brats hands in hers and looked into her blue eyes.

“Tell me why you are being punished, Rogue.”

Rogue shifted nervously looking down.

“Because… because I broke the rules and left the village.”

“And what happened?”

“I got shot at…”

“That’s right. You were warned leaving the village in wolf form would be dangerous, were you not?”

“Yes…”

“Right, then I think we can start.”

She pulled Rogue’s naked body over her lap. She rubbed her bottom gently, wondering how fast the milky white skin would turn red.

Smack! She gave Rogue the first swat and the brat yelped in surprise. Smack! The next made her kick out.

“Ow!”

“Shush! We’ve only just started.”

She peppered the brats bottom with stinging swats and her bottom did indeed turn red quickly.

The naked brat squirmed over her lap and she even tried to cover her bottom with her hand. When this happened Cressie took her arm and held it to her back.

When she was satisfied with her warm up, she picked up her hairbrush and used that to paddle Rogue. That caused the brat to struggle even more.

SMACK! “Ow! No, please! I’ll be good! I’ll be good! Not the hairbrush.”

SMACK! “You had it coming!” SMACK! “I’ve been to soft on you all week!” SMACK! “I should have…” SMACK! “Turned you over my knee” SMACK! “the first night.” SMACK!

“Owww…. I’m sorry. I’ll behave, I promise!”

“You got me in trouble with my mistress. I’m supposed to be an elder and I got punished for your misbehavior!” SMACK!

“Take that up with her! If she decided you needed a punishment you must have done something wrong, right?”

 SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

“Ow! Okay okay I’m sorry…”

SMACK! “You’re right, Rogue, I did do something wrong. I neglected you… and for that I am sorry.”

SMACK! “Ow. You neglected me?”

Cressie stopped and rubbed her brat’s bottom.

“Yes, I neglected to give you the discipline you needed.”

“Oh… well… that’s okay… I forgive you…”

“Uh huh…”

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

“Have you learned your lesson?”

SMACK!

“Yes… I won’t leave the village without permission. I promise.”

SMACK! “Good… that’s good. When you misbehaves it does make me look bad. It makes it look like I’m not in control, like I’m failing you… and we can’t have that, can we?” SMACK!

“Ow. No… I’ll tell Adalyn you’re very much in control. I’ll go over there and show her my butt! She can see for herself!”

“Okay… as long as we understand each other. Are we clear?” She gently patted Rogue’s bottom.

“Clear as crystal!”

“Okay, then we’re done here.”

She helped Rogue up and sat her down on her lap. Rogue winced as her bottom touched her thighs. Cressie pulled her arms around her.

“We need to have a talk… it’s Christmas, remember…”

“Oh… so our trial period is up…”

“Yes, it is. And… Adalyn wasn’t sure if we should tell you, but I don’t think I can keep this from you.” Cressie took a deep breath.

“What is it?” Rogue, nuzzled her face into Cressie’s neck.

“You’re maker is dead. She used to be a pack member, but she ran away a while after her mistress died. They were lovers, and she just couldn’t deal with the pain. We… the pack, we failed her. We saw her pain, but we didn’t see just how troubled she was. She ran away shortly after she was told she wasn’t ready to be an elder. We hadn’t seen her in a while when…”

“When she bit me?”

“Yes.”

“If she wasn’t an elder… then… she wasn’t allowed to bite me?”

“No. And even worse… she did not have your consent. We can’t know for sure since we weren’t there, and you don’t remember, but we think she lost control. What we do know was that she took her own life, and we think it was because she had bitten someone. Please don’t think badly of her, Rogue… Jane… she was a good person. We were pups together. She was a good friend to me and I shall miss her dearly.”

“Okay… I won’t…”

“So now… well… Adalyn and I think that  since we’ve bonded that I should become your mistress permanently, but only if you want to of course. We can’t force you to take me… but if you want…”

“I do,” Rogue said quickly. “Please… I’m not perfect, but I don’t want anyone else.”

“Good.” Cressie smiled. “But… there is more…”

“Good or bad?”

“Good… well.. I think so. I don’t know what you will think.” Cressie held Rogue closer. “I need to tell you this now, before we go through the bonding ceremony. I don’t just want to be your mistress… I have feelings… deep feelings for you. I need you to know this. I want you as my lover.”

Rogue smiled.

“Well of course. I knew that.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I want you as a lover too.”

“I will still be your mistress though…”

Rogue nodded.

“Jess is Georgie’s lover, but Georgie is her mistress too. One of Freya’s pups is her lover too. I figured… we were going that way too. I was just waiting for you to make a move… but maybe I should have myself.”

She kissed Cressie on the lips, and Cressie lost her power speak. Rogue shifted on her lap so that she was sitting astride her. She kissed her again, this time she let her tongue slip into her mouth. Cressie’s hand felt down her back and then she grabbed her hot bottom. She stood up and carried her to the bed.

After they had made love, they got ready for the Christmas feast which was being held on the second deck in the dining hall. They walked down holding hands, everyone else was there already. Adalyn who stood in the center and as they walked in she looked at Cressie who nodded.

Adalyn held up her hands calling for silence.

“Today, is a very special day, not only are we celebrating Christmas, but we are also welcoming a new member to the pack.” She held out her hand to Rogue. “Rogue, if you would come here please.”

Blushing slightly Rogue approached the alpha.

“Rogue has been staying with us for a week now, and today she’s joining the pack. My own Cressie will be her mistress.”

There was a round of applause from the other women.

“Rogue, Cressie, please take off your clothes.”

“What?” Rogue looked nervous.

Adalyn grinned. “Don’t worry, pup. We all know you have a red bottom. It’s not uncommon around here. Cressie, do you still have some color left?”

The crowd laughed.

Someone brought Adalyn a golden cup filled with wine and an urn.

“Rogue, you go first. Turn into your wolf form.”

Rogue nodded and turned into the white wolf.

“Give me your paw, little one.”

Adalyn took Rogue’s paw in her hand and painted the underside of it with a black slighly thick liquid from the urn. Cressie then came closer and they placed Rogue’s paw on her chest just where the heart is located. It left a black paw print.

Once Rogue turned back into a human, Cressie did the same to her, leaving a black paw print on her chest. Then Adalyn took the golden cup and drank from it, she then handed it over to Cressie who drank and handed over to Rogue.

When the ceremony was over they all ate and drank together. Rogue and Cressie sat next to Adalyn at her table with the rest of Adalyn’s hut. Adalyn’s wife, Esme was great entertainment, telling stories of all the naughty things Cressie got up to as a pup.

When they feast was coming to an end they all went outside to howl at the moon.

 

Annabelle (Part 23)

Okay… I have posted this next part. If you find any mistakes, I am terribly sorry, but I am super busy these days with exams, but I took the time to quickly put together what I had. I’ll fix any mistakes if there are any. I  just thought “Oh look 2 am and I need to work tomorrow morning, I should post my story”. So yeah, this is what you get. I’ll be extremely busy until mid-December, and then I will try to write an X-mas story like usual. 😀 Enjoy.  ❤

Also… I know the lines are really close together and that’s annoying. I’ve tried to put some space between the dialogues, but every time I do, it just goes back to the way it was before!!!! So I’ll try to fix that, but right now it just looks that way. Sorry. 🙂

Life in the castle had, so far, been alright; Annabelle and Eylion had managed to stay out of trouble, but that might have been because classes hadn’t started yet, or even more so, because they hadn’t been able to spend much time together. The day after they arrived they had a tour of the castle… well most of it; they were showed their class rooms, the great hall where they had their meals, and along the way Ms. Spryt, who showed them around, showed them all the places they were not allowed to go. Annabelle took extra notice of those as she was determined to explore those places with Eylion when they got the chance. They had done three days of kitchen duty, but they hadn’t got a chance to plan much because Ms. Spryt had wanted to supervise or making someone else supervise; she was true to her word about keeping an eye on them.

On the fourth day classes began. Annabelle had showed up for her potion lesson without reading the chapter they had been asked to read beforehand. Lydia, who was teaching the class, had raised her eyebrow, but after Annabelle had mumbled an excuse about being busy scrubbing pots and pans, she decided to let her off the hook.

“But only this once, young lady,” she had said sternly. “Next time there will be consequences.”
She had then, to Annabelle’s displeasure, proceeded to place Annabelle next to Clare Dupont, the girl Ms. Spryt had apprenticed. She looked haughty and not at all happy to be paired up with someone who hadn’t even prepared for the lesson. Annabelle also suspected Ms. Spryt for having warned her about fraternizing with trouble makers.

————

After break that day they had a history class, taught by no other than Ms. Spryt herself. Annabelle didn’t know too much about history in this world, but she knew a little. Ms. Spryt, started their very first history lesson with a lecture about life three-hundred years ago and talked about the vicious vampires who killed for fun and terrorized people. She also talked about vampires in this day and age.
“Today, Saunderdale is just a ghost village, thanks to those dark creatures,” she said seriously.
Although Annabelle knew very little about history, there was something not quite right about Ms. Spryt’s knowledge of history too.“Ah yes, you in the back, do you have a question? Get up, child. What is your name?”
Jean, who came in the carriage with Annabelle and Eylion stood up. Annabelle figured it was just like her to ask questions and participate, she had noticed that Jean seemed like a very clever and studious person.
“My name is Jean, ma’am.”
“Alright, Jean. Did you have a question?”

“No… well yes, sort of.” Jean hesitated. “This story of the Saunderdale vampires… well that just doesn’t make sense. The pact between the vampires and the elders of the order was made that year, and since then there has been little unrest. The local vampire clans are very peaceful and…”
Ms. Spryt came close to Jean, looking stern. “Jean, that’s enough. How dare you?”
“What?”
“This is a place of learning; we do not have time for you made up ideas.”
“But it’s not made up ideas,” Jean tried. “It’s facts.”
“Jean, I warned you not to tell lies.”
“But…”
“But nothing,” Ms. Spryt said sternly.
“Ma’am… I’ve heard Jean’s version too,” said a pretty, redheaded girl looking stubborn. “She’s telling the truth, my mentor taught me all about it, I read the history books and I’ve met friendly vampires before…”

The girl was a little short and when Ms. Spryt turned to her, she towered over her, her face reddening.
“And you might be?”
“Olivia Perkins, ma’am.”
“Right… Jean, Olivia… to the front of the class. I will not tolerate such nonsense in my class.”
Both girls looked confused.
“Now!” Ms. Spryt yelled and Annabelle could swear she saw little droplets of spit fly out of her mouth, making her grateful she was seated far from her.
Jean and Olivia both made their way to the front of the class. Ms. Spryt followed them, and to everybody’s horror, she steered each girl to the teacher’s desk and bent them over. She then took out a ruler from her drawer and gave each girl six hard strokes on their bottom.
Embarrassed, teary eyed and rubbing their bottoms the girls were instructed to go back to their seats, where they sat down gingerly, and Annabelle swore she would get back at Ms. Spryt for them. She would have to be punished, and it would have to be public and humiliating.

—————

After history class, Annabelle hurried down the corridor. They still had one more class for the day, but hopefully she’d have time to talk to Eylion before it started. She saw her in a crowd of older girls making their way towards the potion lab.

“Eylion,” Annabelle called after her.
Eylion saw her and stopped. Another girl told her they should hurry or they would be late, but Eylion told her to go ahead.

“What’s up?” she asked as Annabelle approached her.
Annabelle looked around and lowered her voice. “I need to get my potion book and my little bottle of potion. Can you help me?”
“Already?”
“I… the teachers are being totally unfair. In History, that Spryt hag hit two girls for simply telling the truth. She’s a terrible woman, this school… they teach us lies.”
Eylion sighed. “I know… it happened in my class this morning too. They try to make an example of those who speak up so that we’ll stop questioning their teachings.”
“I want them to be punished,” Annabelle said angrily. “They need to pay.”
“You do realise that if you put a potion in their food, they will most likely guess who did it, right? We’re the only ones on kitchen duty.”
“Yeah, but it will might boost morale among the other girls. I don’t want them to give up and give in.”
“Yeah, I understand.” Eylion studied her closely. “Tell you what… we’ll do it tonight after lights out. Okay?”
“Yeah, I agree,” Annabelle said.
“Okay, hurry up for class. Don’t want to be late, do you? I’ll knock on your door sometime after lights out and we’ll try to find a way out to the grounds.”

——————–

It was a little after midnight when Annabelle heard a light knock on her door. She was wearing her night gown in case any of the teachers came snooping around, trying to catch people out of bed. She quickly jumped out of bed and opened the door to let Eylion in. She too was wearing her nightgown still, but she had her black witch’s cloak on.
“Put your cloak on, that way we’ll be hard to see in the dark, and if we pull up our hood no one will be able to tell who it is if they look out the window.”
“Good idea, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you’re still just a novice, my girl,” Eylion said winking, and for good measure she gave Annabelle’s bottom a slap.
“So… do you have a plan? I’m not sure what the best way out will be…”
“Well this isn’t the first time I’ve been sneaking around at night,” Eylion admitted. “I mean… a girl has to know her way around so she can sneak snacks from the kitchen. Which incidentally is the best way out.”
“But the kitchen is on the other side of the castle,” Annabelle pointed out.
“Yeah, but it’s going to be hard to sneak out the front door. First of all, because the lock is much trickier, and second, because they might have people patrolling that area, but I think I might have an idea… we could look for the hidden passages.”
“What hidden passages? Why haven’t I seen them?”
“Because, Annabelle… they are hidden,” Eylion said rolling her eyes. “This is a castle, there must be hidden passages, there just has to be. If not, then this is not a very cool old castle at all. Everyone knows that cool castles need secret passages.”
“Yes, but we don’t have all the time in the world,” said Annabelle impatiently. “How about, we head for the kitchen using the way we know, and if we happen to stumble across any secret passages… well that’s great, but we don’t have time to look for them now.”
“Oh alright, but it’s going to make it harder…” Eylion mumbled.
“That’s true, but I also have an idea, genius,” Annabelle said smirking. “You can transfigure into a cat. If there are people outside and we need to sneak past them, I think it should be you because you can become a little kitten and it’s much harder to see.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Why didn’t I think of that?” she said smacking her palm against her forehead.
“Look, this could go wrong, but we don’t have any other options at the moment, not other than waiting until we know the castle better, and I’m not that patient. I want pay back, and I want to do it sooner than later. We need to stir things up before people start accepting that there is nothing we on the inside can do. I think we should just wing it.”
“You’re right. Let’s just go,” Eylion said nodding. “No plan is my favourite plan anyway. It’s much more exciting.”

—————

The corridors were dark and the castle was silent, it had a gloomy atmosphere. Their feet were cold, but the “school” hadn’t bothered getting them slippers for night time prowling, they only had their white stockings for school, and right now their feet were bare. Annabelle supposed that the castle could be a nice place to live if they lived there by choice and the place wasn’t tyrannized by the terrible power-hungry headmistress. It could have been a happy place, but enough food and their own rooms with a comfortable bed was not enough, the regime they were living under made it impossible to enjoy.
They had been walking the corridors for about five minutes and they were nearing the staircase on the fifth floor, when Eylion, who walked first, stopped abruptly. Annabelle walked almost right into her.

“What are you…”

“Shhh…” Eylion held up a finger against her lips. “I think I hear something.”

Annabelle focused, trying to hear approaching footsteps. She heard them too. Her eyes widened. By the sound of it, there were more than just one set of footsteps. They were coming closer and she knew that, whoever they were, they were coming in their direction.
“We need to hide,” she whispered as silently as she could whilst still being understood.
Eylion grabbed her arm and pulled her back down the corridor from where they came and tried the first door she could reach. Most of the doors in this corridor lead into classrooms. This particular door was a small door, leading perhaps into a cupboard or something. It was locked, but Eylion muttered a spell and there was a sound like a click from the lock. They opened the door and hurried inside. Inside there were buckets, mops and cleaning supplies.
They carefully moved a big wooden crate so as not to make too much noise but Eylion accidentally knocked a metal bucket over. It made a metallic clang as it hit the floor and the sound gave Annabelle the chills. They hurried behind the crate trying not to knock anything else over, and once behind, they crawled along the floor, behind boxes into a corner of the cupboard almost flattening themselves to the floor, trying to hide from view.
She knew that the sound had not gone unnoticed, and she laid still, her heart pounding in her chest like a drum, like it wanted to be heard. She saw Eylion crawling even further into the room, trying to get her to follow. She tried shaking her head, thinking there was no time, but Eylion kept waving her hand at her. It was then that she saw Eylion crawling to the side, almost as if she went through the wall, and she crawled as fast as she could towards her.
There was a small hole in the wall, almost unnoticeable, hidden behind a tattered dusty old tapestry that looked like it had been stuffed in this cupboard because it wasn’t beautiful enough for the rest of the castle, but then why not just throw it away.
Annabelle had just reached the hole when the cupboard door opened, her eyes widened and she thought she was done for, just as she felt Eylions hands grab her and pull her through before covering the hole with the tapestry again.
From the other side they could hear voices and the metallic sound of the bucket on the floor, like someone’s foot was poking it.

“Strange,” said a voice that was all too familiar, “that this should fall to the floor by itself, don’t you think, Lydia?”

“Ms. Spryt, I don’t think there’s anyone in here. Why would someone enter a cupboard?” Lydia’s voice sounded uncertain.

“Because, young lady, a witchling out of bed after lights out, wouldn’t want to get caught,” said Ms. Spryt, and it sounded like she was moving boxes, probably to look for anyone hiding. Had they not found the hole in the wall, she would have found them.

“I think you should give them more credit than that,” Lydia said, “ma’am” she quickly added, and Annabelle could imagine Ms. Spryt giving Lydia a stern look, like she herself had been on the receiving end of.

“I think your grandmother would be very interested in hearing how trusting you are of the girls, Lydia,” said Ms. Spryt.

“She’s not my grandmother, she…”

“Yes yes, great great grandmother, I know.” Ms. Spryt sounded exasperated. “The point is, your family is expecting you to do your duties for the order, and coddling the students is not helping. They will take advantage, my girl, give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. Especially those two nefarious creatures who are so loyal to Alexis Nightshade. Beware of them, Lydia, I told you.”

“I have only gotten to know Annabelle so far, but I think she seems like a lovely girl,” Lydia started.

“Then you have already let her fool you,” Ms. Spryt said cutting her off. “Enough of this, there’s no one here, let’s continue our patrol.”
Annabelle turned to look at Eylion, wideyed.

“Nefarious creatures?” Eylion said stunned. “How dare she!”

“So that’s what Lydia is doing here, she’s related to someone in the order and her family expects her to be loyal,” Annabelle said. “I knew she was too nice to fit in with that crowd.”

They both turned around to have a closer look around. They were in some sort of narrow space between two walls, a passage way.
“Guess we did stumble across a passage way after all, eh?” said Eylion grinning. “Lucky!”

—————-

The passage was narrow and dark, and the walls were made of stone. It was, if possible, even colder in there and they had to use magic to light the way. It split somewhere in the castle, and they had to choose left or right. They had no idea where they were, but there wasn’t any time to explore. All they knew was that by chance they chose the right way and ended up somewhere near the kitchen. If there was a goddess, she was on their side tonight. They decided that Eylion should go outside alone and transfigure into a cat. Annabelle had told her which tree and what the markings were, and after about ten minutes of waiting Eylion came back holding the hidden treasures in her hand. They would give Jean her ring back in the morning. Annabelle knew she would be glad; it was really special to her. And tomorrow night, the teachers would get what they had coming to them.

———-

“Hey, girls. Get ready for some entertainment today.” Annabelle sat down next to Mina at the table.

“Yeah, it’s going to be great!” Eylion said grinning as she sat down next to Jean.

“Why? What have you done?” Mina asked, leaning forward across the table, her voice lowered.

“You just wait. It’s going to be super magical.” Eylion said pouring water into her glass, smiling happily.

They started eating their soup, looking up at the teacher’s table just waiting for the moment their prank was put into action. They knew they would get busted and that they would get into trouble, and that made them feel nervous, but at the same time they felt really excited.

The teachers started eating, continuing their conversation, and as they were talking they looked confused. Then…

“No gniog si tahw?!” Ms. Onbush yelled angrily. The room went quiet at once. Her harsh voice gave Annabelle chills down her spine, but it was also hilarious because it made sense to no one.

“Tahw?” Ms. Spryt asked confused, her eyes widening as she realized that she too was speaking nonsense. “No gniog si tahw? Ssertsimdaeh?!”

The girls roared with laughter. Apparently the prank had been appreciated.

“Ecnelis!” Ms. Onbush roared, but the girls kept laughing. “Siht did ohw tuo dnif lliw I!”

Annabelle concentrated on her soup trying not to laugh, but then again, if she did, she wouldn’t stick out as all the students were laughing. She looked up and caught Eylion’s eye from the other table, she gave Annabelle a little wink.

“Uoy!” Ms. Sprytt pointed at Annabelle and Eylion. “Ti dniheb eb tsum yeht, ssertsimdaeh!”

“Won, eciffo ym!” The headmistress roared, pointing at the door, before she, herself, left.

Ms. Spryt walked over to Eylion and took a firm grip around her upper arm and motioned for Lydia to bring Annabelle.
Annabelle had just enough time to see admiring looks from her fellow students, before Lydia took her arm and dragged her out of the hall.

————–

“You’ve really done it this time, young lady,” she said as they walked down the corridor. Apparently she hadn’t had the time to eat the soup yet.

“You didn’t find it funny?” Annabelle asked innocently.

“No,” Lydia said firmly, though for a tiny second Annabelle swore she could have seen a hint of a smile on her lip.

“Not just a little bit?” Annabelle asked, and she was pulled up the stairs to the floor where the headmistress had her study.

“Annabelle, this is serious,” Lydia said seriously.

“Really? What are they going to do? Expel me and let me go home?” Annabelle asked.

Lydia stopped and looked at her.
“No. You don’t understand…” she started.

“What don’t I understand?” Annabelle said harshly. “You don’t think I know what’s going on here? You don’t think I know what this place is? This isn’t a school, it’s like a prison. None of us want to be here! We are all old enough to be in charge of our own lives yet we are made to be here, and they try to teach us lies, to brainwash us. Our mentors were much better, they taught us the truth.” She felt anger now and disappointment. She hated the fact that she liked Lydia. What was someone like her doing there? Surely she must have noticed how the order had taken a turn towards corruption.
“Lies,” she repeated more calmly. “They know it and you know it too, Lydia. There’s not an ounce of truth in the history lessons we have been given, and if we try to correct them we are punished and accused of lying. We might be young, but we’re not stupid. So I suppose you want to tell me to behave myself and do as I’m told, you want me to buy into their propaganda…”

“I want you to be careful,” Lydia cut in. “You can act up all you want, but they’re not going to send you back home until they are happy with your progress, until they feel they have gotten through to you.”

“And what if they can’t?”

Lydia gave her a sad look. “We should hurry. We don’t want the headmistress to look for us. Don’t tell anyone we had this talk.”

———–

“So… you think this is ynnuf?”
“What?” Annabelle asked while Eylion let out a laugh that she unsuccessfully tried to pass as a cough.
The headmistress took a deep breath. “Funny! Do you think this is funny?”
They both look down at the floor.
“Well?”
“It was pretty hilarious,” Eylion finally said smirking.
Ms. Spryt interrupted. “You see, headmistress? I told you from the start, these two would cause trouble.”
“Yes, I see that now, Octavia. And what do you girls suppose we do with troublemakers such as yourselves?”
“You could expel us and let us go home,” Annabelle suggested. “It seems we’re not really cut out for school.”
“I don’t think so, girl.”
“But…”
“No one gets expelled from this academy. You’re not leaving this establishment until I am satisfied with your progress here, and I have time… plenty of time.”
“If you think we’ll stay here forever…” Eylion started.
“My dear, I can keep you as long as I want. You won’t have to stay here forever if you show me that you can be a good girl and do as you’re told. But you will not leave this place until I say you can, so I suggest you start now.”
“And what if we don’t…” Annabelle said defiantly.
“I will not let untrained witchlings lose into my country. You can stay here and reform or… well… like I said, I will not let untrained witchlings lose in my country.”

———-

Annabelle lay on her tummy rubbing her bottom. After a long lecture, they had gotten a sound spanking that would leave them sore for a long time. In addition to that, they were both confined to their rooms for a week, not even being allowed out for meals or to go to class.
If the castle wasn’t like a prison before, it was now; her room had become her cell and the door was kept locked around the clock, only opened when her food was brought up. It felt really lonely as she didn’t have anyone to talk to; the people who brought her food were usually other students she had never talked to before, and they were under strict order not to talk to her. She had no idea what Eylion was doing in her room, and she no idea what the other students might have been taught while she was away. She was sure that by now, no one spoke up against the teachers in fear of punishment.
The third night of her house arrest, she was sitting by her desk concocting plans on how to escape the school when she suddenly heard a “woosh” from the open window. She looked around and saw a bat fly under her ceiling. Then there was a “pop” and the bat turned into a familiar vampire.
“Christophe! How… how did you find this place?” She got up from her desk and hugged him, and he put his big muscular arms around her.
“Alexis had an inkling where they were taking you,” he replied, his bright green eyes twinkling with a smile. “I’ve been flying for an hour, looking into windows trying to find your room.”
“Is Alexis here?” Annabelle ran over to the window and looked out of the window. Ever since she had met Alexis she had had the feeling that she knew much more than she was letting on, but she was so secretive it was impossible to know, she didn’t even know if Gwen knew and she was one of the people most important to her.
“She’s in the forest, she can’t come near the castle, it is too risky. There are guards around the walls, including a protection spell which makes it impossible to fly over the walls with a broom. Luckily they hadn’t thought of bats, I don’t think the order is aware of the close alliances your mentors and their friends have with my clan and others.”
More secrets. What alliances? What friends?! Annabelle tried to hide a scowl and so far it went unnoticed by Christophe.
“We decided to come late at night, since it’s so hard to spot me in bat form after sundown, I was able to pass without much difficulty.” He ruffled her hair, clearly happy to see her. “So, Miss Annabelle, how’s school going?” He winked.
“It’s horrible! Christophe, we’ve got to get out of here! They teach lies, punish people who tell the truth, and… well I think… I think they will kill anyone who doesn’t reform. They hinted at something like that.”
Christoph frowned. “Yes, your mentors were afraid of that, which is why they told you to do as you were told.”
“They didn’t say we were in risk of being killed off if we proved difficult to brainwash!”
“They didn’t want to scare you, especially since they didn’t know if that was what would happen,” he said gently. “Though I must admit… they did have a strong suspicion,” he added in a murmur.
“Well what if it had happened and they hadn’t warned me?”
“You mean warned you to do what you were told and not to make trouble?”
“Yea… no, I mean, they could have warned me it could have gotten me killed, they only said that they were not nice old ladies with my best interest in heart, they said I shouldn’t give them a reason to harm me,” Annabelle pointed out.
“Harm as in, they could potentially kill you for trying to ruin their plans to expand their power over our world?” He narrowed his eyes. “You were told to behave yourself, were you not?”
Annabelle sighed. “Yes…” she grumbled.
“Indeed,” he said nodding. “I’m guessing you haven’t been behaving yourself then? Has anyone threatened you?”
“Sort of…” Annabelle said frowning. “They said they wouldn’t let us leave before we were ready, and then they said they would never let untrained witches loose into society… with the emphasis “never”. Unless we do give in to them, and we won’t, that could only mean two things, couldn’t it? Either they will keep us locked away forever or they would kill us.”
“Yes, that sounds about right. What did you do for them to threaten you?”
“Christophe, I have not been that bad… they are horrible hags,” Annabelle protested.
“Annabelle,” Christoph gave her a smile. “I’m only asking because there are four anxious witches back home who wants to know how you’re doing. I repeat, what did you do?”
Annabelle scratched her nose and smirked. “Well… we didn’t do anything that bad, honest. It’s just that Eylion and I were on kitchen duty, and because the teachers had been so horrible to all the girls who tried to correct their teaching, hitting them with a ruler for example, and since they told us lies about vampires and stuff, we thought it would boost morale among the students if we got back at them a little bit. So we put a potion in the teachers’ soup, so that they spoke backwards during supper in the great hall. It was a harmless prank, that’s all.”
Christophe chuckled as he shook his head.
“They all laughed and gave us smiles as we were dragged off, but I don’t know more than that because we were confined to our rooms for a week. I haven’t seen or talked to anyone since then.”
“I think you are lucky your mentors can’t visit you, you would be in such trouble!” He laughed. “But I suppose you got into enough trouble with the headmistress, yes?”
“Yes!” Annabelle said nodding. “Big trouble.” She smiled at him. It felt so great to finally have someone to talk to, it had been three days! And it was really great to finally be able to see someone from back home. She just wished she would be able to see the others too, she missed them so much. “So… are you going to tell them what we did?”
“Yes.”
Annabelle sighed. “Well… I guess it doesn’t really matter since they’re not here anyway, but perhaps I should write them a letter so you can bring it back to them. That way I can make sure they know my motivation for causing trouble.”
“They will probably still want to kill you, but yes, that’s a good idea. I brought you a letter from home too, and I’ve got one for Eylion too. I suppose it will be easier to find her room if you know where it is.”
“Yeah, it’s on the South side of the castle, two floors up on the far right.”
“Good, easy enough to find, another thing, make sure to destroy your letter once you have read it. I know you might want to keep it and read it again later, but we can’t risk anyone finding it, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” she said disappointed. She had wanted to keep it and read it again, it would be a great comfort to read their words and imagine them talking to her through the pages of the letter. She had no idea when she would be seeing them again. If they did manage to find a way out of the castle, they wouldn’t be able to just go back home. If they managed to free themselves they wanted to stay free. Her eyes welled up with tears thinking about everyone back home.
“Hey… it’s going to be okay,” Christophe said hugging her.
“No, it’s not. I just want to go home, and I want to sleep in my own bed and train witch with Gwen and Aisling. They don’t teach use many useful things here. All they do is lie and try to form us to be witches that are easier to control.”
He looked at her and used his thumb to wipe away a tear. “You’re going to run away, aren’t you?” It wasn’t really a question, it was a statement.
“I… I think so. Yes. We have to Christophe, we can’t stay here! But… if I do manage to escape… well it’s not like I can just go back home and forget about this place, if I go back home, they’ll know where to find me.”
He was silent for a moment, like he was thinking about whether he should reveal something.
“Okay… look, if you do decide to run away, and I’m not sure I would advise it because it could be really dangerous, but if you do decide to run away, Alexis told me that your best option would be to find someone called Andromeda. Do you know who that is?”
“Leda’s mentor,” Annabelle said at once. She didn’t know much about her; in fact, she didn’t even know that she was still alive. The only time she had heard her name mentioned was when Aisling told her the story of when she came from the North.
“Yes, that’s the one. Apparently she lives in a cave up in the mountain, don’t ask me why she decided to go primitive, but the point is… not a lot of people know this and so there you will be safe. If you are going to run away, wait until I come back with more information about how to find this witch. Alexis only just mentioned it today, I don’t know where this mountain is, but I’m sure I can find out. Please do not leave until I have a chance to come back, promise?”
Annabelle nodded and sniffled. “I promise.”
She said goodbye to Christoph before he went to find Eylion’s room to deliver her letter. After talking to him she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Now she had a goal. If they could only get out of this place, they would have somewhere to go, somewhere safe where the order would not find them.