Sharla Winslowe

by Christy Lake and Misty Dawn

 

Chapter 6

 

Sharla has experienced a lot of growth while playing with Green Energy. It has made here very vulnerable to the emotions of people around her.

Part 19  - Shock and Confusion

Part 20  - Andrew's Recovery.

 

Chapter 6

Part 19 Shock and Confusion

Naomi’s entire team had focused on the new discovery and now they had been brought up short. They could not get to it. Eighteen inches inside the tunnel was an invisible barrier. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were spent trying to measure it, detect it, and just plain get through it. The team leader, Joseph Wauchekanoka, in near exasperation, finally had to call another halt and held an on-site conference, appealing to all for suggestions as to how to proceed.

Tuesday morning, Naomi had signed that it was probably a medicine lodge, based on some of the carvings visible on the spotlighted buildings. She indicated that the Barrier was likely a mystic ward around a Shaman’s medicine lodge, and then offered to apply her Shamanistic training to the problem.

Several physicists and a lot of recording people had shown up. Complete excavation of the entry ledge was accomplished and a number of items recovered from areas located outside the Barrier, were tentatively dated to about the year 950 AD. Finally, Thursday evening, the nearly frustrated Leader of the now greatly expanded Shaman’s Cliff Team, Joseph Wauchekanoka, suggested that Naomi do her thing. Naomi nodded and went to her tent to dress in her chamois Shamanni and prepare for the opening ritual.

After going through a purification ritual in her tent, Naomi, armed only with a long broomstick, settled into a lotus position very near the invisible wall. She settled into a spirit trance and realized that she could see the walls and anchors Sharla had described. Six inches from her left knee was a rock. She could see exactly how to twist and pull to get it out. It was but a matter of moments to slide the broom handle into the hole and suddenly the ward was gone. A graduate student working with the energy detecting equipment had braced his equipment rack against the ward.

Everybody, the believers and the skeptics, knew then that the ward had disappeared because he, and his equipment, went tumbling onto the pristine flagstone paving inside the formerly restricted line. A very carefully conducted examination indicated that this find, as expected, was probably the perfectly preserved dwelling and work center of a very powerful early Cliff Dweller’s Shaman.

By the time part of the team had boarded planes Saturday night, the Dig Site had become "Shaman’s Cliff" and the new discovery, Tallcougar’s "Shaman’s Cave," was the talk of the media.

**********************

Sharla picked up Naomi using her Mom’s car. The two witches were bubbling with excitement. Naomi would be staying with Sharla for the week, and they meant to celebrate the anniversary of their friendship by having a blast at the University’s Annual Fourth of July bash on Tuesday. The only clouds on their horizons were that Kevin and Charles were both out of town. Both beaus had only one day off for the holiday and could not be there to help them celebrate.

Almost as soon as they had settled into her room, they had called Jenny and shared with her the good news; Naomi was getting full credit for the discovery of Shaman’s cave. They also added the pleasurable news that the University Anthropology department was taking native magic very seriously. Jenny had seemed very interested and wanted to know, "Will there be any classes related to native magic offered soon?"

"It’s really too early to tell, Jenny. But Naomi and I both promise to keep you posted. If we hear anything for certain, we will let you know."

Sharla and Naomi, as much as any girls their age, savored the *knowing* they attracted male attention and determined to wow the entire male population, at least those attending the picnic and dressed accordingly. They both wore heels, stay-up stockings, mini-skirts, barely long enough to cover the tops of the stockings, brief thong panties, and halter tops with no bras. They figured that they would "Strut Their Stuff" for a couple of hours, and get something to eat, then go change to come back and take part in some of the competitions during the afternoon.

They purchased big blue plastic glasses of Dew from a refreshment stand operated by one of the Sorority’s along the perimeter of the park and then slowly strolled down the walk to where Naomi had been accosted the year before. This year one of the Fraternity Houses had staked out the Contemplation Glade where Sharla had been resting last year. From the way the guys were lurching around and from a slurring enunciation of suggestive catcalls, made as they showed their appreciation of the two beautiful girls walking by, it was obvious that something a lot stronger than soft drink was coming from the assorted coolers surrounding their recruitment booth.

Sharla started flinching like she was being punched. "Ohmigawd!"

"Sharla?" The two girls hurried towards the open area of the park. "Sharla? What’s wrong?"

"Images!" the redhead flashed to her cohort as she nearly choked. "Wild, ugly, perverted," she gasped between thoughts.

Her knees nearly gave way but Naomi caught her with an arm about her tiny waist. "What can I do?"

"Just gotta get away from all those guys!" She waved a hand in the general direction of the debauched drinkers. "Can’t block those drunken images!"

"Okay, let’s go this way!" The raven-haired coed led her friend away, but before they had made it more than a hundred feet past the glade, Naomi had to fully support the violently shaking redhead. Sharla did not know exactly what had happened, but she was now being flooded with wave after wave of intensely sexual arousal. This was new to her! Demanding NEEDS she had never before experienced! Mixed with it was a medley of uncertainty, of fear of rejection, of arrogance, of intoxication, and of outright lust for them!

Sharla, like most physically fit and attractive girls, loved strutting her stuff and showing off her charms for the male appreciation. For the past year she had had a problem. Instead of being able to enjoy the admiration of the assorted males as she passed, the way she had in High School, she had been getting an uncomfortable, crawly feeling when near even normal guys. A couple of times, when she had been assaulted, she had received very clear visual images of the perverse intentions of the assaulters. (Unknown to her, her recent translocations and finally the mental projection directly into the realm of the spirits within the dangerous ward had opened up an inborn Empathic Ability.) Now, incredibly, she was not only feeling everything the twenty or so inebriated men in the glade were feeling as they saw the two very sexy babes strut by, but was vividly imaging every lust-filled, sexy act they imagined doing with the two of them!

Sharla suddenly realized she was horny. She could not get her body to cooperate with her will. While Naomi was almost carrying her out of the park, it became apparent the continuing barrage of sensations was not helping Sharla recover. Outright lust was strongly laced with disgust as the raven-haired bombshell helped the obviously drunk, fire haired babe along.

********************

The jerks and tremors through Sharla's body, as each new set of sensations hit her, slowed once they got away from the park and stopped the moment they stepped onto the sidewalk leading to Sharla's front door. Naomi had decided that the best thing she could do, would be to get Sharla into a hot bath and try to figure out how to disable or destroy whatever demon it was attacking her. The young Shaman knew something had been attacking, and was now being held at bay, because the powerful spasms had stopped as soon as they came through the house wards.

Once inside the bedroom, Naomi gently deposited the shattered red head on the bed, kicked off her own tall spike heels, and ducked into the bathroom to start the bath. She slipped off Sharla's heels, unbuttoned and unzipped the tight leather miniskirt and slid it out from under the almost comatose body. With difficulty, she worked the fitted top off and then manhandled her friend into the bath. What Naomi had not counted on was the effect on Sharla of being stimulated by the desires of some thirty or forty healthy, mostly young, men who had just seen two real live wet dream females wearing formfitting outfits and outrageous high heels.

Something wonderfully wicked suddenly snapped within Sharla. As soon she was immersed into the flowing water of the tub, she roused from her stupor, grabbed Naomi in a loving, but unbreakable hug, pulling the surprised and still fully dressed girl into the tub. Before Naomi could figure out what was happening, Sharla was giving her a very passionate French kiss, better and hotter than Charles had ever given her.

********************

Naomi was very glad that the Wednesday morning campus was almost deserted as she led Sharla to the Archeology Building. Once inside, the academic excitement generated by the protected find permeated the building and Sharla seemed to pick up on it. By 03:30, when the group broke, with a decision to return to the dig on Saturday, Sharla was almost her old self. A quick visit to the Student Union, to check the Bulletin Boards and grab a snack went without incident. Since Sharla was still exhausted the girls returned home and shared another relaxing hot bath.

"Damn, Sharla, I never realized, nor appreciated these long, hot, languid soaks so much." She felt the tension that remained within the cheerless redhead was now of a different nature and smiled softly with her own anticipation.

"I never knew how much I love sharing these long, hot, languid soaks with you, until you weren’t here, Naomi." The redhead gently replied, and then leaned forward to kiss her lovely cohort fully on the lips.

Though still a bit surprised by this turn in their relationship, Naomi felt no reluctance or aversion to fully participating in what was surely soon to develop between them. She opened her mouth and invited her friend to explore, then performed her own explorations before breaking away. "You do realize there would be a lot more room on that big ol bed of yours out there?"

Much later, Sharla was finally thoroughly sated, and so grateful for Naomi’s assistance that she wanted to share her biggest treasure, the books of "La Caisse." Naomi looked them over and thought they were excellent workmanship, but could not see any value in the books of blank pages.

Sharla looked over Naomi's shoulder and asked, "What do you mean blank?" Naomi was holding the Book describing wards. Sharla touched the edge of the page at a paragraph describing Talismans that anchored wards. Naomi gasped. When Sharla's manicured nail had touched the paper, the entire page had become covered with a fine script. When Sharla was not in contact with the page, it was blank for Naomi. They experimented. Actually they really enjoyed it. Sharla and Naomi spent most of the day and the next day cuddling and reading the parts of the books that were legible.

******************

On Friday, Sharla with a full schedule of classes was seen wearing what would become her out-of-the-house uniform until late in December. The campus trend-setter now wore plain white, full-cut cotton panties, a plain white sports bra, and white (yuck!) tube socks, sneakers, and an oversize sweatshirt and pants. She wore her lush red hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, gathered low on the back of her head. She could not do anything about smooth, arched brows, thick lashed emerald eyes, or full lips, but she refused to wear any more than a bit of lotion to provide moisturizing and sun protection. She scrubbed off her nail polish and trimmed her nails short. "Be a lot easier to keyboard," she rationalized.

During the day, Sharla managed. Going home for lunch, she noticed a significant weight or pressure slipped off her as soon as she stepped through the ward around the house. The additional ward around her room did not make any difference in the pressure. Strange as it was, Andrew being near seemed an unaccustomed comfort. Huummmpph! He seems almost sisterly, or something," she told herself as she ate and they discussed mundane daily activities. And he’s dressing a lot sharper than he used to, too! I’d bet there is a girl involved somewhere here.

Walking back to class, Sharla realized that she was picking up myriad feelings from the people around her. Withdrawing deeper into a shell, she realized that as long as she could concentrate on what she was doing, she could pretty much ignore the assault, but if she let her concentration slip, she was instantly bombarded. The big problem, she soon discovered, was that it did not work to block out basic lust nor, as she further discovered, when walking by a mixed bag of Sorority and Fraternity people, getting an early start on the evening’s partying, did it work around alcohol-fueled emotions.

When she finally made it through the Tech Writing Class, she discovered that the Fraternity-Sorority party had taken up camp on either side of the walkway. The raucous jangle of sensations that she was suddenly subject to tore through her concentration and staggered her. David Lowry, a real hunk, as well as a really decent sort, who was in several of her Computer Science classes, caught her before she fell, began guiding her staggering steps, after getting directions from her, right to her front door.

Thankfully no one was home, so she stripped out of her drab and jumped into the shower. The hot pounding water, drilling through her sodden hair right down to her scalp, felt comforting and calming. When they had stepped through the ward around the yard, it had taken all of her self control to not drag David into the house and jump his bones. After a few minutes she stepped out and let the Water Swatters do their thing. Reluctant, but resigned to her coming ordeal, she slipped into a tiger stripe thong, her short-shorts, the heels she now more than a little detested, and the "pushemup" bustier she’d created and now normally wore to Turnbulls on Fridays and Saturdays. As her hair was being brushed and styled, she remembered the pain she’d experienced earlier had been caused by just the overflow from the inebriated students. "How bad will that pain be if they’re targeted at me specifically?

"NO! Until I get this under control, I need to keep away from being the focus." She thought about it a long moment, then called Bill, her boss at Turnbulls.

"Really, Bill. I‘m really very sorry to be doing this to you, and on such short notice," she was very apologetic, then explained, "I’ve been having these panic attacks, and honestly, Bill, I feel that until I manage to get them under control, I will not be able to work."

Bill was very understanding. "Sharla, hon," he told her, "as long as that magical Misty Piggy of yours is in this place, you’ll have a job anytime you want one."

*****

The first day Sharla had worked at Turnbulls, after moving out of the dorm, more than a little too coincidentally, she felt, something had gone wrong with the smoke filters. Heavy layers of cigarette smoke had begun building downward from the high ceiling. For the seated patrons, it wasn’t too bad, but for the serving people, it had quickly become difficult to walk and breathe. The doors to the newly remodeled kitchen were propped open and the big kitchen exhaust fans were sucking out as much as would ooze around the doorframe. After making three heavily loaded drink delivery runs, Sharla had collapsed on a stool and sucked in smoke free air. "I’ll bet my Magic Missy Piggy could clear up this smoke!" she had gasped, coughing.

"I’ll try it." Bill had gasped out. "Magic or not, I’m willing to try anything!" He was sprawled on the floor, propped up by the leg of a preparation table. "Where is she?’ He demanded, grinning at, but picking up on and using her "gendering" of an inanimate object.

"In my bag. She’s in my locker. I’ll go’n get’er if you wanna let’er try clearing this smoke outa here." Sharla had replied, lurching to her feet and heading quickly toward the Employees’ Changing Room. After only a couple of days in Sharla’s new room at home, Miss Hazy Pig had been out of sorts. The Water Swatters, Mikey, and Scruffy all got a chance to exercise. But in the Smoke Free Winslowe House, Missy Hazy Piggy did not have a purpose. Sharla translocated Hazy to her hands. The excitement emitted by her creation was obvious as she carried the unpretentious rubber piggy bank back to where Bill was still sprawled and said, "Just put Miss Hazy Piggy on a shelf or someplace high, pretty much out of sight, and the smoke will soon fade, just like Magic, Bill."

"I’ve got the perfect place!" He exclaimed as he carefully tucked the rubber piggy bank and its small cargo of coins inside his shirt. In short order he had evicted the clients from a corner table, moved the table aside and using a small extension ladder, carefully placed the piggy bank well back on a shelf originally installed for small fill in speakers, about ten feet above the floor. By the time Bill got the ladder put away, the smoke was noticeably less. By the time the corner table was back in place and Bill had delivered a round, "on the house" to the reseated patrons, the smoke was gone.

After that, Bill had always looked out for Sharla, even more than before. Now, he was telling her that as long as her Magic Misty Piggy was in his place, she would have a job anytime she wanted one. Sharla had to wonder if it was another "coincidence" that Bill continued to refer to her as "Misty Piggy?"

********************

After Naomi had left Saturday morning, Sharla had really become a recluse. Simply put, it seemed to her that everybody’s emotions were dumping on her. It seemed the more these emotions focused on her, the greater grew a gnawing sexual need within her. She drew a great deal of solace from her evening chats with Naomi. During the day she started carrying Naomi’s lab coat with her, finally by the end of the first week she was wearing it all the time when she was out of the house. Somehow she seemed able to draw on Naomi’s strength while wearing the lab coat and quietly referred to it as her "armor."

 

Part 20 Andrew's Recovery

One of the brighter thing in Sharla’s home life was Andrew. He had been so down all last semester, especially after losing so much time to the pneumonia. Just after Final Exams in January, Andrew had been given a very complete physical. The report was that his lungs were in perfect shape; it was just the rest of him that was so very undersized and under exercised.

The physical therapist had recommended a course of swimming exercises and provided a two-year development program. The first twelve months would stress control, precision, and flexibility. Later on the program would be extended into endurance and speed.

Their family doctor had called the high school and eventually been referred to Jan Wyatt. Coach Wyatt was in charge of all the pool activities. Since the pool was integrated into the community youth program, the only time that the pool would be supervised and not subject to classes, or disorganized mayhem, was when she had the "Gypsies," the school’s nickname for the Girls Precision Synchronized Intramural Swim Team, in training. If Andrew would promise not to hassle or interrupt the girls in their drills, he was welcome to use the pool at the same time. Coach Wyatt even said that she would help with the exercise forms once she had the girls drilling.

The first two weeks had been rough. Initially he had had to stop every few minutes to rest. All done in the shallow end of the pool, the tucks, twists, bends, and floating setups were difficult with out hitting the bottom. But the elfin boy had been determined and worked diligently, always performed each exercise to the best of his ability. Coach Wyatt had evaluated his conditioning and control and told him to move on to the next section of the exercises, two weeks ahead of his schedule.

One cheery afternoon the team members had been in one of the smaller attached classrooms watching a film from several high school competitions. The Coach had come out and helped him work through the set of exercises before toweling off and going back to her team. Andrew had lost himself in the pleasure of doing the more complex set of exercises. He was flabbergasted when, after completing a complete set perfectly, he shot up to the rim of the pool to rest and catch his breath and saw the entire thirteen members of the team standing there watching him. They were applauding!

"Way to go, Andy, you are really a swimmer!" Cheryl Tanner, the team Captain and one of the sexiest looking girls in the school, said as she offered a hand to boost him out of the pool. He popped out, and after removing his nose clip, grabbed his towel and stood to join the rest.

"Coach said you were a swimmer. Ha, you’re more a fish! She also said that you had been really sick and were just starting to get out of it. Wanna come to Marco’s to unwind a bit?" Clair blurted with a smile. Clair Khodrick was another of the team who helped Little Andrew to remain rock hard.

That had set the pattern. Every day, the team had worked on their drills and Andy and worked on his therapy drills. Afterwards he had joined the girls in the big front corner booth at Marco’s in view of and envied by practically every boy in school, but most especially those who had quit the swimming programs. At first Andy had been very quiet, too tired to even talk really. But as the weeks passed, he had joined in on the girl’s discussions of the team’s potential, and the different activities around town. Every session had a discussion of clothes. Andy found that he had very definite opinions about the cut, color, and fit of different tops, pants, and skirts and that he was not hesitant about chipping in his two cents worth. To his astonishment, he found that most of the girls actually listened and even acted positively upon his "advice" occasionally. When the conversation switched to guys, he found that he also had strong opinions about the good, the bad, and the bums.

********************

During one of her silent conversations with Naomi, the Shaman-in-Training told Sharla about a mental exercise that would help to regain her concentration. In the private part of the Medicine lodge, where she did most of her ritual training, there were small, very fine spider webs. When the impressions of the outside world interfered with her concentration she would seek out the small unseen strands and focus on them, allow them to guide her to their center. Eventually she would find her own Center and be able to get back to what she was doing. Naomi pointed out that Sharla did not need to find a spider web; she could seek the super fine traces of green energy to aid her concentration and focus. Since the pattern was never the same, it could demand a complete focus and then Sharla would be free of the distractions and could go back to whatever she had been doing.

Sharla tried this and discovered it worked. Thereafter whenever intense feelings in those around her threatened to swamp her, she would just pause, take a deep breath, and mentally search for the traces of green energy. One unexpected result of this practice, sometimes twenty times in a normal day, was that she found it very easy to slip into and out of, what for want of a better term, she called a Magic Trance. A second benefit was that her area of awareness greatly expanded. When she went seeking, she could spot all sorts of interesting things, from the Panama Canal to the Magnetic North Pole.

It was working well enough; she had assured Naomi in early August, that she could probably continue school, even with the expanded number of people. She was still afraid of attending any large activities. Even the mundane crowd of shoppers at the Mall nearly always overpowered her concentration.

After a number of discussions with "Uncle White Running-Bear" through Naomi, Sharla was convinced that the Red barrier around his Medicine Lodge was very similar to the Green Wards she had around her house and room. Probably the same applied to the Blue Barrier she had discovered around Jenny's home and Sheila Carstairs' home. With the Summer Course Finals coming up, she did not have a lot of time, but she worried at the barrier around the Medicine lodge. Two days before the finals, her efforts paid off and she saw patterns and swirls in the shield. After that it was just a matter of a few minutes to figure out a way to project her awareness through the ward and check the interior. Inside another part of the medicine lodge, she encountered another ward. Again it was a matter of just a few seconds to understand the key and slip through. She saw the spider webs Naomi had told her about.

Finally satisfied she could now find the key; she switched her attention to Jenny. The blue barriers around Aunt Sheila’s home immediately blocked Sharla. This blue was just a little different than the red or green, but not much. Quickly she figured out the key and slipped through to see Jenny and her Aunt for the first time through her "Long Distance Perception."

Aunt Sheila and Jenny were on the phone, talking to Jenny’s Mom, who was in London, England. Jenny’s mom had submitted a couple of the pictures of Jenny, Sharla, and Naomi to a modeling agency contest. The agency had used one of the photos and was sending the three girls to Galveston, Texas for a 2 week "End of Summer Trip." It was an all three or none deal. Jenny’s mom was looking for contact information, so she could call Naomi’s parents and then to contact Sharla's parents.

Jenny advised her mother of Sharla's panic attacks when around crowds and asked if it would be possible to get the agency to make it someplace else, or maybe next year, since one of the trio was "medically unfit to travel."

Jenny's mother said that she would look into it and asked Jenny to not mention the trip to anyone, since it was a no-go for now. Then she passed on the news that she would be home from the beginning of September until the last week in May, so Aunt Sheila would not have to house sit, and Jenny would not have to live in the Dorms. With a feeling of self disgust for being the reason her friends would not get an all expenses paid holiday, Sharla slipped back through the wards and decided that she would conquer whatever was causing her to be swamped by others feelings.

********************

With the summer finals out of the way, Sharla started concentrating on the Books of Magic. She was searching for information that might help her construct a mobile ward around herself to block the barrage of the emotions. Sharla was used to the magic idiosyncrasy of the books, but this was extremely frustrating. Although she could see clear script on every page, nothing, even pages she had read, was legible.

 

 

 

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© 2003 by Christy Lake. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.