Jo White: Chapter 20 (Patreon)

Yep.  Just like I said in the latest update.  Jo White is dead, totally dead.  LOL  I still don't know what is happening with this story.  I really don't think I can maintain three serials at once so something's gotta give, but since I wrote this chapter anyways I thought I might as well put it up for you.

***

“How much further?”  I yell at the top of my voice.

“Whaaaat?”

“Never mind.”

Determined to make the best of it I try to ignore the traffic and I hold on tight to watch the scenery go by.  Everything here was so…green.  A deeper shade of green than the forests back home with a richer mosaic of foliage.  In the place of the towering hemlock and spruce that I was used to was a diverse array of hickory, oak, maple, pine and so many more.  Bushes, flowers, grasses and shrubs crowded in anywhere and everywhere they could.  I see birds, large and small, that I’d never seen before and I just loved the way the big old trees would lean in over the creeks that we’d pass over.  And the people!  They were everywhere.  Even in the country we were never far from a house or a business or a trailer park or even a village that had carved a place out of the lush greenery.  Where I came from, once you were out of the city, you could go for hours without seeing any sign of the human world beyond the power lines and the endless road itself.  Down here every mile brought with it something new to see.  This place just felt so ALIVE!  I would always hold a special place for untouched expanses of my home state, but Georgia was already capturing my heart.

And I hadn’t even seen the ocean yet.  But I would soon.  I had dreamed of this day.  It was a humble dream but one I’d had since before I could remember.  I had hazy memories of my mother telling me about it and of my father reading me stories about tall ships and pirate adventures.  How many times before I finally gave up had I asked my auntie to take me to Anchorage where I could at least dip my toes into the Cook Inlet?  Too many to count.  I hug Dot tighter.  After just a day my new best friend was taking me where she never would.  Weird as it was, I loved my new life.

HONK!

A blaring horn from right beside us startles me out of my daydreaming.  Fed up I turn and shake my fist.  “Just pass if you’re gonna pass!”

Looking down at us from the passenger window of Hanae’s big 4x4 I see Sloane smiling and waving.  She rolls down the window and yells.  “Need a lift?”

“No.”  Dot says.

“YES!”  I shout over her.  I hated to disappoint my bestie but this was no way to travel, not on the highway at least.

Sloane gives us the thumbs up and raises her window.  The truck roars past us for a ways before pulling off onto the gently slopping shoulder.  Dot comes to a stop behind them.  Hanae was already out of the truck and lowering the tailgate when we get there.  She might be a Cali-girl but in her denim skirt, front-tie crop top, and battered old straw cowboy hat you would have thought her a Southerner through and through.

“You’re nuts Dot.”  She laughs.  “Surprised you didn’t get blown right off the road.”

“We almost were!”  I say.

“We were fine.”  Dot insists.

My ears ringing and my ass numb I step off of the back of the scooter and lean my weight onto the umbrella as I shake my head.  Once Dot was off Hanae takes a moment to ready herself then grabs the scooter and hoists straight up off the ground to heave it into the bed of her truck.  The thing had to weigh two-hundred and fifty pounds or more but Hanae handles it like was Styrofoam.  God almighty she was strong!  Unnaturally strong?  I was starting to wonder.  Dot and I remove our helmets and put them and the umbrella into the back as well.  Hanae hops up to make sure everything is secured.

At the passenger side Sloane had hopped out and was holding the rear door open.  “Yer chariot awaits.”

“Thank God!”  I say as I hurry around and crawl into the back of the extended cab.  The bench seat was a tad cramped with their beach bags already stuffed in here and there was an empty gun rack along the back window but there was more than enough room for the petite Dot and I.  I push the gear to the other side.  Taking the center spot I buckle in.

Outside I hear Dot ask.  “Can I drive?”

“No.”  Hanae states flatly.  “Nobody drives Blue Betty but me.”

“You’re truck has a name!  I didn’t know that.”  A moment later Dot’s head pops in to look around.  “She’s pretty.”

Sloane laughs and swats Dot’s bum.  “Get in if yer gettin in.”

“Ooo!”  She squeals as she hops in and buckles up beside me.  We look at each other and giggle.

Sloane closes the door behind her then the pair of older girls hop in the front.  Hanae turns on some upbeat country music and in no time we are on our way in far more comfort and at a decent speed.

“Hahhh.” I relax.  “Much better.  I can hear myself think again.”

“What are you thinking about?”  Asks Dot.

“Nothing.”  I say.  “But it’s still nice.”

“I think nothing is kinda boring personally but to each their own.”  She looks out the window.  “At least we’ll get there for low tide.”

“The others are taking Dom’s van.”  Sloane says.

“Where are they taking it?”  Dot asks.

“The beach of course!”  Hanae chuckles.  “We got the whole crew coming.”

“Even Gretchen and Beatriz.”  Sloane looks back at me.  “Not sure what you said to her, but I think Gretchen’s taken a liking to you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“They had an argument before we left.”  Dot says.

“It wasn’t an argument.”  I correct her.  “I was just standing up for us.”

“I guess she likes your arguing.”  Hanae laughs.  “Convincing spooky girl to leave the house is pretty impressive too.  The new girl is popular it seems.”

“I’m not sure Beatriz has even seen a beach before.”  Sloane agrees.  “Not in the day at least.  You charm her or something Jo?”

“Hope not.”  Hanae says.  “There’ll be hell to pay if you did.”

Sloane winks at me.  “We’ll keep yer secret darlin.  You saucin us?”

“Saucing?”  I look at Dot but her attention had been caught by something on the floor.  “No.  I’m just…easy to get along with?  I guess?”

“Huh.”

“If I was…saucing you, what would happen?”

“HA!”  Hanae guffaws.  “They’d cut your damn dick off.”

“Seriously.”  Sloane says.  “I know things are less strict out in the fringes, but don’t even think about it down here.”  That was something for Sloane to say.  Laid back as she was she wasn’t the type to be too worried about rules or authority.  “’Specially not in the house.”

“Okay.”

“What is your school anyway?”  Hanae shifts the rear view so that she could see me better.  “I never caught it.”

“Yeah!  Me neither.”  Dot says.

“I did tell you Dot.  I’m going to the Art and Design college downtown.”

“No.”  Hanae says.  “I mean your specialty.”

“Specialty?”

“Your magic silly.”  Sloane clarifies.  “What’s yer school darlin?”

There it was.  Just like that.  The biggest question I had, answered.  These women thought they were witches.  They really did believe in magic.  And from what I’d already seen…I think I believed too.  Magic!  Real magic!  My whole world is rocked all over again.  It is only due to the years of hiding my true feelings from my auntie that I am able to keep a straight face at this incredible revelation.

“Oh, that.  Uh…wh-what’s your school?”  I try to buy for time.  “You first.”

“Mechanomancy.”  Sloane states with a sly smile.  “I bet you noticed a little extra somethin-somethin with the Willys.  Ain’t Magitech grand?”

“Ha ha ha!”  Hanae roars.  “I heard you took the jeep!  Hell of a ride, huh?”

“Yeah.  It was something alright.  I thought you were a bit to eager too lend it to me.”  Then under my breath I add.  “Bitch.”

She laughs that lilting Irish laugh of hers.  “You’re welcome.”

I thought it had been my imagination but it seems that old heap really had been messing with me after all.  “What’s your school Hanae?”

“Schools.”  She corrects as she flexes her bicep.  “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Oh yeah, of course.”  I bluff.  “What are they called again?”

“Physiomancy.”  Sloane answers for her.  “And Martialism.  AKA, the art of takin names and whoopin ass.”

Dot giggles.

“Anyone messes with you two just let me know.”  Hanae says.  “I’ll set them straight.”

“And you Dot?”  I ask.

She scrunches her nose.  “It’s complicated.”

“Oh?”

“I’m unaffiliated.  Currently.”

“Unaffiliated?”

“I don’t have a school yet.”

“Oh, well, that’s okay.”  I say.  “I’m sure you’ll get there.  Are you like apprenticing or something?”

“No.”  Sloane chuckles.  “You’re thinkin of things the wrong way ’round.  She’s way beyond the rest of us.”

“No I’m not.”  Dot objects.  “I’m the same.”

“Our little Dot there is a genius, so we’re told anyway.”  Hanae says.  I recall Dom telling me that once though I clearly hadn’t caught her full meaning.  “America’s only genuine polymage.”

“Wow!”  I say.  “So she’s like…super powerful or something?”

“Geez.  You from Alaska or Mars?”  Hanae snorts.  “It’s not about power.  The few others that are like her can barely string an incantation together.  A hundred percent potential, zero percent practical, if you catch my meaning.”

“Can we talk about something else?”  Dot says.

Sloane hops in.  “She has her own way of tappin in.  She’s playin by her own rules and usin a whole different deck o’ cards.  Nobody can do a thing with her.  She’s impossible to teach they say.”

“That’s not true.”  Dot mutters.  “My gift just hasn’t…presented itself yet.  I’m a late bloomer.  My Mama said it’ll come with time. She used to say that anyways…when I was taking my pills.”  She puffs.  “She said that I just needed some time on my own in the real world.  She said that I’ll be a great technomancer someday.”

“Techno?  You?”  Hanae says.  “No freaking way.”

“Face it Dot.  You’re eighteen.”  Sloane says.  “You are what you are at this point.  Ya done bloomed already darlin, you just bloomed into the whole bloody garden.  Ha!  Nothin to be ’shamed of.  You’re special is all.”

“Selfie’s are always a bit oddball.”  Hanae says.  “You’re just…extra.”

I could see this was bothering her so I take Dot’s hand and give it a squeeze.  “It’s okay Dot.  I believe you.  I think you’ll be an awesome technomancer.”

“Thanks!”  She holds my hand in her lap with both of hers.  “I know I can do it if I really try.  And what about you Jo?  What school?”

“I’m…”  I scramble for something, anything, that might sound convincing.  “I’m a…”  As I cast about my memory finds something to latch onto.  Prince’s favorite class in one of his favorite video games.  “I’m a summoner.  Summoning is my school.”

All three heads snap to look at me, a shocked mix of fear and disbelief on each of their faces.  You would have thought that I’d said I was the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler!  Dot pulls her hands away from me and shrinks back against the door, Sloane scrambles for something in her pocket, and Hanae pulls back over to the shoulder and slams on the brakes.  We jerk forward in our seats as the truck skids to a stop along the grassy bank.  We’d barely come to rest when Sloane pulls her Zippo lighter from her pocket and, with a flick of her hand, has it snap into the form of a tiny handgun!  At the same moment Hanae was twisting in her seat and cocking back a fist!  The next thing I knew I was staring down the barrel of Sloane’s gun!

“I’m kidding!”  I wail in terror, my hands up to indicate surrender.  “It’s just a joke.  It’s just a joke!”

“A joke!?”  Hanae, normally the consummate joker, glares without a hint of humor in her grim face.  “A fucking joke!?”

“Mother Mary above!”  Sloane gasps as she lowers her weapon but keeps it at the ready.  “You joke about that?”

“That’s not very funny Jo.”  Dot whispers…before adding.  “Actually, that is kinda funny.  HA!  Ha ha ha ha!  A summ…”

“Dot!  Shush.  And Jo!  What in the hell is wrong with you?”  Hanae berates me.  “What are they teaching you up in Alaska?”

“I’m sorry!  I’m sorry, okay.”  I say.  “I didn’t mean anything by it.”  Shaking her head Hanae turns the radio off and pulls the truck back onto the road to carry on driving.  Sloane, her hands shaking, flicks the gun back into a lighter and uses it to light a joint.  She takes a long draw then slowly lets it out as her nerves gradually calm again.  The previously jovial energy had been erased by a somber cloud.  God damn it, I really stepped in it there.  I slump down small.  “I won’t say it again.”

“If we’d been on our game you’d be dead already.”  Hanae says, her angry eyes locked on the road ahead.  “You’re lucky Dom or Gretchen didn’t hear that.  Some things you just don’t joke about.”

A cold shiver runs through me as I realize that she wasn’t bluffing.  I had just come a whisker away from breathing my last breath.  At the hands of these women who I thought were my friends.

“I’m sorry.”  I say again.

“Yep.”  Hanae grunts.

“I’ve…got a lot to learn.”

“Clearly.”  Sloane says, concentrating on her joint and giving me the cold shoulder as well.

There wasn’t simply anger and residual fear in their eyes, but pain as well.  This summoner business was not only something deadly serious it was something that had touched each of their lives directly.  And Dot…well, Dot was Dot.  For her the incident was already in the past.  Bent all the way forward she was currently collecting pebbles off of the floor and placing them in a line in the palm of her right hand.  She hums to herself as the rest of us ride in silence.

I clear my throat.  “Really, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to ruin our trip.  Hanae, Sloane, how do I make this better?”

Hanae and Sloane glance at each other and the frigid mood begins to thaw.  “It’s okay.”  Hanae says.  “Just, step carefully huh?”

“We’ve all lost someone.  This damn war…”  Sloane sighs.  “…sucks.”  She takes one last long drag and lowers the window to flick the roach out.  “It fuckin sucks.”

War?  War!?  The big painting of Joan of Arc in the common room, her blood spattered sword held up as she let out a fierce battle cry, flashes through my mind.  The sisters had enemies?  They were soldiers?  It seems things weren’t all nice gardens and good food and kinky sex in their secret world.  What had I stepped into the middle of here?  Who were these summoners?  Why were they fighting the sisters?  Was my mother involved in this war?  Or was this something new?  Every time one question got answered ten more rose up to take its place.  Most of all the memory of that gun barrel pointed right at my face still had me shook.  Here I had been worried about being expelled from the house if the truth ever came out, that now seemed the least of my worries.  These sisters were not as harmless as I first assumed.  I really, REALLY, ought to fess up now or just run like hell while I still could.  But…not just yet.  I could at least enjoy a day on the beach with them first.

“Um, how about you three try to guess my school.”  I suggest, hoping to lighten the mood and bluff through their previous question in one fell swoop.

“Yes!”  Dot chirps as she pops upright in her seat.  “Me first.  You’re an…”

“Illusionist.”  Hanae interjects.

“Hey!”  Dot protests.  “I was going to say that.”

“Of course you were.”  Sloane turns to look at us.  “So was I.  She’s an artist.  Artists are usually Illusionists.”

“Well, you are all wrong.  Can’t always go by stereotypes.”  I say.  I wanted to keep this guessing game going for a bit to learn what I could.  Besides, illusion magic sounded like something that they might want a demonstration of.  “Guess again.”

“Healer!”  Blurts Dot before she could be interrupted again.  “Or some sort of Body magic.”

“That would be nice.”  Hanae says.  “Nothing wrong with Charlize but you can never have too many healers.”

“Nope.”  I say.

“Give us something to work with.”  Sloane gripes.

“Nuh uh.”

“At least tell us if you are single school or dual.”

“Single.”

“Okay…”  Sloane studies me closely.  “…I know you’ve got a boyfriend.  Is he a thrall?”

“No.”  I snort.  “Just a regular guy.”

“Cute though.”  Dot smiles.

“Just a cute regular guy.”

“You sure you’re not an Enchanter?”  Sloane’s eyes narrow.  “It would explain how you got Bea to come.”

“No sauce on the sisters.”  I state.  “And no, not an Enchanter.

“Hmm.”

“I KNOW!”  Dot erupts, the pebbles in her hand sent flying.

“Not so loud.”  I laugh as I rub my ringing ear.

“Erotimancy!”  Dot states proudly.  “That’s how you made me cum so fast!”

Hanae and Sloane’s eyes light up as my cheeks go hot with an intense blush.  “What’s this now?”  Sloane hoots.  “Do tell.”

“I told you I thought Dot was in her room last night.”  Hanae smiles at her friend.  “You try to play all sweet and innocent Jo.  I knew you were one of us.”

“A fellow slut!  Ha ha!”

“I’m not!”  I say.  “I’m a one man woman.”

“Riiight.  Come on Dot, spill the beans.”

“She let me join her and Prince.”  Dot hides her face.  “I came so fast!  She musta magicked the cum out.”

“I did not!”  I protest, still blushing furiously.

“She smooched me and bewitched me with her boobies!”  Dot giggles uproariously.  “I loved sucking on them so much.  I was powerless to resist her.  So was Prince.  He’s very handsome by the way.  We were her slaves, we were both helpless to her sexy powers.”

“There was no resisting going on.”  I elbow her.  “You’re telling stories Dot.”

“He he he he!”  She snorts.  “We even spooged together!  It had to be her cum magic.”

Sloane looks at Dot and then to Hanae.  “I think they’re fuckin with us.”

“I think you’re right.”  Hanae agrees.  “She’s blushing about something though.”

“I think we guessed her school.”  Sloane says.  “That’s why she’s been dancing around it.  You’re a sex witch, aren’t you?”

“I never said that.”

“Hot damn!  You didn’t need to.  A sweet gal like you…ha ha!  I love it.  Nobody would ever guess.”

“You least of all, evidently.”  I retort.

“Hey, be proud Sis.  You don’t choose the school, the school chooses you.”  She says.  “I’m jealous!  That’s what I was hoping I’d be.  I’ve got questions.  So many questions.”

“I’m taking the fifth.”

“Must be hung like a bull.”  Hanae quips.  “Puts us all to shame no doubt.”

“Nuh uh, she’s Team Little all the way.”  Dot says.  “The big kahuna of our tiny trio as a matter of fact.”

“Not the size of the wand but how she wields it, huh?”  Sloane looks me up and down even more desirously than she normally did.  “Color me curious.”

“Dibs.”  Hanae lays claim.  “I get her first.”

“Hey!”  Sloane scoffs.  “You don’t get to decide that.  Besides, I met her first…plus I lent her my jeep like the good friend that I am.  All you ever did is put spiders on her.”

“Yeah, but she likes my muscles.”

As I hear the sisters bicker and banter it hits me that ‘sex magic’ was probably something I could keep hidden longer than most schools.  And not something I would be expected to contribute to any sort of combat with.  It needed to be intimate and consensual for me to give any demonstration.  Plus I had these three believing it already.  Perfect.

“I never said I was.”  I say as if I didn’t care but really did care.  “But believe what you want.”

“Hahhhh.”  Sloane points.  “We got ya.  We figured you out.   Admit it Jo.”

“If you’re going to be like that I’ll never tell.”  I cross my arms and raise my chin haughtily.  “I’ll keep my secret to myself thank you very much.”  I then spin to point at Dot.  “And you!”

“Eeep!”  Her glimmering golden eyes go wide.

“Telling stories on me!”  Wiggling my fingers in front of me I loom over her.  “I’m gonna cast a hex on you!  I’m gonna make your balls dry up like the Sahara Desert.  You’ll be spooging dust from now on!   Dusty Dot is what they’ll call you.”

“OH NO!”

“Hahhhh!”  I pounce on her for a merciless tickle attack.

“AH HA HA HA HA!”  She squeals and wriggles.  “Help!  Help!  HA HA HA HA!”

“You’re on your own sister.”  Hanae says with a smile.

The music returns and so to does the banter and the laughter as we get ever closer to our day at the beach.

Chapter 21