The Cabin - Chapter 19: Hide and Seek (Patreon)

Stephanie won the first game of hide and seek. The second game took longer as the girls found better hiding spots this time. Lynn won that game. The men were just starting the third game. Josh had one the first game's side bet, Steve the second game's.

Josh opened the door and announced, “Three minutes is up. Here we come.” He headed straight for Steve and Jesse's room on the first floor. The room was quiet. He opened the closet and rummaged around, but found nothing. He checked the bed and under the bed. He stepped into the bathroom and checked the shower. Nothing.

He returned to the bedroom and had a strange feeling. He had tried not to use his telepathy but his danger sense made him want to look up. There was nothing there but the lay of the rafters intrigued him. He walked to the far wall and looked up. Jessica was hiding in the rafter.

“How did you find me?” She demanded.

“How did you get up there?” Josh asked as he helped her get down.

“I climbed up on that suitcase,” she admitted, pointing at the suitcase against the wall.

“So, you're working together now?”

* * *

Alexa exhaled silently as Josh moved on. She was in the drapes in the dining room and she worried he would look. She heard Uncle Steve opening and closing every cabinet door in the kitchen. Was that the oven? Who would hide in an oven? Finally she heard the squeak of the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room.

She tried to remain still while straining to hear what footfalls she could. He was moving toward her when the front doorbell rang. The front door opened and Shahala called out, “Oh, Steve, I think I should take a walk. Which direction is better?”

“Head down the path away from the cars. There's a great waterfall in that direction.”

Alexa felt funny as the front door closed. The drape she was behind pushed slightly toward her. Her desire to shrink away to nothing seemed to become real. She felt herself lowering toward the ground, looking up she saw the curtain push into the space her face had just been.

Another door opened and a voice called, “You really think a third girl would try that spot?” Josh joked. “I've already got one.”

“It's no fair. He looked up,” Jessica complained.

“Go have a seat at the table, Jessica,” Josh said. “Did I hear Shahala?” As Steve turned toward the door to answer Josh raced up the stairs.

“You bastard,” Steve called out rushing away.

Alexa stepped around the curtain and saw the underside of a couple dining chairs and the underside of the dining table way up high. I shrank, she thought. She looked over her shoulder and thought she saw something moving. She rolled and stretched and anything else she could think of to get her shoulders to move and she could definitely feel wings behind her. “I'm a fairy,” she whispered.

* * *

Mandy heard two sets of loud feet running up the stairs. Hiding in the closet behind the frozen Jesse, she wondered how she heard them so well. She had wedged herself into the corner and pulled the immobile Jesse right up against her. She hoped she could not be seen unless someone moved Jesse out of the way.

She heard the door to the bedroom open and she tried not to breathe. As she tried not to move she felt something jab into her back. It had not hurt, it had merely surprised her. She felt herself becoming lethargic. She was not sure why.

The door to the closet opened. She could not see who opened it so she hoped that meant he could not see her. She still felt funny and she noticed that she could not move her eyes.

“Oh, yeah,” Steve said to no one. “I almost forgot I was still up here.” He closed the closet door.

Mandy wanted to panic but she could not move. Her right arm dropped down by her side and she heard a slight winding sound as it did.

She heard the bathroom door open and assumed Uncle Steve had moved away from the closet. A moment later she heard him exclaim, “Gotcha!”

* * *

Donna was on the top shelf of the closet in Don and Amanda's room. She left the doors to the closet wide open hoping that would reduce the chance of an up close inspection of the closet. As the door to the bedroom opened she tried to shrink into the back of the closet.

Whoever was in the room was searching quietly. But Donna was distracted by an itchy feeling all over. It took all her willpower not to make a sound. She hardly noticed herself shrinking until she saw the fur on her paws. My hands are now paws, she thought. The room became brighter and she could smell things she had not noticed before.

She could smell a human nearby and a hand reached over the shelf and patted the spot where she had been. The hand ran back and forth on the edge of the shelf, not quite able to reach her.

In her mind, the urge to pounce the moving hand was pounding but she remembered why she was hiding and did not give herself away. Soon the man smell faded.

* * *

Josh turned around and announced, “Whoever's under the bed, don't make me crawl under there to pull you out.”

A grey colored girl slide out from under the bed.

“Oh, my,” Josh said, “You need to get cleaned up.”

The girl thought so too and with a smile she snapped her fingers. Suddenly she was spotless from head to toe. “Oh, wow, it works,” Lynn exclaimed.

“I take it this was your wish,” Josh guessed.

“Yep, to be able to clean myself up with a snap.”

“Wonderful, what other powers do we have to deal with?” He wondered as he herded her out the door. He saw Steve and Stephanie exiting his room. “I found her under the bed.”

“Really?”

“Show them.”

Lynn snapped her fingers and her long hair was done up in a tight bun and it seemed like her fingernails had changed color. “I got my wish.”

“Awesome,” Stephanie said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple lollipops. “Me too.” She handed one to Lynn.

“Thanks.”

“Go downstairs and keep Jessica company in the dining room,” Josh told them.

“Their wishes came in?” Steve asked. “Do you know what they wished for?

“No idea,” Josh said. “Playing the game was your idea.”

“I know.” Steve said feeling down.

Josh went into his room to look around while Steve went down to his room.

* * *

Alexa spent a few minutes trying to fly as Jessica crossed the room and sat down at the table. She could not get her wings to flap very fast. Then she thought that maybe flying was just magic fairies have. And as she imagined herself flying she shot up toward the ceiling. She looked down in horror at Jessica.

Jessica had not noticed her.

Slowing Alexa gained control of her speed all while watching Jessica for any signs that she could see her. She heard the bedroom doors open and saw two more girls had been caught. She ducked beneath the table in case the adults could see her.

Her eye was attracted to the seat of Jessica's chair. When the other two girls sat down, she was similarly attracted to Stephanie's shoe laces. Stephanie sat with her legs crossed and Alexa could just imagine the laces tied together.

Her nose itched and she wrinkled it. The laces pulled apart and retied themselves between the sneakers. Alexa held back a laugh and a big loud whoop. She could do magic pranks. She looked back up at Jessica's chair and imagined glue under Jessica's legs. Her nose itched again and with a twitch she could see glue on the chair.

She turned to look at Lynn. Lynn sat with the low heel of her shoes hooked on the support spindle connected to the two front legs of her chair. Before she could do anything Alexa saw Steve head into his room. Alexa imagined the spindle having a weak spot near the right leg and wrinkled her nose. She then flew after Steve and followed him into the room.

A moment later, Lynn shifted her weight and the spindle broke causing her to slip and almost fall off the chair.

“Are you all right?” Asked Stephanie as she stood up and failed to take a step. She fell forward onto the floor. She looked up at Jessica, “Can you help me up?”

“Not really,” Jessica replied obviously struggling. “I seem to be glued to the chair.”

* * *

Josh looked around. He felt foolish because Steve was just in here. He checked the rafters and cursed himself for forgetting to do so in Don's room. Frankly, with all the mannequins in there, he was happy to leave.

He opened the closet door and found the frozen Steve-as-Jesse. He was about to close the door when it occurred to him that the frozen woman had been moved. He slid her out and spotted Mandy behind her. “You're caught,” he announced. “Come on out.”

She just stood there unmoving.

He reached for her hand and pulling it caused to rise freely but she did not follow it forward. He noticed her expression had not changed. He looked into her mind and found it dormant, like she was daydreaming about nothing.

He stepped closer and picked her up by the waist. She was much heavier than an eight-year old girl should be. Her waist was hard and now that he was closer he could see her skin was synthetic. “She wished to be a doll?”

Having pulled her from the closet, he looked at her again. Each of her joints was articulated with a complicated connection. In back, he looked for a pull string and instead found a six inch long, one foot tall brass key. He tried to turn it but he needed better leverage. He held her by the shoulder and turned the key. Winding mechanisms were obviously whirling about inside her as he turned it once around and left go.

She turned her head from side to side and then stood up straight lowering her arm. She shuffled her feet and turned to face Josh. “Thank you, Uncle Joshua,” she said with only the hint of emotion.

“Was this your game wish?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Isn't it cool?” That last statement expressed some joy so she was not entirely mechanical, it seemed.

“Well, the key is not moving too fast,” Josh considered. “But you'll probably wind down in a five or ten minutes.”

“I can't wait,” she replied. “I suppose I should go to the dining room. I know I was not the first one caught.” She turned and walked with a somewhat mechanical gait to the door and down the stairs.

Josh followed her out and saw Stephanie sitting on the floor untying her sneakers. Lynn was pulling on Jessica's arms, trying to pull her out of her seat though it seemed like Jessica was not budging.

Lynn looked up, “Cool, Mandy's a wind-up doll.” She ran over to the stairs said to Mandy, “Can I touch your face?”

“Sure.”

“You feel like a doll. That's so freaky.” Then she squealed, “You have a key in your back.”

“It's moving,” Josh said.

“It is!”

Stephanie got up and joined Lynn and Mandy.

“I can't see!” Jessica shouted.

“Well get up and look,” Josh said.

“I'm stuck.”

He walked over there, “How are you stuck?”

“Somehow I sat in some glue,” she said rolling her dress skirt to the side so the glue on the chair could be seen.

“How did that happen?”

“I don't know. We were just sitting her when Lynn's chair snapped; Stephanie stood and fell down because her shoe laces were tied together; and that's when I found out I was stuck to the chair.”

* * *

Steve looked all around the room. There was not anywhere to hide but under the bed or in the closet. Josh had said something about Jessica being in the rafters. How would she get up there? He noticed the suitcase against the far wall. It was out of place so he guessed that was how she had climbed up. He stepped toward the suitcase and fell over. His feet had pulled right out of his shoes and his shoes were glued to the floor. “How in the world?”

He shrugged and padded over to the suitcase. He was going to pick it up and move it but it was unexpectedly heavier than it should be. He unzipped it.

“Darn!” Beth complained.

“How did you close the zipper all the way around?”

“Jessica zipped it up and then stood on it to climb up there,” she explained as he helped her out of the suitcase.

“Wasn't that uncomfortable?”

“Not really,” said Bethany. “I use to do this all the time.”

“Steve!” called Josh from the outer room.

“Let's go, Houdini,” Steve said. “And watch out for that glue.”

They stepped out of the bedroom to find Josh coming in from the kitchen with a knife.

“That strangest thing just happened,” Steve began.

“Jessica is glued to her seat,” Josh interrupted.

“My shoes were glued to the floor and I fell over. Though I suppose now it's no longer as strange as I thought.” Steve pondered. “What are you going to do with that knife?”

“Cut the seat off the chair. It's just fabric. Besides we don't have any spare clothes for Jessica to wear.”

“She's stopped!” exclaimed Lynn.

“I can't turn it,” Stephanie complained.

“Go wind up Mandy,” Josh said flatly. “I gave her only one wind and it seems to have lasted only four or five minutes.”

Steve just went with the flow and checked out the wind-up doll. He eventually got the key to wind and turned about five times before letting go.

“I feel very peppy,” Mandy said with a grin.

“My dress is ruined,” Jessica complained. “I can't dance in it if it has this thing on it.” She was trying to see the chair upholstery still attached to the back of her shirt. She attempted some dance moves and looked great, except that her dress was not cooperating with the level of grace she was putting into the moves. She looked like she would cry.

Steve split off a couple copies of himself and walked up to Jessica. “How many Steves do you see?”

“Three,” she replied.

“How many?”

“Three.”

“Are you sure?”

“There are three Steves,” she angrily announced. Her head shook and she looked at Steve. “I wasn't that upset.” She morphed back into her original adult form.

“Yes, you were,” he said, giving her a hug.

“Yeah, I guess I was,” she agreed with a  kiss.

“Hold up you two,” Josh interrupted. “We're still two kids down and one or both of them can tie shoes together and create glue from nowhere.”

“That has to Alexa,” Jesse said. “Her game wish was to become a fairy.”

“Lovely.”

“Don might be harder to find. Donna wished to be a cat.”

* * *

Alexa flew through the living room to the upper level. She was winning this game. She had to find Donna and get the men to find her. She flew into Don and Amanda's room. The display of mannequins surprised her. She flew around the room looking for hiding places. In the closet she did not see the cat before it saw her.

A paw swatted at her wing. Alexa plummeted toward the ground before remembering her flight did not really use her wings. She landed on her feet and looked up. The cat was jumping down from shelf to shelf. She led the cat on a merry chase among the mannequins. A moment later the cat knocked into one of the mannequins hard and caused it to tip, falling into two other mannequins with a crash.

Alexa drew the cat to the bed and hovered out of reach.

Moments later the door opened. Steve and Josh entered. “Is that a cat?” Steve asked.

“Yep,” Josh agreed. “I believe that is Donna. Donna you've been caught.”

The cat turned and looked at them. “Thart's not fair,” she growled as she turned back into a little girl. “It's all the flighty thing's fault.”

“You mean the fairy?”

“Yeah,” Donna said scratching her head. “I wasn't sure what it was as a cat. But yeah, a fairy. So it must be Alexa.”

“Do you still see her?”

Donna looked up. “No. She was right there,” she added pointing above the bed.

Alexa flew up to Josh's face and appeared. “Did I win?” she squeaked. She flitted in front of Steve, “Did I?”

“I suppose so,” Josh said. “Can you turn back to normal?”

She landed on the bed and grew up to the size of an eight-year old. “I was having fun flying.”

“And gluing people to chairs?”

She giggled. “I couldn't help it. The chair, the shoes, they were calling to me.”

* * *

“Let's get everyone back to semi-normal,” Josh said.

“Okay,” Steve said. He touched Stephanie and she disappeared.

“You can bring her back can't you?”

“Yes, but she'll always be a little girl with no powers. She can't absorb an adult version of me.” Steve headed for the door. “While you corral the girls, I'm going to go look for Shahala. She went out to go think over an hour ago.”

“Alexa,” Josh said, turning to face her. “Can you say Fellatrix?”

“Fellatrix?” she asked. “What'th that? Oh. I'm back.” Though she still looked like a kid. “That wath fun.”

“Donna can you say Time stop faster than me?” Steve said and then somewhat slowly repeated “Time stop, time stop, time stop.”

“That's easy,” Donna quipped and quickly said her release phrase. She grew in height and mass until Don was standing in her place. “That was more fun than I care to admit.”

“How so?” Josh asked.

“Yeah, there wasn't a Josie, was there?” Don teased. “It was freeing. There are no adult worries creeping around the back of your mind at that age. It was just easiness.”

“Beth, there's something on your neck,” Josh said.

“Where?”

“Right there,” he pointed where he hoped the button was.

“Oh yeah.”

“What's it do?”

“I don't know.”

“There's one way to find out.”

She shrugged and pressed the button. She froze. “Party's over?” Bethany asked.

“Yep,” Jesse said.

“Then I'll turn back into a doll,” she said as shrank back down.

Jesse picked her up. “Go back to normal,” she said as she pulled the cord in Bethany's back.

“I said I was spending the day as a--” Pull. “--doll. Besides, I don't fit in the cars or have any--” Pull. “--thing to pack. So someone can just carry me.”

“Have you ever heard of mannequanthropy?” Jesse asked Mandy.

When she did not reply he wound her key.

“Thank you, Uncle Josh.” She said. “I have not heard of mannequanthropy.” Her head shook and she said in the same voice, “This body feels so complex. I'm going to keep it for a while. Can someone make sure I'm properly wound up?”

Don stepped behind her and wound her key a few times.

“Okay, Lynn, it's time to say bodice ripper,” Steve said.

“Why would Ah say that?”

“Humor us. The other little girls are gone.”

“Ah can play with the doll. Or the mechanical girl.”

“Just say it once, then you can do what you want.”

“Okay, bodice ripper.” With a gasp she grew up to adult height and proportion. “That was fun. Next time you guys have a free weekend we have to do that again.”

“And Josh does it too,” Alex added.

“We'll see,” Josh temporized.

* * *

Steve exited and head down toward the waterfall. He also split off a couple copies of himself and had them walk off in different directions, just in case. Soon he was at the grotto where he found Shahala's silks hanging from a tree branch.

“Steven,” she called out from the pond. “The water is great.”

He took off his clothes and climbed down into the pond. It was cold but not too cold. She swam up to him and kissed him. “Thanks again, for freeing me.”

“I'm sorry I took so long to do it.”

“You have no idea how wonderful it is to swim.”

“I've swam before and enjoyed it.”

“Genies are creatures of fire and smoke. Submerging is something genies don't do.” She dipped her head back and pulled her long dark hair back.

Steve could not help but look at the way her breasts were thrust toward him as she did this. As she stood up his eyes drawn into hers.

“I would ask a favor,” Shahala said putting her hands behind his head.

“If I can, I will grant your wish.”

“I wish to have sex of my own free will right here, right now.”

He kissed her long and gently. When they came up for air he whispered, “Granted.”

* * *

Josh was packing the game, as Don and Amanda came down the stairs carrying three Bethany dolls. “I'm going to have to command her to stop being these dolls, I think,” Don said.

Amanda laughed mechanically, “It was a shame we had to take apart your window display.”

“What did you do with the lights and props?”

“I vanished them.”

Josh crossed the room and put the game in the front closet behind the other games like the voice of his grandmother told him to. For a fleeting moment he sensed her presence though she did not say anything. She seemed pleased.

Steve and Shahala entered. Their clothes were damp and their hair had that air dried look.

“Now that Steve is back, I supposed I should thank everyone for joining my tea party. And I'm sorry about the glue,” Alex said to Jesse.

“I guess we should get back home,” Steve said. “Carolina, if I may: I wish the hard surfaces of the cabin were clean and in the case of the bathrooms disinfected; the knick knacks dusted or polished as appropriate; the clothes in the bedroom cleaned, folded, and packed in their owner's suitcases along with any toiletries which are also clean and dry and packed correctly in their owner's suitcase; the food in the kitchen that should be thrown out is in the dumpster and the rest is neatly packed back into bags in the cars; anything that was broken is now repaired; and anything out of place is back in its place.”

“Granted,” Carolina laughed. “Is that everything?”

“You left out the windows,” Amanda joked.

Alex stood up, “My turn. I want all the suitcases by the front door.” As they appeared she added, “Now, let's all do a visual inspection just to be sure.”

As people walked off to look again, Steve pulled Alex aside, “Could you vanish a certain object in the closet upstairs to your apartment?”

“Seriously?”

As he nodded, she willed it to happen.

Jesse passed Shahala entering the bedroom and she exited it. “Oh, there you are.” She said giving Steve a kiss. “You fucked her didn't you.”

“She was once you,” Steve replied. “And I doubt it will be a habit. She was looking for sex without the command of a master.”

“By having sex with her former master?”

“You are free to acquire male parts and have sex with her too. And Carolina too.”

Shahala returned holding her golden lamp. “I can't forget this.” She turned to Jesse, “Steve and I had sex in the grotto. I hope you don't mind.”

Jesse looked at her incredulously and then laughed, “No, but next time let me give Steve a hard time about it for more than just a few minutes.”

“Does that apply to having sex with me, too?” Carolina asked.

* * *

After everyone returned and was accounted for, Alex said, “I want all of us and those suitcases in the parking garage under Don's apartment near his assigned space out of sight of any security cameras.”

Suddenly they appeared in the garage. She continued, “I want Don's car to be in his assigned space there.” And the car appeared.

“That will save a lot of millage.”

“Grab your suitcases everyone staying here.” Don and Amanda grabbed their suitcases and were still holding the three Bethany dolls. She waved at Don and Amanda and said, “I want them and their suitcases in Don's bedroom. I want the rest of us and our bags in the parking garage under Josh's apartment building near his assigned spot out of view of any security cameras.”

After they arrived, she made Josh's car appear in his spot. “So Josh and I are going upstairs. Are the four of you going to Jesse's place?”

“Yes, we talked about on the ride down,” Steve joked. “Seriously, Carolina and Shahala are welcome in our apartment.”

“Our apartment?” Jesse asked.

“Well, we wouldn't fit in my apartment,” Steve noted. “I'm four or five people by myself.”

“Okay, begone,” Alex demanded. “I want those four and their bags in Jesse's living room. I want us and our luggage in Josh's bedroom.”

As they arrived, Josh held her close and said, “And I want you in my arms.”