The Witch's Graduation

A small sound came to their ears, and they saw Susanna looking timidly into the kitchen, eyes wide at the tableau in front of her.

"Is he gone?" she whispered. At Claire's nod, she walked in. She pulled up a chair and gave John a hug.

"Stupid boy. To think that I would let you go once I had you. I love you. Not just your lovely cock and awesome body. You.

"Mom, is that the last? Did John complete the ritual with Aunt Sybil tonight?" When she nodded, Susanna sagged with relief.

"Thank the Goddess. Steve and I were at the store when it hit us. I damn near peeled down naked right in front of him. And he felt it, too. His eyes..." she trailed off. "They were looking at me. Hot. Hungry." She shivered happily, breasts bouncing eagerly. "How long, Mom? I want him so bad. We all do."

Claire sighed and put her head in her hands. "It's too soon," she moaned. "But I know what you mean. We're done with the major events, but with all the sexual energy sloshing around this house, it is only a matter of time before you or I trigger it. Or Sybil or one of the girls. They are here almost as much as we are.

"Pass the word along. We are going to start acclimating Steve tomorrow. Sexy clothes. Revealing. Make him used to the fact that we are not prudes like those old ladies he used to go to church with. Bras are no longer allowed in this house. Neither are long sleeves, jeans, long skirts, or slacks for women. We are going to show skin, and lots of it.

"Now," she finished. "This doesn't mean we are going to lose control of the situation. We aren't cheerleaders, jiggling, giggling, and wiggling. We are simply going to make him used to a different standard than what he was used to before. By the weekend after next, he should be used to our ways to the point where we can show him some power.

"After that, who knows?"

Chapter 6

The next two weeks were strange ones for Steve.

He gradually got used to his job on the road crew. Morty and Dutch eased him into the day-to-day reality of working mere feet from bloody death, and by his third day on the job, Dutch allowed as to how he "wasn't completely fucking useless," which was, Morty said, pretty good praise for a rookie.

Still, he came home every day and more or less collapsed as soon as he had eaten supper. John had taken to inviting him into the living room to watch baseball with him on the TV, and they began a friendly rivalry about whether or not the Cubs would make the playoffs.

The Cardinals of course, were sailing along with the best record in the major leagues, much to John's appreciation.

"We should go down for a game sometime this summer," John said, the Thursday after Steve had moved in. "The girls like going because they usually get on the 'tron when they dance between innings, and there's nothing like a ballgame at a big-league stadium. You ever been?" he asked.

Steve shook his head. "Just minor league games for church group outings," he said. "Went to Tulsa once last summer. And Biloxi a couple of years before that."

"Pttthpt," John snorted. They were watching the Cubs play the Padres, the Cardinals having lost earlier in the afternoon. "Even that septic tank the Cubs play in is better than either of those two places."

"Get bent, bandwagon fan."

"Now boys," mocked Susie from her position on the armchair nearby, "Be good or I'll have to tell Mommy on you. Then no more TV for a week!"

"Ha. Ha," said John. Steve tried to watch Susie without gaping too openly. He knew this wasn't his house, however much they tried to make him feel at home, but the clothes Susie and the rest of the Chamberlain women wore were a revelation to him. Right now Susie was wearing a skirt that would get her locked up in half the states he had lived in. It was about four ounces of gauze that left nothing about her legs in question. The shirt was just as bad, leaving both her navel and shoulders exposed, while serving to accentuate the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra.

Again.

Christ, Steve thought. Get her a beer and a beach and she could be one of those Spring Break girls that Grant was always foaming at the mouth about.

John picked up his history notes and went back to studying for his finals. "Cripes," he muttered. "Sometimes I think you got off lucky, man, not having to deal with this for four years. No term papers, no final exams..."

"No homecoming," said Steve, his voice hard. John looked up in surprise at how angry his usually mild-mannered friend sounded. "No prom. No football games. No dates. No friends. No sense of belonging." He shook his head. "Don't envy me, John. Not for a minute."

John nodded. "Sorry. I didn't think." He turned back to his notes and rolled his eyes. "Here's a tough one. What caused the Civil War?"

"Lincoln's election as president in eighteen-sixty," Steve said promptly.

John opened his mouth, then closed it slowly. "Not slavery? Or Fort Sumter?"

"Slavery was the reason for the war. But not the cause. If Lincoln hadn't been elected, the Confederate States wouldn't have tried to secede. He had said that he wasn't going to allow slavery to expand. And the south couldn't handle that."

"Huh," said John, considering. "I might use that if it comes up." He made a note on his pad.

"Booorrring," intoned Susanna, and wandered off into the kitchen. Against his will, Steve's eyes followed her out of the room.

Steve turned his head to find John looking at him. He started to stammer an apology, but John held up his hand. "I understand, man. Really. She's cute."

"And what she wears isn't helping. I know this isn't my house, but...is this how she dresses all summer?"

"Yup," John said. "And don't even think about saying anything to her, other than that she looks nice. I tried earlier in the spring, and she dang near bit my head off. Mom and Aunt Sybil have told the girls that they should be proud of their bodies, not ashamed. So they don't have any issues about showing them off."

"We certainly don't," said Claire, walking into the room and sitting beside Steve. She had just returned from the store, and was dressed as a businesswoman, in a short black skirt and a white blouse. Except that one more button was undone than was strictly necessary, which gave Steve an excellent view of the swells of her breasts.

"Speaking of schoolwork," Steve said, awkwardly changing the subject, "Did Eleanor pick up my equivalency forms today?"

"Right after she got out of school," John nodded. "Susie and I were both here. She said you should be able to schedule an appointment to take the test in about a week, if everything checked out."

"Good," Steve sighed, and Claire patted his thigh encouragingly, ignoring his flinch.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, honey. We all know you have the brains."

Despite his best efforts, his tired body was beginning to respond vigorously to the temptation of Claire and Susanna's presence. Not wanting to embarrass himself, Steve made his excuses and went down into the basement.

He flopped onto the bed, quivering with sexual tension. His desire, which had been fixated on Eleanor, had now expanded to take in the whole Chamberlain clan, especially now that Ellie seemed to be actively avoiding him. He hadn't seen her since Monday.

He got up again and made sure the door upstairs was closed. He then turned off all the lights, except one small lamp near his bed. He kicked off his shoes and stripped down to his boxers, and grabbed a handful of tissue from the bathroom.

With a relieved sigh, he eyed his dick, hard and rampant, then leaned back and closed his eyes.

Who would ever believe that there are places where masturbation would seem like a luxury? he thought gratefully, as his hand gently closed around his phallus. Unbidden, images of the Chamberlain women began to flow through his mind.

Ten minutes later, Claire snapped upright on the couch She looked sharply at Susanna and John. "Did you feel that? Or was it my imagination?"

"Oh, I felt it, all right," said Susanna smugly. John nodded.

"That's huge," he said. "He's starting to trust us."

"Trust us?" asked Susanna blankly. Claire snickered softly.

John nodded firmly. "You girls are lucky. You're in your bedroom, dreaming about Justin Bieber or whoever it is you fantasize about, your hand doing whatever it does down there...and your mom walks in. Oh no! All you have to do it pull your hand out of your pjs, and no one even knows what you were doing.

"But with guys? We're having ourselves a happy little spank session with Heather Vandeven..."

"Who?"

"Look her up. And then Mom opens the door. Even if we can pull the covers up in time, the evidence is out there in front of the Goddess and everyone. Willy the One-Eyed Monster is still raring to go, and he's pitching a pup tent under the sheets.

"Which is why jacking it is a sign of trust. He knows we're not going to barge in on him and embarrass him. And I'll lay you even odds it was one of you he was thinking about."

"No bet," said Susanna. "We know he wants to go out with Ellie. And he was practically drooling over me earlier."

"I have no idea why," John said. "Shameless hussy."

%%%

By the following Friday, Steve was finally getting a sense that he belonged.

The Memorial Day weekend had pared off a lot of the rough edges. The Chamberlains had made tentative plans to go to Gray's Lake Park for the long weekend, and had invited Steve to join them, but a sketchy weather forecast had eventually caused the trip to be canceled. Instead, the weekend had turned into one long cookout, with John, Steve, and Hilda manning (or womaning) the grill in turns, and the rest of the family bringing over whatever side dishes were necessary. Some of John and Susanna's friends had stopped by to snork up a free meal and hang out as well.

("We live in Iowa," commented Agatha on Saturday afternoon, eying the bowls of chips, snacks, salads, cookies, and deserts on the dining room table. "Iowa is full of cows. It's only appropriate that we spend a lot of time grazing.")

At one point Steve had asked Claire, only half-seriously, if she didn't feel a little bit bad about eating animals when she worshiped the Goddess.

"Well, in the abstract, yes," she had said with a smile. "But when it comes down to it, honey, the goddess put pigs and cows and chickens on the planet for a reason, and I don't think it was because they were cute and cuddly."

("I love vegetarians," said Eleanor on Sunday night, cutting into a steak. "I could eat them all day")

By early afternoon on Memorial Day, he felt like his sinuses were packed with meat, and he sat around in a daze most of the day. John and Susanna had gone to their rooms for one last binge of studying before their final exams started, and Sybil and her kids had left earlier in the day.

Late in the afternoon, Claire knocked on the basement door. When he opened it, he saw she was dressed in a bathing suit, her body glistening with oil. While not especially daring, the white fabric clung to her curves sensuously. She looked, Steve thought, like Mother Eve must have when she was in her middle age; an attractive, mature woman who could make you see glimpses of how gloriously beautiful she must have been in her youth.

"I'm going to lay out in the sun for a while, honey," she said. "But I wanted to talk to you for a bit before the weekend was over."

"Sure," he said, sitting back down on the sofa, which was folded up. He groaned softly. "I'm never going to eat again."

"Right," she drawled sarcastically. "I'll believe that all the way up to tomorrow morning.

"The kids are graduating high school on Friday. We're planning a little celebration for them. I asked them if they wanted a party and to invite some friends over," she said. "Goddess knows we have enough room out back. But they both wanted to keep it small and quiet."

"If you want me to stay away, I am sure I can find something to do," Steve said quickly. "I get paid on Friday anyway, so I could go watch a movie or something."

Claire was already shaking her head. "Just the opposite. They would like you to be here, if you can. We'll order in some food, hang out and open gifts, maybe stick a movie in the DVD player.

"One thing, though. I know that your experiences with religion haven't been happy ones..."

"That's putting things mildly," he grunted.

"...but we're planning a little ceremony and ritual before we get the party started. Nothing elaborate. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes. If you aren't comfortable with the idea and would rather not attend, don't worry about it. You're still welcome at the party. John and Susanna are both very fond of you. And so am I."

Steve thought for a minute, then took a deep breath. "I'll come. But if there is any talk about hellfire and damnation," he said with a small smile, "I'm out."

Claire laughed. "I don't think you have much to worry about there. We believe in damnation, of course," she said, as Steve's eyes widened. "But we think that it takes a lot more than being gay, or letting a man see your boobs, or worshiping a different deity than we do to make that happen."

She sighed and shook her head. "And here I am, talking to you about religion. And I promised myself that I wouldn't bring it up or try to convert you. I'm sorry, Steve. I know it is a sensitive subject."

"Born-again fundamentalists are a sensitive subject," Steve said. "I've had enough of them to last a lifetime. I won't say that I'm open to conversion, but you don't have to cut yourself off every time the subject comes up."

Claire stood up and patted his cheek. "You really are too sweet for words. I'm going outside to soak up some sun. I'll see you later." She paused on the way out of the basement. "We'll probably kick off the ceremony around eight o'clock. Just remember. This isn't going to be like anything you have seen before. If you feel uncomfortable, you can leave at any time. We won't think any worse of you."

Five minutes after she left the basement, Claire was on the phone with Sybil.

"Pass the word, Sis. Friday's the night."

She heard a deep breath on the other end of the line. "Are you sure, Claire? I like him, too, but..."

"But nothing," snapped Claire. She was still pissed about the way her little sister had treated John the week before. "I had to put charms of tranquility on every room in the house before people started coming over on Saturday, as you well know. And even that isn't going to hold very long. Either we let him know who and what we are, and see how he reacts, or we find an excuse to kick him out. And I'm not about to do that.

"I told him about the ceremony, and he barely twitched. We've been showing skin, so his hormones are doing their best to help us out. Get him in the right situation, and he'll jump in with both feet. We'll never have a better chance than Friday."

%%%

Steven had borrowed John's bike for the day, since the Chamberlains were all attending the graduation and couldn't pick him up at the bus stop. His first stop was the bank, where he deposited nearly six hundred dollars into a brand-new checking account. Then he pedaled downtown, where he found small gifts for both John and Susie.

Coming out of the store, he found himself checking the sky, as he had been doing all afternoon. Years of living in small rural towns had made him sensitive to changes in the weather, and he thought this night was going to be one to watch. The heat and humidity had returned with a vengeance, annd he could see dark clouds gathering ominously in the northwest, slowly building. The breeze picked up, died suddenly, then picked up again, sweeping dust and litter down the street.

He made it back to the house a little before seven. He put John's bike away, and quickly ran upstairs for a quick shower and a shave. He dressed in the one decent outfit he had which did not invoke unpleasant memories of being Grant's messenger-boy; a light pair of dark gray slacks with a white button down shirt. He even, after some struggles, managed to fit a black cloth tie around his collar.

By the time he made it upstairs, cars were pulling into the driveway and to the curb. Claire, Susanna, and John were the first to arrive, pulling into the drive in Claire's Tesla. John and Susie looked tired but happy in their gowns. Claire spotted him and waved him down from the front steps.

"Steve, would you take some pictures of me and the kids? We didn't have time before we left for the school."

"Sure," he said, taking Claire's camera, and then had to juggle three smart phones, as John, Susanna, and Claire all wanted camera-phone pictures, too. He snapped a few pictures with each device, then showed them the results.

"Mom, take pictures of me and John with Steve," Susanna asked, so Steve was brought into the middle of a group photo with Claire's children. By that time, Sybil, Agatha, Hilda, and Eleanor had all arrived, and the front yard devolved into a mass of picture-taking: graduates only; moms only; girls only; boys only; sisters only; John with Agatha and Hilda; Steve with Eleanor and Susie. When they were done, the sun had dipped below the gathering clouds, and mutters of thunder were making themselves heard.

"That's about enough, I think," said Claire. "John, Susanna, please go upstairs and prepare for the ceremony. I need to get ready myself. Sybil, if you could make sure everything is ready in the chapel?"

"Sure, Sis," Sybil replied. John and Susanna quickly went inside and upstairs, the rest of them following more slowly.

Sybil led them to the chapel. It was a small, intimate room next to the family room, which also served as Claire's home office. All of her material had been removed earlier in the day, however, to make room for the eight of them. Inside, it had a pleasant smell of aromatic spices and beeswax. The curtains were closed, but fat candles, lit by Agatha, bathed the room in a warm glow.

Once inside, Agatha, Eleanor, and Hilda quickly made the space ready. A silver bowl of fruit and vegetables was set to one side of the altar, which was a plain pedestal of uncarved white marble. On the other was another bowl, this one filled with wildflowers. A few small glass bottles, their purpose unknown to Steve, were placed nearby.

When all was ready, the five of them in the room lined next to the back wall. Steve found himself between Hilda and Eleanor.

"I'm very happy you could be here tonight, Steve," said Eleanor in a low voice, looking up at him through lowered lashes. She was dressed in a dark green skirt and light green blouse. Looking down at her, Steve could just see the edge of a lace bra through the gap of her collar.

"I am, too," said Hilda from the other side. She took his hand and clasped it, and Steve could feel the swell of her breast as she held his arm close to her side.

At some unspoken signal, both doorways opened at once. Susanna, John, and Claire entered from opposite sides of the room, and Steve gasped in shock.

John and Susanna were wearing their graduation robes. Susanna in white; John in midnight blue. Both were barefoot. They had put aside the graduation caps, and Susanna's hair flowed like a river of curling gold down her back. But that is not what had caused Steve's surprise.

Claire was naked from the waist up. Her only clothing was a snow-white sarong, tied at the hips and slit on one side, so that with every other step a long length of leg came into view. She was jeweled as a queen, with bracelets of copper and silver, thick with runes and sigils, looped around her arms and ankles. A thin chain, studded with jewels, ran around her waist, dipping low in front. She wore rings on her fingers, and her navel was pierced, a diamond winking boldly from a gold setting. Like her children, her hair was unbound, but a thin band of silver was laid across her forehead.