Thud.

She hadn’t even felt her grip start to loosen. She’d completely forgotten that she was holding onto anything, but that still didn’t stop it from hammering down into the ground at an angle that made it sound so much heavier than it actually was.

Samantha gasped, her eyes opening wide.

Like an alarm clock waking her from a dream in the middle of a nap, the book hitting the floor brought everything flooding back.

“Hey there… everything alright, Miss—er—Samantha?” Mary was still holding her head, and the pressure felt like it was the only thing holding her together. So much stress and worry was already starting to rush in to fill the vacuum created by Mary’s swift motion of Samantha’s head, and her single word.

She shook her head.

“Oh. I’m sorry, Samantha.” Mary frowned, and began slowly pulling her hands away. “This didn’t even seem like a possibility—”

“No…” Samantha’s voice was very soft, small, so small it was barely even a whisper.

Why did I… why did I say that…?

A shiver spread down along Samantha’s spine. She could feel an impulse in her arms, to reach up, to grasp Mary’s hands and put them back where they’d been moments ago. I can’t… I can’t let myself do that. No matter how much I want to tell her ‘do it again’ I can’t let myself do that! That would be bad, that would be… that would be wrong.

A shiver went down Samantha’s spine, little shivers rippling out across her body.

Not. Helping!

She felt painfully aware of her nipples. They were hidden from Mary’s view, but that didn’t stop Samantha from feeling them grow stiff and her chest growing flush.

Her face was burning hot.

Mary stared at Samantha. The older woman was still bent forward, her confused, uncertain gaze still cast down at the floor. The book was just out of her view as it lay silently now on its side, relatively unharmed. The creases on its spine were bent up in new ways, but there were much more immediate concerns for both women.

“…You want me to hypnotize you again.”

Samantha whimpered. She wanted to nod, but there was no way she could do that. Her hands were balled up into tight fists. Grabbing for Mary’s hands would be so easy. It was easy to remember that it wasn’t Samantha who’d needed to convince Mary. She’d been the one to offer to do it once. The book falling wasn’t something either of them realized would happen—especially not so quickly.

There was no way such a brief experience was all that Mary had in mind.

Anything I say right now… Even if I don’t say what I’m feeling, what I want… Samantha swallowed. She’d hear it in my voice, she’d… be able to tell… so much more than I want her to know!

All that she could do was try to stay still, to catch her breath, and to regain enough trust in her voice that she could tell Mary she needed to go home.

None of that would have been easy even if Mary hadn’t done anything but watched her. Unfortunately for all of Samantha’s carefully steeled self-control, Mary wasn’t such a passive young woman. She was patient and observant both to the many small ways, from barely audible gasps ad whines to the shifting of her weight, that all pointed to what Samantha really wanted.

To Mary, all of those things said one thing over and over as clearly as if Samantha were screaming again and again.

“Please!”

Mary’s hands reversed course, again gently pressing on either side of Samantha’s head. Like before it was a gentle sort of grasp, but as Samantha relaxed into the touch it grew ever so faintly firmer. Samantha was still feeling weak and dazed from her brief time in Mary’s trance, and the tighter grasp was more comforting than it was worrying.

It also felt so impossible to escape.

Oh no, I… I stopped trying to wake up, to put myself together, to…

When Samantha found herself looking up, her Eyes meeting Mary’s, it felt like she could barely even breathe. She felt helpless, paralyzed in her exact position with her body’s frozen state hardly enough to stop her from reacting. If anything, it made it harder for Samantha to rein in her reactions.

A more confident smile slowly spread across Mary’s lips as she slowly turned Samantha’s face to the left. She knew what she was going to hear. There was only one reasonable word to expect, but it still made Samantha tense and whimper when Mary spoke it. Her lips even moved along with Mary, far too embarrassed to speak it aloud. It was for her more than it was for Mary, or at least that was what she told herself.

“Left…”

How is she so good at this…? She made it sound like she’d never done it before, acted like this was some sort of experiment, but… Samantha stared guilelessly forward as she felt her face slowly turning again, entirely under the force of Mary’s grasp.

“Right…”

Samantha whined lower as the pattern repeated itself, her face moving to one side, and then the other. Mary’s hands… they feel so soft… so… warm. Does she use some special lotion, or is she just this soft…?

“Left… right… left… right… left…”

Mary paused. It was a brief pause, but it was enough for Samantha to feel acutely aware of it. She also felt the shifting in Mary’s grasp before anything changed. It was brief, but Samantha was now every bit alert as not long ago she’d been lacking in awareness. Every little detail felt so important.

And then her eyes were slowly moving upwards until Mary was making Samantha face the ceiling above.

“Up…”

Samantha’s breath caught in her throat.

She’s going to do it… Her fists tightened at her sides. Her thighs clenched so much tighter. She’s going to say it… to pull me back down and there’s… she’s… younger than me… she’s… I’m the one in charge here, I should… I should end this right now, but I… I cant…!

Mary’s hands squeezed tighter, and Samantha groaned.

It was one swift tug, one irresistible pull, and Mary was whispering before Samantha’s gaze was finally directed to the floor.

“Down.”