Madison followed Jake home, like a prison warden escorting a prisoner back to their cell.  She didn’t stop scowling the whole way.

 

When they reached the house, they were met in the doorway by Jake’s mother.

 

“Oh, Madison!” she said.  “It’s so lovely to see you.  Did you have fun at Jake’s party last night?”

 

“I did,” said Madison.  “Thanks for making the little twerp invite me.”

 

Miriam smiled.  “He didn’t struggle too hard,” she said.  “I think he secretly likes you.”

 

Jake’s eyes bulged.  “Mom!” he objected.  “Don’t lie!  You know I hate Madison!”

 

“It sure looks like you’ve just invited her over, Jake,” said Miriam.  “Or do you want me to tell her she can’t come in?”

 

Jake didn’t dare say that.  He needed to know what Madison knew about his strange new power - and he feared what she might be able to do if he sent her away.

 

“No,” said Jake.  “I guess… she’s all right sometimes.  I bumped into her at the shops, and thought it was only polite to invite her over.”

 

“There!” said his mother.  “See?  You *can* get along.”

 

They all went together to the kitchen, where Jake’s mother took the shopping from him, and archly informed Jake that whatever he had bought for his lunch, he should share it with his cousin.  Jake sullenly made two sandwiches from the ingredients he had purchased, passed one to Madison with a complete lack of grace, and then led her to his bedroom.

 

Once they were inside, with the door close, Jake turned on Madison.

 

“What is this?” he said.  “This ability.  How can I do it?  And can you do it too?”

 

“Woah, slow down, Jakey boy,” said Madison.  She pointed at his bed.  “Sit.”

 

He did, but he was still full of questions?

 

“Is it a psychic?  Or magic?” he asked.  “What else can I do with it?”

 

“Fuck,” swore Madison, shaking her head.  “I can’t believe I’m the one who has to have this talk with you.”

 

“Have you ever done that - changed a girl’s mind?” asked Jake.  “Or can you do it to boys?”

 

“Jesus, would you shut the fuck up and give me a chance to speak?” said Madison, sitting on the bed across from him.  “Where was your brain a half-hour ago when you were abusing that poor girl at the shop?  Would you be quiet if I popped one of my tits out for you?”

 

The thought of Madison’s breast reawakened Jake’s cock.  He hated his bitchy redhead cousin, and yet she *was* undeniably gorgeous.  The thought of seeing her breast was tantalising.

 

“Probably, yes,” he admitted.

 

She reached out and slapped him - but lightly, this time.

 

“Well, tough,” she said.  “And that slap is for being cheeky.  Shut up and listen.”

 

He did fall silent, then, and waited for her to begin, as she marshalled her thoughts.

 

“All right,” she said.  “We call it the Silver Leash.  Do you understand why?”

 

“We?” asked Jake.  “Who’s we?”

 

She slapped him again.  “Focus, Jake.  Do you understand the name?”

 

He did.  “It’s like - silver energy,” he said.  “And it connects things in the mind - like it leashes them together.”

 

“Exactly,” said Madison.  “Good boy.  Now, you need to know I’m not an expert in all this.  I don’t have all the answers - and some of the answer that I do have, you’re not ready to hear.  So this is like the executive summary, okay?”

 

Jake nodded.

 

“I don’t honestly know if this is, like, a mutant power, or magic, or what,” said Madison.  “It runs in the family - you got it from your dad - although not everyone in the family gets it, and not everyone with the same intensity.  From that blast I felt today, it seems like yours is pretty strong.”

 

“So other people in your family have it?” asked Jake.  “Your mom?  Your dad?”

 

“Never you mind who else has it, for now,” said Madison.  “That’s their secret, and they can share it with you if and when they want to.”

 

“But these other people can feel it when I use my power?” said Jake.

 

“Not normally,” said Madison.  “I only felt it today because you’re untrained, and because you kind of fucked it up.  It was at least partly an accident, right?”

 

Jake nodded.

 

“I thought so.”  She paused.  “And… did you do it last night at the party, too?”

 

Jake didn’t want to be in more trouble - but he also wanted the truth from her.  

 

“Yes,” he said.  “By accident.  With Amy.  But I didn’t take advantage of it.”

 

“Good,” said Madison.  “I thought I felt you do something - but it’s a power about sexuality, you know?  Which means it’s way harder to pick up when there’s a lot of background horniness - such as a party full of drunk teenagers.”

 

“So how does it work?” asked Jake.

 

“So it requires two things,” said Madison.  “The first is sexual arousal.  If someone isn’t turned on, you can’t do anything to them.  You can only start once you feel them getting randy.  Have you seen that in them - like, a red glow?”

 

“An ember,” said Jake, nodding.

 

“Yeah, that’s a good word,” she said.  “An ember.  But you won’t even see the ember unless they give you a way in.  They have to be insecure, or ashamed, or afraid, or off-balance.  If they’re confident and safe, it’s like a wall, and you won’t be able to even see through it, let alone touch them.”

 

Jake remembered Amy’s awkward feelings about her father - and Emily’s shame and humiliation from the Cat Clique’s bullying.

 

“And then I can read their minds?” he asked.  “And give them, like, new kinks?”

 

“Kind of,” said Madison.  “You can only read their *sexual* thoughts - the ones that lead back to arousal and fucking.  You can’t do that ‘which card am I holding’ trick, or cheat off their answers in a test, or anything.”

 

She adjusted her position on the bed.

 

“Basically, everyone is a mess inside, sexually,” she said.  “We have all these things that feed into our sex drive in weird ways, coming from infancy, from puberty, from formative experiences, from crushes, from shame and guilt, from trauma - ETC.”  (She said it as three letters - “ee tee cee”.)

 

“And so our brains have all these threads going back and forth, linked together and linked to our pussies - or cocks, I guess.  So what your power lets you do is see all the threads that end at the genitalia - and play with them.”

 

“Or make new ones,” added Jake.

 

“Or make new ones,” conceded Madison.

 

“Is it just girls I can do it to?” asked Jake.  Then he blushed.  “I mean - I don’t want to do it to guys, but I was curious…”

 

“It’s based on your sexual attraction,” said Madison.  “You can do it to anyone that you, personally, want to fuck - and your power to do it is proportional to how much you want to fuck them.  So if you’re straight, it’s probably only going to be girls you can affect.”

 

She shrugged.  “I’m bisexual, I guess.  I mean, I mostly like guys, but I can appreciate a pretty girl.  So I can generally see into guys, and just sometimes into a girl.”

 

The thought of Madison making out with another girl momentarily distracted Jake, and made him forget his next question.  But he soon rallied and remembered.

 

“So a girl could put kinks into MY head, if she had the power?” he said.  “Could you do it?  And… would I know?”

 

“YOU would know,” said Madison.  “Because you have the Silver Leash.  But other people generally won’t know you’ve done anything to them, unless you tell them, or unless you do something *really* weird.”  She smiled.  “And theoretically, yes, I could put new kinks into your head, but because you have the power I’d have to fight you for it.  You’re untrained, but you also seem pretty naturally strong, so it might be tricky.”

 

She looked at him, and then added, “But I *won’t* , though - because it would be *wrong*.  Do you understand that, Jakey boy?”

 

“Yes,” said Jake, hanging his head.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to do that to Emily - it was an accident.”

 

“Oh, I believe it was an accident,” said Madison.  “But I could see in your head what you did afterwards.  While your cock was still hard it was practically written on your face.  You humiliated her, and made her call you sir.  Was that an accident?”

 

“No,” Jake conceded.

 

“No,” repeated Madison.  “Because you were thinking with your cock.  And that’s the real danger, Jake.  Power is sexy, and control is sexy, and I believe you’re basically a good kid, but if you let your cock do the thinking you’re going to end up being an asshole and a rapist.  Is that who you want to be?”

 

“No,” said Jake.  

 

“For heaven’s sake, Jake, she’s a lesbian,” said Madison.  “She’s not even into boys.”

 

“But.. I could *make* her into boys,” said Jake, unable to restrain the thought.

 

Madison slapped him again.

 

“A kink generally isn’t the same as a sexual orientation, Jake,” she said.  “Yes, you could make her get aroused at the thought of fucking boys - if that thought was in her head to start with.  But it wouldn’t make her straight.  It would make her a lesbian with a nasty fucked-up kink, and she’d probably hate herself for fantasising about it, and feel guilty and confused about it.  It could even hurt her.”

 

Jake swallowed nervously.  He didn’t want to hurt Emily.

 

“Could I… undo it?” he asked.  “What I did to her?”

 

Madison twisted her face.  “Yes, but actually no,” she said.

 

“What does that mean?”

 

She sighed.  “You can remove leashes - whether ones you’ve created, or ones from other people, or just naturally-formed kinks,  It’s absolutely possible.  But kinks are passions, see?  They make us excited about life.  They make us want things.  If you delete kinks, even ones you created yourself, it can often have the opposite effect - of making someone joyless and less connected to the world.  It can cause depression, or even suicide.  So we really recommend that you never remove a kink, unless it’s absolutely necessary to save someone’s life.”

 

“So… we’re just going to leave Emily that way?” asked Jake.  “Getting aroused and humiliated and submissive whenever she feels ashamed of her tits?”

 

Madison nodded.  “Plenty of girls develop feelings more fucked-up than that without any intervention from us.  She’ll live with it.  She might even have some fun with it, if she finds the right partners.  And I don’t think it will really hurt her to be calling you sir and asking you about her tits - even if it’s obvious you absolutely don’t deserve it.”

 

Jake thought about what Madison had said.  He had more questions - he just had to choose which one to ask.

 

“You said before that I could only give Emily a fetish if the thought was already there,” said Jake.  “How does that work?”

 

“The thought has to be in her head before you can link it to her arousal,” said Madison.  “If you want to give someone, like, a foot fetish, they have to be aroused and thinking about your foot.  You can kind of force that to happen, I guess - like, if you already have them aroused, you just wave your foot in their face, and of course they’ll be thinking about it.  But it has to be a strong thought.  Just saying things to them generally isn’t enough, unless what you’ve said is shocking or surprising enough to occupy a large part of their mind.”

 

She smiled mischievously.  “Like that thought you had a moment ago about me making out with girls.”

 

Jake kicked at her with his leg.  “Stop it!” he said.  “Stop reading my mind!  It’s not fair - I can’t read yours!”

 

“Well, I’m not horny,” said Madison.  “Teenage twerps don’t do it for me, Jakey boy.  And anyway, I know how to keep you out.”

 

“Will you teach me?” asked Jake.

 

“No,” said Madison.  “Not until I know you’re not going be an asshole with this power.”  She sighed.  “Despite what you think, I actually do like you, Jake.  But I’m not going to let you become a monster.  Before I teach you any new skills, you need to show me that you have something that no other 18-year-old boy has.”

 

“What’s that?” asked Jake.

 

“Self control and a basic sense of decency,” said Madison.  

 

He kicked at her again.

 

“I’m serious, Jake,” she said.  “You need to show that you can keep your trouser-monster in its kennel, and avoid wreaking destruction with the gift in your mind.  With great power comes great responsibility, and all that.  Can you do that?”

 

“I think so,” said Jake.  “I mean, the times I’ve used my power so far were accidents - but knowing more about it, I think maybe I can avoid doing it again.”

 

“There’s my Jakey boy,” said Madison, smiling.

 

Jake hesitated - and then finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask.

 

“Did my father have this power?” he said, in a small voice.  “And… is it related to why he went away?”

 

Madison was silent, gazing at Jake in a speculative way.  Jake waited her out, until, finally, she spoke.

 

“Your father’s story isn’t for me to tell,” she said.  “Not yet.  I know that’s not fair on you, but I’ve told you a lot today.  Let’s just keep it simple for now, and we’ll circle back around to that one when you’re further down the path, okay?”

 

It wasn’t okay.  Jake wanted to know.  But he could see that he wasn’t getting it out of Madison today, and he knew now that he needed her approval and trust, if he wanted to truly understand this strange new gift.  So he let it go, and simply nodded.

 

“Okay,” said Madison.  “I’m going to go now, and I’ll keep an ear out over the next week and see if you’re behaving yourself.  And if you can go a week without ruining any more girls, then we’ll see what else I can teach you, okay?”

 

“Okay,” said Jake.  And then: “Madison… what’s the point of *having* this power, if it’s unethical to use it?  Am I just going to be walking around all my life with a gun I can never fire?”

 

Madison had already risen and begun heading for the door, but now she stopped, and turned back towards him.

 

“I didn’t say you could never use it, Jake,” she said.  “I just said you can’t use it on innocent girls.  But you know… not all girls are innocent.  Some girls are evil little bitches who do just as much harm with their privilege and their beauty as you could do with your mind.  And those spoiled little cunts are just begging to have someone fuck with their sexuality…”

 

She grinned.  “But stay cool for now, okay, Jakey Boy?  We’ll get to that… in time.”

 

Jake’s mouth was dry.  He swallowed, and the only reply he could make was a nod.

 

“Oh, and one more thing,” said Madison - and before he could react, she had unbuttoned the front of her flannel shirt, and pulled it back.  She was wearing no bra, and her left breast was fully exposed to Jake’s gaze.  It was the most perfect thing Jake had ever seen.

 

“Teen twerps aren’t my thing,” she said, “but I want you to know that good things do come to those who exercise patience and restraint, okay, Jake?”

 

He nodded again.

 

“Good boy,” she said, and tucked her breast back into her shirt, buttoning it back up until she was once again modestly dressed.  And then she departed - leaving Jake overwhelmed, flustered, and with a rock-hard cock.

 

There was so much for Jake to think about - so many things that couldn’t possibly be real, and yet somehow were.  A gift that could give him power over women - but a gift he could not ethically make use of.

 

But on top of that, there was one final interesting bit of information.  Because Madison had showed him a little more than she had intended to.  When she had showed him her breast, he had also seen the dim glow of the ember, deep within her.  Which meant that exposing herself to him had made her a little nervous - and also a little aroused.

 

He still hated Madison, on principle - she was a bitch, and she treated him like a child - but when Jake extracted his cock from his pants, as he sat alone in his bedroom, and began to rhythmically stroke it, it was Madison’s lips that he was picturing himself kissing, Madison’s perfect breast that he pictured himself squeezing, and Madison’s wet cunt that he imagined sliding his dick into…

 

(TO BE CONTINUED)