Font of Fertility Ch. 08

He gave me that look again, his face twisted up in a sort of constipated way as he was clearly weighing his words. Benji finally exhaled and shrugged. "I don't know how to say this, dude, but I need to say it. And I'm sorry, so don't kill the messenger alright?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked. This wasn't like Benji at all, and the only thing I could think of was that he'd found out about my magic or something, but if that was the case he wouldn't have been acting like this. Thinking of which - should I tell my friends? Wait, are there rules about who can know and who can't? Have I already broken rules by telling Lindsey and Stacey?

That was another question for Adama, just one more added to the list I was keeping in my head.

"So last night I was bored, and there was a power out around my house," Benji said, and he started pacing up and down the sidewalk as he talked. "So I figured, what the hell, how about I take the ol' SuperDrone out for a spin, yeah? So I head out to the garage, and since I'd had it plugged in all day the battery was fully juiced. I spun her up, tested out the cameras, and everything was working perfectly, and there was barely even a breeze so I sent it up high. After taking a look at the power out from the sky, I started flying it around and figured I'd test the range on it. So then I start flying it up and down the neighbourhood, testing out the different cameras. Since it was night I stuck mostly to the night vision one, but then I played around a bit more with the 'heat sensor' one and got the app working. Or like, mostly working. Whatever."

"Is this going somewhere, Benji?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah. This is just- it's just context so you believe what I'm about to say, alright?"

"Yeah, OK," I said, holding up my hands defensively. "I believe you, dude."

"OK, so I'm flying the super drone around, and I realize I'm a couple blocks over now. It takes me a couple of minutes to figure out where the drone actually is, and I realize I'm sort of near Lauren's house and the power out is over there too. So I decide to do a flyby, and her house is dark so whatever, but I can see some movement in the night vision camera up in her window. So I fly a little closer and I still can't see anything through the window, so I switch to the heat sensor camera and, well, it's sort of hard to see what exactly is going on but there are definitely like... multiple people doing stuff."

As Benji was telling the story I felt the pit drop out of my stomach. Did he know? How much did he know? Who did he know about?

Benji pulled out his phone and started showing me a recording of his 'heat sensor' camera, which looked more like it probably just applied a filter to whatever the camera was seeing. Most of it was a colourful spray of mess, but when you looked close enough you could see the outline of a window, and through the window there was a movement of colours. And if you looked close enough, you could see a pair of bodies intertwined, and another one moving around on top of the others.

"I don't know what to say, Jerry. I'm sorry, man," Benji said.

"What- what am I looking at?" I asked him.

"Dude, that's Lauren in bed with someone else. Like, multiple someones," Benji said.

My stomach felt like it fell out of my ass in pure relief. He didn't know anything! Well, not really.

But then Benji kept talking.

"I know you two just started dating, and you've gotten really serious fast. And you gotta believe me, I wasn't like, trying to find any of this or anything Jerry. I didn't think Lauren was this kind of girl at all. But I mean, she is sisters with Lindsey, right? Maybe it's a genetic thing or something. She's cheating on you, my dude. If I could guess, I think she's having some sort of a lesbian orgy in there or something. If it's any consolation, if that's true then at least some other guy isn't fucking her, right? But she's still cheating. Turns out all this time Lauren was a slut just like her sister."

It was over before I even knew what I was thinking, let alone doing. Benji was on his ass on the ground, woozily blinking and slowly reaching up to his jaw. My knuckles throbbed, and I realized I'd punched him.

I'd punched Benji right in the fucking mouth.

Part of me wanted to apologize. To go down to him and make sure he was OK. That part of me wanted to feel like I owed him an explanation, an excuse, anything to make things right.

The other, bigger part of me was furious with him.

"Benji," I said sternly, trying to get his attention.

"What the fuck, man!?" he said, grabbing at his jaw in pain, eyes brimming with tears of shock. "I mean, what the fuck!? What is your fucking problem?"

"Benji, listen to me," I said. I knelt down next to him as he lay on his ass, and waited until he met my eye. "If you ever talk about Lauren or Lindsey that way again, I won't stop at one punch. I will kick your ass, OK?"

"Fuck you," he muttered indignantly. "I come to you with fucking proof and-"

"I was there, you asshole," I said. "Lauren and I were having a threesome with someone else. Her family wasn't home."

"Oh, yeah," he spit out indignantly. "A threesome. Sure. You and her having a threesome. And who was the third, then?"

"I'm not fucking telling you," I said. I was getting on a roll now. "You just brought me a video you recorded outside my girlfriend's window in the middle of the night. You fucking recorded through her bedroom window, you fuck. I'm not telling you anything, and I'm going to trash that stupid drone if I get anywhere near it."

"Fucking get away from me, you asshole," he said, scooting away from me and scrambling to his feet. "Fuck you, man."

"No, fuck you," I said, standing. "I better not ever hear you talk about Lindsey like that, or Lauren."

"God fucking damn it," he shouted. "I come over here to fucking help you and you punch me in the mouth. What the fuck is wrong with you? Lauren starts pity fucking you, and you just fucking dump on me and Jay? Your real friends? Fuck you, dude."

"Benji, if you don't get the fuck out of here-"

"I'm going, asshole!" Benji said, storming down the sidewalk towards where he'd parked his Dad's sedan. "Don't come crying to me when she dumps your ass."

"Delete that fucking video, too!" I yelled as he got into the car.

"Fuck you!" he shouted back, then slammed the door.

I watched him drive off and then I went and kicked the tree at the end of our front yard, which was way less satisfying than I felt like it should have been. I almost punched it but thought better of breaking my hand so I just slapped my palm against it instead.

At first, it had just been the way Benji had spoken about Lindsey that had pissed me off, but as I'd been letting him have it I'd realized how fucked up what Benji had done was. The SuperDrone wasn't his first drone. Had he used his smaller ones to try and film Lauren before? Or Stacey?

Benji was supposed to be my friend. He was one of our best friends. I'd never thought he could be so... toxic. What the hell is his problem?

I stormed back into the house, trying my best not to slam the door behind me, but was stopped by my mother before I could get to the stairs.

"What was all that about?" she asked me. "I could hear you two shouting from the kitchen."

"Nothing," I said, which she knew really meant I didn't want to talk about it. She didn't care.

"Jerry, you know if you need to talk something out-"

"I know, Mom. I know," I sighed. I almost started talking, it was right on the tip of my tongue. But there was no way to explain things without explaining everything, and while I loved my Mom, I wasn't ready to talk about the source of my magic with her.

"Well, if you're headed back to your room," she said. "How about you give me an update on your college applications, please? I know your father would appreciate hearing you've finished at least a couple by dinner."

"College...? Oh, shit," I said.

Back up in my room, I had to dig around at my desk to find the paper I'd written my login info on for the application portals. A week ago, finishing High School and college applications were topics two and three in my mind right behind working up the nerve to ask Lauren out. I hadn't thought about either of those things once in the past week, and I was already a procrastinator at heart.

Shit, I thought, looking at the half-dozen applications waiting for me to submit essay questions and personal statements and all sorts of other bullshit to sell myself to them. Shit, shit, shit.

I called Lauren. "Hey Jer," she answered on the second ring. "I'm just in the car with my parents."

"Hey," I said. So we don't have privacy, OK. This whole hiding things issue would have been cute and fun if we were just sneaking around with each other and didn't want our parents to know. "Tell them I say hi."

"Mom, Jerry says Hi," she said, her voice fainter as she turned from her phone.

"Hello, Jeremiah!" Mrs Baxley shouted, way louder than necessary for me to hear her.

"So what's up?" Lauren asked.

"Uh, well first off just don't say you told me so, OK? I know we talked about this, but I just realized I need to do college applications and we haven't talked about the, ah, plan. Just the two of us."

"Mhmm," she said, and I couldn't tell if she was being non-commital, or didn't want to hint anything to her Mom.

"I guess my main question is- this is super not the right time, isn't it?" I asked.

"No, it's OK. I already figured it out," she said.

"Oh, alright," I said. "Um... so, Cardinal?"

"Yes," she said.

"And living with Stacey and Lindsey?"

"Yep," she said.

"We're all good with that?"

She sighed. "Jerry, come on. Trust me, I've got it figured out."

"Trust your girlfriend Jerry! Happy wife, happy life," her Mom shouted.

"Mom! We're not married yet," Lauren said.

"Yet?" I asked.

"Yet?" her Mom asked at the same time. "Ooooh!"

"Mom, that's not what I- I mean, Jerry, I'm not saying- Ugh!"

Her Mom was cackling in the background.

"OK, so I guess I'll just make sure I get into Cardinal. Do you think I need to do these other applications to fake out my parents or something? Obviously if Cardinal is the plan then we make sure that happens."

"Do you think you need to?" Lauren asked.

"That is less than helpful," I deadpanned.

"Jer, are you asking me because you actually don't think you need to, or because you don't want to?"

"I feel like I've asked you that question more than a few times," Mrs Baxley said to Lauren.

"Mom!"

"You're right, you're right," I sighed. "OK, I'll get them done. I love you."

"I love you, too," she said.

"Oooh! Love!" Lauren's Mom went off again.

Click.

I snickered and shook my head. Mrs Baxley was a funny, over-the-top lady and I'm sure she would have treated me the same way as Lauren if I'd been there. Mr Baxley was a bit more reserved, and honestly, if either of the two of them ever found out about me and Lindsey, not to mention Lindsey and Lauren, it was him I was way more worried about than her.

"Alright," I muttered to myself, cracking my knuckles. The fight with Benji was almost out of my head, but as soon as I wondered if I should have tried to tell Lauren about it on the phone somehow the whole thing was right back in the front of my mind.

I spent the next hour trying to erase it with Youtube so that I could think straight. Finally, after a half dozen music videos, a really satisfying video of a guy doing woodworking on a lathe and a video pointing out 63 easter eggs in the latest Marvel movie, I was ready to knuckle down and answer the first question on my Cardinal University application.

Tell us what excites you about your prospective program, and why you want to attend Cardinal University in particular to pursue your educational goals in 300-400 words.

"That's either not nearly enough, or way too many words," I sighed.

THWACK.

"What the fuck?!" I said, reeling away from the loud bang at my window and tipping too far in my desk chair. My arms pinwheeled for a moment and I went over, falling to the floor with a thump.

I picked myself up and looked at the window. The good news was that it wasn't broken. The weird news was that there was a book, open and plastered pages-first to the window. "The fuck?" I muttered.

The book was fluttering in the slight breeze outside, so I went and opened the window and pulled it inside. It was almost the size of a textbook but had a plain beige cover. I leaned out to look around but no one was outside. "Who the fuck threw a book at me?"

"No one," the book said.

"Ah!" I shouted and threw it across the room.

It spun, opened and then fluttered its two halves like a bird with wings. A sharp bank, a quick lift and it landed with a thump on my desk, sliding to a halt.

My eyes were bugging out as I stared from the book to my window, and back.

"Hello and salutations, Fifth Seat and newly ascendant Shaman of Fertility. It is my pleasure to deliver a message to you," it said. As it talked, the book's covers and pages moved like lips and I could see an interior page folded up like a tongue.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am but a messenger, instilled with enough magic for flight, rudimentary questions about my nature, and to deliver the message for which I was created. Would you like your message?"

"Who is it from?" I asked.

"I am but a messenger, instilled with enough magic for flight, rudimentary questions about my nature, and to deliver the message for which I was created. Would you like your message?"

I rolled my eyes. Right, magic rules. Need to be specific. "Who created you?"

"I am but a messenger, instilled wi-"

"Alright, alright," I interrupted the book. "You're like an NPC I've clicked too many times."

It didn't respond, sitting on my desk like any regular old book.

"OK, what's the message?" I asked.

"Hello, Jeremiah Grant," the book said. Its voice hadn't changed, but something in its intonation had. Before it had spoken with a vaguely British accent, but now it almost had a drawl of some sort. "Welcome to the Council of Threes. From one seat to another, I offer you one fair warning. You, young Shaman, have by no right of merit stepped into one of the most powerful roles in history. Remember that none of us has earned our places, only defended them. You are now, and forever until your death, infallible, and our little group is not without callous jealousies and petty corruption.

"Prepare yourself well, Jeremiah. Do all you can, for this is the only warning you will receive. Be prepared to impress at the council meeting, or expect to be tested."

The book silenced, and I gulped. Audibly.

"Well that was fucking ominous," I said. "Uh, book messenger, where did you come from?"

The book didn't move.

"Shit," I said. "At least it didn't self-destruct."

The cover flew open and a puff of green smoke erupted into my bedroom.

"Ah, fuck," I said, and quickly opened the window and tried to wave the smoke away from the smoke detector.

The book itself turned out to be empty, without a single word written on its now singed pages. I prodded it with my thoughts, but couldn't feel any magic around it. Then again, I also had no idea what I was doing, but the idea of me seeing magic around me sunk into my own reserve of magical energy so I assumed that the spell worked.

I sat on the bed and sighed, flipping through the pages one last time. The message was hard to really judge - on the one hand, someone was trying to shake me. On the other, they at least had a sense of fair play, or something else. If they'd directly wanted something from me, I assume they would have told me who they were, which naturally meant they specifically didn't want me to know who they were.

Why?

And also, how the hell did that book fly here? Adama had mentioned that the next-closest seat on the Council was located somewhere in South America. Had a fucking book just flown thousands of miles up through Mexico? Or had it flown over the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean?

How much power had the other Seat invested into the spell? If it was from a Fertility seat like me, I wasn't too worried, but had someone died for a Death seat to send me that message?

"Hey," Stacey said, interrupting my downward spiral of questions by bursting into my room. "Mom and Dad went out, wanna fuck?"

She was dressed in her workout/lounging around wear; a sports bra and yoga leggings, and she casually pulled off the bra as she stood in my doorway, releasing her new, plumper breasts and her pointy nipples.

"Uuuuhm," I said. There was so much I needed to do. To figure out. But also boobs, though. "Yes."

Stacey smirked and entered my room, dropping her bra to the floor. "Good, 'cause I want some alone time with my brother. I can't believe our first time was a foursome with your girlfriend and her sister."

"Me neither," I said, and then let her push me down flat on the bed as she crawled up and straddled me, laying her naked chest down on me and kissing me firmly.

"Just no anal today, OK?" she said once she'd finished her kiss. "My ass still hurts from yesterday."

"I can probably fix that if you want," I said. "But OK. I need to talk after though, alright?"

"Sure," she said. She began unzipping my pants between us, fishing for my already hard cock. "First we fuck, then you can talk to me about anything."

"Done," I agreed.

Her fingers found my cock inside my pants as she leaned down and kissed me again.

*** 3 - Share with the Group ***

"Alright, so we've got questions," Lindsey said.

"Yes, Slut-Princess," Adama replied with a roll of her eyes, "But as I told you, I only answer to my Seat's summons, and my Seat's questions."

Lauren and Lindsey had joined Stacey and I at our house. We were sitting in the basement now, music playing to keep our conversation from drifting out of the confines of our home gym and getting overheard upstairs. The four of us were dressed in workout gear to sell the story if Mom or Dad came downstairs, which really meant that all three of my girls were currently wearing their sluttiest, skin-tight outfits that they thought they could get away with calling 'workout gear.' Pretty much just their smallest sports bras and stretchy booty shorts. Lauren was straight up wearing an athletic bikini bottom.

On my part, I was shirtless and currently had my shorts around my ankles so that Lauren could give me a slow handjob, sparking enough active power for Adama to be summoned in the middle of our circle. At first, she'd been a little put out that I was revealing her to 'my gaggle of haremites,' but she'd seemed to get over it quickly enough.

"Alright Adama," I said. "Just assume everything they ask, I also want to know. We've told you about the message, and you've already said I need to prepare. So here I am, with the support of my Prime along with our new family. I've got too many questions to even know where to start, so how about you start with the Council meeting and we move from there?"

Adama, her little obese pixie body sighing dramatically as she rolled her eyes, cleared her throat and then sat down. "Alright, Jeremiah. If you remember from our first meeting, the Council of Threes is made up of three factions - the Shamans of the Great Mother, the Sorcerers of the Inevitable Father, and the Keepers of the Timeless One. Each faction has three Seats, the wielders of the powers of Life, Death and Rebirth. Each Seat is accompanied by their Prime, and is guided by a spiritual Mentor. I am technically a sliver of the Great Mother's power, representative of all latent magics of Rebirth in existence, but I prefer to think of myself as more of an individual than that."