On the Pages in Between
The Sparrow
I glanced over my shoulder as I rounded the corner of the hall, and made
careful note of the bouncing flashlight beams further down the dark
corridor behind me. "Shit! They're getting closer!" I thought as I
tried to run faster. I badly needed a place to hide, and I knew where I
could find it, but I had to get there. As I continued to run, I chanced
another glance back and saw the first of my pursuers round the corner
scarcely two hundred feet behind me. I looked forward again just in
time to turn the handle-knob and use my momentum to slam open the heavy
door at the end of the hall. The vast room inside was lit only by the
faint red glow of "EXIT" signs and the tiny lights which marked the
aisles between the massive bookshelves. I continued running down the
central aisle as the door closed behind me on its pneumatic hinge.
Aside from my pounding footsteps, I heard only the faint whistling of
the bookshelves as I ran by several aisles. I finally stopped and
darted to the right as I heard the door slam open behind me. I went
about halfway down the twenty foot section of aisle, and looked at the
shelves. Each shelf was filled to capacity with non descript leather-
bound books. I knew they had slightly different colors, but that fact
was indiscernible in the low lighting. I closed my eyes and quickly
swiped my thumb up and down the spine of a random Book and...
Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and glanced back towards the central
aisle. The flashlight beams were getting closer; I could hear several
sets of feet getting closer. In absolute panic, I swiped my thumb up
and down several other spines. It wasn't working; I was still here.
The footsteps were getting louder and the light from the flashlights was
getting brighter. It was too late to start running again. The light
grew brighter still as they were nearly upon me. I cowered against the
shelf. The light rounded the corner and shone in my eyes, blinding me.
I opened my eyes and sat up with a start. It was daytime. I was in a
bed. I was in a bedroom. I was safe. I closed my eyes, breathed
deeply, and fell back into the pillows behind me. "Damn, I hate Reading
into REM sleep," I said aloud to myself, "okay, time to take stock,
Jeffries. Who are you now?" I opened my eyes again.
I first tried to take in my surroundings. I was in a bed, covered by a
large, white duvet with my head cradled in large, soft pillows. I
glanced around the room and tried to take in some important clues as to
my identity. I saw a desk with an open laptop and a backpack hanging
off the chair. The wall above the desk had a large mirror which was
bordered with a collage of photographs. I was probably young; maybe
college-aged. Something, however, seemed wrong about the desk. That
something was tickling the back of my mind, trying to reach my
cognizance. I looked again, at the mirror, the laptop, the backpack.
The backpack. The backpack was lavender. The pictures on the mirror
contained only girls.
With a sudden horrifying realization, I sat up again and threw the duvet
off of me. My suspicion was correct: I had breasts. I had never Read
into a woman before. Sure, we were all told in training that it could
happen, but after forty-one Books, it had never happened to me. But
this time it had finally happened. I was sporting a pair of breasts.
I was sporting a pair of very nice breasts, to be specific. They were
pert and didn't seem to sag at all. I reached up to cradle them and
noticed that they were just about as much as my hands could hold, and
very firm. I was definitely young, maybe even a teenager. The nipples,
my nipples, were not overly large, but they were not tiny either.
Unable to help myself, I gently squeezed them, feeling a foreign, but
pleasurable sensation blossom from my chest and reach my brain. I could
feel my nipples harden beneath my palms, so I released my right breast
and gave the nipple a firm pinch. A sharp stab of slight pain blended
with seemingly immeasurable pleasure wracked my body. I continued to
pinch my right nipple, occasionally rolling it between thumb and
forefinger, while my left hand, almost of its own accord, released its
breast and began sliding down the smooth skin of my stomach. As it
reached the bottom of my torso, I felt the waistband of the underwear I
was evidently wearing. My left hand began to dig beneath the elastic
band and...
"Heather, honey? Are you up? Breakfast is almost ready," a woman's
voice accompanied by a light knocking sounded at the bedroom door. I
breathed heavily, startled back into reality. My training kicked in as
best it could and gave me three important pieces of information. First,
I was a young woman. Second, my name was Heather. Third, I lived with
an older woman who was making me breakfast. I quickly drew the obvious
conclusion.
"Ok, mom. I'll be out in a minute," I said. I could feel my new
heartbeat, hear it resounding in my ears. There's always a moment just
after I make a guess about my Character where time stands still. It's
the moment wherein I find out if my conclusion was right and everything
is fine, or it's wrong and everything gets hairy. That moment was right
then, as I was awaiting the woman's response.
"Ok, sweetie," came the voice. It was immediately followed by the sound
of footsteps on hardwood receding from the door and the creak of a
staircase. I let out a sigh and pulled the duvet completely aside.
I was greeted by the sight of my new legs. They were lightly tanned,
smooth, and ended in red-painted toenails. The thighs, my thighs, were
more plump than the rest; soft and fleshy, but a quick squeeze belied
the underlying musculature, which seemed firm and strong. I was wearing
a pair of simple white panties with a daisy on the front, concealing the
womanhood I knew to be there. If I could just lift the elastic...
I snapped my hand back from the panties. "Dammit, Jeffries, focus," I
said to myself. I had to get moving. I had to be Heather and I had to
be her now, or they would track me down. I let my training take over
again as I got out of the bed. I relaxed the conscious part of my mind
and made quick decisions. I went over to the mirror to take stock, and
noticed that I was definitely a lot shorter than my real self. I let
this thought subside; disallowing it from bothering me.
It's not altogether common to Read into a Character who happens to be
near a mirror. When it does happen, it's a sign of good luck. I can
tell a lot about a person based on their appearance. It made no
difference if that person happened to be my Character at the time. I
only lingered in front of the mirror for a few seconds, but it was
enough time to gain some basic information. I was a teenager, hazel-
eyed, with shoulder-length brown hair which was messy from a night's
sleep. My skin was lightly tanned, perhaps a natural pigmentation given
the lack of obvious tan lines, though my Character may simply go to a
tanning parlor. I was definitely young, as my breasts showed no sign of
sag and my skin was absolutely smooth. I was also fit, but not
extremely athletic, with a small, but soft stomach and well-padded
thighs and upper arms. My hips flared out a bit from my waist, but not
overly so, and my panties' elastic band helped to accent it. As I
turned sideways for a final, brief inspection, I noticed that my butt
was round and shapely, though didn't protrude too far. All-in-all, I
was a pretty girl; definitely attractive for my age, but not overly
sexy.
After my short self-assessment, I looked around and found a closet. It
was Friday, in mid-April, so my Character almost definitely had school.
A quick glance at the pictures around the mirror helped me to know what
my Character likes to wear. Some of the pictures appeared to be
relatively recent and were taken in a school, so they provided the best
clues. There was my Character, generally with other girls, though
always with one particular girl (best friend?), wearing jeans and a t-
shirt, or a skirt and a tank top. Armed with this knowledge, and
knowing that people tend to put their most common outfits in the front
of their drawers, I went to the closet, which was already open.
Inside, there were dresser drawers which were built into the wall.
Adjacent, the clothes rail held an assortment of articles. The first,
which I took down, was a plain pink skirt with pleats which looked about
thigh-length. In the top drawer, I found a bra and matching panties,
both a pastel blue. In the second drawer, there was a stack of folded
tank tops in a muscle-shirt design. I grabbed a brown one, thinking
about the colors of outfits my last girlfriend wore, and took all of the
articles to the bed.
I quickly threw down the clothes and stripped off the daisy panties and
tossed them into a nearby hamper. I noticed that my Character's pubic
hair was a dark brown and neatly trimmed, though not shaved. Its
exposure to air itched, and I scratched it idly as I grabbed the fresh
panties from the bed. After slipping them on and settling them into
place, I grabbed the skirt and donned it as well. It buttoned at the
top, and rested on my hips perfectly. As I suspected, it came down to
just below mid-thigh. I then grabbed the bra and, remembering my last
girlfriend, wrapped its two ends around my stomach, just below my
breasts, and secured the fasteners behind my back. I brought my arms
through the shoulder straps and brought the cups up under my breasts.
Having seen my girlfriend do it hundreds of times, and understanding
that breasts are more comfortable with support, I was able to get the
cups into a comfortable position, which brought my breasts up and in a
bit and produced a generous cleavage. Finally, I put on the tank top,
giving the bottom a tug to ensure the fabric settled correctly, and went
back to the desk and the mirror.
The outfit looked good; real good. If I had any prayers of Reading into
a Character who would easily blend into the crowd, they were quashed. I
was too good-looking to go unnoticed. I grabbed a brush off the desk
and brushed out my hair. After a few quick strokes, it laid well enough
for school. I grabbed the backpack, checked the desk for any other
things that I should obviously take with me, and headed for the door,
where there was a pair of flip-flops into which I slipped my feet. Just
as I was about to open the door, I noticed a small purse and a charging
cell phone on the nightstand. I put the phone into the purse, quickly
checked the other contents, and took it with me as I opened the door.
Houses are not complicated structures, especially if they've been built
within the last century. Outside the bedroom door was a carpeted
hallway which ran parallel to a descending set of stairs. Barring any
strange anomalies in the architectural design of the house, it was a
safe bet that the kitchen, and therefore the aforementioned breakfast,
was downstairs. As I rounded the banister and began the descent, my
nose confirmed my intuition as smells of cooked bacon and brewed coffee
assailed it. I kept my mind as clear as possible as I stepped to the
bottom floor, turned to the left, and found myself in a dining room
populated by a middle-aged woman and a young boy. They were seated
around a table and took part in the breakfast laid out in front of them.
As the woman took a sip from her mug, she looked up and noticed me
standing in the doorway. "There you are," she said, "I was afraid you
might not have time to eat before Katie gets here. Hurry up and grab a
bite." The woman's voice confirmed it as the same person who knocked on
the bedroom door earlier. She pushed a plate loaded with scrambled eggs
and bacon towards an empty seat.
I sat down as she poured orange juice from a plastic lidded pitcher.
"Thanks, mom," I said, taking a sip. The woman smiled sweetly and began
reading a tablet computer which was beside her plate. As she glanced
down, I thought I noticed a glint of a tear welling up in one of her
eyes. I glanced at the boy seated across from me who was staring at me
with a confused look. It was a look I'd seen many times before, and it
meant that I had done something wrong; something out-of-Character. I
didn't know what I had done wrong, but I could feel embarrassment
growling in the pit of my stomach. I looked down at my plate and began
eating quickly, hoping that my uncertainty didn't show on my face.
It wasn't too long before a doorbell rang out. "That's probably Katie,"
the woman said. "You finish up Heather. I'll let her in." The woman
stood and walked past me to the foyer. I scooped up the last bit of egg
and ate it as she opened the door.
I got up, grabbed the backpack, and turned toward the foyer as I heard
the woman say, "Good morning, Katie. How are you?"
"I'm great Mrs. Williams," a younger voice replied. "Is Heather ready?"
"I'm ready," I hurriedly said as I went to the door, "let's go. Bye
mom." The relationship was obvious as I rounded the doorframe. Katie
was the girl that shared most of my Character's pictures. We were,
apparently, best friends. It was a Friday in the heart of the school
year, so she must be here to accompany me to school. She was a bit
taller than my Character with dirty blonde hair pulled into a ponytail.
She wore a yellow halter-top shirt and dark brown Capri pants. She was
very attractive with a sharp-featured face, deep cleavage, and well-
flared hips. Her breasts were a good deal larger than my Character's,
and her legs were thick around the thighs, tapering down to feminine
feet clad in flip-flops. I smiled at her as I left the house. She
turned to go down the walk and I fell in step beside her.
"Mom?" Katie asked. "Since when do you call her mom?"
So that's what I did which caused the confusion at the table. "You
know, just thought I'd try something new." That was the very worst
sentence any Reader has to say, and it's always a move of desperation.
However, Katie seemed unfazed by it.
"Well, whatever. I know she'll like it. You ready for Mr. Bates's
lightning Fridays? I know how much you love them!" The sarcastic lilt
in her voice allowed me to read between the lines. Finally, I was
learning important social things about my Character. I needed to probe
for more.
"Oh yeah, let me tell you. Bates is such a tool."
"He wouldn't be such an ass to you if you actually studied. English
isn't that hard, bonehead."
"Easy for you to say." We were walking past a yard with a high, wooden
fence which I couldn't see through. Katie, without warning, grabbed my
arm and pulled me through a gate to the fence.
Once on the other side, she pulled my backpack off and slammed me bodily
into the other side of the fence. Before I could really react, and as I
opened my mouth in protest, Katie had pressed her whole body into mine,
her face against mine, and her tongue was wrestling with mine. I was
acutely aware of the sensation of her firm breasts pressed into my own.
The pressure sent ripples of pleasure throughout my body, sending me
into a state of extreme arousal. I overcame my shock and kissed her
back, my own male instincts taking control. I put one hand behind her
neck, pressing her face more firmly into mine. I felt her hand slip up
my skirt and rest on my hip as her fingertips squeezed into the cheek of
my butt. Her palm was warm against my bare hip, and the tightening of
her fingers released a tingling sensation just beneath the skin. She
put her other hand in the small of my back and pulled me in tighter.
With my free hand, I reached behind her and cupped her butt cheek,
vaguely noting its firm and shapely properties, though my mind was too
fogged by the arousal to focus on it.
We stood like that for what seemed a long time, locked in a tight,
pleasurable embrace and stabbing back and forth with our tongues.
Finally, her pull eased and we separated at the mouth, leaving our faces
a few inches apart. I stared into her gray-blue eyes, noting the
twinkle of excitement in them.
"Fuck, you look good today. I just had to get a taste," Katie said,
"and a feel." Her hand on my hip, and still beneath my skirt, reached
around and fully grabbed by butt cheek, giving it a strong squeeze.
I was still recovering from the sudden sexual encounter, but I had to
say something. "You're not half bad yourself. Maybe we can get a
better taste later," I said as coyly as I could manage. I wriggled my
hips a bit, hoping that I was sending the right signals.
"Well, you're awfully forward today. Usually, you put up at least a
little fight. I guess I'm finally wearing down those stone-cold
defenses." She smiled wryly and glanced down our breasts which were
still pressed together; our cleavage was bulging and deep. She looked
back up and gave me a wink. "Tell you what, you do well in Bates's
class today, and we'll cut to my house early and have some fun. The
'rents are gone for the weekend, so I'm all yours. You promised to
study after the debacle last week, so I hope you kept it, or these," she
ground her breasts against mine, "are off-limits!" Katie giggled, gave
me a quick peck, and disengaged from my grasp. She picked up my
backpack and held it out to me.
I straightened my skirt and my bra, which had gone askew during the
encounter, and took the proffered bag. "You've got a deal." I walked
towards the opening in the fence. As I passed Katie, I gave her a wink
and she slapped my butt hard. I giggled in surprise and, once on the
sidewalk, fell in step beside her once again.
Luckily, English was a subject which came very naturally to me. It was
my master's degree in English which landed me a job at the MLA in the
first place. It was that degree which, indirectly, got me into this
exact predicament. I should be able to ace some high school quiz. My
character, after all, made a promise to Katie, so it made sense to do as
well as I could, even if my Character usually didn't. 'Yeah, right,' I
thought, 'you just want more of that teenaged action, Jeffries.' I
couldn't help thinking about what had just happened between Katie and
me. It was clear that she and my Character had an intimate
relationship, but it was also clear that I was already enjoying it too
much. The eternal paradigm of Readers: doing what a Character would
despite what the Reader should. It was even more important in this
case. After all, if I break Character too much, someone will notice,
and I'll be dead. I had to lay low as Heather for at least a couple
weeks, let Grayson lose the trail, then pull out and run. First,
though, I had to deal with high school.
The school turned out to be only a few blocks from my Character's house.
It was a suburban town with large, expensive houses, though the general
noise level informed me that we were near a major highway. It was warm
out, even for April, so I was somewhere towards the middle of the
country, and the lack of accent implied a Mid-Western state like
Missouri or Kansas. The relatively flat landscape within view confirmed
that. That put me only a few hours by plane from Central.
As we walked, Katie talked, and I listened. As a Reader, you gain a
knack for holding conversations which allow the other person to do most
of the talking. She talked about her parents' trip to Chicago for the
weekend and how she loved getting the house to herself. We also
discussed Bates's class, which turns out to be our second period just
after gym. Since we'd planned to skip out afterwards, that meant I'd
only need to tolerate high school for a couple hours.
I was very lucky, in a way. Katie and my Character seemed to share
every class on their schedules. Basically, I had a native guide for
this Character's daily routine. That's an unheard-of stroke of luck for
any Reader. Sticking by Katie for a few days would tell me everything I
needed to know in order to stay under the radar. The tricky part would
be doing so without arousing her suspicion. Convincing her, as the
closest friend to my Character, would be both the hardest and most
rewarding thing I needed to do.
As we came to the school, we were greeted by other girls, who walked
with us for a short time before heading off to their classes. Katie and
my Character seemed to be popular, though that was unsurprising given
how attractive they were. Well, given how attractive we were. For the
time being, Heather's body was mine and, like it or not, I had to think
of it that way.
I stayed quiet while Katie exchanged pleasantries with the passersby.
We headed straight to a classroom and lingered outside the door for a
bit while we finished up a conversation about movies with another pair
of girls. When the bell finally rang, we said our goodbyes. Katie and
I walked into the room, which had long tables set up around a rectangle
of floor in a corporate style. We took seats in the back as a man
wearing shorts, a polo shirt, and a whistle walked in and began
teaching.
The 45-minute class dragged. As it turned out, we were in the "health
and nutrition" section of gym class. Thus, the entire class period was
spent going over the importance of a balanced diet. Needless to say, I
was not overly enthused about it. I used the time to look through my
notebooks in an effort to learn more about myself. I feigned
indifference as I flipped through them, though I was diligently
searching for clues. However, to my dismay, I only found a few notes
and some inconsequential doodles. After an eternity in which I learned
more about Raisin Bran than about my Character, the bell finally rang
and Katie and I left towards our next class.
Being in high school again wasn't entirely unusual for me. I had Read
into several teenaged Characters before and knew how to blend in amongst
that age group well enough. Of course, I had never done so as a teenage
girl, but it wasn't very different so far. I would only need to suffer
through one more class before Katie and I headed to her place. There
was a small knot of excitement in my stomach when I thought about the
encounter we would soon have. Though I may have rationalized it as
doing what was necessary to stay in Character, there was definitely a
part of me, the sex-starved male part, which eagerly awaited the coming
encounter. Fantasizing about Katie's young, firm body made my own body
tingle with anticipation. One obstacle remained though: Bates's
English class.
Katie and I went into a classroom and took seats in the back. At the
front desk sat a frumpy middle-aged man with glasses and a brown tweed
jacket. He was really laying on the English-teacher-look thick. Katie
withdrew a copy of Shelley's Frankenstein from her backpack, and after a
quick search of my own, I did the same. If this was the subject of
today's quiz, then I was golden. I was intimately familiar with this
book, having read it twice in grade school.
I smiled widely, showing my excitement. Katie was going to be
impressed. I glanced over at her and noticed that she was grinning at
me, one eyebrow raised inquisitively. As the bell rang to mark the
start of class, I winked at her.
"Alright, it's Friday, so you know what that means," Bates began, rising
from his desk with a well-worn copy of Frankenstein, "who finished the
reading for the day?" As he peered around the room, his eyes settled on
me and my upraised arm. "Ah, Heather, you look confident today. Did
you finish the reading?"
"Yes sir," I said, not backing down.
"Now, now, how far did you really get?" He smiled condescendingly.
"Well, to be honest, I couldn't remember which part you assigned, so I
just finished the book." I smiled back smugly, though I could see the
clear surprise on the faces of my classmates.
"Oh you did, did you? I'm sure. Well, then, let me ask you about the
next part. Who does Frankenstein meet on the ship after talking to the
boat captain?" His smug expression clearly indicated that he didn't
expect a response.
"He met the wretch, who snuck aboard the boat through his cabin window."
Bates, looking mildly surprised, asked, "And what do we learn?"
"Well," I began smugly, "the wretch tells of his existence after
Frankenstein tries to destroy him. We learn that, unlike the crude and
evil monster which was portrayed by Frankenstein's account, the wretch
tells a tale of a poor creation abandoned by his creator and his search
for acceptance. Unlike much of the man-as-creator fiction of the
period, which usually involves terrifying consequences for man's daring
to liken himself to God, Shelley shows the flip-side by illustrating the
result of a creation which is inherently flawed if only because his
creator is flawed." I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms
across my chest as I finished, adjusting them a little to compensate for
my generous bust. A quick glance at Katie revealed her to be staring at
me, mouth slightly open.
Bates was silent for a short time, but soon collected himself. "Well,
Heather, this is certainly a pleasant surprise. Good work. For the
rest of you, the assigned reading was the first 25 pages. The next
question goes to Jeremy."
The class continued as Bates asked each student a question or two to
test their reading. Throughout the period, Katie kept looking over at
me and smiling mischievously. Each time I noticed, a fresh shiver of
tingles wracked my body. I may have gone overboard in trying to impress
her, but the looks she gave me were worth it. I was counting down the
minutes until the end-of-class bell rang. Luckily, because of my
performance at the beginning, Bates didn't ask me any more questions.
When the bell rang, I was already packed and ready to head out the door.
I waited, eagerly, as Katie gathered her things into her bag. We walked
out into the hallway, the knot of excitement growing in my stomach. As
we passed through the door, Katie asked, "What the hell was that?"
"Impressed?" I responded, "I told you I studied."
"Holy shit, you weren't kidding. That was amazing. I guess you really
can succeed, with the right motivation." Katie winked at me and licked
her lips discreetly. "Come on, let's blow this pop stand."
We walked down a few crowded halls before ducking into a stairwell and
out a side door of the school. We walked across a back field onto
another small street rather than walk across the front lawn. She led me
to her house while we chatted about Frankenstein. I had to creatively
lie about when I found time to read the whole book in two days, but
Katie seemed to buy it.
After a few minutes and several blocks, we turned down the walk of a
large house with an immaculately kept lawn and garden. Katie's family
was clearly well-to-do, though the entire neighborhood seemed at least
upper-middle-class. As we entered the house, which had a nice, stone-
tiled foyer, we dropped our bags next to the door. Katie immediately
turned to me, grabbed my waist, and pulled me in for a deep kiss. My
body responded accordingly and I could feel myself melt into her as our
mouths met again, lips pressed together, and tongues dancing back and
forth.
Katie began to walk backward, pulling me with, toward a living room with
a large leather couch. As we crossed the threshold into the room, she
pulled away from my face just long enough to rip my tank top over my
head and cast it aside. After a brief glance at my chest and a
lecherous grunt, she resumed kissing me, this time with even more
passion, as we came closer to the couch.
My hands were aggressively exploring the curves of Katie's body with a
squeezing handful of her butt cheek here and a strong grip on her hip
there. I tried to keep up with Katie's passion, but she was voracious,
and, actually, physically stronger than I.
As we neared the couch, Katie spun us around, gave me one final kiss,
and pushed me back. My calves met the front of the couch and I was
helpless to stop myself from falling backward. I fell onto the couch,
mildly surprised and extremely aroused, as Katie stood over me and
removed her top, throwing it over her shoulder. Her breasts, bouncing
from the exertion, were snugly fitted into a white push-up bra decorated
with a lacy frill. My arousal intensified as I watched her ample
cleavage bob and sway as she worked to remove my skirt, it too joining
the other discarded articles on the floor. She climbed onto the couch,
and me, and sat on my thighs, straddling my legs. She looked
lecherously at me as she grabbed my head around my ears and pulled it
into her chest. Her breasts were warm against my face, her firm flesh
inundating my senses. I burrowed as deeply as I could into her cleavage
and kissed her sternum, using my hands to squeeze her breasts together
around my face. My fingers dug hungrily into her young flesh.
I noticed suddenly that my own chest, heaving with passion, shifted
dramatically, indicating that Katie had unfastened my bra. She put her
hands on my shoulders and pushed me out of her chest and pulled the
shoulder straps of my bra down my arms and off. I watched as she cast
it aside and, beginning at my shoulder, kissed down my body. As she
reached my nipple with her kisses, she pulled me into her, causing
pressure on my breast and making me gasp with pleasure. She began
sucking on my nipple, peaking each long draw with a slight biting of the
tip. Each nibble brought another gasp to my lips as my back arched
instinctively, trying in vain to get my breast pressed into her face
even harder. As she sucked, she grabbed my hand and took it to the
waistband of my panties. Her want was clear, and I removed my final
piece of clothing, which was difficult with Katie on top of me and
between my immense pleasure spikes. As I finished their removal, my
hands, seemingly on their own, went to Katie's head and I began to
gently push her down.
Katie slid her lower body down onto the floor and separated from my
nipple with a moist pop. She was kneeling in front of me, pulling my
legs apart and looking at my crotch hungrily. I had a brief moment of
rest before she voraciously thrust forward and began using her mouth on
my new womanhood. The sensations were indescribable, their pleasure
exceeded only by their sheer power. My body was wracked with intense
signals, and my back arched in rhythm with Katie's probing tongue. I
closed my eyes and leaned my head back while I grabbed onto the edges of
the couch as if clinging to the side of a dangerous precipice. I could
feel the sensations coming to a head, intensifying and becoming more
frequent. Katie's pace increased as I felt about to explode with sexual
energy. Suddenly she stopped, leaving me suspended atop a peak of
pleasure, awaiting the final push into the oblivion of bliss. My body
ached for it, and as I was starting to worry that it would never come,
Katie resumed at a fervent pace which sent me toppling over. Distantly,
I could hear a scream of carnal pleasure and my fingertips hurt as they
dug into the couch. My back spasmed, thrusting me off the back of the
couch and leaving me suspended by my neck on the back of it like a
bridge. My eyes were pressed so hard shut that I saw colors dance
behind my eyelids. The climaxing pleasure sent an unequaled shiver
through my entire body which seemed to overload any part of my brain
which attempted conscious thought. I was transformed into an unthinking
beast only capable of drinking deeply from the orgasmic waves which
wracked my body. And, as suddenly as it had begun, it ended, a wave of
zen-like bliss settling over me as my muscles relaxed and I drifted back
into the couch.
After a few minutes, I opened my eyes, which were sore from the force of
the orgasm. Katie was still on the floor in front of me, grinning. I
sat up straighter and, looking into her eyes, said, "Your turn,
sweetheart." Her eyes widened a bit and her grin melted into a look of
desire. She quickly unbuttoned her Capri's and pulled them and her
underwear down her legs and off. She laid back on the thick carpet as I
fell to my knees from the couch, prepared to return the sexual favor she
had just given me. She opened her legs to me, and I brought my mouth to
her womanhood. I could taste her freely-flowing juices as I did a brief
exploration before focusing on her clitoris. I sucked and nibbled it,
much like what she had done to my nipple, to the responding buck of her
pelvis. It wasn't long at all before her own scream of pleasure filled
my ears and her hips settled back into carpet. She was breathing deeply
as I crawled up along her side and kissed her behind the ear, one of my
legs entwining with hers and my arm resting on her flat stomach just
below her bra.
We rested like that for several minutes, both breathing deeply from the
exertion. I watched Katie's chest rise rhythmically, her breasts
heaving with each breath. Despite my exhaustion, I could feel my
arousal rising again. I reached up from her stomach and cupped her
breast, squeezing my fingers into the flesh above the bra cup. Her
breast was larger than my small hand could encompass, but I squeezed as
much as I could, kneading the firm mound. Its form was perfect; round
and pert.
Katie turned her head to face me, and smiled. Then, with a sudden burst
of enthusiasm, she rolled over onto me and straddled me just above my
hips. Before I could react, she grabbed my wrists and pinned them to
the ground on either side of my head. She was significantly stronger
than I, and thus held me effectively pinned to ground unable to move.
Her large breasts hung low, suspended in her bra, and reached toward my
own mounds peaking on my chest. She wore a mischievous smile and said,
"I'm gonna make us some coffee, sexpot. Maybe we can have some more fun
later." She laid down on top of me, quashing her breasts into mine, and
kissed me deeply, our tongues once again swabbing each other's mouths.
My budding arousal rose sharply, but was left un-sated as she gave me a
final peck and stood up. She stepped into her underwear and Capri's and
pulled them up to her waist, struggling a bit to get the waistband over
the ample curve of her butt. She gave me a wink and headed off,
assumedly toward the kitchen, wearing just the pants and her bra. I
watched her go, upside down from my supine vantage, butt and hips
swaying sensually. With every step she took, I watched the fabric of
her pants wrinkle slightly in the middle, belying the muscular movement
of her beautifully shaped cheeks.
"Damn, that's a nice ass," I said under my breath. I got to my feet and
looked for my clothes. I found my panties and bra easily enough and put
them on. My skirt had gone beneath a small table, but I found it and
put it on too. My top, however, took me several minutes to find. Katie
had apparently thrown it into a nearby fireplace by mistake. It was
covered in soot, and thereby un-wearable. I left it hanging on top of
the fire tools and wandered toward the kitchen.
The smell of fresh coffee greeted me as I walked into the room. Katie,
still wearing just pants and her bra, was get cups down from a cabinet.
"You want cream?" she asked when she noticed me.
"Yeah, thanks," I replied, "oh, and my tank got thrown into the
fireplace. I'll need to borrow another top."
"No problem. I'll get you one before we go out." She put the cups down
on the counter and went to the fridge, assumedly for the cream. She
bent over, searching for it, though she was clearly lingering in that
position for my benefit. I couldn't help but take advantage of that,
and I studied the curvature of her backside. When she finally turned,
cream in hand and closing the fridge door, she wore a lascivious smile.
Her nipples were hard, showing as raised bumps in the fabric of her bra.
She walked towards me, placing the cream by the mugs as she passed, and
pressed herself into me, kissing me. Her breasts were cold against
mine, but her tongue was warm inside my mouth. After a few moments, a
beep informed us of the coffee's completion and we broke apart. She
went to prepare the coffee while I sat down at a table which was in a
windowed breakfast nook which looked out into the backyard.
Katie set a cup in front of me and sat opposite me with her own. As I
sipped at mine, I noticed that Katie's breasts were, because of their
size and the way she was sitting, resting on the table. I suddenly
realized that my own were doing the same, but I was unaware until just
then. The cerebellum is a powerful thing.
"So," Katie began after a few minutes, "what should we do? There's
still a couple hours left of school, so we shouldn't go out yet. We'll
have to waste time here."
"Whatever you want to do is fine." I sipped my coffee. It was good.
"Well, let's just put on a movie, then." Katie stood and carried her
coffee into another room.
I followed her and we ended up in a family room with a comfortable-
looking couch across from large flat-screen television hanging on the
wall. I sat on one end of the couch, placing my cup on an end table.
Katie was kneeling in front of the TV, inserting a disc into a player.
After a few moments, the movie started up and she joined me on the
couch.
The movie was a sci-fi suspense that I'd seen before. Although, I
gathered that Heather hadn't seen it from the way Katie talked about it
during the opening credits, so I feigned interest and surprise
throughout. After finishing her coffee, Katie laid down on her side and
put her head in my lap, getting comfortable while watching the film. I
stroked her hair a bit, and then rested my hand on her shoulder.
I liked the movie quite a bit. I had seen it when it was in the
theaters. Did Heather like these sorts of movies? I could only guess
that she did since Katie seemed to think she would. Fortunately, since
I actually did like the movie, I wouldn't have to lie about it or do any
risky acting. After it ended, Katie rolled onto her back, head still
resting on my legs, and we talked enthusiastically about it.
"So you think that he was from the future the whole time?" she asked.
"Yeah, how else would he have known to duck when the hover train went
by?"
"Hmmm, yeah, I guess you're right." Katie's eyes were aglow as we
talked about the movie. It was clear that she really enjoyed my ideas
about it. For a while, I was able to forget that I was in a Character
and was just acting naturally. Of course, every time I looked down at
Katie, reality seized me as half of her pretty face was obscured by my
protruding bust. We sat there, cuddled up and half naked on the couch,
for a long time as our conversation branched from the movie we had just
seen to others like it. We seemed to have very similar tastes in
entertainment, and, fortunately, so did Heather as far as I could tell.
Eventually, the conversation died away and, after staring into her eyes,
I leaned down and kissed her long and gently. She returned it with due
enthusiasm.
When we broke apart, Katie was smiling softly. "Let's get you a change
of clothes," she said, sitting up from my lap, "then I'll take you out
to dinner." She stood up, and pulled me to my feet with both of her
hands in mine. We embraced and kissed again, then she led me upstairs
and to her bedroom.
Along the way, I reflected on the emotions coursing through my head. I
think I was falling in love with Katie, which was not only impractical,
but completely stupid. I'm wasn't even in my own body, not to mention
that she was clearly infatuated with a gender opposite to my own. The
final nail in such a coffin would be that she was a full decade younger
than I, my present condition notwithstanding. However, there was
definitely a rising tide of feelings for this girl which I was having
difficulty suppressing. In many ways, my job would be easier if I
didn't care for her at all. However, that was not the case, preferable
though it may be. Ultimately, I was lucky, because Katie was clearly
the dominant partner in this relationship. I could be passive and let
her take the lead without arousing suspicion. Of course, I would be
lying to myself if I said that I didn't find it interesting being
submissive to this dominant girl. Though perhaps by "interesting," I
really meant "enticing" or even "arousing." I was in a dangerous
situation, and my enjoyment of it was only making it more so.
Katie's room was typical of a teenage girl, though with fewer celebrity
posters and more science fiction paraphernalia. One wall boasted an
impressive library of worn paperback novels and jacketless hard covers.
The middle of the room was dominated by a tall, queen sized bed, the top
of which came up to about my waist. As we entered the room, Katie
immediately crossed the floor and disappeared into a walk-in closet.
After a few moments, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt flew out and landed
on the bed.
As I approached them, Katie said, "Those should fit you. They're older,
so they're a little tight on me, but I've got a bigger ass than you."
She came out of the closet and up behind me as I was picking up the
jeans. She smacked me hard on the butt, and then gave it a firm
squeeze. "Maybe we should feed you more so you can grow a tastier
booty." She reached around with her free arm and grabbed my breast,
squeezing and kneading it in her hand, saying, "And maybe a bigger pair
of these, too." The sensation of her groping hands stirred arousal in
me again, causing me to gasp. "Get dressed, sexy. We'll play later."
She planted a sensual kiss on the side of my neck, and then gave me
another hard slap on the rump and went back to the closet.
I unfastened my skirt and let it fall to the floor and pool around me
feet. The jeans were a light, faded blue and had some tattered threads
hanging from the seams of the cuffs as well as stylish pre-worn holes in
the knees. I put them on, getting both legs into them and pulling them
up to my knees. As I began pulling them up my thighs, I noticed how
tight they were. By the time I had them to my hips, I was struggling to
get the waistband over my protruding butt. With some difficulty, I
managed to finally crest the apex of the curve and pull the band into
place above my hips. I had to suck in my stomach to fasten the button
and zipper. They fit very snugly and, above the knee, were skin-tight
to my curves. I ran my hands over my butt and could tell that the
central seam was depressed into my crack while the pockets flared
outward on the mounds of my cheeks.
I grabbed the t-shirt from the bed and held it up in front of me. It
was a white shirt with an image of a black cat licking its paw outlined
by a large red circle on the front. It, too, seemed tight as I put it
on and pulled it over my breasts. Once in place, the straps of my bra
could be clearly seen on my shoulders. The image was a bit deformed by
my bust, the shape of which was accentuated by the tight fabric. The
bottom of the shirt barely met the waistband of the jeans, though my
stomach would be visible if I lifted my arms too much.
I turned back towards the closet as Katie emerged wearing a similar
outfit, though her jeans were darker in color and her shirt was a light
green. Because of the push-up bra, and her large breasts, the bottom of
her shirt was a bit above the band of her jeans, exposing a thin ribbon
of tanned skin. She looked great, and I told her so.
"Thanks. You're looking pretty good yourself. Let's go, I'm starving."
Katie gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as she passed me. I followed
her downstairs, where we retrieved our purses and footwear, and out into
the late-afternoon sun. The weather had cooled a bit, which made me
grateful for the coverage of the jeans.
We walked through the neighborhood toward the sound of the heavy
traffic. As we cleared the last house, we were on one side of a large
divided road. Across a pedestrian walkway was a good-sized suburban
shopping mall. In its parking lot was a diner, which was our
destination. It was a self-seating kind of place, so Katie and I
grabbed a booth near the back of the main dining room. I picked up a
menu and started searching for something that looked good.
I picked something simple, a grilled cheese and French fries, and told
the waitress. When she left to put in our order, I sipped the water she
left for us and took in the 50's motif. It didn't take long for me to
notice that Katie was staring at me, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
She stared at me for several minutes, making me uncomfortable, before
looking around at the other patrons. When she seemed satisfied that no
one was listening to us, she looked at me again and asked, "Ok, who the
fuck are you?"
The question so caught me by surprise that I wasn't sure I heard her
correctly. "What?" I managed.
"Did I stutter? Who the fuck are you?" Her facial expression told me
that she wasn't joking.
"What do you mean? I'm Heather." I tried to stay cool, but the
intensity of Katie's inquiry made me nervous.
"That's bullshit. I've read enough science fiction to know that you're
not Heather. You look and sound like her, but that's it." She held up
her hand and started counting off her fingers as she said, "Heather
doesn't call Rose 'Mom,' she is failing Bates's class, she hates sci-fi
movies, and she never lets me be so dominating. However, the most dead
giveaway move you made? Heather never, ever goes down on me. So, for
the last time, who are you?"
I wasn't sure what to do. I should try to stay in Character, but Katie
has clearly seen through my acting so far, and I didn't have enough
background information to convince her with some obscure factoid.
However, breaking Character drastically increases the chances for
Grayson to find me, at which point I'm dead. To further complicate
matters, I actually cared for Katie, and lying to her felt like a
betrayal. Maybe she would hear me out, understand my predicament, and
even help me to hide. It may just be worth the risk of exposure.
"You're not going to believe a word of this," I started.
"Try me," she said. She crossed her arms and looked at me expectantly.
"Ok, here goes. My name is Nathan Jeffries, and I belong to a
government program known as the Mysteries Library Agency, or MLA."
"MLA? Like Modern Language Association? That seems arbitrary and made
up," her suspicion was plain on her face.
"Actually, it's on purpose. We use the MLA acronym because it would be
difficult to trace to us since it was already in use. My agency deals
with Books, very special Books. Each of these Books contains very
specific information about one person living in the world, whom we call
Characters. By using these Books, a Reader is able to inhabit the body
of a Character. Your friend, Heather, is such a Character, and I've
Read into her in order to hide from a man within the MLA who wants me
dead."
I expected one of any number of responses to that. Katie would laugh at
me, or get angry and yell, or look at me as if I had completely cracked.
To my surprise, however, she did none of these. She just kept looking
at me; studying my face. I suppose she would know if her best friend
were lying or joking with her, and she apparently didn't see any signs
of it on my face. Finally, after what seemed a very long time under her
intensely uncomfortable scrutiny, she asked, "Where is Heather while
you're driving around in her body?"
I was stunned for a moment by the question. It wasn't accusing, Katie
was really asking for information. "Well, there's some contention about
that. What we know for sure is that, while a Reader is in a Character,
the Character's personality and consciousness are gone. When the Reader
gets out, they return, and the Character has no memories of the time the
Reader was in control. It's as if they were in a deep coma all along."
"So, she'll be back when you get out of her?"
"Yes, in an instant."
"And where is your body?"
"Mine is immaterial. When a Reader gets into a Book, his body vanishes.
It reappears exactly as it was when he gets out."
"And how long will you be inside her?"
I looked down at my plate, somewhat ashamed. "It'll be a couple weeks.
I need to make sure that Grayson, the man after me, hasn't found the
Book I'm in. Then I can get out and make a run for it."
"How will this Grayson find you if you're a completely different
person?"
"My agency looks for patterns. Thanks to the ubiquity of social media,
anything unusual that happens sends a ripple across the internet which
can be traced. If, for example, Heather were to suddenly dress
differently or not show up to school for several days, people would
start talking about it online. A big enough difference can make it very
easy to find a Reader inside a Character. Once we find the Reader, we
can then try to find the Book, and prevent them from making too much
trouble."
Katie looked thoughtful after that. Then she looked at me with an
interested expression and said, "So, I could out you at any moment using
just my smartphone. Looks like you'll be doing what I say for the next
two weeks. Finish your sandwich; I'm ready to get home."
I did, and we left, Katie paying at the hostess' station on the way
out. She was quiet as we made our way back to her house. I'm not sure
how it was possible, but I must have been the luckiest Reader to ever
inhabit a Character. Not only did Katie seem to believe everything I
told her, which was all true, but she also seemed willing to help me. I
thought it was a bit odd that she didn't worry about Heather's fate in
all of it, but I didn't think it prudent to ask. Sometimes it's better
to let sleeping babies lie, as the adage goes.
It was properly dark by the time we made it to her front yard. Katie
finally broke the silence as we walked into her house by asking, "So why
does this Grayson want you dead?"
"He wants to use a Book I recently found. The Character in it is an
exceedingly wealthy man with a lot of power and influence. Grayson
wants to Read into him and gain that power for himself."
"What's stopping him?"
"I wrote the call number for the Book on a piece of paper. It was in my
pocket when I Read, so it doesn't exist at the moment. At the MLA, we
have tens of thousands of Books, so without that number, his chances of
finding it are slim to none."
We headed upstairs and into her room. She unfastened her pants and
pulled them off, tossing them towards a hamper in the corner of the room
and leaving her in the t-shirt and a pair of white panties. She
stretched out on the bed and indicated that I should do the same next to
her. I removed my jeans and joined her, laying on my side in order to
face her. I was unsure what the proper protocol was at this point.
After all, she knew I wasn't Heather, but she still seemed to be
treating me as if I was.
"So, if Grayson finds the Book you're in, then what? He can rip you
out?"
"No, so far no one has figured out a way to do that. However, he can
make changes."
"Changes?"
"Yes. Each Book contains very specific physical information about its
Character. If that information is changed, even by simply writing in a
new piece of information with a pencil, those changes will occur to the
Character when the Book is next closed. The Book itself will assimilate
the changes as if it had always been printed that way."
"Holy shit," Katie muttered, looking intrigued. She then added,
thoughtfully, "Can he just kill Heather that way? If she dies, will you
be lost forever or do you pop back out?"
"He can kill a Character that way very easily, but any Reader inside a
Character that dies never comes back into existence. What he can do,
though, is make some changes which are noticeable, and then hope that
someone around the Character notices and writes about it on the
internet. Changing hair color is always a popular choice because it's
relatively easy to do even without the power of a Book, but noticeable
enough that someone would write about it."
"And when a Reader is ready to get out, how does that happen? Do you
need to use the Book again?"
"No, there's a sort of mental switch that a Reader can flip at any time
in order to get out. I don't know how to explain it, really. It's just
sort of there, and a Reader intuitively knows how to flip it. When he
does, he rematerializes next to the Book, if possible. If there's no
room next to the Book, it simply doesn't work."
Katie was quiet for a moment. Finally, she said, "I need to sleep on
this shit. We'll figure out what to do with you in the morning." She
then sat up and took off her shirt, then unfastened and removed her bra.
Her breasts hung a bit lower, though not much due to her young age.
They were very well shaped and had good-sized nipples which were
beginning to harden from the air exposure. I couldn't help but stare
and admire them as she tossed the two articles of clothes towards the
laundry basket. "Stop staring and take off your shirt. Then flip out
that light so we can get some sleep," Katie ordered after noticing my
unwavering gaze.
I took off my shirt and bra, with only slight difficulty, and dropped
them to the floor as Katie pulled the duvet over our legs. I rolled
over and switched off the lamp on the nightstand. Before I could roll
back, Katie came up behind me and pressed against me, our bodies
spooning beneath the covers. She put her top arm around my waist,
pulled me in tighter, and kissed the back of my neck gently. I was very
aware of the fact that she was larger than I, and I could feel her
breasts pressing into my back. It was certainly arousing, but Katie
seemed sincere in her desire to sleep. She nuzzled into my hair a bit,
then was still.
The weight of the day's events suddenly came down on me. Yesterday, I
was a man with a good, interesting job and an excitement-filled, but
danger-free life. Today, I am a teenage girl desperately hiding out in
unfamiliar settings with each decision I make requiring increasing
amounts of care and attentiveness. I shivered with nerves. Beneath all
my training and all my careful observations, there remained a deep knot
of fear waiting for a chance to surface. Lying there, in that bed,
with nothing actively occupying my mind, the fear found its opportunity,
and it caused a panic to well within my chest. My breathing quickened
and I started to whimper, though I tried to keep quiet so as not to
disturb my bedmate. It was apparently ineffective for, a few moments
after my panic set in, Katie tightened her embrace around my waist,
pulling me closer in a comforting way. "You'll be fine," she whispered
in my ear, "because I'll protect you." She kissed the back of my neck
again, a long, reassuring kiss. "Get some sleep. We'll work it all out
in the morning."
It worked. I did feel better. My fear was caused by a sense of
loneliness, but I wasn't alone. I had Katie, and being so firmly
ensconced within her arms reminded me of that. It seemed odd that her
pledge to protect me should feel so comforting given that I was older
and more experienced with the situation. However, something about her
presence and the way it loomed over my current form gave her an air of
authority in my mind. I didn't think of Katie as a little girl, but
rather as a peer and, in some ways, as a mentor. Whether it was a
simple unconscious association of her size relative to mine, or because
I had truly learned to appreciate the wisdom of youth, was unclear.
What was certain, though, was that Katie was a dominating figure in my
life, and would be for the duration of my stay in this body. For now,
strange as it may seem intellectually, that thought comforted me
greatly. I slowed my breathing, closed my eyes, and drifted into sleep.
***
As I awoke, even before I opened my eyes, I could tell that it was
morning. Sunlight brightened one of my eyelids, creating a contrast
between it and my other eye which was pressed into my bed partner. I
wasn't yet ready to face the day, so I turned my face a bit and snuggled
into Katie, burying my face into her soft flesh. I then opened my eyes
in order to confirm my sudden realization: I was pressing my face into
her bare breasts, which rose and fell with the slightly irregular
breathing of her sleep. We laid on our sides, facing one another. I
was curled into a fetal position, pressed into her, while she laid with
one arm draped over my body protectively. Apparently my waking had
roused her as well, for she gently squeezed me, and then sat up on one
elbow while saying, "Good morning."
I uncurled myself and laid back, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I
looked up into hers. "Good morning," I returned, "look, about
yesterday..."
"Don't sweat it. You need a place to hide, so I'll help you out.
Besides," she gave me a mischievous grin, "life was getting pretty
boring around here anyways. Tell you what, we'll walk to the mall, get
some breakfast there, and we can talk more about your situation. Why
don't you hop in the shower while I find you some more clothes." Katie
got out of bed and stretched her arms up while facing away from me.
"The bathroom," she said, while continuing to stretch, "is down the hall
on the right. Also," she looked over her shoulder at me, "you can check
out my ass all day, but if you want to touch it again, you need to take
a shower."
I glanced up at her eyes and felt myself flush with embarrassment. She
had caught me; I was checking it out. I got up and started to
apologize, but thought better of it. I went out of the room and found
the bathroom.
It was, as I expected, very nice. An open design with the shower simply
a glass-partitioned half of the room. I stood under the water for a
while, letting the warmth envelop me. It had been a pretty stressful 24
hours, so releasing the tension here was too good to rush.
After a bit, I heard the door open. I opened my eyes and watched as
Katie's blurred form swam through the frosted glass. I turned around,
back to the wall, as she came around the glass. I was, again, struck by
her figure, and my eyes lingered on her breasts. When I finally met her
gaze, she was smirking at me. She strode forward confidently.
When she reached me, she pressed herself into me, pinning me against the
wall. She leaned down and kissed me passionately, her tongue forcing
itself into my mouth before I could react. Her hands found my wrists
and pinned them to the wall beside my head. I could feel the water
running over us, splashing against our faces and tracing rivers along
our entangled bodies. We stayed like that, enjoying the warm water and
each other, until Katie finally broke off and began washing herself. It
was a new experience, showering as a young girl with another young girl.
Katie helped me with some of the intricacies, and she seemed to be
having a good time, too. Before too long, we were back in her room,
wrapped in warm towels with freshly dried hair.
Katie had already set out some clothes, apparently, and she tossed them
to me. Some matching pastel pink panties and bra, a pair of faded
jeans, a white camisole, and a green sweater open in the front. She
smirked as she saw the wary look I gave the clothes, knowing that I was
still having some difficulty with these sorts of articles. However, she
didn't say anything as I struggled with them, letting me figure it out
without discouragement.
The bra was, of course, a push-up, as seemed to fit with Katie's style.
It was older, and therefore small enough that I fit into it, but only
just. Still, the padding of the bra did its job deepening my cleavage.
The panties were also older, and were thus snug on my hips. The jeans
were also snug, though not nearly as much as Katie's were on her. The
camisole proved surprisingly tricky as it had some extra layers of cloth
inside to provide support. The sweater didn't button, and was meant to
be worn open.
"You look cute," was all Katie said when I had finally finished and
asked her opinion. "But I knew you would. Let's go, I need coffee."
The mall wasn't too busy this early in the morning, but the coffee shop
had its share of patrons. It was just outside a large department store
and had tables and chairs spilled out into the mall. It was Saturday,
so there was a smattering of teenagers amongst the customers, and Katie
and I waved at a few we apparently recognized. She was, graciously,
taking the lead on these few interactions, and ordered for both of us.
Sandwiches and coffee, nothing too fancy. We found a table out in the
mall, somewhat away from most of the others.
"I have a question," Katie said in a voice low enough to not be
overheard.
"Yeah, I'm sure you do," I replied, taking a sip of the coffee. Just
cream, again.
"So, you are some other guy who is, for all intents and purposes,
controlling Heather. So why do you walk like her, talk like her, and
even have some of her mannerisms?"
I chuckled, replying, "The power of the cerebellum."
"What does that mean?"
"The cerebellum is the part of the brain responsible for proprioception
and muscle memory. For some reason, it does not get overtaken when a
Reader jumps into a Character. We're not sure why, but the current
theory is that it's not truly involved in sentience, so it is considered
part of the body, as far as the Books are concerned. In practical
terms, it means that a Reader automatically adopts the Character's gait
and other purely physical habits."
"Well, that's certainly convenient."
"Yes, and no. It's convenient for blending in as the Character, but it
also produces some serious limitations. For example, we can't learn any
kind of hand-to-hand self defense. Sure, we can learn the technical
aspects, but useful skill lies in constant practice to form muscle
memory, which disappears as soon as we Read."
"Oh, yeah," she said, looking thoughtful. "So, can this Grayson guy
control your actions at all while you're in the Book. You know, if he
rewrites it to have you just come to him and give yourself up?"
"Not directly, no. One can make mental changes like that to a Character
using a Book, but as soon as the Reader gets in, those changes are
pushed back just like the Character's consciousness. If he changed
anything about the way Heather thinks, it'll only affect her when I get
out. The only way to influence a Reader's mind is to alter the body
chemically, which is very difficult and has unreliable results."
"Weird," she said.
Weird was an understatement. I took the last couple bites of my
sandwich and leaned back a bit with my coffee. The morning was going
well, but I still didn't feel too great. The anxiety of my situation
must have flared up while talking to Katie, because a wave of queasiness
started to crest in my stomach. I set the coffee down as my chest grew
tight. It was getting harder to breathe; a full blown panic attack was
setting in. I closed my eyes and tried to relax, but something wasn't
right.
That was when Katie said, "Holy shit."
I opened my eyes and looked at her, but her gaze didn't meet mine. She
was looking down at my chest, mouth slightly agape.
I looked down, and my own mouth fell open. My chest was swelling, my
cleavage deepening. My breasts were growing, straining against the
camisole. My chest felt tight because I was outgrowing my top. The bra
straps dug into my shoulders, and I could feel the pain there as I
looked back up at Katie.
"Help me!" I hissed as I stood up, and she shook her head, looking back
up at me. Katie stood, and held her hand out to me.
"The store, we can hide you in there," she said as she gestured over her
shoulder towards the department store. We started to walk hurriedly,
trying to go quickly without drawing too much attention.
My chest continued to tighten, and I attempted to cover up the expansion
with the sweater, but it did little to help. It was meant to hang open,
so it only barely met in the front with my normal bust. My newer
measurement was too much.
As we crossed into the store, Katie dragged me left towards the ladies
department. We were headed toward the fitting rooms when my legs