"You're not staying?" I thought at her.
"No," she said. "I'd get too competitive with the games and order everyone to let me win."
I had a table set up with the prizes for the games, but I had it covered. At the official start time, I welcomed everyone, explained the schedule, and then pulled the cloth from the prize table and explained the prizes.
I had bought nice prizes. There were modest prizes for the winners of the individual games and three grand prizes.
"Scoring for the grand prizes will be based on a combination of how you do in the individual games as well as a component I am calling 'sportsmanship'."
The prizes shocked everyone.
While everyone else played some of the games, I worked on the food, timing everything else based on when the lamb would be ready. When it was all ready, we ate.
"Will you join us for lunch?" I asked Arianna.
"No, thank you," she sent back.
We played trivia and word games while we were eating; the more physical games gave an advantage to the guys, but I had designed some of the games to give the women an equal chance.
After lunch, we played some doubles games, teaming up one man and one woman. I let the women pick their partners, starting with the woman with the lowest overall score so far. Not counting me there were five women and four men, so I played as a man. Sienna picked me when she could have had Dean or Abe.
Everyone had fun. They all had spent a long time under Arianna's control, and this was the first party any of them had attended in years.
It became time to award the prizes. "I need you," I told Arianna.
"Coming," she said immediately.
While we were waiting for Arianna, I told them, "I don't know why she had me organize this, and I don't know if she'll do it again soon, but I hope you all had fun."
They had, and they thanked me for all the work I had done getting ready for it.
"Before Arianna gets here, I have gifts for each of you." I had a stack of envelopes on the prizes table, and I handed them out. "These are cash cards; you can use them like a credit card. They are for five hundred dollars each, and you may spend them however you want. I have also included a card good for one evening off, and Arianna told me she would honor them. You can use the card to go shopping once you decide you know what you want."
They were touched.
Arianna arrived. She gave a very short speech telling them she hoped they had a nice time. Then we passed out the smaller prizes for the winners of the individual games.
"All right," I said. "Arianna is going to help me total the score for the grand prize winners. Talk amongst yourselves or have some more food while we figure this out." I pulled her to the side and said, "Dale was the clear winner of the most points, but I told them there would be a sportsmanship component to the score, and Sienna and Lydia both impressed me."
"Lydia?" Arianna asked.
"And Corbin. Corbin was great. All three of them cheered everyone else on."
While Arianna and I were talking, Corbin walked up.
"I don't mean to interrupt," he said. "But I wanted to say something."
"What is it, Corbin?" Arianna asked.
"I wanted to thank you, Arianna," he replied.
"For the party?" I asked.
"No," he said. "For what you've done for me."
I stared at him. Arianna began smiling broadly. "You're welcome," she said. "Moira doesn't understand, but I do. Will you explain?"
"Ten years ago, I was on a bad path," he explained. "I was an alcoholic and was developing a drug habit. I was stealing to finance both, and it was getting worse. It was only a matter of time before I hurt someone or got arrested. The night you caught me, the only reason I wasn't high because I had run out of money and smack. I wanted your purse so I could buy more. Arianna, you turned me around. You made me work harder than I thought someone could work, but look at me." He flexed his arms. He had built an amazing body. "I do work I am very proud of, and I haven't even thought about alcohol or drugs in years. Thank you."
She opened her arms, and he stepped into a hug. When he stepped away, there were tears in both their eyes. He wiped his clean then turned away quickly. The next time I saw him, he was talking to Beck, one of the real estate agents. I stared at him, dumbfounded by what he had said.
Arianna turned to me. "I have something else for Corbin," she said. "Let's have Lydia and Sienna share the grand prize. Do they get along?"
"They will for that," I said.
Arianna laughed. "Dale gets the second prize, and who wins third?"
"Dean," I said.
"Ah, you have to watch out for the older, quieter ones," she said.
"Especially the old ones," I said to her.
She smiled. "Moira, that's two jokes in two weeks," she said. "Perhaps that fire is still alive in there."
My expression fell. "No," I told her. "It's not."
"Yes, well. We will see."
We called everyone together. I asked Arianna to give out the prizes, as she was paying for them.
"Third place, dinner for two at the restaurant of your choice anywhere in the Madison area, congratulations, Dean!" she declared. When he came forward to collect his prize, she asked, "Do you know whom you will share your prize with?"
He turned to Stephanie. "Steph, would you like to pick the restaurant?"
"Oh," she said. "I know just the place!"
"Second place," Arianna said. "A four-day weekend at any resort in Madison, again for two. Dale." Dale came up, smiling. "Let us give out the grand prize before you think too hard about who you are bringing."
"All right. Dale had the high score for the games played, but Moira declared there was to be a sportsmanship element to the scoring. She and I couldn't decide between two people, so they are going to have to share the grand prize. A week's trip to Hawaii. I hope you have a nice time, Lydia and Sienna."
"I only made airplane reservations for one, so I'll need to fix that," I said. "But assuming I can make the arrangements, you leave tomorrow morning."
Sienna's face fell. "I can't go. I have clients."
"I will take care of your clients," Arianna said. "Talk to me later before you leave."
Lydia and Sienna hugged, and then they both hugged me.
"Did you pick me?" Lydia asked.
"You were very gracious today," I whispered back to her. "You deserve this."
Arianna talked quietly into Sienna's ear for a while, then she pulled me aside. "I want you to have a conversation with Sienna. Once you are done, please come to my office. Bring Corbin with you."
Arianna addressed the group again, asking them to have a nice time. "Did Moira do a nice job?"
I received applause.
"She worked hard setting up, and she expects to have to do the cleanup."
"We'll handle the cleanup," Dale said.
"When it's time, someone get me and I will help," Arianna said. "But there is plenty of food, and lots of games, so enjoy yourselves." She turned around and headed back into the house.
I turned to Sienna. She pulled me over to one of the tables and we sat down together. When others tried to join us, Sienna sent them away. "Go play the games. They were fun."
"Moira," she said. "Why are you so angry with Arianna? I've watched for five years while you have defied her. Why?"
"It was bad when she claimed Corbin," I said. "But she did catch him trying to steal from us. Then she set Lydia up the same way. When I told her I wasn't comfortable having Lydia in the house, she set up Dale and Abe, and all they did was hit on us. Stephanie tried to steal clients from her, which I thought was pushing it. But the worst was when you, Terry and Beck went into her office and walked out as her slaves. You never did a thing against her, and she still claimed you."
"You haven't mentioned yourself," Sienna said.
"Well, that started it all, didn't it? I told her I had forgiven her, but deep down, I don't think I really ever will. But there are advantages t
o the bond she forced upon me, and things could be worse."
"Why are you so upset about Terry, Beck and me?"
"Because she shouldn't have tricked you!" I said. "You hadn't done anything wrong deserving punishment. You were innocents."
"She didn't trick us."
"She bound you. I know she did. I felt the magic."
"I am forbidden to tell you the details of my agreement with her, and I do not know if Terry and Beck have the same agreement. But she didn't trick me. I knew exactly what I was doing and why. And I would do it again."
I stared at her. "But she treats you like a slave!"
"As I said, I may not share the details. But I agreed to it with open eyes. I am not a victim. I am here willingly. Everything that has happened over the last five years has been with my consent."
"She ordered you to lie to me," I said.
"No, she ordered me to talk to you about this. She told me to tell you the truth. I am not lying."
"Why would you have agreed to this?"
"Because I was an aimless party animal with few prospects. I didn't know the first thing about anything, and I was smart enough to know it. She made me promises. She has, to date, kept every single one of them."
"But she doesn't even pay you!"
"That falls under the details I may not share with you," Sienna said. "I am completely satisfied with the arrangements to date."
"But you work and you sleep. You never have any fun."
"Don't I?" she said. "Come with me, please."
We stood up, and she led the way to the women's bunkhouse. "When was the last time you were here?"
"The day I showed it to you," I told her.
"Come in then," she said.
She opened the front door, and we entered the home shared by Stephanie, Sienna, Terry, Beck and Lydia. It wasn't a bunkhouse, exactly. There were small, individual bedrooms for each as well as a small rec room and a kitchen. Sienna brought me to her room.
"This is lovely!" I said.
"Thank you," she said. "I decorated it myself. Corbin helped."
I looked around. It was small and sparsely furnished, but what was there was of top quality, and the decorating was warm and inviting.
Then she pulled me out of her room and to the rec room. There were comfortable-looking sofas and chairs and a large television. "We have movies and video games," she said. "And Internet, of course."
I knew about the Internet; I paid the bill. I didn't know about the rest.
"We fight sometimes, but for five women sharing a house, really the fighting is limited to once a month." Five women sharing a house meant five women all with their cycles aligned: nature's cruel trick. "We're comfortable here. It's not huge, but it's nice," she said. "And it's all we really need."
"But you could have so much more."
"I could, but would it make me happier?"
"You're happy?" I asked.
"I would like to start dating again," she said. "But yes, I am happy. I am becoming a good agent. I can't line up clients the way Arianna does, but once I have one, I do a great job taking care of him. I am proud of who I have become, and I wouldn't change a thing."
"Do the others feel the same way?"
"Not Stephanie," she said. "She would kill Arianna if she could. Lydia has lightened up dramatically the last few years. She hasn't said a cross word about either of you for three years." She paused. "Actually, she has been very angry with you."
"Why?"
"Because she is worried you'll get yourself killed defying Arianna."
"One fewer person ordering her around."
"I don't think she would make the trade."
"Lydia hates me almost as much as she hates Arianna."
"She doesn't hate either of you."
Then Sienna took my arm, and we returned to the party. I was quiet. I kissed her on the cheek, and she hugged me before running off to join the game in progress.
I collected Corbin and said, "Arianna wants to see us in her office."
"All right," he said. "Did I embarrass myself earlier?"
"No." Then, to Arianna, I thought, "We're coming."
"Did you have a nice talk with Sienna?"
"I had a very confusing talk with Sienna."
Arianna didn't reply.
Corbin and I walked to the house. I led the way to Arianna's office. When I arrived, she told me, "Please run up and get your laptop."
Corbin took a chair, and I ran upstairs for my computer. When I got back, Arianna said, "You may not discuss the nature of this conversation with anyone outside the three of us," she ordered. "Absolutely no one else is to know anything we discuss here."
We both nodded understanding.
Arianna handed me a piece of paper. "Log into our bank but use this account and password," she told me.
Puzzled, I did what she told me.
"What have you found, Moira?" Arianna asked.
"A bank account," I said. "In Corbin's name."
"What is the balance?" she asked.
"One hundred, fifty-seven thousand, two hundred and ten dollars."
I stared at the computer. "When did you open this?"
"Two weeks after we sold that first house," she said. She slipped a piece of paper to me. It was a printout of a spreadsheet. Each line represented one of the houses that Corbin had worked on.
"Each house we've sold," she said, "I shared twenty percent of the profit with the people who worked on it, split as I felt appropriate. Moira, you are not included in that split. Corbin got the full twenty percent of the houses he did alone, less than that when the others helped."
Then she had a full packet, a very thick packet, of materials. "Corbin, these are your tax returns for the last ten years. You paid taxes on everything. I filed them for you. You signed them, but then I made you forget."
Corbin looked stunned by everything.
"Corbin, when I claimed you, I decided your sentence would be twenty years. Or ten years if you showed honest remorse for what you have done. It has been ten years, and today you could not have made me happier when you thanked me. I am freeing you."
"What?"
"I will cast another spell. I will bind you to silence and a few last orders. You will not be able to hurt me, Moira, or anyone else bound to me. These last orders are somewhat long." She slid a piece of paper across her desk to him. "These will be your final orders. All your past orders will no longer be enforced."
He read through it and looked up at her.
"What are you doing?" I thought at her.
She smiled at me. "Do not distract me right now. I will answer any questions you ask when we are done."
I nodded understanding, at least with that part, and stayed silent.
"You want to free me?" he asked. His voice quavered.
"I hate to see you go, but you have earned it, and you are not the aimless boy you were ten years ago. You are twenty-nine. You have enough money in the bank to buy a house for cash, and you have skills you didn't have. You'll be fine."
"What if-" he said. "What if I start drinking again?"
She looked at him kindly. "Would you like me to add that to your last orders?"
"Yes. And drugs. And work ethic."
"You don't need my help with work ethic," she said.
"Please, Arianna," he said. "And work ethic."
"All right," she said. She took the paper and wrote on it, inserting several clauses in the middle. She turned it back to him, and he smiled.
"But what will I do?" he asked.
"Whatever you want," she said. "Perhaps you would like to continue to flip houses. You have become very good at it. We would, of course, be happy to find the houses for you, for our usual commission."
"Seven percent on the purchase and another seven percent on the sale?"
She smiled.
He looked away. "I haven't done any of the money parts. I don't even know how to use a computer."
"Hmm. Perhaps you would care for a partnersh
ip, then."
He brightened up. "Would you do that?"
"Yes. Equal partners. You and Moira."
I looked sharply at her.
"Hey, don't look at me. I haven't been involved in the flipping in years."
"You find the houses," I said. "Arianna, I don't want that responsibility."
"All right. Moira and I will share our half, and we will waive the brokerage house portion of all commissions." That wouldn't eliminate the agent fees when buying or selling the houses, but it would reduce them.
"Moira would continue to do the things she already does?"
"Yes, except you are your own boss. She can advise, but the final decisions on what to do and how to do them will be yours."
The two of them worked out the details in front of me. They finished, and Arianna said to me, "Moira, do you agree to everything Corbin and I just agreed?"
"Yes, Arianna."
"If you are ready, Corbin, I'll cast the spell."
"What do I do?"
"When I ask, just tell me you accept. Moira, I'll be drawing heavily on you. We'll need to go fill back up over the next few weeks."
I nodded, and she began to hum, drawing magic from me. The air in the room shimmered, and her magic wrapped itself around Corbin. She read the new rules to him and then asked, "Corbin, do you accept this spell?"
"Yes, Arianna," he said immediately.
She drew heavily from me once more, and I watch the spell settle into him.
And I saw how it worked.
I saw how it replaced the old spell. I watched the old spell dissipate. And when she was done, the magic thread linking her to Corbin was gone.
His face took on an expression of wonder, then one of concern. "I feel funny."
Arianna didn't look concerned. "You had gotten used to the old spell. Corbin, kiss Moira's feet."
He looked down at my feet, then lowered himself to the floor and studied my feet. My heart caught in my throat; the spell hadn't worked. But then Corbin sat back in the air. "I don't think so. She's been walking in sandals outside all day, and they're dusty. Moira, give me an order."
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