Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) (14 page)

"Let me go!" I yelled. "Let me go!" I pushed the stone away from me and nearly fell on my face when I slid out of the wall.

Petra was on her feet in a fluid motion and caught me before I fell. I clutched at her, sobbing.

She turned me around and pointed.

There was a very rough dent in the wall. It didn't extend all the way through and was only slightly taller than I was.

"Did you do that?" I asked her. She shook her head and pointed at me. Then she tugged me towards the wall.

"No, please, no more tonight. Please, just hold me."

She nodded and pulled me down to the floor, holding me soothingly while I cried into her shoulder.

I was still crying when I woke up.

* * *

I got up and buried my face in a cat. Chelsea never let me do this, but Dervish, for all his playfulness, was more sensitive to my moods and would often, although not always,
let me
hold him when I was upset. He shifted around and clung to me a little.

Then he heard the food dispenser and flew out of my arms. I sighed and got up.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I was a fright. And I was due at Petra's door in ten minutes if I was going to ride in with her. I sighed again. She'd have to forgive my appearance. I collected my office clothes in my garment bag, tossed on clothes quickly, and headed upstairs.

As soon as she saw me, she stepped back. "Are you all right?"

"Weird dream. It left me unsettled, so I'm running late. Sorry."

She hugged me, which felt good.

In the car I asked her, "Is Andrea happy with me?"

"That's a stupid question," she said. "And it's quite unlike you to ask stupid questions."

I looked over at her. She sighed. "You come in early. The expectation was that you would start at nine, but you ride in with me, you spend extra time in the dojo. She
are
at your desk looking extremely professional by seven thirty instead of nine. You work late, and the quality of your work is exceedingly high."

She paused.

"You attend special events whenever asked
, and you are positively price
less at them besides. That story of you beating up that asshole Jeremy is beyond compare."

"I would have really let him have it but I didn't want to embarrass Andrea."

"No, she's not happy with you. She's ecstatic." She paused. "So am I."

"I'm sorry I need pep talks," I told her.

"Don't be silly," she said. "I like knowing you're human. It would suck if you were Wonder Woman."

I laughed.

* * *

That night when I opened my eyes, Dream Petra was sitting a few feet away, humming, singing and smiling at me. "Hi," I said to her. "What are we doing tonight?"

She pointed to the wall. The indentation was still there.

"Are you going to put me in the wall again?"

She nodded.

I sighed and stood up. My clothes were on the rack. I got dressed slowly. She watched me, humming. I walked to her, stepping very close and looking up into her eyes. "Do I get a kiss first?"

She pulled me to her and gave me a very thorough kiss. Still humming.

When she released me I walked to the wall and looked at it. I felt the stone. In the back where my hair would have been, I saw it was peppered with little holes. I ran my fingers over it.

I turned around, stepped into the gap I'd caused, and sighed.

She closed the stone around me. I stood there calmly, encased in the stone. I tried pushing away, but it didn't work. I kept trying. Nothing.

Dream Petra was standing five feet in front of me, watching. She put her hands on her hips and gave me The Look.

"I'm trying," I told her.

She stood watching me for several minutes before she shook her head. She stepped towards me and the stone around me disappeared. I hadn't done it. I tried to step out of the wall, but she shook her head and put her hands on my shoulders. She pushed me backwards, further into the wall.

"Not all the way!" I told her. She shook her head. I meekly let her put me where she wanted me.

She took a big breath and held it for a second before she started humming again.

"Oh god," I said. I took a big breath and held it, and she closed the stone. All that was exposed was a small amount of my face: my eyes, my mouth, and my nose. Her hands were also encased up to her wrists, but she pulled them from the stone.

Dream Petra stepped back and watched me, her arms folded in front of her. I tried pushing the stone away, but I remained encased.

She sighed and disappeared.

"Hey!" I said. "Come back!"

I struggled with the rock, but it held me fast. I gave up before she returned. She was holding a large glass of water and the lemon bottle.

"Oh no!" I said. I started struggling with the rock but still couldn't free myself.

I watched as she poured fo
u
r capfuls of lemon juice into the water. She stirred it with her finger,
then
licked her finger off slowly. I wished she let me do it for her.

"You forgot the eyedropper," I told her.

She looked up at me, reached into her pocked, and pulled out a child's plastic squirt gun.
From another pocket she pulled out a small funnel. She looked at me pointedly.

I began struggling with the stone again while watching her meticulously fill the squirt gun. I didn't get anywhere.

She stood up and walked over to me. She pulled down on my lower lip, and I opened my mouth. I couldn't open it very far. She raised the squirt gun and squirted some of the watery lemon juice into my mouth.

"I get it," I said. "I'm trying, Petra!"

She gave me The Look again. She stepped about ten feet away and turned around. She took aim, holding the gun in her right hand. She held her left hand up with five fingers spread, then four, then three. When she ran out of fingers, she pulled the trigger of the squirt gun. The water splashed off the stone covering the middle of my chest.

She adjusted her aim upwards and began the finger count starting only at three. I squeezed my eyes shut.

After a moment, she tapped me on the nose. I opened my eyes. She was holding a roll of tape in front of me.

"No, no, no," I told her, renewing my struggles with the stone. She pulled off a length of tape and taped
one
of my eyes open, then the other. "Petra, this didn't go well the last time."

She sighed and nodded. I watched as she walked away and turned around. She aimed and began her count down. Before she could pull the trigger, I burst from the stone.

She stared at me for a moment then began clapping.

I reached
up to pull the tape from my eye
lashes, but she stomped her foot. When I looked at her, she waved her finger back in forth in a no, no gesture. She pointed at the wall.

I looked at her beseechingly, but she didn't budge. She continued to point at the wall. I hung my head and obediently backed into place. She walked over, pushed me firmly into position,
then
closed the wall around me. She stepped away, pointed the squirt gun, and I burst from the wall.

She clapped and pointed at the wall. I stepped back, and she closed the stone. There was a pause, and I stepped out of the wall.

She clapped and pointed at the wall. I backed into it. She closed the stone and I immediately opened it. She smiled and closed the stone again. I opened it. She smiled, stepped up to me, and gently removed the tape holding my eyes open.

I looked up at her. "I would really like a kiss now."

She held up one finger and I nodded. She pulled me into a kiss. It was a nice kiss, but it ended far too soon.
After that, she pulled me back to the wall. She held up a finger,
then
stepped to the indentation
in the
wall. She took one hand and pushed against the stone. It peeled away from her hand. She proceeded to square up the indentation on one side. She turned around and looked at me and pointed to the other side.

"My turn," I said. She nodded.

I approached the wall and pushed against the stone. I felt it recede from my hand.

"I did it!"

She clapped with joy.

I proceeded to square up my side. My line wasn't as straight as hers, but when I was done she pulled me around, shoved me against the wall, and began kissing me thoroughly. She pulled away and we were both breathless. She never stopped humming.

She turned to the wall and opened the entire opening. She pulled me through, closed the door, and dragged me, laughing, to her tower. As soon as we were safely inside the tower, she gestured and my clothes disappeared.

"How about yours?" I said, reaching for her.

She shook her head and danced away. I pouted at her. She skipped back to me and pulled me into a kiss, then pushed me until I fell onto the bed. She climbed up after me, pinning me to the bed with her body. I didn't struggle. She clasped my hands and held them above my head.

She lowered her lips to mine, and I parted when her tongued slipped between my lips. She explored my mouth for a while. I began to squirm.

She pulled away and pointed at me, then held her hand to her chest.

"Yes, Petra. Yours."

She smiled and kissed me again. When she pulled away, she waited for me.

"Yours."

She took my nipple into her mouth and began teasing it.

"Yours. Yours. Yours."

She used her mouth, her hands,
her
magic. I kept crying out, "Yours."

I woke, still crying out, "Yours."

* * *

The next night she wouldn't touch me until I had made a proper doorway by myself. It was a little rough and took me a while before I could make it all at once. Each time I made a mistake, she closed the gap and made me start over, but eventu
ally she nodded and pulled my t
o her tower.

She pushed me onto the bed, spent twenty minutes bringing me to the edge of orgasm,
then
held me there while I begged. She pushed me over the edge just moments before I woke up.

* * *

Friday morning on the way to work, I told Petra about my trips and asked if she would like to join me.

"Karen came last week. We had a nice time. I usually try to leave about eight and return by four, so it's an all day thing. I think Karen is coming this week, too, but the more, the merrier. Sometimes I go hiking, sometimes I pick a town I know is fun to visit."

"I would love to come," she said. "Do I need any special equipment?"

"Dress in layers and wear hiking shoes that are broken in," I replied.

"What if I don't have hiking shoes?"

"Buy some and wear them around the house. For tomorrow, wear shoes you can walk in and we'll go somewhere historic. Next week, back to the hills!"

"Will you help me buy some tonight on the way home?"

* * *

Friday night, Dream Petra made me close my door after I opened it. That lesson was easier than some of the others, but the way she taught me was cruel.

First, she lured me to the door way with kisses. We got there and she smiled at me and pointed to the door.

"I'm not dressed," I told her.

She smiled and pointed at the door.

"It's cold out there!" I complained. "You don't heat the stairway."

She walked up to me, made her hands glow, and then made my body grow limp. She caught me before I fell and lowered me to the floor, making sure I didn't clunk my head.

"Petra!" I said. "You know I hate this."

She ignored my complaints but arranged me the way she wanted me in front of the door. Then she opened it the door. Cold air immediately began wafting in. I had goose bumps instantly.

"It's cold, Petra."

She shrugged.

I looked at the doorway and tried to close it. Nothing.

Petra disappeared.

"Chicken!" I told her.

I was already cold enough that if I could have, I would have been shivering. I failed to close the door.

Petra reappeared carrying a book. She sat down next to me and opened the book.

"Seriously?" I asked her. "I'm lying here freezing and you're going to read a book?"

She turned a page.

I started bitching. And whining. And
then more bitching
. She disappeared.
When she returned, she had wax earplugs with her and made a big show of putting them in.
She smiled sweetly at me and went back to her book. Still humming.

I continued to bitch but focused on closing the door. In fits and starts, I managed to make the opening smaller and smaller. Finally it closed tightly and the cold air stopped blowing over me. I was still freezing.