Hidden Island Chapter 34, part 3 of 4

Hidden Island
Chapter 34, part 3 of 4

"This is where Will lives?" Tonya said, pulling herself out of her sack and looking around with mild disgust. I guess I've lived in worse places, but I expected more. Will seems so refined."

Janie burst out laughing, then covered her mouth and coughed. "Excuse me."

Tonya gave her a confused look. "What?"

Janie and Kaduska looked at each other, amused. Janie sighed. Kaduska grinned. "Miss Tonya, you are a gem."

"What!?" Tonya demanded, pulling herself the rest of the way out of her bag and hopping off the table to look around. "He always dresses and smells nice but doesn't wear flashy stuff or talk down to folks. You work for him and are the most refined person I know. He's like one of those gentleman adventurers from the penny dreadful."

"I am sure he would be happy to hear you say so," Kaduska chuckled, heading back to the door to bring more things in. Caine, wearing a cowled cloak, came in carrying a box. He set it down on the table and walked back outside.

"When I first met Will, this place was in worse shape than it is now. He had a black eye and a hangover and had not bathed in at least a week. Honestly, I thought he was a squatter. He was exactly the kind of person I would have expected to find in a run-down lighthouse," Janie said with a slight, apologetic shrug.

"Only a week? My standards pretty refine that," Tonya snickered.

"Oh dear," Janie said with a bat of cringe. "I forget about that sometimes."

Tonya fluffed her expensive-looking saloon dress. "Sounds like the disguise is working."

Caine returned, dropping off a second box next to the third.

"We are still going to have to work on your definition of refinement," Jaine teased.

Tonya wandered around the room, looking closer at Will's books, charts, and knick-knacks collection. "Well, if it ain't you or Will, I don't know who's left to be an example. It seems like there are slim pickings in Bastard's Bay.

I guess you'll have to do if I'm going to learn, right?"

"Well, that's true," Janie sighed. "I suppose here, the most refined person I can think of is Prelate Alexandra."

Caine snorted as he dropped off a third box. "You can put a bear in silk and lace, but it's still a bear."

Janie gave Caine a flat, disapproving look. "Lesson one. Please do not take his word on what refinement is. He has none."

"What is all this stuff?" Tonya asked, picking up a small stone figurine carved into the vague shape of a curvy woman holding an orb over her head.

"Keepsakes from Will's adventures," Janie said, opening up one of the boxes Caine had brought.

"She's got tits that would make Bella jealous," Tonya said, turning the statuette sideways.

"Lesson two, refined people do not say 'tits.'" Janie said, trying to sound admonishing but not succeeding due to holding in her laughter.

Tonya put the statue back and picked up a strange-looking brass contraption. "What's better? Jugs? Boobs?"

"I always liked bosoms," Caine said as he brought another box.

"Very helpful," Janie said dryly. She was simultaneously uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation and amused by it. Her amusement surprised her. A few weeks ago, she would have been appalled. "A refined person does not speak on such topics at all, and if they must, the most polite term is breasts."

Tonya looked from Janie's chest to her own. "You might have breasts. Pretty sure mine are just tits."

Janie's mouth opened in a silent 'O' of sympathy and heartbreak. She had no idea what to say. "Oh, Tonya.

Don't talk like that. I- I think you have lovely breasts."

"Me too," Caine grunted, dropping off the last box.

"Likewise," Kaduska added, shutting the door as he returned.

Janie and Tonya both blushed for very different reasons.

"Gentlemen! I-" Janie started but was cut off by Tonya.

"Aw, thanks, guys. It's hard working at Mary's sometimes. The only ones with smaller tits than me are the boys,"

She tapped her lips in thought for a moment. "Pretty sure Chrissy's are bigger than mine."

"Chrissy ain't a boy," Caine said.

"I mean, he's awful pretty, but I've seen his dick," Tonya said, giving Caine a doubtful look.

"You've seen her dick," Caine corrected.

Tonya blinked. "Wait. But he-"

"She," Caine said firmly.

"But-" Tonya looked to Janie for guidance or support.

Janie was wide-eyed, practically paralyzed in her mortification, shaking her head small and slow.

"Boys are boys, and girls are girls," Tonya said firmly. She looked at Kaduska and Janie again, hoping for backup. Janie stayed silent and wide-eyed, too uncomfortable to speak.

"The world is rarely so simple," Kaduska shrugged. "What you think is one thing is often another."

"And that ain't even the point," Caine continued. "When someone tells you who they are and what they want to be called, that's what you call them."

"Even if it doesn't make any sense?" Tonya asked doubtfully.

"Don't matter if it makes sense to you or not. Only matters that it makes sense to them," Caine shrugged.

"When Janie's being Evangelina, that's what we call her."

Tonya shook her head, still not backing down. "She's still the same person, though."

Janie pursed her lips, wishing she'd gone upstairs when they began discussing breasts.

"Exactly," Caine nodded, going through the boxes Janie had left half-sorted on the table.

"No, I mean, Evangelina's a disguise! That's not really who she is," Tonya said, looking to Janie for support again. Janie stayed silent.

"How do you know? Maybe Evangelina's who Janie is, and Janie's the disguise," Caine shrugged.

"Or perhaps both are true," Kaduska added, pouring himself a drink from Will's sideboard. "People often have many facets."

"But when Janie's being Evangelina, she doesn't grow a dick!" Tonya said, exasperated.

"Oh, is that what being a man is? Having a dick?" Caine asked.

"Yeah!" Tonya looked at Caine like he was growing a second head.

"What about Tom?" Caine asked.

"Tom? The big guy with the soft face?" Tonya asked. "What about him?"

"He's a eunuch?" Caine said.

"What's that?" Tonya asked.

Janie rubbed her forehead with her hands, entirely at a loss for words.

Caine looked a bit surprised. "It's when someone's had their dick..."

"Removed," Kaduska finished, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Huh," Tonya said. "So Tom doesn't have a dick?"

"Nope," Caine said with a shake of his head. "Think he's not a man?"

"Well... no. I mean, yeah. I guess he is. Still seems weird, though," Tonya shrugged. "I always thought boys and girls, and what they each got between their legs was pretty well understood."

Caine shook his head. "Still ain't the point."

Kaduska sat down in Will's chair and took a drink. "Djinn can change their form to suit their masters' preference, shaping their bodies, or growing manhood and womanhood as their master wishes."

"Angels got nothing between their legs at all," Caine added.

"How do you know what angels got between their legs?" Tonya asked skeptically.

"Church school," Caine said with a big smile.

Tonya looked at Janie again. "Janie, is he fucking with me? Do angels have dicks?"

Janie looked down at the ground and fled up the stairs, her face scarlet.

Jack bit her lip. Her eyes fluttered and rolled back in her head as Quinn's talented tongue swirled and flicked around her clit. The pulses and shocks of pleasure made her feel like her entire womanhood was practically convulsing. Quinn had been working on her for at least twenty minutes while the Witch and the Doctor waited for Will to arrive. She was ready to scream in frustration, but Bella had been insistent. It was her ritual, and she wanted Will to participate.

Jack knew they didn't need Will there. Jack didn't know much about magic, but she had spent enough time with
Bella knows that by drawing sexual energy from Jack and the Doctor, there would be plenty of power to refill

Bella's reserves. Which meant Bella wanted Will there.

Jack's feelings about that were complicated. Her former girlfriend and her former best friend were about to have sex a few feet away from her, separated only by two thin sheets of canvas. Why had she agreed to this?

She sighed. She never could say no to Bella.

Quinn slipped the tip of his finger into her, jolting her out of her reverie. She looked down at him, stroking the side of his smooth scalp and winding his topknot around her fingers. She squeezed her breast with her other hand and squeezed her hard nipple.

She was excited not only because of Quinn's talented ministrations but also because of what would happen in the next tent.

She wanted it to happen, and she wanted to be part of it. Will and Bella deserved to be happy, and she was glad they'd found it in each other. She was also glad Bella wanted to include her, even if it wasn't directly. It was a start. She could listen to Bella's small gasps and squeaks of pleasure and remember every detail of the dark-haired Witch's luscious body. She had no doubt she'd do the same with her memories of Will when he arrived.

The sadness she felt at being so close, yet so far, from the people she loved most felt like a strange sort of penance.

"We're ready," Bella said breathlessly from next door.

"Need to wait, we?" Doctor Kalfou asked.

"Can't add more to the ritual once it's started," Bella said.

"Of course, you can," the Doctor said, slightly confused.

Jack could practically hear Bella shrugging. "Well, I don't know how."

"Don't, you?" Doctor Kalfou sighed. "Fine. Wait, we."

"Oh, don't pout," Bella purred. There was a rustle of blankets and the whisper of skin on skin. Doctor Kalfou moaned.

As the two women seduced each other, Jack was hit by a surge of separation. The distance seemed further than the walls of the tents. Quinn gave her a gentle bite on the thigh and slipped his finger into her again, a little deeper than the last time. The incredible feeling knocked her out of her melancholy again. She looked down.

Their eyes met in the near dark, and she couldn't help but smile at him. Somehow, she did not doubt that he knew what she was feeling. She also knew he would never feel slighted or uncomfortable that her focus was drifting. He knew this situation was difficult for her and would never do anything that might make it more complicated.

He was selfless in a way she'd taken a long time to understand. He was never insecure or jealous. Those were human things, and he was not. He served her out of duty and out of the most selfless love she had ever experienced. His devotion was another thing that made her feel guilty. She knew she didn't deserve it.

She rubbed her face in her hands, silently admonishing herself for being such a basket case. All three of her loved ones were close to her, expressing love together for the first time, and she couldn't relax or enjoy it. She bit her lip again, this time in determination. It might not be an ideal circumstance, but it was happening.

She heard footsteps outside and the rustle of a tent flap. Her heart felt like it was standing still.

"It's about time," Bella purred.

"Hello, Doctor." Will's baritone felt like it was in Jack's tent with her, full of amusement and subtle demands for answers. Her heart clenched when he spoke.

"Hello, Mister Sterling," Doctor Kalfou answered, her voice full of promise and play.

"What about me?" Bella asked. Jack knew that tone. She was doing something lewd, putting her body on display shamelessly. "Don't I get a hello?"

Will chuckled. "Hello, Bella."

"Jack's with us too," Bella's fingertips scratched down the thin wall of the tent.

Jack could see where her tent walls were pushed in. She hadn't realized they were close enough to touch. Her heart was hammering in her chest.

"Say hi," Bella purred.

There was a pause. Will said nothing. Jack couldn't breathe. She was horrified at herself. She couldn't remember ever feeling anxious like this before. She was angry at her reaction but couldn't do anything about it.

"Hi, Jack," Will's voice finally said.

What was in that tone? Was that amusement? Resignation? Judgement? Was she reading into it too much?

Quinn bit her thigh again and gave her an expectant look.

"Hi, Will," she said, sounding unbothered and amused. Why was this so tense? She felt she was trying to contain something but didn't understand it.

"Quinn, too," Bella added, sounding amused.

Jack ran her hands through her hair and gave Quinn a silent look of confusion and apology. Quinn was not much for displays of emotion, but she knew him well enough to see the amusement in his black eyes.

"Hello, Quinn," Will's voice said, sounding resigned and amused this time.

"Hello, Mister Sterling," Quinn said, his voice a bit muffled by Jack's thighs.

"Now that we're all introduced, I have a proposal for you, Will,' Bella smirked.

"You certainly have my attention," Will said, still sounding amused as his voice suddenly shifted to his usual tone for business negotiations.

"My oomph is all run out. I need a refill. They've all nicely agreed to help. I was hoping you would, too," Bella's sultry voice dripped with promise.

Jack stifled a laugh. She knew Bella was playing to her audience and loving it, and Jack had difficulty not being amused. Her tension made her feel like she needed to laugh or do anything to relieve it, but she didn't want to draw attention back to herself.

"What do I get out of it?" Will asked blithely.

Bella huffed in surprise, and Doctor Kalfou burst out with stifled laughter. Once the Doctor started, Jack couldn't contain hers any longer.

"Oh, Bella, your face..." Doctor Kalfou laughed.

"Rude," Bella huffed.

"You should have said you wanted a favor. You said proposal. Now we're negotiating," Will teased.

"You can fuck me," Bella said enticingly.

"Wasn't that inherent in your proposal?" Will asked.

"Isn't that enough?" Bella asked.

Will chuckled. "Remember a few days ago when you said I could have you anytime, anywhere?"

Jack's eyes went wide at Will's words. Bella was the most uninhibited person she'd ever met, but still, that was a bold offer even for her.

"Fuck," Bella tisked.

"Yes, that is the topic of conversation," Will smirked.

"Call it a favor then," Bella glared.

"Too late," Will said. "Now we're negotiating."

"Well, then, maybe you should just walk away if you're not interested," Bella said, her voice full of pretend outrage.

"My tent," Will said.

Doctor Kalfou was practically crying with bursts of stifled laughter. "Caught in your trap!"

"I thought you were here to help?" Bella said to the Doctor.

"Should make him an offer, you," Doctor Kalfou teased.

"Mutiny!" Bella gasped.

"Jack," Bella said, tapping frantically the tent's wall. "Help!"

"Don't drag me into this," Jack laughed.

"I thought all of us having some fun together wouldn't be something I'd have to negotiate for," Bella huffed.

"Will's just being contrary!"

"How surprising," Jack snarked.

Doctor Kalfou bit her bottom lip and managed to quiet her laughter. "Of all the ways I imagined this going, this was not one of them."

"Get used to that feeling. It happens a lot with him," Jack said dryly.




To be continued