Next week

A week passes without Uhazral making its presence felt—overtly, at least. Marnie remains an incestuous nudist, but of course, she doesn’t see anything wrong with it. Evenings in the apartment are relaxing sexual experiments as Katie and Stephen get to know one another's bodies and Marnie tries to figure out where each fits into her understanding of the other. They don't always end up having a threesome, but all three end up satisfied.

Days are a different story. Marnie does not stay idle. She continues her research on her thesis, narrowing her focus to the Tangiers Group and all the information she can find on the amulet. If there is any hope in finding a way to remove the amulet or otherwise beat the demon, Marnie believes it’s in the history of this nearly-forgotten occult society.

At first Marnie turns up nothing but dead ends. Little enough information about the group exists online—it gets mentioned on a few fringe websites, but it doesn't merit so much as a Wikipedia entry. Marnie must continue to dig through the various paper archives of the period—a laborious process, and one that would involve more travel than she is comfortable with. Still, it seems like her best bet.

So Marnie finds herself in the office of her thesis adviser. Together they share numerous grants, and Marnie needs permission to use some of the money to travel across the country and visit a few other archives. This is not unusual. She and her adviser had discussed the possibility much earlier in her studies, and some of the money had been laid aside, earmarked for a travel budget.

No, the nervousness Marnie felt in the form of an itching sensation along her entire body was the combination of two inconvenient truths. Firstly, of course, she was wearing clothes. She was used to it, but she never could stop herself from feeling a little constrained, even in something as simple as a tank top and a peasant skirt. Secondly, she had the sinking premonition that Uhazral would resurface soon. It was an almost-electric charge running down her spine and a wetness in her pussy, more than the usual arousal resulting in the feeling of the bare summer air passing over it as she walked downtown. The last thing she needed was for Uhazral to **** her and her adviser to do something.

The door to adviser's office opens, and her adviser steps out. "I'm sorry about, that Marnie. The dean always calls at the most inconvenient times. Come in."

Marnie steps into her adviser's office, her discomfort ratcheting up further.