Chapter 9

“Are you sure?!” Maude asked, for perhaps the thousandth time… Clinging to her gatepost like the last mast of a sinking ship.

“Absolutely.” Smiled Kinki, trying to sound exasperated by her companion’s nervousness… but really still finding the entire situation too hilarious to be annoyed.

The witch stood as naked as ever in the middle of the lane, her golden curves soaking up the morning sun. This time, however, she was joined in her nudity by the considerably paler form of her hostess. Maude still couldn’t quite believe she’d been persuaded to try this. It had seemed so much more exciting and invigorating a prospect when wrapped in Kinki’s arms after another round of sapphic lovemaking. Imagining wandering through the sunlight in perfect confidence, right in front of all the gossips and fusspots who made life in this village so insufferable.

Now though… she could barely feel the fresh breeze upon her skin, over the screaming ball of self-doubt and secondhand shame bouncing around beneath. She was supposed to be a schoolteacher. A prim and modest example of all the strict moral values civilised society required and expected from her young charges. She couldn’t just go gallivanting around naked and having mind-blowing intercourse with a woman she’d just met, could she? That would make all the restrained and rule-abiding life decisions she’d made up till now seem like… nonsense.

It was that thought which finally got her to let go of the gatepost. She wanted all of that to be nonsense. Had perhaps secretly always considered that it was. All the curtsies and petticoats and speaking only when spoken to. She’d done it because she’d had to, had taught it to her students because they would have to too; to survive in this caged world. But then here had come Kinki, chuckling to herself as she watched the knots people tied themselves into when they realised she could and would ignore all of it.

A little way down the lane they passed the widow Edith’s house, one of the few little old biddies who Maude had never caught sneering at her, or making pointed comments about ‘spinsters’. The older woman was idly sweeping at her front path, though there seemed to be little need for such maintenance on this clear morn. She peered over her thick spectacles and grinned at the approaching couple in a slightly unnerving way. This was the first test of Kinki’s magic, yet Maude couldn’t tell at all whether it was working or not. It felt like her elderly neighbour’s gaze was piercing right through her skin to the panicking heart within, but there was no look of shock or horror… just warm, friendly admiration. The schoolteacher tried her best to walk as naturally as she could, to somehow implicate the movements she’d make when sheathed in the protective embrace of clothing. It was a cruel cycle of self-awareness and shifting focus though: She couldn’t remember how she normally walked! So how was she now supposed to know if she was doing it right?!

From the other direction came an even more intimidating prospect: Mr Grunwick, the schoolmaster and her own direct superior. The stern, pinch-faced man had always made it extremely clear that he did not like Maude personally, and did not approve of her disorganised, aspirational approach to teaching. It was only really because he didn’t consider her ‘early-years’ classes worthy of any respect at all, that he hadn’t bothered to fire her.

He swept towards them in his official black cloak, worn like his scowl even on weekends to show how dedicated he was to both.

“Ah, Miss Merryweather. I had heard you had taken in a… lodger.”

He clearly tried to look down his nose at Kinki, but apparently came up short when it became apparent she was at least as tall as he was. There was no indication at all that he realised either of the women were sans clothing.

“I trust that this will not result in any foreign influences creeping into your lessons on Monday?”

Mr Grunwick was one of the many locals who really considered anywhere outside of a 4-mile radius of the village as ‘foreign’: a possibly infectious contagion of strange ideas and loosened morals. Not that Maude could entirely disagree her new ‘lodger’ came with a healthy supply of both. At least her nervousness around this particular individual was not really altered by a state of undress… she’d always felt a little naked in front of him.

She was about to mumble some sort of wheedling affirmation, when instead Kinki chimed in:

“Actually we were thinking of bringing along a live goat for the children to sacrifice, followed by watching us perform a bit of orgasmic demon worshipping while bathing in the still-warm blood.”

She smiled warmly as she reeled off this suggestion, then presented her hand to shake. Mr Grunwick looked at it confusedly, before taking it limply out of **** habit and reaction. A gentleman always took a hand that was offered… but women didn’t usually provide such interactions. The meaning of the words that had been said to him didn’t seem to register at all.

“*Ahem* Right, right… Well as long as that doesn’t hamper their preparation for the mathematics test on Wednesday. I wouldn’t want such distractions getting in the way of things that matter.”

And with that he hurried onwards, clearly not wanting to be seen interacting with the witch any longer than he had to.