Miss Trickett arrives!

"Ah," said Miss Trickett. She was a tall, exotic, raven-haired woman with dark eyeshadow in a tight black silk cheongsam, and she walked into the room as if she owned the place, which she did. "I see you've discovered my little hobby."

"Hobby? It's..." Susie hesitated, not sure how to describe it. Twisted? Perverted? Just plain odd? "What did you do to them?" she finished, a little weakly. "Let them go at once, or I'm calling the sheriff!"

"It's simple, really. An Oriental art, learnt from monks in the mountains near Shangri-La. The little darlings use it to meditate. I found a more... interesting application."

"I'm not joking!"

"But neither am I, my dear." Miss Trickett had a small brass coin in her hand. Where had it come from? She was twirling it across her fingers, moving it back and forth, making it disappear and reappear. Susie's eyes couldn't help but follow it. "A curious form of hypnosis that puts its victim outside time. You can stay in the trance state forever, untiring, never getting hungry or sleepy or bored. But able to feel everything, you see. And quite unable to move, unless... I... tell... you... to..."

Susie blinked.

She tried to move her left arm. She couldn't. She tried to move her right arm. She couldn't move that either. She could move her eyes, and her lips, just a little bit. She tried to squeak.

"And then... oh, it's terribly funny," said Miss Trickett, advancing. "Do you know what I do next, my dear? Once I've frozen my precious little victims? It's really the most amusing thing."

She couldn't even whimper.

"I take... off... all... their... clothes," Trickett whispered, her sultry voice sliding over Susie's ears as she reached out a hand and, with long, delicate fingers, began to pluck at the strap of Susie's dress. "The little darlings hate it. They can't do anything to stop me. They just have to stand there as I ever... so... slowly... strip... them..."

She paused, then nudged Susie's dress. The strap slid off her shoulder, exposing pale skin.

"Naked," she whispered, and nudged the other strap. Susie's dress slithered down to her ankles. She was a tall, slender girl, with small but perky breasts and a pleasantly rounded bottom, as inviting as a ripe summer apple, and she didn't show her body to people very often. Her bra was black, her panties white. Her eyes were wide as saucers, her skin tingling all over as Trickett giggled and snapped her bra-strap.

"Then," she said, "I put them on display in my museum."

She picked Susie up, lifting the slender girl with ease, and began to carry her towards a podium in the centre of the room, talking the whole time. Susie's eyes darted frantically around, looking for Bonnie. Where had the other girl gotten to? Was there hope for escape? The alternative didn't bear thinking about. Trickett patted her bottom as she set her down on the podium.

"What do you think, boys?" she said. "Are you enjoying the show!"

A chorus of affirmation. Trickett smiled. "Of course you are, boys! What red-blooded American wouldn't jump at the chance to see the whole cheer team in the nude? And don't forget to tell all your friends! The night is still young, and I wouldn't want anyone to miss out!" Laughter. "Do me a favour and don't let the girls ever, ever forget about this! I want teasing! Rude nicknames! Take pictures, and post them all around the school! Make sure they remember this night for the rest of their lives!"

More laughter. Anne was trying to wiggle her toes, the blush coursing down her face across her breasts. The little left pinky barely moved. Trickett's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Of course, in the morning I'll let them go," she said. "Oh, I'll tie them up and leave them in the bushes five miles out of town, but I won't keep them forever. You, on the other hand..."

She began to undo Susie's bra.

"You'll make a lovely Emily Dickinson."