Cursed Read online

  “Receive him?” Her words formed a picture in Charlie’s head of herself and Stavros standing in a receiving line after a wedding—their wedding—greeting and thanking everyone who had come. He would look handsome in his tux and she would be wearing a big white dress… Ha—like that would ever happen!

  “Yes, receive him—into your body,” Nar’sa said, leading her deeper into the pink room which appeared to be made of many twisting hallways. The Hossan seemed to be picking which way they went at random and Charlie hoped she knew what she was doing. Normally she had a good sense of direction but she was already hopelessly lost—wandering through the pink corridors was like walking through a giant seashell.

  “Receive him into my…” Finally the other woman’s words registered. “Oh, you mean sex?”

  “Penetration. Where the male enters the female—is that not how love is made by your people?” Nar’sa cast a look over one slim shoulder at her.

  “Yup, that’s it all right.” But it’s not going to happen between me and Stavros! she thought but didn’t say. There was no point in getting her hostess suspicious or setting back their mission anymore. They had already been pushed back to the outer circle—The Circle of Enlightenment, whatever that meant. She didn’t want to be kicked completely out of the Temple of Learning. Still, she had to know what was expected of her and Stavros. “Um, are you expecting us to do that tonight?” she asked. “I mean, because I was under the impression that this resort was more about therapy and counseling—”

  “Make love tonight? Oh no—no indeed!” Nar’sa’s eyes flared briefly the pinkish color Charlie thought meant she was shocked. “No, you are beginners—new to the ways of each other’s bodies. You must go through the Circle of Enlightenment and the Circle of Discovery before you even think of attempting such a thing.”

  “Oh good.” Charlie felt a sense of relief. “And this, uh Circle of Enlightenment. What’s it all about? I mean—”

  “Most of the classes and exercises you will do involve talking to each other. Intimacy building and trust exercises.”

  “Oh, okay. Trust exercises.” Charlie nodded. She had this place pegged now. Like plenty of other people, she’d been forced to take part in team building retreats for work that included trust exercises. Where one person fell backwards and a coworker caught them…well, that didn’t sound too bad. And she was pretty sure she could trust Stavros to catch her. Even if the big warrior was still kind of pissed off at her for speaking her mind earlier, he was too honorable to let her fall on the floor and crack her skull or bust her ass.

  “Do not worry—you will be fine.” Nar’sa smiled at her. “And now, here we are, at the pool of cleansing.”

  The narrow hallway they had been walking single file in suddenly opened out into a large room with a high ceiling. But the pool the Hossan talked about, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a solid, shimmering turquoise wall that went from the pink metal floor to the ceiling, twenty feet overhead.

  “Where’s the pool?” Charlie asked, looking around. “And what is that weird bluish wall?”

  “The wall is the pool. It is not a pool of water,” her hostess said. “But a pool of cleansing plasma. When you walk through it, you will be stripped of all impurities.”

  “Along with my skin and hair! Stars are made of plasma—isn’t it some kind of superheated gas? Huh-uh—no way.” Charlie shook her head. “I’m not going in there.”

  “This is cool plasma,” Nar’sa said, smiling at little at her fear. “Do not worry—it dissolves only impurities.”

  Charlie shook her head, not convinced. “Look, I’m sorry but I just—”

  “Watch.” Nar’sa untied her crimson robe and let it drop to her feet. Charlie had a moment to notice that she could actually see bones and organs—including a beating pinkish-purple heart—through the alien’s transparent skin. Then she stepped into the wall of turquoise which flowed around her without losing its shape.

  Charlie watched in fascination as the alien woman moved through the swirling bluish-green depths. True to her word, she didn’t seem to be in any danger. She didn’t even seem to be having difficulty breathing. She simply glided along effortlessly in a way that was half swimming, half walking. It looked a little like she was strolling around inside a massive cube of blue-green Jell-O.

  Charlie frowned as she watched. It looked safe enough. Actually, it kind of looked fun. Charlie found herself wanting to try it, despite her misgivings.

  Well, here goes nothing. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward and thrust one finger into the shimmering turquoise wall. When her finger wasn’t instantly seared off she let out a sigh of relief. The plasma, as Nar’sa had promised, wasn’t hot at all. In fact, Charlie felt nothing but a cool, tingling sensation. Feeling braver, she stepped closer and put her whole arm in. The tingling increased but again it didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt strangely refreshing.

  Charlie went ahead and stepped all the way into the wall of clear turquoise plasma. To her delight, the tingling enveloped her entire body like a burst of tiny tickling bubbles all over her skin. When she opened her mouth in a gasp, the plasma flowed in, filling her throat and lungs with the sparking sensation—like she was breathing champagne. It tasted like rain and sunshine mixed together—Charlie couldn’t think of a better way to describe it than that—and it filled her with a sudden euphoria.

  “Ahh!” she said, or tried to say. But the plasma apparently didn’t conduct sound because she didn’t hear anything. In fact, the whole experience was completely silent and yet, she had never felt more vibrant and alive than she did just then, standing naked at the edge of the vast plasma cube.

  Nar’sa turned and made a beckoning gesture to her.

  Charlie nodded and took a step towards her—but found that she was gliding instead of walking. Only the tips of her toes skimmed the floor and her body was propelled effortlessly along as she moved through the swirling, sparkling plasma towards the other female. Nar’sa’s eyes glowed with light and she made a motion Charlie didn’t understand. Then she did a flip—slow and graceful and beautifully acrobatic. She made the motion again and Charlie understood.

  Oh, she wants me to do it too. She’d always been athletic—in fact, she’d gone to college on a track scholarship—so she didn’t mind trying even though gymnastics wasn’t really her thing.

  To her delight, it was amazingly easy to flip—the plasma supported her completely. Soon she was doing cartwheels and somersaults and all kinds of maneuvers that would have been impossible on dry land and even difficult in the water. But the cool turquoise gel seemed to make everything not just possible but completely effortless. She glided all the way up to the top of the clear turquoise cube and then back down again, flipping and turning all the way. She laughed soundlessly as she went—the sensation of the plasma all around her, and the things it made possible was amazing…positively addictive.

  Afterwards she wasn’t sure how long she had spent inside the pool of cleansing. It might have been only a few minutes or it might have been hours. She seemed to lose track of time as she and Nar’sa flipped and spun and played tag and chase—acting like she hadn’t acted with anyone since she and Missy were little girls.

  No, don’t think of that. Don’t think of Missy!

  The sad memory of her sister brought Charlie up short. Suddenly, she was ready to leave the pool and she made motions to Nar’sa, trying to indicate as much.

  The alien woman nodded and began gliding towards the far side of the turquoise cube. She stepped out of it gracefully and motioned for Charlie to do the same.

  Charlie followed her but it was harder to get out than it had been to get in. She felt as though she was pushing against a thin but resistant skin as she tried to get out of the vast turquoise cube. At last, Nar’sa reached in, took her hand and pulled. With an almost audible pop, she suddenly found herself standing naked and breathless on the other side.

  “Wow! That was…amazing.” Charlie shook her head