"Sitting like this isn't very comfortable," I told Petra. "I'm going to get up and start collecting plates to wash."

"I'll help," she offered.

I smiled.

We roamed around the house, collecting everything that needed collecting, and carried it to the kitchen. I rinsed everything then checked the dishwasher. It was full and needed running. I set the timer on it so it would run later and began filling the sink with suds.

Petra made a few more trips, piling more dishes for me, then stood next to me while I was washing, talking quietly to me. As we talked, she kept getting closer and closer to me. I looked over to her and she pulled away.

"You don't have to move away," I said.

"I do if I don't want to get poked by your hair," she said, batting at my wayward hair.

"Oh," I said. "I didn't think of that when I was working on it." I leaned towards her and tried to poke her with my hair. She laughed.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm just feeling a little horny."

"Oh, Felicia," she said. "That was bad." She reached up and patted my horns.

I grinned. "I was saving that one just for you."

Karen wandered in and deposited a few more plates. Petra found a dish towel and began to dry what I was washing, setting them on the counter for Andrea to put away later.

"Thank you for watching out for me," I told her.

"My pleasure," she said.

We finished the available dishes. When we returned to the living room, the party had dwindled to the two of us, Andrea, Karen and Ben. I grabbed a folding chair and sat on it backwards, letting my tail hang off behind me.

"Andrea," Ben said. "Your new assistant rocks."

"Thank you, Ben," she said. "I agree with you."

I looked around. "I had a glass of ginger ale around here somewhere."

"You just washed it," said Karen. "I'm getting one for myself. Want one?"

"Yes, thank you."

The five of us chatted for another hour. Twice Ben begged off, suggesting the he'd leave the four of us some privacy. Andrea told him not to be daft, that he should stay as long as he was having a nice time.

"Did anyone get pictures of me?" Of the five of us, no one had taken photos. "Could we? Does someone have a camera?"

Andrea went to get hers. "I'm going to go fix my makeup," I said. "I'll just be a few minutes."

I went upstairs. I actually still mostly looked good. I fluffed my hair a bit and touched up the makeup, especially the lipstick. I went back downstairs. Andrea got photos of me descending the stairs. Then we took turns getting photos of everyone. I put a fresh red mark on Karen's neck, and Andrea made sure to get a shot both of me leaving the mark and then of Karen's neck. I touched up the makeup when Petra's back was turned and as soon as she turned back, I latched onto her and gave her a fresh mark, too. Ben had the camera at that point and got several shots.

"There we go," I said. "Blackmail material in case I ever run for President."

Karen and Petra fought over who got to drive me home. I said, "I'll ride with whomever promises me a good night kiss."

"That's me!" said Karen.

Petra growled. She actually growled. Karen and I both looked at her, then Karen turned to me. "Maybe Petra should drive you home."

When we got home, she walked me to my door. "Are you coming in?" I asked.

"Do you need help getting all this off?" she asked.

"And let you see all my secrets? No way, it'll spoil the mystery." I held the door for her. "But you can come in."

I watched her consider everything. "It's late," she said. "Am I invited tomorrow?"

"Of course."

She leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. I accepted it graciously then watched her head to the stairs. I closed my door quietly, then leaned against it.

"I'm such an idiot," I said.

It took me a half hour to climb out of my costume and another twenty minutes to shower and climb into bed.

Dream Petra was holding my hand when I opened my eyes. I looked at her and said, "Real Petra is a fucking pansy."

She looked shocked.

I sighed. "I suppose that's not fair. If she didn't want me the way I was dressed tonight, she clearly never is going to. Why do I keep throwing myself at her?"

Dream Petra looked away, then pulled me into a hug.

"Well, you still love me," I said to her. I started singing, "Looking for love in all the wrong faces."

She pushed me away and shook me a little.

I sighed. "Did you see what I looked like?"

She nodded.

"Did you like it?"

She nodded.

"Well, that's something." I paused. "Of course, I'm the one who is clearly insane. I wonder how much longer I can go on before seeking some sort of help."

She cocked her head.

I gestured around. "All of this. You. Every night? Every single night? Come on, no one does this. Clearly something is wrong with me." I paused. "Am I really asleep?"

She looked at me, startled.

"I might be schizophrenic," I said. "I could be awake and having delusions. Like that guy in 'A Beautiful Mind'."

She shook her head.

"Well, of course my delusions would tell me I'm not. I might go get them cured, then what would happen to them."

I stood up and walked to the wall. I made a window and pointed out. "That's no forest anywhere on earth," I said. Then I closed the window. It was cold. "Where could I possibly have come up with all of this? Night after night?"

She looked worried. She held up a finger, then disappeared. She left me alone for several minutes. I looked around the room. There was a blanket waiting, so she had planned to bring me to her tower.

Sigh. I still thought of her as someone outside me.

I wrapped the blanket around me then made a really small window to look outside.

The window disappeared, and I turned around. Dream Petra was back, holding a note. She handed it to me. It said, "Please tell Real Petra or Andrea before you see a professional." Below that it said, "Promise!"

"I don't think I'm a threat to myself or other people," I told her.

She tapped the bottom of the note where it said "Promise".

I sighed. "If I think I should see a professional, I will talk to Real Petra or Andrea first. I promise." I sighed again. "Making promises to my imaginary friend. Who I can see and touch, and who gives me the most amazing orgasms. My future shrink is going to love me. He'll write a book about me."

She frowned and tapped the note again.

"I promised. You don't have to get the lemon juice."

She smiled, then took my hand and led me to her tower.

She sure felt real. So did what she did to me.

Andrea arrived first. I apologized again. She turned me to her and said, "I should be the one apologizing. You should be able to trust anyone in my home. I'm deeply embarrassed and sorry."

I hugged her and told her I'd had a nice time.

"So Petra will slap their wrists on Monday?"

"No," Petra said, walking in. "Petra will fire them on Monday. We can't do it with cause, because they could claim I gave tacit approval when I saw them do it and didn't stop them. But Renea wants them gone. So do I. I talked to their managers, and they are both happy to be rid of them, too, and are quite happy I'm the one handling it."

I looked away. "I'm sorry to be the cause of so much trouble."

"If you apologize for this one more time," Petra said. "I am going to..."

"What?"

She smiled. "Put you over my knee and spank you."

I laughed. "We both know I'd enjoy it."

"You two get a room," Karen said, stepping in. "There are children present."

Petra shook her head. "So amazingly stupid. Andrea and I clearly have both of you fenced off. How anyone could think they could mess with either of you, I don't understand."

"Yeah," said Andrea. "We're the only ones who get to mess with you."

We moved into the kitchen and waited for Erika. She rang in shortly.

"Boring dinner, Felicia," she said.

"I know," I replied. "But it's a long movie and I thought people would appreciate if we started sooner rather than later."

"What movie?" Andrea asked.

"Avatar," I said. "I've recently been reminded of a place a lot like Pandora, so it seemed fitting."

Dinner was spaghetti using canned sauce and ground hamburger plus frozen garlic cheese bread from the store. Start to finish was about fifteen minutes.

"I know it's boring and not up to standards," I said.

"Nonsense," said Petra. She tasted it. "But may I doctor it?"

Petra and Erika negotiated herbs. It was better when they were done.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie.

Sunday night, Dream Petra had my clothes and the swords waiting. She was dressed in her Van Helsing outfit, which I really thought looked great on her. My matching outfit looked pretty good on me, too.

I got dressed, then drew the sword, assuming we were doing katas. She shook her head and walked up to me, helping me to sheath the sword again. She adjusted it on my hip then led me out the door.

We descended into the courtyard. Instead of heading to her tower, we turned right and stared at the wall of the castle. She gestured, and an opening appeared. She turned to look at me.

"We're going for a walk?"

She nodded.

I smiled. "I'd like that."

She took my right arm, and we stepped out of the castle.

I hadn't been out of the castle before. The woods were even more amazing from down below. The trees were huge, absolutely huge. There was a trail we followed, but it was a dense forest on either side.

The plants were unlike the plants I knew. There were huge flowers, much larger than any I'd seen before. I turned to her. "Is anything dangerous?"

She nodded.