There was a grin on DeMorrell's face as he led the group of three girls down the corridors. "I should have wished for a castle," he said. "But as they say, a man's home is his castle. But, of course, you don't care where we're going right now. You can't."
Wendi cared very much, but she was pretty helpless to do anything so far. DeMorrell hadn't let go of his magic staff. She had to keep pretending to obey him, waiting for some slip-up, while trying to remember the location of anything useful.
It didn't make any difference. DeMorrell opened a door and he and the three girls came out into the open air... whereupon he pointed to a large house barely visible at least a mile away. "Get close," he said.
Jon, Karyn, and Wendi all snuggled close to him, and instantly they were somewhere else. In a bedroom.
Teleport, thought Wendi. She should have guessed. There was a king-sized bed on the size of the luxurious room. Paintings hung on the wall and a half-open walk-in closet revealed shirts and suits of different colors and styles.
"Jon, show your passion for me," said DeMorrell. "The other two of you, stand up against the wall."
There was love--lust?--in Jon's eyes. She put an arm around DeMorrell and with the other arm started to unbutton his suit, as she said "Yes, master". It was obvious what DeMorrell had in mind; Wendi was worried for Jon. The experience would not be a pleasant memory when he returned to normal.
... if he could return to normal. That all depended on whether DeMorrell ever slipped up. But not aware that Wendi wasn't under his power, he inevitably would and did. It happened a few minutes later, when DeMorrell put the staff aside and got into bed with Jon. The staff lay on an end table--just three steps or so away.
Wendi had thoughts of DeMorrell filling her friend with another kind of staff, but that wouldn't happen if she could just make one wish. She thought about what to do--what if DeMorrell was immune to magic? And she couldn't just escape with her friends--DeMorrell had wished up a teleport ability and could easily chase them down.
Wendi took the three agonizing steps towards the magical device. But Karyn wasn't paying any attention, and DeMorrell was too involved with Jon to notice. She picked up the magic staff and spoke a wish....
