Incest/Taboo Bred by the Hive

The following morning at breakfast Rachel was silent as she ate her breakfast.

"Are you all right, Sis?" Susan asked anxiously. She remembered Rachel being taken by her rider the day before, crying out as Marion held her in her arms while Ryan implanted her master on her back.

Rachel nodded without saying a word.

"What does it feel like, the thing... on you back?"

Rachel made a face. "I don't want to talk about it." In fact her rider had been stimulating her all night, in preparation for her first training session. She woke up hot and sweaty with her hands between her legs, eager for release but knowing exactly how and where she was going to get it.

"Here you are, sweetie, I made pancakes, your favorite," said Marion, setting a platter down by her eldest daughter.

Rachel stared at her mother but said nothing. Slowly she started eating the pancakes.

"Don't be so glum, dear. You'll feel better once Ryan starts your training."

"Training?" said Susan. "What does that mean, Mother? What is Ryan going to do to her?"

"Ryan is going to make love to your sister, dear," said Marion, smiling broadly.

"Make love to her? Again?" Susan asked.

"It's all part of her training," said Marion.

Paul came into the kitchen. "Good morning, dear." They kissed briefly, though Paul's face looked wooden.

"Has Rachel begun her training yet?" Paul asked.

"Not yet," said Marion. "I thought she should have a healthy breakfast first."

"I want her training to begin first thing after breakfast," said Paul.

"Of course," said Marion, bowing her head.

Paul looked at Rachel. "Your brother is going to train you. You are to do everything he says."

Rachel looked from her father's expressionless face to her mother's concerned one. "I... I understand, Dad."

Rachel was not exactly excited to participate in her first training. Like Ryan, she was proving to be more than a little reluctant even though she now wore an immature rider. Ryan came into her bedroom wearing only a bathrobe. Rachel knew what that meant.

"Are you ready to begin, Sis?" he asked.

"Do we... do we really have to?" Rachel asked, still hoping there was a way out of this. She realized she wasn't really talking to her brother. She was talking to her brother plus... something else.

"Of course," said Ryan.

"But...." Her voice trailed off.

"Didn't you enjoy when we made love for the first time?"

"I... yes...." She blushed. The experience had been her best ever, although her sexual experiences had been quite limited before this. But she knew having sex with her brother was wrong. She just knew it! "Please don't make me do this," she whispered.

Ryan cocked his head as if he was listening to something she couldn't hear. Then his facial expression abruptly changed. "All right, Sis. My master tells me you don't have to perform if you don't want to, at least not this time. All my master wants right now is to see your rider. Is that all right?"

Rachel considered and nodded. She moved to take off her shirt. She couldn't see her rider right now but knew what Ryan would see. She had stared in the mirror at the small pulsating mass between her shoulder blades long enough. She had an alien creature on her body, and slowly but surely it was growing.

Ryan turned her so her rider was facing him. He started to gently touch it with his finger. Rachel gasped.

"You like that, Sis?"

Rachel nodded. Every time Ryan touched her rider, she felt sexually stimulated. In moments she felt an urgent need burning between her legs.

"Why don't you take off the rest of your clothes, Sis?"

"Why?" Rachel asked.

"My master wants to see you nude."

His master. The thing on his back. Rachel nodded thickly and reached for her pants. She pulled them off so she was only wearing her bra and panties. She saw Ryan looking at her expectantly. She felt her rider pulsating on her back and its tendrils in her mind. They couldn't control her, not yet, but they could influence her.

Rachel hesitantly unstrapped her bra. She hesitated at her panties. Should she take it off?

Ryan saw her sister blinking, and cocking her head.

"What is it, Sis?"

"My... rider. It wants me to take off my panties."

"And so?" Ryan asked.

Rachel paused, rocking slightly. "I... I must obey."

Then she started to remove her panties.

Yes! Rachel was beginning to obey her rider!

Ryan smiled as her sister obediently disrobed. Even in its weaker, immature state, her rider was beginning to take control of her. And then Ryan took off his bathrobe.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, alarmed and excited to see her brother naked. He said he wanted to see her nude; why did he need to be naked as well?

Ryan gave a manly grin and spoke in a deep, almost unnatural voice. "I am the male, and you are the female. It's the most natural thing in the world." He sat down by her. She felt the heat of his thigh against hers.

He had tricked her! Or, a little voice told her, had she let herself be tricked?

She felt his lips pressed against hers, and responded.

"You like?"

Rachel nodded dumbly.

Ryan smiled and together brother and sister started doing the most natural thing in the world. As Ryan kissed her and touched her and pleased her, Rachel felt herself burning with desire. It was her rider doing that, she told herself. It was all her rider. And yet, as she looked at her brother's large penis, she realized it was something more, as well.

Ryan smiled as if he could read her mind. He gently pulled her down onto the bed, and Rachel gave in to the inevitable.

Susan peeked through the open crack in the doorway into Rachel's bedroom. Mom said that Rachel was being trained. But it was like no training Susan had ever seen. Ryan and Rachel were totally nude in bed together, having sex, apparently. Ryan was lying on his back while Rachel, squatting over his midsection, bounced up and down while Ryan grabbed her hips. Her small breasts bounced up and down and her ribs were more apparent than ever on her skinny frame as she made love to her brother, if indeed that was what she was doing. As Rachel bounced up and down, they spoke to each other.

"You want to be controlled. You want to be controlled," said Ryan.

Susan jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder behind her as she spied on her brother and sister.

"It's just me, dear," Marion smiled at Susan. "Are you curious to see how your sister is doing? I am too."

"What is he doing to her?" Susan asked as she saw Rachel, with a vacant stare, say, "I want to be controlled," even as she continued to bounce up and down.

"Ryan is helping your sister's rider to grow, and teaching her what it means to be a fully functioning female in the service of the Hive," said Marion.

"Mom, you say that like it's a good thing," said Susan.

Marion put an arm around her youngest one. "Come dear, let's talk. Just you and me."

Marion and her youngest were bonding over tea as a mother and daughter do... but with a difference.

"Eduardo's penis felt so good inside me," she said, as recounted her experience with him.

"Mom, how can you sit there and talk about how you cheated on Dad and had sex with a complete stranger?" Susan asked.

"You make it sound like such a horrible thing," said Marion, looking into her coffee cup.

"It is horrible," said Susan firmly. "You betrayed Dad. How could you sleep with another man?"

"Truthfully, I was terrified, my first time," said Marion, smiling wistfully. "The first time I was with a man other than your father, I mean. Having a new man inside of me. Another man's penis. Another man's cum." She smiled again at Susan, and touched her hand. "But Eduardo was so gentle, so loving, just like Ryan was with your sister yesterday. He helped me, Susan." She squeezed gently.

"How... how did he help you, Mom?" Susan asked. When Marion was fully dressed like this, Susan could no longer easily see the creature on her back. She could fool herself into thinking that her mother was back to normal... if she didn't look too closely. Now that everyone had joined the Hive in the family, except for Susan, and there were no longer any secrets to hide, Marion had started wearing tight blouses around the house. When she turned away, Susan could see her rider quite clearly through her shirt. It was big and heavy and meaty, going down half her back. When it pulsated, her shirt actually moved with it. Susan wanted to believe she was talking to her mother, but she knew in reality that she was talking to Marion's rider, or whatever Marion's rider had turned her into.

Marion's shirts were tight in the front as well as the back now, clearly showing off the shape of her large, heavy breasts. The days of baggy sweaters were long gone. She wore a sheer shirt now which shamelessly revealed the shape and contours of her breasts. Her nipples were hard and firm and pointing out through the stretched fabric, something that would have been inconceivable for Marion to display merely weeks ago.

She seemed to prefer tight pants too, ones that showed every stress line between her legs as well as her well muscled thighs. She wore heavy makeup, eye shadow and rouge and lipstick, which made her look highly sexualized. Even her eyes were different. They seemed to glow in a way that made Susan deeply disturbed.

And yet some of what her mother was must remain. Marion had fought tooth and nail to keep Susan out of the Hive, even as she went off on the great virtues of being part of the Hive, a glaring contradiction. Somewhere inside of Marion must still be a part of her that the Hive hadn't conquered. Susan hoped, perhaps with futility, to reach that part of her mother.

Marion smiled at her with that new glow in her eyes. "Eduardo taught me that love is universal. That I am just a vagina, made to give and receive pleasure from men. He taught me that my rider is my very best friend. I have come to love it so much, especially as it's taken greater control of my mind-"

This was too much for Susan. "Mother, do you hear what you're saying? You're telling me how happy you are that your mind has been taken over!"

"Yes, dear," said Marion calmly, as she stirred her tea.

"Don't you see a contradiction there?"

Marion paused, considering. "No," she said.

"Mother, think about what you're doing! You can't do this! Sex with other men. Spreading these creatures to other people's backs. Having sex with your own son! Don't you know how wrong this is? Don't you remember a time when you thought it was wrong?"

Marion looked startled, and for a moment Susan thought she had reached her. But then she sighed, and said, "Of course, dear. I remember everything. But the Hive had improved me. It has liberated my sexuality. I can see how it looks to you. But how it looks to me now is quite different. When I look back I see my sexuality shackled to one man, one penis, for the rest of my life. It was so confining, so limited. And now I have been able to sample such a wide variety of mankind. To collect the sperm from men, so many men, deep inside me." She smiled at the remembrance.

Susan leaned forward. "Mother, try to think clearly! Your sexuality is being used!"

"Yes, I know," said Marion, petting her own hair. "And I couldn't be happier."

Susan tried to think of some way to reach her. "You... You were having sex with your own son!"

"Yes, I was," Marion smiled fondly at the memory of it as she squared her shoulders. "Ryan felt so good the first time I felt him inside me. I've wanted to make love to him for years, Susan dear."

"No you didn't!" Susan cried.

"Of course I did," said Marion, taking her hand again. "What mother wouldn't? You saw him, Susan. He's even larger than your father when he's erect. He feels so good, so solid inside... where else could I get the opportunity to have sex with such a handsome young man, if not for the Hive?"

"But Mother, you put a creature on his back which has taken over his mind," said Susan.

"Yes, and he loves every minute of it," said Marion. "And so will your sister, once she's properly trained." She paused and licked her lips. "And so will you."

"No, Mom!" Susan cried. She shook her head in frustration. "What about Dad?" She asked quickly. She thought she saw an unguarded expression on Marion's face.

"What about him?"

"Ryan told me what he was doing. Are you happy that he's fucking Aunt Chloe and all these other women?"

"I... I...."

"Yes, Mom?"

"It's what the Hive requires," said Marion stoically.

"Please, Mom, try to fight it! Try to remember what you used to be!"

"But I don't want to be the way I was," said Marion. "Oh, Susan, if you only knew how good it felt. To give your mind and your body and your cunt. To let yourself be used, to be controlled. To be made to fuck dozens of men, to feel their penises slick inside you while on your back you make a new master to take control of their minds and bodies." Marion squeezed her blonde daughter's hand tightly. "The feeling of reproduction, of giving up some of your life essence to create an alien form of life on your back... Susan, it feels so intoxicating, so powerful."

Susan's jaw dropped open. Marion turned to the side to glance at the chrono, and when she did Susan saw the hump on her back pulsate again. In her sheer shirt it looked yellowish brown and heavy.

She had to reach her mother. She simply had to!

"Think, Mom, think! You can't do this! Think how you were before Chloe forced you to take a rider!"

Marion blinked and her head jerked back an inch. "Chloe didn't force me to take a rider. I begged her to give me one."

Susan's jaw dropped open again, even wider this time. "What? No, Mother, it can't be true."

"It is true," said Marion, her eyes shining. Her heavy breasts were clearly visible under her sheer shirt, her nipples erect. "When I saw what bliss Chloe and her family were enjoying, I begged Chloe to give me a rider."

"No," Susan shook her head. "You wouldn't! You couldn't!"

"I remember taking off my shirt, and facing the wall of Chloe's living room, my back open and available to my new master, waiting to be taken, begging to be taken," said Marion. "I remember pleading with Chloe to take a rider, begging her to give me a master who would take control of my mind. I remember the joy when the implantation occurred. Oh, Susan, it was the happiest moment of my life!"

Susan was speechless. With her Mother's shining eyes, heavy makeup, and sheer clothing, she realized that she was talking to a totally different person. One who had been made and formed by the Hive.

Ryan suddenly entered the kitchen, completely naked, with a glistening erection between his legs. "We have a problem," he said.

Rachel was resisting, as Ryan once had. Rachel mounted Ryan's penis and rode up and down when told to; she made the exertion required to feed her rider, as required; but she wouldn't repeat the key phrases of her indoctrination.

Marion knew this was trouble. She briefly considered telling Rachel that if she didn't submit, that the Hive might consume her. But then, thinking on it, Marion thought of a better idea.

"What?" said Susan. "Did I just hear you correctly, Mother?"

"You did," said Marion.

"You want me to help you brainwash Rachel?"

"To train her, yes," said Marion. "I'm frightfully worried for her, Susan. She can be as pigheaded and as stubborn as... well, as you."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Mother."

"As you will," said Marion. "The fact is, however, that if Rachel doesn't comply, she might be consumed."

"Consumed."

"Literally eaten by the Hive."

"They do that?"

Marion nodded. "Sometimes."

"Does she know?"

Marion shook her head. "I'm worried it might only make her more defiant."

Susan's eyes narrowed. "Then why tell me?"

"She loves you dearly. You two are very close. If you told Rachel that you would be brought into the Hive if she didn't cooperate, she might change her mind."

"You want me to help you brainwash my own sister?"

"Given the alternative, yes. If you love her as much as I do, you would too."

Susan hung her head and thought for a long moment.

"Just talk to her, dear. Do it for me, please?"

Susan bit her lip and reluctantly nodded.

Susan was in Rachel's bedroom. The room reeked of sex. Rachel was naked, her skin glistening. Ryan had gone off to take a break while Susan talked with her. After all she had gone through, Rachel no longer seemed self conscious about being naked in front of her little sister.

"They're going to do what?" said Rachel, dabbing off her sweaty body with a dry towel.

"Bring me into the Hive." Susan felt terrible about deceiving her sister. But she had rationalized it exactly as Marion had wanted her to. She was lying to Rachel in order to save her life. Being a conditioned servant in the Hive was still better than being dead.

"Really?" Rachel wiped some sweat off her brow. She felt exhausted, having spent the better part of an hour bouncing up and down on Ryan's penis. Her rider felt slick on her back. It had raised her arousal and withheld an orgasm until she repeated the key phrases, but Rachel had resisted resolutely.

"Yes," said Susan. "Rach, I feel horrible asking you to do this, but since you've already got that thing on your back-"

"Say no more," said Rachel, raising her hand.

"Oh, Rachel, I love you so much!" Susan hugged her tightly. Rachel hugged her back. As Susan hugged her, she accidently brushed the rider on her back. Rachel stiffened and pushed her away.

"Don't touch my rider," she said, her face contorting. "Never touch it."

"Of course," said Susan. Rachel's rider already had some control over her. And with Susan's help, soon it would have even more.

Ryan came back at that moment. "Are you ready to resume, Sis?"

"I guess," said Rachel, with an unreadable expression on her face.

Ryan glanced from Rachel to Susan and nodded. As he got on the bed Susan got up to leave. "No, Susan. Stay."

"What?" said Susan.

"Mom said you were going to stay and help," said Ryan, giving an irritating grin.

"She did?" said Susan.

"Absolutely," said Ryan resolutely. He lay down on Rachel's bed and looked inquiringly at Rachel. "Mount me, Sis."

Rachel sighed and mounted her brother. A sheen of sweat covered her thin body. Rachel looked down at her brother's erection for a long moment.

Is she really going to put that in her? In front of me? Susan wondered.

"Do it," said Ryan. After a pause, he said, "The Hive demands it."

Susan watched as Rachel's immature rider throbbed on her back. Rachel seemed to fight within her self for a long moment. Then finally she nodded, as if finishing a conversation with someone, took Ryan's penis in hand, and settled down on him. Rachel grunted slightly as she slowly impaled herself on her brother's shaft and gave a small "aaaah....."

Once she had settled down on it, Ryan said, "Comfy?"

Rachel nodded.

"Then you may begin."

Rachel obediently started moving up and down on his shaft. She was so weary that she didn't even bother to blush as she made love to her brother in front of her sister.

"Now where did we leave off?" Ryan grinned. "Ah yes. You want to be controlled, don't you, Sis?"

Rachel grimaced. Then she said, "Yes."

"Then repeat it."

Rachel looked at Susan.

"Say it, Rachel," said Susan. "Tell Ryan you want to be controlled!"

. "I... I want to be controlled. Aaaaah!" A surge of sexual pleasure coursed through her.

"That's right, Sis. Doesn't that feel good?" Ryan asked.

"Yes," said Rachel, avoiding eye contact with her sister as she shamelessly rode on Ryan's shaft. Susan watched fascinated as Ryan's long penis appeared and disappeared inside her sister's fleshy labial lips. Rachel's breasts were small, but her nipples were erect. Susan felt a tingling in her clitoris.

"Now say it again," said Ryan.

"No... no....." said Rachel.

"Say it, Rachel," Susan snapped. "Tell him you want to be controlled!" She felt terrible participating in this. But it had to be done if Rachel's life was to be saved.

Rachel looked at Susan and her resolve crumbled. "I... I want to be controlled."

Nothing happened. There was no orgasmic surge.

"You have to say it convincingly this time," said Ryan. "Say it again."

Rachel looked pained and shook her head.

"Come on, Sis, do it!" Susan cried.

"I....

"Say it!" Susan cried again.

"I want to be controlled." Rachel rode up and down on Ryan's shaft. She gritted her teeth. "I want to be controlled! I want to be controlled! Ahhhhh!" Her eyes rolled up into her head for a moment. She looked so sexy, as her young, skinny body moved up and down on her brother. As Rachel cried out, Susan felt a sharp twinge of pleasure in her clit.

Her worm.

Susan's worm had left her alone, mostly, since Marion had implanted it the night before, as long as she didn't try to alert the authorities or see a doctor. Pain was a quick teacher and Susan quickly learned that the easiest way to avoid pain was not to try to remove it.

But now her worm, tightly wrapped around her clitoris, was actively stimulating her, in time with Rachel's training. Every time Rachel cooperated, her worm would reward her with a jolt of sexual pleasure.

It's training me too, Susan thought.

"Let's try a more challenging one," Ryan said. "You want your rider to take control of your mind," said Ryan. "Say it, Sis."

Rachel bit her lip. She grimaced, thought about it, and shook her head, even as her rider pulsated furiously on her back.

"Do it, Rachel," said Susan. She grabbed her sister's hand. "Do it for me. Please, Sis!"

Rachel felt her resolve crumbling. She gasped as she impaled herself on Ryan's penis and said, "I... I want..." She tried to strike a forceful tone. "I want my rider to take control of my mind! Aaaaaahh!" Rachel felt a stronger wave of sexual pleasure, radiating from her cunt.

So did Susan. She gasped, startling Rachel, who looked puzzled, and then smiled.

That was the turning point. After that, Rachel stopped resisting. She repeated the key phrases exactly as she was taught. Rachel quickly learned to associate sexual release with repeating the key phrases. She started doing it with gusto, without any further prompting from Susan

"You want to be filled with my seed," said Ryan, his stiff shaft appearing and disappearing as Rachel bounced up and down.

"I want to be filled with your seed," said Rachel, gasping as she bounced up and down. She was tired, so very tired. Not only was it exhausting being the one who had to perform all the motion during sex, but she could feel her rider on her back sapping her of energy. But as she spoke she looked at Susan, who smiled at her and held her hand supportively as she made love to her brother.

"You want to be used to fuck men and bring them into the Hive," said Ryan.

"I want to be used to fuck men and bring them into the Hive," said Rachel. This time both she and Susan gasped. Rachel hesitantly smiled shyly at her sister, and Susan found herself smiling back. Rachel was having sex with Ryan, but somehow Susan was involved in the process, in a way she didn't quite understand.

"You want to breed Hive life inside you," said Ryan.

"I... I want to breed Hive life inside me," said Rachel, gasping again. Susan cried out a second later as she felt another burst of pleasure radiating from her clit.

"In your cunt, dear sister," said Ryan.

Rachel grimaced and made a sour face but nodded. "Yes, in my... cunt." She felt nothing. "I want to be used to breed Hive life in my cunt!" she cried. Immediately she gasped, as did Susan, and Ryan grinned.

As Susan gasped, Rachel turned to her and flashed her another smile, and Susan smiled back at her sister yet again.

The training continued for nearly an hour. Rachel was ready to climax long before then, but her rider didn't permit it, keeping her skating on the edge. The worm in Susan's clitoris seemed to have a similar ability, sensing what level of stimulation she needed to climax and then stimulating her mightily without letting her achieve it.

Rachel wiped some of the perspiration off her face. Her hair was slick with it. "Please, brother. Let me come."

"It's not up to me," said Ryan. "It's up to your rider."

"Please," said Rachel, to no one in particular. She bounced up and down, feeling Ryan penetrate her with every stroke.

Up!

"I want to be used." Her face was a mask of tension, covered with sweat, her eyes large and focused.

Down!

"I want to be controlled."

Up!

"I want to serve the Hive!"

Rachel's body shuddered once, then again, then again. Her body jerked like a puppet on strings as she felt a massive orgasm overtake her. Susan felt the same thing, and as she climaxed, she looked into Rachel's eyes and realized they had shared something very close, very intimate, something that sisters don't normally experience.

Afterwards, Ryan said, "How was it, Sis?"

Rachel blinked rapidly as her rider pulsated on her back. "It... it was good," she said, in a surprised voice. She gave a cautious smile.

Ryan's smile broadened. "And it will only get even better, now that you are cooperating." He turned to Susan. "My master sensed you enjoyed it too."

Susan blushed and turned away.

Marion gave Susan a kiss and a hug before dinner.

"What was that for?" said Susan.

"I heard you helped with your sister's training today," said Marion.

"I... maybe a little," said Susan, sounding dismayed.

"Your sister's a quick learner," said Marion, pinching her ass. "Just like you."

What have I done? Susan thought. She had acted purely out of love and concern, to try and save Rachel's life. But somehow, in the process of doing so, she had become a tool, a tool which had been used to help the Hive gain control over her older sister.

Susan sought out her sister after dinner in her bedroom. She was sitting and reading her Pad.

"Sis?" said Susan, knocking on her door.

"Susan," said Rachel, in a calm tone.

What have I done to her, Susan thought. What has she become?

"How... how are you doing?" Susan asked anxiously

"Tired," said Rachel. "When Ryan saw how well things were going, he gave me an extra fuck session later this afternoon."

How well things were going?

"I'm so sorry," said Susan, squeezing her hand.

"Don't be," said Rachel. "I'm not angry with you."

"Are you... are you starting to believe the things you're saying?"

Rachel paused and gave Susan a long look. "Of course not."

"Of course not," Susan said.

Mercifully, Susan wasn't required to attend any more of Rachel's training sessions. Now that Rachel's resistance had been broken, her presence was no longer necessary. But somehow Susan felt compelled to come to Rachel's door and listen through it. She heard her sister repeating key phrases.

"I want to be enslaved by the Hive."

"I want to be a tool of reproduction."

"I want to incubate alien eggs and have them grow inside me."

Intermixed with the key phrases were the sounds of her sister moaning in obvious sexual pleasure. With every moan Susan's worm stimulated her. She started to become sexually aroused. She thought of Ryan's stiff penis thrusting in and out of Rachel. The thought of it made her excited.

Susan raced back to her bedroom and hurriedly closed the door. Her pants were off less than ten seconds later.

That evening, Susan again sought out Rachel in her bedroom.

"How are your... sessions going?" Susan asked.

"They're still tiring," said Rachel, making a face.

"You still don't believe the things you're saying, do you?" Susan asked.

"No," said Rachel. "But...."

"But what?"

"It feels so good to say them," said Rachel. "Even just saying the words now... I want to be enslaved by the Hive.... " She shuddered. "Oh, Susan, I just felt so good down there saying that," she pointed at her groin.

"You're being conditioned. You have to fight it," said Susan.

"You're the one who told me not to fight it," Rachel snapped.

Susan looked as confused as she felt. "I... I know I did... I mean....."

"I know what you meant," said Rachel, also looking confused and frustrated.

"Is... is the thing on your back getting bigger?"

Rachel considered. "A little. Do... do you want to look?"

"If it's all right with you."

Rachel nodded and stood up, facing away from her sister. She lifted her shirt over her head.

Susan resisted a gasp. Rachel's rider looked much bigger and heavier than it had when Ryan had first implanted it two days ago. It was nowhere as big as Marion's heavy double banded rider, but it was clearly on the way to the first level of sexual maturity. And once it reached it, it would control her sister's mind. It pulsated even as Susan watched.

Rachel turned around and saw the expression on her sister's face.

"Don't worry. Weatherly girls are tough. I'll play along, but I won't give in." She gave Susan a reassuring smile, which vanished the instant Susan left the room. Rachel returned to her bed and stared at the far wall, her face blank and empty.​