FROM THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF DAPHNE POPADOPOLOUS:

Clio is getting better all the time, but I had to return to MassAcad without her--Papa says she is far too fragile to allow attending school and, especially, training sessions with the Hellions. I miss her...but she is supposed to be back in time for the Harvest Moon Dance.

 I hope so--I can't imagine going to the dance without her. I hope James asks me to go...but I don't know--I think he's going to ask Jennifer.

 He's known her much longer...and she's taller than I am...and I've never seen such beautiful-looking blonde hair on a person before. I had a dream about him last night--I was swimming in the pond where the Hellions had first managed to corner me, and then he was there, too, swimming like I was.--in the nude.

 We ended up kissing, and just when his hands reached up to touch my chest... ...I woke up...phooey! .

==========

Daphne saw some kids on the Harvest Moon Dance's Decorating Committee put up another "man in the moon" styled poster announcing the dance in another two weeks. Many of the other girls that she spoke to already had dates to the dance...Marissa was on Cloud Nine because Haroun had apparently finally screwed up the courage to ask the tall blonde to be his date and she eagerly accepted. Even Margo had been asked to the dance. Daphne was now dodging the subject very adroitly whenever the girls would bring it up--she was the only one she was aware of whom hadn't been asked.

It wasn't as though there weren't boys around who wanted to ask Daphne to the dance. Several times over the last week or two--when the gossip around the school had first turned to the subject of the annual party--the brunette could have sworn that this boy or that was about to come over and talk to her...but then they would suddenly turn and practically flee from the area. Daphne spotted Raoul coming her way right after Algebra with a familiar look in his eyes--she even considered throwing the lad a bone and saying yes...but just as he got within three feet of her, the Latino's eyes seemed to widen in terror and he instantly veered off. It was getting depressing...and surreal.

One person that she gradually became aware of that she was also trying to avoid was Manuel. Ever since the incident in the training room where Magneto's insistence that Daphne come out of the locker room, Daphne sensed that Manuel's attitude towards her had changed a bit--and not for the better. His earlier willingness to use his power on her to get her to do what he wanted made Empath a force to be reckoned with, so the petite Greek made sure that she was never too far from a swathe of living plants whenever she realized he was hovering about in the area.

Daphne was in the arboretum, reading "The Tempest" for English class when she heard the wrong voice inquire:

"Ah, senorita...at last our paths cross long enough for me to inquire...might I have the honor of escorting you to the Harvest Moon Dance..?"

It was Manuel.

"No." She didn't care if she ended up having to sit alone in the dormitory during the dance--she did NOT want to have ANYthing to do with the boy from Castille.

"Ah--of course you must have had dozens of boys asking you to accompany them to the festivities...why, they must have been tripping over each other to be first to inquire..!" Manuel said in a sly, superior voice. Daphne looked at him sharply, suspicion suddenly pricking the back of her mind. Then she recalled Raoul's odd behavior--Raoul, who would probably have walked on his knees through a field of fresh fertilizer to ask her to go out with him if Daphne would say yes...how he'd rushed away in such haste that he had, indeed, nearly tripped and fell on his face. Come to think of it, Manuel HAD been there at the time, too...

"YOU did that to Raoul!" she accused him angrily.

 "And I don't doubt that you sent the others packing, too."

"Of course I did." Manuel replied loftily.

 "I couldn't very well allow others to poach on my preserves, now, could I?"

"...Poach..?" echoed Daphne, amazed. "...on 'your' preserves..?"

"I'm glad to see that you agree with me, mi amore," he said with a smile, "It will make our mutual destiny all the more pleasant..."

 Now the girl did a double-take.

"Ex-cuse me???"

"When I saw your true self in the training room, I knew I had to have you," Manuel explained, "Such a lush field upon which to sow the de la Rocha seed--but I am not so crass as to come to you with anything less than a legal union, Daphne--your pedigree demands that I offer no less than my name, for all that we will enjoy ourselves immensely all during our years here at the Academy."

Daphne's hazel eyes stared in shock.

"I am a man of ambition, Daphne," he said firmly, "My powers allow me to truly live up to the nobility that I am a member of--I take what I wish, whenever I want it, as is my right. I want you, mi amore, but not just to satisfy my base desires...I want you to join your power to mine as well...together we can build an empire for our children to rule with an iron fist! All you need do is say--"

"NO!" Daphne told him emphatically. "I positively do not--"

Empath's eyes flared their evil purple glow--but Daphne was prepared for that type of attack, and drew heavily on the shielding provided by the plants and trees in the arboretum. Between her own force of will and having all the plants in the area come to her psychic aid, she managed to retain her own power of choice. Manuel, however, was oblivious to this at the moment.

"You want me, you slut!" he whispered graphically. "Your panties are just dripping at the thought of me between your legs, giving you proof of my superior manhood--come, come...yield to your desire for me..." Daphne suddenly smiled coquettishly.

"Oh, God, Manuel," she purred in a throaty voice, "I...I want you so badly...please...please let me touch you...let me hold you in my hands..." Her slender, delicate hands plucked at his belt buckle and the fly of his pants. Empath eagerly pushed her ineffective digits to one side and freed himself hurriedly, presenting his penis with proud haughteur. He was already rigid with the mere thought of availing himself of Daphne's ample charms. The Greek girl's smile took on a decidedly nasty look.

"Thank you--and the answer is still NO." she said evenly. Startled, Manuel blinked--how was it that Daphne was resisting his will for her to open her legs to him? He couldn't understand it--he couldn't comprehend it--

--and he found he couldn't move an inch--not without seriously lacerating himself in VERY sensitive areas...

While Empath had been so busy "freeing Willy", Daphne had been making a nearby rose bush grow and twist around the lower half of his body, having the thorns on the stalks grow extra long, sharp and numerous...and having them culminate in a very precise tunnel that now surrounded the boy's exposed penis.

"Don't you ever...EVER...use your powers on me OR anyone that I know again, Manuel!" Daphne hissed. "Or I will make you very, very sorry!" Then she left the flustered Spaniard trapped by the organ he'd been thinking with, stalking angrily off towards the exit--she felt she HAD to go to her cave to unwind--and take another dose of her medicine. She and the others had found out that--whenever Daphne used any of her powers besides the telepathy with plants--her pheromones seemed to overcome the usual dosage. She'd need a booster shot after making Empath's thorny prison.

So angry and shaken by Manuel's repulsive proposition--and the very close call she'd had for a second time with him--that she barreled right into a solid column just outside the building.

"Whoa--you all right..?" asked the "column"...it was actually James. Daphne blinked, taking a second or two to get her bearings as the tall Apache grasped her by her elbows.

James...

"I'm okay..." she said, reaching up and holding his nose. The older boy blinked himself, very surprised.

"You sure..?" he asked, his voice sounding funny. Daphne had to laugh.

"Yes." she nodded.

 "I...uh...shaped some plants inside, James...I have to go take my medicine again." His dark eyes widened.

"Ohhh...well...um...as long as I'm a captive audience so far..." he said a bit nervously, "...um...would you...would you go to the Harvest Moon Dance with me..?" Daphne's own hazel eyes grew wide now.

"Really?" she asked, then nodded. "Oh, James--I'd love to--THANK you!"

"I would have asked earlier..." he said a bit apologetically, "...but you always seemed to be the target of several other guys going over to ask you...I thought for sure that you'd've said yes to one of 'em by now..."

"Don't remind me." Daphne said tersely. "Well...um...you'd better hold your own nose--I have to go get my medicine." He nodded, pinching his nose shut. The petite Greek girl smiled up at him and then ran off towards the woods. James watched her go, taking his hand away from his nose after she disappeared into the trees.

Big mistake for Thunderbird, James found out as a shift in the breeze brought a whiff of her heightened pheromones to him. Now he had to try to dash over to the privacy of his room in order to relieve the massive hard-on he just got. However, he did so with very high spirits...even whistling in spite of the howl of pain that seemed to issue from the arboretum.

==========