"Over here!"
Dorothy waved to Shade from the bedroom door. Only after Shade led the red-haired young lady out did he realize that everyone was in the living room.
All the furniture in the living room had been moved against the walls. Thick mattresses now covered the carpet one after another, fitted together, with quilts, pillows, and thin blankets scattered across them.
The firelight in the fireplace burned more brightly in this "Old Days Dream Illusion" of home than it did in reality. That seemed to represent Shade's particularly deep memories of the fireplace. The warm firelight merged with the wondrous ambient glow filling the Old Days Dream Illusion, making the home seem even more hazy and dreamlike.
Dorothy gently pushed Shade, making him take two steps forward, kick off his slippers, and step onto the prepared mattresses.
Luvia, Dorothy, Leisha, Galina, Vanessa, Megan/Audrey, Sylvia, and Daniste—the eight young ladies—approached Shade until they surrounded him. Purple, gold, emerald, and rose red eyes looked at him together. Then, with perfect tacit understanding, everyone took a step back. Barefoot on the mattresses, they lowered their heads slightly, each grasped the hem of her skirt with both hands, moved her left foot behind her right heel with only her toes touching the ground, and elegantly curtsied to Shade in that pose.
It gave Shade the illusion that he was becoming some sort of strange sacrifice.
Then ribbons of fabric fell onto the mattresses in the firelight, the warm yellow glow illuminating jade-like figures that seemed to shine like mutton-fat jade.
Laughing, they circled Shade as though dancing gracefully, yet also as though arranging something. Until the eight young ladies closed in again, completely trapping him in the center. Amid that warm, soft sensation, Shade felt his vision suddenly go dark, as though something