Start the song. It's The Magic Place by Julianna Barwick.

The sunlight shone bright and warm across the meadow. Josh was sitting on plush grass that felt almost like a velvety carpet as he watched Solána bring soft earth up around a group of yellow flowers. Neither of them were wearing anything, but it was comfortable that way. The sun warmed them enough without clothing, and the sky wrapped around them like a blanket.

"What kind of flowers are these?" Josh asked curiously.

A warm smile graced Solána's soft lips. "They're narcissuses." She plucked one gently before holding it out to him. "Here. This one's for you."

Josh smiled back at her as he took the flower, a warm feeling washed over him as he held the delicate yellow flower in his fingers. It smelled sweet, making him feel dizzy and drunk. He crawled across the grass to be closer to Solána. She let him lie with his cheek resting against her bare thigh as he continued to plant the yellow flowers.

"Solána?" He asked quietly.

"What do you need, baby?" She asked calmly.

A gentle breeze made her curls brush against Josh's back. His eyes drifted shut as the drunken laziness continued to draw him away from anything that had ever stressed him out.

"I need you to...." he trailed off. Whatever he was going to ask for disintegrated on his tongue as he breathed in the soothing scent of the garden. He shook his head. "I don't need anything. This is perfect. I have everything I need right now."

"That's good, baby. That's good. You just relax. Everything is taken care of," Solána replied warmly.

Josh nodded blissfully, more waves of serenity and fulfilment washing over him as he allowed himself to relax into her. Josh didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until he heard Solána calmly speaking. It didn't sound like she was taking to him. His eyelids were heavy with sleep, but he slowly eased them open. All he could see was the soft surface of Solána's thigh and the the field of flowers in front of him. He blinked sleepily.

When his eyes moved up to find Solána's, they froze halfway up. A girl sat in the grass beside Solána, her hands soiled with dirt as she planted alongside her. Her fingernails weren't manicured like Solána's always were, instead looking cracked and worn. Her brown dress was made of a coarse material that couldn't possibly be comfortable, and her white-blonde braids touched the soil at her sides as she worked. That wasn't what shocked Josh though.

What shocked Josh was that just below the woman's pale eyebrows sat eyes that were vacant and milky, no iris or pupil to be found. Her hands worked deftly as if she could still see everything she was doing, but her eyes were damaged and scarred.

The feeling of peace that had been comforting Josh just moments ago dissipated immediately as fear washed over him. Solána didn't seem to notice that Josh was awake, continuing to speak with the girl as she pulled weeds from around the flowers.

"How will we know which one of us you pick?" Solána asked the mysterious girl curiously.

"It will be clear," the girl replied in a heavily accented voice. Her eyes stared straight ahead at the horizon as she made a divot in the ground for another plant to be placed inside of. "I have told you all many times that the gifts you have given me will be repaid when the harvest comes. You have yet to give me the thing I desire most, though. If you wish for a bountiful harvest and your just reward, you must first hold up your end of the deal. Can you manage that, my love?"

Solána nodded quickly. "Of course."

"And you will not let your feelings for this...boy distract you?" The girl pressed.

A sick feeling crept up into Josh's stomach. Were they talking about him?

"Of course not. He knows the rules. He knows he can only be safe if he follows the rules," Solána told the woman.

"Men do not abide by the rules of women, Solána. He will betray you, just as all men do. You need to be more like your sisters. They have learned to fulfil the needs of men without growing attached. That is the only true way for this to work. Let us not forget how Jenna was punished when she forgot her duty with the last boy," the girl said calmly.

Solána nodded, but Josh could feel anxiety rolling off of her skin in waves. "I won't get attached to him."

"The needs you fulfil are the most basic and essential for any living thing. I know it is hardest for you to not get attached to these boys. You must do better though. Many women who have stood where you do now have failed in this task. Your community is counting on you, my love. Do not let this boy rule over you. Do not let him own you. Do not let him penetrate you. He will only take from you if you give him more than he needs. All he needs from you is food, drink, security, and a feeling of belonging."

Solána nodded. "I know. That's all I'm giving him. He isn't like the other boys though. He's-"

"And you think Jenna did not say the same about the boy she nearly failed me for? She thought she could withstand the temptation, but even she could not. The best thing she ever did was rid herself of him. I admit, he held a treasured place even in my heart. I share a special tie to that boy. He fulfilled a need of mine that I had long forgotten about. That was not by his choice though, and it took a very long time for Jenna to teach him not to resent me for it. The last we heard of him, he respected me and all the Daughters of the Harvest for what we had given him," the girl responded, her hands not slowing down for even a moment as she continued to plant.

Solána was quiet. "What will happen to Josh when his needs are all fulfilled?"

The girl smiled, revealing slightly crooked teeth. "He will move on. His family will leave Applecrest, and life will go on. Remember, Solána. He needs you. You do not need him."

Josh's eyes drifted shut again as he felt Solána's nails trace featherlight patterns onto the skin on his back. Goosebumps covered his skin at the tender touch.

"I love him in a way that I've never loved the other boys. Maybe it's because he's the first boy who's ever needed me above all of the other girls, but everything feels different with him. I truly do love him," Solána admitted to the girl, making Josh's heart flutter blissfully in his chest.

The girl chuckled. "You love him, or you love his cock?" She asked bluntly.

Solána spluttered. "I haven't-We aren't-I would never-"

"I know that you have touched it. There is no point in lying," the girl replied calmly. "I am not saying this because I intend to punish you. I do not. I love you. I just hope you do not forget that it is Jenna who is meant to fulfil the sexual needs of these boys. No matter how much he's tricked you into believing you love him, that is not your responsibility."

"I'm sorry," Solána replied quietly. There was thickness in her voice, and Josh knew she was trying not to cry. "That's what's different about him though. I want to be the one who fulfils all of his needs. I don't want the other girls to help. I want him for myself."

The girl tutted in disapproval. "Jenna tried to keep the last one to herself, and look where he is now. He has vanished from the face of the Earth entirely. Her own greed was his undoing. Is that the fate you wish for Joshua?"

The sound of the strange girl speaking Josh's name made his stomach roll painfully and his nerves go haywire. It was as if she'd threaten his very existence with the utterance of a single word. He struggled to remain calm, keeping his eyes shut tight.

Once again, Solána's hand caressed his back gently. He relaxed only slightly this time. "No, it isn't," she whispered.

"So you will not let me down?" The girl pressed.

"I won't let you down," Solána promised. "I won't give him anything more than what he needs."

"Then you will not complain when I fix what you have broken in his mind so that the other girls may reclaim the parts of him that are meant to belong to them?" The girl asked simply.

"I won't," Solána promised.

"Good. He will wake soon, my love. You must not be here when he awakens. It is not you he needs right now. Another need is much more prevalent, and I can assure you that he will do all that he can to fulfil it. That is the way of men. Worry not, though. I will watch over him."

"Thank you, Gefjon," Solána replied quietly.

Josh felt a shift beside himself before hearing the unmistakable sound of a kiss. He heard the lips of the two girls move together for just a few seconds before they broke apart, and he felt the mysterious girl shift away.

A sick feeling washed over Josh. Suddenly, a rough and weathered hand was set upon his back beside Solána's. His eyes flew open in fear, meeting the damaged ones right in front of his face.

"Remember the rules, boy," Gefjon told him stiffly, her accent distorting the words just slightly. "You know what you need. Go find it."

Josh was gasping and drenched in sweat as he sat up in bed. Jim was growling at nothing in particular, his eyes scanning the room as if he was certain something was hiding nearby.

Despite Josh's fear, he knew which of his needs was most prevalent at the moment, and he was very unhappy with it. He was too distracted by fear and the force of the need to do anything other than pull on some clothes and slip out of his bedroom window before sprinting down the street.

He couldn't feel the burn in his lungs as he ran as fast as he could, the pain of the need throbbing within him. He hated it. He hated the need. He hated the disgusting woman who gave it to him. He hated that the thought of asking Solána to fulfil the need for him suddenly disgusted him. There was only one person on his mind who he knew could fulfil the need, and he couldn't settle for anyone else.

When Josh reached Jenna's house, he was out of breath, terrified, aching, and on the verge of tears. He remained on the sidewalk though. There were cars in the driveway. Jenna's parents were home. Josh couldn't do this with them there. He couldn't knock on the door and ask for Jenna to ease the humiliating throbbing between his legs. He couldn't risk getting her in trouble. He needed her though, and the force of that need made him feel disoriented.

Josh's eyes snapped fearfully to the side of the house when the doors to the storm cellar opened. The worst thing Josh could possibly imagine was getting caught standing here by Jenna's parents while he was painfully hard and about to start crying. Something nudged him forward though, and he walked across the lawn instead of running away.

There was a wooden crate filled with jars of canned fruit in Jenna's arms as she left the cellar. She nearly dropped them when she saw Josh, but he steadied the box in her hands before she could do so. Her blue eyes were wide as they met Josh's.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be getting some rest," Jenna told him, letting him take the crate from her as she closed the cellar doors and locked them shut with a combination lock.

"I saw that creepy bitch you guys keep talking about. The one in the scarecrow? I had a dream about her. She was saying a bunch of freaky shit, and she told me I was going to wake up needing you. I did," Josh explained, still trying not to cry.

Jenna seemed confused, taking the crate from him once again before setting it down on the yellow lawn. "What do you-" Her eyes slid down to his crotch before moving back up to meet his. "Oh."

"Yeah," Josh replied irritably. He wanted to punch himself when his bottom lip trembled.

"She told me you let Solána touch you. You promised me you weren't going to let anyone else play with you like I do. You cheated on me," she told him, leaning back against the pale wood of the house. She looked genuinely sad about that.

"I didn't even have a fucking clue who I was when you asked me out. I would have killed myself if you told me to at that point," Josh told her. He was trembling. He was scared. He was cold. He was so hard he couldn't think.

The girl in front of him was silent for a moment, staring at the grass beside Josh. She was wearing a white cotton nightgown, but Josh could see her red panties through the sheer material. He swallowed hard before forcing himself to meet her gaze.

"You broke the rules," Jenna told him quietly, breaking eye contact as she twisted the hem of her skirt around her fingers. "That means all of the other rules are voided."

Josh's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What?"

Jenna glanced over at the front yard. "All of the other rules are voided. My parents are home though, so we can't go inside. I don't know how we can...." Her words trailed off when her eyes met the cellar. She shifted nervously. "I don't like it down there, but I guess we could go into the cellar. It's cold and dark, but my parents won't hear us."

Maybe it was because the scent of pomegranates was distracting Josh, but he was having trouble comprehending what Jenna was talking about as she unlocked the cellar door with a shaky hand.

"What are we going down there for?" Josh asked stupidly, watching Jenna open the doors.

"Come on. Hurry before my dad comes out here to find me," she said nervously, her eyes darting to the front yard again.

Josh was confused, but followed her down the stone steps anyways. The scent of pomegranates was making him too dizzy to care how dark and dusty the cellar was. Jenna seemed to be glowing as she closed the cellar doors behind them, illuminating the dark room just enough for him to see her. His mouth was watering, and he couldn't take his eyes off of Jenna.

"The floor in here is kind of gross, but we'll figure something out. Come here," Jenna said quietly.

Josh didn't have it in him to hesitate, walking over to Jenna and connecting their lips almost instantly. Jenna kissed back immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck as she allowed Josh to walk her backwards until her back hit the concrete wall behind her. The scent of pomegranate only grew stronger as Josh pushed Jenna's panties down her legs. She allowed him to, stepping out of them as her arms left his neck to unzip his pants.

Smut warning! Proceed to the next author's note.

The relief he felt when her hand slid into his pants, massaging him through his boxers, was enough to pull an embarrassing moan from his lips. Josh's hands gripped Jenna's hips tightly when her hand slid into his boxers, stroking him softly. He kissed her neck, making her hum appreciatively. His hands almost drifted down to touch her, but she hadn't told him he could, so he remained still.

Almost as if she had heard his thoughts, Jenna murmured, "Are you going to play with me too?"

Josh huffed out an affirmative noise as he moved one hand off of her hips to rub her at the same agonisingly slow pace she was touching him. She hummed, pulling him up by his hair so she could kiss him deeply once again. Just when Josh felt himself starting to black out from the pleasure like he had every other time she'd touched him, Jenna's hand was leaving Josh's cock and pushing his hand away from her. He whimpered at the loss, making her giggle.

"It's okay, honey. Take your shirt off for me," she told him.

Just as he always did when Jenna rewired his brain to focus on nothing but his arousal, Josh did what she asked of him without a second of hesitation. Once his shirt was off, he grinned and looked at Jenna, who smirked at him as her own hand continued to rub her clit beneath her nightgown.

"Set it down, and sit on it," she told him simply.

Josh was confused, but he did what she told him to anyways. He'd do anything she told him to. He loved her more than he'd ever loved anyone in the entire world.

Then Jenna's hand was no longer beneath her nightgown, and she walked over to Josh. Her bare feet left prints in the dust on the floor, and Josh couldn't believe how lucky he was that those prints led to him.

"You broke the rules first," Jenna told Josh quietly as she slowly padded over to him. "Didn't you?" Josh nodded shamefully, not meeting her eyes. "And you're sorry?" He nodded again, feeling tears burn at his eyes. "And you accept that you have to face the consequences of what you did?"

"Yes," Josh whispered, his bottom lip trembled.

Jenna hushed him gently as she climbed into his lap. She ran her fingers though his hair as she eased him back to lie on the dirty ground. He didn't care how dirty it was though. Jenna was here, and that was all that mattered. She could punish him if she needed to. He had wronged her. He deserved whatever she was going to do to him.

Those gentle fingers continued to trail through Josh's hair as Jenna spoke to him. "You broke a rule, so now I get to break one to even the score. Okay?"

"Okay," Josh replied. He couldn't remember her ever having rules to follow in the first place, but he would withstand his punishment without complaining.

"You can tell me to stop if you need to, okay?" Jenna told him seriously.

"Okay," Josh agreed, somehow feeling that statement hit him like a bullet through the fog, making him momentarily aware of his rational mind. He didn't have any protests.

When he said nothing, Jenna smiled. Her hand slid back into his boxers, stroking him just hard enough to make him squirm. He knew she was wet. He could feel her slick soaking through the fabric of his jeans on the thigh she was sitting on. She let him roll his hips into her hand, squeezing his cock a bit tighter. He didn't care that her palm was dry. He didn't care about anything but taking whatever Jenna gave him so he could give her back twice as much pleasure. He wanted her to feel good forever. He loved her so much.

Another whine left Josh's lips when Jenna's hand slid out of his pants. She giggled as she shuffled his pants and boxers down and off, letting his cock drip against his stomach as she did so.

"I'm going to let you fuck me, okay? You have to be good though, or I'll stop." Jenna told him in a condescendingly sweet voice. "Do you want to be inside of me, Josh?"

The low groan that left Josh's lips was all he could muster up for a response. He was drooling and dripping precum, so overwhelmed by the scent of pomegranate that he couldn't focus properly. Jenna had to put Josh's hands on her hips to convince him to help her stay steady as she gripped his cock and brought it between her legs. Josh didn't know how he didn't pass out as he suddenly felt her sink down onto him, but he felt like he was in heaven when she bottomed out, her perfect little ass resting against his balls.

"Fuck," Josh muttered as Jenna waited with her eyes closed for her body to adjust.

Then, she was riding him slow and steady, making him melt into the dusty floor as he gripped her hips. He brought his legs up so the bottoms of his feet rested on the floor, allowing her to rest back against his knees slightly as he used his newfound leverage to make his hips move with hers. Matching her languid pace was torturous, but her warmth was enough to make Josh moan.

Jenna was moaning quietly too as their rhythm picked up. Her hands rested on Josh's chest as she let him thrust his hips up into her.

"Jenna?" Josh grunted out.

"What do you need?" She asked breathily.

It almost didn't feel like the right request to ask of Jenna, but Josh couldn't help himself from saying, "Let me hold you."

Jenna's hips stopped moving, and she looked down at him in confusion. "Do you want me to stop?" She asked.

Josh shook his head, sitting himself up and shifting her so he could sit with his legs crisscross beneath her. She seemed a bit confused when he helped her back onto his cock, but tangled her fingers into his hair anyways. When Josh's hips canted up again though, her eyes nearly crossed as she moaned. Josh grinned, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close as he continued to fuck up into her as she regained her rhythm.

It was in between breathless moans that Jenna asked him, "Is this better?"

Josh nodded, resting his head against her shoulder and squeezing his eyes shut. They were both sweating despite the chill of the cellar, and Josh was convinced that Jenna's sweat tasted like pomegranate juice as he shoved the bodice of her nightgown down so he could lick and suck it off of her breasts greedily. He didn't care that he was leaving marks behind on her porcelain skin. She tasted too good for him to stop.

"You're so quiet," she told him, and Josh could tell she was smirking despite the whimpers that ripped through her words.

Talking during sex wasn't Josh's thing though. He just wanted to feel it. He wanted to focus on how soft and warm and wet Jenna was around him. He wanted to be able to read the cues her body gave him about what she liked and didn't like. He didn't want his voice to get in the way of him hearing her moans. He wanted to be completely present right now without his own voice taking away from the goddess that was building him up for what he already knew was going to be one of the most intense orgasms of his entire life.

Jenna moaned out his name softly, and he knew she was close. He didn't know how he knew, given that he couldn't remember any of the previous times he'd made her cum, but he was absolutely positive. Her fingernails nipped at his shoulders as her moans started to blur together, and her hips started to speed up.

"Josh, oh god. Josh," Jenna moaned out before her walls clenched around him, and he felt her entire body tremor with the force of her orgasm.

Her fingernails raked down his back harshly as she came, making his cock twitch inside of her. He fucked her through it, already determined to make her finish one more time before he would let himself cum. The longer he put it off for himself, the better it would be. Jenna squeaked in surprise when one of his arms left her waist so his fingers could rub her clit as he thrusted up into her harder, leaving open-mouthed kisses all over her chest as he did so. She whimpered from oversensitivity as she continued to ride him despite the trembling in her thighs.

"Josh, I already-"

Josh was too focused on getting her off again before he let himself follow to focus on her words. "You're going to do it again," was all he mumbled against her skin, his voice much deeper than it usually was.

The words surprised a moan out of Jenna, who let him massage her swollen clit as his hips sped up. He was so close he wanted to cry, but he refused to cum before she'd finished again. His teeth dug into Jenna's shoulder as his hips slammed up into her, and suddenly she was scratching at his back again as she whined, cumming weakly around him. She slumped against his chest then as he gave her a few more hard thrusts before cumming inside of her so hard that he saw white. All of the words he'd been holding in tumbled out of his mouth as he came, which was something he'd learned over the years was the default for his orgasms.

Josh had no idea what he said to Jenna or if he was just babbling, but he was reduced to panting and clinging to her hips as he helped her off of him before collapsing onto his back in the dust. He knew it was probably sticking to his sweaty skin, but he was too blissed out to care. Jenna was still trembling slightly as she rolled off of him, ignoring the dust as well.

The smut is over. All you need to know is that they had penetrative sex because Jenna said she had to break a rule to balance out the one he broke.

After a moment of the two of them gasping for breath, Jenna giggled. Josh grinned up at the ceiling when Jenna tangled her fingers with his and asked, "Where the hell did that come from?"

Josh laughed. "I already told you I've done this before. I know what I like. I know to pay attention to what you like."

"Whoa," Jenna breathed out, and Josh could still hear her smile.

Josh turned his head to look at Jenna, starting to speak, but felt the words decompose atop his tongue as his eyes met a pair of fearful ones. He sat up slowly, maintaining eye contact.

"Josh?" Jenna asked quietly in confusion.

Josh blinked, but the same eyes stared back at him. "Jenna," he whispered, pointing across the tiny room in the cellar. "Who is that?"

Jenna turned her head and looked at the brown-eyed boy sitting stock-still on a worn out rocking chair with his knees pulled up to his chest. His hair was dirty, and he looked absolutely terrified.

The scent of pomegranate washed over Josh once again as Jenna stood up, pulling her nightgown back down as she walked over to the boy. His dark eyes followed her. The scent wasn't making Josh feel energinzed or aroused this time. It felt like when Solána's earthy scent pulled his eyelids shut. He was getting tired much too quickly, making his limbs heavy.

"Jenna?" Josh asked anxiously as he tried to get up. He couldn't though. He fell back against the floor, his vision hazy. He tried to speak again, but he couldn't get the words out. He watched with blurred vision as Jenna approached the other boy.

"You're safe," she told him gently. "I won't let him hurt you. Gefjon picked him, but he broke the rules."

When all the boy did was glance nervously at Josh and back to Jenna, she smiled warmly, easing his legs down so his feet rested on the floor before climbing into his lap. She held him, letting him bury his face against her chest and draw in a shaky breath that Josh knew all too well as the precursor to a panic attack.

The scent was getting stronger, and Josh was fighting as hard as he could to keep his eyelids open. His body was too heavy with impending sleep for him to even panic as he started to drift off.

He fell asleep to the sound of Jenna whispering over and over again, "Don't worry, honey. You're still my favourite. I didn't replace you. He could never replace you. You're still my favourite. You're the only boy I'll ever love. I promise."