The rains had come aplenty with the early spring, and everything seemed so much greener than March ought to be. I honestly didn’t think much of Helen’s plan for our outing today, as I knew our path leading back into the woods would be awash with watery ruts the tractor had left in the narrow dirt lane going back through the hay-fields. The odds of us getting our biskees paddled for dragging our hems through the mud were pretty good. Helen never let such practical concerns fetter her freedom of spirit of course, and I knew I was in for some muddy slogging when we got past the barnyard, if I broke down and agreed to go with her.

I would, of course! Marlee would follow her anywhere, and Helen knew that if Marlee went, I’d relent and tag along too. It just wasn’t fair having a girl so cute as Marlee wrapped around her little finger, but Helen's charms seemed nearly as bountiful as her prematurely developed bosoms, and I had fallen victim to them even before Marlee had. Marlee’s particular charms, on the other hand, I felt were more justly deserved. Her smile alone had me enthralled, since the afternoon her parents had brought her over from their new house next door and introduced us.

So it was agreed. I would take them back beyond the hay field, and show them where the new fairy-circles were hiding under the edge of the sycamore grove, even though Helen was determined to find them with or without me.

Whether or not we would truly disappear when we stepped into one of the fairy-rings was a subject we never completely resolved, though we debated the possibilities far into the night. We would just have to try it, and see where we wound up. Marlee hoped for the mists of Scotland, some centuries back in the past, but mostly because she had read a book of Gaelic lore about such a magical journey, while cooped up in her bedroom over the snowy winter school holiday. Fanciful excursions through fairy-ring portals were a favorite notion of mine when I was younger, and this did seem an opportune moment to dispel any common-sense protestations that it couldn’t be done. Still… I could easily imagine other possibilities even more real, like Beatrice’s paddle on our behinds when this all went wrong! And the schemes the three of us concocted when we got together very often did go wrong, so that paddle seemed to loom large in my mind this morning.

The sun hadn’t burned off the morning mist from the vales in the fallow fields behind the barns, let alone the dew clinging to the grass below my own bedroom window. I stretched up on tip-toes to look down to the back yard where our journey must begin. My breath steamed-up the top sash of my window, so I drew a heart with my fingers, and hastily scrawled Marlee’s initials under mine, then quickly smudged them out so Helen wouldn’t see what I’d done. If only for that ephemeral moment, I had made my feelings known to the world. For the past three months they had existed only in my heart.

The other two were digging through piles of shoes in the back of my closet for rubber boots that I’d already told them I had probably left out in the barn, after my last excursion through the back fields. I almost told them to quit wasting their time rooting fruitlessly for missing boots, but their cute round butts sticking out of my closet doors were wiggling so seductively, I just stood there and watched them for a while. I suddenly realized I had been so preoccupied with Helen’s big boobs and Marlee’s beautiful face, that their sexy behinds had completely escaped my attention. Then I wondered if this was the first time I had looked at anyone’s bottom that way.

Mom called us down to breakfast, and we scarfed down scrambled eggs, and toast spread with blackberry jam that Beatrice had put up last summer. A glob of purple sweetness dripped off my last bite of toast onto my white blouse, and I could have screamed, but didn’t want to call attention to my sloppiness. I wanted to run upstairs and change tops, but Marlee and Helen were in a hurry to leave, so I unbuttoned my top button, and after discreetly licking off the glob of black jelly, folded my open collar back over the spot, hoping it would hide it completely. It occurred to me that my cleavage might be displayed to better advantage this way too, but then remembered that my boobs were so small, I’d probably have to unbutton my blouse half-way down to my belly-button before anything of interest made an appearance. Sixteen years had recently seemed a fascinating age, but just now, I was looking forward to having a woman's breasts.

As we trotted out the back porch door, Marlee found a four-leaf clover growing alongside the back-steps, and turned around and poked it through the button-hole I had just opened up to hide my jelly-stain. She smiled that unquenchable smile of hers, and suddenly that small gift meant everything to me. I never understood how Marlee could find so many four-leaf clovers. They seemed to grow at her feet wherever she walked. I could look at the same patch of ground for hours and never find one. It seemed magical to me how she produced them so effortlessly, seemingly out of thin air!

As we approached the back yard fence-gate, she stooped again and picked another one, almost without missing a step. How did she do that?! My smile faded however, when she tucked the stem of this one under the strap that crossed Helen’s breast on its way down from her shoulder, to hold up the hip-satchel she was carrying in case we found any mushrooms. My happiness at Marlee’s special gift to me waned a bit, when its specialness seemed somehow diminished now. The mushroom bag was Beatrice’s idea. She said we’d probably find mushrooms if we found fairy-rings. I wondered how she knew that, but Beatrice seemed to know so many things, I eventually gave up asking her questions and just grudgingly accepted that she knew everything.

Our first mud-puddle appeared as soon as we closed the gate in the back yard and descended the small hill beyond. It was easily jumped-over, and we did, but Helen twisted her ankle when she landed, and made such a fuss that we supported her with her arms around our shoulders until she realized it wasn’t that painful to walk on after all. She limped up the ramp to the barn-door, determined to find my lost boots wherever I had left them. In the dim, cavernous expanse inside papa’s old barn, we split up and searched, with only the pale morning light streaming through the large, open barn-door to illuminate our way.

We each took a corner of the huge barn and wandered around the rough, hay-strewn floor, avoiding the big clumps of mud the tractor wheels had dropped everywhere, until Helen finally returned with her prize held high over her head. Since I had let her wear my rubbers, she gave me the boots to wear, and I pulled up my skirt and leaned on Marlee, while Helen wiggled the over-sized galoshes over my slip-ons. Now safe from mud-puddles, we trotted down the lane from the barnyard, and off into the fields.

The hillside at the left of the lane was dotted with enormous marshmallows. At least, that’s what we called the big, round hay-bales that were each wrapped up in white plastic. Hundreds of them were still strewn all over the field from last fall, and from a distance, they did look exactly like giant marshmallows. When we were younger, my dad had told Helen that he was a marshmallow-farmer, and at the end of each season, we picked the huge marshmallows growing in the fields and shipped them off to be cut up into little marshmallows, and sold in the supermarkets. She actually believed him for awhile, until she excitedly ran up to one of the enormous white puffs and realized she was about to bite into plastic film. My dad was a notorious jokester, but Helen never seemed to not fall for his pranks, so the marshmallow trick was just one of the many running gags about which Helen got teased mercilessly.

The woods were looming up ahead of us, and in the gray morning fog, they looked very mysterious. With Helen’s gullibility in mind, I concocted an extemporaneous tale of how they were probably haunted by fey forest creatures that might capture us, and spirit us away to their hidden lairs, and do who-knows-what to us before anyone could hear our cries and come to our rescue. All that accomplished, however, was to drive Helen into Marlee’s arms for succor, and me into a sullen mood, aggravated that all my ploys seemed to immediately back-fire! I grabbed Helen and yanked her away from Marlee, telling her to quit being such a fraidy-cat, and pushed her in front of us, in the vain hope that if there really were forest faeries, they would capture her first!

I looked back to see how far we had walked, and the barn, and house beyond, were now just small specks, barely visible through the mist. As the shadows of the woods began to close around us, I began to succumb to my own perverse imagination, and wished very much to be arm-in-arm with Marlee myself, but of course Helen would just turn on me, tit-for-tat, and jealously yank me away as payback.

The ground upon which we walked was carpeted with a cold moss, littered with brittle sticks, which had blown off of dead branches in the brisk March winds. They crackled and broke underfoot, as we sank into the soft moss. The forest was deathly still, but for the considerable noise we made breaking sticks with every step. I wished that the May-apples had sprouted through the forest floor, but it was still too early for wading through the leafy groves of dwarf 'trees' that the May-apples always reminded me of - a miniature forest beneath a forest.

The sun had finally risen high enough to be peaking through the leafy canopy above us, and I hoped by the time we got to the other side of the woods, that it would burn off some of the fog from the cold ground and take the chill out of the air. Trudging through the undergrowth, ducking under low branches that snapped back into our faces, and turning our path to and fro to find the easiest way through the undergrowth, was beginning to make us warm and sweaty under our jackets. Draping down from the treetops high overhead, were thick vines that were always fun to swing on, especially out over hillsides, but they were still damp and slimy to the touch, so we would wait for the return trip to play Tarzan, when they were dry and wouldn’t stain our clothes.

Up ahead, we finally saw the pale, almost white bark of sycamore trees shining in the sunlight, and knew we had almost reached our destination. They were such lovely trees, with their mottled skin peeling off in paper-thin sheets - grey below, white above. Their leaves had not yet budded-out and unfurled, so their delicate tracery of branches grew more wondrous as we approached them. The woods opened out into a sparse glade, as if to defer to the beauty of the grove of sycamores, and provide them with a wider gallery from which they could be seen in all their splendor.

Here there was enough sunlight for grass to grow, and the recent rains had made it especially verdant this spring. The moisture also seemed to be the perfect medium for the new fairy-circles, which we soon saw spread out upon the lawn of dewy grass in front of us, and Marlee, Helen, and I were transfixed by the sight - not just one or two, but half-a-dozen or more of the dark green circles, some larger, some smaller, and some even interlocking with others. We had never seen so many in one place, and if magic didn’t reside here, then it simply couldn’t exist anywhere.

The grass was so green and lush, we simply had to walk upon it in our bare feet, so off came our boots, and then our jackets, which we tossed over low branches, then we raced each other around the outermost curves of the fairy-rings, until we were finally back to where we started.

We carefully walked through their midst, but making sure not to step inside one of the circles yet, until we decided how best to invoke their magic. We had each agreed the night before, that a journey through a fairy-ring was not to be embarked upon carelessly, and we had yet to test the bounds of their enchantment. Since we weren’t exactly sure how that measure was to be divined, we stopped and caught our breaths, thinking the problem through.

It was Marlee who had read the most about the magic of fairy-circles, so we deferred to her wisdom to direct our next course of action. The grass beneath our bare feet had been drying under the morning sun, so while Marlee pondered, we pulled up our skirts, and settled on our knees, letting the cool grass refresh us after our vigorous exertions.

Marlee tip-toed to the edge of the nearest ring and leaned far over, reaching her arm out in front of her without venturing to step inside, testing to see if any of her fingers disappeared into a nether world. But even wiggling her fingers and waving her hands around in the air inside the boundary of the circle didn’t seem to trigger any magical portals. She looked back at us and shrugged. I told her to toss something inside the fairy-ring to see what happened, and after looking around for a moment, she stooped down and plucked up another four-leaf clover, and gave it a toss.

I could have sworn it disappeared as soon as she turned it loose, but Marlee said it was just my over-active imagination. As if to prove her point, she hopped inside the ring, and quickly hopped back out, still not de-materialized. I admired her bravery, but was becoming a bit crest-fallen that the magic of fairy-rings might just be proving to be another myth. Marlee was not so easily dis-enchanted however, and assured us that if magic were that easy to invoke, we would see it everywhere.

She wandered back under one of the sycamores, while Helen and I reclined lazily in the grass, and she picked up a long stick which branched into a “Y” at one end. She broke off the long end, so she was left with just the split part, and came back holding the Y-shaped branch out in front of her. She stepped through the maze of dark rings until she was in the center of the cluster, and closed her eyes, slowly turning in a circle. Helen and I looked at each other, puzzled, until I realized Marlee was trying to use the branch as a divining rod.

We were pretty sure she had no idea how a divining rod actually worked, or even if they worked at all, but since she had thought of it and we hadn’t, we gave her the benefit of the doubt, at least for a minute or two, until Helen swirled vertical circles in the air with her finger beside her head. Marlee cast a squint-eyed glare back at us as we giggled, but it only made her more determined to prove that we non-believers were only slowing up the magic. She slowly turned in a circle back the other way, and when we giggled again, she abruptly bent over, pulled her skirt up, her panties down, and defiantly mooned us!

We were so surprised, our jaws dropped! The two round globes of Marlee’s bubble-butt dancing in mockery of our derision left us momentarily speechless, until we burst out laughing. Before she could hike her panties back up, we rushed over and tackled her, and as the three of us wrestled in the grass, rolling right into the middle of a fairy-ring, magic happened! Marlee emerged from the melee naked, and while we all three giggled hysterically, she pulled off what few clothes remained on us until we were all sitting in the grass amidst a maelstrom of discarded skirts, panties and blouses, shaking the grass out of our tousled hair, and pushing each other over with our feet.

Still playing footsie with each other, we laid back in the grass with our pale, young breasts exposed to the bright sun for the first time, and caught our breaths. We were right in the center of a fairy-ring, stark naked, and our world had changed right in front of us! We had seen each other undressed before, but this was a completely new experience for us, and it was altogether exciting, being completely exposed in the wide outdoors under the bright morning sun.

“Okay,” Marlee started, propped up on her elbows and still panting. “This is how witches make magic! I’ve read about it in books about covens. Its called sky-clad! When witches meet to perform their rituals, they take all their clothes off outdoors to be more in tune with nature. Since you two don’t think much of my divining rod, we’ll try to make some real magic with our bodies, like witches do!" I had seen books about Wiccan ceremonies too. The tales of free-love and group-sex I had read about had left me all wet and fluttery, and I always hid those books, so mom could never find out I was reading them. But I thought this was a wonderful idea.

I had always been curious about sex, and had made myself aroused many times in bed at night. It had always seemed full of magic to me, imagining wild fantasies of every kind. Seeing Marlee and Helen starkers out in broad daylight was magical all by itself. I had thought about both of them this way more than a few times, but never had the courage to initiate anything. And now, the three of us just sat there admiring each others bodies, and it had happened so spontaneously. I would never doubt the enchantment of fairy-rings again!

“So, what do we do?" Helen asked, pretending to sound innocent, but I suspected she was the only one of the three of us who might have actually had sex with someone else already, most likely a boy! She was almost seventeen, and her breasts were much bigger than ours. I had even seen a hickey on one of them one night when she thought I wasn’t looking. I had spent over an hour trying to fall asleep that night, thinking about what it would be like sucking her breast, and wondering who she had let do it. Now it was my chance.

Marlee was reaching around her, picking up discarded items of our clothing and gingerly tossing them outside the fairy-circle, so that the only thing left inside was our naked bodies. “There! Now there’s nothing inside the circle to stop the magic! There’s only us." she smiled. “First we need to join hands, and then we need to kiss!" Marlee clearly had a plan in mind, and we were only too willing to follow her lead, no matter what she wanted to do. By virtue of her four-leaf clover-finding skills alone, she was unquestionably the most magical among us.

We all got up on our knees facing each other and drew close together, cheek-to-cheek. Our arms draped around each others shoulders as we huddled together, trying to join our lips at the same time in a group-kiss. We almost giggled at first, but I think we were just a little nervous. This was a big step for us. It was the most exciting thing we had ever done together. We all three kissed a sort of lop-sided kiss, but we wanted to do better. We stuck our tongues out and they danced and swirled until our spit was mingled together in our mouths. It was so intimate.

We were enclosed in our own world, oblivious to the world outside the curtain of our hair. Inside the fairy-ring we were one, and everything we did from that moment on was truly magical. From best friends we were changed into lovers and nothing outside our circle could intrude upon this beautiful moment. It was a world the three of us had created on the warm, spring grass, and contained nothing but our nude bodies, our untried desire, and our love for each other. After that perfect kiss, we pulled our arms into the circle of our bodies and let our fingers explore each other, touching each others breasts, sharing every part of our bodies, which we had once kept hidden. Every secret shared. Every caress welcomed and returned. Having sex for the first time took us to a place we had never imagined, and connected us more than mere friendship ever could.

I reached out and Marlee took my hand and I pulled her over to me. We both pushed Helen down on her back and each of us laid at her side with our breasts nestled into hers, and together, we kissed her. It felt so naughty being outdoors and naked, but it felt wonderful at the same time. Helen responded like she had been kissed a lot, and knew all about it - something I had often suspected. Marlee seemed to know what she was doing too. Was I the only one who had never kissed anyone in passion? I tried to make up for my lack of experience with enthusiasm, and kissed Marlee with our mouths open.

Our tongues joined again with not a lick of self-consciousness, and my eyes nearly rolled back in my head it was so delicious! My hands caressed her breasts as we continued kissing, and then dropped down to fondle Helen's melons. Both Marlee and I soon leaned down to kiss Helen’s tits and we each took one of her nipples into our mouths. Helen nearly cried out, begging us not to stop. Nothing was out-of-bounds now. I knew we would all three share our bodies completely and without reservation.

My fingers followed Marlee’s curves and backtracked up between her thighs. She lifted her leg and my fingers touched her wetness, wiggling through her downy hair and into her slippery slit. Her inner folds yielded and her clit hardened under my touch. I had done this with myself many times, but seeing how much pleasure it gave to my best friend was amazing. She pushed her sex towards my fingers and I slid inside her effortlessly. Pulling out her silky cum, I tasted it, and my heart raced! Helen now had her back arched off the ground as we sucked her nipples deeply, and Marlee’s fingers were hooked inside me, rubbing my nub as she finger-fucked me for the first time. I started breathing in short, ragged breaths as Helen's hands reached up and cupped my small breasts. I was tingling everywhere!

Off in the distance I heard my dad’s tractor put-putting in the fields on the other side of the woods. We rose up like startled bunnies, and gazed around in every direction with guilty looks on our faces, but we were still alone. The sound faded as we continued our play. Marlee laid back in the grass, and though I had been the first to taste her, Helen got to be the first to lick her pussy, but before long we had each treated and been treated to the most incredible feelings any of us had ever felt, learning how to pleasure each other with our tongues.

Time seemed to disappear from our thoughts and the hot sun was beating down on our naked skin. We were flushed with the heat of passion, and sweating under the bright mid-morning sun. We may have been swept into another century or another world through the fairy-ring portal, and we would have never known. The magic we were making with each other had already transported us to another world… a world we knew we would return to again and again.

Before we left the field of fairy-circles, we ran around in the grassy rings, dancing in, around, and through them, tempting them to whisk us away to someplace far away while we were still naked. But we had exhausted all the magic the fairy-rings had to offer up that day, and we were going to take the magic home with us. On the way back, just to be naughty, and to keep our clothes from getting filthy, we stripped off again in the woods and swung on the vines in the nude, picked some Morel mushrooms for Beatrice, and finally headed home, hoping we could keep our faces from getting red when we were asked how our trip to find the fairy-rings had gone, for I assumed that Beatrice would somehow just know!

(c) 2015 – Bethany Ariel Frasier