“I really don’t know,” I admitted.
“Persuasion?” Matt raised an eyebrow and looked at Rhys. “Is that the thing you were telling me about? That mind thing she can supposedly do?” Rhys nodded, and Matt rolled his eyes.
“It’s not supposed.” I bristled at his skepticism. “I can do it. I’ve done it to you before.”
“When?” Matt asked, still dubious.
“How do you think I got you to take me to see Kim?” I asked, referring to when he’d taken me to see his mother, my “host” mother, in the institution.
He hated her and didn’t want me to have anything to do with her. I’d used persuasion on him, even though I’d felt guilty about it, but it was the only way I could talk to her.
“You did that?” His shock and hurt were instantly replaced by anger. He looked like he’d been slapped in the face. I lowered my eyes and turned away. “You tricked me? How could you do that, Wendy? You always say you never lie to me then you go and do something like that!”
“It wasn’t a lie,” I said sheepishly, trying to defend actions I couldn’t even justify.
“No, it’s worse!” Matt shook his head and stepped away from me, as if he couldn’t stand to be near me. “I can’t believe you did that. How often did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “For a long time, I didn’t know I was doing it. But once I figured it out, I tried not to do at all. I don’t like doing it, especially to you. It’s not fair, and I know it.”
“Damn right it’s not fair!” Matt snapped. “It’s cruel and manipulative!”
“I’m really sorry.” I met his eyes, and the hurt in them stung painfully. “I promise I won’t ever do it again, not to you.”
“I hate to break up this moment, but we need to figure a way out of here,” Rhys interrupted. “So what is the plan?”
“We call someone,” I said, happy for the reprieve from thinking about how much Matt must hate me.
“What do you mean call someone? Do you have your cell phone?” Rhys asked excitedly.
“No, I mean, summon someone. The way Matt did before.” I pointed to the door behind me. “Knock on the door, say we’re hungry or cold or dead or whatever. When they come, I can use my persuasion on them to get them to let us out.”
“You think that will really work?” Matt asked, but the disbelief had dropped from his voice. He was only asking our opinion now.
“Maybe.” I looked at Rhys. “But I have a favor to ask. Can I practice on you?”
“Sure,” Rhys shrugged, trusting me immediately.
“What do you mean ‘practice?’” Matt asked with a concerned edge.
He moved a bit closer to Rhys, and I realized with some surprise that he finally believed Rhys was his brother. He wanted to protect Rhys from me. I felt some relief and happiness knowing that he’d started accepting him, but it hurt a little – okay, a lot – to know that Matt thought of me as a threat.
“I haven’t done it very much.” I didn’t like the way Matt scrutinized me, so I paced the room, as if it could alleviate his gaze somehow. “And it’s been awhile since I’ve done it all.”
That last part wasn’t entirely true since I’d just used it on Rhys the day before, but I didn’t want him reacting the way Matt did. This whole process would go a lot easier the less people hated me.
“So what do you want to do?” Matt asked.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, unsure of what exactly I planned to do. “But I just need to practice. It’s the only way I can get stronger.”
Despite Matt’s obvious reservations, Rhys went along with it. It felt very odd to have someone witnessing persuasion, especially someone clearly against it, but I had no choice. I couldn’t send Matt into the next room or something.
Matt watched me intently, and I could see him out of the corner of my eye. It was distracting, but that was probably better practice for me. I doubt I could get one of the Vittra to step aside to a quiet place so I could try to use a bit of mind control on the guard.
I decided to start simple. Rhys and I were standing, facing each other, so I started repeating in my head, Sit down. I want you to sit down.
His blue eyes met mine evenly at first, then something foggy passed over them. His face seemed to slack, and his expression went completely blank. Without any acknowledgment, he sat down on the floor.
“Is he okay?” Matt asked, growing nervous.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Rhys sounded like he’d just woken up. He looked up at me, his eyes dazed. “So, are you gonna do it or what?”
“I already did it.” I had never talked to anybody after using persuasion on them, and it felt strange to be open about it.
“What are you talking about?” Rhys’s brow furrowed, and he looked between Matt and me, trying to understand.
“You sat on the floor,” Matt attempted to explain.
“Why did you sit down?” I asked.
“I…” His face scrunched up in concentration. “I don’t know. I just… I sat down.” He shook his head and looked up at me. “You did that?”
“Yeah. You didn’t feel anything or sense anything?” I asked.
I had never known if what I did hurt people. They never complained of pain or anything, but maybe they couldn’t. Not if they didn’t understand what was happening.
“No. I didn’t even…” He shook his head again, unable to articulate what he meant. “I expected there to be a blackout or something. But… I knew that I was sitting. It was more like a reflex. Like, I breathe all the time, but I don’t think about it. This was the same.”
“Hmm.” I looked at him thoughtfully. “Stand up.”
“What?” Rhys asked.
“Stand up,” I repeated. He stared up at me for a second, then looked around. His eyes hardened and his eyebrows pinched up.
“What’s going on?” Matt asked, moving closer to us.
“I… I can’t stand up.”
“Do you need me to help you up?” Matt offered.
“No. It’s not like that.” Rhys shook his head. “I mean, you could pull me up. You’re stronger than me, and I’m not physically pinned to the floor. I just… forgot how?”
“Weird.” I watched him with fascination.
Once before, I made Matt get out of my room, and it’d been awhile before he’d been able to go in there. But he had been able to this morning, so it meant my persuasion did eventually wear off.
“Weird?” Matt scoffed. “Wendy, fix him!”
“He’s not broken,” I said defensively, but Matt glared at me in a way that made me want to crawl under a rock. I crouched down in front of Rhys. “Rhys, look at me.”
“Okay?” He met my eyes uncertainly.
I wasn’t even sure if I could reverse the process. I had never tried to undo persuasion before, but I didn’t think it’d be that hard. And if I couldn’t, then he’d just have to sit down for a week or two. Maybe.
Instead of worrying about the possible repercussions, I focused all my energy on him. I just said Stand up in my head over and over again. It took longer than it did last time, but eventually his face started to fog over. He blinked at me a few times and got to his feet.