Page 98 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“I stripped you of your psychic senses.”

“You had to use poison to do it, not your talent. You have to keep me locked in a cage because that’s the only way you can control me.”

Louise made a visible effort to pull herself back from some inner brink. “I need to know why I can’t put you in a trance.”

“You want a technical reason? I come from a long line of psychics. The Chastains were powerful talents back on Earth. When my ancestors came through the Curtain and adjusted to the paranormal environment here on Harmony, their senses got stronger.And so did their ability to control those senses.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The reason you can’t use your hypnotic powers on me even though you’ve suppressed my psychic senses is because I’ve still got the strength required to control my talent. It goes hand in hand, you see. If you don’t develop the power required to handle big talents, you end up in a para-psych asylum.”

“No.”

“My family has had generations to develop control. You can kill me, but you can’t put me into a trance.”

“Then I will just have to kill you.”

“But not yet,” Ravenna said. “You’re insane, but you’ve got a strong sense of self-preservation. You won’t murder me until you’re sure you can get away with it. If you get caught again, you’ll end up in a high-security para-psych hospital, not prison. They’ll suppress your hypnosis talent with drugs, and you’ll never escape.”

“I can kill you now and leave your body in this chamber. No one will ever find you.”

“We both know it’s a little more complicated than that. First, you have to get rid of your two witnesses out there in the hall. After all, they’re just hired muscle. Why wouldn’t they sell you out for the right amount of cash?”

“They won’t be a problem,” Louise said. “When they have served their purpose, I will dispose of them.”

Meeks suddenly loomed in the doorway, flamer in hand. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Another man armed with a flamer appeared behind him. “I knew we shouldn’t have taken this job. Told you the bitch was crazy.”

“The good news is that she hasn’t hypnotized you yet,” Ravenna said. “That’s because she needed you to be able to carry out the complicated business of kidnapping me. Hypnosis is unreliable in situations like that. But now that she doesn’t need you—”

“Shut up,” Louise shrieked.

Ravenna felt energy pulse in the atmosphere. Louise was raising her talent again.

“Better run,” Ravenna said to the two in the doorway. “She actually is a pretty strong hypnotist. If she gets control of your mind, she can send you into the tunnels without amber. No problem.”

“I say we get rid of both of them,” Meeks said. He raised the flamer.

“Fine by me,” the second man said. “Guess this means we don’t get paid, though.”

“Not a good plan,” Ravenna said. “She’s a really strong hypno talent.”

“Shit,” Meeks whispered.

Louise screamed in rage. Meeks stared at his hand. The flamer trembled in his grasp. He started to raise the weapon, turning the barrel so that it was aimed at his face.

“She’s doing something to me,” Meeks yelped.

Ravenna gripped the bars of the cage. “Hey, Louise, I’ve been thinking. I know how you can improve your pathetic control.”

Louise rounded on her.“Stop talking.”

The short distraction shattered Louise’s focus, and therefore, the trance. Meeks sucked in a shaky breath and stumbled back out into the hall. He collided with his companion.

“I’ve had enough of this weird shit,” the second man said.

Both men disappeared. Footsteps thudded in the hallway, and then there was silence.

---