Page 55 of Fallen Thorns
I went to raise my hand, but then…no. I stopped.I can’t do that…
Casper frowned and tilted his head. “Why did you stop? I said hit me.” He spread both arms out wide in encouragement.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I lowered my hand, coming back into myself.
“Good,” Marianne said, and I spun back around to face her. She was clapping.
Casper came up behind me and playfully patted my shoulder. Leaning in close to my ear, he said: “Well your morals are intact,” he laughed, but I felt dizzy.
“You can do this, Arlo. Don’t give up.” Marianne smiled the same smile from when we first met. My shoulders relaxed somewhat.I can do this.
“Ben, kiss me.” Casper backed away from me and skipped over to his boyfriend who crossed his arms with a frown. “That’s cheating, you know I’d do that anyway.” Casper leaned in and bent down to meet Ben’s softening face, the pair shuffling into the shadows and into each-other’s arms.
I’m so… huh…
Marianne’s hand on my shoulder startled me, and if I had a working heart, I know I would have passed out by now. Stressful situations like thishurt.I struggled to know whether I was coming or going.
“Urgh, lovebirds. That won’t help them in a fight though, would it?” Marianne whispered, slowly gliding her arm around me to capture my full attention.
She took me by the hands as if initiating a dance and then I was being dragged through the sea of people as if we were lovers on a secret escape, the world disappearing until it was only the two of us.
Marianne pulled me to the opposite corner of the room behind her makeshift throne. It was quieter there, so my brain could somewhat relax and I could regather my thoughts and my surroundings.
“You would think they all would have learned by now. It’s not the first time I’ve done this. I bet half of them can’t even remember.”
Her bluntness sent an uneasy shock down my spine. A lot of things this woman did unsettled me, and it was becoming increasingly clear why she was the leader above everyone else.
“You Manipulated everyone?” I asked, brow tensing.
Marianne shrugged, her copper-blond ponytail slipping over her shoulder. “They need to be prepared for this world.”
“And that’s how you go about it?” Anger burned through me, mingled with confusion.
“After earlier? I wish I did it more.”
“But our minds, shouldn’t they be ours and ours alone?” I lifted my chin in feigned confidence.
“Our minds…” she reached up to delicately catch my head between her hands. I twitched at the sensation but then relaxed into her touch, comforted by the strange warmth emanating from her. “Our minds are never just our own. But wecantake control.”
I didn’t follow.
“I know all too well the power of Manipulation. Isiah…” she trailed off, but her soft hands remained at my temples. “The only way I can prepare you all is to expose you to your vulnerability.”
“And you think it will work?” I breathed.
“Most certainly.”
I swallowed hard. I was so vulnerable — we all were.
Marianne gently removed her hands, and I straightened my back. “We will find Lucy and put an end to this.”
She didn’t need to Manipulate me; she knew I would agree with her.
“And the creature?” I inhaled.
“Destroy it.”
I was pushed backinto the crowd and it was like I was falling. Marianne’s face faded from my eye-line as I plunged back into the void of mind stealing, but her words from before stuck with me.I am not weak.
