Excerpt 2
“Try that one next,” Daniel mumbled through a mouth
full of bagel.
“Stop pointing!” I warned him. The three of us were sitting on one of the
benches in Bennett’s Park that surrounded the largest playground area. We probably looked young enough that this
wasn’t creepy, otherwise the adults would wonder why we stared and laughed at
their kids all morning. I felt kind of
bad but it was the only way I could practice.
“What should I do?”
Daniel tilted his head in thought, and I could see
the moment he got some demented idea.
“Make him do the chicken dance!”
Kain snorted and I agreed with his sentiment.
“Daniel…,” I groaned.
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s genius because no one would be suspicious
if an adult is dancing for a kid. Plus,
you can try to give the command to just one person,” he pointed out.
“Okay, let’s see.”
I did my best to block out all background noises and focused in on one
of the few fathers who braved the playground scene today. It wasn’t like I could find his mind per se,
but that’s what I was trying to do. The
more I practiced, the easier it was for me to visualize every individual’s
consciousness. I directed my power
towards the jumble of thoughts that I figured belonged to the man and pushed
the music into his head along with the command to dance. A wave of confusion swept over his face and
he stopped fiddling with his daughter’s coat.
He stood up and began to sway from side to side.
“It’s working!” Daniel squealed. The man smiled down at his daughter and
brought his hands up to his ribs.
Flapping his elbows up and down like a bird, he began the chicken
dance. I was so excited, I continued to
push the command out towards him without realizing that I touched a few other
minds as well. Nearly twenty parents and
their children began dancing the choreographed steps and I totally lost my
concentration.
“Oh crap,” I moaned.
Kain and Daniel laughed beside me and I elbowed them both. “Humans are too easy.” I was learning that the power of suggestion
on a human’s mind was way more potent than I could handle at this point. Pushing out one command to one person with a
little too much force indirectly affected all of those around him. Now half of the playground was wiggling and
twisting to an inaudible tune, and Daniel was in hysterics.
“Keep going.
This is too good,” he sputtered out in between giggles. I ignored him and yelled Stop! in my head to erase their urge to continue dancing.
Within a few seconds, everyone stopped and looked
around in confusion. My friends were
laughing loudly and several parents glanced in our direction. But they soon went back to their normal
business as though they hadn’t just been part of a flash mob. Mermaid compulsion: got to love it.
“Oh, you’re no fun,” Daniel chided.
I rolled my
eyes at him and slumped back against the bench.
Sipping the latte we grabbed on the way to the park, I looked around the
rest of the scenery and tried to think about nothing. Not an easy task.
“You try it,” Daniel said. At first I thought he was talking to me, but
was surprised to see him looking at Kain.
“I don’t think so,” Kain said with an edge.
“No, he’s right.
You need to practice too,” I added.
Kain had the ability as well, although for some reason mine had jumped
from zero to extreme in one evening. His
power repertoire was building slowly but he still had the skills necessary to
manipulate minds.
“You’re the one they want to see demonstrate,” Kain
reminded me.
“So? You’re a
leader, too and the more control you have, the more people will respect you.”
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