Mom and Dad begin to count down, their voices blending in perfect harmony.
As they reach “one,” Mom raises her arms, spread wide. “Do you feel the presence of the Ever Mage? Do you sense the joy of it, coursing through your veins?”
I glance at the real-time Darrel. He’s staring at my screen, wide-eyed.
In the video, Mom, Dad, and the Bauds shift closer to one another other.
“Open up to the wonder of the moment, Darrel!” Mom invites him. “You were put on our path for a reason. You have the mark of the Ever Mage. Allow your soul to receive his message for us, so that he can help us!”
Curiouser and curiouser,my favorite childhood heroine would say. As it happens, I feel exactly like Alice after she fell through the rabbit hole and found herself in a weird wonderland where everybody seemed insane, and nothing made sense.
And I thought I was the Mad Hatter of the family!
The Bauds, Mom and Dad join hands and stare at Darrel in eager anticipation. Long moments pass.
“I wish the camera angle covered you,” I say to Darrel.
He points at another moldy spot on the wall. “If you stick the cam there, we should be able to see more next time, including me.”
“Good idea!”
He cocks his head. “That is, if you still refuse to call Adam after this.”
I purse my lips, feeling cornered.Should I make that call? Can I trust Adam? Can I trust Darrel?
He speaks again, “Haven’t you seen enough to believe me when I say that I’m being held here against my will? Help me get out before your folks graduate to violence.”
“They won’t! They are good people!”
Just a little crazier than I thought.
OK, a lot crazier than I thought.
Darrel makes a sarcastic noise.
There’s movement on the screen. My parents and the Bauds break the hand-holding semicircle.
“It is time,” Dad says.
Mom steps toward Darrel. I can’t see what she’s doing, but I can hear her voice. “Leave the dreamscape, Darrel! Speak to us! Tell us what you saw and who you encountered!”
“I saw a serpent, coiled around a column of light,” Darrel says.
He sounds monotonous and detached, like he’s still in a hypnotic trance. Which, I suppose, is the case.
“It could represent the balance between darkness and light,” Dad comments, “and the Ever Mage’s central role in maintaining that balance.”
“Did the serpent speak to you?” Bertrand asks, his voice filled with awe. “Did it give you a message from the Ever Mage? Did it explain where we should be looking for the stolen talisman—”
Dad clamps his hand to Bertrand’s mouth.
“What are you doing?” he whispers angrily. “The drug and the hypnosis have made him extra-biddable. If you startsuggestingwhat he might’ve seen in the dreamscape, then your suggestion will override his actual memories.”
“Basically, he’ll tell us what we want to hear,” Mom sums up.
The rationality of their remarks is at such odds with their clothing, with the ritual, and with the absurdity of what they’re doing, that I sneer.
In the video, I hear Darrel’s voice. “The serpent gave me a message from the Ever Mage.”