“Excuse me for a moment, ladies.” He pushed through the others until he was standing in front of me. “Let’s have a little chat,” he said, smiling. But the smile ended on the surface. He clasped my elbow and steered me away from the group.
“Excuse me?” I said, trying to shrug out of his hold, but he was strong. In fact, he was stronger than I was, which should be impossible for most humans.
“We just need to have a little talk,” he said, his jaw clenched.
We were headed toward a door on the other side of the room and I realized that my alarms were screaming Don’t let him get you alone! I dug my heels in. He almost stumbled, trying to pull me with him, but I had found my center and now I was rooted to the floor, steeling myself.
“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” I said. I glanced around and saw Penn. She was looking around and suddenly, she saw me and took in the situation. Immediately, she headed my way.
“What’s going on?” she said, grabbing one of his hands and shaking it, hard. “How do you do? Your presentation was interesting.”
Erik pulled his hand back. He cleared his throat. “Thank you, Ms.…?”
“I just wanted to grab my friend here. We have another appointment to get to,” she said, avoiding his question. “Come on, or we’ll be late.”
I followed her toward the door.
She leaned close. “We need to get out of here, now.”
As we hustled up the stairs and out to the car, she kept glancing over her shoulder.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“Get in, and drive. Don’t drive directly home. I might be paranoid, but I suggest we get out of here before they call someone to follow us.”
I put the car in gear and screeched out of the parking lot, wondering the hell had just happened.
Twenty minutes later, we were parked in the lot behind Debbie’s Diner. We’d never been here before, but the parking lot was brightly lit, the diner was open 24/7, and it was nowhere near the house. We’d driven round town long enough to feel certain we weren’t being followed. Along the way, Penn had remained silent, and I hadn’t wanted to interrupt her thoughts. I was also thinking about the meeting.
There was something shady going on with the Tetrachordian Temple, all right. Not only were they scamming money off people for the initiation fees, but I had the feeling that if we’d stuck around, Erik would have dragged me off and I might not have come back.
As we settled into a booth at the diner, I took a deep breath. “Okay. Opinions?”
“They’re both illusionists. That much I can tell. Not witches—I know witch magic and that wasn’t it. But they’re not human. I think they’re targeting humans who don’t see through the glamour. The fact that neither of us are fully human makes us less susceptible to being fooled.”
“Well, I can tell you this: I’m pretty sure that Erik, and probably Analee too, know I’m part demon. They both reacted with a lot of hostility. And, what was with his speech? For the life of me, I have no clue what he was actually saying.”
“That’s because he—” Penn paused as a waitress came over to take our orders. “A side of fries, please, with a chocolate shake,” she said.
“A bowl of chowder, and water,” I said. As the waitress headed toward the kitchen with our orders, I let out a sigh. “What were you going to say?”
“He was casting a spell with his words. Think of it like a net—he was casting out a net to find his victims. And by the way some of those women were acting, it worked. I didn’t notice many men at this meeting,” she added.
“I’m betting he targets women more. Mark might have been an anomaly. Women make up the audience for self-help books by about three to one. So I’m venturing a guess that it’s the same way for self-help programs. And this fits in that category.” I frowned. “So you say he was casting a spell with his speech?”
She nodded, waiting as the waitress brought her shake and my water. After she left again, promising our food would be right up, Penn took a sip of her shake.
“Yes, he was. The magic in his words resonated so strongly that I could feel the spell weaving itself. Although, I’m thinking that he was seeking the right people. I don’t think he was actually trying to entrance everybody. Most of the people there were human. I noticed several slip out and leave. Some of the attendees looked pretty confused when he was talking.”
That would make sense. Snare those who responded, and confuse and repel those who didn’t. “Did you understand anything he said?”
“Out of that string of gibberish? Only the greeting and the wrap up. I recorded enough of it on my phone that I should be able to translate some part of it when we get home.” She held up her phone, grinning.
“Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because, I work with magic on a daily basis and I sometimes need to go over a spell several times, so I’ll record it and play it back until I memorize it. This sounds like my recordings—the magic sometimes distorts the words, especially if it’s aimed at one particular person or Supe species or a marginal group.”
“I think I see what you’re saying,” I said.
