Basile started clapping. “While I applaud the lofty conclusions you two have jumped to here, you’re still missing a key ingredient. Proof. Where is the proof you have for all these wild accusations?” He turned to the others. “I hope you will all think twice before believing our colleague here on word alone. It’s obvious the case has done a number on her. Just look at her.”
Dr. Robetresse’s footsteps wavered. The other council members looked on, unsure of who to believe.
I bit hard into my cheek. “And I suppose it’s just coincidence that you released a video saying you proved the Reality Paradox and could send someone to the next world on the same day we discover another person like Dani. What happened to Luce, Basile?”
He laughed. “While I’m flattered you’ve taken an interest in my work, clearly someone failed to teach you not to believe everything you see on the internet. Last I checked, there’s no crime against drumming up publicity. Particularly when doing so raises desperately needed funds for children’s summer camps.”
More murmurs from the other council members. Dr. Nguyen’s thread twisted anxiously behind her. With a sinking feeling, I realized we might be losing this.
“We’re running out of time,” said Max. “The only way to save the others is to bind them back to their objects. The longer we spend arguing with the guy responsible for all of this, the stronger they get. The stronger the Magic gets.”
“Basile’s entire Reality Paradox is about getting to another world,” I said. “This mystical ‘world of Being.’ He told me himself that you can get there by living a ‘good life,’ according to his group’s laws.”
“Yes,” Basile scoffed, “surely there’s no crime in having spiritual beliefs. I fail to see where she’s going with this.”
I looked over at Max, who carefully positioned himself between Basile and the door. He looked at me, eyes blazing.You can do this.
Basile was a snake. Just like the Magic that had curled around them all and sunk in its teeth. But I was done letting people manipulate me, and I was done doubting myself and my own power. Who cared if I didn’t have a big following? So what if I couldn’t charm a crowd? There were people here who believed in me just as much as in him. There were people in this room who’d traveled the country just to get me to return. I wasn’t some little insignificant thing: I was Marcella P. Gibbons. And I was done being ignored.
I turned to the council members and steadied my voice.
“Basile is a smooth talker, and he knows just what to say to make you want to believe him. I—I admit, I believed it myself at first. I was taken in by the allure of it, by the idea of it. But this little club of his is a cult, and he’ll say anything to deflect from it.”
I held up the drawing Vern had made of his office. “Tell them about the book, Basile. The book that has the very spell Dani underwent to become what she is now. Go ahead, explain away how it came to be in your office. Or maybe you can explain how Luce Montgomery’s field journal indicates the Phi Kat house was the last place she went before turning into this? No? How about why Emma Garcia’s friends said she was terrified after what happened at a Phi Kat party and then she was never seen again. Explain why her belongings are sitting in a cave close to the Phi Kat house.” I swallowed. “Explain what happened to my brother.”
Fiery-red splotches crept up Basile’s neck as he fought the contemptuous look on his face.
I faced him head-on, jaw set. “Explain to them what you told me. That if someone lived a ‘good life,’ they’d become divine, able to control and shape every thought and idea in this world for all of time. It’s how you get people to follow you, isn’t it? You promise them control. It’s how you get your friends to go along with you while you kill people.”
The last dregs of his self-control melted away. His face contorted in rage. “I didn’t kill her,” he shouted. “I set her free!”
The council members took a step back, shocked by his admission. Dr. Perez’s eyes widened. Quietly, Dr. Robetresse said, “Someone get Esoteric Medicine. I want confirmation on Emma Garcia’s remains. And for God’s sake,” she said, voice breaking, “cover the poor thing.”
“That’s not what I meant, I—” Basile said, trying to backpedal.
His eyes scanned the cottage, looking for a sympathetic face and finding none. Even Dr. de Vries edged away from him.
I couldn’t help it. My face broke into a triumphant smile.
Then I watched as Basile carefully walked over to Dr. Robetresse, a million emotions flashing across his face, and his anger slipped away, replaced by a controlled, easy charm.
“Dr. Robetresse,” he said, his voice turning liquid and melodic. More softly, “Thea. Aren’t you sick of scouring the country for professors willing to teach at Seinford and Brown? Aren’t you sick of the measly funds coming in that barely keep the buildings from collapsing around us? Picture it: students flocking in from all over the world, begging you to teach them, begging you to help them make their mark on history. Imagine the most influential Magicians all over the world calling you, begging for a teaching position. BeggingtheThea Robetresse.”
He turned to Ellendale, standing stiffly in the corner.
“Ellendale, it’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? What you thought was merely theoretical but couldn’t stop yourself from dreaming of all the same. I can show you how to surpass even your own reputation.”
“And, Cella,” he said, turning toward me as I opened my mouth in protest. The anger in his eyes was gone, replaced by smooth charm, the same charm that had gotten thousands of people to follow him, to tune into his posts, his videos, his math proofs. He cast a sidelong glance at Max. “You were sick of living in someone else’s shadow, sick of being overlooked. People told you that you couldn’t do it, that there was no way someone like you could do it. Here’s your chance to prove them wrong.” He stroked his fingers down the side of my face. “Come with me.”
I smacked his hand away.
He grinned, and the shape took readily to his mouth. With a sinking feeling, I realized I should have never fought him on his own turf. He was made for this. He was made for eloquent speeches, tailor-made to pull people over to his side. “Most Greeks believed that, upon death, you would live a shadowy and bleak existence in the underworld. Then when our teacher came, He taught that the soul was immortal, and that you could be reborn into a life similar to the one you left. He brought hope to the Greeks. And through His teachings, we are doing the same for people today, people who feel powerless, who feel lost. Just imagine. When you die, your soul will have all the control you lacked in this life. You could correct all those horrible things you saw in this world but never had the power to do anything about. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that’s not something any of you want?”
He turned his sculpted chin to the light, took an elegant hand and gestured all around us. “Why fight the power that we could reach out and take? Magic has always been there, pushed to the side, belittled and scorned. Attacked and mocked by a religion that feared the threat to its power. But we were the ones who had the power all along. We hide like rats when we could be kings.”
I backpedaled, looking at Dr. Robetresse and the others, afraid they were falling for it. Ellendale stroked his chin, considering what Basile said. Dr. Nguyen’s spool of thread tangled faster and faster behind her. “He’s manipulating you,” I pleaded.
Dr. Robetresse shook her head, eyes hardening. “Why? Why unbind people from their objects? Why all of this just to get to some other world?”
