Mind Control- Episodes 8-13 Read online

  “Why did you take you long to start dating?” the aunt said. “You’re going to end up married anyway. Better have lots of children.”

  I shot her a blank glare. She grinned and winked. Just to put it out there, she was hot too, not as much as Gemini’s supermodel mom, but still out of my league. I swear this family of Iyan freaks conjured up some magic potion that cheated natural selection.

  “Well don’t be a stranger, come eat dinner with us,” Holly said as she pulled me into the dining room behind everyone else…to the death table! I noticed something attached to the bottom of the chandelier as we sat around the table. A familiar blue gem repeatedly shimmered as it dangled like a dying lightbulb. Before I could say anything, Mr. Dad spoke.

  “Oh don’t worry about that,” he said. “It’s disarmed”

  “You can disarm them?” I asked.

  “Special means,” he answered. “They almost become regular gemstones afterwards.”

  I took a mental note as I finished my dinner of stewed steak on rice with some fancy sides I couldn’t pronounce. If there is one time I needed Google to work for me, it will be when I look that up.

  “Still,” I heard Holy say then…I involuntarily stood up and spoke.

  “Holly, Molly, mind showing me around?”

  I glared at them but before I could do anything, Molly interrupted with a volunteer.

  “Sure, no problem.”

  “Gemini, could you show me where your dad put my files,” the aunt asked. “They’re important.” Gemini simply shrugged, unaware of the setup. I wanted to say something but Demand’s influence prevented that, which meant no shouting for help. Then she was gone and I ended up following the hot evil twins through some halls. No. Even if they were armed with Demand, I did not come to this Iyan-paved freak house to be chow. I felt resistance. At that moment, I somehow broke from Demand’s chains and made a run for it. The Iyan horror house hadn’t changed one bit. As I got some distance away from the twins, I peeked around the corner. Can’t just recklessly run into some trap, you know. Just what did these people want with me, anyway? Why did they always feel compelled to use Iyan magic on me?

  Unfortunately, the parents, both holding copies of Demand, sat on a sofa, smiling right at me.

  “Old times sake, right? Showing you cool Iyan magic, abilities that people would kill to have,” the dad said.

  “Look, I don’t want any trouble,” I said, knowing my plea was useless.

  “You’re welcome to try out the artifacts anytime, just ask us about them first. Can’t have you destroying the place,” the mom said. I forced myself not to stare at her. At that moment, I heard the playful scurrying of the twins approaching. The parents grinned. “Well, you’re trapped.”

  I freaking knew this whole thing would turn out to be a bigger disaster than America’s politicians. Just then, I felt someone pull me into a room that I had no idea was there. Morgan? She pulled me as we raced down familiar “hidden” halls. Eventually we stopped in a dim room of a location that only God knew. Exactly like childhood.

  “Why?” I asked, feeling grateful.

  “Old time’s sake,” she replied. Seconds of silence then we both laughed. “Let’s go,” she said before I could warn her of the person that suddenly freaking teleported behind her, wand in hand—gah it was too late. The smiling aunt tapped Demand, injecting Morgan with its mind-controlling Iyan magic. Derek joined her afterwards.

  “Morgan, move to the side and observe,” the aunt said. Morgan involuntarily obeyed. Molly guarded Morgan, her own copy of Demand in hand, keeping the prisoner stationary and under control. I…was screwed. Surrounded by THEM, nowhere to run, this was what I feared. I raised my hands slightly in the air, palms toward them in a gesture that indicated I didn’t want any trouble, sad grin accompanying it.

  “We can work this out, have dinner, go on with our lives. Let’s just put the dangerous science-defying, mind-stealing, evil gem stones away,” I said.

  The aunt smirked. “I don’t think so. It’s a party and you’re the entertainment—entertainer.” She tapped her copy of Demand. I felt its Iyan magic grasp my mind with icy cold fingers. Maybe claws. Just like that, they started a small quiet debate about what I should do first. Eventually they all took a liking to Derek’s suggestion for the first act: an interpretive dance. I BEGGED my mind, pleaded with my legs not to do it. Useless. I did it—and well too. They laughed and clapped, hooted, and hollered. I felt a part of my soul die of embarrassment. The next thing on the entertainment list was dancing jumping jacks, girly as possibly. I imagined my mind as a duplicate of me made of bright white mysterious energy and light, imagined myself kneeling to it, and pleaded with it to resist. Mind-me folded its imaginary arms and shook its head.

  “Matt…you can only resist once a day,” it replied in my imaginary Kung-Fu master voice.

  “You’re kidding me, right? Isn’t there anything I can do? Anything!”

  “I am sorry,” Mind-me said. “Reality sucks, doesn’t it?” My imaginary creation vanished, replaced with the laughing and cheering faces of THEM.

  “Me next,” Holly said.

  “No me,” Molly said, poking my abs with predatory eyes.

  Just then, Gemini burst into the room, face reddened with rage. “Stop! Stop this now!” she yelled in a voice that could probably be heard across the edges of the universe. I thought I was saved. I really did. My really hot and cute girlfriend interrupted her family’s torturing. I thought we were about to hightail it out of there, go to my place, and forget the whole night. NOPE. Derek used Demand on her and soon, she had a place beside Morgan, powerless and forced to watch. She stopped carrying her copy of Demand ever since we started dating, so…. yeah….I was screwed, again.

  “Like I said, it’s a party and you’re the entertainer,” the aunt said. As they made me do more stupid things, I felt pulses ring throughout my body. These were the same pulses I felt when Gemini and I had a gem fight in story one. The more I felt humiliated, the stronger the pulse grew. Anger crept. The feeling of wanting to disappear or at least go home and eat pizza, multiplied greatly. Then I heard a whisper in the depths of my mind. It wasn’t a whisper of language but feelings, tingling, and a destructive urge. Then…Evil appeared from a burst of fiery light into my grasps. Everyone froze, eyes wide, some with mouths agape. “You’re marked,” the aunt said softly. She turned to the rest. “Alright, party’s over.”

  I grinned. “I don’t think so. Party’s just began. And guess what, YOU’RE entertainment. And unlike you, mine will be an equivalent exchange plus interest.” I held up my freehand. All of their copies of Demand flew from their grasps and spiraled a few feet above me, shimmering. First, I made them do all the same crap they made me do but in great detail and as a group. The laughs I got eradicated some of my dark mind. But of course not even close to all of it. I pointed at the aunt.

  “You, prance like a deer for me, while singing the original lyrics to the Batman theme song.” She did and I almost laughed out an organ. I pointed at Derek, after making the aunt move to the side. “Do the chicken dance while singing the original Wonder Woman theme song. And sing to the audience, emphasizing that YOU’RE Wonder Woman.”

  I would have this one over him forever. He’d probably seek revenge after this. Gemini’s male equivalent, remember? I didn’t make Morgan or Gemini do anything—kind of forgot about them. “Alright, one more event,” I said after making Derek stop. My voice was dark. They looked extremely nervous and some, still shocked that I turned all their precious gems against them. “It is time for a bare-fisted battle royal and it WILL be good enough to pay your interests.”

  Before I had the chance to employ the multi-Demand magic, Gemini stood in my way in a familiar form. That’s when I took in the scene: Morgan had Hero pointed at Gemini. The familiar green eyes and green radiation from story five took my attention. Did I ever mention that I had a weakness for green eyes? Evil pulsed and forced me to focus on other matters that did not
include scooping Gemini up and getting out of here. The words that came out of my mouth sounded dark, nearly demonic.

  “Heroine, huh? Not even you can stop me,” I said.

  “You’re causing more than enough trouble for these innocent citizens, villain. I will put a stop to you, right here, right now.” Gemini folded her arms.

  I laughed. “Heroine Gemini. Try it.”

  So this is quite unexpected, isn’t it? That black gem…returning to me. Wielding its power felt so good. It makes you feel confident, invincible, and powerful. But to think Gemini and I will be duking it out in a Hero vs. Villain fashion, well…this adds more to my plate: Black Star group, the black-level case, Chelsea, and Amy.

  MIND CONTROL 12

  A short story by Alvin Atwater

  Continued directly after story 11…

  Demand, Love, Hate and Kindness. These are the four legal crests of the ancient Iyan tribe Mind Control. Hero, Seduction, Evil, and Colorless are the illegal crests created by a faction with a task of taking down their crappy dictators. Thanks to these shenanigans hundreds to thousands of years ago, Gemini and I are currently squared off, possessed by the gemstones, Hero, and Evil. And in case you’re a little lost here, I wielded Evil.

  “You can’t stop me, Gemini,” I said as I somehow defied gravity, floating two feet into the air. Her family’s copies of Demand still swirled above me like a mini tornado. Evil, the brilliant black illegal Iyan gemstone shimmered repeatedly, a purple radiance outlining it.

  “I will!” She was in front of me in an instant but whatever she attempted never happened because I sidestepped and walked toward Morgan. Morgan’s eyes widened but when they took a sudden swap to hope, I immediately knew to dodge. Green glowing light rushed past me, hitting the wall. Real impact. I bet that would’ve hurt. Too bad she couldn’t hit me. How do you like them apples? I turned around and there she was, smirk on face, green eyes nearly captivating me. She placed a hand on my chest. “Surrender.” Her voice was calm and cocky. I laughed, not too hard, just normal, but this little scrabble had me quite entertained. Then her palm began to heat up. Normally, a surrender would be a good idea, live to fight another day, that sort of thing. A blast she’d create can smack its prey to the wall like a flyswatter dealing the final blow to a pest. But…I thought of the humiliation and realized I wasn’t done with revenge. I rose into the air again. I didn’t have any intention of attacking the heroine. Waste of time but she was in the way. I snatched one of the blue gemstones, tapped it once. It changed colors. After a brief shimmer, I held a clear gem. The entire family looked at me with wide eyes. Hell, even I was surprised. I can do stuff like this? The black gem is awesome! Just then, my new gemstone shimmered like crazy. It grew so hot that I dropped it. Just like that, it shattered, so sad, but true. But…that was the plan. Come on people, Colorless should be gone, right? That moment of distraction was all that I needed because I commanded my floating Demands to make Gemini’s family block her. Also, do the Hokey-Pokey until they dropped. Captain Super Girl could not do a thing as I made my escape, evil grin on my face. Oh, how smug I was!

  When I was out of the house of imbeciles and onto streets, I took a nice whiff of outside night air. I did cough a little from the gasoline but other than that, it felt refreshing. Now to destroy things.

  “I knew I felt its presence,” a voice said from behind. I turned to see Amy, flanked by two of her pathetic goth club goons.

  “Ah, Amy, what brings you here so late?” I said in my normal voice, projecting a good line of false innocence.

  “Get him!” she commanded the lackeys. “The gem has marked him. His life’s in danger.”

  I laughed, aimed a finger at the rushing buffoons, and in a casual voice said, “Bang.” An invisible force pushed the idiots to the ground. Impressive right? Come on, you know it is. Sadly, Amy rained on my parade.

  A super thick white outline of radiation surrounded her as she aimed a palm at me. Winds blasted from nowhere as if we were at the spawn point of a hurricane. Then some force bashed me to the ground, though it wasn’t invisible. I saw a glowing white orb, the size of a minivan hit me before disappearing. Bad sign. If Amy bought enough time for Gemini to get out here, I’d be doomed. And I don’t mean Hero Gemini. I mean regular Gemini, who will be in a deadly mood because of both Morgan and I. There was no doubt, her family would cancel Hero’s effects. And Gemini, she had real power. Remember in story eight when she kicked Amy out of my dream?

  Evil wasn’t fully charged, there were locks deep within it, presumably set by Amy preventing the gem from lending me enough power to wipe the floor with her. I guessed that because it didn’t feel as powerful as last time and of course it coincides with Amy’s appearance. No. No coincidences there… Wait… I looked up and they were still there swirling. Sure, this would free the family but allow me to escape Amy. I pointed at her.

  “Sit there and sing, It’s a Small World repeatedly.”

  Two copies of Demand fell from the swirl, collided, and the rapid shimmer began. I quickly pushed them upward and far with invisible force. The explosion looked like fireworks. Unfortunately, Amy wasn’t in a trance. The white outline of power reappeared. I made a run for it. I had no time to wonder why Demand didn’t work on her. I just had to get away. Evil made it easy of course, the speed boost it gave me was supernatural. I freaking blurred across the streets without a care in the world. The cool night air felt so great as it licked my face. I was at the school in no time. If I was going to succeed at any kind of world domination or even city domination, I’d have to get my hands on the Iyan item stash within the archaeology clubroom. As I started my trek on the first hall, I bumped into a familiar blonde ex-cheerleader. Chelsea. Before I could react, she effortlessly snatched Evil out of my grasps. All of that amazing power, faded instantly. I almost wanted to cry—it felt so good.

  “Sorry handsome but you’re more predictable than the weather on a hot and sunny day.” She placed Evil into a mini-safe and smacked it close. A brief headache spike made me drop to one knee. Chelsea helped me stand. “Geeze, you get drunk on that power and can’t handle the hangover.”

  I shot her a blank glare before saying, “well excuse me for losing myself in something that felt so good it’s indescribable.”

  “Oh really? I bet I can give you something that feels way better.” She began to lean over. I sighed.

  “Wrong genre, I have a girlfriend, and just what are you doing here so late anyway?”

  “Did you not hear anything I said?” Chelsea folded her arms. “Amy told me to wait here and lock away that stupid gem at all costs—she knew you’d come here.”

  I blinked. “I kind of want to hurry home before they arrive. Pretty sure everyone’s pissed off.” I chuckled.

  Chelsea laughed. “What’d you do?” Her hazel eyes were bright. She was filled with hysterical laughter after I finished the story. Hell, even I couldn’t help but laugh too—the entire family visit turned out to be a hilarious disaster. We were sitting on the hall floors at this time. I forgot to make sure Chelsea was an arm’s length from me, so when Gemini walked in to see us laughing together, she paused. I didn’t flinch or make any moves that could make me look suspicious.

  “And the star of our hilarious conversation arrives,” I said as I stood. I thought that would be enough but when she gave Chelsea an icy stare, Chelsea returning it, I realized something I didn’t know stirred in between them. I thought about the events of story four, its bickering, and that night: the ending of story ten. These two were friends on the surface…but also love rivals. And who’s the prize? Of course, it’s me. Of freaking course. Another goddamn triangle, this time involving those two. Nope. I wasn’t going to let them drag me into their feud any further. This hit a huge pet peeve of mine: do not disturb my peace! Two timing would make everyone hate me—especially the girls. I saw pretty-boy douchebags try this many times and fail miserably. I had no intention of being lobbed in with them.

  “Stop,”
I said in a fiery-calm voice that melted those icy stares into worry. “I will not let you two throw away your friendship over some crap like this.” I gave Gemini a hard glare. “I was sure that you trusted me a lot—so much that something like this wouldn’t even pop on your radar. And you of all people wouldn’t start a fight with your best friend. Even if she did like me. I was sure that you knew I couldn’t be swayed like every other guy around. I guess I was wrong.” I shrugged and began to storm off but suddenly felt an iron grip on my arm. I turned to see tears…falling from her face nearly endlessly. That impenetrable personality revealing the shielded girly-girl heart inside. My anger shattered and I pulled my crying girlfriend into a reassuring embrace.

  Chelsea sighed but didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure if she intended to back off but at least for now, the triangle wouldn’t strengthen.

  Of course, the two made up, sharing a crying hug between themselves. I made damn sure of that.

  When Monday rolled around, everything almost geared back to normal, the therapy of the weekend cooling off tensions. Of course, Gemini and I spent it together like usual, laughing, dating, playing videogames competitively, and living it up like usual. Neither of us mentioned her family or my outburst which potentially had the ability to lead to a split. Amy did visit but that was pretty much it for the weekend.

  Kate was in a fired-up mood that afternoon at the mystery club. She slapped the black folder containing the most difficult case onto the table and said, “I hope you’re ready.”

  “I guess,” I said. “Brief away pres.” She shot me a blank glare before opening the folder.