Page 19 of Power of the Mind
“Of course. It’s already happened. Over nine hundred people died during the Jonestown massacre.”
My shoulders fell. “True. I read about that, but they were brainwashed.”
“Manipulated.”
“It’s the same difference.”
“Not even close. Again, those people did not have their brains rewired. They were expertly manipulated by a crafty and cunning man. They maintained their free will, Tallus. What they didn’t do was exercise it because they believed in Jones. He gave them something they had been missing all their lives.”
“So, my theory isn’t convoluted, though, right? It’s solid. It could happen. Hypothetically.”
“Sure it could. People could easily be manipulated into killing themselves. You don’t have some crazy plan to—”
“It’s not about me, Kitty. Good grief. Just say yes. Quit implying I’m evil. I’m perfectly sweet and lovable.”
Kitty tittered. “Then yes.”
I flashed a cocky grin and held myself a little higher as I stacked a few tattered files onto the counter beside the computer, finding a rolly bug and a dead fly underneath. “I knew I wasn’t wrong.”
Kittytsked and shook her head disapprovingly. “That right there is what disarms him.”
“What? Who? What are you talking about?”
“You know who. When you smile like that, bat your lashes, and use that irresistible charm, my poor Diem has no hope of survival.”
I gasped and clutched my chest. “Stop calling me a manipulator. I’m getting offended.”
“You’re not as cunning as you think. Be careful, Tallus. Maybe you aren’t doing it on purpose, but you’re playing on Diem’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and I would hate to see him get hurt.”
I dramatically stuck my nose in the air and returned to my work. But the more I sat with Kitty’s summation, the more it bothered me.
Had I played my cards specifically to encourage Diem to help me? Yes. Of course I had. Did I use sex appeal and charisma to get the job done? Also yes. The man had a raging boner where I was concerned, and I may have exploited it.
Was it a bad thing when it meant getting what I wanted?
Goddammit.
I hadn’t thought so at the time, but when I considered my use of flirtatious behavior and where, inevitably, this odd, nonrelationship was headed, I didn’t know.
Feeling somewhat put in my place and no longer proud of myself, I worked silently while Kitty knit and talked about her daughter’s most recent ultrasound. By the end of the day, I was reassured by one thing.
Diem could have said no.
Diem was a big, gruff, growly boy with no compunction about expressing himself. There was no way in hell little old me had any power over him. He didn’t do things he didn’t want to do. Period. If he was so easy to manipulate, we’d be having far better sex.
***
Kitty left at five, and I stuck around for another thirty minutes before locking up and heading to Diem’s. A text chimed as Ipulled into a parking space in the aboveground structure across the street from his office. It was Memphis.
Memphis: Think you can clear this woman by tomorrow night? She has an opening for five fifteen, and I want to take it.
Tallus: Doubt it.
Memphis: Girl, she’s not dangerous. She’s a sweet old lady who can see into the future. Besides, it’s a simple palm reading. My budget does not extend to letting her inside my head, and it’s not like she’d offer to cure my impulsive need to overspend on clothes for free. I think I’m safe.
Annoyed, I hit Call and waited for Memphis to answer. Traffic was thick on the road outside Diem’s building, and it took forever to clear enough so I could run across.
The minute the call connected, I yelled, “Stop being an impatient twat and wait a few days. The woman is a scam artist who’s been charged with witchcraft, of all things. Do you have a death wish?”