Caroline couldn’t do it. They would all catch up to her, she would have no way to stop them. She should just give up. Maybe if she wouldn’t have gone to the park things would have been different…
Caroline shoved her closet door closed trying to keep the waterfall of clothes from flooding out. She pulled the light purple sweater over her head and grabbed her keys from her cluttered desk. As she walked out of her bedroom, she glanced at a picture she had on a shelf next to her door.
It was of her and her best friend Lincoln, two years earlier. They were standing in Lincoln’s back yard, and both of them were laughing. Caroline smiled. She and Lincoln had been best friends since she moved to this town. He was the first kid to talk to her at school and the first person to become her friend when she moved there. Today, she and Lincoln were going to go to the brand new park. Caroline rushed down the stairs, skipping one step at a time. Her dog, Charlie, ran up to her.
“Hey Charlie! I gotta go, but I’ll play with you later!” Caroline told her pet, as he marched around her feet.
Caroline pulled open the front door, and descended the few steps of her stoop. She ran for a block, and then slowed her pace to a jog. She jogged past Lincoln’s house but didn’t stop, knowing he had already left. She went past an old lamp post, its paint peeling off the years-old metal, an actual candle burning away, even though it wasn’t night yet. She saw some people standing on the sidewalk. Their eyes looked sunken and seemed to shine. They were just standing there, doing nothing.
Weird. Caroline thought. I wonder why they’re just standing there. They don’t seem to be doing anything.
Caroline put the thought behind her and kept jogging. She was athletic, and was able to keep a good pace.
After a few more minutes, Caroline saw the park. It was green and lush with plenty of grassy fields. Dirt paths snaked through the park, with some puddles in them left over from yesterday’s rain. Everything looked untouched and clean from being so new. Caroline saw Lincoln enthusiastically waving to her, his floppy brown hair waving in the wind.
“Hi! It’s so good to see you!” He said, pulling Caroline into a hug. His voice was energetic and made her feel warm. He was the type of person that she liked to be around.
“Yeah, it’s good to see you too! How are y-” All of a sudden, a thought in a cold voice unlike her own ran through her mind.
You don’t need that fool, push him down into the mud! Caroline was about to do this, when she stopped herself. Why would she think that? Lincoln was her best friend, and he did nothing wrong.
“Caroline, are you okay? You look a bit pale.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine,” She responded, trying to forget about the strange idea.
Lincoln started to say what part of the park they should go to, but stopped mid sentence. His eyes looked empty, and seemed to be glowing a light blue instead of their normal brown.
“Umm….. Lincoln?
Lincoln slowly turned around, and started walking away with an unhurried pace.
“Hey! Wait! Come back!” Caroline shouted, chasing after her friend. Lincoln never just left without saying anything. She was about to catch up when the icy voice spoke again inside of her brain.
Leave him. He hates you, why else would he leave? He never wants to speak to you again.
Caroline stopped walking, believing that what the mysterious voice said was true. She turned around, but caught a glimpse of herself in a puddle of water on the ground. Something about her looked different then it normally did, but Caroline couldn’t place what it was for a moment. Then she realized what it was.
Her eyes had the same empty, glowing look that Lincoln’s had when he stalked away from her. Come to think of it, earlier that day she saw some people standing, doing nothing, with those hollow eyes.
Something strange is going on here. Twice now, I’ve had thoughts that I would never think, and they seemed to be in someone else's voice. Apparently, my eyes glowed the second time that happened. Lincoln walked away in a way he would never have done, and his eyes also glowed.
Caroline never believed in magic, but now, she was starting to think that someone was taking over her and Lincoln’s mind. She didn’t know if it was a ghost, witch, or superhero who was in her mind, but she wouldn’t let it keep happening.
“Lincoln!” She called as she started to chase after him again. He was now pretty far away from when she paused.
She heard the frozen voice bellow in her mind, Don’t you dare go after him!
Caroline ignored the voice and pushed on. She caught up to him and pulled him to face her. She saw in a flash Lincoln’s face go from a blank expression back to a real one. He looked surprised, and a bit confused.
Lincoln cried, “Hey! Caroline! What’s going on?”
“Something weird is going on. I know I must sound crazy, but I think someone is hypnotizing us!”
“Woah!” He exclaimed. “I told you mind control existed, but you didn’t believe me!”
“Well, now I do. I don’t know what we should do.”
“Maybe we should go home so we don’t do anything we wouldn’t normally do, not that I don’t want to hang out with you!”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Sorry I walked away from you earlier, I didn’t mean to.”
“That’s fine, it isn’t your fault. If I say anything that doesn’t seem like I normally would to you, it’s probably because the mysterious force is making me”
“Ok. See you tomorrow?”
“See you tomorrow.”
Lincoln and Caroline walked together for a few minutes, then Caroline broke off to the direction of her house. She was sad that her time with her best friend was interrupted, but if it would protect both of them, she would do it. Her speed picked up, and she looked around as she went. Almost every person she saw had vacant, luminescent eyes, signaling to her that she and Lincoln were not the only people who were being controlled. Caroline rounded the corner to her street and continued to walk, looking down at her feet. When she got infront of her house she looked up. Caroline’s mouth fell open as she let out a small gasp.
Standing in her front yard, there were tons of people. They were all just standing there, doing nothing, looking out to the road. They had trampled over Caroline’s older brother’s flower garden, leaving them smushed and wilted. Every single one of the people looked as if they were being hypnotized, or at least all of them but one. The man who looked like he was still in charge of his brain stood on Caroline’s doorstep. He had slicked back dark brown hair, and was wearing a suit.
Caroline watched as a smile slowly crept across his face. He crossed his hands behind his back and started to slowly walk down the front steps. He skipped the last step and started to speak.
“Caroline, Caroline, Caroline. It seems as if you have figured out my phenomenal power,” the man said in a cold voice that gave Caroline goose bumps.
He has the same voice as the strange voice in my head! He must be the one controlling everyone! But why does he look so familiar?
¨Ah, you recognize me. I don’t blame you, my face is hard to forget.”
Caroline just stared at him.
“Think. 4 years ago, when you were 10. I worked at your mom’s company. She fired me because she said I was too narcissistic, but I’m just telling the truth.”
It was as if someone dunked Caroline's brain into a bucket of ice water and she looked into a video of the past. A memory faded slowly into focus. There she was, standing in the kitchen in her old house, leaning on the island. Across from her stood the same man that was in front of her now. He looked younger and neater. His name hit her. He was Gregory Smithson!
“One day, I’m going to control everyone, and no one will be able to stop me,” memory Gregory murmured to himself.
“What did you say?” younger Caroline asked.
“Nothing that matters to you,” memory Gregory snapped back.
Caroline shook herself out of the memory and back to what was going on.
“Why are you standing in my front yard?” She asked, trying to keep her nervousness out of her voice.
“Well, you know that I am currently hypnotizing thousands of people. You have already told that person you call your friend about it, and you’ll continue to tell people about it. That’s why I must stop you.” Gregory snapped his fingers, and the crowd of people’s eyes grew brighter. He started to walk towards Caroline, at first he was slow, then his speed accelerated. Caroline stumbled backwards, keeping away from him.
“It’s no use to run from me, I’m too amazing to be stopped.”
Nevertheless, Caroline ran. She could hear the even noise of footsteps. They weren't at a running pace, but she wasn’t too far ahead.
“You’re just” going to “tire” yourself “out,” Gregory called after her, his voice alternating from out loud and in her mind.
One foot flew past the other as Caroline sprinted away. She ran past Lincoln’s house and he ran up to her.
“Hey what’s up-”
“Can’t chat now!” She yelled to him as she rushed past him, leaving him behind with a look of confusion on his face. She looked back to see Gregory and his mob of people push him over.
She put her arm out and swung around the old lamp post. It creaked under her weight, but she kept running. Argh I’m getting too tired to keep running! She thought. She panted as her pace started to slow. She used the last bit of her strength to turn the corner where Gregory couldn’t see her, and turned down an alleyway.
There was trash littering the ground and it smelled of rotting food. Caroline ducked behind an overflowing dumpster and sunk down, leaning on the crumbling brick wall behind her.
I can’t do it. He’ll catch up to me. I can’t win.
“Come out, come out wherever you are! I’ll go easy on you!” Gregory sang in his wintery tone.
I never do anything right. I shouldn’t have gone to the park today, or this might not have happened!
“You’re probably wondering why I am doing this. I’ll tell you so you might have a fraction of a chance of stopping me,” he commented. “All my life, everyone has done their best to avoid me. No one has liked me. Some people say it’s because I’m too egotistical, but they are really just jealous of my amazingness. When I was 14—your age—I figured out that I had the power to hypnotize people. At first I tried to ignore it, but eventually, I saw an opportunity to take advantage of my power. Since no one wanted to admit liking me on their own, what was wrong with making everyone do what I wanted them to?”
“You’re a monster,” Caroline panted.
“No Caroline, I’m a great person. I’m giving people freedom! They no longer have to waste their time deciding what to do, they now have more time to appreciate me!”
“That’s not how freedom works!”
“What would you know, you’re only a kid. I could easily destroy your mind if I wanted to!”
“What’s stopping you? Are you scared?”
“No!” Gregory barked back.
Caroline whined back, “Then what do you want from me?!”
“I want you to join me.”
Caroline gasped. He was just saying how he could destroy me, and now he wants to be friends?
“I know you’re thinking why would I want to work with you if I could kill you, but I actually have a good reason for everything.”
“It's not like I want you to murder me, but how could I be helpful to someone who has a super power? I don’t have anything cool or special about me,” she said, looking down at her feet.
“That’s not true.”
“What do you mean?” Caroline mumbled.
Gregory whispered back, “You have a lot of opportunity in front of you. You seem to be smart and can make decisions fast. If you join me, you can work at my side when I’m in charge of the world. If not, you will perish.
“I’ll never join you,” She squeaked. He’s evil and I would hate to join him, but is there really another way?
“No, this is the only way.” Apparently, he could also read her mind.
Suddenly the bricks seemed extra cold against Caroline’s back.
“Give in, Caroline. I will spare you,” Gregory boomed.
“No. I don’t need your help. I can survive myself,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
Gregory started to walk down the alleyway.
He was getting closer. “That’s not true.” He was now in front of her, looking deep into her green eyes.
Caroline stood up, but quickly realized she was cornered. She had her back against the wall, and to one side there was the dumpster. In front of her was Gregory standing with his arms crossed, and behind him and surrounding her were all the hypnotized people.
She could try to climb over the dumpster to get away. No, they would catch her before she could get over, and even if she could do it, there were people waiting on the other side.
She could try to run through the crowds of people. They would catch her within seconds.
She could run into Gregory, knocking him over, hopefully distracting all the other people. Gregory was probably too strong, and what if his minions didn’t fall for the trick?
It’s useless, there’s no way to stop him.
Right when Caroline was about to admit defeat, she heard a noise. There were various chimes and bells, and the noise seemed to be coming from her pocket. Someone was calling her!
Caroline heard Gregory yell. Ha! He must be really angry! He can’t stop me from picking up the phone!
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked to see who it was. It was her Mom! She didn’t realize how late it had got, it must be almost time for dinner! Caroline pressed accept and put her phone up to her ear.
Her mom’s panic filled her ear a second after picking up, “Caroline! Where are you?! You were supposed to be home an hour ago!”
Even though her mom was yelling at her, it felt good for Caroline to hear her melodious voice again. It seemed like days since they talked, even if it only had been a few hours.
“I can’t chat for long! I need you to come and get me I’m by the-”
“Never mind Caroline, I don’t need you to come home,” her mom said in a strangely calm voice, and hung up. Gregory had hypnotized her mom into thinking everything was alright!
Caroline whipped her head up from her phone, getting ready to see Gregory with an evil smile on his face. What she saw instead was him holding his head, his face scrunched up as if he was in a lot of pain. “Grrr… Give me your phone!”
“Come and get it!” Caroline said, waving her phone above her head. Why was Gregory in pain all of a sudden? Think Caroline, Think! There must have been some reason why he’s in pain! Maybe he pushed his powers to the limit? Maybe I’ve discovered his hidden weakness?
“No! Ummm… I mean, you definitely haven't found out my weakness! I’m so awesome I don’t even have a weakness!” he boasted, but his voice faltered.
He’s lying! What could it have been? Caroline started to think back to what happened right before Gregory started to weaken. I was cornered, I was going to give up, my mom called me - Wait! That’s it! Right after she called me Gregory yelled! I guess I must have assumed he was angry, but he must have been in pain!
“Get. Her. Phone! And put it on silent!”
Why would he want my phone on silent? Is that part of the weakness? What noise could have harmed him? Was it my Mom’s voice? Probably not. What other noises came from my phone?
A few people were slowly walking up to Caroline, arms out, trying to get her phone.
There was the ringtone! Maybe that was what bothered him?
Caroline fumbled trying to replay the ringtone. She jumped out of the way of one of the people after her phone and pressed play.
“Arggggghhh!” Gregory put his hands over his ears trying to muffle out the jingling. His henchmen started to move less fast, eyes flashing from normal to hypnotized.
It’s working! Caroline thought excitedly. She looked around, trying to see if there was a new way for her to escape. She made her phone play the noise again, trying to keep Gregory away from her.
“Stop it!” he shrieked, sinking to his knees. He leaned on the ground, trying to balance himself, even though he was on solid ground. Caroline felt bad for him, but she needed to escape. She stopped the chimes to hopefully lessen his pain, but was willing to start it again if he regained enough strength to stop her.
Caroline sprinted past Gregory, feet flying off the ground, dodging his henchmen, right and left. I just might make it! She thought optimistically, still weaving through the crowds of people.
With a barely audible voice, Gregory said, “Don’t get your hopes up”. He stumbled towards Caroline, one hand still grasping his head, the other one limp by his side.
She was almost out of the alleyway. “You won’t be able to catch up to me, I’ve almost escaped, and you can barely walk!”
All of a sudden, it was as if she ran into a wall of ice. She tried to walk forward, but the icy force was keeping her from moving.
“No!”
From behind her she heard “Oh, yes.”
Against her own will, Caroline turned around, facing her enemy. He stayed still, using his mind to make her walk towards him. He made her drop her phone, and then brought her foot down onto it.
Crunch!
“No! That was my phone!” she yelled, but Gregory just smiled. She was getting closer.
Using all her strength Caroline tried to keep her leg down. It hurt, two different forces pushing different ways. Gregory put all his strength into making her walk, overpowering her.
Craaaaack!
“Aggggggggggh!” Caroline screamed, falling over. The pain was worse than anything she had ever felt.
“Oopsie. It seems like you broke your leg. Well, at least we’re even. You gave me a terrible headache that I will probably have for a while, and your leg will also take some time to heal,” Gregory sneered.
Caroline layed crumpled up in a ball on the dirty ground, silently crying and holding her leg. “It’s not fair,” she whimpered, “you purposely did this to me. I didn’t know I’d hurt you.”
“Too bad.” He leaned over, looking down at her, a smirk painted on his face. He lifted up his arms, channeling his energy. Caroline felt cold, as if she was covered in snow. Black spots covered her vision, and it was getting hard to breathe. She thought she could hear an evil laugh in the background, but it was hard to tell. She was falling through the darkness, down, down, down, till suddenly, it stopped.
It was as if summer had just come, melting all signs of winter away. Caroline gasped for air as she was jerked back to consciousness. Her leg was still throbbing and her vision was still clouded, but everything felt stable again.
There were footsteps behind her, someone walking closer. They walked past her, and now Caroline could see the back of them. The person looked around her age, but she couldn’t see their face. They were wearing a sweater, with headphones around their neck. She thought they looked awfully familiar, but couldn’t place where she knew them from.
“Leave my friend alone,” the person said to Gregory in an angry voice.
“Lincoln?!”
He turned down to look at her. “It’s gonna be okay, Caroline.”
“You can’t! He’ll hurt you!” She warned, her voice weak.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Just stay here, okay?”
Caroline nodded, her throat too dry for her to speak.
Lincoln walked towards Gregory.
“Who are you and how do you know Caroline?” Gregory stammered, as he started taking some steps back.
“My name is Lincoln. I’m Caroline’s best friend. I followed you here, and you’re going to pay for what you did to her.”
“What makes you think you can stop me, when it’s obvious that I’m the greatest person ever?”
“Yeah right. And to answer your question, it’s because I also have the power of hypnosis.”
Caroline’s eyes widened. Lincoln could hypnotize people and read their minds?
“No! There's only one other hypnotist besides me in the world right now, and they're not even in the country! You’re lying!” stuttered Gregory as his speed started to pick up, going further down the alleyway, away from Lincoln.
Caroline’s vision cleared up and saw Lincoln snap back with a grin on his face, “That’s what you think. The Federation of Hypnotists has been keeping you in the dark. There are actually more of us than you think.”
“The Federation of Hypnotists died out decades ago! You’re lying kiddo!”
Lincoln put two fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. Once again, the coldness around Caroline and Gregory seemed to lessen.
Gregory’s henchmen’s eyes flickered for a moment, and then turned to a light tulip color instead of the glowing chalk blue it was before. All the people suddenly started walking away from them all, towards the exit of the alleyway.
“Hey! Get back here! You-” he yelled pointing at Lincoln. “Give me back my henchmen!”
“They deserve to be able to leave! It’s against mind control laws to hypnotize many people into being you’re slaves!”
“But they love me! I’m remarkable!”
“They don’t really think that! And even if they did, it’s still against the law!” Both the hypnotists were yelling now.
Gregory’s former henchmen were now outside the alleyway, and their eyes flashed, then turned back to normal colors. They looked around, confused on where they were and why they were there, but shrugged it off and all walked away.
“So you are a hypnotist! A powerful one too, but not as powerful as me! Earlier, I controlled you, I remember! I made you walk away from your friend earlier!”
“Only because I wanted you to. It led her to believing in mind control, and to trying to stop you!”
“Sure, you just don’t want to admit defeat!” Gregory yelled, lifting his hands up. The temperature changed again, becoming cold once more. Caroline’s vision started to blur again, but then the warmth started to fight back. Lincoln had put both hands on his head, sending his energy out to try to stop the enemy.
Gregory’s eyes had a bit of a pink hint to them, while Lincoln’s had a bit of blue. It seemed like both of them were affecting the other one, but none of them was gaining an advantage.
“Don’t… Worry… Caroline. The others… will be... here… soon!” Lincoln told her through gritted teeth.
Others? What others? She thought. Are there more people coming to help?
It looked like wind was blowing away the hypnotists from each other, and they were trying to keep going through it. They both had their eyes squinted, and their arms in front of them.
It seemed to go on forever. One of them would gain some control, the other one’s eyes turning a new color and the temperature changing. Then, the other one would regain their strength, bringing it back to being even.
Caroline’s leg hurt, but her head hurt even more. All the mind control, going back and forth, back and forth, did weird things to her brain. She would feel like doing what the person in control would do, but not enough to put it into action. The colors of everything were off. It would all have a slightly pink hint, or transparent blue would cover everything.
Once again, Lincoln was losing. He was bent over, still trying, but was tiring out. What can I do to help him? He risked his life to come to save me, I can’t let Gregory kill him! She looked around and saw Gregory had an evil grin on his face, and still had almost all of his power.
Wait a minute, why don’t I use Gregory’s weakness against him! She reached into her pocket, going to get her phone, when she remembered. He had smashed her phone! Now what? That was my only hope of stopping him! I can’t yell it out to Lincoln, then Gregory would know what was going to happen to him!
Lincoln had one knee planted on the ground, his hands on the back of his head, holding it. He still seemed to still be trying to win, but his power was drained. That’s when Caroline remembered his headphones.
She tried to stand up, but the weight on her leg made it feel like it was on fire. Once again she collapsed to the floor, but this time she wasn’t going to give up. Caroline gathered her strength and started pulling herself across the ground. After a few minutes of that, she got to Lincoln.
“Give me your headphones and your phone! Is it important!” She told him quietly.
“Wha?” He asked in a voice that made it sound like it hurt him to speak. Caroline had already grabbed his electronics and started inching towards Gregory. “No Caroline! Get back here! I don’t want you to get hurt!” Lincoln called after her.
Caroline shakily stood up, pain shooting through her leg. She ignored it, knowing she had to do this. She reached up with the headphones, and yanked them over Gregory’s ears.
“Huh? What was that? Get it off my head!” He growled.
Caroline fumbled with the phone. Then she hit play. Various different bells and chimes filled Gregory’s head.
He yelled and fell to the floor. Lincoln on the other hand, regained his strength and stood up.
“Woah, how did you do that! You saved my life!” Lincoln said, walking over to Caroline, helping her stand.
“Earlier I found out his weakness. It’s bell and chime noises, I don’t know why. I put the headphones over his head and put the sounds on repeat.”
“I would have never thought of that!”
Right then, a shiny black car drove up and screeched to a stop, leaving skid marks. A woman and two men stepped out. They wore black suits, with bright yellow ties. On their shirt the letters F and H were written in cursive. One of the men had glasses. The woman walked up to Gregory and clasped handcuffs on his wrists.
“According to the Laws of the Federation of Hypnotists, you are under arrest.” She said, her voice cool and smooth.
“What’s with the headphones?” one of the men asked.
Lincoln hit Caroline softly, signaling her to speak. “It’s playing his weakness in his ears, ma’am. It’s chimes and bells.”
“Who’s this?” The woman asked again.
“That’s my best friend, Caroline. She was the one who figured out how to stop Gregory Smithson!”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Rosalind Myers. This is Percy and Marty Woodward. They’re twins. Marty’s the one with the glasses. We work for the Federation of Hypnotists,” Rosalind informed Caroline.
“It’s nice to meet you, but is there somewhere I could sit down, my leg is really hurting.”
“What happened? I’m a medic,” Percy responded, his eyes growing wide with anticipation.
“I broke it.”
“Oooooh. That’s not good,” he told her as he bent down to look at her leg. “I can put it in a cast, but I would advise going to a professional doctor.” He said, walking over to the car, opening the trunk, and pulling out a first aid kit.
“You can sit down in the car,” the twin named Marty said.
“Ok, but could we maybe take the headphones off of Gregory? I feel kind of bad for him.” Laying down at their feet was Gregory. He was covering his ears and looked like he was crying.
“Oh yeah. Right.” Rosalind said, bending down, taking the headphones off, and handing them to Lincoln. Then Caroline walked over to the car, Percy opened the door for her, and she sat down inside. Percy carefully wrapped up her leg, making sure it was nice and snug.
“There you go. It should be fine for now.”
“Thank you!”
“No problem.”
“Hey you guys. Move,” Rosalind said as she dragged Gregory along, who was stumbling behind her. When Caroline and Percy moved, she put him into the back seat, chaining his handcuffs to the car door.
“I’ll escape, and I’ll make you all pay! When I get out I will-“ Gregory’s voice was cut off when the car door slammed closed.
“Well, we need to get going,” Marty informed them. “We need to get Mr. Smithson to prison.”
“But couldn’t he just break out?” Puzzled Caroline.
“We’re not bringing him to a normal jail,” Percy told her.
“The jail at F.H, that’s short for Federation of Hypnotists, is the strongest jail around. It stops its captives from breaking out using strength, and also from using hypnotism, mind control, telepathy, or matter control, even though that is more in the telekinesis department. No one has been able to break out in all the jail’s years,” Rosalind proudly explained.
There’s also Telekinesis? Caroline thought. This day was getting weirder and weirder.
The employees from F.H. walked to the car and opened the doors.
“I guess this is goodbye?” Caroline said.
“Oh, I’m sure we will be seeing each other sooner than you think.” Rosalind remarked as she shrugged.
“Bye guys! I’ll miss you!” Lincoln said, hugging them all one by one. Marty and Percy seemed to be fine with it, but Rosalind rolled her eyes. Caroline made a mental note not to mess with her, she was on her side, but seemed strict.
“See you later!” Marty called and he and Percy waved to them. The three adults shut the car doors, and drove off at a high speed.
“What. Just. Happened,” Caroline commented, the strangeness of everything that had happened in the day soaking in.
“Well, there’s a lot to explain. I’m a hypnotist. I can make people do what I want them to do. It’s a very dangerous power, the same with telepathy, so there needs to be someone in control. That’s where the Federation of Hypnotists comes in. It was started by some of the greatest hypnotists in history. The goal of the Federation is to make sure everyone can control their powers, use them in an ethical way, and not to Interfere too much in people without power’s lives. Whenever someone finds out they are a hypnotist, they are contacted by the Federation. Then, they get a mentor that teaches them to control their power and use it the right way. My mentor is Rosalind! I was so happy when I got her, she’s one of the most powerful hypnotists because she can do it really well, and can also read people’s minds! Anyway, once the student shows they can control their power enough, they are given a license to use their powers. There are still thousands of laws about it though.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah I know. I was also shocked the first time I was told about all this. Gregory Smithson, he is one of the biggest criminals in the Hypnotist world right now. He’s broken tons of laws, didn’t have a mentor to train him, and isn’t in contact with the Federation! We’ve, well not me myself, have been looking for him for years, but he’s evaded us. The Federation made him think that there was only one Hypnotist besides him in the world, but that was a lie. They told him that to hopefully make him go there so they could catch him.”
“But why did he choose to come here?”
“I’m not exactly sure. When you told me that someone was hypnotizing us back in the park, I was amazed that you figured it out! I didn’t even realize at first! I contacted the Federation, telling them that someone was breaking one of the Major Laws! Law 1608 states that mass mind control is forbidden no matter what, and can be up to a lifetime in prison. Rosalind said it could have only been a few people. Jared Thorne, Madame Dolores Camargo, Myra Shadowcross, and of course, Gregory Smithson. At first we thought it was Shadowcross because she always wanted world domination and to make everyone do work for her, but then it started to seem more like a joke because none of the people under control were doing anything. Then, later I saw you run past my house being chased by the infamous Smithson! I quickly called up Rosalind, but she said she was busy following a telekinetic criminal to come right away. By the time the call was over, you had a head start, so it took me a while to find you. When I finally caught up, I thought you were already dead. Then I realized you werent, and was able to hold off Smithson till Rosalind and company came.”
“That’s confusing but also really cool. Thanks for rescuing me. I think I would have died if it weren’t for you”
“Aw thanks! I just don’t want you to get hurt. Try to stay out of trouble?”
“You wish” Caroline replied with a smirk. Then, leaning on Lincoln, they walked out of the alleyway.
“Don’t tell anyone about the superpower stuff. Everyone will think you’re crazy”
“Okay.”
They walked down the street, staying silent. After a while, they got to Lincoln’s house.
“Well, I gotta go. You think you can get home alright?”
“I’ll be fine. Once again, thanks for saving me.”
“I already told you, it’s fine!” Lincoln said as he walked to his house. He opened the door, turned around and gave her an impish grin, and went inside.
Caroline walked away, wondering what adventures tomorrow would hold.