The One You Shouldn't Let In (7/9)
Who is hypnotising the children? Can Jay and Alex formulate a plan to catch the culprit?
Continues from here. Series list here
J pushed through double doors, moving with the flow of pupils to their classrooms, but he kept his eyes peeled for Katie or Laurie. As morning lessons progressed, J sorted through the components of the puzzle. What would motivate Danny to control the willpower of the young people he was hypnotising? If he could find the answer to this, he could work out how to stop him
Last lesson before lunch was maths, and Laurie would be there. The way he looked when he entered the classroom made J’s stomach lurch with shock. Laurie looked so gaunt and emaciated, with chalky skin, and his movements were laboured and shuffling, as if his body was too heavy to animate. His hair looked dirty— a generally unkempt appearance. Laurie fixed his eyes on the floor and moved to an empty desk.
J felt very uneasy and anxious seeing Laurie in such close proximity. He wasn’t the only student casting furtive looks in his direction.
Once the lesson began, the difference was even more marked. Laurie (once the star maths pupil, widely tipped for Oxbridge) did not participate. His posture was listless, with his head hanging, like an automated toy with its batteries removed.
J pondered what to concluded from his observations. Had Laurie lost his spark, his life force? This could be Danny’s motivation— stealing from young, vibrant children might somehow add to his power. Although J shook his head at the far-fetched train of thought, it was no more crazy than thinking a vampire went to their school.
He’d run the idea by Alex, combine forces to consider how these ideas could help them tackle Danny and reverse his influence. He stood, scraping his books into a pile, which he dumped in a backpack, and followed the rest of the students heading towards the dining hall.
If Alex had a superpower, it was getting to the front of the lunch line. He was already at a table, shovelling food enthusiastically into his mouth.
J slid into a seat opposite, and shared his latest idea. Alex took it in his stride, a decade of watching the Sci-fi channel and reading Marvel comics meant nothing surprised him.
“What did you discover?” J forked up shepherds pie and chewed.
“Danny mostly hangs about with two Goth girls in year 13… and the drama group are putting on a show at the end of term. Which means lots of rehearsals for that, ergo Dan-o stays after school, several nights a week.”
The girls Alex was referring to looked like devotees of the Addams Family, straight hair an unnatural shade of black, pale faces and heavy eyeliner, paired with dark, vintage clothes. It seemed like they were en route to a rather dramatic funeral. He thought they both studied textiles, and were probably involved with the costumes for the show.
J wondered if they knew what Danny was capable of. If so, did they help him with his despicable hold over other children? He and Alex might need to factor in the girls when they tackled Danny.
He and Alex should divide the tasks, but take action without delay.
“I’ll make another visit to the library, get books on hypnotism or auto-suggestion.” He said.
“Alex, you scout around, learn Danny’s habits and timetable.”
They parted ways, Alex headed down the corridor, J hurried upstairs to the library to browse science books, tilting his head to one side, he read the titles on their spines. He felt so frustrated, there weren’t any which related to his specific problem.
He felt agitated, as if a timer was in operation, its sand leaking through the narrow gap from the upper chamber into the lower, with the lives of Lulu and the other children hanging in the balance.
In desperation he pulled out The Mask of Time by Joan Forman. As he flicked through its pages and his eyes were drawn to one passage:
When a human organism dies, the matter, the physical body, is seen to change and known to decay. But a human organism is also energy, electrical, gravitational, magnetic, and on physical death, it ceases to operate through the material structure with which it has been associated. If energy cannot be destroyed it must therefore remove elsewhere where it may continue to operate according to the laws governing it.
This would seemed to support his theory of life representing an ‘energy’ which could be taken from a person. Unfortunately it made J more afraid for the lives of Danny’s victims. He slammed the book shut and pushed it back onto the crammed shelves.
Jay kept scouring the library, but where was best to look for answers? Ahead was the ‘global culture’ section, from which a book had fallen on the floor. He picked it up. ‘Greek Mythology’ emblazoned on its cover, in raised gold script. He opened it and flicked through the pages. As he did so, he registered the many legends that had been plundered and used in modern game design.
He turned to the pages which related to Perseus’ quest, drawn to the story as if it had something significant to impart. He knew it vaguely, remembered the Gorgons with hair of writhing serpents; the one which Perseus kills was named Medusa. The text made pieces click together in his mind, which brought a revelation as to the story’s usefulness: Perseus had used his shield like a mirror, to avoid looking directly at Medusa. This enabled him to get close enough to behead her while avoiding her enchanted gaze, which would have turned him to stone.
At last! They were getting somewhere. He checked out the book and hurried back to class.
That night J told his parents he needed to study at Alex’s house. But studying was just a front, they had to share what they had discovered, and plot a course of action. Huddled together in Alex’s messy bedroom, they turned up the music to disguise their conversation.