The Webs That Bind: A Hundred Halls Novel (The Reluctant Assassin Book 5) by Thomas Carpenter

Author:Thomas Carpenter [Carpenter, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Moon Books
Published: 2019-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Eighth Ward, May 2018

You're getting sleepy

A few days later, Zayn was in class with Instructor Pennywhistle. She'd long ago given up on Zayn learning the arts of imitation, so she'd had him practice mimicking voices while the others worked on their transformations.

At the end of class, after everyone else had left, Zayn went up to the instructor, who was collecting her notes from a desk. She glanced at him wistfully. It always made him feel like he was a terminal patient when she looked at him like that.

"What can I do for you, Zayn?"

"I wanted to apologize that I've been a terrible student all year," he said.

A light snort of breath came out of her nose. "You might be my worst student of all time. You're lucky that we don't have grades or you wouldn't be graduating. It'll just be a tool that you won't be able to use."

Not being able to face change made him feel like he was defective. In the history of the Academy, no student had ever been unable to transform, at least in some small ways. He'd never managed to even grow his nose by a single millimeter.

"On the plus side, this sense of self that blocks face changing seems to extend towards a resistance to hypnosis," said Instructor Pennywhistle.

"Yes, about that," said Zayn. "I wanted to know if you could teach me how to hypnotize. I thought it might come in handy."

The instructor stood tall. "Why of course, but I'm not sure how useful it'll be. Hypnotism, even the magical type, can be tricky business. It's not like you can sneak up on someone and then hypnotize them to get them to do what you want. Typically if you have that kind of access, you don't need hypnotism."

"I understand," said Zayn. "But I'd still like to learn."

Pennywhistle put her back against the desk and crossed her arms. Her mouth wriggled as if she were wrestling with a question. Eventually, she gave up and said, "The key to hypnosis, and we're talking the magical kind, not the stage trick stuff, is that you're inducing a state of extreme relaxation. Think of it as that the waking mind is calmed, allowing the deeper consciousnesses to be in control, like a guided daydream. Using magic helps push that consciousness deeper, giving the speaker more influence. But keep in mind that at no time will the person do something against their morals or constructs of personal values."

"What about someone like Frank Orpheum? Didn't he hypnotize a whole stadium of people?" asked Zayn.

"Those things are still true for Frank. Now, he might find it easier to hypnotize people, he's been doing it for a long time, but he has to follow the same constraints," said Pennywhistle.

Zayn imagined that was another reason for Priyanka to create Raziyah, so when it came time for Ernie to use the wish, he would have a friendly person to bestow it upon.

"Enough lecture, let me show you the charm and talk you through the script, and then you try it on me," said the instructor.

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