He opens his mouth, then clamps it shut, terror in his eyes as the honesty switch forces him to confront himself.
"You’ll be hearing from my lawyers," Mom says, and this ti she sounds almost sad.
Dad makes a run for the door, but I stiff-arm him, and suddenly he is on his back. I squat down and look hard at him, my shadow falling across his face as he blinks up at in shock.
"Rember what I said I’d do if you ever ca back?" He nods quickly, fear flashing across his features, and I grin maliciously at him. "I decided to make it worse." Reaching out, I grab Loveth’s hand and make two more switches in him. The first one will make him horny as hell, and even with my sister’s help, it takes a bit of effort to move it. I can feel the resistance in his mind, like pushing against thick mud, but together we force it upward. Once it locks into place, though, I know it will never lessen. It will burn constantly, an itch he can never truly scratch.
The second switch makes him impotent, and it moves with far too much ease. It slides into position as if it had been waiting for . Within an hour, he is going to have a terrible case of blue balls. A case that will never end. The irony would be funny if it were not so dark.
"Go," I tell the frightened shell of the man I once feared, and I rise to my feet.
He scrambles backward, nearly tripping over his own legs in his haste to get away from . For a brief second, I see sothing in his eyes that I rember from childhood, that cold calculation and cruelty. But it is drowned out by panic. He staggers upright and flees the house with a speed I never thought he was capable of.
A mont later, we hear his car door slam. The engine roars to life, and his tires screech as he tears out of the driveway, gravel spraying against the side of the house.
As the sound fades, the silence inside feels heavy.
Mom turns to us, pulls us into a hug, and breaks down crying. The strength she tried to maintain crumbles all at once.
"I’m so sorry, Loveth. I never knew. Can you ever forgive ?" she pleads with her daughter, her voice cracking.
My sister’s arm goes around her back and pulls her tighter into the group hug. "There is nothing to forgive, Mom. He was the criminal, not you."
I wrap my arms around both of them. For years this house felt like a battlefield, and now it feels like the aftermath. The air seems clearer, but the damage is still visible.
"He had so fooled," Mom continues between sobs. "He showed up a couple of days ago. I see now that he did it while he thought you would both be gone." Her body continues to shudder as she cries. "He was so smooth, and I thought he was sincere. I let my hope blind to what he really wanted."
Loveth and I try to console her, but we are both at a loss for the right words to use. Words feel small compared to years of manipulation and fear.
"Use her ’happy’ switch," Loveth tells ntally.
"But—" I try to reply, uncomfortable with the idea of tampering with Mom’s emotions.
"Can’t you see how much pain she’s in?"
I can. It radiates from her like heat from a stove. Sighing, I give in. Since I am already in contact with Loveth, moving the switch slightly is easy. Truth be told, when I am in contact with my sister, I am so powerful that it is almost harder not to move it too much. The temptation to fix everything with a simple adjustnt pulses at the edge of my thoughts.
I move the switch carefully, just a fraction.
Mom draws in a deep breath and slowly pulls away, wiping at her tears. I have not taken her grief away, but I have made it manageable. The despair in her eyes softens into sothing steadier, sothing she can carry.
"I don’t understand why he beca so honest at the end." Uh-oh. "It was obvious he didn’t want to be."
Loveth’s gaze shifts to .
"Tell her, or I will," Loveth sends, backing it up with a serious look.
So much for her being willing to back up instead of badgering .
"Sit down, Mom," I tell the young-looking, mature woman gently.
When she is seated back at the table, I walk up to her and take one of her hands. Her skin feels warm and familiar, grounding . She looks up at , a curious mix of apprehension and trust on her face. That trust makes my chest tighten.
I take a deep breath and start explaining what I can do. I keep it simple at first, talking about awareness and influence, about switches that affect emotions and impulses. At first, Mom is incredulous. She searches my face for signs that I am joking or delusional.
But when I begin pointing things out to her, like how she recovered from Dad’s last betrayal more quickly than seed possible, or why Dad acted as he did before tearing out of here, she slowly cos around. I describe the honesty switch and how it forces truth to the surface whether the person wants it or not.
Her eyes widen gradually as the pieces fall into place.
"And you magnify his... his switches?" she asks Loveth carefully.
My sister nods once.
Mom just shakes her head before a devious gleam enters her eyes. It is the first spark of sothing fierce and protective I have seen in her in a long ti. "He’s going to regret ever ssing with this family. The only good thing that ever ca from him is you two."
Warmth spreads through , unexpected and powerful. I felt tainted by the rot of my father’s misconduct, but her words allow sothing inside to settle."
Still, her other comnt about making him pay has a bit worried.
I glance at Loveth, and she seems to share the sa thought. Power is one thing. Vengeance is another. We have already changed him more than any court ever could.
Mom squeezes my hand and straightens her shoulders. "Whatever happens next," she says quietly, "we face it together."
For a minute, I believe that might actually be true.
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