Speak No Evil

CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘YOU TURNED INTO A wolf outside just now, didn’t you, Paul?’

Paul nodded.

‘Why?’

Paul looked at him helplessly. He wanted to tell Dr Paley but the words just wouldn’t come.

‘Were there other people out in the garden?’

Paul nodded.

‘Did they frighten you? Is that why you shape-shifted?’ Dr Paley smiled. ‘This makes perfect sense, Paul. Many of your fellow students developed their gifts as a response to something uncomfortable.’

Paul had mixed feelings about this. He wasn’t proud of the fact that he’d been afraid. But he liked being compared with his classmates, knowing he had this in common with them.

‘Let’s watch some more of your hypnosis video,’ Dr Paley said, and he turned on the TV. Paul looked at himself and listened to the off-screen doctor’s voice.

‘Let’s talk about Serena, Paul.’

Paul watched his own face contort on the screen. He looked like he was in pain.

‘I don’t want to talk about her.’

Dr Paley’s voice was gentle but firm. ‘You must, Paul. You betrayed your classmates. It wasn’t your fault — she put you under some kind of spell. But you need to face up to what you did. How did you first meet Serena?’

‘Mr Jackson brought me to see her.’

‘Mr Jackson. . Ah yes, the former principal of your school. Serena hypnotized you and asked you questions. Do you remember this?’

‘Yes.’

‘What did she ask you?’

‘She asked me about the gifted class. She asked questions about the students. She asked me what kind of gifts they have.’

‘And you told her?’

‘Yes.’

‘But Madame had warned the class never to reveal their gifts, isn’t that right?’

‘Yes.’ Paul was clearly in great distress. ‘I didn’t want to tell her. I wanted to keep our secret.’

‘It’s all right, Paul,’ Dr Paley said. ‘She probably gave you some kind of post-hypnotic suggestion. You couldn’t stop yourself. And you were probably afraid of those people. For good reason, too. They were dangerous people. You have nothing to be ashamed about, Paul. Your classmates will forgive you.’

The boy on the screen seemed to relax a little.

Dr Paley hit the pause button, and turned to Paul. ‘There’s one thing that puzzles me though, Paul. We were talking about your shape-shifting ability as a response to fear. If you were afraid of Serena, Mr Jackson and the other people in that group, why didn’t you shift? You could have become some kind of large animal. You could have attacked them. Or you could have become a small animal and escaped. Why didn’t that happen, Paul? Why didn’t you shift?’

Again, Paul could only look at him helplessly. This time, the doctor had no speculations to offer. ‘You’re not sure, you probably don’t even remember. Well, let’s get back to the video.’

But Paul knew perfectly well why he hadn’t shifted when he was with those bad people. He didn’t know then that he could. It was true that he’d shifted before, at home, when the bad guys shot his parents. But back when he was turned off, he didn’t know he could do it on purpose — he didn’t know that he had some control over this strange and mysterious gift.

But he knew now.