“...and up a little bit more, almost fully awake now, remembering everything I taught you, deep deep down…and ten, wide awake”

She snapped her fingers in front of my face and I blinked. The girl across from me smiled

“Welcome back Harmony, how are you feeling?” I felt dizzy but I said

“I’m uh…good thanks” 

“I suppose I ought to introduce myself properly, I’m Eve”

“Hello…” I was still trying to orient myself, how did I get here? I looked around, I was in a bedroom, quite a big one actually and the first thing I noticed was that it was filthy. Dirty clothes were scattered about everywhere, empty energy drink cans piled up next to a small mountain of candy bar wrappers and crumpled up chip bags. Even the bed I was sitting on had rumpled smelly sheets that needed to be changed. It was all a bit upsetting

“Something bothering you?” Eve had a smirk on her face as she watched me scan the room with growing horror. But I didn’t want to be impolite

“Um no…are you uh…another of Lily’s sisters?”

“Ah so you were Lily’s after all…yes, Lily is my half-sister, I get the feeling you’ve met my full sister Emily as well?”

“Yeah she uh…invited me to a tea party”

“Heh, yeah she does that” 

Looking at her, the resemblance to Emily was pretty obvious, mostly because she shared her strange purple eyes. Though Eve’s were quite a few shades lighter, more of a lilac color, with a matching colored streak in her dark hair. 

“Little Sis really did a number on you, but you don’t have to worry, I got you all fixed up” I wasn’t really sure what she was talking about, but I felt grateful anyway

“Thank you, I really appreciate it but…do you think you could um…explain what’s going on here?” she cocked her head to one side and frowned a bit, she had an expression like she was waiting for something to happen, and was getting impatient for it.

“Yeah I mean it's pretty simple, my family has magic powers. Well, we all have the same power: Hypnosis. That’s all there is to it really” This answer didn’t help me at all, if anything it brought up about a million more questions. 

This room is totally trashed…I can barely focus in this mess

I shook my head trying to get my thoughts in order

“Wait...did you say everyone in your family has this…power?”

“Yeah, well everyone accept Hanna I guess…but mom still thinks she’s just a late bloomer” 

“So Lily has it too?” she quirked an eyebrow

“Uh…yeah? I kinda figured you knew that much at least” this was all a little overwhelming, but as bizarre as this day was turning out to be, nothing was disturbing me more right now than the state of this room. 

“Hey Eve I’m sorry but your room looks like someone emptied a dumpster in here” She smirked again

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, could we continue this conversation later? After I finish cleaning up?” She shrugged

“You're welcome to it” she spun her chair around and rolled it over to a nearby desk where she started playing some game on her computer. I stood and started picking clothes up off the floor. She did help me out after all, cleaning up a bit in here was the least I could do in return...

Eve’s room also had a full bathroom with shower, and a walk-in closet, both were just as filthy as the main bedroom. Luckily Eve gave me directions to a room filled with cleaning supplies and I was able to really get to work. I sorted the laundry, gathered up the trash, vacuumed the floor, got her clothes washed and ironed and put them away in the closet, mopped the bathroom floor, cleaned the sink, toilet and shower, changed the bed sheets, then finally got to wiping and dusting everything else. Each task brought me more pleasure, slowly building to the ultimate feeling of triumph. A beautiful and perfectly clean room. All in all this took me about…an hour? Maybe more…maybe a lot more, I hadn’t really been keeping track. But it was done, I just basked in the glow of it for a while, then finally sat back down feeling exhausted. 

“All clean!” I told Eve, she glanced up from her game for a second and looked around the room

“Wow, you did even better than I was expecting…very good” The praise sent another wave of warm happy feelings though me. There was only one thing I wanted now

“Do you need anything else? Are you hungry? Can I go get you something?”

“Na I’m good” she indicated a half full bag of potato chips, I thought for a moment

“Then could I give a massage or something?”

“Hmm…a foot massage sounds nice”

She didn’t move. I waited for a moment, then realized she didn’t plan on turning around. So of course, I got down on my hands and knees, and squeezed under her desk next to her pc. I started rubbing her feet, she didn’t respond, just kept playing her game. More time passed, she didn’t ask me to stop so I just kept going, this was all I needed really.

Eventually, she lowered an empty bag of chips under the desk and started waving it in my face

“Oh, do you need more snacks Eve?”

“Yup”

“Okay, where’s the pantry?”

I practically skipped down the halls with glee on my way to the kitchen, the staff gave some odd looks, but no one tried to stop me as I gathered an armful of snacks and started back towards Eve’s room. On my way back though, I turned a corner and saw someone just booking it down the hall at full speed, I suddenly recognized her

“Lily! Hi!” She skidded to a stop and whipped around 

“Oh my god, Holly?!” she was ragged and out of breath, as though she had been sprinting around the mansion. She looked relieved for about two seconds, then she looked furious. 

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?! I’ve been looking everywhere for you and-”

She saw the food in my arms “What the HELL are you doing?” 

“I was just…getting some food for Eve and-” she slapped her forehead, she was gonna leave a mark if she kept doing that

“Eve…god dammit I didn’t think…how? She barely ever leaves her room…ugh just…come on” she knocked the bags out of my hands and grabbed my wrist, dragging me away. It was upsetting to leave a mess on the floor like that, but I was still just a doll, and couldn’t really help but go wherever anybody wanted to take me.

Lily’s room was very different from Eve’s spartan accommodations. It was better lit, and not nearly as messy. She had shelves and shelves of stuffed toys, with bigger ones sitting all over the floor. One shelf in particular caught my eye, as it was filled with toys I recognized. They had all been gifts from me, from various birthdays, Christmas's and graduation days we had shared over the years. It made me smile to see that she had kept them all. Her carpet was weird in that it wasn’t even really a carpet, it was springy like a mattress. I got the feeling that lying on her floor would be more comfortable than my bed back home. There were pillows scattered everywhere, giving the impression that the whole room was just one big cozy bed. She had a computer desk, which was covered in those little fidget toys she was always playing with. 

“Well, this room is very you” 

“Come over here” she was not in a chatty mood. She led me to her bed, and I immediately noticed she had some dirty clothes stuffed under it. I knelt down and started picking them up.

“Holly, what are you doing?”

“Just cleaning up a bit”

“No you’re not, lie down” she had to push me into the bed, it wasn’t that hard, all the cleaning and errand running had left me exhausted, but Lily looked tired too, she had been running around like crazy looking for me apparently

“You should lie down too Lily, in fact, can I get you anything? How about a foot rub?” I started to sit back up but she pushed me down again. 

“Wait here”

She said firmly and then she sat down at a vanity next to the bed, I turned my head to watch her. She just rested her head in her hands for a moment.  She looked exhausted, she really needed a massage or something. I wanted to get up but she had told me to stay, and I didn’t want to upset her. Finally she looked up, and pushed her dirty blonde hair out of her face. Then she reached two fingers toward her eye, and carefully removed a brown colored contact lens. 

“Goddammit, I officially don’t feel guilty for not telling you I’m a secret Princess anymore, we’re totally even” 

She gave me a guilty smile, her eyes were green, but they couldn't be confused for natural green eyes. Hers were a verdant dark green, like the color of a shaded forest. 

“Holly, There’s something I need to tell you about me” I groaned

“Let me guess, does everyone in your family have magic hypnosis powers?” a long pause

“Pretty much”

“But…that doesn't make any sense” 

“You seem to think you're a secret princess”

“I am, so what?”

“Does that make any sense?”

“No…but it makes just as much sense as you having magic powers”

“Touché”

But the more I thought about it, the more it did start to make sense. I had acted so strangely before…and why did I think I was a Princess? I mean I was, but there was no logic to back up that conclusion, I just…was. That was weird. And my name, it was Harmony, wasn’t it?…no it was Harmony…god dammit.

“Harmony” I said, trying to say the other name “H…H- Harmony…ugh” I covered my face with my hands

“Well, thanks Lily, I felt fine before, but now that you’ve pointed it out, everything feels weird and bad, so thanks, I really appreciate that” I was venting I knew, Lily didn’t deserve to be the target of my ire.

“Don’t worry, I can fix it” she reassured

“That’s what Eve said, but I’m still all messed up!”

“Yeah…Eve uh…wasn’t trying to help you, she just wanted you to clean her room and bring her snacks”

“No…that’s not true, I just felt like doing that, didn’t I? What the fuck…I can’t even tell what’s me anymore”

“It’s okay, I’ve got you okay? There’s nothing they can do to you that I can't fix I promise” I didn’t reply, just…kept trying to calm myself down. When she spoke again, her tone had changed considerably

“Holly…do you trust me?”

That was a difficult question at the moment. First of all, if any of this was real and not some weird fever dream, it meant that she had kept a huge secret from me. Which made it hard to trust her. At the same time, I had known her since kindergarten, every life event, every up and every down, through thick and thin, we had been together, supporting each other. All the way up until adulthood…so that made it pretty hard not to trust her. But didn’t the length of our friendship make keeping the secret even worse? Still though no matter how I looked at it, Lily was the only person in my life I felt I could be fully honest with. 

“I trust you,” I told her. “Because if I can’t trust you…then I don’t think I can trust anything anymore”

“In that case, please look into my eyes”

I sighed, and uncovered my face. She had sat down on the bed beside me. My eyes met hers and she leaned forward a bit

“Thank you Holly…take some deep breaths for me now…in…hold it…and out…just like that” since I was looking out for it now, I noticed how easy it was to just…fixate on her eyes. I found that I could look away if I wanted to, but the moment I stopped paying attention to where I was looking, I just sorta naturally went back to them. She didn’t reprimand me for looking away, instead she just kept telling me to breathe, and try to relax. Soon enough, I found I didn’t even want to break eye contact, it was just…easier to stare. 

“You're doing very well” she told me, which felt like a lie, I hadn’t really done anything except breath and stare.

“Now, in order to undo what my sisters did, I’m going to have to take you down into trance, how do you feel about that?” I wanted to say that it was fine, and that I was ready, but as I was trying to formulate the lie, the truth spilled out of my mouth.

“I’m nervous” she just nodded

“Of course you are, but I’ll ask you again, do you trust me?”

“Yes” 

It was true, I still had my doubts of course, but even if she had lied, deep down I knew she would never do anything to hurt me.

“I do trust you but…I’m still nervous” She nodded again

“I understand, I won’t take you down until your ready” so we stayed like that a while, I just kept breathing and looking, her soft green eyes holding mine gently in place, until finally I said: 

“Okay” she smiled, and her eyes began to glow softly as she tilted her head, the effect was dizzying. I was so fixated on her eyes, that it seemed like the whole room had tilted, and they had remained steady. I suddenly realized that whatever magic powers Lily had, she had only just now turned them on.

“Close your eyes” she said, “and sleep for me now” My eyes slid shut, and everything was green. I was floating in a deep, dark green abyss. Like the color of her eyes were penetrating my eyelids. I breathed in…and out. 

“You are doing perfectly” she told me “how do you feel?”

“Fine…not to different actually” 

“You are in a very light trance,  it’s important we discuss what we’re going to do before going further”

“Okay, I had kinda assumed I would just…wake up, and everything would be fixed”

“We could do it that way if you wanted, I could just dig around in your head and pull out the things that aren’t supposed to be there. But I would prefer to just be your guide, and help you sort out your own mind”

“Okay…I trust you” 

“Thank you, lets begin, I want you to imagine you are at the top of a staircase” 

The endless green void seemed to shift, and suddenly I was looking down at one of the staircases in the foyer. Everything else remained a misty green void, but the staircase was clear as day. 

“Now, imagine a door at the bottom of the staircase, imagine that behind that door is…lets say your childhood bedroom” The door materialized, and I was certain that my old room was behind it.

“Now let's go down the staircase, I’ll count the steps for you, ten...'' It was such a strange feeling, I knew what I was seeing wasn’t real, I knew I was still lying in Lily’s bed. But I could feel the steps beneath my feet, feel my body moving downward, one step at a time.

“And one, you’re at the bottom now, go ahead and open the door.”

I did, and sure enough, there was my room, a dark green haze hovered over everything, but It was my old room. Exactly how I remembered it, bed tucked up against the corner with a desk next to it. A closet, a mirror, and a couple of shelves filled with old toys and souvenirs, it was about a fourth the size of Lily’s own room. One thing immediately caught my eye as being out of place.

“I’ve taken you a bit deeper now, this room is going to represent the state of your mind. Together we’ll find what my sisters put here, and deal with it. Understand?”

“I understand” I was surprised by my own sense of clarity. My previous experiences with trance had left me dazed and confused. But here…even though I was still following all of Lily’s instructions, I felt in control. 

“I think I see the problem” I said it like I was diagnosing my mom's old computer. Sitting on my bed was a doll. Not one of mine, this one seemed to be a caricature of me, it was dressed as a princess, and had a stitched on smile and button eyes 

“There’s a doll here…I’ve never seen it before”

“Good, go ahead and grab it”

I approached the doll, reached out, but as I touched it, it suddenly became life sized. A perfect copy of me, but dressed in an absurdly elaborate Princess costume. Before I could do anything, the doll turned to me and spoke

“I am a doll”

“Dolly can’t move”

“Dolly doesn't think”

“I am just a doll”

The world became fuzzier, a purple fog seemed to be filling the room. The Doll’s eyes glowed, enrapturing my gaze. I could feel my consciousness drifting away, but was powerless to stop it, utterly powerless before those eyes…

“You are not a doll” 

Lily’s voice cut through the haze, the world began to feel solid again. The purple light in the doll’s eyes seemed to dim

“I am a doll”

The doll insisted, but the words seemed hollow, they had just been simple unquestionable truths before, but now I felt as though I could ignore them. 

“You are not a doll” Lily refuted again, “Your name is Holly, and you are my best friend”

And the doll was just a regular doll again. I was holding it in my hand

“Uh…did we do it?”

“We’ve dealt with Emily’s little suggestion yes, you’re in control of it now” I looked at the doll

“So…what do I do with it? Destroy it?”

“You could, but it's part of your mind now, destroying it outright could have consequences. Probably, you’d forget everything that happened while you were under Emily’s influence” I didn’t really like the idea of having gaps in my memory 

“What are my other options?” 

“You could just put it away somewhere, preferably somewhere deeper, where it won’t be able to influence you” I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but I figured it was my mind I was organizing, so it only really had to make sense to me, right? I opened my closet door, tossed the doll inside and shut it again. The last traces of purple fog in the room quickly lifted. 

“Alright, does that mean I’m all done?”

“Not quite…we still have Eve to worry about”

“But I told you…Eve didn’t make me do anything”

“But you cleaned her room and brought her food?”

“And gave her a foot rub, but I wanted to do that, It wasn’t like it was with Emily”

“Just think about it for a second Holly, why would you want to do all those things? Doesn’t that strike you as odd?” I was irritated

“No, what are you saying? That I was some kind of inconsiderate slob before?”

“Not, inconsiderate, and not a slob either. You are very thoughtful and diligent, but you’re not a neat freak and you're not servile.”

“That doesn’t sound right to me”

“I understand, Eve’s power is more subtle than Emily’s or even mine, she’s more like my older sister Lilith in that regard. But please just trust me when I say there is still something unusual about your behavior, it should be represented by something in your room that’s out of place. Please look for it. It will be sneakier than Emily’s thing, so look carefully”

I sighed and started searching the imaginary room. Looked under the bed, behind the desk, inside every drawer. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I was about to tell Lily as much, when suddenly I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I wasn’t wearing the dress Emily had put me in, or any other clothes that I owned. Instead I was wearing a black and white French maid uniform complete with headband. actually I looked pretty cute, but it was definitely out of the ordinary. 

“I uh…think I found it”

“Good, just do the same thing you did with the doll, it shouldn’t put up much of a fight”

The uniform came off easily enough, I hung it up in the closet and shut the door. When I turned around, I noticed my room was messier than before. The bed was unmade, and dirty clothes were piled up in the corner. Which I only now realized was considerably more accurate to real life.

“So now what?”

"I think we’re done, you can stop imagining the room now”

At her words, everything faded away. I was back in that endless green void floating gently. I felt muscles that I hadn't realized were tense relaxing

“Very good, you did wonderfully” I felt a warmth in my chest that I couldn’t explain

“lets just make sure everything is cleared up” she continued “What is your name?”

“Holly”

“Good, hey holly, could you go get me some snacks?”

“This is your house isn’t it?” 

“Excellent, do you think you could clean my room?”

“Don't you literally have maids?”

“Perfect…oh, and are you secretly a Princess?” I felt my face going red

“No…of course not, damn I’m such an idiot…”

“Holly no, you’re very smart, none of that was your fault, there’s no need to feel embarrassed” and just like that I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. In fact I felt…calm. Just gently floating in a green void, I could get used to this

“This…actually feels really nice…” Lily didn’t respond for a moment then:

“You think this is nice? I could make it better if you like…you should just enjoy yourself for a bit, you deserve it” 

Her words had taken a strange tone but I had to admit I was curious. And I felt quite safe with Lily, I trusted her after all

“Go ahead then” another pause, when she spoke again her voice was softer, closer…I thought I could feel her breath on my ear

“Just drift for me now, that’s a good girl, deeper and deeper”

The green void around me seemed to fall a few shades darker. Up until that moment, this had all felt like a vivid daydream. But the line between what was real and what I was imagining was blurring, and it felt…lovely

“Just imagine now, that you are a leaf, falling slowly from a tree, spinning and falling, I am the wind, guiding you gently down…down…down, just like that. You don’t have to worry about where you’re falling, because you know I will guide you to exactly where you need to be''

I lost my grip on physical reality, the bed I was lying on, the feeling of the air in the room, my own body, it all just slipped out of reach. Lily’s voice was no longer attached to any point in space, it seemed to emanate from everywhere and within me 

“Just like that, imagine yourself settling now, settling into a stream, you are a leaf floating on a stream,  I am the water, pulling you, my current carrying you effortlessly, follow the natural ebb and flow, letting me carry you down...down…even further…until you find yourself floating out on a lake, you drift out, farther and farther, until you can't even see the edges anymore. I am the lake. And I gently envelope you and pull you down down down, you are the leaf, and the leaf sinks, but your consciousness remains on the surface, only the ripples remain as you get pulled down down and down…”

Her words melted away and all I had were feelings, feelings of warmth, safety, and deep deep calm, feelings of being loved, and cared for…then…

“And as the last ripples fade, the lake and your conscious mind fall perfectly still…sleep...sleep...sleep

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“Oh shit…um…uh…time to wake up! One two three, awake!”

I felt like a bucket of freezing water had been dumped on my head. I was back in Lily’s room. I felt pinpricks of ice throughout my arms and legs, like all my limbs had fallen asleep and woken up at once. I tried to sit up, fell back down, too dizzy. I waited a moment and tried again, managing it this time. Lily was standing beside the bed, she was blushing and straightening her clothes, the bed beside me felt warm, had she fallen asleep as well?

“Sorry about that I uh...got a little carried away”

“Lily that was-”

“I promise it won’t happen again, let's just make sure you stay away from my sisters alright?

“Lily that was…wonderful” she stopped fidgeting and just stared at me 

“I’ve never felt so…I can’t even describe it, you have got to do that to me again sometime!” she was blushing now

“You uh…liked it?” I just nodded and we stared at each other for a while, my face was starting to feel hot 

“Well…maybe some other time” 

She sounded pretty flustered, was she shy about her magic powers? She quickly changed the subject 

“But it’ll have to wait, I’ve got a plan to get you out of here, hopefully without you getting brainwashed again. You’ll stay with Hanna, she’s another one of my sisters, you’ll be safe with her. Meanwhile I’ll go talk my mom into letting you go”

“Wait a minute…if we’re trying to get me out of your house…can’t I just leave?” she scowled and shook her head

“No, do you remember in the foyer with my mom? She gave you an order…” 

Suddenly I did remember, she had looked me right in the eyes and told me I wasn’t allowed to leave. And now that I thought about it, I couldn’t even imagine myself walking out the front door, even trying to picture it made me dizzy

“Wait, so she hypnotized me too? Right then? That easily?”

“Yeah she’s pretty strong, I’d undo it, but that would take a lot of time, and at that point you’d basically be my-” she cut herself off blushing again “A-anyway, you’ll be safe with Hanna until I can talk to mom”

“Why am I safe with Hanna? Wouldn’t it be safer to just stay here?”

“No, Emily will be looking for you, and she’s sure to check here”

“Wait, why is she looking for me?” Lily rolled her eyes

“She wants to finish her dumb tea party, I don’t know why but she really likes you for some reason” 

“Okay, but couldn't we just-” she cut me off

“Holly, I’m sorry but we really don’t have time to discuss this, you're just going to have to trust me alright?”

I was frustrated, I had so many questions. About her, about her family, but she seemed to think I was in danger, so maybe now just wasn’t the time.

“Alright, I trust you”