Chapter 51: Hidden Agenda
"What do I do now?" Keith seemed not surprised by Lala's current state. He just threw a question, waiting for a new instruction.
"Why don't you try standing up?" Lala replied. She still had that same annoying smile on her face.
Keith wasn't bothered by her smile as he controlled his body with difficulty.
Starting from his right foot, he slowly placed them away from the table, swinging midair before the floor. After he was done with this, he carefully let his left foot follow.
It was only when he was finally in a sitting position then he pushed his arms against the surface of the table, trying to stand.
However, before Philip could witness everything, he was interrupted by Sam's sudden announcement.
"Since Keith will be taking for long, we will proceed with the next five students." He glanced at Philip and nodded, indicating Philip to lie down on the table.
Philip was frozen at first before moving to the left long table. Since he was first, he had to lay on the front part. Meaning he had to be next to the sleeping Keith.
Hesitantly, he sat beside Keith, containing himself from not showing a reaction indicating he could see the astral bodies next to him.
As soon as he lay down and closed his eyes, he felt something touching his glabella. He didn't react as he knew it was the colored circular paper glued on him.
'So, what will I do now?' Philip murmured internally, thinking of what to do.
Since he still didn't know the real motive of this society, he was thinking of pretending to do the experiment. Only when he felt that others could not do it then he would wake up and act as if he was disappointed.
'Yes, this is perfect action for now. I will observe the others first and wait for a couple of more gatherings to determine whether they have a malicious intention or not.'
Philip then began to overthink, "But what if they will find out that I wasn't serious and forced me? Then if I still don't heed their command, will they punish me? What if they won't let me out after knowing I wasn't putting in effort?'
However, while Philip was busy in his own thoughts, an ethereal voice chimed near him.
"You don't have to be scared. Whatever you're thinking is totally different from the reality."
Philip froze. He was wondering if the voice was dedicated to him or not.
"Yes, I'm talking to you, Conrad," Lala said in a playful tone.
Philip's heart skipped a bit, 'She can hear my thoughts? That's make it more scary.'
He fought his urge to open his eyes. In his mind, he was already imagining that all the students around were looking at him, all in their astral forms.
To add more fear to Philip, Lala's voice suddenly came close to him, it was as though she moved from Keith's side to his left.
"Hehe. I can't hear or read your mind. It's just your emotions were too disarray and chaotic. It was easy for a mentalist like me to notice them."
Lala stopped for a moment before continuing, "From what I saw earlier, you seemed to see the illusionary door, right? Yes, hehe, I am sure with this as you are very easy to read even if you do all your best to pretend you didn't."
"Furthermore, It's so funny to see you act as if you didn't see Chris distracting you. Hahaha, I thought you were going to wet yourself," Lala said with a laugh.
While listening to her, Philip started to have doubts about his acting ability which was toughened with his previous book life's profession.
'Was I really easy to read or is this the uniqueness of the mentalist?'
Although Lala's voice was carefree and without malice, he didn't relax a bit. Instead, he became more terrified. He felt that under her watch, he was bare and naked - that all his secrets were out and open.
'Yes, since earlier, when she caught me looking at her, I felt weirded out by the situation. How she can seem to know that I have a grudge against her? Is it possible to know everything with just a glance?'
Feeling that Philip's thoughts became even more chaotic, Lala stopped saying anything. She seemed to be aware that she couldn't make Philip calm down on her own.
Philip felt the stillness for a while, only the sounds of Keith suffering to stand up were heard beside him.
Suddenly, Philip heard another voice talking next to him. Unlike earlier when it was feminine, now it was deep and mannish. Yes, he was familiar with this sound, it was Sam's.
"Don't be alarmed, Conrad. Since you've been given a poster, we absolutely would not hurt you."
Sam's voice was clear and careful, evident that he didn't want to frighten Philip much.
"Yes, it is true that the society's goal is to traverse the dreamworld and summon the astral body. However, in no circumstances are our motives malicious. We just wanted to look for talents that can be groomed into mentalists."
"The one who gave you the poster seems to know that you have what it takes to be one of our kind. At the same time, you understand that you're different from others. That's why you wanted to try your luck and see what the mental study society does."
Upon hearing them, Philip's thoughts remained in disarray. Who would not be? This was exactly his thought process. He wanted to investigate society and see if he could gain powers similar to magician Emile.
Feeling that he was utterly bare to them, he didn't open his eyes nor speak. He just pretended he was just like others, normal.
Sam sensed Philip's guard tightening up but didn't stop.
"As for why we know this, we comprehended this because of our unique powers. Aside from reading facial expressions, mentalists on our level can also see the colors of emotion. That was also the reason why Lala sensed you know her and felt you have a grudge against her."
"We cannot tell you more about this as information on all levels requires a price. But what I can assure you is that if you practice with us, you have the chance to become a mentalist: capable of traversing to the dream world and knowing the other person's thought process."
Sam went silent for a while before he continued, "We have encountered like you who were suspicious of the society as we are indeed not ordinary. In fact, Keith was just like you initially. It took him weeks before he trusted us."
He then expressed, "The truth of training mentalists is to assist us in the treatment of those who experience nightmares that could lead to death. Are you aware that some people die in their sleep? This is what mentalists want to prevent as one of our jobs is to stop dangerous nightmares and placate the minds of people."
"Since being a mentalist requires talent, our number is not enough to foresee everyone. In fact, we've been overworking every night because of a lack of employment. That's why, the mental study society is created to make help us in this endeavor."
Sam's voice slowly weakens as time passes. Philip also heard Keith whispering that he could finally stand.
"You can choose to leave and not return after the session. We promise we will not run after you or disturb you."
"However, if your guard loosened and you're willing to try, you can talk to us after the gathering or even in the next gathering. We will try our best to answer all your queries."
Sam's ethereal voice finally stopped and disappeared. Philip's thoughts also began to ease.
In fact, Philip was tempted to join them. After all, he has a battle to fight and requires more power. The only thing that was stopping him was his lack of knowledge.
He knows that he is new on the mysterious side of the world and can easily be fooled. What if these so-called mentalists were similar to magicians, who wanted to dissect everything abnormal to them?
Moreover, what he fears the most is betrayal. This can be traced to the ending of his previous book life. In fact, even with Maris' seemingly good treatment of him, he still has a backup plan in case she reports him to the authorities. Additionally, while he has a good impression of the Davies, he still puts some distance from them to prepare for the worst.
Philip sighed, all he could do was gather more information and be careful. The good thing is he still has a levy, they seem to be unaware that he is not Conrad.
When his thoughts moved in this direction, he quickly stopped. He couldn't fully trust the words of mentalists. What if they could really read minds? He would be situated in a troublesome situation.
Philip cleared his thoughts, not thinking about anything. All of his focus was to maintain peace of mind.
However, he suddenly felt his body become light and heavy at the same time. Confused, he slowly attempted to move and open his eyes.
'Is this?'
It was then Philip realized that he had unconsciously entered into sleep paralysis and had summoned part of his astral body.
As he turned sideways, he instantly noticed Lala, who seemed to be very shocked to see him in an astral state.
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