“Did you really hypnotize me?” he asked suddenly. “I felt kinda weird for a little while. Kinda dizzy or something.”
“I—I don’t know what happened,” I told him. “But I’m glad you’re okay. You’re not dizzy now, are you?”
He shook his head. “I feel great.”
“Then you can go,” I said. “Addie and I have to practice our act.”
“Why can’t I hang out with you?” he asked.
“Peter, you promised,” I said.
“I’ll be quiet. Really,” he insisted. “You won’t even know I’m here. Please please please?”
Addie rolled her eyes. “He’s definitely back to normal.”
I gave Peter a shove toward the front stairs. “Out of here. You promised you’d leave us alone if I hypnotized you. Now, beat it.”
He grumbled some more. Then he headed up to his room, taking the stairs two at a time, slapping the banister loudly with each step.
I turned and saw that Addie was at the front door. “I’d better go,” she said. “That was kind of weird. I know you don’t feel like rehearsing our act now.”
“I never want to hypnotize anyone again,” I said, shaking my head. “Even if it’s pretend.”
“That’s just it,” Addie said. “It was pretend, Danielle. You couldn’t have hypnotized your brother. You couldn’t.”
“Then what happened to him?” I asked.
Addie frowned. “I… I don’t know,” she murmured. “At least he snapped out of it. That was scary for a minute or two. Hey, I’ll call you later.” She hurried
out.