✅🎊✂️ Hypnosis Won't Take Me There!! [alternative cut]

Chapter 458: Flashback

"You mean she never really wanted..." Belle interrupted once while Toni was telling her what they'd discovered. But there was more to tell, and she quickly lapsed into silence. Britney had returned Toni's phone, and then taken over the narrative.

Belle listened for the next half hour in shocked silence. She could understand where they'd been coming from, and what they might have thought. But it was still hard to believe that two good friends could do something like that to Adi.

"You said her baby name."

"We did," Toni nodded.

"No, I did."

"But you said her name. You knew by then that she might not want to be regressed, you've got some idea how scared she must be, and you still said it. Why?"

"I wanted her to calm down. She said Dean and his friend were going to retrain her somehow. They're going to do things that she really doesn't want, when she needs more than anything else to undo all the hypnotic training. And she was panicking so much that she couldn't tell us where she was. I guess that's because I was asking for a hotel name and she didn't see one. I didn't even consider that she might be staying in someone's house. It's not the kind of thing you think of, is it? So I wanted to calm her down until she could answer our questions without panicking."

"But making her a baby?"

"I know, and I felt bad about it. But better to say it once and rescue her. If we didn't, she wouldn't be able to tell us anything and she'd be stuck with Dean and whatever he thinks she really wants. It's like, the lesser of two evils, right? If we know more we can save her. And I think that means it's worth the risk of using her baby name a few times. Just until we can bring her back."

"I guess, but..." Belle wasn't sure herself what she was going to say next, and while she started to hesitate Toni had something else to ask.

"What did Ryland say?"

"Okay, I told him about the documents we got here. He said that makes his job easier, maybe quicker. But you shouldn't expect a discount. If Belle's there at the border, with this green document and her ITRE form, then we can get two people in on the strength of that. Supposed to book weeks in advance but he knows a guy who can rush it though. I guess he's got some kind of government position or knows someone he can bribe? But it'll be quicker. He says if Belle's on the tickets, let him know who else is coming and he'll have everything ready by Tuesday. I'll check up with him once we know who's going, get passport details to him, but it doesn't sound like a big deal."

"Good to know. Belle, can you go with us if we're going to Kolechia? He told me before that once we have a location, Ryland can get the passports and plane tickets sorted in a little under three weeks."

"Which would be a miracle, from what I've seen of their bureaucracy."

"Exactly. But with your visa, two of us can accompany you there some time next week. The dates on the visa say up to two visits over a six month period, so it looks to me like it's still valid. I know you might not have planned to go now, but–"

"Hell no," Belle shook her head, growling again. "He's lied to me, and he used me. He could have told me what he was doing, and we could have avoided all of this. If I was there now, I could tell him what Alex told me, and I would..."

Her voice trailed off into silence again. Nobody needed to say that if she'd gone overseas with her brother, she would never have met Reg and Vicky, and so wouldn't have known about the reputation of Lady Larsen's hypno files. The thought occurred to Belle a few seconds before anyone else's mind joined the right dots, but she didn't want to say anything about it.

"Anyway," she started again, voice suddenly aggressive, "he's lied to me and wasted my money. He must have been planning this since soon after her birthday, and he never said a word to me? I want to find out what's going on. I need to be there and I need to confront him. And I don't know anyone else who'd come with me, even if I didn't have to think about where I'm going to stay if there's really something wrong with the cottage. Hell yes I'm going, if your friend can really get tickets that quickly. I can't afford them, but you want to go with me, don't you? Does that mean you can afford the plane tickets?"

"Don't worry about it," Toni shook her head. "The amount I'm paying Ryland, that should cover all the plane tickets and all the other paperwork. And a backup hotel, because if we're grabbing Adi out of there we won't be able to stay at the cottage. We don't want to talk to Dean until we know she's already safe."

"Right," Britney nodded. "I'll liaise with him, I'll get it sorted. A hotel and flights. Take it you and Nyx will be on the flight? Or should I..."

"I don't know. I'd like you with me, because you understand the hypnosis stuff the best. You'll probably have learned the language in a week too, right? Or enough of the culture and laws to get by. But Nyx will want to be there too, I don't know what's the best."

"I can sort it out. And don't worry, Belle. It took us a while to tell each other what we knew, but we've found the truth now. Just over a week, and we'll have this all sorted. You'll be back with your brother, if you want. And we'll bring Adi home."