"I got an email from Adi," Toni explained again. This time there were no interruptions. Britney and Nyx just nodded, eager for any information that would bring them closer to learning where Adi could be. "There wasn't much in the way of information, I don't think. She didn't seem to know how worried we are."
"After more than a week away from home, with no warning? Regardless of her actual age, she knows we start thinking of her like a toddler."
"But that's the problem. She wrote to ask when I was going to arrive. As far as I can understand, Dean told her this is a family vacation. Me and Nyx had work so we couldn't go with them, but we're planning to join them in a few days. Adi started getting impatient, and was super apologetic about asking. Said something about not telling Dean she said anything... I'm not sure, but I think he's told her that our arrival is supposed to be a surprise so she shouldn't let on that she knows."
"So they're having fun without us? Are you sure Dean didn't say–"
"Yeah, I know. But she also seems to be in the dark about how long this vacation would last. And she said she doesn't want to be regressed for this holiday. She wants to see the world like an adult so she can form real memories. Again, really apologetic, like she doesn't want to spoil whatever we had planned with our little baby. But she thinks Dean overdid it. She doesn't say exactly what he said, but it sounds like he's kept her triggered for the whole drive down there, to stop her asking questions. She thinks that's not fair."
"I'll bet. But to me this doesn't sound like overzealous use of the triggers. He's keeping her too small to contact us. And when she gets her few moments of adulthood in the morning – they left her alarm clock here I think – she tried to send something, but she doesn't know where she is. And she doesn't realise that..." Toni paused, taking a deep breath. Her fists clenched on the table, and it didn't take a genius to see what she was thinking.
"We'll get her back," Britney said firmly. "They can't stay hidden forever. She'll realise..."
"She should have realised right away. A whole vacation without any advance warning, and a trip long enough that he needs to think about keeping her quiet? That should have been suspicious as soon as she was back in her adult mind. But with her birthday party, and mine. When we went to visit her father. Just trying to keep her from stressing by doing all the planning for her... That's the problem. I've made just about every major decision for her, and never told her what we're doing until the same day. That's how he could take her away from us so easily."
"Hey, don't blame–"
"But it is, isn't it? She's not comfortable with how much he's triggering her, but she's scared of upsetting my plans. I don't want her to think like that, even if it was what I was planning."
"It was what she asked for," Nyx tried to be reassuring, to reassure herself as much as the others. "At the start of the exams, she said that she wanted to be a complete baby. So she can't worry about her results, until we get that automated email she mentioned. Right? You only did what she asked for."
"I didn't look after her. I didn't take away the problems, I just made her not notice them. She trusted me to keep her safe while she's in that vulnerable state. And now... who knows what's on his mind?"
"I think we can assume he's not going to hurt her. He liked her. He said a few times that he might have been willing to babysit without the money."
"There's a difference between liking someone, and wanting to keep her to yourself. And even as a child, she'll see that."
"I hope. I mean, he wouldn't hurt her, I'm pretty sure about that. She's safe in that way. But safety isn't the same as freedom. With those baby behaviours, he could make her crave being a good girl. He could make her do whatever he wants, and maybe she'd even think it's what she wanted. Could her baby name do that?"
"I don't know," Britney answered as they both turned towards her. Everybody knew she was the one who really understood the hypnosis stuff, and the ways it seemed to work. "It's not something I thought about, because there was no reason to. We'd never do something like that. She's always taken the suggestions quite literally, rather than reading the spirit of the instruction. That's why I made those lists of her baby behaviours, so we could work out exactly how she might respond to a new situation. But..."
"But Dean took the lists. We only know what we told her, not how it was phrased. I think most of the big ones were restricted to only if family or a babysitter says it, and I would have said she'll realise eventually that he no longer qualifies. But with all the notes, if he can manipulate her by using the letter of the law, we have no idea how far he could go."
Then they just looked down at their hands. There didn't seem to be anything else to say, and in that moment there was no sign of a way forward.