Free Mackenzie Legacy, The by Derrolyn Anderson Page A

theatrically pointing towards a table hosting a group of jovial women. He singled out the most attractive one. “The lady in blue… please allow my lovely assistant to show you onstage!”
    The woman laughed nervously, and after being goaded by her friends she followed a showgirl clad in sparkling red sequins onto the stage. The hypnotist directed his assistant to swing a pendulum before the woman’s eyes.
    “You will hear nothing but the sound of my voice, and you will obey all my commands without question…”
    Caledonia smiled with amusement, slipping just inside the entry to watch from the shadows.
    Raynaldo continued, “When I count backwards from ten you will believe that you won the lottery… Ten…Nine…Eight…”
    When the count was finished the formerly shy woman was transformed. “Whoopee!” she squealed, jumping up and down with intense excitement. Cali was surprised– Did she just see what she thought she saw?
    The sequined assistant raised her pendulum again, and Reynaldo announced, “You just heard the funniest joke in the entire world!”
    The woman started giggling, and was soon overcome with mirth, laughing so hard she had a difficult time catching her breath. Caledonia stepped further inside, stunned. The closer she got the more obvious it became; it wasn’t her imagination.
    The hypnotist’s assistant was changing her.
    The Magnificent Raynaldo took a bow, and the audience clapped. He signaled to his assistant again, and Cali inched closer to the stage, fascinated. She studied the woman in red closely, realizing that she was much older than she’d first appeared from a distance. Caledonia watched as she lifted her pendulum again, gazing intensely into the eyes of the audience participant.
    Raynaldo smirked at her, announcing loudly, “Now my dear… You are going to fall madly in love with me!”
    His assistant flushed emerald green with irritation, but Caledonia watched her steel herself and cast a cloud of intense blood-red infatuation directly into the woman’s eyes, topping it off with a compliant amethyst. The woman in blue looked adoringly at Raynaldo, and he took her in his arms, twirling and dipping her theatrically to the hoots and hollers of the audience. He released her and took a deep bow for his delighted applause, exiting the stage.
    His assistant led the dazed audience member back to her seat, stopping briefly to send her an unmistakable pop of lemon yellow confusion. The woman took her seat, asking her giggling friends, “What did I do?”
    Caledonia was shocked. She had just witnessed the Athena effect in action, and yet this woman was far too old to have been mutated in the womb by Professor Reed’s drug experimentation. How could it be? If she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes she wouldn’t have believed it. She followed her over to the bar in the darkened lounge.
    The woman sat down heavily, motioning to the bartender, “Scotch and soda.” She wore theatrical makeup, and her thick black hair was teased high and piled on top of her head. She looked hard, and even older up close than she did from the stage. She took the tumbler the bartender handed her, lifting her glass to drink with a tired air.
    Caledonia studied her profile, trying to make sense of what she’d just witnessed, finally speaking, “I saw what you did. I saw you change her.”
    The woman sighed, turning to look up. Her own mismatched eyes mirrored Caledonia’s, flying open in shock and recognition. “Well I’ll be damned… Where did you come from?” She looked around, “Who are you with?”
    “M-my boyfriend,” Caledonia answered, stammering in disbelief as she looked into one golden brown eye and one blue eye, “You have heterochromia…”
    “I have what?” she asked, sizing Caledonia up with an appraising glance. She knocked back her drink and motioned to the bartender, “Gimme two more Joe… neat.” She nodded to the stool next to her, “Have a seat… You look like you just