Born of Corruption (10 page)

I bring her the basket of audience questions and blend into the background while she answers the ones I’ve pre-chosen for her. Then the lights dim as she calls up audience members, purporting to read their minds. They, too, were all prechosen. One of the bellhops was assigned to talk with the audience as they came in. Then he reported back to Mother. Jacques has also helped. He knows everything about everyone in New York society and sent out special invitations for the grand opening. Once he saw who would be in the audience, he fed us tidbits of gossip, which have now become a part of the act.

I hide a smile as the amazing Madame Van Housen shares some new insight with a stout lady whose turban glitters with rhinestones as she moves. The audience gasps in shock and admiration at my mother’s perception.

The truth is, my mother isn’t really a mentalist, a medium, or a magician. She’s just an actress with the ability to make people believe what she wants them to. And at the end of the show, as we take our bows to thunderous applause, we have several hundred new believers.

About the Author

TERI BROWN
is most proud of her children, but coming in a close second is the fact that she jumped out of an airplane and beat the original Legend of Zelda video game. She is a word scribbler, head banger, math hater, book reader, food fixer, kitty keeper, and city slicker. Teri lives with her husband and way too many pets in Portland, Oregon. She is also the author of
Born of Illusion
and the Summerset Abbey trilogy. You can visit her online at www.teribrownbooks.com.

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Copyright

Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Text copyright © 2014 by Teri Brown

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition © 2014

ISBN 978-0-06-228779-3

EPUB Edition APRIL 2014 ISBN 9780062287793

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FIRST EDITION