"Would you Kindly.."

Philip had concocted a plan that he hoped would allow Emily and Tammy to give secondary commands to both Haley and Kelly whenever they thought it beneficial, and in a way that would seem natural enough not to arouse suspicion. He was unaware, of course, how much scrutiny Emily's every word and action that evening was already going to be under. Emily and Tammy had been granted the power to command the cousins in much the same way a master would but, to make things less obvious, the triggers would not be their names but specific phrases.

Maisie's husband had remembered "would you kindly" being used for such purposes in an old video game. One far too old, Philip was confident when he looked it up, for either Martin or Carl to have played. That was therefore Emily's trigger phrase for Haley. To avoid her saying the same thing frequently enough for it to become noticeable, for Kelly it would be "Could you please". Tammy had been given her own phrases by Philip to mix things up further - "Do you mind" for Haley and "Can I ask you to" for Kelly.

What they weren't aware of was that now, thanks to Haley's revelations, Martin and Carl had come prepared with a few tricks of their own. They hadn't figured out secondary commands yet, but they knew well enough how to keep primary ones well hidden. Haley had been given a photographic memory, with the ability to recall and repeat any part of the evenings conversation word perfectly after the event. Kelly's hidden command for the evening was to be able to make herself invisible at will, perfect for spying if the opportunity arose. As she had no way of making her clothes vanish with her, she would be attending the meal naked, though peoples perception would, of course, be altered to make her seem fully dressed. Only Martin and, as a favour to his buddy, Carl would be able to see Kelly as she really was that evening.

This was like an intense game of chess that was masquerading as a friendly get together. The only person who had little idea of anything that was going on from either side was Tina, though she had her own secret plan to find the witch who started the curse and potentially make everything a lot less complicated. She would be subtly texting her English aunt back and forth during dinner, since it seemed she may have gotten a lead on that already.

It wasn't long after they arrived that the games had begun. As Haley was returning from the washroom, Emily was conveniently heading towards it and stopped her briefly as the pair crossed paths.

"I was meaning to ask, would you kindly come back to your Aunt Maisie's place after the meal. A few of us are heading there."

Haley paused for a moment.

"Okay" she nodded.

Once she arrived back at the table, instead of sitting down, Haley tapped Carl on the shoulder.

"I just realised I forgot to pay for parking earlier. Can you come with me while I sort it? My card doesn't always work with those things"

"I distinctly remember you paying, Hales" Carl assured her.

"Well I don't, and it will bug me for the whole meal unless I check" Haley tried to give her master a look that would let him know something other than parking payment was amiss.

"Okay, sure, I'll come" Carl nodded.

Once they were safely outside the restaurant, Haley began talking a lot more quickly than was typical for her.

"Emily just commanded me. As things stand, I'm going to my Aunt Maisie's place after the meal because she basically ordered me to. I'm guessing they have the same thing planned for Kelly"

"What? I don't get it. How can Emily command you? Is she a witch or something?"

"Well, Kelly and I can transform each other in that fucking spell game"

"Huh?"

"That's not you commanding me is it? That's Martin via my cousin. So it seems like secondary commands work. I didn't think they were supposed to, but evidently they do. At least for those of us who are cursed. Maybe we are more susceptible to the magic or something"

"So this isn't really Emily's fault. Tina made her do it" Carl concluded.

"Tina isn't her master, remember?" Haley was trying not to sound exasperated "We don't actually know who her master is. It was supposed to be some abusive ex boyfriend in England. But I'm guessing that was a bullshit cover story"

"So how is whoever it is able to command her to give you commands if they aren't at the meal?"

"Maybe they gave her trigger phrases before she came. I think she said something a little weird before telling me what to do. Not my name but..." Haley thought for a moment with her new powers of perfect verbal recall "It was 'would you kindly'. I mean, it could be a British thing, but it seems like a bit of an odd phrase for her to use. I don't think I've heard her say it before"

"So who is her master then?" Carl wondered to himself.

"Another question might be who is she?" Haley suggested.

"What, are you talking about Emily?" Carl was struggling to keep up.

"Yeah, she's supposedly some distant relative who showed up out of nowhere and is a permanent fixture now. Maybe it's my Aunt Maisie. She's controlled by my uncle, I've seen him change her hair colour, and I think she went away on some business trip about the same time Emily showed up. Perhaps our perception of my aunt has been altered. I mean, it could be done. Kelly is sitting in there butt naked right now and most people wouldn't have a clue"

"Fuck" Carl gasped.

"You should command me to be able to see through any disguises Emily has once I go back in"

"Okay, Haley, if Emily is disguised you can see through it"

"Cool" Haley nodded.

"And actually, Haley, you won't be going to your aunt's place after the meal"

"That took" she told him "So I guess your commands overpower secondary ones. That would make sense. Although, maybe I should go. So they don't know we're onto them, and so I can find out what they're planning"

"Yes, you're right. Good idea"

Haley paused and looked at her master, waiting for the penny to drop. It didn't.

"You're going to have to reverse your last command"

"Shit, yes. Haley, you can go to your aunt's place after the meal. Damn, I need to tell Martin about all of this"

"Are you sure? He'd know he could command me"

"Of course. We'll keep this just between us" Carl quickly changed his mind.

"Knowledge is power" Haley smiled "Let's head back inside before this starts to look suspicious"

"It turns out Carl was right, I'd paid already" Haley explained as she returned to the table.

"She's such a dumbass" her master chuckled.

Haley sat back down and smiled across at Emily who remained in place, unchanged. Perhaps she had overthought that one a little, Haley figured. Still, the dynamics had already begun to shift during this meal, and the starters hadn't even arrived yet.