Not on purpose.

James stood warily. "I think I'd better get out of here," he said, unable to mask the tremor of fear in his voice.

"Yeah," Beth said. "It's getting late and you're all kinda freaking me out."

The group began to protest. Kat hopped up and grabbed James' arm. "Come on, man, here!"

Before he could protest, she shoved him onto Beth. Beth stumbled and almost fell, but James just stood there with a shocked look on his face. He looked down at his hands, then up at Beth. "Holy shit..." he muttered.

Beth grimaced. "James?" she asked tentatively. "You ok, buddy?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm- I'm ok," he stammered. "But it's true. It happened."

"Fuck!" Beth said with irritation. She whirled and faced Kat. "What the fuck is wrong with you? He was the only one here acting normal and now he's like... like you! Why would you do that?"

Kat wilted under Beth's rage. "I'm sorry! I wanted to see how it worked!"

James, meanwhile, was staring at Beth strangely. Beth wheeled to face him again in the shocked silence that followed her outburst and Kat's **** apology.

"So now what?" she asked pointedly. "You're telling me you're all my slaves or something? You have to do whatever I say?"

Joseph spoke up meekly. "Not exactly, I think. It's more like... like we need to protect you. To take care of you."

Beth heard a **** noise and was surprised to see Kat sitting on the ground with her head between her knees. It took her a second to realize what she was doing. She put a hand on the weeping woman's shoulder and asked if she was alright.

Kat looked up, her makeup streaked with tears. "I'm ok. I'm fine. Please don't worry about me at all... I'm so, so, so sorry for what I did. I don't deserve-" she cut herself off with another choked sob. Beth knelt to face her friend. The rest of the group was silent, watching their interaction with intense curiosity.

"Look, Kat, I don't want you to feel bad. I'm just... well, I'm just trying to figure this stuff out. I was upset that you did that, but I'm not anymore. I just want you to feel better."

Kat sniffled. "Really?"

"Yeah, Kat. I really do."

To her surprise, Kat got to her feet and hugged her. After the embrace Kat was grinning goofily. "Thank you so much. I really do feel so much better. That was awful!"

Marcus chimed in. "It was bad over here, and you weren't even mad at me."

"At least you got over it fast," Beth said apologetically.

Kat smiled. "I think it's because you said you wanted me to. This thing, whatever it is, it's powerful. When you told me you wanted me to feel better, I just... felt better. I was feeling as bad I ever have, and then my mood changed on a dime just because you wanted it."

Beth stared at her. "So your mood can shift depending on what I want? Just like that?"

"Not can," Joseph piped up. "Will. I don't think Kat could feel bad now if she tried. It's like we can't help but try to provide whatever you want or need. I wonder what else you could do with it?"