Page 33 of Finish Line

“Obliviscatur. Haec. Est. Mea.” He goes over each word repeatedly, saying them with a pause between them. “These words will not hold any meaning to you other than what is written in the dictionary.”

Louis intones, “Obliviscatur. This word will not hold any meaning to you other than what is written in the dictionary.”

He does the same for each of the other words. He then presses play on one of the iPods. Only it isn’t music we hear coming out of the speaker. It’s Latin words being said in a song-like fashion, like those weird chanting priests.

Hannah jerks and stares out, just like the guys. I guess she was hypnotized, too.

“These words will not hold any meaning to you other than what is written in the dictionary.” He repeats this process with the other iPod.

“When I count back from five, you will remember everything that has happened to you, and no one will ever have the power to hypnotize you again. Your mind will forever be yours. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.” Louis slaps his hands together in a single clap.

Luke, Mav, Hannah, and Dom grab their heads and moan.

“They’ll be out of it for a second. They’ll remember, but it’ll come back in pieces. It’s up to you to fill them in or wait for them to remember it all. Please call me if you have any other problems.” Louis shakes Frank’s hand.

Luke’s head shoots up, and he looks around the room. “Oh, God, Shelby.”

“Where is she?” Dom groans.

Mav moans, and when he looks at me, sadness fills his eyes. “No…”

“Nick, why don’t you fill the guys in while I walk Mr. Scott out?” Frank suggests.

Nick looks at me. “This should be good.”

Nick, Cin, and I move to sit on the couch opposite Hannah and the guys.

“Do you guys remember how Carrie went up to accept her crown and gave a little speech?” Nick asks the guys.

“Yes,” Mav says.

“I remember,” Dom adds, while Hannah nods.

“Well, at the end, she said this phrase in Latin. Obliviscatur Haec est mea. Which is Latin for Forget it. She is mine.” Nick waits to discover if the words are out of their system.

When the guys don’t react or turn into lifeless robots, Nick, Cin, Hannah, and I release a sigh of relief.

“We were cruel to Shelby. How could we do that to her?” Mav holds his head.

Dom looks at Luke. “Why aren’t you in pain like we are?”

“When Hannah first vanished, Shelby came to ask me if I saw her. I was listening to my iPod. She took it off me. That’s how he kept me under, and with it gone, my memory returned.”

“We couldn’t find out how he was keeping you under. It turns out it was a maid, so Luke has more of a clear head.” Nick puts his arm behind the couch.

“Continue telling us what happened at the ball.” Dom waves his hand for us to continue.

“Mav, you danced with her but sneered at her the whole time. The second the music stopped, you pushed her away and joined the cheerleader table. Dom, Carrie was all over you like you never broke up. She has something to do with this, but I don’t know how.”

“She said those words,” Cin reminds us.

“Yeah, but Hannah gave them to her,” Nick counters.

All eyes swivel toward Hannah.

“I would like to apologize for my part in this. What I did was so wrong. Luke, we’ve already talked about what happened in the bathroom. Do you remember?”

Luke glances at Hannah before looking away and nodding.

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