One by one, the volunteers on stage succumbed to the heavy pull of his suggestions. Clara watched, transfixed, as her roommate Sarah went from skeptical giggling to a state of profound, glassy-eyed stillness. It wasn't like the movies; there was no dramatic clucking like a chicken. Instead, there was a startlingly beautiful sense of peace that washed over the participants. They moved with a fluid, dreamlike grace, their expressions softening into masks of pure relaxation. To the audience, it looked like they were seeing the world through a thick, warm fog, where every word Silas spoke was the only truth that existed.