but she’d had a couple of power naps to keep herself going. The presentation was a triumph.
Six months later Masha had her heart attack.
Six years after that, when Delilah had honestly kind of forgotten Masha’s existence, she called to ask Delilah if she’d like to train as a wellness consultant at a health resort she was starting up.
Masha liked to tell guests that they would hear about Delilah’s supposed “wellness journey,” but they never heard about it because there was no wellness journey. Delilah resigned from her job as PA for the chief executive douchebag at an insurance company. Her wellness journey was basically a train ride from Central Station to Jarribong.
“I think we should let them out,” said Yao. “They were meant to be out by now.”
“We have to be ready to adapt,” said Masha. “I told you both that at the beginning. For dramatic results, you need dramatic action. I know this is uncomfortable for them, but that’s the only way people change. They have water. They have shelter. We are taking them out of their comfort zone, that’s all. That’s when growth occurs.”
“I’m just not sure that this is right,” fretted Yao.
“Turn up the audio,” said Masha.
“Obviously we’re obligated to report this to the police as soon as we’re out,” said a woman.
“Who’s that?” said Masha.
“Frances,” said Yao, his eyes on the screen. Frances had her back to them. She was talking to Lars.
“Frances!” said Masha. “She loved her experience. She seemed to get so much out of it!”
Lars was saying, “Morally obligated. Legally obligated. We’ve got a duty of care. They’ll kill someone eventually if we don’t.”
“I don’t know if I’d want them to do actual jail time,” said Frances. “I think their intentions were good.”
“Right now, I’m deprived of my liberty, Frances,” said Lars. “I’m not too worried if someone does a little jail time for this.”
“Oh God.” Yao moaned into his knuckles. “It’s a disaster. They’re not even … trying!”
“It’s not a disaster,” said Masha. “They’ll work it out. It’s just taking a little longer than we expected.”
“They don’t seem any different after the therapy,” said Yao. “They just seem so … angry.”
Delilah suppressed a sigh. It’s called a hangover, you fools.
She said, “Would anyone like a green tea?”
“Thank you, Delilah, that’s very thoughtful,” said Masha gratefully, and she touched Delilah on the arm and smiled that soul-warming smile.
Even before, when Masha didn’t look anything like a goddess, when she was just a frumpy high-level executive who was really good at her job, she had charisma. You wanted to please her. Delilah had worked harder for Masha than she’d ever worked for anyone, but now it was time to close this chapter in her life.
Clearly the police were going to be involved. Delilah had been the one to access the drugs on the dark web, a process she had enjoyed and a new skill to add to her résumé along with PowerPoint. She thought her actions probably wouldn’t be enough for her to go to jail, but they might be, and she felt like she wouldn’t enjoy jail.
Part of her had known all along it was going to come to this. There was a kind of inevitability to it, from the moment Masha had first handed her the book about psychedelic therapy and said, “This is going to revolutionize the way we do business.” Delilah remembered thinking, This won’t end well. But she’d been feeling bored for a while. Experimenting with drugs was interesting and she’d kind of wanted to see the train wreck.
They micro-dosed guests’ smoothies for over a year without ill effects. People had no idea. They believed it was the organic food and meditation that caused them to feel so great. They rebooked because they wanted to feel that great again.
Then Masha decided she wanted to do more than micro-dosing. She wanted to do something “revolutionary.” She wanted to “push the envelope.” She said they would be changing the course of history. Yao had argued. He didn’t want to change the course of history. He just wanted to “help people.” Masha said this would be helping people in a way that would truly change their lives forever.
The clincher had been when he’d tried the psychedelic therapy himself with Masha as his guide. Delilah hadn’t been there—it was her weekend off—but when she saw Yao next he had an even crazier, more obsessive blaze in his eyes than before, and he was quoting from the research as if it was the research