She felt the soft grass of the meadow under her feet. She looked around through a purple haze, unsurprised and unalarmed. A hand fell on her shoulder and she turned. "Melissa?"

"Dana, you need to wake up again. He's coming."

"Who's coming?" Distantly, Scully heard the swish of grass against a pair of legs.

The timber of a man's voice slithered through the purple haze. "Dana. Άκύειν."

"Please, Dana." Melissa grabbed her shoulder. "You're dreaming. You need to wake up. You need to go back to Mulder and stop him."

"How Missy?"

The purple fog began to swallow Melissa. "Wake up." She said.

"Wait!"

"C'mon Scully."

The fog filled the meadow.

"C'mon."

Scully's eyes fluttered open. She sat straight up, as if she was filled with helium. Mulder's arms tightened around her right shoulder. He rubbed her back. "Are you okay?"

Scully felt tears welling up in her eyes. She steeled herself. "He almost had me, Mulder. I was in the same place as when Wang tried to hypnotize me." She caught her breath, surprised when Mulder's arms tugged her to him."

"Did you see Wang?"

Scully shook her head. "I just heard him." She paused. "Mulder. This happened last time, too. Melissa was there. She told me to wake up."

Mulder hugged her closer to his chest. She could hear his heartbeat against her ear.

Just as Scully turned her head to look at him, he spoke. "I don't understand the brain like I should," Mulder whispered. "There's a lot we don't know."

"She's dead, Mulder."

"I'm not saying she isn't. But your brain knew her for a long time. Your brain is protecting you from Wang, I think. Maybe she's a part of that, somehow."

Scully smiled. "Don't give me that 'she lives in me' bull."

She felt the vibrations of Mulder's chuckle above her. "I wouldn't dare, Scully." He cleared his throat. "I guess we have some more evidence now, though…"

Scully sat up. "You're right," she said. She glanced at the little wind-up alarm clock placed neatly on the bedside table. Only thirty minutes had passed. "I was in a dream state much faster than I should have been. Maybe, if Wang can get a victim under hypnotism voluntarily the first time, he triggers some sort of tick in the brain."

"Sounds more like neuroscience than linguistics," Mulder said.

Scully laughed. "You're right. You know, I bet if we could get our hands on a computer in this little town, we could find out how much he knows about neuroscience."

Mulder leaned forward and looked over her shoulder at the time. He sighed. "We've got to get down there and see what we can do about Tom."

XXX

Tom's head lulled on the chair. His eyes were shut gently, and his mouth was open. Scully thanked God. He had seemed so agitated on waking up, she expected to find him tired, confused and alert when they returned.

"How should we do this?" Mulder whispered.

"I think we should get him to respond to something – some verbal stimulus," Motsouka said. "Then, we can introduce more and more English. We can't wake him up, though." She bit her lip.

Mulder and Scully nodded together.

"Should I…who should talk?" Motsouka said.

"I think you're best qualified," Mulder said. The omission surprised Scully. Mulder liked to control the interrogation in whatever form it took. "Just talk with a quiet, monotone voice. That's generally how hypnotism is delivered.

"Tom," Motsouka murmured. "Shh. Tom."

Tom stirred.

"Tom. Hello. It's Maria. Hear me."

Tom groaned. He squinted in his sleep.

"You speak English, Tom." Motsouka looked at Mulder and Scully. Mulder gave her a thumbs-up. "You speak English. You're going to listen to me and not Professor Wang. Do you hear him right now?"

Tom nodded. He groaned again.

"Ignore his voice. You were raised with English. You are going to wake up and speak English."

"E-English…" Tom said.

"Yes, Tom. I'm going to count to three. On three, you're going to wake up out of your trance."

"Y-yes…"

"One. Two. Three."

Tom's eyes flew open. Scully held her breath. "Χαίρετε?"

Scully sighed. "Not English."

"English." Tom blinked again. "Yes. English. I-I…" he squinted as if he had a headache. "I can speak in English."

"Yes!" Motsouka said. She was grinning.

"I can speak to you." Tom looked at them. He grinned. "I can…your words always sounded so familiar, but I never understood what you were saying. But I've…remembered I somehow got away from the voice."

"What was the voice saying?" Mulder asked.

"He…I don't know, now. He was talking in some wobbly language. I think I did know it, in the dream." Tom laughed. "It was that Professor, though. He's behind it. The whole town knows. We thought for a while that you might be, too, but then again, you could also be a victim. But then word got around that you helped a little boy. That you tried talking to us." He pointed at Scully and Motsouka. "Wang didn't like that, I remember. He found out, somehow."

"How?" Mulder was leaning forward now, across the desk.

"He…drips into your thoughts. He gets you to start being his way. I think he got to those people we had to lock in Town Hall – got to them more then to us." Tom laughed and his eyebrows creased. "English! I remember looking at those English signs around the motel and knowing I'd lost something to do with it."

"We don't need Wang," Scully said. "Look, if we can get people to sleep, we can influence their lucid dreams, too. The question is, how will we do that for the whole town?"

"How did you meet Wang, Tom?"

"We got word from the mayor that a visitor was in town who was going to give an important talk about the town's future. If he'd said it was a professor visiting, no one would have come. But the mayor didn't specify who it was – just said it would change everything. He could have been hypnotized too, come to think of it. I never heard him speak himself…just through the grapevine."

"Surely everyone couldn't have come to a meeting?"

Wang shook his head. "I didn't…I went to a small businesses' meeting where I was promised a tax break. There was a PTA meeting, a farmer's meeting…"

"What happened at your meeting?"

"He wanted us to concentrate, or was it meditate? Yes! Meditate. We all thought he was crazy, but we played along anyway. Then, he said there would be a second meeting and more tax breaks with a partner. We went to that one, too. She did the same thing."

"A partner?" Scully said. "She?"

Tom nodded. They did different talks every day for a week. One afternoon, I feel asleep and woke up and the postman didn't speak like me. Then, a few hours later, he did. I – I can't explain it."

"Wang didn't lock us in Town Hall, Mulder. His partner did." Scully ran her hands through her hair.

"What did she look like, Tom?" Motsouka asked.

"Tall. Skinny. Brown hair. Forties."

"What is it, Motsouka?" Scully asked.

Motsouka bit her lip. "It's a guess…a big one. But I think. Damnit." She laughed. "It sounds like the Classics' department's chair."