I stood up to face them. "Yes," I said. "I do have the Stigma. The only lie was that I was the Lodge's counsel. I'm not."
"What then?" Keys demanded.
"I'm Grand Master of the Manhattan Chapter," I told him. "And you, like every Psi who is made aware of the existence of the Lodge, are now subject to my orders."
"Not me," Elmer said. "You ain't got the Stigma."
I fired a lift at an ashtray on the table beside him, and it sailed in an arc toward the kitchen and crashed against the wall. My TK was certainly a lot better than it had been in the morning. Well, I'd spent an hour or so warming up before they had come in.
"Who hasn't got the Stigma?" I said.
He looked at Keys. "You didn't do that," he said. "You couldn't!"
Keys was openmouthed. "What a bruiser!" he marveled.
"So I've got the Stigma, Elmer," I said quietly. "Now why won't you do what I tell you?"
"Ah don't do what anybody tells me!"