by Trudi Jaye
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Missy climbed down from the net, sweating hard and feeling limp after doing their performance in full for the first time. Alphonso was an amazing partner, so smooth and predictable; they fell into a rhythm every time. It meant something like the blind performance could come together fairly easily. It just took practice and perfect timing.
She turned and came face to face with Veronica.
Missy jumped slightly, her heart missing a beat.
“That was very good,” said the older woman.
Missy nodded, waiting for the but.
“The punters will be pleased with it. You’ve done well.” She nodded to Alphonso, who was climbing down behind Missy. “Both of you. You’ve outdone yourself, Alphonso.”
“Thank you, Veronica.” Alphonso’s voice was low and musical. And as blank as ever.
Veronica watched them both for a moment, her eyes sparking with some extra emotion Missy couldn’t decipher, and then she turned and stalked away.
She glanced at Alphonso. “What was that about?”
He was staring after Veronica, his face impassive. “You’ve just made it onto her most preferred list. It’s going to make it even harder for you to ever get away.”
Panic leaped straight up her body and into her throat. “What do you mean?” It was already hard enough to figure out how they were all going to leave.
“She’s watching you now. Like a hawk. Wondering how she’s going to get you to do curse magic.” He came and stood next to her. “Whatever you do, resist with every part of you.”
“Have you done it? Curse magic?”
He shook his head. “No. But my wife did, many years ago, and it turned her into something else, a monster I didn’t know. She thought she could rule the world. She died while attempting an act she should never even have considered.” There was pain etched into his face.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago now. I tell you not to gain sympathy, but to warn you. Veronica is obsessed. She will stop at nothing to achieve her aims. If I have learned nothing else, I have discovered the lengths to which she will go to in the name of her brother.”
“Her brother? The one who’s sick?”
“He’s not sick, as such. Veronica has been keeping him alive, determined to gather enough curse magic around her to get him walking again. His body is so atrophied that he is little more than a bag of bones now. But she doesn’t see that. She sees only the brother she loved.”
“You’ve seen him recently?”
“I am one of the few allowed in. Marco has been a friend for a long time. But Kitten is the only one who can talk to him now. He communicates through her.”
“Through a seven-year-old child?”
Alphonso nodded. “He can see nothing, do nothing, go nowhere. In fact, I’ve noticed recently his stability could be questioned.”
“Stability?”
“He’s going crazy. It’s not entirely unexpected; he’s been living in that shell for many years now. I have managed to convince Kitten to visit him less to minimize his ability to affect her as well.”
The second mention of Kitten’s name reminded Missy the young girl was wounded. “Where would Zeph have taken Kitten? We should go check on her.”
Alphonso nodded. “Get changed and I will meet you outside. We will both go.”
***
Zeph sat next to the bed, holding Kitten’s hand. Her face was pale against the white sheets, her eyes shut in a medicated sleep. She looked tiny… and very young.
Sam had taken one look at who Zeph was carrying in his arms and dragged him straight into the medical center’s back room. He’d worked frantically to stem the blood and stitch up Kitten’s arm, muttering under his breath the whole way.
At one point, Kitten had murmured in pain, and the doctor immediately gave her something for it. His face had betrayed his anger.
“So the act didn’t go well,” he said finally as he finished off the bandages on Kitten’s arm.
“She managed to free one arm from the ties and was trying to get the other one off when the knife was thrown.”
“I told Veronica. I said she was too young.”
Zeph didn’t reply. He could see it wasn’t meant for him. The doctor had started pacing the room.
“Doc, do you have a bed for her? Or should I take her home?”
“No, no. I need to keep her here. Veronica has used her curse magic to heal the child, but I need to watch her to make sure it’s working.”
Zeph nodded. He hesitated. He’d never talked about the curse magic that was affecting them all with anyone other than Missy. But he didn’t think the doctor would be able to do his job properly if Veronica had him under her influence. “If I… If I go back under, will I remember what I’m doing here?”
Sam paused and took the time to glance at Zeph, his face unreadable. “I’ll tell you what to do… if you go back under.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
And now here he was, still awake and conscious of what was happening. His anger with Veronica and the horror he’d felt watching the knife enter Kitten’s body lingered inside him. He wasn’t sure it would ever go away.
A noise made him look up. Missy appeared at the door, her gaze going from Kitten’s still form in the bed to Zeph. She hesitated uncertainly at the entrance. Zeph stood, gently placing Kitten’s hand on the sheet. He stood immobile for a moment and then took the two steps necessary to gather Missy into his arms.
It felt good. Without thinking, he kissed her, hard and passionate, trying to say everything he needed without words. She kissed him back, and something inside him eased.
A throat cleared behind them. Zeph looked up into the bland eyes of Alphonso.
“Don’t mind me. I’m just here to see the sick child,” the older man said.
Zeph stepped back awkwardly, nodding toward Kitten. “She’s asleep. The doc gave her something to help her recover faster.”
Alphonso nodded and walked over to look down at the young girl. His face was pensive. “In the beginning, she wasn’t like this.” He glanced over at Missy. “Veronica, I mean. She was young and sweet, not too different from Kitten. The years have changed her, made her hard.”
Missy’s hand in Zeph’s tightened. “She shouldn’t have put Kitten in the act.”
“No. Veronica shouldn’t have done it. There was a time when this place wasn’t so… constrictive. When she tried her best to make everyone happy, in her own way. But now…” He sighed. “Now I wonder if Marco’s decline is affecting her more than I realized.”
“Why do you stay, Alphonso?” Missy asked softly.
Zeph held his breath. Alphonso had always seemed so firmly on Veronica’s side. It felt like he was teetering on a knife’s edge.
Alphonso was silent for so long, it seemed he might not answer. “I felt responsible for her for a long time. I believed myself in love with her for many years, although nothing came of it. She picked my brother over me. Now it’s just habit. A lack of other options, I suppose.” He glanced at Zeph. “Meeting your mother has been an eye opener. She has a soothing affect on me.”
His mother was many things, but calm wasn’t one of them. Zeph raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure you’re not just hoping that? She’s under Veronica’s spell. She’s not really like that.”
Alphonso nodded. “You’re right. The times she has been out are few and far between. But she is still kind and loving, whether she’s under the magic or not.”
“How come you’re not under Veronica’s magical influence?”
“I’m immune, same as Missy.” He paused. “And Tilly.”
“And Kitten?”
“Yes, and Kitten. It’s a very particular family line. My people have always been immune to the influencers. It’s a balancing of the magical order—if we all went under their influence, they’d come out on top.”
“Your people?”
He was about to answer when the door to the room sl
ammed open and a figure hurtled through it. Zeph vaguely recognized the woman from their meeting at the Compound. Tilly. What was she doing here?
“Where is she? Where’s Kitten?” Tilly saw Kitten on the bed, and with a sob, she rushed over, grabbing her sister’s hand. “What happened? What did they do to her?”
“Veronica put her in a knife throwing act. She got a slice through her arm.” Missy was straight and to the point.
“I’ll kill her. I’m going to kill her.” Tilly’s voice was low and hard, her eyes flat.
Alphonso went over to her and put an arm around her shoulders. “Be careful what you say, little one. Hold your thoughts inside.” His face was softer when he looked at Tilly, his usual blankness replaced by an emotion Zeph couldn’t decipher.
Tilly leaned into Alphonso’s arm and closed her eyes. “I know, Al. It’s been a while. I have to remind myself.”
“The doc says she’s going to be fine,” said Zeph, trying to ease the pain he could see on her face.
Tilly nodded and looked down at Kitten. “Thanks. Where’s Mom?”
Alphonso shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if she knows about Kitten yet. It’s only just happened. Do you want me to find her?”
“Please. She’ll want to know.”
Alphonso nodded and left the room, his face again impassive.
As soon as the door closed, Missy stepped forward urgently. “We might not have much time. What’s happening?”
Tilly shook her head, as if trying to clear it, and glanced from Kitten back to Missy. Her gaze hardened. “We’re getting Kitten out; that’s what’s happening. Away from this place.” She gestured around her angrily. “The others are waiting outside. They’ll come in for the performance, and we’ll do it then, while everyone is distracted.”
Missy nodded, her expression pensive.
“But what about the people who are under Veronica’s influence? How are you going to get them out?” asked Zeph. He wasn’t only thinking of himself; he needed to get his mother out as well.
“We’ll just have to make them come with us, using force if necessary.” She glared at Missy and Zeph. “Someone ran away and didn’t give us enough time to plan anything.”
“We’ve realized how much of a mistake that was.” Zeph shook his head. If only he’d been less angry and impulsive, they wouldn’t be in this situation. “Anyway, using force won’t work. There are too many of us who are under.” He turned his gaze toward Missy. “We need something that will pull as many people as possible out of Veronica’s influence.”
Missy nodded slowly, her face showing her reluctance. “He’s right. We’re still going to have to do something to distract Veronica and pull as many people as possible out from under her curse magic at the same time. Otherwise, it won’t work. She’s too powerful.”
Tilly’s eyes were wide. “We can’t communicate with the others. They won’t know about any changes in plan. We have to stick to what we’ve agreed.”
Zeph shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll just work with what we know they’re going to do,” he said.
“But we can’t talk about any more of it in front of you, Zeph. I’m sorry,” said Missy, looking up at him with worried eyes.
For a moment, Zeph was stunned. She didn’t trust him? And then he remembered. He couldn’t be trusted. Veronica had her claws firmly attached to his mind.
He nodded, although it cost him to be agreeable. It felt like he’d just been punched in the gut. Missy needed his help, and he couldn’t even give it to her. “I’ll leave you to it,” he said, forcing himself to walk out the door. It was the worst feeling in the world.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Missy watched Zeph go, a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She sighed. It couldn’t be helped. She knew he could be trusted—when he was in control of himself.
“Once we have him out of here, we need to get Indigo to check inside his head,” said Tilly. “Veronica can dig her tentacles in deep.”
“How is it that some people are so affected and others aren’t?”
Tilly shrugged. “Mom says it’s because we’re strong willed, but I’ve seen plenty of strong-willed people succumb to her powers. Alphonso says it’s certain lines, or particular families, who have the innate ability.”
“Why didn’t you mention it in the meeting?” Missy wanted to trust Tilly, but there was a part of her that still niggled about the lack of information.
“I told them the next time we met, when we actually did the planning. After you left.” Tilly’s voice sharpened. “Don’t worry. I’m on your side. We have to work together on this.”
Tilly looked sincere. And Missy didn’t have anyone else to rely on. Her father was wounded, Zeph was under the influence, and she wasn’t even sure Alphonso could be considered a friend, let alone an ally. “Okay, you’re right. But we don’t have long. We need to come up with a plan. The most important advantage we have is strong emotion, like fear or anger, seems to pull people out.”
Tilly paused, her eyes widening. Then she nodded. “I don’t know why I never thought of it before. Any time someone escaped around me, it was because something big had happened.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it’s that simple.”
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to have a couple different distractions,” said Missy. She took a deep breath. There was no guarantee any of her ideas would even work.
Tilly nodded encouragingly.
“But something that won’t hurt people, if possible.”
“Any ideas?”
Missy let out her breath slowly. “I thought we could thaw the ice rink,” she said in a rush. “It would cause a flood and probably set off alarms.”
“Oh, wow,” said Tilly, her eyes wide. “That’s… massive.”
“I know.” Missy bit her lip. “What do you think?”
Tilly nodded. “I think we could do it, but we’d have to time it right. It would take a while for ice to melt, right?”
“I’m not sure of the exact timing, but I thought if we did it the morning of performance day, setting the refrigerant to hot, the ice would slowly melt all day. Then by show time, someone could discover it.”
“We should be able to do that, I think.” Tilly was watching the soft rise and fall of Kitten’s chest. “We have to,” she added quietly.
Missy cleared her throat. “That’s not all. We need another distraction, something in another area that will cause confusion and chaos.” She watched Tilly carefully. Was it too much to expect from her?
But Tilly’s face didn’t change, and her expression was bland when she asked, “And that would be…?”
“I don’t know,” admitted Missy. “I was hoping you might have an idea. All I could think of was to burn down some of the buildings…”
“No, we can’t do that,” said Tilly firmly, shaking her head. “It’s too dangerous.” She tapped her finger against the bed. “But what if we pretended there were fires?”
For a second, Missy was confused. “What do you mean?” she said, trying to imagine how they would light pretend fires.
“What if we set off fire alarms? I know Veronica had a whole bunch of them put in a couple years ago after we had a fire scare.”
A light clicked on in Missy’s head and she nodded quickly. “Yes, that’s good. It’s just what we need. The threat of fire without actually having to have one.”
“So we need—” Tilly stopped talking as the door squeaked open and Sam came in, followed by Tilly’s mother. He made a face at Tilly and she rolled her eyes.
“Where is she? My poor baby!”
Daphne’s voice scratched along Missy’s nerves; it was loud and fake.
Kitten’s mother pushed past Sam and rushed to her daughter’s bed, grasping her hand.
“I couldn’t believe it when Alphonso told me what happened. That Monica deserves a lesson for hurting my baby.”
“You deserve a lesson for l
etting Veronica put Kitten in a knife show,” said Tilly sharply, her eyes flashing. “All your fine talk of not letting your buddy Veronica control your actions comes to nothing if you can’t even prevent her from doing something like this.”
Daphne turned to look at Tilly, and the expression on the older woman’s face made Missy shiver. She didn’t know how Tilly could stand there calmly when her mother was looking at her with such venom. “Don’t you come back here and criticize me. You’re a part-time sister—if you were so concerned about her, you’d be here all the time instead of running away and hiding.”
Tilly took a step toward her mother, her face hard. “Any harm that comes to Kitten is because of you. I blame you for this. If anything, you’re angry because you weren’t the one putting the knife in so you could claim the curse power for yourself.” The air was so charged it was like a physical presence.
Missy stepped forward and put an arm around Tilly’s shoulders, pulling her back a little bit. “How about we go and take a bit of air outside? Let your mother sit with Kitten for a bit?”
Tilly resisted, and then her shoulders slumped and she nodded at Sam to open the door. “At least she can’t get her hurt while she’s in here,” she muttered as she left the room. Missy, and then Sam, followed her out.
“Come on. There’s a lounge at the other end of the medical center,” said Sam, gesturing down one of the hallways.
Missy reluctantly followed the doctor, still unsure about him. He knew too much already, and letting him in on their plans was as bad as telling Zeph at this point.
The room was small, with sofas and chairs spread around. A television sat in one corner, and kids’ toys were stacked neatly in a basket on one wall.
“First of all, Tilly, it’s too dangerous for you to be challenging your mother like that,” said Sam. “She’ll pick up on what’s happened.”
“What do you mean?” said Tilly.
“You’ve managed to get rid of Veronica’s curse block.”
“What? How…?” Tilly looked dumbfounded.
“Why do you think I’m stuck here as Veronica’s pet doctor? I’m useful to her.” Sam sighed and rubbed one hand over his face. “I can sense that kind of magic, as well as the healing skills I have.”