“I knew it was blood!” Raine said, a big smile on her face. “You wouldn’t believe what we really thought happened to the cook.”
“I want to hear everything that happened,” Mark said, “but first you all need to be checked out by a doctor.”
“That’s a good plan,” Stefan got slowly to his feet. “And afterward, I’d like to sit in front of a roaring fire. Can that happen? Raine could even build it for me. She’s pretty good with fire, except we should make sure the furniture is bolted to the floor.”
Raine made a motion like she was going to throw snow at him, and Stefan didn’t bother to duck, thinking a little snow wouldn’t hurt him now.
Epilogue
London, two weeks later
Stefan pretended to blast at imaginary creatures outside the viewport while he waited for filming to start. He couldn’t believe the intricate detail on the interior sets of the spaceship. It was as if he were really on an actual spacecraft, with the lights and the control panels and people wandering around in costumes. Even the guy standing nearby eating a yogurt parfait couldn’t spoil it for him.
When he swung around in his chair to reach for a screen farther away, the pain in his side reminded him to take it a little easier. His cracked rib had turned out to be three cracked ribs, plus pneumonia and mild frostbite. After the snowmobile rescue, he’d spent a few days in the hospital, then ended up in a hotel in Prague, under orders from the doctors and Mark to stay put in his and Heather’s suite, order room service, and watch movies until he felt better. Stefan didn’t argue. Besides Amanda popping in every day with schoolwork, it had been like a luxury vacation. He’d even worked on some new imitations, including a great one of the little alien in an old movie called E.T. When he had the chance, he’d show Mark, and maybe even Cecil and Jeremy.
Filming had shut down for two weeks while the studio had considered what to do. Stefan had a few bad days when Jeremy reported a rumor that the movie would be canceled because it would have to go over budget to finish, but that was a short-lived fear. The media found out about their adventure and suddenly everyone was clamoring to see the movie behind the disaster.
Boris and Phoebe were reported to be recovering nicely, and it turned out Inky was fine too. The wolves were almost getting more press than the humans, and Natasha was hailed as the heroine of it all, giving up her life to save Boris. Stefan hadn’t seen Hans, but he imagined the wolf trainer would mourn her for a long time.
When the paparazzi found out Raine was in Paris, where her mother had taken her to recuperate, she was mobbed. He saw images of her on television news with security guards guiding her through crowds of photographers. Much had been made of Cecil, how he had survived a heart attack and was still determined to finish the movie. Stefan had seen him once in Prague and thought he looked too frail to keep working, but Cecil had assured him Mark was adjusting the script to make his scenes a bit easier.
Stefan was just ready to get on with it. Filming had been scheduled to start the day before, but Raine’s mother had demanded more money for her to finish the movie. There was a lot of grumbling going on about it, according to Heather. He could tell it was adding to the tension on set. Everybody but Mark seemed edgy, and Heather had said it was because some movie people were so superstitious, they were convinced the film was now cursed.
That had made Stefan laugh, but Heather claimed it was a really bad atmosphere for a set, according to her new boyfriend, one of the grips who worked with the lights.
Now that everyone knew he had been part of the adventure too, Stefan hoped it meant he was safe from being fired. Sherman the producer hadn’t said anything to him beyond asking if he was well enough to work, but Jeremy had passed along a rumor that the actor Raine wanted, Justin Seton, was now very interested in the film. There was no way Stefan was going to give anyone a reason to replace him. He knew he could do the work, especially as long as Raine hadn’t gone back to her movie-star self. If she went back to giving him a death glare every time he made a mistake, he’d get nervous and just make more.
“Stefan, I need to go over the schedule with you and Jeremy,” Amanda said, sitting down next to him, Jeremy in tow. Jeremy had been bouncing all over the set with excitement the last half hour, and Stefan wondered how Amanda had managed to capture him.
“Jeremy, please listen,” Amanda said. “You and Stefan and Raine have an interview this afternoon with an American television news show. I’ll make sure they stay on schedule so you children can get your schoolwork in. I’m told Raine will have her publicist there, and you’re to only answer the questions directly asked to you. Raine will answer the rest. Okay?”
“Sure,” Stefan said, relieved he wouldn’t have to talk much.
“Good. Now I have to check on the schoolroom and make sure it’s set up correctly. Jeremy, why don’t you stay with Stefan and keep out of everyone’s way?”
Stefan motioned to the seat next to him as Amanda walked away. “Jeremy, take a look at this control panel. It’s incredible.”
Jeremy sat down. “Can I push the buttons?”
“Why not? We can’t really blast anything. Let’s practice the scene where we’re the only ones around who know how to operate the spaceship. I fly and you’re in charge of the weapons.”
There was clapping behind them and Stefan turned to see Mark and Cecil arriving. More and more people stood up and joined in, and Stefan realized they were all clapping for Cecil’s return.
The elderly actor gave a dramatic bow. “No, no, you shouldn’t,” the man said. Stefan knew Cecil was secretly pleased with the attention.
Before the applause had completely died away, Raine swept in, followed by a small entourage of people, including someone he didn’t recognize carrying Kep. He was happy to see the dog wasn’t wearing any sweaters, hats, or booties.
Mark went up to her and gave her a hug. He turned to the crowd. “I was going to make a short welcoming speech but I think we’ll have more fun if we just get right into filming. We’ve got a light day scheduled so we can ease back into things.” Mark looked so gleeful at the idea of filming, Stefan relaxed a little. Knowing he wouldn’t have to attempt a big scene helped a lot.
“Okay,” Mark said. “We’re doing the scene where Stefan, Raine, Jeremy, and Cecil are in your private quarters on the spaceship, debating whether or not you can trust all the troops on board. The wolves are part of the scene, but they don’t have to do anything except lie around and look like family pets. We won’t bring them out until we’re ready to film. Let’s get into place and we’ll talk about the reactions I’m looking for.”
Stefan walked over to the set that looked like a futuristic living room, with soft gray furniture arranged around a central table that glowed with a map of an imaginary galaxy. Mark showed everyone where they were to sit and immediately began to go over what he wanted. Stefan stayed quiet, figuring they would all have time to talk on the lunch break. Raine hadn’t even looked at him.
Mark had only said a few sentences when Raine leaped up, screaming, “I see blood, it’s spattered everywhere.” She pointed at the table. There was a collective gasp from most of the crew members, though Stefan wasn’t sure he could see any blood.
Jeremy got up and nearly fell over one of the chairs, “Where?”
“Cecil!” Raine yelled, pointing at him. “You have blood on you!” She backed away from him like he was going to attack her. “What’s happening here?”
Cecil ducked his head for a long moment while everyone waited for him to speak. He raised his head, his eyes bulging out, his face contorted in his swamp-creature features. He gave an evil laugh. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he screeched and advanced toward Raine, who was looking horrified. It was so unexpected nobody moved until the old man was within reach of her. He stopped and the two of them grinned, then began laughing so hard Cecil had to sit down.
“Fooled you!” Raine said. “Cecil, that was fabulous! See everyone, we can’t have a cursed set because
we’re going to have too much fun making this movie.” She came over to where Stefan and Jeremy stood. “You really believed I saw blood, didn’t you?” she asked, smiling.
“I believed it,” Stefan said. “Good one.” He had to convince Cecil to work with him on that swamp-creature imitation.
“Okay, let’s make a movie!” Mark called. “We have battles to fight, creatures to vanquish, and a planet to tame!”
Acknowledgments
Thanks first to all my family, always a tremendous support, and a special thanks to my children, who help me see the world through different eyes. I am also fortunate to have some wonderful writer friends who have been there for critiquing, discussing ideas, and support when I needed it. So thanks to Jeanne Estridge, Lori Foster, Amanda Avutu, Bill MacFarland, Ann Abbott, and to all the writers at AW. You have all made this writing life much more fun. Thanks also to Shelli Caskey—I can’t imagine ever writing a book that doesn’t have animals in it, and it’s great to know I can go to her for ideas and information. I would thank my cats too, for keeping me company, but since they just assume it’s my job to give them all the attention they want, I won’t bother.
About the Author
DEE GARRETSON spent her childhood helping her father build his offbeat inventions and playing adventure games in the woods. After working as a landscape designer and teaching landscape horticulture classes for several years, Dee returned to writing. Her debut novel, WILDFIRE RUN, has been praised for its suspense and its hero, Luke, who “with his companions, displays generous measures of courage and ingenuity in rising to the occasion” (ALA Booklist). She lives with her family in Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more about Dee at www.deegarretson.com.
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Credits
Jacket art © 2011 by Cliff Nielsen
Jacket design by Hilary Zarycky
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Dee Garretson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-06-200032-3 (trade bdg.)
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11 12 13 14 15 LP/RRDB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780062093547
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