“She still shouldn’t have chained you.”
He shook her shoulders. “You think you’re safe because it’s daylight, but the only thing keeping me from becoming a dragon right now is my mother’s magic.” He opened the small leather bag strung on the cord around his neck and showed her the piece of obsidian inside.
A mirror.
“If I take this off, I’ll turn back into the dragon.” His eyes darkened with anguish.
“Gideon.” She tried to comfort him, but he avoided her touch.
“I should never have let you visit me,” Gideon said, stone-faced. “It was selfish.”
“No,” Leah protested, “you’re the only thing that’s made my time at the Tower bearable.”
Gideon loosed a short laugh. “Bearable? Before you came, I was living in a wasteland.”
His wildness frightened her. She gripped his hands, hard. “I won’t let you send me away.”
Gideon ignored her. “As soon as I escort you to the Tower, I’m going to…go away. To protect you.”
Her lungs seized. She couldn’t lose him. “Listen to me. You are not a monster.”
He stared at her as if from across a gulf. “Then what am I, Leah?”
“You’re cursed. Your mother and I are working on a way to break the curse. We just need some time.”
“My mother has had years and has not found an answer.”
“But now she has help.” Leah willed him to believe in her. “I can travel to Water, where Qeturah can’t go. We can break the curse. We’re so close.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said carefully, but his eyes remained bleak. “I’ll give you a month, but after that you must promise to let me go.”
“Go and do what? Throw yourself in a volcano? No. I won’t give up. Not in one month, not in six, not ever. And I won’t let you give up, either.” She squeezed his hand again.
He didn’t argue, just started walking, but Leah had no illusions that she’d convinced him.
She had a month to break the curse.
…
By the time they reached the Tower, Gideon was hollow eyed and stumbling with fatigue. Leah was tired and hungry, too, and had two firewasps stings to add to the bump on her head, but she hadn’t flown across three duchies or been shot.
Leah’s ripped nightgown and Gideon’s sheet attracted attention as they entered the village. The ex-bandits’ stares made her skin crawl, but Gideon’s scowl kept the men away.
Someone must have run ahead with the news, because Qeturah met them at the foot of the Tower, frowning. When she saw Gideon could barely stand, she reined in her temper and barked orders.
Once Gideon was stretched out on his bed in the Aerie, he fell asleep in seconds. Qeturah and Leah retreated to the Mirrorhall.
Qeturah turned on Leah, a dangerous glitter in her eye. “Explain yourself.”
Exhausted, Leah recounted the night’s adventure.
Once Qeturah had been reassured that Leah had no intention of betraying Gideon’s secret, her wrath faded. She tapped one finger against her cheek. “The dragon didn’t eat you because it recognized you as its soul mate. Nevertheless, if you feel it Calling again, ignore it. You could easily have fallen to your death—or been shot.”
Leah shivered but made no promises. “We need to break the curse.”
“If only we could,” Qeturah said sadly. “But you saw how my otherself has warded herself.”
“Yes,” Leah said eagerly. “But Holly, my Water self, said your otherself would be attending her play. If your otherself leaves her house, that may give us an opportunity to break the curse.” However that was to be accomplished. Qeturah had been maddeningly vague on the matter.
Qeturah looked up sharply. “When?”
“Within a few days.”
“Then you’d best start watching your otherself,” Qeturah said urgently. “Time moves differently in each Mirror World, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. The opportunity may never come again.”
Chapter Fifteen
Stage Fright
“…so we all wore our costumes to the Halloween dance as advertisement for the play,” Holly told her dad during their twice-monthly chat.
“Oh, yeah,” her dad said. “Your play is coming up.”
“You will still be able to make it, right?”
Her stomach clenched at the silence that followed. She’d promised both Ryan and Ms. Prempeh he was coming.
“Ah, remind me, when is it again, baby?”
“November fourth,” Holly said. He’d forgotten.
“I’ll try, honey, but the movie is behind schedule. We still haven’t cast Michael Vallant, and now Cassie Burns is making noises about her character—”
Holly didn’t hear the rest. He wasn’t going to make it, because his movie was more important to him than his daughter. That was why he won awards and why Holly’s mom had divorced him. Why the tabloids had recently run a picture of Dorrie’s tearstained face with the headline Split! She should have expected this.
“I’ll see you at Christmas for sure,” her dad said.
He wasn’t even going to try.
…
Dress rehearsal.
Holly couldn’t breathe—and not because of Gwendolen’s corset.
Standing in the wings, she peeked out onto the set where Jack and Algernon were trading quips about the difference between having a make-believe brother named Ernest and a make-believe sick friend named Bunbury.
“I’m not a Bunburyist at all,” Ryan said in character as Jack. “If Gwendolen accepts me, I’m going to kill my brother…”
Ryan appeared totally at ease in his gray-striped suit, forest-green waistcoat, and jaunty bow tie. Poor Daniel had been stuck with a pink waistcoat, and he looked as if his cravat was strangling him.
Caught up listening to Ryan’s voice, Holly would’ve missed her cue if Eleanor/Aunt Augusta hadn’t taken her arm.
As soon as Holly stepped onstage, her hands became ice and her feet blocks of wood. She barely heard Eleanor and Daniel exchange their lines. A pit seemed to yawn in front of her.
Then Daniel/Algernon said, “Dear me, you are smart!”
Her line came next, but Holly’s mind blanked.
Ryan saved her. He took her gloved hand. “Miss Fairfax is quite perfect,” he said warmly, amending his own line so that it wasn’t as obvious they’d skipped hers.
Holly swallowed. “Oh! I hope I am not perfect. It would leave no room for developments, and I intend to develop in many directions.” Her voice quavered instead of sounding flirtatious. Ryan/Jack led her over to a chintz sofa her mom had helped locate.
“Forget about the audience,” Ryan whispered while Algernon and Aunt Augusta argued about cucumber sandwiches. “Gwendolen can’t see them. Just talk to me, okay?”
“Okay.” Holly took his advice when the focus of the scene shifted back to them. She found it far too easy to gaze adoringly at Ryan while his character proposed. The iron band around her lungs dissolved as she said, archly, “Yes, but men often propose for practice. I know my brother Gerald does…”
Holly made it through the rest of Act One without any major mistakes, but during Act Two she had a long scene with just Dana. Halfway through, someone in the audience laughed. Even though the auditorium was empty except for their Drama class, her breath clogged in her throat.
She fumbled, skipping two lines, and blushed. Dana’s obvious impatience didn’t help. Finally Ryan entered as Jack. She allowed him to kiss her cheek with relief and got through to the end without any more blunders.
She had to do this for real in two nights? “I’m doomed,” she said aloud.
Eleanor cast her a sympathetic glance. “You’re not the only one who made a mistake. Dana muffed a line, and Daniel missed an entrance.”
Maybe, but no one had screwed up as many times as she had. She expected Ms. Prempeh to blast her, but the Drama teacher just said bracingly, “A bad dress rehearsal usually means a good performance. I’ll
see you all tomorrow.”
Holly wasn’t comforted. “Maybe we can rewrite Gwendolen’s part so it’s played by a statue,” she suggested to Ryan as they walked down the deserted school hallway. She’d volunteered to drive him home so she could break the news to him that her dad wasn’t coming.
“So Jack has some kind of marble fetish? I like it,” he teased.
“I could do it if the audience wasn’t there.” Holly felt feverish. “I just need someone to hypnotize me into thinking the gym’s empty.”
Beside her, Ryan suddenly tensed.
What had she said? Oh! “You could use your siren voice on me.”
“No, I couldn’t,” he said in a hard voice. “Besides, it doesn’t work on you, remember?” The thought seemed to please him.
But Holly couldn’t let go of the idea. “I’m resistant to it, which isn’t the same thing. I forgot you for days.”
He dropped his arm and strode ahead.
Holly hurried to catch up. “Please? I’m desperate.”
“It’s for emergencies only.”
This is an emergency. “Couldn’t you make one teeny-tiny exception?”
He stopped abruptly. “Sure.” His smile acquired a razor edge. “Anything else you’d like me to do for you? An essay you don’t want to write? An A plus on your lab report?”
Holly’s mouth dropped open. “What? No!”
Ryan looked cynical. “Oh, really? What if you couldn’t finish your essay because someone quit at work and you had to do a double shift?”
Curiosity stirred. “Did that happen to you?”
“Last week. I asked Mr. Jarvis for an extension, but he wouldn’t give me one.”
“So, did you…”
“No,” he said emphatically.
“Why not?” Holly asked, puzzled. “Jarvis is a jerk.”
“Yes, but Jarvis is a jerk to everyone. Other kids deserved extensions, too. How fair is it if I get one and they don’t?”
Holly still didn’t really see the harm.
“And if I keep making exceptions, how long will it be before I decide I don’t need to do the essay at all? Why not order the teacher to give me an A?”
“I wish I could do that for Science,” Holly joked.
Ryan didn’t crack a smile. “Where does it stop? Do I defraud the electric company the next time we’re late on a bill? Why pay for anything? I can just take what I want and tell security to forget me.”
Holy crap. She’d known Ryan’s silver tongue was powerful, but she hadn’t thought the implications through.
“When you were friends with Kyle—” She stopped, but Ryan answered her unspoken question without flinching.
“Did we break the law? Oh, yeah. We started out shoplifting. We were both poor, and if my mom had one of her paranoid spells and missed food bank pickup sometimes, it was shoplift or go hungry. Then we moved into chocolate bars and stuff we wanted that our moms couldn’t afford. Once Kyle realized I could cover for him—that I would—” Ryan shook his head. “It got bad. Joyrides, electronics…Kyle loved the thrill of it. He liked getting caught and watching the store owners or cops fall in with whatever I said. He called it my superpower.”
“Did Kyle know you were a merman?” The idea upset her.
“He caught me a couple times, but I always erased the memory. See, even though we were friends, I knew deep down I couldn’t trust him. As wild as I was, I still had a line I wouldn’t cross. Kyle doesn’t think there is a line.” Ryan braced himself as if waiting for her to repudiate him.
The last bit of her mad crumbled away. Considering the huge temptations before him, he’d used his siren voice sparingly. Wordlessly, Holly put her arms around his neck and kissed him until they were both breathless.
“What was that for?” Ryan looked wary, but his arms remained looped behind her back. “Not that I’m objecting, but I don’t get it. I tell you I used to be a juvenile delinquent, and you kiss me? You’re not still trying to persuade me, are you?”
Holly shook her head. “No. I shouldn’t have asked you to use your siren voice. The kiss was because…your power could have turned you into another Kyle, but instead you’re you.”
Ryan glanced away. “Don’t be too impressed. I did some stupid things even after I stopped hanging out with Kyle.” Pain resonated in his voice.
Holly cupped his cheek. “What happened?”
Ten seconds ticked by before he answered. “I decided it was noble to use my power to help others. I told some people to stop smoking, and when that worked, I tried to cure my mom. Every evening I ordered her to take her pills—until she flipped out in the middle of the mall and started yelling about aliens. Her doctor had prescribed a new medication, and she had a bad reaction when I forced her to take the old one, too.”
Holly squeezed his hand in sympathy.
“That’s when I decided to save it for emergencies.”
“And stage fright doesn’t count.” But she couldn’t help asking, “So what does qualify for an emergency? Besides protecting your secret?”
“Self-defense. I try not to use it at all. My record so far is six months between uses.” He shot her a heated glance. “For some reason, I’m not doing too well this fall.”
Holly counted in her head. “You’ve used it, what? Five or six times? Several times to make me forget you, then Prempeh, then on the beach when you told first Kyle, then Eleanor and me to go away.”
Ryan avoided her gaze.
“You’ve used it since then?” Maybe she shouldn’t push, but she was wildly curious. “On who?”
“Kyle. He won’t come near you again,” Ryan said grimly.
Holly shivered, feeling unnerved and guilty. If she hadn’t spoken to Kyle, he might not have thrown the beer bottle. “What did you do?”
Ryan answered reluctantly. “I made it so that if he…thinks about you, he’ll get violently ill.”
Holly stopped dead, aghast. “What? You mean if we pass in the halls, he’s suddenly going to start spewing? Isn’t that a little extreme?”
“No,” Ryan said harshly. “He’ll only get sick if he thinks about hurting you.” A beat. “He threatened you. Don’t ask me to undo it, because I won’t.”
They walked the rest of the way to her car in silence. Holly’s emotions were all jumbled up. She was both impressed and scared by his power, and she didn’t know whether she should be touched that he wanted to protect her or insulted that he didn’t think she could handle Kyle on her own.
She drove him to the marina, but her stomach soured at the thought of telling him her dad wasn’t coming. She turned off the ignition. “So what’s your backup plan if my dad doesn’t bite? Are you going to get a portfolio made?”
Ryan shook his head. “Those cost money.”
“What do you plan to do when you graduate?”
“If I luck into a scholarship, go to university. Otherwise, just keep working and try to build up my bank account.”
Like that was ever going to happen on a grocery clerk’s wages. Holly thought guiltily about her generous trust fund. “What about student loans?”
Ryan grimaced. “I have enough debt already.”
“Don’t you mean your mom’s debt?”
Ryan shrugged. He leaned in. “So am I forgiven?”
“Yes,” Holly whispered, cupping the back of his neck.
They kissed, slow, lingering kisses, then said good night.
The thought of Ryan slaving away at dead-end, menial jobs preyed on her mind all evening.
Her father had a thousand contacts. One phone call and some agent would be willing to do a free portfolio for Ryan. But if she asked her dad for the favor outright, he’d do it grudgingly, and his attitude would taint the agent. Ryan’s plan was best. She needed to get her dad to the performance. Once her dad saw Ryan’s talent, a small hint would do the job.
The problem was how to get him there. If she or her mom called, her dad would see it as nagging and be annoyed.
After
some thought, Holly shut herself in her bedroom and phoned her dad’s publicist, Samantha. The stylish older woman had worked for Joseph Beecher for years, and Holly got along well with her.
Samantha seemed pleased but puzzled by her call. “But why are you calling me, honey? What do you need?”
Holly paced from her bookshelf to the window, the cell phone jammed against her ear. “I need you to make sure my dad comes to my school play November fourth.” Please say you’ll help me.
But Samantha sounded reluctant. “The movie is behind schedule.”
“You can get him there. I know you can.” Holly gripped the phone tighter. This had to work.
“The question isn’t can I get him there, but should I. Your dad has a lot of his own money riding on this project.”
“He can spare one evening,” Holly said heartlessly. “I haven’t seen him since August, and we both know how well that visit went.”
“I’m sorry, kiddo, but—”
Holly interrupted, her voice shaking. “Or maybe you don’t know. Did he tell you he didn’t call the Coast Guard until two hours after I fell in the water? He was so busy sucking face with his latest fiancée that he didn’t notice his own daughter fall overboard.” The words burned her lips like acid.
A beat of silence. Then Samantha spoke in her professional, hard-as-nails voice. “Is that a threat?”
Holly hadn’t meant anything of the sort, but… A picture of Ryan wearing an ugly green apron, bagging groceries flashed into her mind. He deserved so much better.
“Yes,” she heard herself say. “You get my dad to the play, or I’ll go to the tabloids.”
“This is extortion,” Samantha warned. “I’m going to have to speak to your mother.”
Holly’s stomach rolled over, but she held firm. “She can’t keep me from phoning the tabloids if I really want to.”
“Holly, think.” Samantha’s voice turned persuasive. “You could ruin your relationship with your father forever by doing this. Is punishing him really worth it?”
“I’m not doing this to punish him,” Holly denied. “But I was in the ocean for seven hours. He owes me one freaking evening.” Her own vehemence surprised her. This was supposed to be just for Ryan’s sake. She didn’t actually want her dad to watch her performance and point out all her mistakes, but…Holly stared unseeingly out the window. She wanted a dad she didn’t have to blackmail into coming to her school events, a dad who was always there, no question.
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