by Amanda Paris
Zack rolled his eyes.
“If Romeo over there didn’t look ready to kill me, I’d show you how much I appreciate the costume design. Really, Emily, tights?” he asked, stalking off. But I knew he wasn’t really upset.
Annie hid a smile in her hands. She had on one of the long wigs that Ramona had lent us from her shop and tons of makeup. Ramona must have gotten to her first.
“Places everyone! The show will begin in five minutes!” Mr. Ormond called backstage.
I took a deep breath, trying to quell the butterflies in my stomach.
“You’ll be fine,” Damien whispered in my ear.
The cast turned to take their places. I was glad that I wasn’t in the first scene so I could watch in the wings. Ben had just spoken his first line when Angela came running in carrying her wig in one hand and three packs of cough drops in the other.
“Am I too late?” she croaked.
We looked at her, and I nearly laughed. Someone must have called her last night to say that I’d been her replacement. Mr. Ormond had announced last night that the show would go on, with or without the questionable talents of Ms. Rossi. That thought alone might be enough to kill her. She looked as if she had trouble standing; I was unsure how she thought she’d manage the dances.
Mr. Ormond looked disbelievingly at her as Ben delivered his first lines to the audience.
“Angela, you can’t possibly go onstage like that. Can you even talk, let alone sing?” he whispered angrily.
She tilted her head a notch, passed us by like the queen she was, and put her long wig firmly on her head. She literally marched onstage and delivered her first lines in a voice that sounded like a dying cat coughing up a hairball.
We all cringed, and I thought Mr. Ormond was going to pull his remaining hair out. But Ms. Shoemaker, the music teacher, played the opening bars to “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” anyway. I had to concede that the lyrics seem made for her:
Where are the simple joys of maidenhood?
Where are all those adoring daring boys?
Where's the knight pining so for me
he leaps to death in woe for me?
Oh where are a maiden's simple joys?
Shan't I have the normal life a maiden should?
Shall I never be rescued in the wood?
Shall two knights never tilt for me
and let their blood be spilt for me?
Oh where are the simple joys of maidenhood?
Shall I not be on a pedestal,
Worshipped and competed for?
Not be carried off, or better still,
Cause a little war?
Where are the simple joys of maidenhood?
Are those sweet, gentle pleasures gone for good?
Shall a feud not begin for me?
Shall kith not kill their kin for me?
Oh where are the trivial joys?
Harmless, convivial joys?
Where are the simple joys of maidenhood?
I don’t know how she made it through the first three verses, which were painful to hear and even more painful to watch, but right as she lamented that kith were not killing their kin for her, one of Zack’s little brothers, eight-year-old Tommy, threw the better part of a pudding container at her and began laughing. That set off the less mature section of the senior class who were sitting at the back, and their laughter began the ripple effect up the auditorium and right to the stage. Even Ben, who, as King Arthur, stood behind one of the props to watch her sing, had a hard time controlling it.
Angela ran offstage, and Mr. Ormond literally pushed me on. The show, it seemed, had to go on.
Ms. Shoemaker struck up the opening lines to the song again, and for a brief moment, I froze. I looked over at Damien’s smiling, handsome face, took courage, and began.
The rest of the show progressed without incident. Angela fumed in the wings, but no one paid her any attention. And taking into consideration the rough start we’d had, I thought the performance went well. Aunt Jo sat on the front row cheering me on, and I didn’t forget any lines or song lyrics. After my first song, everyone had clapped for me, giving a huge boost to my confidence, and Damien had squeezed my arm when we had our first scene together, despite our needing to maintain distance. Guinevere disliked Lancelot at the beginning, only realizing her love for him later. This had been the most difficult part of the musical for me, but we got through it smoothly.
We passed the difficult scene where we’d had trouble during the rehearsal. Lancelot had already rescued me, and we were turning to exit when I felt it. Something was strange, and a chill ran down my spine. It wasn’t stage fright. I looked at Ramona, who waited in the wings to powder our noses between scenes. She met my eyes. So she’d felt it too.
Three women had walked in, though I could only see their shadows. Intuitively, of course, I knew. When the lights came on at the end of the show, I looked at the back of the auditorium and saw them more clearly. Each of them looked alike, as if they were sisters. They each had dark brown hair and black eyes so piercing that I could see them from the stage. They reminded me of Lamia.
I blinked, and they were gone.
When we took our bows at the end and the applause had ended, I looked for Ramona, dodging eager students and parents who congratulated me on my theater debut. Obviously, they hadn’t seen Oklahoma! I thought.
After several minutes of fruitless searching, I thought Ramona had already left, but then I saw her dark head bending over to collect cast-off wigs behind the stage.
“Ramona!” I called, running over to her.
We looked at each other for a second before speaking.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“I couldn’t get a clear read. I need a quiet place to concentrate,” she answered.
“But there’s no doubt?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Witches,” we said together, shuddering. They weren’t the good kind…
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One: "The Dream"
Chapter Two: "Plunging In"
Chapter Three: "The Quest"
Chapter Four: "Darkness Falls"
Chapter Five: "Dream Kingdom"
Chapter Six: "Reckoning"
Chapter Seven:"Discovery"
Chapter Eight:"Torn"
Chapter Nine: "Limbo"
Chapter Ten: "Flight"
Chapter Eleven: "Touching Eternity"
Chapter Twelve: "Voyagers"
Chapter Thirteen: "The New World"
Chapter Fourteen: "Encounters"
Chapter Fifteen:"The Ring"
Chapter Sixteen: "Following"
Chapter Seventeen: "Déjà Vu"
Chapter Eighteen: "Being and Unbeing"
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter One
