Golden Girl

by Sarah Zettel

  But what really had the goose bumps running up my arms was that Jack had probably come and gone hours ago. I held my breath and strained my ears, praying for an angry, whispery voice calling my name. But there was nothing. Not even any footsteps. I was used to country quiet, the kind that’s filled with buzzing insects and singing crickets. This quiet didn’t even have that much to keep it company. There was just me and that thin, dry wind coming down from the hills.

  I peered around the tomb. If this had been a movie instead of just a studio back lot, an owl would have hooted somewhere. The long, twisty lake was a wavering mirror, spreading ripples of lamplight and reflecting the arch of the Waterloo Bridge. The farmhouse on the other side was just a squared-off blob in the dark. Then I saw a gangly bit of shadow peel off its side and slide around toward the front. Even at this distance, I knew it was Jack.

  I was so glad, I had to bite my tongue to keep from shouting. Instead, I crouched down and crept forward as quickly as I could. I ducked from tombstone to tombstone and up onto the bridge, where I could slip through the shadows cast by the fake-stone railings. Jack hadn’t seen me yet. He was easing his way toward the farmhouse door.

  I was about to whistle to him, but my throat closed around my breath. My stomach twisted and the hairs on the back of my neck all stood up to stare. The fairy magic in my blood and bones was telling me we weren’t alone anymore. Something new was close by. It was alive, and it was magic, and it was very, very hungry.

  I jumped to my feet, teetered over that bridge, and didn’t stop until I plowed straight into Jack for the second time that day. He yelped and spun, swinging his fist out, so I had to jump back.

  “Holy cats!” Another time the look on his face would have been funny. “You scared me! Where’ve you been?”

  I grabbed his wrist. “We gotta get outta here!”

  Before I could get any further, voices drifted down the street.

  “… but why, Miss Markham?” whined a tired girl.

  “I told you. There are some people you have to meet,” a woman answered. Her voice was bright and stiff, like when you’re trying too hard to convince someone you’re happy. “Now, let me fix your collar—there’s a good girl.”

  “But I need my sleep!” Footsteps scraped and pattered down the dirt road, coming closer. “I’ll get bags under my eyes.”

  Jack and I dove into that farmhouse so fast, I swear we left a cloud of dust behind. Somebody had been using it for a storage shed, and we hunkered down alongside toolboxes, stacks of boards, and kegs of nails.

  “Now, Ivy,” the woman was saying, “you promised me you wouldn’t argue. These are very important people.”

  I jerked my chin toward the back window. If we could climb out through that, we still had a chance of getting away without being seen. But Jack had already eased the door open and pressed one eye against the crack. I rolled my eyes, then came up behind so I could look over his shoulder.

  A woman in a dark suit was dragging a girl who could have been about my age down the studio road. They passed under a lamppost, and the girl glanced back over her shoulder, like she hoped to see somebody coming after them. When I got a look at her face, I blinked, and blinked again.

  I knew that girl. Heck, everybody in the country knew that girl. She was Ivy Bright, “the brightest little star in Hollywood,” as it said on all her posters. Not that she looked like her posters just then. Her famous long golden curls needed a good brushing, and her tam-o’-shanter with its big pompom on top had slipped too far to one side. She struggled to shove the hat back into place while Miss Markham pulled her stumbling to the foot of the Waterloo Bridge.

  “I’ve brought her,” panted Miss Markham to the empty dark. “Just like I promised.”

  I got the feeling of something live squirming just out of sight. Jack gripped my hand, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring out at the bridge.

  An eyeblink ago, the Waterloo Bridge had been empty. Now a woman walked on it, as though she’d just strolled up from the other side, except she hadn’t. She’d come straight out of nowhere and darkness. She was dressed in darkness too, but on her it sparkled. A glittering silver veil covered her hair and pale face.

  This was bad. This was fairy magic. It was what we’d come to find, but not like this.

  “Yes. You’ve kept your part of the bargain, Ruth.” The sparkling black-and-silver woman stepped off the bridge. “Hello, Ivy.”

  “H-hello.” Ivy Bright shoved her tam into place again, but it slipped right back down.

  “Oh, dear, so pale.” The sparkling woman clicked her tongue. “It doesn’t suit you at all, Ivy. But there’s nothing to be worried about.” Tenderly she resettled Ivy’s tam. This time it stayed. “We’re just going to meet some new friends.”

  “I don’t think I should. Mama won’t like it.” Ivy looked over her shoulder again, but no one was coming. The only people around were me and Jack, hiding in the dark, too scared to move. Outside, reality seemed to be sinking into Ivy. A single tear trickled out of the corner of her eye and sat shimmering on her round cheek.

  Sparkling Woman crouched down to bring her eyes level with the girl’s. “Don’t be scared, Ivy, honey.” She closed her hand around Ivy’s. “We’re not going far, and once we get there, you’ll have so much fun you’ll forget you were ever frightened.”

  I heard Jack swallow hard. He knew all about the kind of fun fairies had with regular people. It tended to end up with somebody being dead.

  “You—you did say …,” stammered Miss Markham.

  “Don’t you worry either, Ruth. I haven’t forgotten our bargain.” Sparkling Woman straightened up and turned toward the lake. She didn’t let go of Ivy’s hand. “Brother!” she called. “You can come out now!”

  Ivy glanced over her shoulder again. Run, I begged silently. Run now! But she looked back toward Sparkling Woman and Miss Markham, afraid to go, afraid to stay. And too late.

  Deep inside, I felt how the world shifted around us, like somebody had turned its key. At the same moment, the water under the bridge sloshed hard. A bulky shadow waded out from the oily darkness to crouch on the bank. It might almost have been a man squatting there, but its man-shaped body was covered with gray hair. Tangled locks hung from his chin to his navel, long enough to brush the ground. Water beaded up in the snarls, glittering like the sequins on Sparkling Woman’s dress. He had shiny silver eyes, and bits of dark weed hung from his beard and ankles. It didn’t look like he was wearing any clothes.

  “Rougarou’s here.” The hairy man grinned at Ivy and Ruth Markham. “We’re all here now, hey?”

  Ivy gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth. She tried to pull away, but Sparkling Woman yanked her closer. Miss Markham just stayed rooted to the ground, staring.

  “Miss Ivy Bright.” Sparkling Woman rested her hands on Ivy’s shoulders to hold her in place. “Miss Ruth Markham, I’d like you to meet my brother. You may call him Rougarou.”

  “All here and all so pretty.” Rougarou straightened up. A pond’s worth of water sluiced off him, plastering his weedy hair tight to his body. He definitely wasn’t wearing any clothes.

  “What is this? What is that thing?” whispered Ruth Markham. “You said … if I just brought the girl, it would be you …”

  “Do calm down, Ruth,” said Sparkling Woman. “I can’t do everything myself, now, can I?”

  “This isn’t funny!” cried Ivy. “You take me home right now!”

  “Patience, Ivy.” Sparkling Woman wrapped her arm tight around the girl’s shoulders. “We’re almost done here.”

  “What do I have to do?” Miss Markham spoke too fast, like she wanted to get this over with before she lost her nerve.

  “Well, now, you’ve heard the expression ‘sealed with a kiss,’ haven’t you?”

  “I have to kiss him?” Ruth’s voice rose to a squeak on the last word.

  “Just one kiss, that’s all, pretty lady.” Rougarou grinned way too big for the size of hi
s hairy face, and his teeth flashed white. “One little kiss for Rougarou.”

  “Pretend you’re a princess in a fairy story, the one who has to kiss the frog,” suggested Sparkling Woman. “You should be able to do that quite easily. You’re an actress, after all.”

  “She’s not an actress!” shouted Ivy, and for the first time there was some fire in her voice. “She’s a secretary!”

  “You be quiet!” snapped Miss Markham. “After this, no one will even remember who you are, you little brat!”

  “I won’t be quiet! You can’t make me! I’ll tell Mr. Thalberg! And Mr. Mayer! I’ll—”

  Sparkling Woman laid one long, perfect hand on Ivy’s head. “Hush now, Ivy.”

  The girl’s words cut off. Slowly all the fear drained out of her face. So did every other expression. She leaned against Sparkling Woman, as limp and staring as a rag doll.

  Jack gripped my hand hard and jerked his chin sideways. He was right. We couldn’t leave the brightest little star in Hollywood—or anybody else—to get taken for a ride by Sparkling Woman and her hairy brother. I squeezed his fingers back and nodded.

  Outside, Miss Markham had her hand stretched out toward Ivy but didn’t quite touch her. “Is … is she all right?”

  “It’s a little late for you to worry about that now, isn’t it, Ruth? It’s time to make up your mind,” said Sparkling Woman. “If you’re just brave for one tiny minute, you’ll have everything you’ve wished for.”

  Her voice was so sweet and sure, you knew in your bones that whatever she said just had to be right. That voice could make you face monsters. If I hadn’t already known Sparkling Woman was a fairy, that would have clinched it.

  I let out a deep breath and opened the part of me that controlled both my magic and my awareness of other people’s magic. The strength of Miss Markham’s wish slapped me hard. She wanted fame, power, and money—everything Ivy Bright had. Everyone would love her and need her, and for once she’d be calling the shots. The power of that wish reached out to the driving hunger inside Rougarou and lit the greed inside Sparkling Woman. But there was something else too. It was way far in the background and I couldn’t quite wrap myself around it.

  “Can you magic them?” Jack breathed.

  “They’ll feel it as soon as I try.” They’d be after us in a hot minute too, throwing their magic around, and I had no idea how strong they were.

  Outside, Ruth took one trembling step toward that dripping wet, hairy, naked monster. She didn’t even glance back at Ivy. The monster grinned and spread his arms wide. “Bring your kiss to Rougarou.”

  “You’ll have everything you wish for, and a little bit more.” Sparkling Woman smiled underneath her veil. She kept one hand on Ivy’s head. Ivy leaned against her like a tired girl against her mother, except her mouth dangled loose and open. “Just one kiss and it’s all done.”

  Jack Holland can be a pain sometimes, and he’s way too good at twisting people around his thumb, but he’s nobody’s coward. He set his jaw and scooped up a fistful of nails from the nearest keg. There’s one thing fairy magic can’t get around, and that’s iron. Even a little piece, like a nail, could put the kibosh on a whole lot of power.

  Jack sucked in a deep breath and kicked open the plywood door.

  “Hey! Ugly!” Jack charged onto the bridge like he had the whole U.S. cavalry behind him.

  Rougarou whirled around, scattering drops of water and clumps of hair. “Who—?”

  “Wasn’t talkin’ to you!” Jack reared back and pitched a handful of nails like he was on the mound for the Yankees. They hit Sparkling Woman square between the eyes. She reeled backward, clutching her forehead. Without her to lean against, Ivy crumpled to the ground.

  By the time Sparkling Woman stopped moving, she wasn’t pretty anymore. Or a woman. Or even human. Her smooth skin and sparkly black dress turned rough and lumpy like crocodile hide. The silver veil turned to lanky gray hair hanging in twisted knots across her face. Her feet splayed out into webbed claws, and when she opened her mouth to scream, it was full of needle-sharp teeth and a really nasty long gray tongue.

  Rougarou waved his hairy arms and bellowed like a disappointed freight train. Jack pitched another load of nails at Sparkling Woman, hitting her square in her crocodile face. He turned on his heel and took off running back toward me and the house, tossing nails behind him like iron bread crumbs. Ruth screamed and screamed some more. She was wishing she was gone, but she couldn’t make her feet move. That was okay, because she was wishing, and that was what I needed. I got behind that wish and put my shoulder to it. It was heavy and I had to lean in. Something was dragging on it, and on me. I clenched my fists.

  Be home in bed. Be home in bed. Be having a bad dream.

  For a split second, Ruth Markham was there screaming. Then she was gone. Something inside me snapped shut. It had worked. I’d done it. I could feel it. This very moment, Ruth Markham was waking up screaming her head off in a dingy one-room apartment she shared with a girl named Gertrude who worked the perfume counter at Schwab’s drugstore.

  “Who did that?” shrieked the crocodile creature that used to be Sparkling Woman. “Show yourself!”

  I had no plan to do any such thing, but then I saw Ivy still huddled in a heap on the ground.

  I cussed. It was Ruth’s wish I’d used, so it was Ruth I’d magicked. I hadn’t gotten the spell big enough to cover Ivy. She was out good and cold, so she couldn’t wish anything. And here came Jack running across the bridge with Rougarou behind him.

  I fumbled in the nearest toolbox, came up with a hammer, and staggered out the door. I was shaking like a leaf in a high wind, but if Jack could lead a charge, so could I.

  The crocodile woman screamed something, and Rougarou spun around again, but I pushed myself into a tottery run. I had the hammer out in front of me like a bayonet, and I plowed straight into Rougarou’s stomach with all the strength I had left.

  Something went crunch!

  Rougarou flailed around, bellowing. I staggered back. His hair left slime trails all across my skin. The hairy man dove into the lake and vanished beneath a huge cloud of steam and bubbles that came complete with the stink of burning hair and rotten leaves. I got him good, but I didn’t have time to enjoy it. The crocodile woman was still there, and she was standing right beside Ivy.

  “Now who might you two be?” she said. Her voice hadn’t changed a bit. It was still all silky and sophisticated, the kind that should belong to a lady at a cocktail party. Her eyes hadn’t changed either. They stayed big, beautiful, and way too close to human in her crocodile face.

  At her feet, Ivy rolled over. I bit my lip and forced my hands to stop trembling. If I could keep this woman’s attention on me, maybe Ivy would wake up enough to make a new wish. I could already feel Jack wishing she was gone, but I was awfully shaky and he wasn’t concentrating. Not his fault. Rougarou was crawling back out of the lake, his silver eyes shining and his mouth open to show all his sharp white teeth. It was kind of distracting.

  “Come, come, tell me. Who are you?” The fairy woman turned all the power of that beautiful voice toward me. Even looking at her lumpy crocodile face and twisty gray hair, I felt how pretty she was and how much I wanted to do what she said.

  “Who wants to know?” Jack dodged close to me, digging his hand into his pocket. He blanched and I knew the nails were all gone. I’d dropped my hammer back in the grass somewhere. We were facing down the crocodile woman empty-handed.

  “Oh, where are my manners? You can call me Amerda.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Amerda,” I said with what Mama would have called my Sunday manners. I wasn’t about to tell her either of our names. Not only was I kind of famous in fairy circles, but names have power, so you don’t want to go giving yours out to just anybody. “Now you can take yourself out of here.”

  Amerda laughed. “Why would I leave my home?”

  “This ain’t your home.”

  “That’s where you’r
e wrong, little girl. This is my home, and you’re trespassing.”

  “You want to make something of it?” I snapped.

  “Why, yes, I think I do.” Amerda raised her hand.

  Jack was wishing again. He was wishing Rougarou and Amerda were gone, gone for good, shriveled up dead for preference. Now there was a wish I could take a solid hold of. But Ivy picked that moment to push herself upright.

  “Who’re you?” The little movie star blinked up at me. “What’re they doing here?” She blinked again, and this time she got a good look at what “they” were.

  Ivy Bright wailed at the top of her lungs. She grabbed my arm to yank herself to her feet, and almost pulled both of us over in the process. Amerda opened her crocodile mouth and laughed. Ivy clutched my neck and bawled.

  “What is she? What’s she want? Help! Somebody, help! Help!” She was screaming right in my ear now, and my hold on Jack’s wish slipped away.

  One glance at Jack was enough to tell him we’d better have a backup plan. He saw at once what it should be, and so did I. This time we moved together.

  Jack charged again, head down, elbows out. He hit Amerda square in the stomach, and they both toppled to the ground. I grabbed Ivy Bright and dragged her into the farmhouse. Jack jumped to his feet and barreled in after us. He slammed the door, and I kicked over one of the kegs, spilling nails across the threshold. Outside, Amerda howled and cursed.

  “What … what … what …?” Ivy choked out.

  “Shut up!” I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook. “You want to get out of here, don’t you?”

  She sniffled and blinked through the flood of tears. “Y-yes.”

  “Wish,” I told her.

  “What?”

  “Wish! Wish you were home! I can’t do it if you don’t wish!”

  “I wish I was home!” It was shaky and she only kind of meant it, but it might just be enough. I wrapped her and that wish up in her own fear and pushed hard, and she was gone.