When Stars Are Bright

by Amber R. Duell

  I’m too dazed to do anything but allow her to lead me down different streets. The crowd follows. A few break off at a time, and the last man is only thwarted when Jackie shoves our way into a small café on a corner. When he walks past the window, bewildered, we both breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Jackie?” I turn toward her, clutching the fliers I still carry against my chest. “What’s the best way to book passage on a ship?”

  She tucks her hair back into place while studying the people on the street. “I imagine going straight to the ticket office.”

  Which shouldn’t be too hard to find.

  “Are you okay?”

  I nod. “Just a little shaken up, I suppose.”

  “We should make tracks before anyone else notices. Here—” She unpins her hat and sets it on my head. “Let’s shake a leg.”

  “I’m starved,” Jackie groans. Her arm links around mine as we head back to the boarding house hours later. “They better save us some dinner. Mitch says there’s been nothing left when Nik gets back late. Poor fella must be wasting away.”

  I inhale to speak, then let the breath out. She might know what Nik’s been doing, but I can’t bring myself to ask. He kept her secret so it’s not right to ask her to tell his. “They might save some for you,” I say. “They probably think Chamberlain is feeding me caviar on a silver spoon tonight.”

  “Gross.” She laughs, and I join her.

  Later, when we get to the porch, I step away. “I’ll wait here for a few minutes in case Theresa’s still awake.”

  Jackie sighs, but doesn’t argue. “It was nice spending time with you today.”

  “You, too.”

  “I’m sorry you had a scare. Symric magic is no joke, huh?” She tries her best to sound cavalier. According to Nik, her magic is common, though I disagree. The ability to manipulate light to create the splashes of color beneath the dancers’ feet is remarkable. “See you tomorrow.”

  I give her a small wave. “Goodnight.”

  She disappears into the house, and I lean against the siding, rubbing my eyes. I’ll sleep like a log tonight. Maybe. Doubtfully. I’d like to. First, I have to figure out a way to booby trap my room. I don’t know why I didn’t think to do it before. Walter can come back at any time, and now there’s Chamberlain to watch out for. I can’t venture to guess what he’s capable of.

  Maybe I should try calling someone else tomorrow if the phone is back at the theater. Someone can get word to my mother and—the phone. I leap away from the wall. Augustine doesn’t know I know the boarding house has one and she’ll never have to.

  Everyone should be asleep by now, except Jackie, and I’m sure she won’t tell if I use it. I inch the screen door open, slip inside, and tiptoe down the hall. I’ve never used the side door next to the kitchen, so I figure the alcove must be there since I haven’t seen it before. Something creaks near the staircase and I pause to listen. When it doesn’t happen again, I resume creeping through the house.

  I slide into a tiny nook and stare at the device sitting on a round table. Never having made a call before, I lift the receiver and hold it to my ear. “Hello?” I whisper at the telephone. Nothing. How do I work this thing? Nik made it look so easy.

  The screen door creaks open and I freeze. It’s Walter or Chamberlain; it has to be.

  I peek out of the alcove and shrink back as a shadowy figure steps off the porch. He’s not overweight like Walter, or frail like Chamberlain. I squint through the dim hall. Nik? He’s leaving early tonight.

  “What are you doing?” I murmur to myself.

  Before I can talk myself out of it, I put the phone down and hurry after him.

  The heavy tarp covering the back of the slatted truck turns the bed into an oven. I huddle against the cab in a pool of sweat without any idea where we’re going or how long Nik’s been driving. He’s up to something and, while it’s none of my business, I want to know what’s going on. I won’t pretend it’s right to follow him but I don’t regret sneaking back here. I should, but I don’t.

  Curiosity kills the cat.

  I hold my breath as the truck rolls to a stop and press myself as far back as possible. Now what? I can’t just wait here where nothing is visible. This whole thing will be a waste of time if I get out too early and he sees me, but if I get out too late, I won’t see which direction he went. I roll onto my stomach and inch to the side of the bed. Poking my fingers around the edge of the tarp, I create a peephole. Trees. Lots of trees and the corner of a building but nothing identifying.

  “Hey.” A man’s voice comes from a few feet away, and I duck back down. My heart pounds, thinking I’ve been caught. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine,” Nik answers in a tight voice.

  Gravel crunches right beside the truck and I drop lower.

  “You all right with two stops tonight? My other driver bailed.”

  “Why?” I hear the hesitation in his voice.

  “There’s been some trouble on the other side of town. Prohis raided a couple joints.” A soft chorus of chinking glass mixes with the man’s rough voice. “Nothing to worry about. These are staying local.”

  Feet shuffle around to the back of the truck and my heart slams against my ribcage. Nik can’t see me back here, but more importantly, the other man can’t. Whatever this is about, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to know. Nik’s business is his business and I don’t have any right snooping around. Nothing good can come from meetings after dark, especially ones that mention trouble and nothing to worry about.

  “Maybe we should lay low for a few nights,” Nik says. “Let the heat die down.”

  The man laughs. “Scared?”

  “Cautious. I’m not keen to find myself in the big house.”

  “Relax.” He taps on the side of the truck. “Open her up. I’ll grab the other cases, and we’ll get you loaded.”

  A set of feet crunch away from the truck, giving me what might be my only chance. Nik may be mad but he won’t hurt me. I don’t know anything about the other man. I scuffle down to the end of the bed. “Nik,” I whisper. The tarp freezes mid-roll. “Nik, wait. I’m in here.”

  He peers in at me with wide eyes. “Lina?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you doing?” he asks in a hushed voice. “How did you even… Have you lost your mind?”

  “Yes.” I swallow a lump in my throat. I absolutely have.

  He looks over his shoulder. “Get back as far as you can. Don’t make a sound, whatever you hear.”

  I scurry against the cab again and a gust of fresh air rolls over me as Nik opens the far end. A wooden crate lands with a thud, making the truck bob, and he shoves it against my side. Then another and another. There’s barely enough space left for me to breathe. The corners dig into my skin, scratching at my stockings, but I don’t move a muscle.

  Boots crunch toward the truck again. “Six go to the usual stop,” the man says. The truck bounces when more weight is thrown on. “The rest go here.” Papers rustle. “The password tonight is prom-trotter. Ask for Tony.”

  “Got it.” Nik pulls the tarp back in place and ties it down.

  Locked in a tight, dark place, unable to move, my heart threatens to go into cardiac arrest and I pinch my eyes shut. This isn’t the trunk. Walter isn’t anywhere near me. Nik’s driving and I’m here for my own safety. This is a truck, not a ship, not a trunk. It’s not. Everything will be okay. It is okay. There are no locks and no drugs. This isn’t the same. Nik’s not Walter.

  The tarp lifts above me and I wince. Nik stands on the rear tire well, looking down at me with fire in his eyes. I hadn’t even felt the truck move.

  “Mind telling me why you’re hiding back here?” he asks.

  I can’t answer. My vocal cords refuse to cooperate. He reaches down to help me climb out from my slice of space. We’re parked on the side of an empty stretch of road. The air is much cooler out from under the tarp and my teeth chatter. Nerves might play a part i
n it, too. The second my feet hit the ground, Nik lets go and hurries to cover the crates again. See. It’s okay. I’m fine.

  Nik turns to me, pulling the newsboy cap off his head, and runs a hand through his hair. “I thought you wanted to go home. Not an early grave.”

  “I—”

  “We can’t stay here,” Nik says as he climbs behind the wheel.

  I hurry in the passenger seat. “What is all this?”

  “I need a minute,” he says carefully. “I’m trying very hard not to be angry.”

  I bite down on my bottom lip. “I’m sorry. You said we would talk then you got me to a phone and started ignoring me again. I just want answers.”

  “He would’ve bumped us off, you know.” His voice is raw. “He handpicks his bootleggers and if he thought I was trying to sneak you in his barrel house, we’d both be goners.”

  “What is it? In the crates.”

  “What...?” Nik glances over me with a mixture of anger and confusion. “Hooch. What else would it be?”

  “Hooch?”

  He heaves an exasperated sigh. “Alcohol.”

  “Alcohol?” I blink rapidly. “Isn’t that illegal?”

  His chest jerks with a quick exhale. “Lina, if it were legal I wouldn’t be smuggling it around in the middle of the night.”

  “But why would you be chosen for that?” A pianist in a vaudeville show isn’t exactly prime outlaw material.

  “Lord.” He rubs his face and groans. “There’s so much you don’t know. I want to tell you but they watch me like a hawk.”

  “No one’s watching now,” I say.

  “No, but I’m dropping you off at the edge of town. I can’t take this stuff anywhere near the boarding house.”

  “Just take me with you. You can explain everything on the way.”

  He shakes his head. “I’m not going to be responsible for getting you arrested. You have a mother to get home to.”

  I shrug and look out the side window. He’s right though—I can’t go to jail. “Why were you arguing with Augustine after our first show?”

  “Lina.” His hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Tomorrow, okay? If I say anything, I’ll have to say everything and there’s no time. I hoped you’d be gone before you had to worry about it, or at least, I’d be in a better place to help you but… tomorrow.”

  “A better place than what? The boarding house? Vaudeville?” I twist to face him and point at the crates. “Better than doing this?”

  He rubs his face again. “You don’t give up do you?”

  “My mother says I’ll squeeze water from a stone someday.” It doesn’t feel true now. I’ve been living in a corner for weeks. “I don’t feel like me anymore,” I say quietly. “It’s like I’m living behind a glass wall and I can’t break through.”

  Nik rubs his chin. “You’ve been through a lot. You can’t expect everything to just fall back in place.”

  I don’t things to go back to normal, not right away, but I thought once I was safe, it would get better. I’m not feeling particularly safe though. Augustine and Chamberlain expect me to be grateful, and I am, but not so grateful I’m willing to give up the last bits of myself, as tattered as they are. Between Walter, the troupe, and now Christian, my mother will be lucky to get back a lucid daughter.

  “It’s hard to stay positive when I’m by myself. No one talks to me.” I hold back a groan. Even I hear the desperation in my voice. I’m not this person. “Actually, I left Chamberlain today and spent time handing out fliers with Jackie. It helped but tomorrow things will go back to the way they always are.”

  Nik pulls the truck over to the side of the road, the first row of houses a few yards away. “Tomorrow, okay?”

  I look out the window at the dark streets and have no idea where the boarding house is amongst them. Fear gnaws at the back of my brain. Dark. It’s so dark. Things hide in the dark. Things like Walter.

  “Go straight until you get to the white house with ivy growing up the porch. Turn left and keep going until you see the boarding house. It will take about twenty minutes. Don’t talk to anyone and walk as fast as you can without looking suspicious.”

  “Nik.” My voice catches. Admitting I’m afraid of the dark is harder than I thought.

  “It’s relatively safe—safer than coming with me at any rate.”

  Relatively. Great. If I don’t go, he’ll sit here all night before he takes me with him. We haven’t known each other long but there’s no questioning his solid determination.

  “Tomorrow?” I ask.

  “I promise.” He reaches across the truck and shoves the door open.“Go back and get some sleep.”

  I barely remember what sleep is anymore. For me, it’s lying down inside a torture chamber and waiting for the pain to start. Sometimes it doesn’t even wait until my eyes are closed to send the nightmares. Shadows crawl out of dark corners, inching along the room, leaving me curled into a ball, weeping. If those few hours when exhaustion wins count as sleep, I’ll get right on it.

  “Be careful,” I say, slipping out of the truck.

  He nods. “You too.”

  I wait until the red glow of the tail lights disappear before moving. Part of me can’t believe he left, and another part is glad he did. If the people getting the deliveries are as bad as he claims the supplier is, he’s doing me a favor.

  The clicking of my heels against the sidewalk echoes around me. In all the time staring out my window, I never realized just how quiet the neighborhood is at night. I hug myself and inhale the warm breeze as it kisses my skin, letting it carry away my fears.

  The ivy-covered porch comes up at the end of the block and I turn down the next street. Halfway there. Movement flickers in my peripheral vision. It was large enough to be a person and came from the road I just turned off. I freeze but the street behind me is still.

  I turn my back to the corner and shiver. I’m not wrong. Someone’s there; I feel them watching me. I know I’ve thought it a thousand times, starting when Christian dropped me off after the dance, but I was right then. Walter was there. I walk faster, listening hard for footsteps behind me. Relatively safe. The shadow could’ve been someone that lives in one of the houses. Maybe they’re watching me through a window to make sure I’m not up to anything. I should be out of sight by now though.

  A tree creaks in the yard to my left. Forget trying not to look suspicious. I break into a run and don’t stop until I’m on the porch of the boarding house. I swing open the door and leap inside. My lungs burn with each breath as I peek out of the sitting room window. Nothing moves save the gentle sway of branches. I wipe the sweat from my forehead with a shaky hand and back toward the staircase. I’m really losing it. If I wasn’t destined for an asylum before, I will be soon if things keep going the way they are.

  Better an asylum than dead.

  I scramble up the stairs to my room and pull the dress boxes from beneath the bed, eyeing the ratty carpet bag hidden behind them. The day after tomorrow. That’s when I’ll leave. After I talk to Nik, I’ll ask him where the ticket office is and make a break for it. Digging out the twine that was tied around the brown paper boxes, I kneel in the middle of the floor and knot the short pieces together to make a rope.

  “Oomph.”

  My bed shakes as something heavy hits the floor. I bolt up, adrenaline surging, and swallow a scream.

  “It’s just me,” Nik grunts from the floor.

  “You scared me to death.” I blow out a breath and slump against the wall. My pulse isn’t ready to settle down, still convinced I caught danger in my trap. At least I know it works. “What are you doing in here?”

  He sits up, rubbing the side of his head. “Inspecting the floorboards. As one does.”

  “Sorry.” I lean over and pick at the twine tied to the leg of the bed. It was a challenge to figure out what to attach the other end to. There was only enough to reach straight across so I had to drag the table away from the window.

  “
Is that a trip wire?” His voice is higher than usual.

  “No.” I huff because it clearly is. “Fine. Yes.”

  He laughs and mumbles something in another language. Whatever it means, he’s obviously amused.

  “They don’t lock the door downstairs. Anyone could come in.” I drop the twine and cross my arms, heat flooding my cheeks. “I would’ve warned you if I knew you were going to barge in here at the crack of dawn.”

  “The lock’s broken, and it’s a safe neighborhood.” He stands and brushes himself off. “I am curious though. What were you planning to do if I were someone else?”

  I scowl at him. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Jump over them before they could stand back up, probably. At least I wouldn’t be caught unaware.

  “Okay, okay.” He presses his lips together but I see the smile fighting to be free. “Come on.”

  “What?” I squint out the window. Rehearsals don’t start until noon today. Judging by the pale light outside, it’s barely six.

  Nik looks down at his shoes. “I promised you answers so get dressed and meet me downstairs.”

  I groan and fall back on the mattress. Sleep is an elusive creature, but I desperately want to know what he has to say so I push the blankets off and swing my feet to the floor. The grin he gives me before leaving sends a fluttering to my stomach.

  The last time I felt anything similar was with Christian, and he’s thousands of miles away, probably dazzling fellow socialites and planning his wedding to Cornelia Jonckheer. I exhale and shake the thoughts from my head.

  Besides, I want to know what’s going on here and there’s only one way to do that: focus. I throw on the blue dress and spend a few minutes making myself presentable before going down to meet Nik.

  He waits for me at the foot of the stairs with a large wicker basket in his hand. “What’s that?” I ask.

  He holds a finger to his lips to silence me and motions me outside. “Augustine’s been into the absinthe again.” A loud, crackling laugh streams from the dining room and we both stifle a chuckle “She thinks she’s the only one awake,” Nik whispers. “We’ve got until dinner before she notices we’re gone. That stuff knocks her out for hours.”