River: A Novel (35 page)

 The audience
disappeared. Elodie didn’t exist anymore. I had no name. I was the music, the
movement. My feet were not feet, but the things that moved to sound in such a
fluid way… they didn’t seem human. My arms were a composition signing the most
beautiful notes. The air felt thick against my weightlessness, each step
lightening quick when it needed to be, but also supple and stretched through
time within the brief seconds of adagio. My face wasn’t mine; it was the
bridge, pulling the rest together with complete synchronicity. I wasn’t the
marionette; I was the puppeteer persuading the music to change, pushing the
notes and lengthening the harmony to fit my movement. While holding the scale,
I executed an arabesque so tall and perfect that my eyes began to tear with
joy. Even my feet brushing against the wooden floor sounded deftly timed.

 Every
molecule in my bones pulsed. My entire body ignited as I spun across the stage
that was my only life. Singing with the letting go, each muscle sparked
throughout my being as if charged with electricity. There was no fear as the
smallest place in my mind pushed the override button on my body, giving it
permission to be free. I was in a complete state of euphoria.

 With a huge
smile, pirouettes flung from my legs in perfect circles, the muscle memory in
complete unity. I was a weapon, destroying anything dreadful and negative about
the world.  There was nothing but pure bliss in this absolute moment. There
could never be an end. For the indefinite future, I was this malleable object
moved by sound; captured beauty spinning in a tiny universe. The only universe.
It was so clear that this would never end.

 A soaring grand
jeté later, I flipped open the fan that had come back into my fingers after a
toss and leap combination that would have broken a rhythmic gymnast’s heart, and
then the arrangement began to fade. Rolled over by gravity, I surrendered to an
unstoppable force. No longer buoyant, I melted into the floor, a puddle of tulle.
My feet were the first to go, sinking into the wood like rain, followed by the
rest of me. I gasped with lungs that ached from the effort they had just
exerted, my head falling as if it were an anchor to my knee. The auditorium was
silent as I came back to myself; equally thrilled and exhausted as my thoughts
became coherent. I wondered how much of the performance had been due to Dan’s
music, and how much of it was me, or if it had been me at all. I wondered if
River Elodie was real, and I was just delusional. It was then that I remembered
there were others present.

 My neck was
weak and my head heavy as I peeked toward the bright lights. All I saw was
glaring spotlight splintering the silhouettes of the audience. Before I could
will my spent heart to beat with panic, applause erupted. While wishing Danny’s
strange musical magic would enrapture me again, I prepared to stand elegantly… until
an unlikely sound interrupted the atmosphere.

 “Bravo!” A
loud voice overlapped the clapping in the theater. “Bravo,
Elodie
!” I
stiffened, still in my pose on the floor. This person knew… me. My numb legs
stood with a jolt. The rest of the applause collectively trickled down with the
dawning realization of a Speaker committing an out of the ordinary faux-pas. A
lone clap pounded slowly as the echoes receded into the dark wings of the
stage. The effect multiplied the sound, turning it into an assault, making me
want to cover my ears.

 I hesitated
and curtsied abruptly, hoping to stop the obnoxious tick-tock clap. “Encore!” The
Speaker yelled, ramping up his volume. When furtively searching for a clue as
to what was happening, I spotted Dan behind a dark curtain, but he wasn’t
looking at me. With fisted hands at his sides, his stare was focused into one
of the elite boxes above stage left. I followed the communal gaze to the upper
seats. A man with blonde hair was standing amongst others. His hands still
clapped a steady rhythm, unnerving and arrogant. Heart thumping with fear, I edged
out of the spotlight to see what was going on a little better. My vision was
blurry without my glasses, but he appeared to be smirking. Every person in the
audience was turned toward the Speaker as if he were holding royal court, apart
from one. I found Asher’s eyes on me. He was off to the side with Gwen and
Colin, near an exit door.

 Gwen held
Colin close to her, hands upon his shoulders. They both looked upward toward
the man who still stood, though his condescending applause had stopped. Asher’s
face was the only thing I could see clearly. His eyes never left mine as he
shook his head slowly from side to side, mouth in a rigid line. Squaring my
shoulders, I attempted to appear confident and unafraid. I formed something
resembling a smile while his brow furrowed, wondering what I was up to.

 Taking my
eyes off Asher reluctantly, I faced the Speaker and gave a deep curtsey, trying
not to visibly shake. When I looked back up at him, his blurred grin had turned
wicked. My hands were ice-cold and clammy when I clasp them in front of me. 

 “That was
something, wasn’t it people?” He boomed and began clapping again. The audience
followed, nodding in appreciation. “Want to see more?” He asked the crowd while
displaying his thickly muscled arms out like a ring master.

 As he
engaged the audience, I quickly glanced back toward the doorway where Asher and
Gwen had stood. They were gone. I was betting this was not good. The Speaker’s
box was now empty, so I frantically pivoted to face Dan. His hands were folded
in front of his mouth in a double fist.
Definitely not good
. 

 “Daniel!” The
Speaker boomed. At the same time he hopped onto the stage. I stepped back
automatically, terrified. His crew followed, punching each other in the arm and
laughing, some with volume, some without. By only raising his hand, he stopped
them at the stage steps. His hooded eyes scrutinized me as he licked his lips. I
fought the urge to step back again and turned my head slightly toward Danny, frozen
in the wings. His eyes closed when the man spoke, as if trying to stay calm. “Play
that one number from the Autumn Ball.” The man smirked. Not taking his stare
from me, he commanded in a low voice, “I want to dance with Elodie.” My heart
sank. This was not good at all.

 Danny
dropped his hands from his face apprehensively, and I hoped he didn’t give
anything away by looking at me with the same alarm that I felt. The Speaker
towered over me then. I held my breath while he leered and cocked his head. Turning
back to the audience, he seized my hand and roughly pulled me toward him. “Would
you all like to see us dance?” He asked the populace, clearly a rhetorical
question. The people began to clap again, though waveringly. This man was going
to do what he wanted regardless, so they could only agree with him. I began to
feel shaky and lightheaded as he swung me into a stiff ballroom dance hold.

 “Ready for
a lesson?” He growled, conceit seeping out of his tone.

 Nausea
gripped me as the music began, and I briefly hoped it was packed with Lull. Maybe
Dan had had enough time to dose the song. My skin crawled when the Speaker’s hand
raked my lower back before settling tightly on my waist. This wasn’t the
composition Dan had planned to play to lull the Speakers, and I wondered if the
rebellion was void now. The antidote had been given to muted citizens earlier. Maybe
the Caravs could come up with something while the Speakers were distracted with
this one’s little creep show.

 “Elodie, you
don’t look like you’re having any fun,” he said to me with a pout. I tried to
smile at him, but I knew my fear only made me look ill. He flashed a big, white
sneer.

 “Dip her
Mace!” A Speaker shouted to zealous hooting and stomping from the rest of his gang.
Gravity stalled, and I felt myself dead drop to within an inch of the floor. My
stomach flipped as the sickening realization hit me. Mace. This was the man who
had killed Gwen’s love and Asher’s father. He had most likely killed and maimed
countless others; he may have been Petra’s torturer. Mace gave an air of unabashed
authority when he threw his arm out to take a bow. I stumbled as he twirled me
in and out of his arms for the waiting crowd. With only a faint glimmer of hope,
I spotted Dan in one of the dizzying spins. Would he come up with a plan? As
the hellish dance wore on, I began praying that he would activate the Lulling
music as soon as he could.

 Finally,
finally, the tune ended. I silently begged the universe that this hulking semi-human,
for he was really too evil to call a man, would become bored enough to let me
go. We had to have been dancing for at least fifteen minutes to the cat calls
and comments of his friends, and the dwindling applause of the Mute prisoners. My
sick stomach had not abated, now joined by a throbbing headache from being thrown
around the stage. The exultation I’d reveled in when dancing before had now
turned into a dim memory. All I wanted to do was get as far away from this man as
quickly as possible.

 “Give a
bow, Elodie. The people
love
you.” 

 Automatically
shirking away from the brutal look on his face, I did what he said. The
audience clapped once again.

 “Now, I
have a little announcement to make,” he said while the crushing hold on my hand
grew in intensity. “As you know, it is a great honor and privilege to be
invited to the Domain. And I have some good news!” He exclaimed with exaggerated
enthusiasm. “I have invited Elodie VonCambridge to be my personal entertainer,
and she has gleefully accepted!”

 When the
applause became vigorous, my shoulders slumped as if I’d just been punched in
the gut. There was no getting out of this. Dan couldn’t come up with a magic
composition to end the horror show. This was it for me. I stared out at the
audience, unseeing, unable to act anything other than numb. Feeling the flame
inside of me being snuffed out, I couldn’t breathe, suffocating in shock. I was
sure this was how it felt to be buried alive.

 Mace’s hand
squeezed mine hard while he yanked me toward him, painfully reminding me of the
present torture. “Give the people another curtsey, Elodie. Show them how
grateful
you are for this prize.” I swallowed and faced the audience. My numb leg swept underneath
me on its own. It didn’t matter; I was just the trophy to take home after
winning the game.

 “Now, now,
we are going to have a lot of fun. Give me a smile.” Mace jerked my chin to him
in a way that looked tender though really pinched, and I grimaced, surly
appearing as sick as I felt. “Good.” He circled my wrists. “Now go freshen up
and get whatever things from your dressing room you may need for a nice long
visit with me. Sorry, but I simply cannot wait for you to go to your place to
get anything else. I’m just too excited for the
entertainment
.” He
extended our hands out slowly and let go. My limp arms fell as if they weren’t
attached to the rest of me. “Don’t worry. My boys here will escort you there
and back to the tram.” His grin faded as he whispered, “See you in a few.” Bounding
down the steps, he laughed in sinister tones until it was only a nightmarish
echo.

 Swaying on
my feet, I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. Before I could think,
two men had me by the arms and were spinning me in the direction of backstage. Nanette
came running toward me, excited. She replaced my glasses before giving me a
little pat on the cheek. I tried to plead with my eyes for her to get me out of
this, but she was too busy doing a victory dance. I swallowed hard and glanced
wildly around, looking for help. I saw Dan then. His arms were folded across
his chest as he stared at me, not blinking. He jumped when Mace yelled for him.

 “Daniel! I
will need some of your special compositions for my little soirée tonight—
now
,
boy.” I flinched at the derogatory way he bellowed to Danny. Mace looked a year
or two younger, yet was three times Dan’s size. Besides, Dan was all brains. He
couldn’t fist fight in any world. I wondered briefly what Mace had meant about
the compositions, but had to move my feet or be dragged away.

..................

Mace’s henchmen closed the door on my
dressing room just before I collapsed to the floor. What the hell was I going
to do? I couldn’t run. I couldn’t hope for anyone to get me out of this. I
stared at my hands clutching the tulle draped across my legs and wished again
that Dan would suddenly appear with a brilliant solution.

 A light
knock broke me out of the shocked daze.
Danny
. I jumped up, fumbled with
the knob, and opened the door to Marcus and Valeria VonCambridge. I stood in
the entrance until they’d walked through, and then made sure Danny wasn’t
behind them before clicking the door shut in the smug face of a minion. Marcus
carried a bouquet of rigid flowers. When he shuffled closer to me, I could see
that the roses weren’t real. 

 Valeria took
me by the shoulders and smiled. It was only when she dabbed the make-up from my
eyes that I realized I had cried at some point in the last twenty minutes. I
returned her smile feebly.

 
You danced beautifully,
Elodie. We are so proud of you
.

 Marcus
grinned, bright white teeth replacing a worried furrow in his brow.
Beautiful,
he signed with one hand, placing the
roses into my arms with the other.

 
Thank you
,
I replied to the strangers who could
have been my only blood relatives, hugging the red silk roses. They were
covered in rose perfume, and I had to stifle a cough. Without knowing at all
what to do, I just stood there gracelessly, frozen in disbelief. This night had
begun with the promise of a rebellion and was now ending with me carted off to
the Domain to become some kind of concubine for a sociopath. I sniffed the fake
rose smell again and tried not to panic, though I was already there.