Mythe: A Fairy Tale (61 page)

“You know her?” Manda asked, desperate for more information.

“I’ve met her,” Kastl clarified. “She and Richard go way back.”

“Meaning?” Manda prompted, not sure what to make of that comment.

“Meaning that they have a great deal of history. She’s been very fond of Richard for a while and if she’s back I doubt he’ll let her get away again. I expect you’ll be seeing a lot more of her.” He squeezed her shoulder gently. There was sympathy in his voice, along with something else. Excitement? Manda didn’t know what to make of that either.

“Hurry, Kastl,” Manda pleaded in a strained whisper. “Please.”

“Hang in there. We’re closer than we’ve ever been. My team is doing everything they can. Just understand that things may not be the same when this is over, okay?” He squeezed her shoulder once more and then turned and walked away.

As the weeks progressed, Richard and Chelsea were frequently the subject of discussion on television, as well as the Internet. Manda’s anxiety increased with every picture she saw of Chelsea twining herself around Richard, and the more anxious and unhappy she became, the more impatient and short-tempered she was. She didn’t like herself very much when she behaved that way. Lack of sleep just made it all harder. Her nightmares had gotten worse, reflecting her new fears. Now as she was held in the darkness, someone was trying to take Richard away, leading him off into the treacherous darkness away from Manda, toward the monster.

As the snows grew deeper outside, exhaustion and stress began taking a more pronounced toll. Manda was on the verge of tears almost all of the time and she began to isolate herself, staying in her room and only coming out for dinner—Kastl still insisted on that. When she had to be around the others, she closed in on herself even more, keeping her thoughts and emotions closeted tightly away. She lost track of the days, never sure what day of the week it was. After who knows how many weeks of this, Kastl had apparently had enough. He knocked on her bedroom door one morning as she lay in bed trying to avoid another day.

“Manda,” he called when she didn’t answer.

“What?” she answered apathetically.

“Can I come in?” he asked, though his tone promised that he planned to enter no matter what she said. She sighed.

“Sure. Why not.” He strode in before she’d gotten the words completely out.

“You and I need to have a little chat,” he stated flatly, making himself at home in the rocking chair in the corner, as he’d done the first time she’d woken up in this room.

Manda sat up and scooted back so she could lean against the headboard. She pulled the quilt up tightly, and then regarded Kastl with an expression that was as flat as his tone had been.

“This has to stop, Manda,” he said in what could only be called a reprimand. “You’re upsetting my team.”

Manda rubbed her eyes tiredly as another pound of guilt weighed her down even further. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’ll apologize. I try not to take it out on them, but I guess I haven’t been doing a very good job. I’ll try to do better at keeping my problems to myself in the future.”

Kastl snorted in disgust. “That’s not what I meant. That’s the last thing I need. You’re already hiding yourself away so much that you’ve got them all worried about you.
That’s
the problem. It’s not healthy…and they’ve all dedicated a great deal of effort to making sure you
are
safe and healthy. Maybe you can do your part as well?”

Manda bridled. “What do you want from me, Kastl? Sunshine and smiles?”

Kastl arched his eyebrows. “No. Exactly the opposite. A little more of the fire you just aimed at me would be a start.” He leaned toward her, resting his elbows on his knees. “We all know you’re struggling, and no one would mind if you let some of that out. We can take it. So, the first thing I want is for you to stop hiding yourself in this room, away from everything and everyone.”

“The
first
thing?” Manda questioned as she pressed the heal of her hand to her forehead, trying to relieve the constant, dull ache that had settled between her temples.

“The second thing I want,” he continued on cue, “is for you to start taking these sleeping pills.” He tossed a small amber bottle onto her lap. “You’re going to start have psychotic episodes if you don’t get some sleep.”

Manda picked up the bottle of pills and threw it back. “No. I won’t take them.”

“Damn it, Manda! Don’t be stubborn. You need…”

“No!” Manda interrupted angrily. They’d been through this before. The thought of being trapped in one of her nightmares by a drug induced slumber terrified her. She fought against sleep altogether, knowing that as soon as her eyes closed the terror would return. Her stomach churned just thinking about it.

Kastl glared, but pocketed the pills. “Third, I want you to get back to work. You need to do something to keep yourself busy and distract yourself. With any luck, that might even help with the nightmares.”

And keep me from obsessing so much over Richard and Chelsea
, Manda silently read between the lines, but what she said out loud was, “Get back to work doing what? Do you suddenly have some graphic design needs that I’m not aware of? Planning on putting out an educational brochure? ‘Therianthropy and You: An Illustrated Guide.’”

Kastl suppressed a smile. “No. Not at present. I mean a real, outside-world project, not some made-up busy work.”

Manda’s surprise and skepticism must have showed on her face.

“Of course you won’t be able to take credit for it, or accept payment. I thought maybe some pro-bono work. Surely there’s a charity that would benefit from your abilities. Anna could be your go-between if necessary. It would give you something meaningful to do and allow you
some
interaction with someone outside these four walls—assuming of course that you’re careful. And it goes without saying, no interaction at all with anyone who already knows you.”

As soon as Kastl mentioned charity, Manda immediately thought of the Raines Foundation. There was a project... Her forehead crinkled and her eyes narrowed as she concentrated, trying to see the path to what she wanted. Kastl misconstrued her frown, however, and frowned back impatiently.

“Don’t be difficult. You need something to do or you’re going to be miserable and drive everyone else crazy.”

“No, you’re right,” Manda countered with the first spark of enthusiasm she’d shown in months. “It’s a brilliant idea, and I know just what I’d like to do. It’s a project I thought of back in June. I just never had a chance to follow up on it.” She proceeded to outline her idea to Kastl. He was opposed at first, but she was able to talk him around, overcoming his objections with well-reasoned arguments of her own and assurances that she would in no way compromise their secrecy. Eventually he became an ally in her plan, and between the two of them they ironed out the last wrinkles.

Manda would create a promotional video for the Raines Foundation. She’d thought of it while sifting through the videos and still shots of Richard and Josh they’d taken to use for their fundraising concert at Red Rocks. She had been looking for images of the organizations that benefitted from the foundation’s work, but there had been much more material than she could use. She’d been listening to music while she worked and as the version of
Fairy Tale
that Richard had recorded for her played, her mind started pairing different photos and video clips with the lyrics of the song.

On her computer right now Manda had everything she needed to complete the video; it had just seemed pointless to do it if it would never be used. If Kastl would let her send it to Mikey though…

That, of course, had been the stumbling block. Richard, Josh, and Mikey would all recognize the footage and want an explanation of where the video had come from. The solution they came up with was to claim that Manda had completed the project before the baseball game. Kastl agreed to arrange its delivery to Mikey through a lawyer who he knew could be trusted. They could blame legal hold-ups for the delay in delivering it to Mikey.

When they had the details worked out and she’d gotten Kastl’s go ahead, Manda was so eager to begin that she practically shooed him from her room. Within an hour she was showered, dressed, and bent over her computer in the loft, oblivious to everything but the project at hand.

With no deadline to meet and nobody to please but herself, Manda took her time and finessed the project until it coincided with the vision she’d constructed in her mind. It was a luxury she was seldom afforded. She was totally engrossed in her project, working on it during all hours of the day and night. The nightmares still came, and Chelsea and Richard still made headlines, but these torments weren’t quite so overwhelming now that she had something to push them from the forefront of her mind some of the time.

When she first began working on the video, Manda had used the version of
Fairy Tale
that had been released to the public—the one Josh had sung. Then she realized that this was a huge mistake. That version hadn’t been completed until after her “death.” She switched, a little reluctantly, to the only other version she had…the one Richard had recorded for her and only her. She also limited herself to imagery that she already had on her computer. That would keep her from inadvertently purchasing an image or video clip that had been posted after she’d gone into hiding. She still had more than enough to work with. So much, in fact, that only a fraction of it would actually fit on her computer. The majority was housed on an external hard drive.

It took Manda days to sort through the raw content and gather what she wanted to use. It took even longer to assemble and edit it, create and add effects and graphics, and fine tune it until it melded with the music perfectly. When it was finally done, she handed it over to Kastl with both excitement and regret. Regret because it was finished and she would no longer be able to escape into the distraction it offered, and excitement because Richard would see it soon. In a way it was like sending him a reminder not to forget about her.

The days that followed were agonizing as Manda waited for word from Kastl that the final project had been delivered to Mikey. She checked the Raines Foundation Web site repeatedly, half hoping to see the video posted there even before she heard from Kastl. It was a silly hope and she knew it, but she couldn’t help herself.

After several days of suspense, Manda found all of the other cabin dwellers waiting for her in the kitchen when she arrived for her usual morning caffeine scavenging expedition. Anna had broken routine this morning and cooked a large breakfast, and all five agents were waiting for her with broad smiles. Well, four were smiling. Kastl’s expression was more of a faint smirk. Manda’s spirits lifted. Surely they were celebrating the completion and delivery of the project. She thought it was reason for celebration anyway. She hadn’t realized the others would think so too—which of course, they didn’t.

“Happy Birthday!” they all sing-songed in unison, except for Kastl, who grinned at her startled reaction.

“Oh! It’s my birthday? Already?” Manda had so lost track of time that she hadn’t even realized it was February. “Thank you.” She hoped they would attribute her damp eyes to gratitude, but actually she was fighting back tears for another reason. As they had called out their well wishes, she’d been vividly reminded of her last birthday…with Richard. The memory of him standing in her flower-filled and candle-lit dining room in his tuxedo, so breath-takingly handsome, was like a physical blow. She struggled to stay in the here and now, showing appropriate appreciation to her cabin mates.

“I made your favorite,” Anna announced happily. “French toast.”

“Thank you. That’s so sweet,” Manda managed with a fairly convincing smile.

“We didn’t have a chance to wrap our gift,” Joe announced on behalf of himself, Terry, and Leon. (Manda had long-since stopped thinking of them as the Three Stooges.) He pushed a large white shopping bag across the counter
toward her. Inside was a stack of newly released novels and graphic design magazines—things Manda had sorely missed, trapped here as she was.

“Thank you,” Manda responded. The tears she suppressed were beginning to actually have more of real gratitude and less of sadness about them.

Without a word, Kastl held out a plain white legal-sized envelope to Manda. She took it from him with a questioning look, to which he just smirked again. She tore it open and pulled out the folded sheet of thick white paper. As she unfolded it he explained.

“That’s a copy of the letter that was delivered to Mikey yesterday with the video. I won’t even tell you what a nightmare it was arranging it so our tracks would be covered. Happy Birthday, Manda.”

Manda could have shouted. At least Richard would have this fresh reminder of her on her birthday. Maybe he too would think about their first Valentine’s Day, just as she was. She hugged Kastl tightly, startling him so that he stiffened momentarily before loosening up and hugging her in return.

“Thank you, Alec,” she whispered, not even realizing that she’d used his given name for the first time.

“You’re welcome,” he replied simply, and then stepped away. “Let’s eat.”

Chapter 44

M
anda wasn’t sure exactly what to expect after the video was in Richard’s hands, but she did expect
something
. So, she was frustrated when nothing happened. Nothing at all. It didn’t appear on the foundation’s Web site—or anywhere else for that matter—and nothing changed with Chelsea. Manda wasn’t sure why she’d thought anything would change there, but for some irrational reason she had.