Mythe: A Fairy Tale (62 page)

After two weeks without any indication that her video even existed, the flame of interest and enthusiasm that the project had ignited in Manda was guttering. It was extinguished completely when a fresh wave of speculation about Richard and Chelsea surfaced.

With her spirits already low, Manda began her customary Internet search, expecting the usual photos of Richard and Chelsea and reports on where they had been and what they had been doing. Manda usually drew hope from Richard’s expressions and body language in these photos. He always looked tense and sad, and often a little angry, and he was never looking at Chelsea. Also, though Chelsea was often touching Richard, holding onto his arm or draping herself around him in various ways, Richard never reciprocated.
He
never touched
her
.

Manda had fixated on those details. She’d even looked back at the photos of herself and Richard to compare and he had almost always had his arm around her, or held her hand, or in some other way connected himself to her. He’d also
looked
at her often, with looks that still gave her butterflies. The contrasts between these pictures and the ones with Chelsea were glaring, and it gave Manda hope that maybe Richard and Chelsea’s relationship was purely one-sided. The latest pictures and reports strained this hope however.

“Are wedding bells in the future?” one headline asked, and other stories continued the theme. Amidst a fresh batch of pictures featuring Richard with his arm wrapped possessively around Chelsea or their hands entwined were reports that Chelsea had been spotted browsing through posh bridal boutiques and ring-shopping at exclusive jewelers. Speculation was that a proposal either already had or would soon be made.

And yet Richard still looked miserable, and even tenser than before. Chelsea wasn’t making him happy. If he married her, would the rest of his life be just as miserable? If it was, would it all be Manda’s fault? She considered calling off her deal with Kastl and running straight to Richard to stop him from…from what? Manda wasn’t thinking clearly. What if he truly did love Chelsea? Maybe the reason he looked so tense and miserable was because he was worried about her safety? After what had happened to Manda he must be frantic with worry for Chelsea. No. Manda had to carry through with this. Even if she lost Richard, at least she could help make Chelsea safe and finally allow Richard to have some peace and happiness.

With her last strand of hope fraying, Manda clung to that one last, thin thread and waited. The nightmares however got worse, and as sleep became even rarer and exhaustion more extreme, the thread stretched to the breaking point.

By the first day of spring, Manda was lucky if she got two or three hours of sleep a night and those were not restful. She suspected that Kastl had resorted to slipping the sleeping pills into her food just to make her sleep even that small amount. The dreams she had during those few hours were particularly vivid and terrifying and often seemed more real to her than the waking world.

She knew she was a mess but she had no idea what to do about it. A few times when she came down to dinner she had been sure that everyone had been talking about her right before she entered the room. She was willing to concede that it could just have been paranoia on her part though. Everything seemed to be falling apart around her. The logical part of her mind told her that this was just the sleep deprivation’s affect on her, and that with a few solid nights of rest things would look better. Unfortunately, sleep and Manda were not on friendly speaking terms these days.

Kastl made no secret of his concern for her. When she informed him that she wasn’t interested in working on another project, he took away her computer.

“If you’re not going to use it for anything useful, I’m certainly not going to let you torture yourself with it,” he told her severely. “Read a book instead.”

He’d also expressed his disapproval when she began to hide away in her bedroom again. She listened when he ordered her to stop and then promptly ignored him. She even tried skipping dinner once, only to discover that Kastl’s forbearance didn’t stretch quite that far. He’d tossed her over his shoulder and carried her to the table. He
wasn’t as tall or broad-shouldered as Richard or Josh, but he was a shapeshifter, and therefore just as strong as they were. Manda hadn’t even bothered to struggle. She also hadn’t tried to skip dinner again.

On another evening, Manda came down for dinner a little early and heard Kastl and Leon talking in the room they used as a lab. Dinner wasn’t quite ready yet, and she hadn’t visited Leon’s lab animals lately, so she drifted in that direction. She stopped before she reached the door when she realized the two men were arguing.

“You need to put an end to this now,” Leon snapped. “She’s not going to make it much longer without serious consequences. She needs help that we can’t give her.”

“I know she needs a professional. Thanks for stating the obvious. But the only one qualified is Mikey and he’s not exactly available, is he?” Manda could hear the anger in Kastl’s voice.

“When I say put an end to this, I mean this whole thing,” Leon clarified. “Send her home where Mikey
can
help her. I don’t think she can hold out for the full year. Hell, she never sleeps! I’m surprised she isn’t having hallucinations.”

“I know, I know,” Kastl muttered. “I’ve been thinking of pulling Mikey away from Richard and Josh and bringing him here. They’re so close though. This might be our only chance and I don’t want to disrupt that. I don’t think…” Kastl stopped in midsentence and growled. “Manda, quit eavesdropping and go help Anna with dinner if you don’t have anything better to do.” Manda had fled to the kitchen but hadn’t been able to erase the conversation from her thoughts.

A few days later, Manda was laying in bed thinking about that conversation as snow swirled outside her window. The calendar might say it was spring, but March was usually one of the snowiest months in Colorado. Winter didn’t seem to want to relinquish its hold anytime soon.

It was well into the afternoon, but she hadn’t felt like leaving the warmth and solitude of her bed. Kastl might glare at her for being a hermit, but as long as she showed up for dinner he wouldn’t say anything.

Manda was trying to get as much rest as she could without actually sleeping soundly enough to dream. She didn’t want to face the nightmares, but she didn’t want Kastl to decide he had to bring Mikey to the cabin either. From the conversation she’d overheard, Manda surmised that Mikey must have some type of psychology training…probably the only mental health professional available to therianthropes and those who had been attacked by therianthropes. It was a fairly exclusive clientele. She supposed his case-load probably wasn’t heavy.

If they were really close to catching her attacker, Manda didn’t want to do anything to interfere with that. If she started hallucinating pink elephants and giant rabbits she would keep her mouth shut rather than give Kastl reason to call Mikey or send her home.

A tap on the door disrupted her train of thought.

“Who?” she called, knowing it would be either Anna or Kastl.

“Kastl,” was the clipped reply.

Manda glanced at the clock to be sure she wasn’t late for dinner, but she still had half an hour.

“It’s not time yet. I promise I’ll be there on time. Now go away and let me sleep.”

Ignoring her orders to go away, Kastl came in anyway.

“There’s been a change of plans,” he announced, standing at the foot of her bed with his arms crossed. “Get up and get dressed. We’re going out. I’ll buy you dinner when we get there.”

Manda’s heart sank and she desperately tried to dissuade him. “You don’t have to do this. I’m trying to sleep. I’ll be fine. We’ve come too far to quit now. I’ll take the sleeping pills. I’ll yell at everyone. I’ll cry on your shoulder if that’s what you want, but we have to finish this. Please?”

Kastl shook his head. “It is finished. It’s time for you to go home.” He said this sternly, but then his face was transformed by a rare smile. “They caught them this morning. You’re safe now. So, get up and get ready for the ball, Cinderella. I’m taking you to a concert.”

“They caught them?” Manda repeated dumbly. “Really? You’re serious? I can go home?” Kastl nodded his confirmation.

“Tonight’s their Denver concert!” she exclaimed with dawning realization. She had Rain’s tour schedule memorized; she just hadn’t known today’s date. The concert would be starting in a few hours and she had no idea exactly where the cabin was and therefore no idea how long it would take them to get to Denver. She’d better hurry. She kicked off the quilt and stood up. The motion was too quick and she swayed slightly with momentary vertigo, holding onto the bedpost until the lightheadedness passed.

Kastl’s lips compressed and his eyes narrowed with displeasure. “I should have threatened to send you home before if that’s all it would have taken to make you cooperate. Then maybe you wouldn’t be in the shape you’re in now. Get dressed. Make yourself as gorgeous as you can in one hour. I’m bringing you back to Richard a little worse for wear, but maybe he won’t hold it against me if you can dazzle him sufficiently.”

Manda wondered if she was supposed to be trying to outshine Chelsea, because that seemed like a losing battle going in.

“Do you think it will matter?” she asked, recalling his warning about things being different.

“I don’t know,” he answered bluntly, “but we’ll find out tonight. Now, get dressed and pack an overnight bag.”

The sun had set by the time Kastl guided the black Jeep down the cabin’s long, winding gravel drive. It was too dark outside for Manda to see much beyond the headlight-illuminated road and her own dim reflection on the side window, so it wasn’t until they were entering Fort Collins that she was able to place their location. She knew she’d never be able to find her way back to the cabin. She still had only the vaguest idea where it was. Manda had made the drive between Fort Collins and Denver hundreds of times though, and could practically drive it with her eyes closed. She should be excited to be in familiar territory and heading home, but she wasn’t. Instead she felt…still. It was a feeling of stasis, of waiting, but with no idea what she was waiting for. There was no anticipation associated with the feeling, or even expectation, just a blankness that made her want to hold her breath. She balanced on a fine edge between hope and fear. Excitement and dread had struggled against each other and ended in a stalemate. By the time Kastl pulled into valet parking at the arena and led her to the VIP entrance, she felt like a painter’s new canvas—blank and stretched taught.

Manda was reminded of escorting Katie through these same doors to see Richard and Josh over a year and a half ago. This time there were no crowds of people waiting outside. The concert had already begun and almost everyone was inside already. The rumbling of the audience confirmed this as she and Kastl walked through the first set of glass doors, and impatience intruded upon Manda’s stillness. She was missing Rain’s performance!

Her impatience edged down a few notches when they passed through the second set of glass doors and she could hear the music more clearly. It was just the opening band. Still, she fidgeted impatiently as Kastl spoke to the door attendant. Manda ignored their exchange. It occurred to her that this was the first time she’d even been in the same city as Richard in over eight months, much less been in the same building.

Kastl had to tug on her arm to prompt her to follow the attendant to a small office situated near the private elevator that they had used the last time. The man in the office recognized Kastl on sight, though he called him Mr. Black. He greeted “Mr. Black” deferentially and handed him a pair of tickets.

“Can I escort you up?” he offered, including Manda in his smile.

“No, thank you,” Kastl declined, already shepherding Manda back out the door. “I know the way. Thank you for taking care of this for me.”

“Whatever you need, of course,” the nameless man in the office replied.

Kastl led Manda out of the office, past the door attendant, up a long escalator to the upper concourse, and to the same suite from which she’d watched the previous concert.

Manda hesitated outside the door. “Who else is in there?” she asked nervously. It was too much of a coincidence for Kastl to get tickets in the same suite. The way Richard had spoken after the first concert, this suite was reserved
for Rain’s guests whenever they played this arena. It was negotiated in their contract. If that was true this time as well, maybe Chelsea was inside. She definitely didn’t want to come face-to-face with her right now.

“No one else is in there. It wasn’t being used so I took advantage of it,” Kastl assured her, opening the door and ushering her in.

“How did you manage that?” Manda walked far enough into the suite to see the band that had been playing take their bows and leave the stage.

“I have connections,” Kastl answered evasively. He found a menu on the bar and passed it to her. “I promised you dinner. What’ll it be?”

Manda wasn’t hungry but she knew Kastl wouldn’t accept that so she picked the first salad she saw. While he ordered, she watched the crew reset the stage for Rain. The configuration of the stage was different for this concert. During the previous tour, the stage had been placed in the center of the arena floor, circled by the audience. Now it was at one end of the arena with the audience arrayed in an arc in front of it. The seats in their suite looked down onto the stage from very close range. Manda was sure she was being overly cautious, but she couldn’t suppress the feeling that everyone on stage would be able to look up and see her. She searched out the light switch and turned it off so that only the lights over the bar dimly illuminated the suite. Then she chose a seat in the shadows.