Almost Final Curtain (3 page)

Nope. It was a vampire.

They’re easy to identify once you know what to look for. They really do have pasty white skin, for one thing—at least if they’re white to begin with. This woman was a very pale shade of Asian, but the absolute dead giveaway, if you’ll pardon the pun, was the cat-slit eyes. Her features were enviably porcelain fine, and her black hair fell arrow straight, almost to her knees. Though her clothes were modern, there was always something uncomfortable in the way vampires wore them that made them look out of place, otherworldly, alien.

Plus, she curtsied. Who else but a vampire would do that anymore? “A thousand pardons for disturbing you, Your Highness. My name is Khan, and I have come to request a boon.”

It must be an important favor, because normally vampires didn’t go out in the daytime. A thought occurred to me. “Did you come through the sewers or something? Is there an underground connection to the school?”

The idea both thrilled and scared me. I mean, how cool would it be to sneak into the library after hours? But then it also meant vampires had easy access at any time. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

No, I lied; it totally freaked me out.

“Yes, Highness, but I don’t have long.” Khan looked over her shoulder then, like she expected someone to be chasing her. “Please, I need your blessing to pursue my dream.”

Sounded harmless enough, but I was suspicious. Most of the time when vampires approached me for courtly things, Elias or my dad was around to give advice. I mean, what did I know about vampire politics? What if this “dream” of Khan’s was to assassinate my dad? It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to kill him. “What is this dream of yours?”

“To break my betrothal contract and marry the one I love,” she said, with a proud lift of her chin.

“You can do that?”

Khan smiled slightly. “Not without royal permission.”

So I didn’t
have
to be betrothed to Elias. This was news. No wonder she didn’t want to ask in front of him or my dad.

I considered her request, trying to decide if I was going to regret allowing it. But, try as I might, I couldn’t see any harm in letting her marry the man she wanted. “If I say yes, this isn’t going to start a vampire civil war or anything, is it?”

Khan looked surprised by my question for a moment, but then laughed. “No, Your Highness, it’s not.”

“Why not ask my dad, then?”

She frowned, as if not sure what to say. “I don’t wish to insult the king. . . .”

“But ... ?” I prompted. I had to admit, Khan had my full attention. Despite the fact that my dad showed up at my doorstep last fall and demanded I come with him to be the princess of the vampires, it wasn’t like we were close. In fact, when I refused to choose sides, he seemed to have lost interest in me. I didn’t get invited to court or any of the reindeer games.

Khan pursed her lips, and for a moment I thought she wouldn’t tell. Then everything spilled out in a rush. “His Royal Highness is a sexist pig who hasn’t had an updated thought about women since three thousand B.C.!”

Oh. Okay. Well, that might explain why my mom, the überfeminist Queen of Witches, didn’t last long in a relationship with him. I wanted to ask Khan to go into more detail, but my cell phone beeped, reminding me I had only a few more minutes of free period left.

“Done. Permission granted. Whatever I need to say. You have my blessing.” Besides, this was totally romantic, right? “Go be with the one you love.”

She curtsied her way out, profusely thanking me the entire way. By the time she disappeared completely into the shadows of the stacks, my cell phone beeped more anxiously a second time. Time to get to drama class!

I packed up my books, feeling like I’d handled Khan pretty well, considering. I mean, it would have been nice if I’d gotten an instruction booklet to go with the whole princess gig.

On my way out, Thompson bumped into me. Like, as in nearly tripped me, which I guess was his sort of Neanderthal way of being friendly because he smiled and said, “I’m thinking about trying out—you know, for the play.”

I didn’t mean to, but I laughed. It was just as I feared. Mr. Martinez had managed the miracle of making not only
me
cool for the day, but theater as well. Everyone and their dog wanted to be in the show. Even a guy like Thompson. Unbelievable.

Thompson actually looked a little hurt by my reaction, but he covered it with a cough. “Whatever. You’re one of those theater people. You got any advice?”

I looked up at his square jaw and chiseled cheekbones. He was handsome if you ignored his knuckle-dragging personality, and I could see him acting in a Renaissance Festival troupe that involved bashing people with a stick, but as suave Professor Higgins? No way.

“You
do
know that theater involves singing and dancing and costumes and makeup, right? I mean, the whole thing is a little bit gay for you, Thompson.”

“Maybe I’m some kind of undiscovered talent,” he said.

“Yeah, undiscovered all right.” Okay, that might have been a little mean of me, but if you knew the kind of shit I had to put up with after the whole face-licking incident, you’d be on my side. Trust me, it was nowhere near as cruel as the things Thompson and his buddies had said to me. “Look,” I continued, trying to explain as carefully as I could. “Acting seems easy, but that’s the magic of it, okay? Looking easy—when it’s not. You can’t just wake up an awesome actor one day. If I were you, I’d save myself the heartbreak and just buy your tickets for the front row instead. Trust me, there’s no way you’re going to get a speaking part.”

The thing I wasn’t going to tell Thompson was that any boy who tried out usually got into the show no matter how bad he was, because we were always hurting for male bodies onstage.

“Is that a prediction, witch?” Of course, the way he said that last word, it sounded more like the one that started with a
b
.

I flashed him my patented evil eye—which, given my one blue and one brown, was honestly fairly spooky. I’d creeped myself out with it in the mirror. “Count on it, asshole.”

Thompson looked ready to hurl more insults, but Bea chose that moment to slide up between us and take my arm all ladylike. “Is this brute bothering you, Ana?”

The air hummed with the electricity of a spell revving up. So I quickly said, “Nothing I can’t handle, Bea.”

“You sure I can’t zap him?” She waggled her fingers at Thompson menacingly, and he shrank away. He’d been the victim of her “zap” before. Her spell had made him unpopular for twenty-four hours, which was tantamount to a death sentence to someone like Thompson.

“I’m sure,” I said. “Come on. I can’t be late to class again.”

As we walked through the hall, my mind kept returning to the conversation with Thompson. At Stassen, theater held a strange place in the school hierarchy. My clique included the kind of weirdos that thought quoting Shakespeare’s dirtier bits was hilarious, true. But thanks to stunts like the one Mr. Martinez was pulling now, where he brought the cool to drama, we weren’t always outcasts.

That was just me, and my own special brand of dorky. I was still considering this when we met up with my other sometimes BFF, Taylor, whose real name was something much more African sounding. She was Somali and usually wore a
hijab
, a scarf that covered her hair and neck. Since she was Taylor, however, hers were incredibly sparkly and tended toward loud, outrageous patterns. Today’s was neon green with golden glitter.

“You look fabulous,” I told her.

She beamed. “And I know a secret. You’re going to die when you walk in,” she teased.

Bea shushed her.

And I thought,
Oh no, now what?

I anticipated the excited chaos of everyone’s chatter, but not the sight of my sometimes, kind-of boyfriend perched on the edge of Mr. Martinez’s desk. On other guys a peasant shirt with poet sleeves looked dorky and pretentious. Maybe it was Nikolai’s half-Romany blood, but he not only pulled the fashion off—with leather pants, no less—but bumped it up to wicked hot. Plus, he had those tumbled, let-me-just-fix-that-stray-bitfor-you locks that always threatened to fall in front of the most gorgeous, deep amber eyes any girl has had the pleasure of losing herself in.

I started to say hello when he sauntered over and planted an amazing peck on my cheek—in front of EVERYONE.

“Aw,” the entire class sighed as if they’d rehearsed it. Judging by the way Bea and Taylor smiled at me, I figured they had.

“Now, now, none of that,” Mr. Martinez chided sweetly, as my cheek burned bright red where Nikolai’s lips had brushed it.

I slunk into my seat and tried desperately to blend. Thankfully, most everyone was staring at Nikolai like God himself had materialized in the front of the classroom. Meanwhile Mr. Martinez looked kind of like the smug magician that had conjured him.

“In case you can’t guess, I have a little bit of a surprise for everyone today. But there’s more—”

My stomach lurched at the thought of something else; I was beginning to think I couldn’t take any new excitement. Before Mr. Martinez could say anything, the loudspeaker beeped, indicating an incoming announcement. We all quieted as best we could, given the rock star in our midst. The principal came on and told everyone there would be a special assembly in the gym in a half hour. Bea looked at me to see if I knew what was going on. I shrugged and shook my head. Everyone stared at Mr. Martinez for an answer.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors that Ingress will be performing the music for our spring play. What you don’t know is that Mr. Kirov and I have spent some time composing new arrangements for
My Fair Lady
. His band is going to give the school a taste of my vision for the production. He’ll be singing a very much updated version of ‘Get Me to the Church on Time.’”

Oh my Goddess, how hilariously weird was that? Not to mention mortifying! My boyfriend was going to be crooning a song in front of the entire school about wanting to get married. Everyone was going to be watching my reaction! Could I just die now and get it over with?

Plus, Nik kept glancing at me. I tried to smile back, but I couldn’t help feeling very childish, sitting in the second row, third desk, like some stupid little high schooler. In my version of the universe, Nik would never see me like this, here. How juvenile did I look? Why did I have to pick today to wear my ratty
Sailor Moon
T-shirt?

Luckily, after a brief introduction to the class, Nikolai excused himself to go help his bandmates set up in the gym. Mr. Martinez did his best to try to impart some wisdom in the intervening time, but everyone’s eyes—except mine—were glued to the clock, counting down the minutes until we could all head down to the gym.

Jinny, the girl in the seat behind me, tapped my elbow. When I turned to see what she wanted, she quickly passed me a note. When I gave her the “Who sent this?” look, she nodded in Taylor’s direction.

Hiding it in my lap, I unfolded the paper. It read, “You look ready to barf. Are you okay?”

Oh, the things I could write back. Yes, I’m sick of all the stuff about Nik, and, oh, a vampire visited me during study hall, how are you? But that would just weird Taylor out. She was my friend, but she was a mundane. The only stuff she knew about magic or vampires came from those MMORPGs she loved. So, instead, I scribbled, “Just overwhelmed. Thanks for worrying about me. I’m okay.”

Folding it back up, I contrived to pass it back to Jinny, who rolled her eyes at the hassle of having to be the secret communication conduit yet again. I watched the progress of the note, but the intercom beeped before it made it halfway back to Taylor. Everyone leaped out of their seats. Mr. Martinez indicated we should all be orderly and calm, but I could barely hear him over all the babble.

Taylor, Bea, and I found a way to stand next to one another in line so that we’d be sure to be seated together. I was really, really glad Nik wasn’t around to see this. Standing in orderly rows was the opposite of cool, and I was pretty sure you never had to queue up like this at the U of M, where Nikolai went to college.

Mr. Martinez tapped me on the shoulder on my way out the door. “Surprised?” he said with a smile.

“Oh, yeah,” I said, trying to keep sarcasm from creeping into my voice somewhat unsuccessfully. “This is just great.”

Mr. Martinez was usually pretty good at understanding what people were really saying, but this time what I meant bounced off him like with a typical adult. “Do you want to sit in the front? So Nikolai can see you?”

“Oh, could I?” When he looked ready to make arrangements, I waved my hands to banish the idea. “No, seriously, I don’t want to distract Nikolai, you know? I’m sure he should concentrate on the music and stuff or whatever.”

Maybe Mr. Martinez finally saw the horror in my eyes, because he blinked and seemed to suddenly understand. “Oh, yes, right.” He nodded. “Well, I hope you enjoy the show. I think it’s going to be awesome.”

I worried when teachers thought things were going to be “awesome,” though most of the time I trusted Mr. Martinez not to be a complete idiot. Bea nudged me with her elbow, reminding me to hurry along and not lose my spot next to her.

“I wish you were a True Witch,” Bea whispered in my ear once we were in the hall. “I’d help you conjure up an invisibility spell.”

It was surprisingly sweet of Bea to think of it. I told her so, especially since the impulse to hide was against her outgoing nature. “Can we sit in the back?”

“We can try.” Bea sounded disappointed, though.

Taylor flashed me a “You can’t be serious” frown.

“You guys could ditch me,” I suggested, and I actually meant it. I didn’t want to spoil their fun.

Mr. Martinez cleared his throat for quiet in the halls. I felt my cheeks burn brighter. Could I feel more like a kindergartner?