A Kind of Magic (21 page)

The dancers around her, including the teenage apprentice playing Clara, were total pros and were doing a masterful job of not reacting to the strangeness. She could only imagine what they thought was going on—probably untested special effects going haywire.

Sophie wasn’t sure if the snow creature was actually malign. The real danger was a wet stage. She created a warm, dry breeze that evaporated the snowflakes before they could hit the stage and another gust of warm air higher up that she hoped would deter the creature.

What
was
that thing, anyway? If Josephine had created it, it wasn’t from a spell Sophie had learned. Or had one of Josephine’s fae coconspirators cooked this up? It was a good thing that she’d committed the choreography to muscle memory over the past few days because she was completely sidetracked by trying to figure out what was happening and what to do about it.

The music built to an ominous climax as the nutcracker prince leaped into action to rescue Clara from Sophie’s Snow Queen and haul her off to the Land of Sweets, where she’d be bored by nearly an hour of people pretending to be candy or perpetuating ethnic stereotypes. Sophie wondered if the snow creature would follow her offstage or stick around to liven up the final act. It would be much more obvious there, so she needed to stop it now.

She took advantage of the moment when the prince flung her away from Clara to face the creature directly. The choreography called for her to whip her arms upward in fury, so she used the movement to fling a burst of pure power at the creature. “Go find a desert,” she muttered. She wasn’t sure if she’d killed it for good or if it had just conceded defeat in this battle, but it disintegrated, going from a ghostly woman formed of snow flurries to a great burst of snow that Sophie had to act quickly to evaporate.

The timing even fit the music, which calmed as the snowflakes formed a lane for Clara and the prince’s sleigh to travel to the next act as Sophie bourréd offstage to enthusiastic applause. The curtain fell at the end of the act, and Sophie went back onstage to bow. There were even a couple of roses thrown onto the stage.
Not bad,
she thought.

When she headed back into the wings, she remarked to one of the stagehands, “Wow, y’all have really raised the game in special effects since the last time I danced here. It was almost like real snow.”

With any luck, that would keep anyone in the ballet from blaming her presence. But how would the enchantresses take what she’d done?

The Theater

9:30 p.m.

As soon as she left the stage for intermission, Emily made a beeline to her dressing room to check her phone for messages. There was nothing from either Sophie or Michael. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but she was sure that if something truly horrible had happened, Michael would let her know. Her phone being reassuringly free of messages from the ballet contingent didn’t stop Emily from worrying about her sister.

There was a rap on the door, and Olivia stuck her head inside. “You okay? You seemed a bit distracted out there.”

“Did I?” Emily asked in horror.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone else would notice. You’re still amazing, but I got the sense there was some autopilot going on, which was weird when Mr. Knightley was really bringing it. I actually found myself liking him.”

“Wow, now that you mention it, he did seem different. But no, I guess I’m just thinking about Sophie. She had her big preview performance tonight, and I wish I could have been there.”

“Oh, right. I guess that’s the hard part of having two performers in the family. You can’t be there for each other.”

“I sent Michael instead,” Emily said, unable to repress a giggle.

“Oh, your sister and Officer Friendly? They did seem to be getting pretty cozy when you were missing last summer.”

“I’m not
sure
that anything’s going on, but I’ve been getting a weird vibe from them the last couple of days.”

“They make a cute couple.”

“I ought to stay out of it because they’d both probably freak out and retreat if anyone said anything.” She grinned. “But it’s awfully hard to resist.”

“Resist what?” Will asked, bouncing into the doorway.

“Playing matchmaker for my sister,” Emily said.

“Oh, stay out of that, if you know what’s good for you,” he advised. “Just watch from afar without meddling.”

“Wow, someone’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tonight,” Olivia remarked to Will. “We’ve talked about overdoing it on caffeine, haven’t we?”

Will turned a quick pirouette that ended with a flourish. “Nothing artificial about this, baby. Just a good night’s sleep, the sleep of the just. You should try it sometime, Liv.”

The five-minute warning rang out before Olivia could really retort, but she and Emily made eye contact and grinned. Emily considered that proof that her charms were working. Actually, she noted as the second act began, the whole chorus was on their toes. Everyone she’d given one of the protective herb bundles to was more alive and alert than she’d seen them in ages. Had they all been dancing the night away in fairyland?

She didn’t know how to explain Charles, the actor who played Mr. Knightley. With him, it wasn’t alertness so much as a sensitivity she’d never seen from him before. He was blessed with good looks and a great voice, so he’d managed to coast through his career without trying all that hard. No matter how he played a role, women swooned, so he didn’t seem to feel like the extra effort would offer any benefits. He came across okay from the balcony, but on the stage with him, Emily usually felt like she was doing the heavy lifting while he stood there and looked good.

Tonight, though, he was actually acting. The role was the quintessential boy next door who’d known Emma all her life and was waiting for her to grow up and notice him, but he’d never shown the kind of vulnerability she felt tonight. It was like he finally got it. With him doing his share of the work, her job became easier, and by having to work less, she was able to convey more with more subtlety. Normally it took every ounce of imagination she had to show warm affection for him, but now it came naturally.

She hadn’t given him any herbs since he wasn’t a dancer and their offstage relationship wasn’t the sort that made gift-giving likely. So it wasn’t that he was getting more sleep than he had been. Maybe he’d actually fallen in love with something other than a mirror, so he finally got it. She’d have to find out if Will had picked up any gossip.

Lincoln Center

10:00 p.m.

Michael had barely noticed the rest of the ballet, he was so worried about what might be going on with Sophie. He couldn’t tell the difference between one kind of magic and another, so he had no idea if she’d outed herself in the way she’d handled the situation. All he could tell was that she did seem to have handled it. He wasn’t able to spot Josephine in the theater, even when he’d scanned the crowd with his binoculars during intermission.

While he was distracted, he was surprised to find that Mari was utterly captivated. During the ballet, she’d been on the edge of her seat, leaning forward, gasping with each spectacular move. Fortunately for her, the final act was full of men in tights, some of them even shirtless or with open shirts that revealed ridiculous abs. When the ballet ended and the cast came out for bows, he couldn’t help but grin to see Mari applauding as enthusiastically as any of the ballet fans in the audience. He sighed in relief when Sophie came out to take her bow, to applause and cheers. She seemed okay, but then Sophie very rarely let anyone see her sweat.

The bows seemed to go on forever. Each of the stars bowed individually, then as a group. The rest of the company bowed. The orchestra was acknowledged. The company bowed again. The director came onstage and talked for a while about what was special about this year’s production. He failed to mention the snow monster, much to Michael’s amusement. There was more applause, and the director kissed each of the female stars on the cheek and hugged the men. Michael expected Mari to be bored by all this, but she was clapping along with everyone else.

“That was
amazing,
” she enthused on their way out of the auditorium toward the reception in the lobby. “And I can see why you wanted to come. Doing a favor for your neighbor, my ass. She is
hot
. Though I guess in this show she’s cold. And now I
know
why you quit wearing your wedding ring.”

“She had nothing to do with that. I stopped wearing the ring because it’s been seven years, and that’s usually the timeframe for declaring a missing person to be dead.”

“Uh huh. It had nothing to do with meeting a pretty ballerina who can probably twist her little body into some very interesting shapes and crack walnuts with her thighs.”

Michael closed his eyes and counted to ten. He did not need that mental image at this moment. He was just about to tell Mari to please shut up when she said, “Hey, there’s your friend.”

Sophie had changed out of her dance costume into an evening dress, and she was surrounded by admirers. “Let’s get a drink and let her work the crowd for a while,” he suggested.

They found a waiter with a tray of champagne glasses and both of them took a glass. Michael forced himself not to down the whole glass when the first sip proved cool and refreshing. “Am I gonna have to make sure you get home okay?” Mari asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s one glass of champagne.”

“That’s one more than I’ve ever seen you drink.”

“When you see the waiter going around with trays of Coke, let me know.” To be honest, he was starting to feel a little fuzzy, but he wasn’t sure he could blame the unaccustomed drink going to his head.

“C’mon, I want to meet your friend,” Mari said, tugging his elbow.

“I don’t need you playing matchmaker,” he told her as he reluctantly followed.

“Are you kidding? I want her to introduce me to some of her dancer friends. Did you see the bodies on those men? Talk about buns of steel! And I’m curious about the woman who makes Tank twitch when he talks about her.”

As they got closer to Sophie, he saw that although she’d changed clothes and had taken her hair down from the tight bun, she still wore stage makeup. He’d never seen her that way before. She’d always been rather minimalist in that department. Her high heels brought her closer to eye level with him, though she was still much shorter than he was.

“So you did decide to come,” she said. He thought he detected a hint of gentle teasing in her tone and her smile.

“Emily said you could use some friendly faces in the audience. This is my partner, Marisol Lopez. Mari, this is Sophie Drake, my neighbor’s sister.”

Mari shook Sophie’s hand. “That was absolutely incredible,” she enthused. “I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting to like ballet, but the Rev here said it was athletic. It really was.”

Sophie gave her a genuine smile. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. This actually isn’t one of my favorite ballets. There are others with more story to them.”

“If it gets better than this, sign me up.” Mari said.

“Oh, where did you get the champagne? I’m parched,” Sophie said.

To Michael’s amusement, Mari instantly said, “I’ll go get you some.”

When she was gone, Michael said softly, “You did that on purpose. It’s not fair putting the whammy on my partner.”

“How do you know she’s not just being nice?”

“I couldn’t get her to bring me a glass of water when I was in the hospital.” He dropped his voice as low as he thought he could make it and still have her hear him. “What happened onstage?”

“You mean the snow monster?” she replied, her voice equally low. “Or are you critiquing my pointe work?”

“So it wasn’t special effects and part of the show?”

For a split second, he saw the worry and fear beneath her cool façade. “No, though it would probably improve the ballet significantly. I’m not sure what caused it, but I don’t think I did anything that should get me in trouble.”

“Josephine was here, and she brought friends.”

“Of course she did. I hope she was disappointed.”

Before he could say anything else, Mari returned with a glass of champagne for Sophie, and soon more admirers approached—a gaggle of velveteen-clad girls clutching programs. “I guess I’d better let you enjoy playing prima ballerina,” he said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“It was lovely to meet you, Mari,” Sophie said. “If I get cast in any more productions, I’ll be sure to get tickets for you.”

“What I’d really like are phone numbers for a few of those guys,” Mari said with a grin.

“Trust me, you don’t,” Sophie said with a wince. “The nice ones have been married forever.”

“I’m good with boy toys, too. I’ll catch them before they’re married.”

“I hope you like big egos, then.”

“I’m not really thinking about talking to them.”

“Then I’ll see what I can do.” She turned to greet the girls, giving Michael a smile and a slight nod over her shoulder as she took a pen from them and began signing autographs.

“She’s interesting,” Mari remarked.

“That’s an understatement.”

“Is it just me, or is there something funny about her eyes?”

“One’s blue, one’s gray. But the light and the angle have to be right for it to show. Once you see it, though, you always see it. I think that’s why she bothers Tank.”

“Hmmm,” she said, giving him a sidelong glance.

“Don’t even start,” he warned.

“Rev, are you
blushing?
That’s so adorable! You’ve got a crush!”

If he hadn’t been blushing before, he was sure he was now. If he’d been in junior high, he’d have sworn that he did not have a crush and then would have run off and grabbed Sophie’s books or taunted her, just to prove he didn’t. But he was an adult, so he fought back all the instinctive urges and said as calmly as he could, “As you said, she’s hot, and I may be widowed, sort of, but I still have eyes.”

“Ah, so you brought me to play wingman. That’s cool. I can do that.”