Fall of Light (9 page)

“What?”

“C'mon.” Opal rose, and Lauren followed her into the bathroom, where the mirror was just wide enough for both of them to see themselves at once. “Sometimes I use tools in my work,” Opal said. “I've just made this one different. I hold it, and think about the effect I want to achieve, and then I apply it.” She thought about pale, crystal green eyes. When she had the image clear, she closed her right eye and brushed the brush over the lid. She opened her eye and stared at herself: one violet eye, one pale green one. The effect was spookier than she expected. The green eye looked wicked, somehow, as though it saw too much. Her color sense was a little off, too. She closed her violet eye and looked at the world with the green one; suddenly the utilitarian, beige-colored bathroom had secret sparkling diamonds hidden in its corners, and strange patterns in its wallpaper. “Whoa.”

“My god!” said Lauren. “That's amazing. Amazing!”

“It's peculiar,” Opal said. She held out the brush. “This thing is charged right now. What you should do is think of something simple. The more complicated and extreme you make it, the faster the charge gets used up, and if you run out of charge, you can get stuck that way.”

“This'll work for
me
?” Lauren took the brush gingerly.

Opal nodded. “Once I put the power in the tool and tell the tool how to work, anybody can use it, if they know what they're doing. Think about the change you want, then brush it into being.”

Lauren held the brush up as though it were a magic wand or a conductor's baton. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them. She brushed her cheeks. The shape of her face changed, became thinner. Her jawline softened. She brushed her lips. They also thinned.

She was unrecognizable.

“Oh, God,” she whispered. “Unreal.” She set the brush down and placed her hands on her cheeks, pressed her fingertips to her mouth. “Oh, God,” she repeated. “It feels like it looks. Oh, God!”

Her eyes were still large and dark, wide in their astonishment. “How—”

Opal stood back, her arms crossed over her chest.

Lauren swallowed. “How long does it last?”

Opal touched Lauren's cheek and thought about it. “I guess about two hours. It's hard to tell. You can change back with the brush, too. You don't want to try this too often. I can't put too much into the brush—I need to save power for my own work.”

“Is this what made Corvus strange?”

“I don't think so. I only change the outer layer, what the light falls on. It shouldn't go any deeper. Do you feel like someone else?”

Lauren stared at her new self. “I think I'm myself inside, but if I went on looking like this for a while, I'd feel different. Wearing this face, I'm not so sure of myself or what signals I'm sending. This is
so
strange.”

Opal checked her watch again. Nearly three. “I've got to get some sleep or I might mess up tomorrow.”

“Oh. Oh, yes, sorry. Thanks, Opal. This is unbelievable.”

“You might want to practice undoing it before you leave, so I can help if anything goes wrong.”

Lauren nodded. She picked up the brush, held it, thought, then stroked the brush gently over her cheeks and mouth. Her face filled out, generous, sensuous, arresting, and Opal felt a twist in her chest again. Though she hadn't made any choices about Lauren's changes, her power had worked them, and now she was engaged, like it or not. A warm affection welled up in her, a longing to protect Lauren and help her, spend time with her in any capacity Lauren allowed.

She felt stupid. Why hadn't she foreseen this outcome?

Maybe it was for the best.

“I look like myself again, right?” Lauren asked. She patted her cheek. “I did all right?”

“You did great.”

“Do you need this for your eye?” Lauren held out the brush to her.

“No,” said Opal. “I wonder.” She closed both her eyes and thought her other eye green. She studied herself with the new eyes. “It's weird, isn't it, how such a small thing can make someone look completely different?”

“You look lethal, somehow.”

“Hmm.” What would the Dark God make of that? “Hey, wrap the brush in a handkerchief, if you have one. Because it's a touch power, it might affect random things it comes in contact with, like stuff in your purse.”

“You're giving me this?”

“Sure. You can pay me back for the cost of the brush if you like. That's one of the expensive ones. Be careful with it.”

“I will.” Lauren went back to the bedroom and rummaged in her purse, found a small silk Japanese pouch with coins in it, dumped the coins out and put the brush gently in. “Thank you,” she said, and hugged Opal awkwardly. “See you in the morning.” She let herself out.

“Good night,” Opal said. She just remembered to set her own alarm before she fell exhausted into bed with all her clothes on.

“You sleep all right?” Opal asked Corvus when he arrived at the Makeup trailer at ten. She had gotten there about twenty minutes earlier and had almost finished prepping for him.

“Great. Suspiciously great, when I don't even remember how I got to bed last night. What happened?”

“You fell asleep in the car. You took direction, though, even asleep. Did you know you sleepwalk excellently?”

“No one has ever told me that before. Opal?” He reached for her hand, tugged her away from setting out her brushes. “Things seem much stranger on this shoot. What's going on?” He stared into her face, started. “Good lord, what happened to your eyes?”

She had forgotten the change. She glanced at the mirror and saw pale, crystal green eyes staring back. They looked like someone else's eyes, mysterious and unsettling. “I'm trying out a new effect. You like?”

He frowned. “It's interesting, anyway.”

“What's he talking about?” Rodrigo asked from the second chair. He and Magenta were taking a break before Blaise and Lauren arrived. Their call for makeup was much later. Opal had more to do for Corvus.

Opal opened her eyes wide and stared at Rod. “Whoa!” he cried. “Where'd you get the contacts? They're great! You look so different!”

“It's not a commercial company. I'm a beta tester. Guess I better take them out before I spook anyone else.”

“Thumbs up for looks,” said Rod, and Magenta nodded.

Opal gave them a big smile. She knelt over her counter and pretended to pop contacts out and put them into an illusory case, letting her eyes go back to their natural violet. She locked the intangible case into one of her drawers and turned to look at Corvus. “You ready?” Opal asked.

He leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Finally he clasped his hands over his stomach and nodded to her. “Apprehensive, but ready, I guess.”

“I'm sorry I've broken your trust,” she said gently to him as she shook a can of shaving cream. “I never meant to.”

“Things are happening I don't understand.”

“Me, too.”

“I never sleep well on a shoot. Too much to obsess about.”

“Do you consider that time well spent?” she asked.

“In fact, I do; it's those after-midnight skull-sweat sessions that lead me to character breakthroughs—when I get a chance to act a character. They don't stop me from doing a good job, not when you can't see my real face.”

She sighed. “I chose not to wake you when it turned out you could walk while asleep, and get ready for bed, too. It's my fault. Seemed like you were tired enough to need whatever rest you could get. I apologize.”

“You're going to take responsibility for my sleeping so deeply?”

She hesitated, then said, “I made a suggestion to you while you were under.”

He caught her hand before she could apply the shaving cream. “What was it?” he asked, his voice grating.

“ ‘Rest well,' ” she said. “Just ‘rest well.' ”

His face went more still than she had ever seen it. He stared at her, motionless, her hand caught in his. She felt the hot track of a tear streak down her cheek and blinked to stop any others from falling. He might hate her now, but that wouldn't change how she felt about him, which meant she was in for misery.

He opened his hand and released her, then lay back in his chair and closed his eyes. She shaved him and prepped his skin and laid the prosthetics on gently and silently. This time, she noticed when Blaise and Lauren came in, was remotely aware of their being prepped by Rodrigo and Magenta. She did nothing to Corvus but attach necessary things to his face, arms, hands, and upper body; she made sure she didn't paralyze him this time, but he didn't move; he barely breathed. She ornamented him the way she would have painted a statue.

Lauren, ready for her scene, sat in the next chair and watched, silent.

“Time for the contacts,” Opal said at last, her voice choked.

“Can I put them in myself?” he asked.

“Not with the hands you've got now.”

“Oh.” He stared down at his hands. This time she had done his whole chest and arms, and the hand prostheses. Today there would be close-ups. He blinked twice. “Go.”

She couldn't help saying a small spell to herself, that she would slip the contacts in perfectly, not harm him, that he would be comfortable with them as long as it took. She lifted his leaf brown eyelids and slid the contacts in, which gave him the stare of a stranger.

“Good job,” he said. He pulled the lever that straightened his chair so he could stand up easily. He shook his shoulders, and said, as if to himself, “Good.”

“I'll call Kelsi.”

Corvus studied himself in the mirror while Opal called Kelsi on her walkie to come over with the Dark God's robe.

“I need jewels,” said Corvus, his voice low and thrilling. “Why would I not adorn myself? It is too simple. Have you people no sense of pageantry? Handmaiden.” He turned to Opal.

Opal glanced at Lauren, who had straightened, her eyes wide.

“I want something that sparkles. A diamond star for my forehead.”

“I can't do that, sir. It would ruin the continuity.”

“You
can
do it,” he whispered. “You
will
do it.” He gripped her wrist again, bent forward, and brought her hand up to touch his forehead. “Give me a small fraction of your power. A tiny taste, a promise of what we will share later.”

“I don't want to share with you. I don't even know you.”

“You know my vessel,” he whispered. “You love it.”

“You're not that person.”

“I can give you that person.”

“I only want him if he gives himself.”

“Foolish denier of dreams.”

“Yep, that's me,” Opal said. “Give up this dream of jewels, will you? You're here to play a part, that's all.”

He grinned, suddenly, just as Kelsi's knock sounded on the door. Lauren jumped up and opened it.

“How little you know,” the Dark God said to Opal. “It's delicious.”

Lauren closed and locked the door after Kelsi came in, the Dark God's robe over her arm.

“I am surrounded by beauty,” said Corvus, smiling at all three of them. “It's a fine time to be awake.”

“Mr. Weather, could you hold out your arms behind you so I can slide this on, please?” Kelsi asked.

Corvus posed. She slid the robe onto him. After she had snapped it shut and fastened it with the silver star, he took her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it.

“Won't you screw up your—” she began, but then her eyes met his, and she blinked and swayed, leaned into him. His arms folded around her; her face pressed against his sculptured abdomen. He closed his eyes and drew in a long breath, his smile widening.

Kelsi sagged in his arms. He lifted her and set her gently on his abandoned chair, where she curled up, snoring softly.

“What did you do to her?” Opal demanded.

“You wouldn't give me what I needed, so I had to go elsewhere.” He stretched as best he could in the cramped quarters of the Makeup trailer. “I feel stronger now.”

“She going to wake up okay?” Lauren asked.

“Of course. She will just—
rest well.
” He turned his luminous eyes to Opal, who had flinched at his words. “You could both rest well, if you liked.”

“Get out of here. We have a job to do. Do you have your lines memorized?” Lauren said.

“My lines?” He cocked his head. “My lines. Oh, yes, they're in here.”

“Well, I hope you can act,” said Lauren. She unlocked the door, flung it open, and stomped down the stairs.