Magical Mayhem (5 page)

He offered forgiveness afterward, but now she felt as though she had to earn his respect all over again. Would he trust her when she spoke to him? Tears filled her eyes once more, but she resolutely wiped them away and then used a tissue to blow her nose. She ran a brush through her long red hair, squared her slender shoulders, and then went to open her door and get back to work. There wasn't much time to learn enough to be able to assist Montague properly, and she certainly didn't want to ruin his performance.

Montague raised his hand to knock and tell Megan it was time to get started, but the door opened and he knocked on air, just above her head. He smiled and she giggled. "I was coming to get you," he stated the obvious.

"I'm ready," she replied.

Surprisingly, the rehearsal went very well. Megan concentrated and did her best to learn enough to get through the performance. Now all they needed to do was polish everything, and they could perform tomorrow evening.

"I think we need to stop now. You've learned a lot for one day."

"That's it?" she asked, clearly surprised.

"Oh, you have a lot more to learn, Megan, but we've put an entire performance together. I will perform several illusions without your assistance, and that will flesh out the program considerably." He saw her face fall. "What are you thinking?" he asked, sensitive to her mood.

"You shouldn't have to do illusions without me," she pouted. "I'm not good enough to help you like Glenna did!"

"That isn't true, Megan. I always perform some illusions without assistance. That wouldn't change no matter who my assistant is at the time. Now, you will need to pay attention during the performance. I sometimes will change the order of the various illusions you just learned. Once in a while I will leave something out, or I will scramble them. Sometimes I will simply give you instructions on the fly, so you will need to pay attention. It would not do for you to be in the bathroom if I am asking you to bring an audience member to the stage."

"Ohhhhhh! How will I know who to pick?" she asked, worry reflected in her eyes as she looked up at him.

"We'll talk about that tomorrow. For tonight I am completely satisfied. "You worked hard, Megan, and now it is time to rest. We'll rehearse after breakfast tomorrow, and then we'll spend the afternoon perfecting everything. We'll have a light snack midafternoon, rest before we dress for the performance, and then we'll do a bang up show... and then a late show. The hotel will make sure we have dinner served here in the suite after the second show. You'll be surprised at how quickly the day goes, Megan."

After talking a bit more, Montague suggested Megan go to bed. "You look tired," he told her, smiling gently. Wipe that worried look off your face; you did well today, and I am not a bit worried."

"Thank you," she said politely, and then she said good night. She was suddenly terrified that she would screw up and make a horrendous mistake and ruin his reputation. But, Megan realized, she was tired and she needed sleep. Things always looked better in the morning. Sleep came after a lot of tossing and turning. Every time she attempted to turn over she got a painful reminder that Montague spanked her soundly. Her poor bottom was so sore it was keeping her awake! So were her fears of stepping on stage. While her brain kept telling her that she was nothing more than a prop, and Montague was the star and would be the one with all the attention focused on him, she couldn't get over the fact that a lot of people would be staring at her! Sleep finally came, and so did the terrible dreams. She dreamed that she was late getting on stage; then she broke a heel and was limping around. Her dress tore, showing her panties and bra! The audience booed, and worst of all, Montague bent her over one of the props he used and spanked her with his magic wand! She woke up crying and realized that she was rubbing her backside on the mattress in an effort to stop the terrible spanking! Megan got up for a while and paced the bedroom. She tried to focus on why she was so afraid in an attempt to control the emotion, but her hands were shaking, and she felt sick to her stomach.

"What is wrong, Megan?" Montague asked as soon as he set eyes on her the next morning.

She was bleary eyed from a lack of sleep and she felt as though she was going to throw up at any second. "You need to find someone else, Montague. I am sick."

"You aren't sick; you have stage fright," he said, his dark eyes reflecting his sympathy. "Breakfast will be here in a couple of minutes and..."

"No! I can't eat! I'm ill... I feel like I'm going to throw up!"

"It is only stage fright, Megan. It will pass. Do some deep breathing exercises."

Montague helped her breathe and to her surprise, she did feel a bit better. He had her think of places that were beautiful and calming, and his deep voice mesmerized her into believing she felt fine. Their food arrived and Megan did her best to eat, nibbling on the whole wheat toast first to see if it would actually make her feel better as Montague claimed.

"Your color is better now," he commented, doing his best to reassure her, short of lying. He would have to see how she behaved during their actual dress rehearsal on the stage, and if she was still claiming she was ill, he would get a physician to come in and give her something to help control the stage fright. Montague was positive that once the show started she would be fine, but getting her to that point could take a while. Some performers never conquered their stage fright.

Megan did her best to eat breakfast, and she was truly feeling much better by the time she finished. Montague told her to take care of anything she needed to do and they would go down to the stage and rehearse the act. She asked if she should dress in the costume and he told her 'no'. Montague said that dress rehearsal would be later that afternoon. She took a few minutes to go over the act in her mind, hoping that she wouldn't disappoint the man and mess up. In her dreams, she got everything wrong, and she was afraid!

Montague knew that something was troubling the pretty redhead, and he suspected she was full of doubts about performing her part. The best cure he knew for that was simply to rehearse the show as they planned to do it. The back door to the stage was open when they arrived, and Megan looked out where the audience would be sitting.

"Will all of these seats be occupied?" she asked, curious.

"Yes. We've been selling out at each performance." He wasn't about to lie to her just to make her feel better. She would see for herself, anyway. "When the lights are on us, you won't be able to see out into the audience. If I want to bring someone on stage, I will have to ask them to turn up the house lights so we can actually see the people."

"Okay," she answered in a subdued tone of voice.

Montague abruptly started the routine and Megan took her cues without missing a single one. About halfway through her smile was genuine and not forced, and when they finished the first run through she exclaimed, "I remembered everything, Montague!"

"Yes, you did. Were you afraid you wouldn't?"

"I had horrible nightmares about messing up and people booing us!" she admitted. "Now I feel better because I know I can do this."

She was rewarded when he smiled at her and said, "I never doubted it." He chuckled when she did an impromptu little dance, and then said, "Let's go through this now with a very critical eye and start perfecting everything. Remember, we exaggerate our movements up here. It keeps the eyes where we want them to be."

The rehearsal went well, and they took a break for lunch. Afterwards, they dressed for the dress rehearsal and Megan realized that what Montague said about the lights was right. They were so bright that she couldn't see out into the seating. Montague made a couple of changes, but all in all he was satisfied.

There was a snack waiting for them when they got back to the room, and after slipping out of their stage clothes, they sat down to enjoy the food. Once they were finished eating, Montague looked at her and said, "Megan, I know you didn't sleep well last night. I want you to try and take a nap. But make sure you allow yourself enough time to do your makeup and hair and get dressed. I want to be down there early to check my props and make sure that everything is placed where it should be. One time I didn't do that and someone had been into my things and messed up everything. I had to actually stop the show, have them close the curtain while I fixed everything. I apologized to the audience, and they were very understanding, but I made up my mind then and there to always go down early and make darn sure nothing is wrong." He told her what time she needed to be ready, and Megan went to her room, suddenly drained.

She set her alarm, giving herself plenty of time to get ready, and promptly fell into bed and the next thing she knew, Montague was pounding on her door, calling her name, and asking if she was ready yet! "Oh no!" she moaned, looking at the clock! It was time to go down and she was a mess! She'd overslept!!

"Megan, are you decent?" Montague asked and then walked into the room.

Chapter Four

Megan was supposed to be ready to go down and help him inspect to make sure the stage was properly set up and she was sitting on her bed, feeling disheveled and once again she was sick to her stomach with fear. "I don't think I can do this, Montague."

"You overslept!" he stated, his voice full of accusation. "Megan, you promised me you would be ready by now! Get up and get moving!" he ordered, his voice firm.

"There is no way I can be ready on time!" she told him, feeling helpless to move.

"Let me see if I can change your mind, Miss Marley," Montague said, pulling the covers off of her and then flipping her face down over the mattress. His hand found her bottom in the next second in a loud crack that had her squealing into the sheets. "Is this changing your mind yet?" he demanded, giving her a second and a third spank that were as hard as the first.

"Ow... Ow! Yes! Yes! I'll hurry!"

"Oh, I intend to see to it that you do," Montague answered, continuing to spank her delicate backside with the flat of his hand.

"I will! Please stop!" Megan was wide awake now and she tried to raise herself off the bed so she could get dressed and tend to her make-up and hair. Still, Montague's hard hand smacked her behind again, preventing her from getting up. "There isn't time for this silliness, Montague!" she argued. "Please, I need every moment! Ouch!" she cried out again as his hand left another scorching spank on her tender bottom. Her butt was already on fire and if he continued, she was going to start crying, and then there would be no fixing her face in time! "You must stop!" She tried once more to make him listen to her, but she was truly surprised when he actually stopped whacking her bottom and turned her over to face him.

"Do you think you can get out of bed and get ready in short order, young lady?" He watched as she blew the hair out of her face and then nodded emphatically. "I'll give you ten minutes. Do not waste one minute of that time," he warned as he turned and left her bedroom.

Megan jumped to her feet and she was quickly dressed. Of course this was accomplished with much rubbing of her stinging bottom, not that it helped. For such a short spanking, she was burning unbearably, and positive she was wearing Montague's fresh red handprints on top of the ones he'd left earlier. She hurried to fix her make-up, applying it heavier than normal because he'd told her how washed out the bright lights would make her appear. Thankfully, her hair was naturally curly and running a brush through it made it spring to life. She sprayed it and stepped back to look at herself critically. The door opened then and Montague filled the doorway. "I'm ready," she announced, and stood there nervously as he looked her up and down.

"You need shoes," Montague pointed at her bare toes peeking beneath the gown she was wearing, refraining from smiling at the picture of contrition she presented. Megan knew she was wrong and she was trying to make up for not being ready. She rushed to get shoes from the closet and stepped into them. "A necklace?" he asked.

"Oh, yes! I have a necklace and earrings all picked out. She put the earring through her earlobes and they dangled gracefully. Montague thought they were perfect and he stepped forward to help her fasten the clasp on her necklace.

"You look lovely and no one would guess it only took fifteen minutes. Let's go now. I'm sure everyone is wondering where we are by now."

"I'm sorry, Montague," she made herself apologize.

"You aren't as sorry as you will be later," he stated matter-of-factly. "I warned you that I punish for mistakes, and you were told that I expect promptness. Is this correct?"

"I didn't do it on purpose, Montague, so stop acting like an ogre. I'm nervous enough without you threatening me." She felt her temper rise. "You are acting like I committed a mortal sin!"

"I am acting like a boss who expects his employee to do as she is told to do. You have a lot to learn, Megan." His eyes were full of disapproval and she felt properly scolded. "We do not have time for this right now, so get yourself together and we'll discuss your behavior later."

Megan wanted to tell him to go to hell and walk away but once again she saw her father's face and she kept her mouth shut. They were soon behind the stage, checking out the props and making sure everything was right for the show. Her nerves grew by leaps and bounds with each passing moment and Megan let out a moan and covered her stomach with her hands. "Restroom?" she asked desperately, positive she was going to be ill.

Montague took one look at her white face and grabbed her shoulders and guided her to a small bathroom off stage, and he held her long hair out of the way while she threw up. "I'm sorry!" he heard her gasp when she was finished. He handed her a paper cup of water and she dutifully rinsed her mouth.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Megan. I know this is your first time, but I promise you that once we get started you will lose the fear and concentrate on what is next." She gave him a doubtful look. He smiled reassuringly. "I know this because I used to suffer from stage fright, too."