The Festival of the Moon (Girls Wearing Black: Book Two) (15 page)

“Nothing. I wasn’t feeling well today. That’s all.”

“You look fine to me.”

“How kind of you to say.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t something else keeping you from school? You don’t have any regrets about your choices lately, do you?”

“No, Dad. I was feeling sick. Don’t read anything into this that isn’t there. I’ll be back at school tomorrow.”

At that moment, Annika came down the stairs, her long legs and short skirt completely stealing the attention of Jill’s father.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, flustered. “You have company.”

“Hello Mr. Wentworth!” Annika said, throwing a million dollar smile his way as she spoke. She rushed to the bottom of the stairs and opened her arms to give Jill’s dad a big hug.

Jill tried to contain her disgust, telling herself this was why they had targeted Annika in the first place. Nobody could charm the country club set like Annika Fleming.

Annika got Walter talking about the standard Washington fare. Political campaigns, bills on the floor in the Senate and the lobbyists who were behind them, investment opportunitites, rising stars in town, introductions to be made. Annika asked Walter about business and beamed with delight when he spoke. Annika even made mention of Walter’s recently bronzed face, asking him if he’d gotten any golfing in this summer, which was a topic Walter Wentworth couldn’t help but talk about.

“I’ll be right back,” Jill said. As she left the parlor to go upstairs, her dad was offering Annika a drink and asking her to have a seat.

Jill went to her bedroom. Her twenty-four hour bender at the computer desk had left her a mess, and she decided it was time to clean up. While Annika entertained her father, Jill took a shower, got dressed, and put on makeup. By the time she returned, she looked so much more presentable that her father assumed she and Annika were going out for the night, and Annika seized the opportunity.

“Yes, sir,” she said. “Jill and I are off for a few hours of fun if that’s okay with you.”

“Where are you headed?” Walter asked. “Maybe I could drop you off.”

This unprecedented offer from her father was both shocking and revolting to Jill. She was so befuddled that the obvious answer,
No thanks Dad
, didn’t come to her in time, and she just stood there with her mouth open.

“Where are we going, Hon?” Annika asked Jill.

“To Nicky’s,” Jill said, remembering an offer Nicky had made the night before, and certain her dad wouldn’t want anything to do with a trip to the Bloom house. “Her stylist is coming over tonight to do a fitting for Brawl in the Fall and the Date Auction.”

“Perfect,” said Walter. “I’ll take you. It’s high time I met this girl’s family anyway. That is, if it’s okay with the two of you.”

“It’s more than okay, Mr. Wentworth,” said Annika. “Nicky Bloom is the next immortal. The sooner you get to know her, the better.”

Jill rolled her eyes.

“I’ll get the car and meet you out front,” Walter said.

“What about Mom?” Jill said.

“I’m sure she’s busy,” said Walter, then, with a goofy grin on his face said, “She probably doesn’t even know we’re here.”

Annika let out the perfectly appropriate giggle to match Walter’s tone of voice. Jill felt like she wanted to vomit. As her dad practically skipped to the garage to get the car, Jill turned to Annika.

“What the hell?” she said. “We’re taking my dad?”

“Of course we are,” said Annika. “I’ve got him on a roll. By the time we get to Nicky’s house I’ll have him in such a good mood the evening will be a certain success. Just call Nicky right now and let her know what’s coming.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, Jill pulled out her phone and gave Nicky a call.

The drive to Bethesda was thirty minutes of torture. Walter was on fire now, clearly excited to be hanging out with the cool kids. He was speaking to Annika as if they were equals, as if he, the balding, paunchy, owner of a computer company was cool enough to hang with two high school seniors.

They arrived at Nicky’s mansion at nine-thirty. Helena Marek, the Network operative assigned to play Nicky’s mother, answered the door and introduced herself to Jill’s dad as Helena Bloom. Poor Walter barely had his jacket off before Annika and Helena were double-teaming him with high society charm. They invited him to talk about himself in a way that he couldn’t help but sound impressive. By the time Phillip entered the room to play Nicky’s father, Walter was drunk on all the attention.

“This is quite an impressive home,” Walter said. “What brought you all to Washington?”

Walter’s question was DC-speak for
What do you do for a living?
Fortunately, Phillip recognized the code right away and answered appropriately.

“I’ve done well in the commodities markets these past few years,” Phillip said, beginning the cover story the Network had created for Nicky’s parents. “I’ll tell you all about it, but only after we have the right drink in your hand. I hear you’re a man who likes a good Scotch.”

“You heard correctly,” Walter said with a laugh.

While Phillip and Helena led Walter off to the parlor to seal the deal and make him a believer in the cause of Nicky Bloom, Jill and Annika went upstairs, finding Nicky and her stylist, Tommy, in front of a wall-length mirror in a large, empty room. Nicky was wearing a black shirt that wrapped low on her arms, leaving her shoulders exposed. The shirt worked perfectly with the torn blue jeans and ankle-high boots she wore with it.

“Wow, is this like a dance studio or something?” Annika asked, doing a quick pirouette in the wide open space.

“Hey there!” Nicky said, rushing away from the mirror to hug her guests. “Yes, it is in fact a dance studio. Wanna try a move or two?”

“Are you serious?” Annika said. “What kind of dance do you do?”

“I’m pulling your leg,” said Nicky.
 
“This is going to be an exercise room. We just haven’t moved the equipment in yet.”

“Ahh….got it,” said Annika, much more accepting of this explanation. Every Thorndike family either had a fully loaded gym in their homes or talked about building one some day.

Jill knew the real truth of the room in which they were now standing. The Bloom family exercise space, to be perpetually in need of the equipment the family has put off buying, was designed so vampire hunters could stand behind the giant mirror, automatic weapons in hand, and mow down Sergio Alonzo when he stepped inside.

Nicky introduced Annika to Tommy, who conveyed a cool confidence. He had an understated look about him on this night, a gray shirt, black slacks, black shoes—even his hair, which had a bright red streak mixed in with the thick black curls, was combed back and tamed. He spoke softly when he introduced himself, smiling and nodding as he shook Annika’s hand. It was as if he wanted to remind everyone that Nicky was the star of the show and the rest of them were meant to stay in the background.

Behind Tommy was a small clothes rack on wheels, with a dozen outfits hanging from a steel bar.

“We’re experimenting with some Brawl in the Fall looks first,” Tommy said.

“Is this one of them?” Annika said, grabbing the bottom of Nicky’s shirt and rubbing it between her fingers.

“I asked Nicky to pick some clothes from her closet that spoke to the look she wanted for Brawl in the Fall,” said Tommy. “So yes, I suppose you could call this our starting point.”

“The jeans are good—they really show off your assets--but the top is a bit plain,” Annika said.

“Maybe we keep the jeans and see what other tops Tommy brought,” Nicky said.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the lighting at this Brawl in the Fall event a bit…unconventional?” Tommy asked.

“Oh, it’s totally wicked,” said Annika. “We park in an open field that backs up against a steep hill. The setup crew builds a three-story bonfire right at the base of the hill and it burns behind the boxing ring all night long. It gives the night a sort of tribal feel to it. On the other side of the field, people park their cars in a giant semi-circle and leave the headlights on. You get these long shadows. It’s kind of erotic actually.”

“Interesting,” Tommy said. “Let me ask you…from your experience at the event, how well can you see people in this unusual light?”

“I don’t know,” Annika said. “You can see everyone, but it is kind of dark I suppose.”

Tommy turned to Nicky. “Do you happen to have a flashlight?”

“I can get one,” she said.

“Please do. I’d like to change the lighting in this room to better match what we’ll be working with.”

While Nicky left to get a flashlight, Annika and Tommy started going through the outfits on the rack, picking them up by their hangers one at a time and sharing notes. Jill stood off to the side during this discussion. Normally, she enjoyed a fashion show as much as anyone, but on this night it wasn’t working for her. It was the pretend aspect of it, the fact that she and Nicky were playacting for the benefit of Annika and Tommy. She wasn’t in the mood for pretend tonight.

She wondered if she was losing her taste for pretend altogether.

Nicky returned with two flashlights. Tommy set them down on two chairs against the far wall, turned them on, and killed the overhead lights. The room immediately took on a spooky feel, bright beams and shadows below their waists, a soft glow above them.

“Just as I expected,” Tommy said. “See how we all lose our color and detail when we’re not up close?” Tommy walked away from them slowly. “Do you see how I turn into a silhouette? All that matters is my shape.”

“So Nicky needs to wear something tight,” Annika said.

“We need something that holds her form,” Tommy said, now rifling through the clothes rack. “Something like this.”

He pulled out a pair of black leather pants.

“Seriously? You want to turn her into a biker now?” Annika said.

Tommy smiled, not at all threatened by Annika’s skepticism. He handed the pants to Nicky.

“What do
you
think?” he said.

“I’ll defer to my judges here once I’ve put them on,” Nicky said. “What about a top?”

“I’m looking now,” said Tommy, who was back at the clothes rack, moving his arms quickly, the metal hooks and plastic hangers making sliding and clacking noises as he searched. “Here it is.” He pulled out a black top that looked far too small for Nicky, or any other girl who weighed more than a hundred pounds.

“What is that?” Annika said.

“It’s handmade from a polyester and silk blend that hugs the skin like you wouldn’t believe,” Tommy said. “I bought this shirt and many others when the factory in Toulouse went out of business many years ago. It isn’t economical to make shirts like this in Europe, but after they moved production to Asia, the quality was never the same. You can rest assured no one else will have a shirt like this at the party.”

“You can say that again,” said Annika. “Good luck getting that one over your head, Nicky. It looks like it was made for a fairy.”

Nicky smiled and said, “I’ll be right back.”

When she stepped back into the room a minute later she wasn’t Nicky anymore, but rather a shadowy set of arcs and curves.

“Wow,” Annika said. “You weren’t kidding, Tommy. All that matters is her shape.”

Jill, who had long since given up on even feigning interest in this party, stepped out of the corner for a better look.

“What do you think?” Nicky asked.

“I think the boys are going to have a hard time keeping their eyes on the boxing ring,” said Jill.

“Sounds like a yes,” said Nicky. “Tommy?”

“This is the one,” Tommy said. “Looking at you now, I don’t see a girl. I see an immortal.”

“Which is exactly what we want them to see,” Annika said. “I’m impressed. Now what about the Date Auction?”

Half an hour later, with the lighting restored to normal and six rejected dresses tossed into the corner, the group agreed that a long black evening gown with a wide open back was the choice for the auction. They completed the outfit with silver hoops on Nicky’s ears and a braided silver chain necklace.

“We need to get you downstairs right now so Jill’s dad can see,” Annika said.

“I’m not sure about that necklace,” Tommy said.

“I think it’s perfect,” said Annika.

“For now it will do,” Tommy said. “I’ll leave your selections here for you and see myself out.” He kissed each of the girls on the cheek then went down the back stairwell, bypassing the downstairs guests altogether. Jill was tempted to plead exhaustion to her friends and have Tommy take her home, but she knew Annika wouldn’t hear of it. She followed the other girls downstairs so they could parade Nicky in front of Walter, who, in his visibly drunken state, thought she was “the most beautiful girl to ever grace the Thorndike campus.”

Phillip and Helena invited the girls to join the adults for a drink.

“You all go ahead,” Jill said. “We drove ourselves here tonight so I’ll have water and drive us home.”

Her father roundly approved of this idea, pulling the keys from his pocket and tossing them Jill’s way.

A long, brutal hour of flattery towards Walter Wentworth passed. Jill smiled and laughed at all the right times, but said nothing. The chatter might have continued late into the night, but Nicky rescued Jill just before eleven o’clock, asking if she could come upstairs to help her get out of the gown. Together, they went to Nicky’s room and closed the door.