The Magic's in the Music (Magic Series Book 5) (16 page)

She glanced around the large bluff, surrounded by water on three sides. It was a lot of land. Only one other house was visible, to the south, built in nearly the same style as the old hacienda behind her, but more modern in its construction.

She hurried to catch up to Tammy. Lance galloped down the stairs ahead of them both. “Does your family own the whole bluff?”

“Yeah, over to that line of eucalyptus north and to the south around the corner,” Tammy threw back over her shoulder, pointing. “And up to the road, of course.”

It was huge. “Who lives in that other house?”

“Drew and Michael. Daddy built it for them.” Her expression darkened. “They stay up at the main house mostly now, though.”

It was funny that the whole family had been in the kitchen this morning. Then it dawned on her. She hurried down the stairs after Tammy. “Does your entire family live on the estate?”

Tammy threw a considering look back at her and seemed to answer carefully. “Yeah. Tris and Maggie live over the garages. Kee and Dev have the top floor. It was the old servants’ quarters back when this was a real hacienda. Kee’s studio is up there.” She got to the bottom of the stairs and pointed north to a development of cookie-cutter mansions about a mile north. They rose above the line of eucalyptus that marked the north boundary of the estate. “Kemble and Jane used to have a house over there, but they moved back last year. We’re, uh, close.”

Greta didn’t know what to say. It was sort of like the Kennedy compound at Hyannisport. Or the compound Marlon Brando had built for his family in the Godfather. Lots of security? It started to make sense. This family felt they were under siege. Wow. Maybe they were criminals. Maybe that was what Lanyon was running from.

That revelation surprised her. He
was
running from something. That was obvious now that she thought about it. What human contact did he have? Well, she didn’t know for sure. But someone whose requirements were that no one touch him didn’t seem like a joiner. Was he running from his family? But they seemed so kind.

She wanted to know more. How did you ask about that?

As they got to the bottom of the stairs, Tammy cleared her throat. “So, uh, Lan must like you a lot to rescue you like that.”

“Hardly. He looked really appalled when he first saw me at the bar at Magma, and he left immediately. Sort of like last night,” she added ruefully.

“Well, you know how guys are,” Tammy said.

“What do you mean?”

Tammy looked abashed. “Oh, just…that way.” She flushed and motioned Greta to the stables. Maybe, sequestered here, Tammy didn’t know much about how guys were at all.

The place had a huge riding ring filled with sand and what looked like little pieces of rubber, as well as a turnout, a barn with four stalls and some wash racks. The stalls were in-and-outs and in them she saw a white horse, a chestnut, a very fat pig and two goats with big, floppy ears. She and Tammy went inside to lean over the door to the far stall.

“This is Caliburn, Cally for short.” The white horse moseyed over to nuzzle Tammy’s palm. “Caliburn is another name for Excalibur, you know. He’s twenty-three, but he still likes to get out and do a little dressage work. He just has to warm up longer. I don’t jump him anymore.” She moved to the next stall where the chestnut horse was already hanging over the stall door. “Guinevere loves to jump. Don’t you, Gwenny?” Tammy stroked the velvet nose. Greta reached up and scratched her white star. The horse had some bad scarring on her haunches. “She’s a rescue.” Tammy moved down to the stall with the pig. “They all are, one way or another. The Emperor here should have been named Houdini. He kept escaping. But what fool would keep a full-grown pig in the backyard? People are so stupid. They get a cute little baby whatever and never think about what will happen when it grows up.” She moved down the line. “Napoleon and Josephine were just abandoned. Poor things. I got them from the shelter only a month ago, but they’re already filling out.” She walked into the stall, and the goats butted at her playfully. “Bad goats,” she protested, catching her balance. “You had your breakfast. And look. You’ve already messed your nice clean stall. I’m not going to clean it more than twice a day, you know.”

The rich girl cleaned stalls herself? “I noticed you don’t have a staff…” Greta said hesitantly.

“Nope.” Tammy’s countenance darkened. “Hired help hasn’t worked out too well for us. Besides, we’re such a big family if everybody does their part we get along fine.”

Greta was becoming an expert in Tammy’s animals, but she hadn’t pried out any information about what she wanted to know. Time for a direct approach. “So Lanyon still lives with the family? Must be kind of hard on a young guy like that.”

Tammy snorted derisively. “Lan shows up only under duress these days. Like when he would feel too guilty if he missed Mom’s birthday.” She shot a sly look at Greta. “Or when he dropped you off.”

“So…will he be back?”
That’s pathetic, Greta.

“If he isn’t, he’ll break Mom’s heart. So I hope so. But with Lan there’s no guarantee.”

Greta ran her hand over the rough wood of the stall door as Tammy fondled the goats’ ears. “I guess every family has a black sheep.”

Tammy laughed. “Lan, the black sheep? That was Tris. Lan was the happy-go-lucky practical joker.” She sighed. “Though since the accident…I guess you’re right.”

That was astounding on so many levels, Greta almost didn’t know where to start. She couldn’t imagine the Ghost as happy-go-lucky. “The accident…you mean your father?”

Pain flashed through Tammy’s eyes before she turned back to her goats. “Daddy wasn’t always like he is now.”

A girl who was in her twenties who still called her father Daddy? “You were his special favorite, weren’t you?” Greta asked softly.

Tammy shook her head. “I think he was most partial to Kee. But he was such a good father, he always tried to hide it. He taught me to ride. The day after he learned, he started me on my first pony.”

The day after he learned?
Odd way to phrase it.

“When the Enterprises got too time consuming and he couldn’t teach me himself, he got me the best dressage teacher in the world. She doesn’t come out here anymore. Doesn’t matter. Maggie’s a great teacher.”

That raised all sorts of questions. About just how isolated this family was, for instance, that teachers came here instead of Tammy going to their home stable. But she chose to ask about the other issue. “Enterprises? Is that the family business?”

Tammy looked relieved not to be talking about her father. “Yeah. Tremaine Enterprises. It does disaster relief logistics, and manufactures green technology stuff. Tris invented an engine that runs on recycled oil. Michael’s company came into the Enterprises last year, and now it manufactures Tris’s engines instead of guns or whatever it did before. And Devin is almost done with his plan for how to desalinize seawater way cheaper than you can now. The Enterprises will build that equipment, too.” She went quiet again. “Daddy used to run the business, but now Kemble does. Not as good as Daddy did, of course, but that’s okay.”

Didn’t that explain in a nutshell why Kemble wore a tie to breakfast when apparently he just worked at the house? Trying too hard to live up to Daddy? Greta cleared her throat. “What a talented family you have. Kemble runs the family business. Michael is a detective who owns a manufacturing company, the blond brother is an oceanographer, your sister is an artist, and Lanyon is a musician. What does Drew do? From the way she dresses, she could be a fashion designer.”

“Oh, Drew’s into…predictions these days. She helps in the Enterprises.” Tammy looked pleased with herself.

“Oh, like financial forecasting. I wouldn’t have pegged her for the numbers type.”

Tammy’s eyes went hooded. She looked away. “No, you wouldn’t, would you?”

“And you have a talent for animals.” Had Greta said something wrong?

“Not much of a talent,” Tammy said, sourly. “It’s not like I can help the family.”

And that’s what they all were doing, weren’t they? They all lived at the same house, and all worked in the Enterprises. All except black sheep Lan.

“Sometimes talent is about giving the world a special experience. It doesn’t have to be practical. Like Lanyon’s music. It’s…transforming just to hear it.”

Tammy gave her a knowing look, then shrugged. “I just wish he wasn’t in so much pain.”

Greta nodded. She hesitated, but she had to ask. “Is it just about your father’s accident?” Tammy pressed her lips together. Had Greta stepped over some line? “I mean you seem to have a great family. Very loving and all.”
Unlike mine.
“He’s really lucky in that.”

Tammy grew thoughtful. “I think it’s more that everything seems so…inevitable with us. You find someone to…marry. And you live at The Breakers and you help with the Enterprises.” Her expression darkened again. “Bad things still happen, too, even if your family loves you.”

Wow.
Looked like Lanyon wasn’t the only one affected by the accident that had changed Mr. Tremaine. “Yeah. I can see that.”

Tammy changed the subject purposely. “I bet you have a hobby or something.”

“Not really.” Greta didn’t want to get into that.

“I bet you do,” Tammy insisted.

What was Greta afraid of? She didn’t talk about astronomy around her agent or movie industry types because they’d peg her as an oddball. But what difference did it make if she told this girl, who had nothing to do with the business? She shrugged. “I’m into astronomy.”

“Really!” Tammy looked intrigued. “As in constellations and black holes and stuff?”

Greta nodded sheepishly. “I…I’ve always thought it was fascinating that light came from energy generated across millions of miles to shine down on us years later.” One of the goats came up and nudged her hand. She stroked the soft, flopping ears. “I mean, people are out under the stars all the time and they never even think about what a miracle they are.”

“So…the book you asked Ernie to bring over…is it about stars?”

“It’s a treatise on the formation of galaxies.”

“Fascinating.” Tammy rolled her eyes.

“I know. Weird. I have no idea how I got in so deep. I’ve…I’ve been thinking about applying to graduate school at UCLA in Astronomy.”

“Instead of acting?” Tammy was horrified if her expression was any indication.

Greta gave an apologetic shrug. “Yeah…I mean, I like acting and all, but it’s all I’ve been doing since I was nine when I didn’t have a choice. I’ve worked hard to make sure I did have choices, and astronomy…well, it just called to me.”

Of course no one would sympathize with that. Not fans like Tammy, not her agent. Definitely not her mother. And her father was beyond sympathizing with anything, being dead.

Tammy surprised her by nodding thoughtfully. “No, I get that. You have to do what means something to you. Maybe you could do both?”

Greta sighed. “That’s the problem. If I let my career go to return to school, there’s no guarantee I’ll ever get another job. People forget fast in this business. And I’d be branded as somebody who might just up and run off to study something weird instead of finishing the next movies in a franchise. I guess I could go to school later.”

Tammy shook her head. She came out of the stall and closed the door on the inquisitive goats. “No, you’d get caught up. People would want more and more movies from you, and pretty soon what you wanted wouldn’t even matter anymore.” Tammy looked up at her. “That’s why you don’t want an entourage, isn’t it? Even though you might really need help. You don’t want the responsibility of people depending on you because then you could never break away.”

Tammy was way more perceptive than Greta had given her credit for. “Yeah,” she said simply. “That’s about it.”

Who was getting more information out of whom?

‡

Jason pulled the
limo around to the Executive Terminal at LAX where Morgan’s plane had landed about half an hour ago with its precious, ancient cargo. Not looking so ancient anymore, though. Sitting next to two Talismans for nineteen hours and forty minutes had brought him back to robust middle age. That was apparently the peak of the human condition, where the development of the brain and experience balanced the deterioration of the body. At least that’s what Morgan thought, since that’s where she and Hardwick had stopped getting younger. Jason was only thirty-four, so the Talismans had no effect on him. But if he met this Temüjin guy on the street, Jason would guess him to be about forty.

He opened the door for Morgan and Temüjin. He and Rick put the crates that contained the Talismans in the trunk of the limo.

As he got into the driver’s seat next to Duncan, Morgan said, “Home.” In the rear view mirror, he could see her smile at Temüjin. She’d been teaching him rudimentary English on the plane. “We’ll get our friend to Joey, and then we can make more progress.”

Joey was essentially telepathic, but just in one direction. He couldn’t hear what you were thinking—thank God—but he could plant thoughts. Which was great for teaching languages as it turned out. Alexander had picked up English in less than two days. It only took Hannibal and Leonidas three days. Of course these military strategists were generally smart all around. After language, it was ‘all things modern’ as far as curriculum went. Usually, their interest in all things military kicked in and they progressed on their own. The only thing that was keeping their egos and ambition from killing each other was Morgan’s promise of limitless future power that would accommodate them all. Jason wondered how long that would last.