Through the Windshield Glass (32 page)

It was no use
arguing with Leigh anymore, she had a retaliation for everything I said, so I
let it drop.

"I'm glad
you're going to be my flower girl," I finally said to Leigh after a few
minutes of silence, "I would have asked you even if Daman didn't choose
you."

Leigh jumped
forward and hugged me tightly, "Please don't do it, I don't want to be
your flower girl unless you're marrying Michael!"

I pulled Leigh
away and stared into her eyes, "Do it for me, okay? I promise, if I ever
marry Michael you can be my flower girl there too, but I need your help to get
through this. Can you do that for me?"

Leigh blinked a
few tears away and nodded her head.

"Thank
you," I pulled Leigh back in for another tight hug.

The door opened
and Leigh and I jumped apart. A stooped old woman entered followed by half a
dozen demons bearing yards of white fabric, sewing machines, and spools of
white thread.

"I'm Kaia,
you must be Alice," the old woman extended her hand for me to shake. I did
so, but hesitantly.

Kaia put a hand
to the side of her mouth and whispered to me covertly, "I'm not one of
them, I'm just here to make your dress so our lovely king doesn't hurt my
family."

I nodded my
head and got to my feet, "Make me a dress then."

Kaia smiled and
motioned for the demons to put the materials on a cart they had brought in and
leave.

"King
Alecsander said not to leave," the tallest of the demons said. His eyes
were so light blue they almost appeared completely white.

"You may
tell King Alecsander that if he doesn't trust me alone with his soon to be wife
then he can make her a dress himself," Kaia returned with a pleasant
smile.

"We'll be
right outside," the blue-eyed demon said.

Once all the
demons had exited the room Kaia turned back to me, "Let's get to work
then."

Without so much
as a pause, Kaia stood up straight, stretched her back and began to change her
appearance right in front of me. First came the fake padding around her middle,
followed by the shapeless blue dress; under which she was wearing jeans like
mine and a loose blue sweater.

Her body looked
familiar, but it wasn't until she took off the wig and some kind of gooey
makeup on her face that I finally recognized her.

"Scarlett?"
Leigh and I said at once.

"How did
you get in here?" I asked.

"It wasn't
hard for Bridgette and me to charm our way past a few guards. We found the
palace seamstress and convinced her to loan us some of her clothes. None of
these demons really take much notice of how a person looks. All it took for me
to look somewhat like the little old lady was a little makeup magic Bridgette
knew. Bridge literally had less than two seconds to hide when those fiends came
to bring me to you."

I didn’t even
question where Bridgette had gotten the makeup. I just assumed it spewed from
her fingers like Spiderman’s web.

"So what's
the new plan?" I asked Scarlett. She was now looking through the fabric in
earnest.

"I'll fill
you in while we make your dress," Scarlett said simply.

Chapter Forty-five

Turns out
Scarlett really knew her way around a sewing machine, and her mouth. I’d never
heard her string so many words together at once, especially not while also
doing something else. She was an enigma that had me completely puzzled. But I
didn’t have time to solve her because I was too busy trying to process and
retain what she was telling me.

“The boys are
going to have a really hard time getting in here,” Scarlett started while
taking my measurements, “They’re pretty roughed up, not to mention they’re not
going to be able to flirt their way past any of these creeps.”

Leigh was
sitting cross-legged on the floor waiting for Scarlett to ask her to fetch
tools from the cart of supplies.

“However, from
the information Bridge and I were able to glean on our way in here; the wedding
is going to be a pretty big deal. It has to be from what we could tell. Which
means it’s going to have to be in an open place where a lot of people can
attend, most likely the courtyard. I saw it through a window when I was coming
up here, it’s completely gorgeous, you should see it, there’s a fou—“

I snapped my
fingers in Scarlett’s face as she stabbed me with a pin, “Focus!”

“Right,”
Scarlett said. I looked down to see that she had already constructed most of
what looked like a skirt.

“How are you
doing that so quickly?” I asked.

“I was a
seamstress before I died,” Scarlett said. That still didn't explain the
superhuman speed, “Anyway; a lot of the plan is still the same. You’re going to
have to get inside Daman’s head and take him out there and you’re going to have
to do it during the wedding, probably just before you say ‘I do’.”

“Why then?” I
asked, “Why can’t I just do it next time he comes up here to see me.”

Scarlett smiled
at me like I was some kind of sweet imbecile, “It’s bad luck to see the bride
before the wedding,” Scarlett said.

Scarlett had a
point there, “How am I supposed to do it then? I got inside his head once today
and he clammed up right away.”

“That’s where
this comes in,” Scarlett said. She held up a bit of grass for me to smell,
“Smells bring back memories, like the one of you marrying him in the park.”

I nodded my
head, “But what if he doesn’t remember the smell?”

“We have a few
more tricks planned,” Scarlett said.

“Why does it
have to be so close to me becoming his wife?” I asked.

“You ask a lot
of questions,” Scarlett said before answering, “He’ll probably be most
vulnerable then. He’ll be anticipating the power he’ll get and when you
hesitate it will make him antsy. It’s the best time. We also want you to show
him this before you attempt anything.”

Scarlett
reached into the pocket of her jeans and handed opened her palm to show me what
she was holding. There sat the ring Daman had given me in the park, inscription
and all.

“Where did you
get this?” I demanded of Scarlett.

She handed me
both pieces of jewelry, “We had it made after you told us what happened to you
in the hallway. We thought it might come in handy to have something that would
force him to think of a memory where he would be almost helpless. That’s why
I’m sewing the grass into your dress as well. It was all Michael’s idea.”

“And what
happens if I can’t get Daman into a memory and I have to actually marry him? Or
what if he ends up killing me before I can do anything to him?”

“Then we’ll
think of something else, but for right now, this is the plan. So unless you
have something better, just do your best to remember it and not mess it up,”
Scarlett said.

Who would've
known Scarlett could be so outspoken. She went over to the old, foot-action
sewing machine and began sending the fabric through it at an insane speed.

“You should
sleep,” Scarlett said over the thumping of the machine, “And next time they
bring food you should probably eat it.”

There was no
room for argument; it was starting to get dark again and I was near collapsing
point from lack of food and sleep.

Leigh brought
over a few bolts of fabric for us to rest our heads on and we fell asleep to
the lulling beat of Scarlett’s sewing.

When I woke up
Scarlett was gone, but in her place a wedding gown. It was exactly like the one
I had worn in the park with Daman. Even the beading was extremely similar. I
had no idea how Scarlett had done it so quickly. That kind of intricacy should
have taken her months and yet there it was after hours. It was inexplicable, at
least until I realized she’d probably started making the dress as soon as I’d
finished telling my story when I first arrived.

Sun blazed in
through the uncovered windows. My stomach jolted with fear. I had slept longer
than I had meant to.

“The wedding’s
tomorrow,” I whispered to myself. Leigh was still sleeping peacefully; she
deserved the rest, so I left her there and began pacing around the room.

An hour or so
later the door opened to reveal another demon carrying a tray of food.

“What time is
it?” I asked.

“About half
past noon,” the demon replied. I thanked him and instructed him just to leave
the whole tray on the floor. He looked at me strangely, but did as he was told
and left with a slight bow.

I began
devouring the food as soon as I was alone again, only just remembering to save
half for Leigh. I especially enjoyed the pomegranates and made sure to wipe my
red stained fingers on the white carpet.

Leigh woke up
not much later and ate the food with as much vigor as I had. We finally both
sat back holding our stomachs.

“I’m going to
throw up,” Leigh moaned.

“Make sure you
hit the carpet,” I said which caused both of us to laugh and almost heave.

“Where did
Scarlett go?” Leigh asked.

I shrugged my
shoulders and yawned, “I don’t know, but she may not be back since my dress is
done.”

“You should try
it on,” Leigh urged.

“I can’t right
now!” I said, “I’m so full I doubt it would fit, besides, I don’t want to wear
that thing until I have to.”

Before Leigh
could respond the door slammed open. It was Daman looking extremely agitated.

“What are you
smiling about?” Daman barked at Leigh.

“You’ll never
know,” Leigh replied folding her arms across her chest.

Daman rolled
his eyes and fixed them on me, they were normal, his pupils were dilated, and
he almost looked afraid, “The wedding has been moved up to tonight. You don’t
mind do you?”

I gaped but
couldn’t come up with anything to say.

“Good,” Daman
said. He turned and left, the door slammed shut behind him without help.

“What was wrong
with him?” Leigh asked.

“I don’t know,
but it’s a good thing Scarlett finished my dress or he’d be in an even worse
mood,” I replied.

“If the wedding
is tonight how is everyone else going to have time to get here?” Leigh asked.

I was fighting
to keep myself from panicking, “I don’t know, but if they’re not there I’ll
just have to do it myself and hope it works.”

“I’ll be
there,” Leigh said, “I’ll help you.”

“That’s good,”
I replied, “I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

I stuffed my
right hand into my pocket where I had put the ring. It was cold and familiar.
Just touching it brought back memories I had never wanted to think about again,
I hoped it would do the same for Daman.

Chapter Forty-six

Within an hour
my bare little room was teeming with activity. Demons brought in furniture and
old, vulture-like women circled around me. They scrutinized every aspect of me
before instructing me to change into a pink satin robe behind a divider that
had been set up.

One of the old
women helped Leigh change into a dress that was rose red. It didn’t seem to be
a color that Leigh found appetizing. She looked at herself in a full-length
mirror that had been brought in and shuddered, “I look like I’m covered in
blood,” she complained. I shook my head to rid myself of the image and
instead tried to bring the mood up.

“You look
beautiful,” I told her.

“So do you,”
Leigh responded.

“They haven’t
done anything to me yet.”

“I know,” Leigh
said. Leigh flounced to one of the windows and sat looking out at the expanse
of the world below her while I was preyed upon by old women armed with
instruments of torture.

My hair was
pulled, curled and painfully pinned and sprayed to perfection. My scalp felt
like it was barely attached to my skull and my forehead was stretched
painfully.

“Is there any
way you can just leave it loose and curly?” I asked breathlessly, “Maybe just
pin up one side?”

The old women
who had worked my hair into its current knot rolled their eyes, pursed their
lips and clicked their tongues angrily, but eventually they began ripping pins
out of my hair and softening the curls until I was satisfied with how it
looked.

More women came
at my face with all sorts of makeup products. I fought the women down on the
false eyelashes they attempted to glue to my eyelids. We all finally reached a
happy medium, I was still wearing more makeup than I was comfortable with and
three or four of the younger women were still menacingly wielding eyeliner
pencils, but we had run out of time to argue.

Leigh helped
bring my dress over and gave me a quick hug before she ran back to the window.

I closed my
eyes as I stepped in and allowed the dress to be laced up around me. It was
heavy and smelled strongly of grass, but it fit perfectly and when I looked in
the mirror I was surprised to find myself looking at a woman.

 I had
died a seventeen-year-old girl who had no thoughts except for how she was going
to spend her summer, but now I was looking at a woman, albeit a very new and
inexperienced one, who was getting ready to save her new world. I wondered if
my need for maturity had caused me to age slightly without me noticing. I had
made it a habit to pretty well avoid mirrors so it was a definite possibility.

“Wow,” I heard
Leigh say from behind me, “I didn’t know it was possible for you to get any
prettier.”

Leigh’s face
appeared in the mirror next to me. Her hair had been loosely French-braided and
tied in a ribbon to match her dress. She was holding a white basket filled with
white rose petals, and something that could only be my bouquet.

“Thank you,” I
said as I took the flowers from Leigh. The bouquet was made up of white
anemones and red roses. It reminded me of
Alice in Wonderland
. I
subconsciously rubbed my neck and hoped that I would not have to run from
guards trying to behead me.