The Cerulean (The Cerulean Duology #1) - Amy Ewing Page 0,122
passion lay. Leo could read it in his father’s face as plainly as reading the headline of the Old Port Telegraph.
Leo looked at his reflection in the vanity. Determination gleamed in his turquoise eyes. His mother’s eyes. He ran a hand through his curls, his mother’s curls, and smiled his mother’s smile.
“Well, Father,” he said aloud. “It seems Agnes and I have something in common after all.”
Then he stood and headed to his sister’s room, to let her know she would not be helping Sera escape alone.
34
Sera
THINGS CHANGED IN THE THEATER OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL days.
In addition to James and the other performers, suddenly there were males painting big pieces of wood or sawing away at things, hanging lights and polishing surfaces, running strange-looking machines over the floors and seats. Several of them seemed to be working on what looked like a giant swing, a platform attached between two chains. Women came in with rolls of bright-colored fabrics, cutting and sewing and chatting with each other. They often cast Sera curious looks, though she and her crate had been moved to a spot behind Boris and her garden, so she wasn’t as visible as she had been before.
The garden had flourished since Boris had shown Sera her sprites, and the man with the two-pronged face hair named Martin was extremely excited by all the new flowers. There were ones with red and gold stripes that would bite you if you came too close to them, ones that sparkled when the sun began to set, and some that changed colors from day to day. He and a few other males kept talking about Sera, and she got the impression they expected her to have a role in the story of James versus the evil Pelagan woman. Leo hadn’t returned with Leela’s moonstone, nor had Agnes come, and the seed of hope she’d planted in her heart was beginning to wilt.
The fifth day after her evening talk with Leo, she discovered her role in the play.
“So, what’s the verdict, Martin?” James asked. “To what use are we putting our special silver friend?”
“I heard she’s a witch,” Gwendivere whispered to the man with the hairy lip named Grayson.
“I heard she’s a sort of healer,” he replied.
The woman scoffed, “Not likely! No, I heard she can cut men just by looking at them. I heard she cut Xavier’s own son.”
“Attention, please!” Martin clapped his hands. “As you all know, some adjustments have been made to the last scene. My darling Gwendivere, in the final confrontation between you and James, you will stab him with a poisoned blade. James, you will fall to your knees, cursing the Pelagan goddesses and such. William has written some very nice lines for you, and then we will bring, um, um . . . what are we calling her?”
“Azure,” James said.
“Yes, then we bring Azure down from the ceiling, lights will flash, and James will be healed and declare it a miracle from the One True God. Then the show will end as it always has. Gwendivere is defeated, James brings Errol and Boris—and now Azure as well—back to Kaolin, the famines and droughts are ended, and all is well.” Martin beamed around the room. “Satisfactory? Everyone on the same page? Excellent, we will practice this new ending without Azure for now. They are still working on her setup.”
Sera wondered how she was meant to be brought down from the ceiling. But the answer came later in the day, when Francis arrived to take her out of her crate.
Sera did not try to run—there were too many people around; she would not get far if she did. She had to believe that Agnes would help her, and Leo too, as strange as that felt. She had seen into his memories, and what she’d seen had only inspired pity. She found she could not hate him, now that she understood him.
She could hate his father, though.
James sauntered up as Francis was letting her out; he smiled and offered her a hand that she took only because she had longed to know what his skin felt like. Warm and rough, as it turned out. His hands were large, his fingers strong, and they inspired a flood of other sensations all over her body. Mother Sun, being attracted to someone could be quite befuddling and downright irritating when you were trying to focus your mind on other matters. Sera wondered how her mothers were not distracted by each other all the time.