Shadows of the Redwood - By Gillian Summers Page 0,65
was bursting with people. They hung over the balconies and swarmed in front of the stage, holding drinks dispensed from a bar by the tall, splintery doors. Keelie leaned forward in her seat, holding onto the round timber banister (yellow pine from Alabama). From here she could see the front doorway, where people were still piling in, trying to squeeze through the crowd to find a good vantage point.
“I wonder if it was like this in Shakespeare’s day,” Keelie mused aloud.
“Before my time,” Sean said, and he was serious.
“It was much like this,” the man to her left confided. He wore a University of California-Berkeley T-shirt. “I come every year and bring my students.”
A fanfare played on long golden trumpets, and then Master Oswald introduced the festival court. The crowd went wild as the lords and ladies of the court sashayed to their places, dressed in colorful silks and satins and wearing bejeweled hats. Peascod, playing the royal jester, followed. He seemed to look straight at her, then pointed his jester’s scepter at her.
The biggest cheers were for Grandmother, who waved solemnly to the crowd, her red, pearl-sewn wig now sporting a tiny diamond crown. She looked pretty authentic, Keelie had to admit.
Grandmother held up her gloved hands and the crowd fell silent. All faces turned to her. “Play on, good folk,” she pronounced, and took her seat to wild applause. A cannon shot from the top of the wall, the boom rattling the whole theater, and then the actor playing Theseus stepped onto the stage, arms spread wide and face uplifted. Everyone settled in for a night of fun.
Back in the tree house later that night, Keelie didn’t have to fight to stay awake. The coffee they’d had at the Capulet Café had taken care of that. But then she’d studied the Compendium, and now she was yawning over her cup of tea. The elves could get rich selling sample chapters of the charm book as sleep aids. But Keelie had to stay awake, in order to bring Laurie up the sap when she returned. Scott had taken her for a long walk on the road that bordered the moonlit beach.
Grandmother was missing in action as well—probably carrying on with the rowdy players. It made Keelie twitch to think about it.
Keelie glanced up at the clock. It was 1:00 in the morning. She sat up, suddenly worried. Despite their active social lives, Laurie and Grandmother shouldn’t be out this late. She glanced over at Knot, who slept on his back with his paws up in the air. His tail twitched in his sleep, and he meowed angrily. Maybe he was dreaming about catching feithid daoine. Keelie closed the Compendium. She didn’t want to read about spells and charms, although the book really had some doozies. She wanted to sneak outside and be with Sean. The memory of his kisses trailing down her neck still lingered.
On the opposite side of the room, Risa lifted her eyes and scowled. She was reading a worn, leatherbound book. It looked like one of Elianard’s lore books.
Keelie glanced toward the door.
Risa closed her book. “Don’t even think about it.”
“What?”
“It’s written all over your face. You want to go down there and snuggle up to our favorite elf guy.”
“I thought you didn’t want him anymore?”
“I love Knot, but Sean and I were meant to be together. It’s an elf thing.” Her eyes rested on the cat’s sleeping form.
“Like I’m not an elf.”
Risa rolled her eyes. “You’re half elf. I’ll give you that. But you and Sean are too different, and it won’t last. When he’s tired of you, or you get old and ugly real fast because you’re half human, then I’ll be waiting.” Risa ran a hand over her chest to emphasize her point. “I’ll still be firm while you’ll be all saggy. Patience is an elven virtue that you obviously don’t have.”
Risa had given voice to one of Keelie’s worries: would she age faster than Sean? She wasn’t going to let Risa get the best of her.
“Who knows. Maybe I won’t age at all. Then what are you going to do? Dig in your garden and talk to your plants and collect cats?”
“Collect cats? There is only one cat I want, and we both know who it is.” Risa’s face became all aglow with adoration as her gaze fell upon Knot. “You took Sean from me, so I’ll take Knot from you.”
Knot yawned and stretched his paws, sinking his claws into Keelie’s thighs.