"We were up late last night," Dani said. "It's not Thea's fault."
"Your grandma's really doing well," Vivienne said kindly. "She just needs to rest for a while-Mom'll probably keep her at our place for a couple of days. Sleep heals, you know."
Thea felt a tiny breath of relief, like a spring breeze. If Gran was getting better she had one less thing to worry about. "Thanks, Viv. Please thank your mom, too."
Blaise raised her eyebrows and made a tiny sound like "Hmf." Then she tapped her chin with one long nail. "A trial run..." she said again, gazing far away.
She was dressed unusually, in a bronze silk jacket with a high collar that was zipped up to her chin. Thea had a sudden sinking feeling.
"What are you trying out?" Dani asked.
Blaise gave them a slow smile. "Hang around and you'll see." She scanned the courtyard and said sweetly, "And there is the perfect mark. Selene, will you go ask him to come here?"
Selene got up and languidly drifted to the boy Blaise had pointed at.
Thea recognized him. He was Luke Price, a guy who drove a sleek red Maserati and looked like a bad-boy Hollywood star. He was fashionably unshaven and unkempt, had electric blue eyes, and
right now looked vaguely surprised to find himself following Selene back to Blaise. "Luke, how's it going?" Blaise said pleasantly. Luke shrugged. "Okay. What do you want?" His electric blue eyes lingered on Blaise, but he was obviously used to playing the tough guy with girls.
Blaise laughed shortly, as if taken off guard by the question. "Nothing I can have," she murmured-and then looked slightly startled at herself. "I want to talk to you," she said smoothly, recovering. "And..." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Maybe the keys to your car."
Luke laughed out loud. He leaned one hip against the concrete wall by the stairs, two fingers fishing in his T-shirt pocket for a cigarette.
"You're crazy," he said indistinctly.
Dani coughed as smoke drifted toward her. Thea swirled her plastic bottle of Evian water in one hand.
Blaise made a face. "Put that out; it's disgusting," she said.
Luke blew smoke toward her. "If you've got something to say, say it." He was eyeing Blaise's zipped-to-the-neck jacket with disfavor. "Otherwise stop wasting my time."
Blaise smiled.
She touched the zipper at her throat. "You want to guess what's under here?"
Luke's eyes went up and down the silk of the jacket, particularly where Blaise made it curve. "Maybe you'd better show me."
"You want me to show you? You're sure, now?"
Thea looked heavenward, thumb playing with the opening to her Evian bottle.
Luke was scowling, blowing smoke between tight lips. His electric blue eyes were narrow. "I think you're some kind of tease...."
Blaise took the zipper between two fingers and slid it down.
The necklace fit like a collar, lying against the pale skin of her throat and the matte black of her simple blouse. And it was everything Thea had known it would be.
It was delicate, exquisite, magical. Swirls of stars and moons in enchanted patterns. Gems of all kinds tucked into the mysterious curves. Green garnet, imperial topaz, sunstone, cinnabar. Violet sapphire, African emerald, smokestone.
It seemed to move as you looked at it, the lines changing and flowing. Pulling you into the center of its mystery, winding around you like strands of softly burnished hair. Holding you fast...
Thea pulled herself away with a physical jerk. She had to shut her eyes and put up a hand to do it.
And if it does that to me...
Luke was staring. Thea could actually see the change in his face as the necklace worked its spell. Like some Oscar-winning actor transforming from bad boy to vulnerable kid right there on screen. His jaw softened, his tight lips relaxed. The muscles around his eyes shifted and he lost his tense squint. He looked surprised, then defenseless. Open. Those electric blue eyes seemed dazzled, pupils widening. He sucked in a breath as if he couldn't get enough air. Now he looked awed; now hypnotized; now yearning...
Spellbound.
Luke had been transformed. His whole body seemed smaller. His lips were parted. His eyes were huge and full of light. He looked as if at any second he might fall down and start worshiping Blaise.
Blaise sat like a queen, with her midnight hair tumbling around the necklace, her chest moving slightly as she breathed, her eyes as brilliant as jewels.
"Put the disgusting cigarette down," she said.
Luke dropped the cigarette and stamped on it as if it were a spider.
Then he looked back at Blaise. "You... you're beautiful." He reached a hand toward her.
"Wait," Blaise said. Her face assumed a tragic, wistful expression. "First, I'm going to tell you a sad story. I used to have a little dog that I loved, a cocker spaniel, and we would take long walks together around dusk."
Thea gave her cousin a narrow sideways look. She'd never heard such a lie. And what was Blaise talking about dogs for?
"But he was run over by an eighteen-wheel Piggiy Wiggly truck," Blaise murmured. "And ever since, I've been so lonely.... I miss him so much." She fixed her eyes on the boy in front of her. "Luke . .. will you be my little dog?" Luke looked confused.
"You see," Blaise went on, slipping a hand in her pocket, "if I could just have somebody to remind me of him, I'd feel so much better. So if you'd wear this for me..."
She was holding a blue dog collar.
Luke looked even more confused. Redness was creeping up his neck and jaw. His eyes filled.
"For me?" Blaise coaxed, jingling the collar- which was way too big for a spaniel, Thea noticed. "I'd be so grateful."