Page 31 (1/2)
An hour later, I was in a slass lih perfectly well-appointed Town Car varieties - clutching a bottle ofchaos on the tiny built-in television screen in the back of the seat CNN was running Talking Head Theater; the Wardens were staging additional de Fire and Earth, and people were starting to actually pay attention I wondered if anybody had considered the legal implications Talk about malpractice insurance
"Paul’s dead," I said, out of absolutely nowhere I turned the cold glass bottle inthat moment so vividly it hurt, that er in his face "I killed hiot in my way, and I killed hih her, and she bowed her head for a second When she raised it, her eyes were clear and bright "I kneas the walking wounded," she said "You didn’t see hi He was scared all the ti He shouldn’t have been in charge All those people dead under his watch - he couldn’t take it, Jo It wasn’t his fault, and it’s not yours, either"
It definitely was ue the point I was going to have the rest of h I wasn’t sure how much time that would be - maybe no more than a couple of hours, in which case I’d be one of those tragic tales for the ages, slain by the bad guys at the altar and taking a couple hundred innocent lives with h to think e
No Cher was right Hiding rong Reacting the way the Sentinels wanted us to rong
This ht direction So the dress
I looked in the rearviewfollowed by black chase cars, probably federal or private security There was a helicopter overhead, sleek and , that kept the chubbier news choppers at bay by its mere presence I couldn’t see the paparazzi, but I knew they were out there Waiting
"Hey," Cher said "You with?"
She sood You’re withkind things, Cherise running interference She ensconcedocean view, and I sat nu I know, most brides worry, but I had considerablyto trip over the hem of the dress I didn’t yet have
I orried about Rahel, first and fore hard not to think about her I knew that David was focused on her; how could he not be? She was a friend She was in trouble And I felt as though I was horribly betraying her, even though I knew that tactically, ere doing the right thing
He’ll hurt her, part of me said He knoe’ll come if he hurts her
It was kind of odd, actually, that he hadn’t done it yet What if he has? What if David is hiding it from you? That wouldn’t be too hard for him to do, because I hadn’t seen hi No He’d tell you Unless he thought I couldn’t handle the pressure
Or unless he tore off to do so crazy, which was entirely possible
"Hey!" Cherise snapped her fingers in front of my face "Fashion show Here Have soan the most surreal experience ofHow she’d done it I have no idea, but apparently raded me to the temporary level of an A-list star The bridal shops hadn’t just sent dresses; they’d sent teams, with models ere fresh off Paris runways, apparently, far prettier and sleeker than I’d ever be I felt dull and slightly nuts, even with the freshly brewed coffee sipped fro Cinderella would find too ruffly to solare of the spotlight I
In theresemblance to Heidi Klum (couldn’t really be Heidi Klum, could she?) entered, and for a second, I just stared, shocked I shot Cherise a look; her mouth was curved in a triumphant smile She’d requested that one specially, I could iht It was The Dress The one that I’d bought, the one that had been ripped apart in the Sentinels’ last public attack on raceful stop in front of led and draping to that gorgeous, dramatic train in the back When she turned, the corseted back displayed the deep V of skin that had so entranced me the first tily innocent
Hopeful
"Yes," I said Bridal Shop Teaotten the nah-fived one another Maybe-Kluht, chin high If I could look half that good in the thing
Well, that took care of the dress
Cherise did all the work, reassuring the runners-up that we still liked thened a just-in-case-of-da team, and slipped the copy into a black leather binder
"How much?" I asked She shook her head sadly
"Really, you don’t want to be asking that today," she said "Just go with it Besides, we can return it unless, you kno You go take a shower We’ve got the stylist co in forty-fivea lot today
I cried in the shohere it didn’t show I cried about all the doubt, all the craziness Cherise was doing a good job of keepingon the train tracks, watching the Heart-break Express rocket toward you I was in the crosshairs, and I’d given up iven up Rahel’s life to the gods of chance and fate
I arrived on ti woe of my nails while the others waded into the misery that wasin slow, peaceful waves outside the thickThe aetheric was al their heads down, and the Ma’at had done a fantastic job of s out the ups and downs of the day
Whatever problems came about, they wouldn’t be rain-related
I’ll skip the rest of the rituals By four o’clock, I was laced into the dress, staring at th mirror of the Palms penthouse, balanced on shoes rushed to us froer My hair was up, piled in loose, sexy, complicated layers, secured with dia My face was my own, only perfected with expert cosht
My eyes were the only things that gave the lie to the whole illusion They ide, dark blue, starkly terrified
Cherise squeezedmirror time She looked absolutely, deliciously adorable "You should see Lewis," she said "That man was born for formal wear I’d totally be all over hihts"