Page 137 of Specters & Spotlights

“I am very much not giving you permission to vanish heroically tonight.”

Kevin cleared his throat, though he did not have one.

“Well,” he said, voice rough around the edges. “Far be it from me to ignore directorial feedback.”

A laugh escaped her, shaky and wet.

“I mean it,” she said. “I’ll need your help out there. Being Elizabeth? I… I can’t do that alone.”

Kevin straightened like she’d given him a job title and a badge. “You won’t. I’ll be with you,” he said, the flicker of a grin on his near-transparent face. “It’s about time you were center stage. You were born for this.”

Elise gave him a look.

“Do not make me cry after Marcie finished my eyeliner.”

“Fine,” he said. “Then go knock their socks off.”

Elise let out a shaky breath and stood.

When she opened the door of the wig closet, she nearly walked straight into a wall of people.

Nick was first, fixing her with a grin that didn’t quite hide the worry behind it. “Break a leg. But like… not literally. We’re out of understudies.”

Marcie appeared at her elbow, fussing with the fall of Elise’s sleeve. “Your collar’s crooked. You’re lucky I like you.”

Bex pressed a folded tissue into a hidden pocket in Elise’s costume. “For the tears. Yours, ours—who knows.”

Casper and Jasper flanked her like matching bodyguards, muttering something about grounding vibes and spell security detail.

Jen pushed into the circle with her headset half on. “You’ve got two, then it’s curtain up.” Her voice softened. “You’re going to be amazing, you know.”

Elise felt it before she understood it: how the circle closed, quiet and sure. Not with fanfare. With presence.

The photo and the watch were placed in her hands by Talia, who just squeezed her wrist once, hard.

And then they were all waiting.

Not for a speech. Just for her to be sure.

Elise glanced back at Kevin, watching from the wig closet, translucent and proud and still too faint for her liking.

Her fingers curled around the watch.

“I used to think the best way to survive was to stay behind the curtain,” she said, eyes flicking to each of them. “To help from the sidelines. To never be the story.”

Her gaze moved over them all. The watch pulsed warm in her palm.

“But tonight… I think the only way forward is through it. And I’m not doing this alone. You’re with me.”

Someone sniffled. Probably Casper. Possibly Nick.

Elise smiled—just a little. “Let him come. I’m ready.”

Everyone scattered—except Graham.

He stayed, reaching for Elise’s hands like he was anchoring her to Earth.

“You know,” he said, in that quiet, earnest tone that completely wrecked her defenses, “I think you might be the bravest person I’ve ever met.”