Page 79 of Bitten By the Basilisk

“Noted. You may lead the way,” she invited, moving to stand beside him.

She had been avoiding eye contact, but when he reached for her hand and threaded their fingers together rather than offer his elbow, she gazed up at him with the most earnest expression, which then softened into a bashful smile.

“Gladly, kitten.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Alice

The Undrowned Pirate ended with a standing ovation. Not only was the story gripping and the acting superb, but the stage setup was also quite detailed.

For the sailing scenes, part of a ship’s prow was wheeled out, which hidden stagehands rocked to mimic the ocean’s movement. Land scenes featured historic storefronts and candlelit interiors. An extended underwater scene included part of a sunken rowboat covered in barnacles.

Mom’s illusions elevated the stagecraft into what usually only existed in a big-budget movie or a theme park. She conjured the briny scent of seawater, the cries of seabirds, the boom of a cannon, and even swimming “fish” that the audience likely assumed were a surprisingly realistic projection.

For the underwater scenes, she conjured beds of seaweed that swayed in the currents, and though the actors “swam” with the help of wires, Mom used her illusions to disappear them and to make the actors’ hair and clothing float, as if blown by a fan hidden inside the sunken rowboat.

She even summoned sprays of water that ejected from the ship’s prow as it “cut” through the waves, water which then disappeared into “drains” as if on purpose. For one scene on land, she produced an eerie fog.

As Alice had suspected, the true story of pirate captain Corwin Moore was that he was rescued from drowning by a beautiful mermaid, Nerisse, who would seek out and follow his ship to catch glimpses of the handsome human. The actress playing Nerisse was a real mermaid with a sea-green and aqua-blue tail and multiple layers of iridescent fins.

Once the bloodthirsty minister was slain and tossed overboard to be fish food, Corwin and his beloved Nerisse shared their first kiss, and the stage curtains closed.

Throughout the play, the human audience in which Alice and Silas sat could barely contain their amazement. She heard quite a number of “wows” and loud gasps, not to mention the usual “oohs” and “aahs.”

Silas held her hand the entire time, and once the play ended, he was one of the first audience members to stand up and clap.

“I can’t believe how good that was,” the person next to her half yelled to their companion as the actors bowed to a cheering audience, the mermaid actress waving from the ship’s railing while Corwin’s actor stood next to her.

“We should see it again tomorrow!” their companion shouted back.

The director then came out to thank the audience for coming, praise the actors, and introduce the stage crew, who also received a thunderous round of applause.

Her mom stood smiling alongside three burly men, whom Alice’s ability sensed weren’t human. She imagined they’d lent their strength to moving around the set pieces and lifting the actors on their wires.

When the audience at last began to disperse, she and Silas made their way to the side of the stage where her mom was chatting with her fellow stage crew.

“Mom!” Alice called, waving to get her mom’s attention.

Grace beamed when she saw her. Alice gave her mom a one-armed hug, as her other arm held a bouquet of several varieties of purple flowers, including some that usually weren’t available in autumn. But not in Indigo Cove.

When Alice had first stepped into The Witching Flower, the number and variety of plants stuffed inside had been overwhelming, the air redolent with loam and vegetation.

In addition to fresh-cut flowers, the shop sold a wide selection of leafy indoor plants, succulents, small citrus trees, and even carnivorous plants.

She had sensed faint echoes of magic in the leaves and stems, and stronger magic emanating from a secondary room in back where the local witches went for some of their spell ingredients, according to Silas.

While the warlock owner and his human wife had fussed over creating the perfect bouquet, Alice’s ability pinged the warlock’s verbal tic as a faery curse, albeit a minor one that seemed more like a nuisance than a liability. First and foremost became “foremost and first,” and last but not least turned into “not least but last.”

Her ability had also shown her the red thread tying the couple together, its appearance making her heart ache with more longing than usual.

“Oh, they’re beautiful, sweetie! Thank you,” Mom gushed as she accepted her bouquet. “Did you both enjoy the show?”

“It was splendid,” Silas said, laying his hand over his heart. “I didn’t want it to end.”

Alice nodded firmly. “The entire audience was eating it up. You must be so exhilarated!”

“Yes, I’m much more relieved than I thought I’d be,” Mom admitted with some chagrin, before eagerly asking, “What was your favorite part?”