AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was no way I could do an aerial without breaking my neck. However, I was thirty to forty percent sure I could do a diving front roll. The odds weren’t the best, but if I did the dive in front of the camera filming us, it would look like I was flying.
“Who wants to go next?” Papa shouted.
“I will,” Quiet Guy said with a shy smile.
“Have at it,” Papa screamed, jumping up and down.
Papa was alarming. I hoped he wasn’t the main director of the show. The urge to throat punch him was strong.
Quiet Guy walked to the center of the room and put his arms out in front of him. He slowly rocked back and forth as he appeared to be looking down at the world from the sky. “Such a lovely place,” he said with an adorable grin. “The colors make my heart sing. And look! I can see my house. I feel like I’m a big airplane. It’s amazing! Would you like to fly with me?” he asked the camera. “Great! Let’s fly together.”
I tried to gauge which flying the producers liked better. It was difficult to tell. They clapped just as loudly for Quiet Guy as they did for Obnoxious Girl with Dumbass Pigtails. Personally, I liked Quiet Guy’s gentle style, but decided to go with the dive roll.
Big mistake. Huge. One of the hugest I’d ever made.
“You ready for your turn, Cecily?” Papa asked, bouncing up and down.
Watching a bald dude in his sixties called Papa bounce like a ball was scary.
“I am,” I said at a volume that was about halfway between Quiet Guy and Obnoxious Girl with Dumbass Pigtails. “Everyone, stand back. I’m about to fly!”
Obnoxious Girl with Dumbass Pigtails glared at me. Quiet Guy gave me an encouraging thumbs up and a sweet smile. The producers were on the edge of their seats. My confidence soared.
Taking a running start, I dove as I passed the camera. The cheers were music to my ears. As I went for the forward roll, it didn’t quite go as planned. Instead of a roll, I face planted. Hard.
“I’m fine,” I shouted, swiping away the sweat from my face that I didn’t realize was blood. I was pretty sure I heard screams, but my ears were ringing. I ignored them. “Let me try that again!”
I wasn’t certain, but I thought I heard Papa yell, NO. The ear ringing was loud. I spit out the hard gum in my mouth that I’d forgotten I was chewing and went back to my starting point. The producers were on their feet. I took that as a great sign.
It wasn’t.
As I ran toward the camera, I realized that the gum I’d spit out were my teeth. Needless to say, that threw me for a loop. But I kept going. The show must always go on, even if you’re bleeding and toothless. I misjudged the camera—probably due to the blood from my mouth that had spread to my eyes—and hit it as I dove. The sharp edge caught my forehead, and it felt like I’d been slashed with a knife.
However, this time I did finish with a very nice forward roll.
Then I passed out. The last thing I recalled before I was out like a light, was Papa crying. Maybe he wasn’t all that bad.
I opened my eyes. Cher, Sushi and Abaddon were quietly waiting.
“You didn’t see that?” I asked, waiting for them to burst into laughter.
“Didn’t see a thing.” Cher clapped me on the shoulder. “Good work!”
“One thing accomplished. Many more to go,” I patted my beautiful gown to make sure my meltdown hadn’t singed holes in the fabric. Amazingly, it was good as new. Magic was bizarrely unexplainable. “As much as it would delight me to give you all indigestion with my warped imagination, we need to go the palace and face Lilith’s Demons.”
“Your Demons,” Abaddon corrected me.
I looked at him for a long beat. “I hope so.”
He winked. “I know so.”
CHAPTERNINE
A castleof pure gold stood high and majestic as if it had come straight from the pages of a fairytale…on crack. Sparkling pointed towers reached into the inky sky and shimmered in the red sunlight. We stood on steps encrusted with jewels—diamonds, ruby, emeralds and sapphires. I’d bet my career that they were real. Blood-red rose vines snaked up the sky-high palace walls seeming holding the place together. Red poppies and hibiscus dominated the surrounding landscape. The moat, if you could call it that, was more like a turbulent river filled with fangy, slimy green mini-monsters that surrounded the massive and ornate structure.
There was no way to tell what time it was here. At home it was the middle of the night. Here? With the dark purple sky and the blazing sun, I didn’t have a clue.
After seeing the lovely safehouse that Lilith had built, I couldn’t imagine her living in the monstrosity I stood in front of. I sure as hell never wanted to live here. I much preferred my quaint little Craftsman in Venice Beach.
