Demonosity (17 page)

“Hey, there you are.” Reuben suddenly appeared at her side, causing her delicious Travis bubble to pop. She turned to face him and tried to ignore how his sludge-colored eyes were ringed with guyliner and his black hair was sticking out in all directions. “I was hoping to see you so we could arrange our date.”

“Reuben, there’s no date.” Cassidy folded her arms. “I said I would talk to you about stuff. It’s not the same thing.”

“It is to me,” he assured her, not remotely put off by her lack of interest. Perhaps she hadn’t quite mastered Thomas’s glacial glares yet. She would have to work harder on those.

“I’m serious. I’m never going to change my mind about this.”

Suddenly, his face darkened. “This is about that Travis guy, isn’t it?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“He’s bad news, Cass.” Reuben shook his head as he began to tap his backpack with his fingers.

“Why? Is it because he’s a nice guy? Or so good-looking? I can see how you would find that disturbing,” Cassidy was stung into replying, since Reuben didn’t seem to take regular-size hints.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he snapped in a high-pitched voice that made Cassidy wonder why he was wasting himself as a stage manager when he had such a flair for drama. But before she could answer, she looked up and saw Celeste disappearing through a red door into the changing rooms. She quickly checked the grimoire, but it wasn’t glowing, so that meant there were no demons around. It also meant that it was the perfect time for her to try to befriend Celeste.

“Reuben, I’ve got to go,” Cassidy said, then, not waiting for an answer, she followed Celeste to the changing rooms.

A long mirror ran down one wall, and Celeste stared at her reflection while she unscrewed a tube of mascara. As soon as she saw Cassidy in the mirror, she slammed the mascara down on the table in front of her and glared. “What?”

Cassidy took a deep breath and made a mental note to get an easier hobby, like skydiving or alligator wrestling. Then she stared at Celeste’s unflinching face and plastered on a bright smile.

“H-hi, Celeste. The thing is, I’m not sure if you know this, but I’m your understudy.”

“Yes, loser, I do know. I also know that Rachel was meant to get that part, so in case you can’t tell by my superb acting skills,
I’m not happy
.” Celeste folded her arms and poked out her bottom lip, still staring into the mirror.

“I know. I really am sorry. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to you,” Cassidy said in an appeasing voice, wondering if she was going to have to talk to the back of Celeste’s head for the entire conversation.

“You think you’re so great, don’t you?” Celeste bristled as she finally turned around, her blue eyes narrowed. “First, you convince Nash not to be in the play, and then you go and ruin everything with Travis as well. Do you even care that I wanted to put this performance on my reel?”

Cassidy wrinkled her nose in confusion. “What do you mean? Travis
is
in the play. He’s going to be Romeo. You can’t be pissed at me about that?”

“He
was
going to be Romeo,” Celeste corrected in a dark voice. “But yesterday afternoon when I tried to convince him to start practicing lines with me, he just totally ignored me. Like I wasn’t even there.”

“P-perhaps he had other things on his mind?” Cassidy stammered, secretly wondering if the reason he had ignored Celeste was because he was too busy thinking about their rooftop kiss. “It doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be Romeo.”

“Actually, it does,” Celeste said. “Because he went to see Mrs. Davis this morning, and he’s now going to be Tybalt, while I’m stuck with Benjie Western as Romeo. Who, in case you hadn’t realized it, is two inches shorter than me. Seriously?”

“What?” For a moment Cassidy thought that Celeste was joking, but then she realized, despite her boasting, she just wasn’t a good enough actor to fake it. Which meant it was true. “I don’t understand.”

“Yes, well, that makes two of us. I mean, Tybalt dies at the beginning of the third act.” Celeste shuddered. “And did you not see Travis at the auditions? He was born to play Romeo.
My
Romeo. But for some reason he’s changed his mind, and I think it’s because of you.”

“I swear, it’s got nothing to do with me. I saw him audition, and he was—”

“Sublime? Indescribable? Heartbreaking?” Celeste cut in.

“Yes.” Cassidy nodded dumbly. “He was all of those things. He was amazing.”

“So you really didn’t have anything to do with it?” Celeste asked, letting some of her animosity dissolve.

“No.” Cassidy shook her head and gave Celeste a hopeful smile. “Though honestly, you’re such a great actress, it doesn’t matter who plays Romeo—you’ll still shine.”

“I am pretty amazing, aren’t I?” Celeste agreed.

“You are.” Cassidy took a deep breath. Here was her chance. “And as your understudy, I’m sure I could learn loads if I was able to study what you did. You know, follow you around and stuff?”

“Well, I suppose for the sake of the play that I should let you. And between you, me, and the wall, Rachel has the tendency to squint when she’s onstage. Not that I plan on missing a performance, you understand, so don’t get your hopes up,” Celeste warned before nodding her head. “However, if I were to miss a performance, it would be much better if you had all of my mannerisms. It could be like a tribute to me.”

“Uh, exactly,” Cass hesitantly agreed. “And while I doubt I will even get onstage, it would be great for my future roles if you would let me follow you around.”

“I guess that’s okay,” Celeste conceded. “But don’t expect me to talk to you or anything.”

“Definitely not.” Cassidy let out a small sigh of relief, since she had thought this was going to be a lot more difficult. Then she waited until Celeste had touched up her mascara before following her back out to the auditorium. Celeste immediately made a beeline over to Reuben to discuss her lighting requirements, and Cassidy sat down and tried to figure out why Travis had decided to not play Romeo.

Was it really because of her? She fished the carnelian necklace out from under the floral-print dress she was wearing and began to toy with it, as she—

Amber swirling eyes. Pain. A single feather split into two pieces, falling to the ground, and her being forced to watch, helpless to stop them both from landing like an explosion, forever staining the scorched earth with their crimson blood, which flowed like teardrops—

“Hey.” Travis suddenly appeared next to her, his dark eyes intense. Today he was wearing jeans and a pale blue T-shirt that showed off his tan. “Are you okay? Has something happened?”

“N-no.” She managed to shake her head, as much to push away the last threads of the vision as anything.
How did Thomas deal with such horrific sights and stay sane?
she wondered, before she realized that Travis was still next to her, concern written all over his gorgeous face. She took a deep breath, grateful that his presence was there to center her. “Everything’s fine.”

“Well, good.” He nodded as he leaned forward and began to play with the carnelian that had fallen out of her fingers during the vision. He gave her a dazzling smile that spread across his whole face like liquid sunshine. “You had me worried there.”

“Don’t be,” Cassidy said, touched by his concern, but also eager not to have to explain what had just happened. Not because she wanted to keep secrets from him, but because she had no idea how to explain it or even what it meant. “So I’ve just been talking to Celeste. She said that you’re not playing Romeo anymore. Is that true?”

For a moment Travis was silent as he leaned back in his chair and raised his hands in the air. Then he turned back to her and slowly nodded. “Yeah, it’s true.”

“But why would you ask to change? I mean, Travis, you were seriously amazing as Romeo. My heart was aching for you.”

“Well, right there’s a good enough reason not to do it, since I
never
want to make your heart ache, Cass,” he said in a light voice before taking a deep breath. “Okay, the real reason was that I just couldn’t see myself performing with Celeste. It didn’t feel right.”

“But to play Tybalt? He’s, like, the bad guy,” Cassidy protested, unable to hide her confusion.

“I guess it depends on how you look at it,” Travis said, a far-off look in his eyes. “Everyone’s the hero of his own story. Tybalt just thought he was protecting Juliet’s virtue and the family name. And he was willing to die for what he believed in.” Then he paused for a moment before grinning at her. “I think I can really bring the role to life.”

Cassidy was embarrassed that she’d never considered it from that point of view before. She made a mental note to discuss it with Nash later, since this was more his area of thinking than hers. Then she realized that Travis was almost nervous as he waited for her to respond. She shyly reached out and touched his hand.

“I think you’ll be even more amazing than ever.”

“Thank you,” he said, his voice low and gravelly as his fingers threaded ever tighter through hers, making her stomach contract. “And by the way, I was thinking that perhaps I should meet your dad. Especially if I’m going to date his daughter.”

“Y-you want to date me?” Cassidy stammered.

“Well, yeah,” he said, as the elusive dimple suddenly appeared. “Unless, of course, you’re in the habit of kissing random guys.”

Cassidy giggled as she felt herself getting lost in his warm eyes. “I’d love for you to meet my dad.”

“Good.” He looked relieved, but before he could say anything else, Mrs. Davis clapped her hands for silence. She then spent the next forty minutes talking about fire exits and the rehearsal schedules until Cassidy thought she might lose the will to live. Finally, it was over, and Mrs. Davis told them that this was going to be an experience they would never forget, before reminding them not to be late for tomorrow’s rehearsal.

Cassidy turned to Travis to see if she could spend a few more minutes with him before she had to go back on Celeste duty, and caught sight of Nash hurrying toward her. His face was drained of color, and he was holding his cell phone in his hand. She raced to meet him.

“What’s going on? Has something happened?”

“Cass, don’t freak, but your mom has been trying to get ahold of you. Your cell phone must be dead. They’re at the hospital.”

The script she had been holding fell to the ground in a flutter, but she hardly noticed as Nash was suddenly next to her, his arm around her. It took all her willpower to speak. “Wh-what’s wrong? Is it my dad?”

“He had problems breathing, so they’re running tests now. They’re at Greenburg General over on Main Street. The third floor. Come on. We can go there right now.” Then, without another word, he ushered her out of the auditorium toward the parking lot. Cassidy was silent. Suddenly, it seemed as if someone had turned out the lights.

Cassidy was numb. Not only from the shock of finding out her dad was in the hospital but also because of the uncomfortable plastic chair that she’d been sitting on for the last hour. Next to her, Nash was unconsciously tapping his nails against the spine of a book in a repetitive beat.

Dedah. Dedah. Dedah.

Normally, the noise would’ve driven her crazy, but now she almost found it soothing because it helped her focus on the small things. Reminding her to breathe. Reminding her not to grind her teeth or scream. To stay calm. To have hope. Plus, even if she’d wanted to tell him to stop, she wasn’t sure that she could bring herself to speak. So far, they hadn’t had any real news, but ten minutes ago the doctor had come out and was now talking with her mom in a room over to the left. It seemed to be taking forever.

Dedah. Dedah. Dedah.

“Are you sure I can’t get you a soda?” Nash suddenly stopped his drumming, his pale eyes full of worry, but before she could answer, the door opened, and her mom appeared. Cassidy reached for Nash’s hand and squeezed it. Her heart pounded so loudly that she was surprised no one else could hear it.

“Mom?” Her voice was little above a whisper.

“He’s got a blood clot in his leg,” her mom said in her normal, straightforward way.

“Deep vein thrombosis.” Nash let out a gasp as he knitted his brows. “It’s always a risk after surgery. Were they not giving him any blood thinners?”

Her mom gave a sigh. “They said he was at low risk, and so they just advised him to take an aspirin every day.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. What’s wrong with him?” Cassidy felt her own lip start to wobble as a strangled noise escaped her throat. She began to shake, and Nash put his arm around her shoulders.

“For the last two days your father’s leg has been hurting,” her mom said, “but he thought it was just from all the exercises he was doing. Then today he had problems breathing, so I brought him straight here. They’ve just done an ultrasound and found a clot at the back of his knee.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Cassidy was so cold now that she could hardly feel Nash’s arm around her. “Can he come home?”

“They’re going to keep him for a couple of days to dissolve the clot, and they’ll also do some more tests to see if he has any genetic blood-clotting disorders or if there are any other clots. But the good news is that they discovered it so quickly,” her mom said.