Illusion Town (26 page)

The formal, hour-long covenant marriage ceremony was solemn and heavily freighted with traditions and rituals that went back two hundred years to the founding of the colonies. The service was held in a chapel in the Dark Zone—the same chapel in which Clara and Bernice had been married.

There was a standing-room-only crowd because this particular wedding had a couple of attractions going for it. The first and most obvious was that the bride and groom were, once again, briefly famous. After all, one of the heirs of the legendary Coppersmith clan was marrying the woman who had discovered Arcane's long-lost museum.

The second reason so many of the DZ residents were in attendance was because the bride and groom had let it be known that they would be making their home in the
Dark Zone. They were both officially members of the close-knit community now. Family.

Invitations had been coveted by every high-ranking member of the Arcane Society as well as various para-archaeologists and museum officials from the four city-states. The experts were given a carefully supervised tour of the carnival the day before the wedding. Several had declared it almost priceless. The bride, however, had managed to find a price and Arcane had paid it without quibbling.

Runner sat in the row reserved for family. His crew was seated directly behind him. All of the members of the DZ Delivery Service were spiffed up for the occasion. Their hair was slicked back, their jeans were new, their boots were polished, and the hardware on their leather jackets gleamed.

Ollie closed the House of Pizza so that he and his staff could attend. Hannah's friends and neighbors, the people who had known her all of her life, filled up the rest of the seats.

The groom's side of the chapel was also filled to capacity.

Elias's brother, Rafe, was best man. Rafe's wife, Ella, was in the front row with the rest of the family on the Coppersmith side.

There had been a special note on the invitations—
Dust Bunnies Welcome
. The result was that about a half dozen were in attendance. Among them was Elvis, the companion of the star reporter from the
Curtain
, Sierra McIntyre. His small white crystal-studded cape added some extra
glitz to the occasion. Sierra was there as a guest—she was married to John Fontana, the boss of the Crystal City Guild—and also in her professional capacity. She was covering the wedding for her paper.

Marlowe Jones, the director of the Frequency City office of Jones & Jones, and her husband, Adam Winters, the chief of the Frequency City Guild, brought Marlowe's dust-bunny pal, Gibson.

And of course, Lorelei, Ella Morgan Coppersmith's dust bunny companion, was there perched on the back of the family pew and carrying her own wedding veil.

There were a few others but Virgil looked particularly dashing in a black bow tie. He was on the back of the bride's family pew, clutching his prized Arizona Snow doll.

The musical cue sounded, reverberating throughout the chapel. The crowd got to its feet and turned to watch the bride come down the aisle.

Hannah and her small retinue emerged from the dressing room and paused at the back of the chapel. The bridesmaids made last-minute adjustments to the train of the white gown.

Clara, dressed in a tuxedo, took Hannah's arm.

“Nervous?” she whispered.

“Excited,” Hannah said. “Thrilled. Happy. And, okay, maybe a little nervous.”

“Everything is going to be just fine,” Clara said. “In fact, the future looks wonderful.”

“You sound very sure of that.”

“I am.” Clara looked down the aisle at Elias, who stood waiting at the altar. “After all, you're marrying the
man who knows why Bernice and I named the Magic Hannah orchid after you.”

“Because my talent looks a bit like magic?”

“No,” Clara said. “Because you are magical.”

Hannah smiled. “Thanks, but we both know I never had the talent to go onstage like you and Aunt Bernice.”

“You weren't born to be a professional stage magician but you changed our lives. Bernice and I are very different people now than we would have been if you hadn't wound up on our doorstep. We stopped the wild partying and got married because of you. We settled down, created a home, and made plans for a future all because of you. And now you're going to bring a little magic into Elias's life. He knows that. He understands how fortunate he is to have found you. That makes him the right one for you.”

“Aunt Clara, I'm going to cry and ruin the makeup that the nice cosmetician just spent half an hour putting on my face.”

Clara laughed. “Don't you dare. Remember the old stage motto: Never cry in front of an audience unless it's part of the act.”

Hannah sniffed. “Okay.”

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

The music rose to a joyous level.

Clara tightened her grip on Hannah's arm and escorted her down the aisle.

Elias never took his eyes off Hannah. In that moment she saw the promise of a lifetime of love and knew that
together she and Elias would create some real magic—a new family and a future.

*   *   *

The reception was held in the glorious rooftop gardens of the Amber Palace. Maxwell Smith had insisted on hosting the event. In Illusion Town you didn't turn down such a gracious offer from one of the members of the Club. And there was no denying the venue made a spectacular setting for a party.

There were the usual toasts with Smith's very fine champagne and various and assorted traditions were honored.

A hush fell over the crowd when Elias led Hannah out onto the dance floor that had been set up in the middle of the garden. When the music came to an end he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. There was a round of applause.

And then the fun really got started.

If there was one thing Illusion Town knew how to do well, it was throw a party.

A good time was had by all, including the dust bunnies who, after stoking up on the special wedding cupcakes that had been made for them, headed straight for the glowing pool.

Perkins served as lifeguard. Some of the guests were secretly disappointed when the frolicking in the water did not result in any emergencies requiring the butler to strip out of her elegant uniform.

Sometime after midnight the bride and groom took their
leave. Everyone assumed they were headed for one of the opulent honeymoon suites in the Amber Palace. But the truth—later reported in the
Curtain
—was that they spent their second wedding night in the bride's little apartment above her shop. When asked for a comment, the couple had explained that the apartment felt like home.

With the bride and groom gone, the rooftop party wound down. But the night was far from over. The human guests headed for the bright lights of the Strip where the glittering casinos and exotic shows awaited.

The dust bunnies allowed themselves to be hauled out of the pool but their fun was not yet over, either. Runner and his crew were waiting for them. They collected Virgil and his pals and headed for the newest attraction on the Strip.

The Alien Storm roller coaster was officially open for business. Tickets for the first couple of months had been sold out for ages. But the bride and groom knew some important people in town. The envelope that Elias had presented to Runner and his crew had contained passes for the night of the wedding. Management had agreed that dust bunnies could ride for free.

The night was still young and the tickets were good for an unlimited number of rides. As luck would have it, dust bunnies and humans had a few things in common when it came to the definition of a good time. Both groups liked their fun spiked with a few thrills.

In Illusion Town, the thrills were real.

Jayne Castle,
the author of
Siren's Call
,
The Hot Zone
,
Deception Cove
,
The Lost Night
,
Canyons of Night
,
Midnight Crystal
,
Obsidian Prey
,
Dark Light
,
Silver Master
,
Ghost Hunter
,
After Glow
, and
After Dark
, is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author of more than fifty
New York Times
bestsellers. She writes contemporary romantic suspense novels under the Krentz name, as well as historical novels under the pseudonym Amanda Quick. She lives in Seattle. Visit her online at jayneannkrentz.com and facebook.com/jayneannkrentz.

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