My Marionette Lover novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Prince Remade

Arlen came out of the bathroom with a towel around his neck and stopped.

I had the wooden boy in both hands, and I was shaking.

"That's me," he said.

"It's you at nine."

"She was here."

"No. It was left." I turned the little figure over. "She can't come across the river. Somebody brought it."

He took it from me, and the black thread on its head swung.

I watched his face.

It went through fear and anger and settled somewhere I didn't expect, which was tired.

"She wants me to know she's watching," he said. "She wants me to flinch."

"Do you want to flinch?"

"I want pancakes."

I laughed so hard I had to sit down.

We wrapped the boy in a clean cloth and put him in a drawer.

I dressed, and Arlen ate half a box of cereal standing up.

Then he said, "Show me how to fix the prince."

The prop shop under the theater was a low brick room that smelled of glue.

Birdie had cleared one of the long tables and set out clamps, sandpaper, a pot of hide glue, and a coffee for each of us.

She wore her headset, though there was nobody to call.

"Rules," she said. "Brad is upstairs watching the door. Redfern, if you drip glue on the cedar, I'll bury you."

"Understood."

"And I'm told you two had a nice night."

Arlen coughed into his cereal.

"I'm only saying, the daybed squeaks," Birdie said happily, and went upstairs.

I pushed the three pieces of the prince together on the table.

The head was the worst.

The crack ran from the painted brow to the chin, and half his left cheek was missing.

"I can carve the cheek," I said. "But the join will show."

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