My Marionette Lover novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Birdie's Plan

We carried Arlen back across the river bridge.

By the time his boots touched the Annex floor, Augusta's thread had gone loose, and he was himself again.

He sat on the boards with his back against the daybed and stared at his right hand.

"Is he all right?" he said. "Tell me he's all right."

"Broken nose," said Birdie, from the sink. "He's holding a bag of frozen peas like a trophy."

"I'm fine," Brad called, nasal and cheerful. "I've had worse from a lacrosse stick."

"Brad, I'm sorry."

"I know, man. You were a puppet. I'm still mad at the puppeteer."

Arlen shut his eyes.

Then he opened them and looked at me.

"Hazel. I'm asking now, and I want it to count for every time after."

"Asking what?"

"If she moves me toward someone I love, pull me off them. Don't wait for me to say it. I'm saying it now."

I knelt in front of him.

"You're sure?"

"I'd rather be pulled by you than hit my best friend again."

"Then yes," I said. "You asked, and I'll do it."

He nodded once, and the breath went out of him.

Birdie dragged a roll of butcher paper across the workbench and weighted the corners with clamps.

She had drawn a grid on it in marker, with times down the side and names along the top.

"This is a cue sheet," she said. "A gala is a show. Shows have cues."

"Birdie," I said.

"Augusta wants you on a stage in front of three hundred people."

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