My Marionette Lover novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Gala Invitation

"Eight weeks," Birdie said, still holding her phone up in the doorway of the Annex.

"That gives us eight weeks to do something about it."

"Or eight weeks to be afraid," Arlen said.

He sat on the daybed in last night's suit, with a mug of tea going cold in his hands.

My phone buzzed on the workbench.

There was no name on the message, only a black spool where the picture should be.

Monday, nine o'clock. The Foundation office. Come alone. I have an offer for the program.

"Don't go," Birdie said.

"Go," said Arlen.

We both looked at him.

"If she wants something, she'll say what it is," he said. "Then we'll know what she's afraid of."

"You can't come with me."

"No. She'd have me on a string before the door shut."

"Brad will wait at the gate," Birdie said. "With a butter knife."

On Monday I walked into Redfern Hall with my hands still wrapped in gauze.

The Foundation office was on the ground floor, a room of walnut panels and dead trustees in oil paint.

Augusta sat behind a wide desk with a tea tray in front of her.

She poured two cups before I had sat down.

"Those will heal," she said, looking at my hands. "Your thread will not."

"I didn't come for tea."

"You came for the program. Drink it anyway."

She slid a folder across the desk.

"Ten years of funding for puppetry, signed. Your scholarship restored, with a stipend. A new theater on the south lawn."

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