All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [72]
Jay nodded, so apparently the instruction was sufficient for him.
“Zachary, you wait here until we know Sarah is coming out of the theater. We don’t want them to see you too early.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to scope inside the theater,” Adia said. “Sarah will sense me there. Maybe she will come right to me.”
“And the twins?” Michael asked. “It seems pretty certain they won’t let Sarah go without a fight. Do you really want to be alone on the front line?”
“Have we confirmed whether or not we took one out in the fight?” Zachary asked. “Michael, you say you saw Nikolas. But has anyone heard anything about Kristopher?”
“Nikolas is considered pretty unstable,” Michael said. “If I had successfully killed his brother, there’s no way he would have looked me in the eye and played nice when I saw him.”
“So it’s safe to assume we’ll be dealing with both of them,” Jay said.
“My source implied pretty much the same thing,” Adia answered. “That’s why the three of you are going to be close. I want to try to see Sarah alone, but if I get into a fight, I will call for backup. Jay, you’ll be able to sense if I’m fighting angry vampires, right? I doubt I’ll have time to grab my cell phone at that point.”
He nodded.
“Good. Then that’s that.”
She didn’t have any more. Her plan was concise and specific. If anything, she was relying on Michael’s assurance that Kendra had given her blessing to this, and on the ability of certain individuals to talk fast.
“ ‘The play’s the thing,’ ” Zachary murmured.
“What?” Adia asked.
Zachary looked embarrassed as he explained, “It’s from Hamlet. You know, Shakespeare?”
Adia knew of the play, but she hadn’t read that one in class. “I don’t read a lot of Shakespeare.”
Zachary seemed like he had to gather his nerve to reply, but nevertheless he did so. “Neither did I,” he said. “But I have a friend who likes it. We’ve seen a couple shows together.”
Adia didn’t know what to say to that, or why Zachary said it almost like it was a confession.
“Well, good for you,” Jay replied after a long hesitation. “Someday, Zachary, I think it would be interesting to meet your friend.”
“Okay, everyone,” Adia said slowly, thinking over the very few details they had. She absently patted the knife sheathed on her wrist. “Operation Seat of Our Pants is a go.”
They all moved toward their places. As Adia had predicted, it was a few minutes before intermission. Broadway shows were always too long for Adia’s taste. She never understood how people could tolerate just sitting, watching people walk and sing on a stage.
Was Sarah enjoying it?
Adia flipped through one of the souvenir programs, concealing her anxiety and even her presence from those around her. She had her aura masked so the vampires would not sense it, but Sarah had more than a vampire’s abilities; Adia was sure she would have enough of a witch’s magic left to be able to sense such familiar power near to her.
If Sarah really was still Sarah, and not just a monster, then if she knew that Adia was alone, she would come alone to talk.
Please don’t disappoint me, Little Sis, Adia thought desperately. Please.
CHAPTER 24
SATURDAY, 8:05 P.M.
THE CROWD WITHIN the theater was made up of individuals of all ages, in all types of casual or formal wear. Sarah saw more than a few double takes from other men and women as the vampires presented their tickets and were escorted to their seats, and she was acutely aware of the image she, Kristopher, Nikolas and Kendra made as they cut through the crowd.
Sarah had never lacked confidence. She knew she was attractive, in a trendy blond kind of way. But no fine clothes or fancy hairstyle would ever make her match Kendra, who radiated poise and power and beauty from her golden hair—truly gold, like beaten metal—styled in loose curls, to the tips of her five-hundred-dollar shoes, or Nikolas and Kristopher, identical seraphim who bore no resemblance whatsoever to the poor country farmhands Nikolas had