Page 94 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse
Well, that took the pressure off somewhat, but it also made me feel irrelevant. Way to boost a girl’s confidence!
For the next hour, Drevan explained thescheme. And for the next three after that, we practiced how to entangle Richard Bamford III in our web.
The horrible man was hosting an art charity event at his nearby vacation home, and Drevan had procured an invitation for Sage and me. Once there, we were supposed to approach him to suggest a business proposition he couldn’t refuse.
The entire afternoon my gut was twisted into knots. I was terrified I would screw things up, or potentially get caught and killed. More than once, I had to run to the restroom to take deep breaths and tell myself it would be all right. But as the time approached, my fear and doubt were almost out of hand.
“Anyone care for a light dinner before we leave?” Drevan asked as we prepared to go change our clothes. “I can call Priscilla and ask her to prepare something.”
Sage shook his head, looking a little green. I shook my head too, unable to bear the thought of food. Jenna and Benjamin didn’t seem too enthusiastic, either. In the end, it turned out that Drevan didn’t have a task for them and they would stay safe in the house, but maybe they had sympathetic jitters for our sake.
As my friends got ahead, I grabbed Drevan’s arm, urging him to stay. He glanced down at my hand, looking as if the touch bothered him.
I let him go. “Um… are you sure it will be safe for us to go to that man’s house?”
“Perfectly safe. As I said, I will make sure of that. I will keep an eye open for Jophiel and LeBeau. They shouldn’t suspect what we’re up to, but I will not underestimate them.”
“I… I don’t think that—”
“You’ll do fine, Lucia. You’ll see. This kind of subterfuge is right up your alley.”
“Maybe it used to be, but now, I’m not so sure.” The old Lucia had no trouble lying or inventing things. I’d pulled pranks, juggled more than one boyfriend at the same time, lied to Mom constantly about one thing or another. For all intents and purposes, I was an accomplished pretender, just the right person for the job. Except I didn’t feel so confident anymore.
“Don’t overthink it,” Drevan said. “Just let your instincts take over.”
I nodded and headed up a massive wooden staircase that led to the mansion’s bedrooms, where we’d been instructed to change. Sage and Benjamin had already gone, and Jenna had waited at the foot of the stairs. She joined me, and we went up together.
“Next time,” Jenna huffed as we climbed the steps. “Drevan better find me something other to do than help you get dressed.”
“I’m sorry. You don’t have to help. I can do it.”
“I don’t mind helping you. I want to. It’s just… I want to do more.”
“I know.”
As it turned out, Jenna couldn’t even help me get dressed because Priscilla was there, waiting with a makeup case and hair implements galore, ready to beautify me. She immediately got to work, while I wondered if she was a demon or one of Drevan’s human, zero-sum helpers. I really hoped she was the latter and decided that I couldn’t postpone my decision to get Truesight anymore.
I just hated not knowing.
32
Thewomaninthemirror wasn’t me. I shook my head at her, and she shook hers back.
“You look amazing,” Jenna said behind me.
I glared at the stranger that was supposed to be me. “I feel like such a fraud.”
“You shouldn’t, you look like the real deal.”
I’d always been a jeans and hoodie kind of girl. And makeup? I thought it was impractical and time-consuming, but now… Priscilla had done an amazing job. My eyes sparkled, matching the dress, and my complexion looked flawless, yet natural. And what had she done to my hair? I’d tried to watch closely, but it’d been no use. Braids had always seemed too complicated, even simple ones, but this updo was completely beyond me.
“That braid is something,” Jenna said. “Now I’m letting my hair grow so I can get something like that done next time I go to a fancy party.”
“Thank you, Priscilla. This is just…” I had no words as I met her gaze over the mirror.
She was standing by the door like a loyal soldier. “You’re welcome.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s time to leave.”
Jenna and I left the room and headed downstairs. In the study, we found Sage and Benjamin waiting. Sage jumped from the armchair where he was sitting and gawked at me.
