Golden Girl by Sarah Zettel Read Free Book Online Page B

spoken words sent shivers down my spine. “Anyway, the Seelies, as you call them, seemed to take it as a kind of challenge, and they’ve been sending their people around after me ever since. Amerda was their latest attempt, and you walked into the middle of it.”
    Which meant Amerda hadn’t really wanted Ivy Bright at all. She’d just been trying to set things up so that Mr.Robeson would jump in and try to save the brightest little star in Hollywood. Except Jack and I got there first.
    And got caught
, I added to myself.
And now they know who I am, and that I’m hanging around the movie studios
. My head felt seasick, and a giggly little thought in the back of my brain started up another imaginary letter.
Dear Mama: Guess what …?
    We were back in New York by now. The hollow, unfinished buildings with their jagged tops and their long shadows fenced us in. I didn’t like it here anymore. Those fake buildings could all be hiding more monsters. Without thinking about it, I crowded a little closer to Jack.
    Mr. Robeson looked the whole long way down at me. “Now, suppose you two tell me how you came to draw the attention of Amerda and her kind.”
    “I, um, well …”
    “I work here,” said Jack quickly. “I’m a script boy.” His head must have been spinning too. Usually Jack makes up much better explanations.
    Mr. Robeson’s face screwed up, like we’d just offered him a rotten lemon. “And I suppose you wanted to get into pictures?” he said to me.
    “No! Nothing like that. I mean, I
am
looking for work, but not acting work. Kitchen work, maybe. Housekeeping, things like that.”
    Mr. Robeson squinted down at me, trying hard to figure out the story behind what we were telling him. I wasn’tso sure he liked what he was figuring either. I bit my lip. I didn’t really want to talk about any of this. Not with those buildings and all their holes and hiding places around us. Anybody might be listening, and for us “anybody” covered a whole lot of ground. Mr. Robeson saw me looking at that fake New York and he nodded like he understood. He didn’t ask any more questions, but he did pick up the pace, so Jack and I were all but running to keep up. That was okay by me. Amerda and her brother might not be able to touch us, but sure as the California sunrise, they had Seelie kin. Those kin had other kin and friends and maybe a few enemies on the lookout for some fun. They could put their heads together and find a way around the bargain Mr. Robeson had made. After all, they’d only promised to leave him alone, not us. They could all turn up spoiling for a fight any second now.
    It came home to me cold and ugly that Jack and I had made a mistake walking in here without a real plan. We’d been putting that off until we actually found the Seelies. Well, now we had found them. Problem was, they’d found us too. Fear leaned in on me again and brought all my shakes back.
    We finally reached the gate to Overland Avenue. Solly was gone. Instead, the shack was occupied by a black man reading what looked like a schoolbook.
    “Good evening, George,” said Paul. “Does Michael have the car out?”
    “Evenin’, Mr. Robeson. I think so. You need to gosomeplace?” He eyed me, then Jack, then me again. He didn’t like whatever he was thinking. I was pretty sure I didn’t like it either.
    “These two need to be driven back home.”
    “Oh, sure. Lemme call over.” George picked up the phone and dialed. Mr. Robeson took me and Jack each by the arm and led us toward the gate.
    “Now,” he said firmly, “you will go straight home and into your rooms. You will not stop for anything or open the door to any strangers.”
    This was a little too much for Jack, who’d been on the bum pretty much since he was twelve. He pulled himself up as far as he could and tried to look tough. He went a fair way toward doing it too. “Listen, we really appreciate your help, Mr. Robeson, but it’s not like we’re babies or