Читать книгу The Magic Misfits 2 - Neil Patrick Harris - Страница 14

A woman stood by the counter.

“Sorry!” Leila said breathlessly to the stranger. She spouted her usual spiel: “Welcome to Vernon’s Magic Shop, where we purvey the impossible ! Can I help you find anything?”

“Hello,” said the woman. “I sure hope you can.” She was medium height with dusky golden skin and wavy dark hair that cascaded like waterfall mist past her shoulders. Deep brown eyes stared into Leila’s own.

Leila was captivated. Her fingers trembled. Her mouth went dry. She blinked as if her brain could take a picture. The woman’s lashes were long and thick, blackened heavily with mascara. Lips as red as gems were pursed in a tiny blossom below her long nose. She wore a long purple shawl covered in yellow fringe draped over her shoulders, with a gauzy lilac scarf tied around her waist. The image of a crystal ball was embroidered on her large purse. Most spectacular of all were the enormous white stars hanging from her ears. She looked like she belonged there, like a prop in the magic shop’s window.

“We have everything a magician might need,” Leila said, her voice cracking.

“I’m looking for someone,” said the woman, her eyes flicking around the store. “A very old friend of mine. His name is Dante. Dante Vernon. His last name’s on the door.”

“That’s because he owns this place,” said Carter, stepping forward. “He’s my cousin, and he’s Leila’s—”

“Hold on,” Ridley said abruptly, wheeling past Carter and Leila to block the woman’s path. “Before we share anything else, maybe you can tell us who you are first? We’ve had some trouble around here lately.”

“Trouble?” the woman remarked with wide eyes, clutching her shawl to her chest. “How horrible!”

“My friends here can sometimes be too trusting,” said Ridley. “But I’m not. What do you want with Mr Vernon?”

“Sandra?” Mr Vernon called out from the balcony. He clutched the railing and peered down at them. “Sandra Santos? Is that you?”

“Dante!” exclaimed the woman named Sandra.

Sandra Santos. Leila was expecting that the woman’s name would be one she’d heard before, but it wasn’t.

Sandra held up her arms to Vernon as if for a hug. Since Ridley was still in Sandra’s way, she simply stood inside the door, looking like someone witnessing a miracle, as Vernon rushed down the spiral staircase.

“For a moment, I thought I was looking at a ghost,” he said. “It’s been how long? Decades! What are you doing here?” He squeezed past the speechless assembly of Misfits and, looking baffled, stood before the woman. Finally – almost reluctantly – he hugged her.

Sandra smiled, squeezing him back. “Oh, I was in town and thought I’d say hello.”

“Shall Houdini confess next, I can find a dozen flying, fake deer! ” said Presto again from her perch. All of the Misfits stiffened and groaned.

Vernon smiled at the animal. “Yes. Yes, we know. Aren’t you a fantastical bird?” Presto ruffled her feathers and then closed her eyes. Finally. Vernon placed his palm on Leila’s head. “This is my daughter. Leila.”

“Hello,” Leila said, shaking Sandra’s warm hand.

Sandra squeezed gently. “Nice to meet you.”

Then Vernon touched Carter’s shoulder and brought him forward. “And this handsome lad is my cousin, Carter Locke.”

“Locke?” Sandra asked. “As in…?”

“Lyle’s boy,” said Vernon. “He’s living with us now. Our family has grown by leaps and bounds.” Carter stared at Sandra in wonder. He must’ve been fascinated that she knew his father, Leila thought. “Here is Theo Stein-Meyer and Ridley Larsen. And the sharply-dressed duo in the rear are the Golden twins, Olly and Izzy. Good friends, one and all.”

“You knew Carter’s dad?” Leila asked.

“Yes, I did,” said Sandra. “He was like a brother to me.”

“A brother ?” Vernon asked with a wry grin. “I’d use a different word for how you two were.”

Sandra chortled. “Oh, Dante! You haven’t changed. Always looking for meaning where there is none!”

“But meaning is everywhere!” Vernon insisted, taking her hands. “I’ve simply trained myself to look for it harder than most.”

Leila bolted around the end of the counter and grabbed a picture frame off the wall. Her friends stared at her as if she’d gone crazy. But she didn’t care. She held out the frame to Sandra. “This is you,” she said, pointing at the girl in the lower right of the sepia photograph. “Isn’t it?” The girl was sitting with Dante, Lyle, Bobby, and the other members of the Emerald Ring – her father’s childhood magical club – the group that had inspired Leila and her friends to form the Magic Misfits. The girl in the photo was holding a crystal ball. It looked just like the crystal ball embroidered on Sandra’s burgundy velvet purse.

Sandra’s mouth popped open when she saw the picture. “Oh my goodness! You’ve kept it all this time, Dante?”

“Of course. I had nothing else to remember you all by. My best friends.” Was there a tinge of emotion in his voice? Wistfuness? Somberness? “There’s nothing like being part of a club.”

“So then, you were also a member of the Emerald Ring?” Theo asked, craning his head forward, seemingly trying to recognize the young girl in the photo inside the older woman standing before them.

“I was indeed.” Sandra nodded, handing the photo back to Leila. “I have fond memories of playing in this old building. The fondest of my childhood.”

“What was Mr Vernon like back then?” Ridley asked. “Was he as weird as he is now?”

“Weird? ” Vernon echoed, shooting Ridley a funny look.

“You are pretty weird, Mr Vernon,” she insisted. “But that’s what I like about you.”

“Back then, Dante was as weird as weird can be,” said Sandra. “And secretive. So were we all. And we were proud of it.”

Vernon nodded. “That is true, I suppose.”

“What can you tell us about Bobby Bosso?” Theo questioned. “He arrived in Mineral Wells recently, and he was not exactly the nicest—”

Vernon cleared his throat and reached out to shut the shop’s door. “How about we continue this conversation over some iced tea. We have plenty of shortbread cookies to dispose of.”

“That sounds lovely,” said Sandra.

“Carter? Theo? Would you mind bringing up the folding table from the basement? Use the service elevator. We’ll picnic here in the shop,” Mr Vernon said as he traversed the spiral stairs back up to the balcony and the apartment. “Leila and Ridley, please keep Sandra company.” He pointed at the woman and winked. “And Sandra, you stay right there!”

“Oh, Dante,” she said, giggling, “unlike some members of our old club, I never learned the art of vanishing.”