“That’s from me,” a whispered, fake deep voice said to the door.
I jumped, and the envelope slapped against my heart.
“Sorry!” The voice came through a lot brighter this time. “It’s me, Noemi, and that’s the script I came here to give you!”
I opened the door, and she smiled at me.
“I guess my deep voice didn’t sound like me? I was trying to be quiet. All the shit that’s going on here today…it seemed trivial to leave the script, but…I came all this way…”
I lifted it. “It’s great, thank you. It’ll give me something to do.”
She looked over my shoulder. “Matteo left?”
“Yeah, he had some business.”
“Yeah, business,” she mumbled. “Would you like some company?”
Company sounded great. I wouldn’t be stuck thinking about things I couldn’t change—right then. I stepped aside and she came in, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“From what Magpie read in the car, I love the script.”
“GOOD!” She made a fist and punched the air. “I’m telling you, Stella, as far as looks, you have what it takes. I just need to hear you read some of the story to me.”
“Okay.” I shrugged.
Over the next fifteen minutes, I looked over the most dramatic parts of the script and read it out loud to her. This was no different, really, from the dances I did. I felt those too and was able to lose myself to them easily. The reason why was easy too. I longed to be someone else then.
How different life looked for me.
I’d killnotto be anyone else after Matteo came back for me.
Still, the ability to tap into that part of myself was easy. It was like walking over an invisible line that separated reality from fantasy— back and forth.
Noemi dabbed her eyes with her shirt. “I knew it,” she whispered. “I just knew it. You’re a natural, Stella. It’s like finding a diamond in the rough. You’re a natural.”
A knock came at the door. We both jumped a little and then turned as it opened.
“Why is she crying?” Evelina asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at Noemi.
Noemi dabbed her eyes. “Because she just gave an Oscar-worthy performance, and I was the only witness to it.”
Evelina’s eyes searched the room, and not long after, they focused on the script and then nodded. “Okay, as long as you’re not making her sniff onions.” She stepped in the room and tooka seat next to Noemi on the bed. She looked at me. “Did Matteo tell you about the changes with your watch?”
“I have parameters now.”
“Yes!” She nodded. “I didn’t think Magpie would whisk you away so fast, but I should have known. She’s a free spirit. Do you want to hear more about the watch? We can go over a few more things.”
I handed her my wrist, and she pulled me closer. We didn’t go over a few things, but it seemed like a million things. I hoped I could remember them all. Then something dawned on me. Something she said about tracking me in Paris.
Besides Matteo’s jacket, there was only one other thing that could have gotten in with me. “Matteo’s ring,” I said. “That’s how he was tracking me?”
Evelina nodded, and I knew a bunch of information was about to spill forward. She got this heated look in her eyes before she spilled technical information. “Saverio had figured out a way to get—er, sort of like radio frequency in the trackers. We heard you!”
“You heard me?” I asked.
“Only once. The reception was horrible. He’s going to work on it more.”
I wanted to groan in embarrassment.What did I say?Oh man.Worse!What if it was a high-fiber night and I did something in front of these people I could never take back? Sometimes that food made me so gassy! I planned on spending my entire lifenotdoing anything like that in front of Matteo. And he might have heard me through radio osmosis! Stars might be big gas balls, but I didn’t want to be!
