The day of the book launch Alice had the others come up to her suite for lunch. There they proceeded to lay out their plans for the day over cucumber sandwiches, courtesy of Maya, and tea. In fact, Alice had too many cups of tea and found that her hands were shaking quite a bit. Although, she thought, it might be nerves. She spent most of lunch convincing the others to let her meet the blogger alone.
“What if I pretend to be your boyfriend?” Altair spoke around a mouthful of sandwich. “Oh wait, I am your boyfriend. Does this Bango guy know that? Sure he isn’t asking you there to seduce you?” He waggled his eyebrows, but Alice wondered if he was partly serious.
“It’s Bingo, and you’re staying at a distance like everyone else, because if you don’t, you’ll scare him away. I need to find out what he knows. And don’t speak with your mouth full of sandwich, it’s disgusting.” She gave him a narrow look and he held up his hands in defeat.
Alice looked around at the others. “Okay, so I go in first, you follow after. We’re not together, so remember not to look at me like you know me.”
“Got it.” Gabriel put his plate down on the table beside the couch. “But I’ll say it again, I don’t like it. What if he tries something?”
Maya rolled her eyes. “Have you met Alice? You should worry about the blogger.”
The elf shrugged. “She’s not infallible. What if he turns out to be a god or something?”
“You’re such a worry wart. Just relax for once.”
Alice held up her hands to stave off another argument between them. Maya had been short with him all morning and Gabriel kept getting more and more sullen. Pouty, actually. It was driving her crazy.
“Alright. No more fighting,” she said firmly. “We have to get ready to go.”
Altair set his mug down on the coffee table and poked her in the ribcage playfully. “And you have to wear a red ribbon in your hair. God, I can’t wait to see that. It will be like dating Little Red Riding Hood.” He edged closer and said in a low, gravelly voice, “Does that make me the big bad wolf?” he poked Alice again, and she leaned away, trying to hold back laughter.
“Oh gross,” Gabriel complained, and Alice caught Maya rolling her eyes at him again. Luckily she didn’t say anything other than, “I think it’s sweet.”
“I dug this up from the supply cupboard.” Azura reached into the pocket of her sweater and drew out a long, satin ribbon. It was vibrantly red, and Alice thought it would probably stand out in a room full of people well enough. It didn’t look like it had any threads of magic on it.
“It’s part of the supplies? It’s not going to choke me out or anything, is it?”
Azura looked down at the ribbon. “No. I was thinking of making them tie themselves, but at this moment, it’s quite boring.”
She sighed. “Thanks, you may have to tie it for me. I’ve never bothered with a ribbon in the hair before. It sounds like too much work.”
Azura came over and instructed her to stay still, and Alice shut her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the older woman brushing her hair back. Then the ribbon tugged her hair a little and she grimaced. Why hadn’t she picked something else? Like pinning a rose on her collar.
No, that was just as bad. She really had to stop watching old spy movies.
“Okay. That looks good.” Azura stepped back, examining her handiwork. “Well, you look like you’re going to a farmer’s market, but it will do.”
Alice groaned. She didn’t bother looking in the mirror, because she knew what she looked like. She’d decided to go very low key today, in case Adam did show up at the book signing. She’d picked a t-shirt and a black skirt that went down to her ankles. Hopefully she would be able to meet with this Bingo character without Adam noticing her. She wished she’d asked him what time he was thinking about going, just so she could have planned to show up when he wasn’t there.
But the time was set. 7:30, a half hour after the book signing had already started. They would meet in line and then find a corner to chat and pretend they were discussing the book. Alice had contacted him once more through the website to reconfirm. It had been a sixty second conversation, and then Bingo had vanished again.
He really was paranoid.
“Okay. Ready?” She turned to look at the others, and Altair stepped forward and handed her a thick hardcover book.
“Don’t forget this jerk. You have to look like you actually want a book signed.”
“Right. Thank you.” Alice took the book and tucked it under her arm. “How do I look, like a rabid Revol fan?” She fluttered her eyelashes as outrageously as she could and said in her most syrupy voice, “Oh Mr. Revol, I just love your tips for romance on page eight-three. The way it says to flutter your lashes at him, it works every time. They can’t stop staring at little old me.”
Altair tossed his hair back and puffed his chest out. “Glad you like the book, young lady. How ‘bout I show you that thing on page eighty-four in person?”
Alice snickered.
“They’re doing it again,” Gabriel said.
“Alright.” Alice took a deep breath. “Let’s move out. And remember, you guys don’t know me.” She turned and marched out of the room, fully aware that Maya was grumbling at Gabriel as she left. She hoped those two wouldn’t be a problem at the book signing. If they blew her cover because of their petty squabbles she was going to magic both their mouths shut permanently.
The book signing was being held in the large, echoing building that was city hall. When Alice walked in she found herself immediately more at ease. Up until then her stomach had been churning furiously. But upon seeing the setup she realized it was going to be easier than she’d thought to blend in. There was a surprisingly large crowded milling around in front of a stage and podium. Off to the side there was a long table with several chairs. Stacks of Revol’s books were piled on the table, and the author himself was sitting at the table shaking hands with anyone who came by to talk to him.
Alice found herself drawn to him, in spite of herself. He was every bit as handsome as he looked on the book cover, and in person it was even more intense. His sharp jaw was clearly strategically unshaved, and his blue eyes were sparkling. He flashed a huge smile around at everyone who came up to talk to him, and spoke with an air of practiced ease. He was positively oozing with charm.
She made herself stay where she was though. It wouldn’t do to attract attention. She was looking for Bingo, who was probably a skinny computer geek, not a blonde Casanova. After a few minutes Eric Revol stood up and walked to the podium. The mic screeched when he adjusted it, and he winced and then cracked another wide smile and the audience laughed as if he’d said something incredibly funny.
He began talking in a rich baritone, thanking everyone for coming, and Alice took the time to look around the place. The layout was pretty good. There were enough little corners and crannies to duck into. There was a nook off to the side with a couple of leather chairs, somewhere that people had coffee obviously. That would be a good place to talk. Not too obvious, and it was in the midst of everything, so there would be a constant chatter and noise to mask their conversation.
Now to find Bingo. She scanned the crowd, annoyed to find she was just looking at the backs of people’s heads, since she’d come in late. It would be too obvious to try to push her way into the crowd, or walk around the front and look at them. Adam very well might be there somewhere, so she couldn’t’ risk being spotted
She hoped he wasn’t there though, that would complicate things quite a bit, since the man was probably a god. She blinked, watching Eric Revol take a short bow and return to his signing table. Why did she just assume that Adam was a god? That was ridiculous, the man had saved her from the snake-haired woman. If he was a god he would have wanted her dead, wouldn’t he?
Then again, Ambrose hadn’t wanted her dead. He’d wanted her power. What if Adam was another one like that?
She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She should have told Bingo to meet her somewhere else, but it was too late now. It was probably fine. Adam wouldn’t know she’d come to meet a blogger, even if he saw her here. He would just think she’d met a friend for a book signing. Another book lover, that was all. If it all went sideways she could always call it off. Skip town if she had to.
The advantages of living in a traveling shop.
The lineup was forming in front of the table, and Alice found herself roughly in the middle, standing behind a group of excited werewolf ladies and in front of a woman who looked vaguely like a fish. At least, Alice could have sworn she saw scales. She turned back around quickly, telling herself not to stare.
It occurred to her that all of these women were probably reading the book because they’d been unlucky in love. That made sense. In fact, now that she was scanning the crowd more carefully, she realized it was mostly people of a…particular nature. There were a few harpy women in the front, snapping at one another over something. A disagreement that only stopped when the ogre – Alice was sure it was an ogre because she was twice as tall as anyone in line – put a ham-sized hand between them and shoved them apart. There were several fairies in the lineup too, who were loudly discussing their romance woes with one another.
“He keeps running off with my sister,” the blonde one complained loudly to her friend. Her wings fluttered in a fast buzz as she grew more agitated, blowing back the hair of the woman behind her. “The love spells I keep feeding him don’t keep him around for long.”
Alice repressed a groan, recognizing her as the fairy that she had dumped water on not that long ago. She hoped the fairy wouldn’t turn around and spot her. She didn’t want a show down here of all places.
The lineup behind Alice was only growing, as more and more people came in the door. She recognized Maya walking in at the front of her group and quickly looked away, not wanting to be too obvious about it. Still, she couldn’t help darting a look over at Altair as he came in. He was looking around the room with a distinct air of one who was incredibly amused.
Alice noticed that a few of the ladies in line had noticed Altair and Gabriel coming in. There was a definite murmur of appreciation that went through the line, and quite a few of them turned, elbowing their companions. At his table, Eric Revol started talking more loudly, no doubt feeling annoyed that his spotlight had been momentarily pilfered.