Page 41 of Bright Dark Curses

He gave me a look that encompassed every dead body involved with my person they’d helped bury. “In my defense, two of them were evil, and the third I found too late to save.”

“Sure, boss,” he drawled.

Key giggled. And there was probably something very wrong with finding humor in these types of grim matters, but, as Grandma liked to say, a happy outlook helps bury every body.

Paraphrasing.

A low murmur went through the set, and there was a sudden burst of action.

“What’s happening?” I whispered.

“I think they’re going to film a scene,” Key said.

Sudden excitement lodged like a stone in my throat. “Can… Can we watch?”

Key gave me an odd look. “Sure.”

We moved to the bigger clearing and stood behind a row of crew members. I found a small opening that gave me a direct view of the scene and drank in the sight greedily.

The actors playing Lily and her love interest stood on opposite ends of the clearing, wearing coats over their shoulders.

Someone yelled for silence, and the place fell deadly quiet. A couple of assistants took the coats away, and then, just like in the movies about movies, someone brought out a clapboard, and the scene began shooting.

Lily and the man rushed in, and they met in the middle as the camera crane made a sweeping arc forward and closed in.

“Jack,” Lily exclaimed. “I’m so glad you’re here!”

“I thought you were hurt,” he answered roughly, then pulled her into his arms.

“Oh, Jack,” Lily whispered loudly, staring up at him in plain fear. “I was so scared.”

“Not as scared as I,” he answered. My breath caught at the passion in his tone. I forgot about the crew around me, the camera hanging right next to them, the boom mic hovering from above, and everything beyond the look of adoration in his eyes.

Then he lowered his head and kissed her.

My insides melted.

Oh, my goodness.

“Cut!” someone yelled, snapping me back to reality. “That was great. Let’s do it again.”

I blinked as the crew jumped into action and the two actors broke the embrace, their expressions bland and showing no traces of passion or fear. They walked back to the small marks on the dirt ground signaling their starting spot, and the coats went back over their shoulders while the crane was repositioned.

“That was cool, huh?” Key whispered.

“Like magic,” I whispered back.

“Nah, magic is much cooler.”

We grinned at each other, then watched them redo the scene, then again from a different camera angle.

On the fourth go, I remembered we were supposed to be looking out for a dangerous saboteur and tore my gaze away from the clearing to study the crew. Most were concentrated on their tasks having to do with the technical side of filming, and a few were simply watching the scene unfold over and over again. No one appeared especially malicious, and slight boredom was the common theme among their postures and expressions.

Key pointed out Sanders for me, but he was laser-focused on the scene. The producer and Lydia Lee were nowhere to be seen. Planning another sabotaging attempt?

After they were done with the kissing, they began to change some lights to film a few chasing-and-hiding scenes through the trees and the bushes. I noticed they had placed extra dressings to give the paths a lot more covering than they normally had.

Key and I went back to Shane, keeping an eye out for anything out of order, but it was hard to know what might be out of order in such a chaotic space. Nobody ran around twirling their villain mustache or wagging a bad guy flag.

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