Page 45 of He's The Reason Why

Piper leaned past Rachel to put her mouth near the mic. “Elaine! It’s me!”

“Jewel!” Rachel’s cheek touched Piper’s, they were so close. “You came for me!”

Since neither woman looked willing to move, Blake shifted quickly back to his own space and rubbed his head. “Ow! For the record, I came to rescue you too.”

Both women turned to look at him. Rachel cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t look like a hero to me.”

He looked down at his clothes. Jesse would have been covered in soot and ash from fighting the dragon and grime from the pipe.

“He’s with me,” Piper chimed in. Her voice had gone from breathless excitement to a little stiff and annoyed. “This is Jesse, from the Kingdom of Carenth. We have a plan.”

“It won’t do you any good,” Rachel said, subtly edging Piper out of the way so she could have sole possession of the microphone. “Malignon has put a spell on this necklace. I can’t take it off, and I can’t leave this room. Jewel, he knew you’d come for me. This whole place is a trap.”

Her tone and delivery were perfect. She sounded every bit the worried sister, but she looked every bit the satisfied diva.

Piper stalked over to Rachel’s now abandoned station with a determined look on her face. “We didn’t come here alone. We brought backup.”

The reader’s voice came over the speakers again. “A purple vortex appears, and Malignon steps out of the portal.”

“Well done, Elaine,” Jeremy said with all the pompous arrogance that an evil sorcerer would possess. “You brought her right to me. If she has the stone, the dragon won’t be far behind.”

“Cut,” Tamar said. “Good. Everybody grab a drink, then we’ll try again, from the top. Jeremy, can you work in an evil chuckle where it feels natural?”

“Me? Of course.” Jeremy’s eyes narrowed as he rubbed his hands together and cackled like a cartoon villain until everyone laughed. He stopped and beamed at Tamar. “Too cheesy?”

Tamar wrinkled her nose. “Less Will Ferrel, more Tim Curry.”

Jeremy winked. “Gotcha.”

He cleared his throat, steepled his fingers, and produced a throaty, rolling chuckle.

“Perfect,” Tamar told him. She leaned in to whisper something in Piper’s ear.

Piper pressed her lips together and nodded. “Okay.”

Tamar patted her shoulder and walked back to the couch studying the script. “Places. Jeanette, lower the main lights a little, please. They’re giving me a headache.”

“Sure,” Jeanette said over the speakers. The lights dimmed a little. “How’s that?”

Tamar glanced around and nodded. “Good. From the top. And…action.”

They did the entire scene three more times, each time followed by notes for someone, with Piper being the biggest target.

Finally, Tamar massaged her forehead and called it quits. “We start again in the morning, fresh and ready. Eight a.m., Jeremy. That means morning, not evening. We are not vampires.”

“I could have been a vampire,” Jeremy said. “Perhaps the sorcerer has a vampire in his family.”

“All families have at least one vampire,” Gina agreed.

“Get out.” Tamar tapped on the glass to the sound booth. “Jeanette, we need a quick round-up with the heads and Paul.”

“On it,” Jeanette answered.

The monitors and microphones clicked off, and the lights came up to full.

Tamar shielded her eyes. “Piper, my dear, a word?”

Piper straightened her shoulders and joined Tamar. Blake couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but from the way Piper’s shoulders tightened, Tamar was offering private guidance on how to improve.

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