Page 96 of Cloak of the Vampire
Tansy’s blue doe-like eyes turned to me, clear and wide. “The Morrow Gods.”
I stilled, the applause around me transforming into blurry static as I stared at Tansy. With everything that had happened, I had pushed it out of my mind that she knew.
Heart racing, I searched her face as I forced my voice out. “Why ... how ... do you know about them?”
She cocked her head, eyes eerily unblinking. “They’re here, aren’t they?” she said instead of answering me.
My lips parted, and I attempted to talk, but I couldn’t. And suddenly, not getting a recommendation from Lon seemed so insignificant compared to this.
When Tansy said nothing else, I pursed my lips and returned my gaze to the stage, my heart in my throat, my anxiety crawling back into my gut with a vengeance. I was so disturbed; I couldn’t focus on any performance to save my life.
But time didn’t stop, even if for me it did. It kept on moving until Kaylon announced it was the Rayne League’s turn.
CHAPTER 37
I watched as Jakob, the first one of our League, took the stage. He was wearing a neat tux, but he was sweating buckets, so much so that, even though his jacket was black, we could still see the sweat patches in his armpits.
Despite his perspiration, which now was even more evident since he discarded the jacket and remained in a white buttoned shirt, Jakob managed to maintain an impassive face. As his music of choice began—“Macarena,” of all songs—he started a complicated juggling routine that included twelve balls.
“You can do it, Jakob,” I heard Zoey saying. She was sitting not that far away from me, and she was staring at Jakob with a mixture of pride and worry.
As though he heard it, Jakob conjured eight more balls from God knows where and bounced them all repeatedly from the floor back to his hands so fast that they became a blur. He gritted his teeth as he proficiently controlled the balls as though he was a conductor and the balls his orchestra, and when his act came to an end, he somehow caught them all by using the pockets of his pants, his sweaty armpits, his mouth, his bare feet, and his fingers.
The audience didn’t need Kaylon’s “Give your applause to Jakob Stornsky!” to go wild. I, too, found myself in awe. During the assessment class, I’d seen him juggling only three balls, so I hadn’t expectedmuch from him. Yet he’d definitely upped his game in the last month—hell, he completely nailed it.
And the Lords absolutely loved it, judging by their bids. “We have two thousand!” Kaylon screamed, he was so pumped after Jakob’s act. “Three thousandfrom Lord O’Brien!”
“The Gods are with him.” Tansy’s whisper made me freeze. I pretended like I didn’t hear her.
“We have three thousand and five hundred from Lady Kalama!” Kaylon called. “Anyone else? No one? You sure about that? Then going once ... twice ...sold!”
Jakob’s shoulders slumped in relief, and he got off the stage with wobbly legs. Like all the others who’d already performed, he did not return to his seat.
Next was Bryce. After Jakob’s brilliant performance, Bryce’s playing the guitar wasn’t as exciting. He was definitely decent enough, but his music wasn’t so engaging. He was playing his own interpretation of the guitar solo in “Hotel California,” which, while a lovely song, was very repetitive and didn’t have much to offer in terms of harmony (or so Cassidy used to say, though I tended to believe her, all things considered).
In the end, Bryce was sold to Lord Daugherty for five hundred dollars. It was probably Daugherty’s easiest buy so far.
Then Kaylon called, “Next on up—Tansy Contos!”
Next to me, Tansy froze, then turned to look at me. She was shaking just like Isora did before, and she whispered, “Pray to the Morrow Gods for me, Aileen.” She rose to her feet, eyes unfocused.“Please.”
How she ever came to learn about the Morrow Gods, something I believed only my father and I knew about, took a back seat when I saw her climbing onto the stage, looking more frail than I’d ever seen her. She was so small that the stage seemed to swallow her whole as she took off her sandals, put on pointe shoes—What?—and rose back to her feet, standing so still that only her knees-long hair moved in the soft breeze of the auditorium.
The first movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” played, and Tansy began to dance. I stared at her, stunned; I had no idea she was a professional ballet dancer. When I looked to my sides, my peers didn’t seem surprised.
It occurred to me then that I’d spent all my time during practice in the workshop alone. In the assessment class, I’d only seen her dance modern-style. I had no idea she was a freakingballet dancer.
Because that’s what she was; her languid movements and tight, precise poses were far too practiced to belong to an amateur. She was a pro through and through, and it suddenly made sense why she received the Imprint after merely one year of being on the waiting list. Ragnor must’ve thought she could become a Gifted.
And when I looked at her now and saw how the dreamy-eyed Tansy had transformed into a different person as she danced, I got the feeling she might become Gifted later on, against all odds. She was far too good to remain Common.
Tansy reached the end of her dance with a pirouette, only that pirouette seemed to last forever. With her back straight and her legs unmoving, she looked like the ballet dancers in those old music boxes as she twirled endlessly on her pointe.
When she finished, the applause was deafening. As I clapped along with the rest, mesmerized by what I’d just seen and the professional ballet-dancer bow Tansy now gave to the crowd, I couldn’t help but think she didn’t need any God—least of all the Morrow Gods—to be on her side. She was already blessed enough.
When Kaylon came back up to the stage, he opened his mouth, about to say something, before he laughed loudly. “Well, look at that! We have all seven Lords with their hands up!”
The roaring of the audience grew so loud, I winced.
