Page 115 of Positively, Penelope

She squeezed her eyes closed and the laughing face of eerie Niles Westing appeared in all its horribleness. Her skin hummed with the heat of fury. Giving up now would only let Niles Westing win. Her entire body revolted.

She sat up. What was she thinking? This was the Elle Woods against Callahan moment. The von Trapps against the Nazis. Dorothy against the witch. The Beast against Gaston.

She would not let Niles Westing win without a fight.

But how? How could she fight him?

What did The Darling House have in its arsenal? She squeezed her eyes closed.

Well, they had a theater, which was a start.

Good visibility right now, so capitalizing on that would help, if there was anything to put out there.

An excellent community of support, especially after the ball.

She nodded. Three very concrete and positive things.

They needed another solid production to bring in revenue if they planned to continue to overcome the deficit from the past years. And if Emblem stole their December production, they had to find something else to put in its place to keep Darling’s reputation intact.

Somehow, they needed to find a production to put in its place.

She reached for her phone and pulled up her texts. Earnest Stevenson had sent her one of his show cards the night before. She groaned. The show cards forThe Sound of Music. She pressed a palmto her stomach and looked over the attachment. Fantastic show cards. Perfect for the production theyweren’thaving.

She paused on the thought.

Wait. She looked back at the show card and then shoved away her covers, hope pushing her from the bed.

Maybe there was a way to rescue this moment.

Text from Penelope to Matthias:Where are you?

Matthias:I’m at the office.

Penelope:I’m on my way.

Text from Penelope to Luke:I have an idea for how to save the production.

Luke:Do you realize it’s one in the morning?

Penelope:I don’t know if it will work, but I have to try. I can’t let Nasty Niles win.

Luke:Nice villain name there. Fight, Penelope, fight! Now I’m going back to sleep.

Penelope:“To survive a war, you’ve gotta become war.”

Luke:I have never been prouder of you than at this moment.

Chapter22

Penelope burst into Matthias’s office to find it completely empty.

Her momentum stumbled along with her feet. He’d just texted her that he was at the office. Of course, “at the office” meant basically anywhere in the theater, so she should have been more specific.

Then the sound of movement drew her attention down the hallway. One of the storage-closet doors stood wide open with light streaming into the hall.

Had someone come back to stealmorefrom the museum? She tiptoed toward the closet, her hand reaching down into her purse for her little bottle of hair spray. She’d seen it used in place of Mace in a movie once. And this was extra-strong hold, so it would probably sting even more than regular hair spray.

With a slow step to the edge of the door, she readied the hair spray in one hand and a brush in the other and then peered around the frame.

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