“You are an amazing young woman, Anastasia. You will be a great leader.” He looked lovingly at Natasha. “And every great woman needs an unworthy, less than great man at her side. I promise to deliver yours back to you with haste.” He bowed to me with a crooked grin and I embraced him in a hug.
“Thank you,” I whispered urgently. I took a deep breath to collect myself, and then inclined my attention to Tina. “So, what does a girl wear to these gatherings?”
Tina vaulted off the couch like a gymnast on crack, and brought over something that was hanging up in a garment bag. How I hadn’t noticed it before was beyond me.
“Your attire has already been provided,” she announced and held it up. “And I must say; it’s quite stunning.” Tina jumped when a loud thud echoed from the next room.
“Liar!” Carmen shouted from her bedroom. I was a close second to Natasha as we rushed to Carmen’s bedside. Unfortunately, her bed was empty. She was holding Ricker up against the wall by the throat with a pair of scissors to his abdomen. The force of his head hitting the wall had created a large indention, and his face was growing redder by the minute as he gasped for oxygen.
“Carmen, let him go!” I called out to her, but she simply twisted her head and smiled at me calmly. “Hey Stasia.” Her deadpan voice chilled me to the bone, but the unnatural way that her head had spun around threatened to bring up what little breakfast I had eaten. I shook myself and contemplated how I could pull Carmen off of Ricker before she was able to stab him.
Natasha mumbled several words in a different language and Carmen was suddenly flung from Ricker by an invisible force. Her legs clipped the edge of the bed, which sent her onto the floor in a tangled heap. Ricker slumped down against the wall and began to cough violently. Natasha instinctively put an arm up to stop me from running to Carmen’s side.
“Let me get the scissors away from her before anyone else gets hurt,” she insisted and held out her hand. The scissors magically left Carmen’s vice grip, skidded across the floor, and landed in the corner of the room. Phoebe pushed us aside and hurried to Carmen’s side; the three of us then lifted Carmen back onto the bed. Natasha re-administered the sleeping concoction, and Carmen drifted off to sleep. I hoped they could help her soon - drugging her each time she had an outburst didn’t seem like an especially healthy solution.
Willow worked to heal Ricker’s red, swollen neck while Natasha and I rejoined Dorien and Tina in the living room. I got the feeling that Tina was about two seconds away from bolting out the door. Her eyes were as big as saucers, but she remained where she was. I collapsed onto the couch and closed my eyes in mental exhaustion.
Natasha plopped down next to me and patted me on the knee. “Next time, let me know when you’re going to use your abilities.”
“What do you mean?” My eyes snapped back open, perplexed.
“Removing Carmen from Ricker using wind? I was in the middle of a chant to confuse her in an effort to get closer.” She smiled at me like I was missing the punch line to a joke I’d told. “But your efforts were much more effective.”
“I…I did that?” I asked incredulously. Well that was news to me! It
“From now on, be very cautious. Your essence will continue to grow stronger - meaning that your abilities may have a habit of getting away from you. You’ll need to work on increased restraint and control once we return to Lorelei.”
“Wow,” was my brilliant answer.
“So…” Tina piped up from the other side of the room after glancing at her watch, “is there a room I can help you get changed in?”
“I think I can dress myself,” I snickered at her. She raised an eyebrow and bit her lip.
“You haven’t seen this dress,” she replied in all seriousness.
Chapter 9
“Please tell me this thing comes with instructions.” Phoebe scratched her head at Tina as she gestured for me to put my arms up. So far, the supposed ‘dress’ resembled more of a jigsaw puzzle, with its mountain of lacey layers placed in four different piles on the bed. From what I could gather, the dress was a montage of sheer white lace, a little bit of ruching, beading and more layers of sheer white fabric. They slipped the main bodice over my head and secured it in place. Actually, tugged and yanked was more like it - at some point during the mayhem my left arm had gotten stuck at an odd angle, resulting in a three minute discussion before five more minutes of tugging and yanking. The material was anything but forgiving, and I was beginning to worry that I’d be permanently wearing this dress for the rest of my life. The possibility of third degree fabric burns was also a likely conclusion.
“Is it see-through?” I questioned Tina after the first layer was attached; allowing a full frontal of my not-so- subtle bright pink underwear. To my horror, she just laughed and got back to tugging and yanking.
“It would be if it was only a single layer, but with the multiple layers it’s not. This is the traditional Nereid dress. It’s worn for gatherings, important meetings of your counsel, or a casual meal.” Tina had transformed from shy, awkward girl to focused seamstress in a millisecond.
“Somebody should rethink their definition of casual,” I muttered under my breath as several more layers of lace were attached to my waist.
“You have to remember that the Nereids have been around a very long time. They stand by tradition, and believe that it shows respect to yourself and to others when you follow it as well.”
“Is the color white significant?” Willow asked as she handed Tina another layer of lace.
“It stands for purity and grace, both of which the Nereids pride themselves on.” Tina wrapped yet another layer of fabric around my waist, and then attached it farther down my lower back so that it flowed behind me. With a satisfied smile, she wiped her brow and stepped back to take a look at her work. “Last piece…”
She produced a shimmering aquamarine piece of sheer fabric that looked to be about six inches wide by ten feet long. She carefully gripped an aquamarine, diamond, and pearl encrusted clip in the middle and attached it to my left shoulder strap. The fabric hung down on either side of my body, and added an elegant touch to an already majestic dress.
“This represents you specifically,” she clarified and readjusted the fabric until it met her approval. “It was your mother’s.”
“It’s gorgeous.” I ran my fingers along the edge of the fabric and smiled at my memory of our time in the Underworld. A bubble of pride threatened to explode inside of me.
“Okay, take a look!” Tina closed the door, revealing a full length mirror attached to the back.
I gasped when I saw my reflection. It was the most amazing dress I’d ever seen. I couldn’t stop twisting back and forth; marveling at the masterpiece of art Tina had constructed around my body.
The back of the dress was something fairytales were made of. It was a mass of woven, beaded lace intricately positioned to create an awe-inspiring pattern. “Are those…?”
“Diamonds,” Tina answered my unfinished question with a smile. There had to be more than a hundred sparkling jewels that accented the lace drawn across my back. The many layers of the dress shifted and moved against each other, creating a magical, prolific effect. It was breathtaking. I peeked back at the suddenly silent Willow and Phoebe who were standing behind Tina.
“What do you guys think?” I twirled around dramatically and faced them expectantly.
“You look….” Phoebe tried to say before her face crumpled and she rushed to the bathroom.
“Well, I know I need some makeup…and my hair could use some help…I didn’t think I looked
“We’re just so proud of you,” Willow explained, as she smiled and quickly wiped a runaway tear from her cheek. “You look absolutely ravishing.”
Phoebe sheepishly tiptoed back into the room with a fistful of tissues and I gave her a quick hug. “No reason to be proud of me yet. All I’ve done so far is put on a dress, and I didn’t even
