The woman typed in her computer. “There are a few seats, but I won’t promise you’ll make it through security in time. That’ll be three thousand, two hundred and forty-seven euro.”
Shit.
I opened my wallet and stared at my dad’s credit card. He’d lose his mind for sure this time. He’d try to ground me, which wouldn’t work because I didn’t have a life outside the house. When he realized that, he’d take away Annie.
I held out the credit card, trying not to shake. She ran it, handed me the ticket, and I sprinted toward security. Glancing back once, I saw Eamon hadn’t budged from his head-in-hands position. I rushed through security and to the gate—only to nearly dash past Shoshanna at the bar. Her Ghostbusters tattoo was peeking out the side of her tank top while she stared at a half-drunk pint, miserable. Possibly more miserable than Eamon or Cate had been.
I tapped her shoulder, right where Dr. Jillian Holtzmann held up her proton gun the way Rosie the Riveter held up her fist.
She turned. “Oh, you. Headed to Lotus Land and your translucent yet tolerable life?”
Keep cool. I glanced at the tickets on the bar beside her. One to JFK, and the other from JFK to Providence. “You’re from Rhode Island? I’ve never met someone from Rhode Island before.”
She exhaled as though she’d been babysitting me since we met and I’d spit up one too many times. “What do you want, Iris?”
“I’m here to bring you back to set.”
“Ha! The movie is done. No audience for it.” Her eyes sealed on mine in a fed-up, sure-of-herself way. “You know, everything in that interview was true. The production has problems. The studio has been pulling out. And Cate is holding up the whole thing by herself.”
“No, she isn’t. You’re holding it up too,” I said.
She scoffed and took a long drink of what looked like hard cider.
“You don’t think I haven’t noticed you putting your all into this role? Working to the breaking point and helping Eamon in your time off? The production has problems, but every movie has problems. You know that.”
“I don’t want my name attached to this film anymore.”
“That’s bull crap.”
She laughed. “Bull crap?”
“I spend all my time with an eight-year-old, who, by the way, is going to be devastated if you kill this film by quitting. His life has been a series of disappointments and unbelievable trauma. Both of our lives have been, but we’re turning it around. Starting with this movie.”
It was a gamble to admit the harsh realities of being a Thorne. It softened most people with pity—unless they’d also been dragged by the hair through this world’s unique tragedies. Shoshanna didn’t soften. She hardened, her back straight, her face turning into a stoic mask. I should have known she’d also suffered. After all, she had a lot more in common with Sevyn than I did.
“Shoshanna, you and I are going back even if I have to make you.”
“How?” She slid off her barstool and looked down her nose at me. Shoshanna was taller, more fit, fiercer than me in every way. I’d known that from the moment I met her, and yet I’d been wrong about one thing: we were not from different planets.
“I’ll haul you out of here by that voluminous hair if I have to,” I said.
She chuckled and climbed back on her barstool, patting the one beside her.
I sat. “I’m serious.”
“I see that. Care to explain the rather sudden change of heart?” She took a drink.
“I want to make out with Eamon.”
Cue impressive spit take.
She wiped her face, laughing hard. “I just…can’t. You puppies are too much.”
“Why does everyone keep calling us ‘puppies’?”
“Because you’re adorable and clueless.” She squinted. “If we could share thirty seconds of you two online, the fan concerns would evaporate. If you did that, I’d come back to the set.”
I could have lied and said maybe. I could have strung her along. “I’m not letting Cate use my face for this movie. I have too much at stake.”
“Fair enough. Now tell me why I should let her use mine.”
“Because I saw you act last night. This is your role. And you are good. And Eamon? Eamon is on the other side of security, devastated. Think about how good he was. The scene we shot last night was amazing. This movie might actually be amazing.”
The truth popped my ears. For all the things that had gone wrong or felt fantasy-nerd bizarre, there were moments when this story tugged. When Cate’s settings leaped out with dramatic colors and emotion-packed landscapes. When the characters whispered real feelings…and the story actually helped me figure out my real life.
“What’s going on?” Shoshanna asked, breaking my thoughts. “You look like you’re about to cry or punch me. If you freak out in public, everyone will call it a lover’s spat. It’ll light up the media.” Her voice had dropped low, a sincere warning that highlighted more than ever that I didn’t understand what it was like to be Shoshanna Reyes.
Overhead, a gate attendant announced the last call for a flight to New Zealand, and I felt that familiar twist toward story logic. This was my specialty. Why hide it? Why be ashamed?
“Hobbits,” I said after a rough pause. She looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Those books and movies are about how it doesn’t matter how strong or weapon-loaded you are. In the end, two tiny hobbits save the whole world.”
She blinked. “Have you been hanging out with Henrik?”
“Narnia,” I said, even more certain, “where you can’t escape war because war is everywhere, but you can be a king
