“Did it go viral?” Shoshanna asked.
“Four million views and counting,” Henrik said. “All the secret Elementia fans are crawling out of the woodwork. Everyone from Taylor Swift to Benedict Cumberbatch have been lighting up their social media.”
“Benedict!” Shoshanna and I shouted in stereo.
“Truly?” Eamon asked.
“I’m only human,” I muttered. I turned to Cate’s tight smirk. Was she pleased? Mad?
“You two.” She pointed to Eamon and Shoshanna. “Makeup and wardrobe. We’ve got until one o’clock to shoot here and then we need to hightail it to Dingle. Julian is already on a flight so we can shoot the last on-location scene tomorrow.”
“The filming is back on?” I asked, a buzz in my head that yelled, This isn’t possible!
“We are experiencing a brief stay of execution. Two days to film five days’ worth of shots,” she said. Everyone’s faces fell a little. “But I’ll take it. Won’t you?”
Ryder, still in his pajamas, rushed out to help Mr. Donato. Eamon, Shoshanna, and I ended up in a group hug of sorts. Eamon even kissed me in front of Cate and whispered, “Admit it, Iris, hope works. Admit it!”
“Maybe,” I said. He winked and flew out the door. I found myself alone with Cate.
“Your grandmother would have been proud of that song, Iris.”
My cheeks were hot, and I couldn’t look her in the eye. “I think you have to say that.”
“I never say anything socially compulsory. I say what I mean.” I could feel her stare, and I finally looked up. “Call your dad, Iris. No doubt he’s seen it. No doubt the two of you need to talk. Break some new ground this time.”
“I’ll try,” I said, pausing. “Does this mean things might work out for the film?”
She sat on Ryder’s bed. “The odds aren’t good. Too many financial complications. Perhaps this will turn into a TV miniseries. I think the Syfy channel might buy it. They had some success with The Magicians. This is a similar audience.”
I shook my head. “This has got to be a major motion picture.”
Cate went flinty eyed. “Your reasons?”
“Because my grandmother’s story is important. It’ll empower girls, like you said.”
Cate didn’t budge. “And?”
“Because Shoshanna was made for this role! And people respond to this story and your vision. And my dad is wrong. And a hundred other reasons. And because Eamon has to be a big damn star so he can move to LA and stay my boyfriend!”
She erupted in laughter, and I worried I was about to get a lecture. Instead, she stood and touched my chin. “Look what happens when you take charge, Iris. You’re a force of nature. Remember that when you talk to your dad.”
• • •
I was tempted to email. That was safe. Distant. But I didn’t want to be safe anymore. I wanted to stand in front of my dad and ask him what the hell went wrong between him and his mother. Then maybe I could start to understand what the hell went wrong between us.
“Dad.”
“Hello, Iris. How are you and your brother doing?” His phone voice was so courteous; he might has well have been talking to his publisher.
“We’re fine. We’re on our way to Dingle later today. They’ve had to…rush the last bit of filming. This is all going to wrap up by the end of the day tomorrow.”
“Is it now?”
I held the phone away from my ear and counted to five. He was being civil because he knew it’d drive me into an emotional response from which he would always win. “We’d like you to join us for the last day on set.”
“You would?” he said, genuine surprise in his voice.
“Yes. Well, if you’ve finished your draft. We don’t want to interrupt.”
His tone cracked with aggravation. “No, I haven’t finished. I haven’t been able to write since your little blow up. I do care about being your father. I do care about my children. I know I’ve been painted the villain since I was late to pick you up at the playground that day. I know I’ll never live that down.” My dad had never brought up the abduction before. How often did it weigh on his mind? If the heaviness of his tone was any indicator, it was a lot. “But, Iris, I’m honestly just trying to have a career as well as a family. This is Human Motivation 101.”
“I understand that.”
“Do you? I spent an entire red-eye flight sick thinking something happened to you and Ryder. When I arrived and found you two were fine—that you were off having fun, no less—I was angry. And I wasn’t wrong to be angry.”
I winced at his tone, but I also remembered how I’d unleashed on Ryder after he’d gotten lost on Inishmore. I’d been sick with worry, and yet when I found him, the relief came through as pure anger. “We know you care about us,” I tried.
“Please stop speaking for your brother.”
“Fine. I know you care. I also know you’re self-obsessed and have serious mom issues, and I don’t want to be in the dark anymore about our family. And I don’t want to be your pet.”
“My pet?”
“Your ‘literary-fiction girl.’”
Dead silence. The kind of silence that follows a guillotine’s swish.
“Have you seen my song yet?” I asked.
“Is this about Coldplay again?”
“No. I posted a song online. A song I wrote. You should watch it. And then you should come to Dingle. We’ll be waiting for you.” I hung up.
IRIS & RYDER Film: Elementia
Director: Cate Collins
On Location: Day 11
Last Day
Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
Filming Notes:
A.M.: SEVYN enters Thornbred scene
P.M.: SEVYN & EVYN escape Thornbred, aided by NOLAN & MAEDINA.
Etc. Notes:
Wrap dinner at John Benny’s Pub
MICHAEL EDWARD THORNE, THE EDMUND/GOLLUM/SEVERUS SNAPE OF THIS PRODUCTION
The Dingle Peninsula was gorgeous. Rolling green pastures in all directions, dotted by a picturesque, colorful town on a tiny, sweet harbor. And then? Dashing cliffs, giving way to a glittering ocean and the silhouettes of skeletal islands.
The filming took
