Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(15)

"I could wear two mikes and read her lines as well as mine," one of the three women said, shielding her eyes from the spotlights trained on the stage as she peered toward the man who Mikki decided must be the director.

"That won't work. We can't get an accurate check that way. God-damnit! I'm tired of Catie's theatrics. The little twit thinks she is Medea." The man paused, and Mikki could hear him pacing irritably back and forth over the leafy ground. Then, as if her gaze had drawn it, his head turned in her direction. "Hey you! Would you mind giving us a hand?"

Mikki looked around. No one was near her. The guy was actually talking to her.

"Me?" She laughed nervously.

"Yeah, it'll just take a few minutes. Could you go up onstage, let them key a mike to you and say a few lines?"

"I don't know the lines," Mikki said inanely.

"Doesn't matter." The man gestured at a worker who was standing near the stage. "Get the lady a script, and tell Cio to mike her." Then he turned back to Mikki. "How 'bout I give you a couple tickets to opening night for helping us out?"

"O-okay," Mikki stammered. What the heck? Nelly loved this kind of stuff - she'd take her.

Feeling only a little foolish, she let two men lead her to the stage. One thrust an open script into her hand, and the other guy, the one the director had called Cio, pushed back her hair, fitting a neat little mini-mike into her hairline.

"Hey," Cio yelled back at the director. "Her hair's as thick as that wig Catie wears."

"Good, it'll give us an accurate test."

"There's your mark," Cio told her, pointing to a line duct taped on the floor of the stage. "All you have to do is stand there and after the Corinthian women say their lines, I'll point to you and you read Medea's invocation of Hecate." He paused, took a pen from his shirt pocket and circled a paragraph in the script. "That stanza right there. Face the audience and try to speak as slowly and clearly as possible. Got it?"

Mikki nodded.

"Great." He patted her shoulder absently before exiting the stage.

"You'll be fine," one of the three ladies said, smiling at her. "This is easy-peasy."

"I don't know," Mikki whispered back at her. "I've never invoked a goddess before."

"Hey, don't worry about it. You won't invoke one tonight unless you really are Medea," the friendly looking woman said, still grinning.

"Or unless you're one of Hecate's blood priestesses," another lady chimed in.

"Or have delusions of grandeur and diva yourself into believing you're both." All of the actresses rolled their eyes at the first woman's comment. Clearly the absent lead actress had let the part go to her head.

"Ready, ladies?" the director called.

The four women sent her looks of encouragement as Mikki moved center stage to her mark.

"All right, let's get this done so we can go home. First Corinthian Woman, start us out please."

The First Corinthian Woman's voice was strong and clear as she repeated the lines Mikki had overheard earlier.

"The holy fountains flow up from the earth

the smoke of sacrifice flows up from the earth,

the eagle and the wild swan fly up from the earth . . ."

A little thrill tingled through Mikki's stomach, and her nervousness was suddenly replaced by excitement. The actress's words seemed to fill the space around her, chasing away her trepidation.

The Second Corinthian Woman spoke her lines earnestly to Mikki.

"Women hate war, but men will wage it again.

Women may hate their husbands, and sons their fathers,

but women will never hate their own children."

Mikki's eyes followed the lines on the script as the First Woman's voice trembled with emotion.

"But as for me, I will do good to my husband,

I will love my sons and daughters, and adore the gods."

From the edge of the stage Cio pointed to her, and like a horse goaded by spurs, Mikki plunged into Medea's lines.

"You will be quiet, you women.

You came to see how the barbarian woman endures betrayal;

watch and you will know."

On the script were written the words (Medea kneels and prays). Mikki glanced questioningly at Cio. He nodded and gestured to the stage floor. Drawing a deep breath, Mikki knelt and began reading the invocation.

"Not for nothing I have worshipped the wild gray

goddess who walks in the dark, the wise one,

whose dominions are the crossroads of man, wild

beasts, and ancient secret magicks,

Hecate, sweet flower of the ebony moon."

As Mikki spoke, her voice gained power and the small electric thrill that had lodged in her stomach when the First Corinthian Woman began to speak swelled throughout her body. Excitement rushed, adrenaline-like, into her throat, so that when she continued the invocation, her voice strengthened and magnified. Had she been looking at the director, she would have seen him frantically adjusting switches and turning dials. Had she glanced at the actresses onstage with her, she would have seen their mildly amused expressions change to confusion and shock. But Mikki looked nowhere except the script before her and the words that suddenly appeared, glowing, on the page as if her voice had called them alive.