Free Fall of Light by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Page B

“I watched you work,” she said.
    Opal waited.
    â€œMy grandmother’s a witch,” said Lauren, “and my sister has a little talent. Not like you.”
    Opal straightened. Calm flowed into her. It was a first for her, being discovered by someone she didn’t want to know about her talent. Since she had started in the business, she had revealed herself to a few people, but never by mistake. She could take care of an unintended revelation. The family had techniques to deal with outsiders. Opal had mastered persuaders. She hadn’t used them much until tonight, with Corvus and the locks, but she knew her own strengths.
    â€œI’ll never, ever tell,” said Lauren.
    â€œEven if I don’t help you?”
    Lauren shook her head. “Your choice. I’ll ask Rod for disguise advice if I have to, and Craig. I know a blond wig would change me, and I can walk and act differently. I just thought—”
    â€œHow much would you pay me?”
    â€œHow much would you want?”
    Opal sucked on her bottom lip, rose, and wandered to the dresser. She opened the top drawer and looked at her underwear, shook her head. She opened another drawer. More clothes. What was she expecting? “Money’s not much of a motivating factor for me,” she said. She got good pay doing special effects makeup, and she didn’t spend much. Her bank balance was almost big enough to buy real estate in California.
    â€œIs there something you’d prefer? I don’t have a lot of pull with the Makeup people. It’s not like I could get you a promotion.”
    â€œI don’t want a promotion. I have the job I want.” Opal wandered into the bathroom and looked at her toiletries. She picked up her hairbrush, then her comb. She set them down again. She had no cosmetics of her own, just soap and shampoo and moisturizer. “Oh,” she said, “I know.” Out in the room again, she went to the closet and opened her suitcase, pulled out a bag of new makeup brushes, her spares. She selected a broad brush, the kind one used to whisk powder onto a face.
    â€œWhat can I do in return?” Lauren asked.
    â€œYou were there when the other person talked to me,” said Opal. She sat on the bed with the brush cupped in her hands. She strengthened its psychic shape so it would be able to hold power, and then she sent power into it.
    â€œThe one who talked through Corvus?” Lauren said.
    â€œYou understand that there was someone else?”
    â€œI don’t know what to think, except that was a lot different from the way he usually talks. But he’s such a good actor, he could do a voice and persona like that without any trouble. Was it a joke?”
    â€œHe said it was, but I don’t believe it. Something worked through him and through me, something I don’t know. I’m afraid of it. What you can do for me . . .” She finished imbuing the brush with power and set it on her thigh. “Listen to my fears. I don’t have anyone else I can talk to about this right now.”
    â€œI can listen. Of course I can listen,” said Lauren. “Does this mean you trust me?”
    â€œI don’t know yet. I’d like to trust you. But how can I?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Lauren said. “My abuela said she could tell when a person was being straight with her, but my sister, not such a good lie detector. Lots of boys fooled her into thinking they meant everything they said when they were trying to get into her pants. You do any truth detecting?”
    â€œMy talents lie in the opposite direction,” Opal said. “Come in the bathroom and let me show you how to use this.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œC’mon.” Opal rose, and Lauren followed her into the bathroom, where the mirror was just wide enough for both of them to see themselves at once. “Sometimes I use tools in my work,” Opal said. “I’ve just