Free Angel's Dance by Heidi Angell Page A

the
bedroom.” Clear squinted. “I’m sorry, my eyes are still feeling
very sensitive. Can we please turn off that light” She pointed
overhead. Laura walked over and flipped the switch, still moving as
if in a trance.
    “ How…? How…?”
    Clear waved it off impatiently. “How
doesn’t matter, just that I can. Please, we need to focus on this.
I just.. I have a feeling this is important somehow.”
    “ What does the man look
like?” Laura asked.
    “ He was.. I don’t know. I
think his image must be distorted by her feelings for him. He was
balding and wrinkly and had graying teeth, He was sort of hunched
looking. I don’t know.”
    “ Distorted by her feelings
for him?” Laura asked in confusion.
    “ Yes… people’s feelings
for others distort the way they look in those people’s minds. Kind
of like Shallow Hal… but not usually that extreme. It goes both
ways. If you have negative feelings for someone, then their
imperfections become much more noticeable to you. A large nose
becomes humongous, bad teeth are even worse, a few crow’s feet
become a bag of wrinkles. If you’re fond of people their good
features are more enhanced. Their eye color brighter, their smile
whiter… and their negative features are diminished. The overhanging
gut is smaller, the receding hair line is less noticeable. This
phenomena is much more pronounced in young people.” Clear shook her
head again. “But neither of them ring a bell?”
    Laura shook her head, still trying to
process everything.
    “ Look, this girl was very
important to Kat… I don’t know why, but she felt very close to this
girl.”
    Laura shook her head again. “No… Kat
didn’t have any Goth friends. Believe me, I would have known anyone
she was close with. I do know everyone she was close with. This
makes no sense.”
    “ She has Goth clothes in
her closet,” Clear pressed.
    “ It’s just a phase. She is
trying a bunch of new looks.”
    “ They are being influenced
by someone.”
    “ Sure, the people she sees
on TV!” Laura snapped. “And… well, the dancers that come through
the school. Some of them are so… edgy…was the word she
used.”
    “ The dancer’s from her
dance school?” Clear probed. Something about that felt right. The
man had criticized something she had done… yeah, that felt
right.
    “ Wait, you think someone
from the dance school had something to do with her disappearance?
No, no way. She wouldn’t have been anywhere near the studio when
she disappeared.”
    Grant butted in. “That doesn’t mean
they weren’t involved. If someone was stalking her?”
    “ Don’t you think I would
have noticed some sleaze ball hanging around?!” Laura
yelled.
    “ Not all sleaze balls look
like sleaze balls,” Grant countered, obviously trying to remain
calm.
    “ Trust me, no one from
that school would have done this!” Laura insisted.
    Clear waved her hand to get their
attention. “Please, stop yelling. I can only help if we keep the
headaches at bay. You two going at it is so not going to help!” She
turned to Laura. “Maybe this has nothing to do with anything, but
it is possible that someone who was not involved with the dance
school, but who may have seen her from the dance school is
involved, right? They do live performances, right?”
    Laura looked at her speculatively, the
doubt showing in her eyes.
    “ Good lord, come on Clear.
I know where her studio is.”
    “ No. She changed studios a
few months back,” Laura countered.
    “ What? Why? No one told me
anything about this.” Grant turned on her, barely keeping his
temper.
    “ Well, you’ve been a
little busy with those other kids,” Laura snapped back, venom in
her voice. “She was invited to try out for a scholarship and she
got it. The scholarship made it a lot cheaper than the school she
was in and there would be smaller classes, more one-on-one
training… It seemed like a good deal and.. she had seen the other
dancers. She wanted to go…”
    “