The Girl Who Would Be King(104)

“Damn,” I say to myself looking at the river and somehow knowing that it’s in there somewhere. I jump in and tear frantically at the water, checking the shore and even diving down into the deeper areas a few times looking for it. Once I get my head together I stand still and reach out for it mentally, hoping it will call to me as it did in the museum.

Nothing. It’s gone.

I drag myself back onto the rocks and sit very quietly, trying to figure out what this means for me and all my plans. The stone would obviously have been helpful – it makes me stronger and faster, and even more invulnerable – but its real strength was in its ability to find Bonnie, and now she’s dead. I don’t need to find her anymore, so it’s fine. I’ll go back to L.A., and Liz and, well, I don’t know what. I guess I’ll do whatever I want. Maybe I’ll burn the state of Nevada to the ground and bathe in diamonds.

I consider flying through a few floors of the Empire State building on my way home, dropping a few tourists from the top King-Kong-style, but decide to save it for my next trip to Manhattan. Gotta leave something for next time.





PART III: i was meant for the stage





•

I touch down at the Malibu beach house triumphant. I’m still pissed I lost the stone and have been cursing off and on the entire way back to L.A., but I’ve convinced myself that since Bonnie is nice and dead it doesn’t matter as much.

I throw open the front door grandly. “Honey, I’m home!”

Liz is curled up in a ball on the couch sobbing quietly through her gag.

“Awww. Were you worried about me?” I ask. Liz looks up incredulous, but shifts her expression to calm. She’s kinda tough for a prima donna. I pull the gag off her mouth and she looks at my bare neck.

“Where’s my necklace?” Is the only thing she has to say.

“Sorry,” I shrug. “Lost in battle.” I uncuff her and she lowers her head. She rubs her wrists lightly, her shoulders curling into little round shapes. “Hey, I’m sorry, okay,” I say. “I certainly didn’t lose it on purpose.” I look down at her, miserable and trying to disappear into herself. “I lost the stone too,” I offer gamely. I poke her in the shoulder. “Hey, you pick whatever you want to eat, I’ll go get it,” I say trying to perk her up. Liz doesn’t look at me, but lifts her right wrist, ready to be handcuffed again. I decide not to cuff her and drop the handcuffs on the table. Liz looks at me surprised. “I’ve got to learn to trust you sooner or later,” I say, shrugging. And she breaks into a huge smile, which in this moment, seems totally worth it. “So what do you want to eat?” I ask again.

“Sushi,” she says.

I stick out my tongue and make a face. “Ick,” I mumble.

Liz almost smiles again. “Don’t be so ignorant, Lola, give something new a try,” she says.

“Whatever. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.” And then look back at her and add, “Be good.”

“What else would I be?” she sighs to the empty room, but I hear her anyway.

Nearly an hour later I’m wrinkling my nose as Liz devours raw fish and some smelly kind of soup. I bite into another pizza slice and try to concentrate on her plan.

“I don’t know Liz, kinda sounds like you’re trying to get me killed.”

“Well, I’d be happy to hear your ideas, Lola,” she offers back at me.

I chew on my slice quietly for a minute before answering. “So basically, you’re saying, rather than recruiting a bunch of dudes to be my gang of minions, I should just like, go and take over an existing gang?”

“It’ll be faster,” Liz nods, placing some pink fish on her tongue.

“Yeah, faster at killing me,” I mutter reaching for another slice.

“What are you so afraid of? You’re practically invincible and always bragging about your power.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t lying in your office when I talked about being killed before. It’s not that hard to kill me, I’m just pretty good at coming back. But a lot can happen in that down time,” I pause and eye her warily. “And don’t get any bright ideas,” I say, pointing my pizza at her. Liz looks into her soup.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she answers. “Besides, why bother? You’re bound to die sooner or later, from malnutrition. Have you ever even eaten a vegetable?” she asks pointing her chopsticks at my pizza. I lift the lid on the box, showing her the pie.

“Hey, this totally has olives on it. That’s a vegetable…right?” I say, doubting myself at the last minute.