The Blue Door

15



THE DASHING ESCORTS



Which is their goal?” inquired the warrior, gazing in frustration between the two Protectors.

“Does it matter?” his captain replied. “Either way, there is cause for concern.”

He nodded curtly and said, “I should get back. She is with her family right now, but …”

“The others have been alerted to the potential dangers, so there are many who are willing to lend you their aid. Unless she is somehow lured away from the rest, she is safe.”

“I wish we were not so close to the Deep.” Gazing unhappily toward the east, he added, “It cannot be a coincidence.”

“No, it cannot.”


When Margery and company turned up at the Pomeroy’s booth a few days later, Prissie had no idea they’d be spending the day at the fair. The sting of being left out of the planning was somewhat soothed by the fact that the first thing her friends had done was come to find her. She was scheduled to work all day, but her family pulled together so she could go with the other girls.

“I’ll work doubly hard!” Koji pledged gravely.

“Is it all right?” Prissie whispered to her mother, who was taking a turn at the register.

Momma smiled. “Go ahead, sweetheart.”

Without further urging, Prissie anxiously smoothed her hands over her skirt. She wasn’t wearing anything fancy today — a faded pink gingham sundress and sneakers. But April and Jennifer both wore shorts, while Margery and Elise sported mini-skirts, so she didn’t think she’d stick out too much. Before she stepped out from behind their stall, her grandfather slipped her a little spending money. “Tomorrow’s the last day of the fair,” he said gruffly. “Treat yourself to some favorites.”

“Thanks, Grandpa!” she said softly, carefully tucking the funds into the small backpack that doubled as her purse. Adding a couple of bottles of water from the cooler, she met Koji’s gaze. “You’ll be okay?”

He curved his thumb and forefinger into the accompanying hand sign and echoed, “Okay.”

While she was settling up with her family, Elise scooted around the side of their stall and smiled at her brother. “Hey, Neil! Remember me?”

The sixteen-year-old looked up from where he was cleaning out the kettle in preparation for the next popping. “Uhh, sure. You’re one of the girls who hangs out at the field during practice.”

She pouted, then prompted, “I’m Elise, one of your sister’s friends.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Prissie knew her brother was only giving her run-of-the-mill courtesy, but as Elise practically batted her lashes at him, her annoyance flared. “I’m ready to go,” she announced crisply, gesturing for Elise to precede her to the front of the booth. With a last wave to her family, Prissie followed her friends through the crowds.

One of the first things she noticed was that all four girls had an assortment of beads and bangles dangling from their pockets. When she asked April about the odd accessories, her friend extracted her cell phone from her pocket and passed it to Prissie. “Oh, wow,” she murmured, slowing her steps as she looked over all the doo-dads attached to the phone’s strap.

April pointed to a tiny stuffed rabbit. “This is from my sister because my birthday was on Easter this year, and I won this one at the arcade next to the pizza place.” There was a tiny pair of fuzzy dice, an ornate letter A and even a flash drive hanging amidst the odd collection.

Prissie thought it looked like an oversized charm bracelet. “This is so cute!” she said enviously.

“You should totally start your own set.” April unhooked a strand of sparkling crystal beads in shades of silver and gray that reminded Prissie of April’s eyes. “Here,” she offered. “You can have this one.”

“But I don’t have a cell phone.”

“Well, until you get one …” April replied, her eyes roving. “Ha! This will work!” Prissie stopped walking and peered over her shoulder as her friend deftly attached the decoration to her backpack’s zipper, where it sparkled in the sunshine.

Prissie was touched by the gesture. “Thanks, April,” she said sincerely.

“Sure!”

For the next couple of hours, they roamed through the fairgrounds, tallying up how many things could be sold on a stick and sampling most of them. Going with the flow, they ended up on the edge of the crowd that had gathered to watch a square dancing demonstration. A little farther along, they ran up against a watermelon seed spitting contest. They played a ring-toss game for about twenty minutes. Eventually, Margery insisted on showing Elise the bazaar set up in half of one of the exhibition halls, where local artisans sold everything from handmade jewelry to tie-dyed scarves. Prissie was glad to be with her friends again, but it bothered her that, for the first time ever, she wasn’t suggesting what to do next. She didn’t even feel like part of the decision.

Margery had always willingly fallen in line with Prissie’s plans, so much so that Grandpa teasingly dubbed his granddaughter the queen bee of her set. But now, her closest friends kept laughing over inside jokes and making references to phone calls, text messages, and past conversations she knew nothing about.

Normally, she would have told them all about her ribbon from the baking contest, but Prissie suspected that Elise would put her down. She’d rather keep her happiness to herself than see it trampled on.

The summertime separation had always been difficult, but up until now, everything went back to normal once classes started up again in the fall. This year, Prissie doubted that school would automatically fix things. She strongly suspected that the only reason she’d been included at all was because Elise wanted to get closer to Neil.

“Should we do some rides?” Jennifer suggested.

“Not until after dark; it’s way better with lights,” said April.

“Hey, look!” Elise said, pointing, sounding surprisingly excited. A large, square tent stood between a gyro stand and a cart selling cones of red, white, and blue shaved ice. It was set back from the main thoroughfare, and tapestry rugs were strewn on the ground leading to the entrance. Off to one side stood a fancy sign on an easel — Lady Ophelia, Seer of Fortunes. The heavy purple fabric of the tent was stitched with moons, stars, pretty little spirals, and zodiac figures. A curtain of multicolored beads swayed across the opening. “Let’s see what she has to say about our futures!”

With excited agreement, the girls moved to follow, but Prissie stayed put. Margery glanced over her shoulder and noticed. “Come on,” she invited.

Prissie shook her head. “I can’t.”

“What?” Jennifer asked in concern. “Why not?”

“Don’t you have enough money?” guessed Elise.

“I’ll lend you some,” offered Margery.

“No, that’s not it,” Prissie hedged. “I just don’t like fortune-tellers.”

“Have you ever been to one?” quizzed April. When she shook her head, her friend reasoned, “Then how would you know?”

She couldn’t explain exactly why it was wrong, but she knew that fortune-telling was one of the adamant thou shalt nots. If she told her friends that she couldn’t go in because she believed it was wrong, they’d probably laugh at her. So, Prissie stood there, wanting nothing more than to have the ground swallow her, but keeping her chin up. “I should check in with my family,” she lied, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I’m supposed to be working today … and I really need to get back.”

“Oh … well, maybe we’ll see you later?” Margery said awkwardly.

Prissie smiled weakly, knowing they wouldn’t. “Okay.”

Elise shrugged and turned to Jennifer. “I had my cards read once at this place near my old house, and you wouldn’t believe …” With a swoosh of heavy fabric and the clatter of beads, four giggling girls disappeared into the fortune-teller’s tent, and Prissie could have cried over the unfairness of it all.

For a moment, she was tempted to follow them, but her conscience pricked. “I can’t,” she muttered unhappily. It would have been nice to have Koji with her right then, because he would have assured her she was doing the right thing. As it was, she just felt left out.

“Miss Priscilla!” hailed a familiar voice.

“Prissie!” came another enthusiastic call.

She turned to see Milo and Baird weaving their way toward her through the crowd, Kester close on their heels. Up until now, the only time she’d talked to Baird, he’d been up on stage, so she hadn’t realized how short he was until he strolled up to her. They were eye-to-eye. “Hi,” she managed weakly.

The Worshiper’s wild hair was pulled away from his face with a series of little clips that made it stand out like a red mane, and his sleeveless gray shirt was printed with a huge D.V. in grungy blue letters. Baird grinned unabashedly and gave her shoulder a gentle poke. “Good girl!” he proclaimed. “Difficult choices are difficult!”

“Would you like to join us instead?” invited Milo.

“It’ll be fun!” coaxed Baird.

“Really?” she asked, glancing toward Kester, who brought up the rear at his own pace. “Would that be okay?”

“Most assuredly,” the tall angel replied kindly.

With a tremulous smile, she whispered, “Thank you.”


“Do you come to the fair often?” Prissie asked.

“Every year! Practically every day, too,” Baird answered. “Yesterday, I helped chaperone a DeeVee event, and my band is on rotation for music at the bandstand. But today, I’m here with friends!”

“Speaking of which, I hear you’re making sure Koji has a good time,” Milo interjected.

“Of course.”

“I’m also showing a newbie around,” Baird announced, gesturing broadly to his apprentice, who held a paper sack of mini-doughnuts. The tall musician’s charcoal gray slacks and white button-down shirt looked far too formal in the middle of the shorts and tank top crowd, but Prissie suspected that this counted as relaxed attire for Kester.

Baird opened his arms wide to encompass the entirety of the fair. “There’s nothing like looking at something familiar through the eyes of someone who’s seeing it for the first time!” Giving his partner a sidelong glance, he added, “Though I suspect Koji was much more enthusiastic.”

“Undoubtedly,” agreed Kester calmly.

“Don’t they have fairs in … wherever you came from?” Prissie asked.

Kester smiled faintly. “I have been to bazaars and street festivals all over the world, but they were nothing like this. Each land has its own flair and flavor, and this one’s is uniquely, uh, deep fried.”

“At least try the doughnuts,” said Baird.

His apprentice opened the small bag and poked through the contents with one long finger. “I think it may be wisest to eat when we return home.”

“Spoil sport,” Baird sighed. “Food is a part of the whole fair experience!”

Milo chuckled. “It’s not exactly healthy, but it’s not forbidden fruit, either.”

Prissie hesitantly offered, “The apple turnovers my dad makes are baked, and they’re really good. Would you like to try them?”

Kester smiled and graciously accepted her invitation. “I would like to sample your family’s wares. Thank you, Prissie.”

When they reached the Pomeroy’s booth, Prissie wrinkled her nose at Ransom, who only rolled his eyes before nodding to Milo. “Hey, Mr. Mailman,” he greeted.

“Hello, Ransom,” he returned amiably. “Four apple turnovers, please. And you can call me Milo.”

“Sure, okay,” the teen replied, efficiently bagging the pastries.

“Did you have a hand in these delectables?” Milo asked conversationally.

“Yeah,” Ransom admitted.

“They look delicious!”

“They’re good,” the teen asserted, looking a little defensive, but mostly pleased.

Koji waved to Prissie and asked, “What happened to your friends?”

She grimaced. “Long story.”

Neil glanced her way and jokingly asked, “Did they ditch you?”

“She ditched them,” Baird corrected, propping his arms on the edge of the stall. “Nice operation you guys have here. Working hard?”

“Yo, Baird,” Neil grinned.

Beau raised a hand in greeting, and Koji followed suit, adding, “Hello, Kester!”

“Good day,” he replied, meeting each person’s gaze in turn. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

Prissie glanced around to see what had become of Milo and spotted him talking to her father, who was minding the kettle in Grandpa’s place for the afternoon. With a wave, the mailman called Baird over and introduced him; Kester followed, and the three angels talked with Jayce for several minutes. Prissie fiddled with the end of her braid as they chatted, wondering if they were talking about her. When her dad finally looked her way, it was with a smile. “Come back in time for dinner, my girl,” he urged.

With a jolt, Prissie realized that Milo had wrangled permission for her to stay with them for the rest of the afternoon. She didn’t have to be told twice. When Baird led the way back onto the fairgrounds, she walked beside Kester with her head held high.

“Thanks again!” Milo called to Jayce, and Prissie peeped over her shoulder. To her complete and utter delight, Ransom was watching them go. If only Elise could see her now, being escorted by three handsome men — well, angels. The possibility buoyed her spirits even further. Maybe her luck had taken a turn for the better!