A Kind of Magic by Shanna Swendson

He’d apparently arrived in time to be ready, but he looked haggard, in spite of the makeup. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You look tired.”
    “I took a nap this afternoon and overslept, so I guess I’m still a little groggy.”
    She wished she had one of those herbal bundles handy, but this was hardly an appropriate time to give him one. “Late night last night?” she asked.
    “No, that’s what’s weird. I was dead last night. I must have crashed as soon as I got home because I woke up at about five this morning on the sofa, still dressed. Then I went to bed, slept until ten, took a class around noon, and couldn’t keep my eyes open.”
    “You’re not getting sick, are you? Be sure you’re getting enough vitamin C. Have you been having trouble sleeping before now?”
    “Okay, Mom, what’s up with the questions?”
    She gave him a one-armed hug around his waist. “We’ve had enough bad stuff happening with this show. I don’t want anyone else getting sick or hurt.”
    “I really look that bad?”
    “Someone would have to know you really well to tell.”
    “Em.” His tone was tense with warning.
    “Okay, you look like you haven’t slept in a week and have a bad case of caffeine jitters. But you have slept, so maybe that means something’s wrong. Any weird dreams?”
    That might have been one question too many. He gave her a suspicious look. “How did you know?”
    “I just know that when I sleep a lot and wake up tired, I usually had really weird, vivid dreams. It’s like I was running all night. Or dancing.”
    She watched him carefully, waiting for his response. He looked thoughtful and unusually serious for a moment, then he tossed his hair out of his face and said, “You know, I think I dreamed about you yelling at me. No wonder I’m tired.” He sounded flippant, so she couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or telling the truth.
    She decided then to hide one of her herbal bundles in his dance bag. There was one big company dance number when she wasn’t on stage, so she might be able to sneak into the men’s dressing room then. If not, she’d waylay him after the show and drop it in while he was distracted. She’d find out if it worked if he was less exhausted the next day.

 
Twelve
     
    Amelia and Athena’s Apartment
    8:00 p.m.
     
    Josephine arrived exactly on the dot of eight. Amelia and Athena left Sophie to entertain her while they finished getting dinner ready. Sophie wasn’t sure whether they were giving her a break after she’d done most of the preparation or making her do all the hard work. Small talk over champagne was the last thing Sophie wanted when she’d been up since two in the morning and had only caught a little catnap on the airplane.
    “Have you been in New York long? I detect an accent,” Josephine said, making it clear through her tone that this accent made Sophie inferior.
    “I’ve been here off and on for a while,” Sophie said. “It hasn’t been my permanent residence, but I’ll be here through the holidays because I’m dancing in The Nutcracker .”
    Josephine arched an eyebrow. “I suppose they have to bring on all hands for that. It requires a large corps.”
    “Actually, I’m dancing the Snow Queen,” Sophie said mildly, before taking a sip of champagne. Josephine’s startled reaction was quite gratifying.
    Josephine recovered quickly. “So, a ballerina and an enchantress. You must be busy.”
    “I was a ballerina before I was an enchantress.”
    “No, you weren’t. Not unless you danced your way out of the womb. You were born an enchantress.”
    “I only recently learned about that, so I’m still new to all this.” Sophie wished she knew what, exactly, the sisters had told Josephine about her. Since the enchantresses were meant to keep a check on the fae and maintain the balance between realms, she suspected they’d stayed quiet about her other role as a fairy queen. That wasn’t likely to go over well with the rank and file