~5.8~

Laurie let out a yelp, which she quickly stifled… the last thing she wanted was to be caught trespassing… though she wasn’t at all sure if that was the worst thing that could happen. The figure said nothing, did not rise or even move anything beyond its head, which it cocked sideways, one messy pigtail drooping against its shoulder, and gradually Laurie became aware that it wasn’t a statue but a girl. Why had she ever thought otherwise? Perhaps because she hadn’t expected to find anyone sitting in the hidden garden at night… because she had expected statues, because the girl had been so still, and because the meager allotment of moonlight which lit up the courtyard robbed the scene of most of its color.

“Hi… hi,” Laurie stammered. “Um, are you a friend of Marnie’s?”

“Marnie doesn’t have friends,” the girl said. She kicked her legs… her feet were covered with striped stockings, but bereft of shoes. “Not really. She uses and is used in turn. One day, she’ll be all used up and… poof.”

“Poof?” Laurie repeated.

“The end of the magic act,” the girl said. “The grand finale.”

“What’s that?”

“The lady vanishes.”

Laurie shivered.

“But you know her?” Laurie said. “Did she send you here?”

“Where?”

“Here,” Laurie said. “She brought me here, but she wouldn’t come in… were you here waiting for me?”

The girl thought about it a bit, then nodded rather solemnly.

“Oh,” Laurie said. “That’s… nice.”

Before, she would have sworn up and down that she would rather have had a guide to help her in her late-night exploration, but now she wasn’t so sure. She quickly fished her camera out of her bag… not only would it give her a record of her exploration, it would help her focus on her surroundings… what she was there for, not the girl.

“Have you seen my shoes?” the girl asked conversationally.

“No, are they nice?”

“I don’t know,” the girl said. “I haven’t seen them, either.”