Shakespeare in the Limelight

A Wanton Chicas Standoff

The next few weeks, I met with Celia alone in her cottage. We went over lines, but solidifying a coherent dialogue with her seemed out of reach. Celia remained an enigma wrapped in a riddle of blank verse. Perhaps breaking her out of the confines of the estate might draw a more tangible conversation out of her. I suggested to Father Sky that some brief day trips to a secluded beach or mountain park might help. Father Sky agreed but insisted that we not wander too far off from where the acolytes would need to be positioned. He suggested I try taking Celia to his private beach house in Santa Barbara to spend time together without being disturbed.

I sat on the beach with Celia as the morning low tide took effect. I looked at her. She was pleasantly smiling as she looked out at the white-capped waves.

"Full fathom five thy father lies

Of his bones are coral made.

Those are pearls that were his eyes.

Nothing of him that doth fade

But doth suffer a sea change

Into something rich and strange."

Later that same day, I met Jessica in her room for a glass of wine and whatever else we could think of. At the moment, though, I was trying to calm her down after some stressful news she'd overheard in the lab.

"It sounds serious, Scooter. I mean, I'm not a scientist like some of the eggheads Father Sky has down in the lab, so I sure as heck wouldn't question their theories or their motives. But when they talk about limelights tearing our reality asunder. Your ears kinda prick up, you know?"

I flopped onto Jessica's bed as she poured me a white wine. "Speaking of things pricking up."

"Oh, Scoots. I don't know if I can think of sex this minute. "

"Really?"

"Well, I said this minute, give it another sixty seconds, and then check back in." Her cell phone rang. "Yeah? Oh shit. I'll be right down. Hey, could you give me a second before we smash, Scooter? I need to run down to the lab for a second."

"Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, it's just a computer glitch with the security system. Do you want anything from the kitchen?"

"Could you grab me some fruit punch?" Jessica quickly left; I'm pretty sure she heard me mention the fruit punch.

I rolled over on her bed and decided to take a quick nap. After a few seconds, I felt the presence of someone standing over me. I opened my eyes to find an acolyte curiously watching me. "Do you always sleep with your mouth open and on your belly like a dog?" He asked.

I shook my head, confused, and yawned. "Can I help you?"

The acolyte pointed a pistol at me. "Yeah, get the fuck up."

"Hey, man, what's going on?" I asked, raising my hands.

The acolyte opened the visor of his hood; it was Celia's brother, Claudio. "Put your hands down. I'm not going to shoot you, Scooter. Some shit is about to go down. A rival cartel to La Familia called El Carnala, female assassins, sicarias, deadly as they are sexy, are here to destroy the labs and anyone that gets in their way. They also want the limelights, including the one up Celia's nose. Since El Carnala is really into beheadings, this could be extremely bad for my sister's general health and well-being."

"Yeah, I'd fucking say so, dude. How the hell did they find out about the limelights?"

Claudio looked instantly guilty; his pride shrunk. "They found out from me."

"You told them? Why the hell did you do that?"

"Like I had a choice?! They tortured it out of me, Scooter, using their depraved feminine wiles."