Across the Veil: Open Eyes (Book 1)

Chapter 6: Deal with a Devil

"She what?!" Nina looked up, her grip on the papers in her hands tightening noticeably.

Down the hall a couple of actors and actresses stopped their conversation and were looking at Nina with concern. Vilis waved them away and apologized before ushering Nina and Blake into one of the empty powder rooms.

Blake raised their hands in a placating manner, "She isn't taking it seriously. She thinks she's just tired."

"Blake. She saw Savio!" Nina said, pulling a chair over to have a seat, "How? Humans aren't supposed to notice Savio that easily! What... Did she say what she saw?"

Blake braced themself. Nina never did well with unexpected surprises.

"She said she saw a shadow with green spots for eyes." They said calmly.

Vilis looked up, a concerned expression written on his face. "That's... Fairly detailed for something she shouldn't be able to see." He stated as he turned to shut the door.

All conversation fell silent as a tall, elegantly dressed woman stepped in front of the doorway and set her steady, observant gaze on the trio. They had little doubt that she'd heard them. Madame Celeste never missed a beat on anything that happened in her domain. She caught the concerned and hesitant looks from her employees.They did not know how their boss would react to a Human all of a sudden finding out about one of them.

Madame Celeste gave them a calm, patient smile as she spoke, her eyes softening as she recognized the fear in their own eyes, "We can talk about this after the show."

"Please don't blame Sav-" Vilis began, his voice panicked.

Madame Celeste ghosted her slender hand through the air, silencing Vilis' fears. "Don't worry, my child." She said gently as she walked past them, "As I said, we can talk later."

The trio gave each other curious, albeit more relaxed looks. At least she wasn't mad. That was at least one good thing at the moment. Now they just had to hope that nothing else happened with Willow before they could get home.

***

Memphis howled with laughter in the kitchen, earning a rather displeased look from Savio.

Bruno ran a hand through his hair and sighed, relieved that Willow hadn't made anything of seeing Savio's true form. He couldn't help but give his boss a sharp and irritated look as he continued to laugh.

"That's what you were worried about? That the Human gal saw you?" Memphis wiped a tear from his eye."Buddy, she had one of the tamer reactions to seeing a Fae. Most Humans lose their shit at something like that."

"What do we do though? How did this happen? She never noticed my shadow form before... Or at least no more than any other Human." Savio explained, looking to Bruno for any possible answer.

Memphis threw his arm around Savio's shoulder, "I know how it happened."

"Really? How?" Savio asked, resisting the urge to elbow his boss in the gut.

"It's simple, really."

"... Yeah?" Savio narrowed his eyes, jaw tensing as he leaned away from Memphis.

"I'm surprised you guys didn't know about this sooner."

"... Your point?" Savio asked, wanting to move the conversation along as fast as possible.

"That for Folk living in the Human world, you guys don't know much about Humans." Memphis teased.

"Memphis." Bruno said, his voice firm and sharp. He pressed the pad of his thumb against the space between his brows, trying to will away a mounting headache.