". . . and so I'm getting married to Blake and I'm so very happy and not crazy any more!" Treasure explained to her sister, who looked more than a little skeptical. Seeing Grace's disbelief, Treasure made herself smile non-psychotically. "Really, Grace, I'm totally fine. Now, why don't we all go out to celebrate?"
Grace couldn't very well tell her sister that she
was crazy, so the group of four ended up at Mick's Master Karaoke. Treasure made casual conversation with the rest, but--based on how much she looked at the two men--any spectator would have assumed that Jason, not Blake, was her fiancé.
She convinced Grace and Blake to have a go at the karaoke machine first.
"
Jaaaaaason," she said in a sing-song voice, cornering her ex-boyfriend. "There's this really pretty garden on the other side of the road, and you
have to come see it with me. Pretty pretty please?"
Against his better judgement, Jason found himself in the community garden with Treasure. In the late afternoon light, he couldn't help but notice the way her skin glowed and her dark, sparkling eyes.
Even so, he truly wasn't planning to do anything. He was reformed, decided, content. But Treasure had different ideas.
Jason was about to pull back and make a run for it, but then . . . he didn't.
All at once, he could remember why he loved Treasure. She had been his best friend since he wasn't even a person, and they had played together every single day. He waited beside her bed for her to wake up. She was the one who had made real--otherwise, he would have just been a shadow for the rest of their lives, until she died and he dissolved into ashes. Instead, he was
real--and he had betrayed her.
"I knew it!" Treasure cheered. "I knew that you still loved me."
They walked back into the club together, Jason's head spinning, to find the fiancés still using the karaoke machine.
"Hey, Treasure!" Blake greeted her with a kiss. "Where were you?"
"Jason and I were playing Robots vs. Aliens upstairs," she answered nonchalantly. "For the record, my Robots destroyed his Aliens. Aren't you proud of me?"
"That sounds like fun," Grace laughed, though inside she was a whirlwind of emotions. How many times had Jason used a similar excuse on Treasure when he and Grace had been kissing out by the pool? She relaxed as Jason smiled and swept her into his arms. Yes, everything was okay now. Everything was just as it was meant to be.
"Yes. Yes, it was very fun." Treasure looked on with a smile, a seemingly innocent and joyful smile.
The eyes are the windows to the soul.
Everything was okay now.
The group returned to the house late at night. Blake began to make dinner while Jason and Grace continued to make out. Treasure smiled her twisted smile and went to play chess with her mother.
"They're all such idiots. Jason is easily swayed and conflicted. Grace chooses to blind herself to the truth because she's
hoping for the best. Blake is simply oblivious because he was a frog this morning."
"I always knew you would make me proud, daughter," Mist purred as she moved her queen to corner the white king. "Just as my mother knew I would make her proud. You were meant to be heir, and even if Grace stole it out from under you, perhaps that is not where the true power lies this time. You are the manipulator, the puppet master, the one who pulls the strings."
"Thank you," Treasure said with a little smile. "I have lost a battle, but will win the war. It would be easier if they didn't keep showing up--"
"Hey, there's a foosball table in here!" Jason called as he and Grace raced through the hall. "I call red."
"Blue beats red any day of the week," Grace scoffed. "You're on!"
Treasure made a face at her mother across the chess table. "I'm going to go see what Blake's up to." She smiled to herself, noticing that Jason happened to glance at her as she spoke.
In one room, a puppet master and a puppet.
In the other, the trusting and the untrustworthy.
She manipulates him without even trying.
He stays up a little longer than his love, gazing dreamily into the darkness.
