“Mother!” It seemed like a good time to dematerialize. Of course I couldn’t. My mother had a habit of disabling my powers when she was around. “Forget Mr. Caine. You and I could hit the mall, do some shopping.” I grabbed her arm, desperate to get her out of there.
“Don’t be ridiculous. The mall has been closed for hours.” She lifted my hand off of her. “Careful, you’re wrinkling my silk. Now where was I?” She glanced around the room. “Ah, yes. Mr. Caine. May I call you Israel?”
“Make it Ray. What’s up?” He moved closer to me. Ray wasn’t stupid and he could tell I was worried and embarrassed. Rafe had my other side. It didn’t make me feel better. My mother had way too many powers for any intelligent person to relax around her.
“Ray, then.” Mother was practically purring. “Did you know that I restored Gloriana’s beautiful singing voice not long ago? Once I heard it had been taken from her, I had to right such a grievous wrong.” She threw out her arms, like she was bestowing blessings on all of us. I almost expected twinkling stars and fairy dust.
“No kidding!” Ray’s eyes lit up. “Glory? Is that true?”
“Mother, please. You sound like an actor in a bad superhero movie.” I glanced meaningfully at the group of humans on the bandstand. “Yes, it’s true.” I gasped when Ray grabbed me, almost knocking me down.
“That’s incredible!” He kissed my cheek then grinned at my mother. “You are a superhero.”
“Mother.” I nodded toward the band again. The guys had started to stare at us.
“One moment. I can take care of that.” She flicked her wrist. “Now they can’t hear a thing we say.” Her smile was wicked. “Superhero. Yes, I can live with that. Thank you.” She focused on Ray. “You attract such handsome men, darling. Well done.”
“Mother, what’s the point of this little visit?” I realized we were now in a virtual cocoon. The band couldn’t hear us and we couldn’t hear the band, which had settled down and started playing something on the other side of my mother’s invisible wall. Even Nate, who’d been sitting at a table against one wall with his laptop, had gone back to work, apparently lulled by whatever spell my mother had cast.
“Gloriana. Absolutely glorious. I named her so aptly, don’t you think?” She gave Rafe and Ray measuring looks before smiling at me. I was wrinkling her silk again, trying to drag her out of the room. “Patience, darling. I have this situation well thought out.”
“When were you going to tell me, Glory? This is tremendous news.” Ray held me close.
“I’ve been busy, Ray. With Sienna, Aggie, a lot of things.” I dredged up a smile for him. “Sorry.”
“You know how that ate at me. Your loss. I couldn’t stand the fact that the Storm God . . .” He shoved back and looked over his shoulder, then seemed reassured that the band still wasn’t paying attention to us and that they were making music we couldn’t hear. Ray shook his head, obviously amazed that my mother could arrange such a thing. “Well, I hated what he’d taken from you. You know that.”
“I do know it, Ray.” I laid my hand on his cheek, the dark stubble covering it only making him more beautiful. No matter what Ray had done, I knew his love of music trumped almost everything else in his life. The loss of my song had hurt his artist’s soul. “Yes, she gave me back my voice. I can sing again and not hurt your ears.”
“That’s fantastic, Glory.” Rafe dragged me into his arms this time. His hug was fierce. “I want to hear it.”
“Yes! You should all hear her.” Mother was levitating she was so excited. I jerked her back to the floor.
“Calm down,” I hissed.
“But it’s so exciting.” She focused on the men. I had a feeling it was a habit with her. “Unfortunately Gloriana doesn’t have her Siren power anymore. So men won’t fall at her feet.” She winked. “Unless they just love her for herself, of course.”
“And who doesn’t?” Ray dragged me toward the band at the other end of the large room. Mother’s invisible wall suddenly disappeared. “Come on, babe. I know you’ve got every song I’ve ever recorded memorized. I’ve even heard you mangle a few when we were pretending to be engaged and shared a hotel room.” He shook his head. “You remember, Valdez. She sounded like a stomped chicken when she sang in the shower.”
“No lie.” Rafe was right with us. “Sing for us, Glory. I can’t wait to hear you.”
“No, seriously. This is embarrassing.” My mother’s hand landed on my back. “Mother, stop manipulating me.”“But it’s what I do best, darling. Sing for the boys. It’s just not right that Aggie”—Mother frowned—“should get to sing with this band and not you. Who deserves it more?”
“The two of us don’t compare. Aggie needs the money.” I stopped at the foot of the stage.
“And you don’t?” Mother took Ray’s place by my side when he began conferencing with the band, deciding what I should sing without even asking me what I wanted. “You think I don’t know how you feel about your tawdry little apartment? How your friend Florence hurt your feelings when she insisted you take her gifts because she hated to see you wearing used clothes?”
“Mother, I’ve told you how I feel about you snooping into my thoughts and conversations.” My face burned. I was mortified that she would say this in front of Rafe. Sienna and Aggie were close enough to hear her too.
“But you don’t deny it.” Mother glanced at the others. “If you’re embarrassed, it’s your own fault. It’s high time you came into your own, Gloriana. If you won’t come to Olympus and claim the fortune owed you, then perhaps you’ll start showing off some of your other talents. Earn your own fortune here.” Mother shoved me up onto the stage where Ray handed me a microphone. “You could be a star, darling. Bigger than that Sienna girl.”
“Hey! I heard that.” Sienna had Aggie next to her. “Let’s hear what you’ve got, Glory. We don’t have to compete, you know. You mentor me for”—she glanced at the band—“you know. So maybe I can mentor you in the music biz. Even steven.”
“I, uh, I never thought . . .” My throat went dry and I caught Rafe staring at me. I’d known him for years. Sung show tunes to him when we’d driven to Texas from Las Vegas in my aging Suburban. He grinned, remembering how he’d been in his dog form then, howling to drown me out. That relaxed me a little. I could actually sing decently now and wouldn’t he be blown away? He nodded, like he was eager to hear me show off. That was my friend, always in my corner.
My mother stood beside him, beaming. I wasn’t about to catch her eye again or she’d toss one of her spells at me so I’d sing, ready or not.
Ray sat at the piano. “Okay, babe, you know this one. Come in when you’re ready.” He started playing, the tune one I knew instantly. The band joined in.
This was one of my favorites from Ray’s first album. It was a love song and I closed my eyes. Jerry. I hoped he was okay and coming home soon. I kept my love for him in mind when I opened my eyes, focused somewhere on the wall above everyone and started to sing.
When the song ended there was complete silence. I felt my face get hot and quickly handed Ray the mic. So much for my “glorious” voice. Then everyone started talking at once.
“Damn, girl, that was awesome. I never knew you had it in you.” Ray passed off the microphone and grabbed me around the waist to swing me in a circle. “Your mom’s right. A star is born.”
“No, Ray. You’re not thinking straight.” I wiggled my way down to my feet, sure he was exaggerating.
“He’s right for once, Glory. Your voice is amazing. If I hadn’t heard it, I’d never have believed it.” Rafe helped me off the stage. “You should do something with it.”
“It’s different, nice and low. I’m so glad you weren’t shrill.” Sienna exchanged looks with Ray. “You wouldn’t believe some of the wannabes who’ve pushed their way in front of us with voices that could crack glass.”
“No lie. Can’t see her rocking out though.” Ray moved closer to Sienna. “What do you think, Sin?”
“True. I think we could do something cool with her though. Go retro.” Sienna grabbed my arm. “I’m thinking ballads, Glory. Standards. The kind of thing Bublé does or maybe Adele. You sound like a combo of Amy Winehouse and Peggy Lee. What if you deck yourself out in fifties clothes? Do the whole look, along with the songs?” Sienna was on a roll. “Can you read music?”
“Yes, sure. I’ve picked up a few skills along the way.” I thought about the guitar I had shoved way back in the corner of my closet.
“That settles it. I could arrange some tunes for her. She can do covers, then original material with that same sound.” Ray unzipped a backpack and pulled out a sheaf of paper. “I wonder if I brought anything like that along . . .”
“Good idea, Ray. And I’ve always wanted to dig deeper into producing. I can see how this could go down. We’d do a little showcase on Halloween night. Put Glory up for a number or two to open for us.”
I just stood there in a daze. Obviously the two pros had this all figured out.
“Hey, what about me? Where’s my showcase?” Aggie wore a pout. “I have the same kind of voice.”
“True enough. But you don’t have the heart Glory has when you sing. Sound’s there but nobody’s home if you know what I mean.” Sienna stared at Aggie’s blank look. “Guess not. Sorry, Ag.” She patted Aggie’s hand. “Work on learning that material we gave you. Right now your best bet is backing up Ray and me. Maybe someday you’ll have a chance to do a single.”