-1Three days in Venice
"As you can see interest rates have been falling consistently for the past few months and…" Charlotte's head slipped off the heel of her hand and she hit it hard against the desk. There was a pause in which she simultaneously woke up and swore loudly. Everyone turned to stare at her. She coughed self-consciously, pushed her hair back from her face and tightened her pony tail. Nobody moved. Eventually the man who had been speaking stopped glowering at her and turned back to the board, "ahem, as I was saying…" Charlotte suppressed the urge to groan, picked up a notebook and attempted to look professional. Damn meetings. About half an hour passed. Her gaze flickered to the window. It was a lovely day. The sun was reflected by the water in the canals and the glass in the windows of the opposite buildings. A small boat bobbed past. She turned back to watch the speaker. He had a pointer and was jabbing at a graph. The rest of the group seemed avid. Charlotte sighed. This was not what she had imagined an all expenses paid trip to Venice would be like. She hadn't left the company selected hotel once. She was in the board room there now. Thoughtfully she nibbled the end of her pen then started. Someone had slipped a note across the table. She looked up; a man winked at her. It was James. Curiously she picked up the note.
"Ghastly isn't it? I'm going to one of these local magic shows tomorrow night; you should come it'll be a laugh. James. Xxx"
She grinned and nodded at him. "Ok" she mouthed. Well that was something anyway. Not that she wasn't enjoying this, or at least trying to. She glanced at her watch. Only a few more hours to go.
The man picked up the bottle and proceeded to drink the lot of it in one go. Charlotte watched him with a mixture of awe and disgust. As the last few drops trickled into his mouth she turned back to her own drink. She needed the alcohol; that last day had been horrible. The man next to her was fumbling in his pockets. By his expression when he looked up she guessed he had found them empty, "Hey!" he called to the barman. To her surprise he spoke with a pronounced English accent (although a slightly inebriated one.) The barman turned to serve him with a long suffering look, "Yes sir?"
"Listen I'm afraid I don't have any… erm… money to pay for that last drink but…"
The barman rolled his eyes and cut him off, "Right, you have to do half an hours washing up then. Come with me."
The man looked mortified, "No wait! A bet, a bet! You can choose it!"
The barman turned to the man. He looked tempted. Charlotte didn't blame him; she wouldn't have wanted to let this drunkard near her crockery either. "I choose it?" He asked. He seemed to debate with himself for a moment, "Alright then." He took out a coin, put his hands behind his back and tossed the coin between them, "Right; which hand has the coin in?"
The man grinned, "Hey I'll turn my back, hold up the hand with the coin in, just for luck!"
The barman frowned slightly but he held up his left hand. The man turned obediently and shut his eyes, The barman brought his hands together again and the other looked round. "Which hand is the coin in?" He asked again. The man studied the clenched fists before him and eventually tapped the left one. The barman scowled and opened it to reveal the coin: "Fine! You win! But no more drinks!" Then he stamped off into the kitchen. Charlotte giggled, "I know how you did that!" She laughed.
"Did what?"
"You cheated!"
A smile twitched at the edge of his mouth, "Oh really? And how was that?"
"When he held the hand with the coin in up all the blood drained out of it so it was paler!"
He chuckled, "Very good miss… er…"
"Charlotte Smith!"
"Howl Pendragon." He held out a hand. She shook it. "And where did you learn that?" He asked. Charlotte was all too happy to tell him. She had been obsessed with little tricks like that when she was younger. She even showed him a card one of her own. It hit Eleven o'clock. Suddenly his phone rang, he picked it up, listened for a few seconds then nodded and put it back into his pocket. He stood up rather hurriedly and drained Charlotte's drink. "Sorry, I have to go, it's been nice meeting you!" He yawned, dived into the crowd then was gone, merged into the mass of other people. She grinned after him.
At twenty past twelve her room, door crashed open and she fell in. Perhaps she'd had a little too much to drink. She collapsed onto the huge squashy double bed and gazed up at the ceiling. Things weren't that bad. Not really. Sure it could be boring, well, it was boring. But that wouldn't be for long. She smiled The promotion. A position was opening up. Peterson was bound to give it to her. More money, more responsibility, more work she supposed , but that was alright. She could cope. She had always been able to cope. When she was younger she had dealt with stress by imagining escape. Running away to her grandmothers house, or to join the circus. As time passed she realised that however romantic things like that just didn't happen. She could face her problems full on now. Slowly Charlotte drifted off to sleep.
Predictably the minute she woke up her head began to pound. She spent most of the morning moaning quietly and thinking about her date with James that night. He knocked on her hotel room door at about nine o'clock and they followed a list of directions scribbled on a bit of paper to a tiny run-down theatre in a side-street. This was one of the things that Charlotte loved about Venice. She had lived there for a few years when she was a child and had never once managed to not get lost in the reams and reams of side streets and tiny little passage ways between buildings and canals. James looked a little disconcerted. She had the feeling he'd never been to Italy before. He knocked at a small brown door in the wall and was admitted. They stumbled through some dark corridors and into a large and surprisingly crowded room. Huge velvet curtains were draped in front of a stage. Gold leaf encrusted the elaborate designs on the ceiling. They were ushered into two seats. The material was soft and warm although Charlotte could see some of the stuffing through a hole. They talked awkwardly for a few minutes, then suddenly the lights went dim and the curtains began to rise. A man was standing there. In a black, obviously well made, if slightly shabby suit. He was wearing a top hat and holding a cane. Slowly he looked up and stared at the audience. Charlotte gasped. Even in the limited light of the theatre she recognised him. It was Howl! He has the same sandy, slightly to long blonde hair. The same pale blue, amused eyes. The same large, hooked nose. She grinned, well that was a surprise.
The show went on. It was very good. He knew a lot of things she didn't. Halfway through he called a member of the audience to the stage. She was a small dark, well dressed woman. She wasn't particularly distinctive but Charlotte's eye was drawn automatically to her by her necklace. It was a beautiful object, what looked like real diamonds joined together by a thin string of pearls. A lot of people gasped when she walked into the light. Howl bowed when she reached the stage. He flourished his top hat. The woman stood nervously in the middle of the stage as he approached her. "Thank you for volunteering. What is your name?" Charlotte found that his show voice was quite different from his normal. It was softer, and somehow more refined.
The woman stuttered slightly as she replied; "Bella Fabiani."
He nodded, "Miss Fabiani, that's quite a necklace you're wearing."
"It was my mothers."
Without replying Howl plucked a scarf from the air and held it out. It was dark lace. Completely opaque. He held it out to her and Bella took it. He stepped back and turned to the audience, "Please note I am too far away from our volunteer to interfere with it." In one movement he moved over to a veiled object at the back of the stage. He drew the fabric from it and let it fall to the ground. It was a mirror. Miss Fabiani's back could be seen in it as well as a vague glimmer of lights from the audience. "Miss," the magician faced her again, "Please wrap that scarf around your neck, completely covering your necklace and turn to the mirror." She did as she was asked. There was a hush in the audience as Howl stepped right over to the other side of the stage. Everyone stared at Bella's reflection. Nothing happened for a few moments and the audience began to grow restless. Then suddenly a figure could be seen emerging behind her reflection. She spun around yet there was no one there. The audience gasped. The figure grew closer and everyone could see that it was Howl. Yet the man himself was standing, quite still in the exact same position as he had been a minute or so ago. His mouth was set into a grim smile. His mirror self was smiling too, in a benevolent yet eerie way. It reached out and slipped it's hand under the scarf in Bella's reflection. It drew out the necklace. The woman herself was to scared to move. The mirror Howl then turned and strode back into the blackness of the glass. Miss Fabiani's hands flew to her neck and scrabbled with the scarf. It came off. A ripple went round the audience The necklace was gone. She screamed and fell to her knees searching the floor. The magician stopped her with a word. "Bella; I have your jewellery." She stood and stared at him. In his hand lay an extravagant necklace made up of diamonds strung together with pearls. It was hers. She dashed across the room and snatched it from him. He merely smiled and stepped back. No one spoke. Bella returned shakily to her seat where she was met by a crowd of her dissimulating friends.
The rest of the show was presided over by a sense of awe. Nobody rustled packets or drank from water bottles any more. It finished at Eleven. Everyone began to trickle from the theatre into a small bar. Charlotte was about to join them when James tapped her arm; "That was mental! I thought I was dreaming when he held out that girls necklace! Anyway, look I'm really sorry I have to go! There's a little party going on for a friend of mine. Can I drop you off at the hotel?"
She bit her lip. She didn't want to go yet, "No that's fine. But, thanks, it was nice coming here with you." He kissed her on the cheek then left. Charlotte stood in the corridor and looked about. She felt bit lonely. Slowly she walked in with everyone else, sat down and ordered a drink.
Most people seemed to leave quite early. She stayed on: she didn't mind her own company. A clock chimed somewhere. There was a thump and a groan from beside her as someone else sat down. She looked round. It was Howl, "Well hello again!" she laughed. He turned. At first his face was blank then he smiled in recognition. "Oh right. Hi! How are you?"
She grinned, "Good. Yeah. That was a fantastic show you just gave us."
He tossed his hair and tried to suppress a smirk. "Yeah, it was wasn't it? It's really hard work though you know."
"Really?" She acted surprised.
"Yeah." He scratched the back of his head. "Very hard work, all the tricks need planning very carefully and I can't stay in the same place for two shows running you know. Not with the police and the Catholics on my trail." He laughed at his joke. "One thinks I'm using the black magic, the other thinks I'm fraudulent." He looked at her over his dark glasses, "In that order!" Charlotte listened to him. He seemed to enjoy talking. His life sounded interesting. She laughed and nodded at the right moments. And then suddenly she was talking about her life and her problems. And he listened, "I hope your promotion works out for you." He drawled when she had finished, She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic. She glanced at her watch. One twenty. She swore, "Oh my god, sorry, I have to go. It's late, I have work tomorrow." She dithered for a moment then ran without waiting for him to say goodbye.
Somehow she still felt relaxed. When she reached the hotel there seemed to be a party going on. She frowned in confusion as she looked in. James was standing at the front of the room holding a bottle of Champaign and a piece of paper. "I would like to thank everyone for this party! I am incredibly grateful and I look forward with anticipation to the new life this promotion with offer me as head of my department." There was a cheer from the audience. They swarmed up around him. It took a moment to sink in. Charlotte's mouth dropped open. James had got the promotion. She hadn't. She was still in her old job. Suddenly everything seemed horribly real. She backed out of the room and leant against the wall. Peterson had given James the job. Everything she had been working for had failed. Slowly she turned and stumbled back to her room. It had all been for nothing.
The next day passed as a haze. It was the last of Charlotte's stay in Venice. James asked her to a restaurant with him to celebrate his promotion. She turned him down. She wondered whether he knew she'd been in line for it too. The work was dull and the people around her tiresome and mediocre. Predictably she ended up in the bar that night. It was a different barman this time. She spent half an hour simply rolling a pencil up and down on the fake wood thinking about her life. Her life or perhaps her lack of it. Work had always been the most important thing on her mind. Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun round it was Howl. His eyes were wide and his hair even more dishevelled than usual. She could hear someone shouting in the hotel entrance hall. "Look… er, Charlotte," he glanced about agitatedly, "There's a little disruption, that I may be slightly involved with, you have to help me! I need somewhere to, well," he looked sheepish, "erm… hide."
She paused bemusedly then made a decision; "quick, come with me!" She stood up, grabbed his arm and dragged him through the hotel corridors towards her room, just as the Venetian police burst into the bar. As they rounded a corner one of the constables sped after them. Charlotte turned to see Howl mutter a word at a trolley of washing at the side of the corridor: It toppled over with a loud crash. She heard the police man trip over it and fall heavily to the ground. Charlotte plucked out her keys and shoved them into the lock of her room door. She flung it open, then when they were in slammed it shut. She sat very still in the darkness with Howl until the noises from outside had abated. Twenty minutes passed. All was silent. Cautiously she flicked the light switch on. Nothing happened. She sighed in relief. Howl was standing nervously by the window. "Thanks for that… I'd stay but… it might be dangerous, so yeah… um, bye!" He clicked the catch of the frame open and began to push it up. Charlotte jogged over and caught his arm; "Wait!"
He stopped, "Yeah?"
She looked down at the murky brown carpet beneath her feet. She didn't know why she said what she said next. Perhaps it was ridiculous. But ridiculous or not she just blurted it out. "Can I come?"
"What?"
"Please can I come with you? I can help you with your magic show."
He looked as shocked as she felt; "I… Charlotte, I'm sorry that just isn't…"
Yet the more time passed the more conviction she felt; "I know almost as much as you! I could be an assistant!" Inspiration struck her; "I'm a banker, I could do your accounts."
He didn't look very convinced, "I'm very grateful and everything I just don't think you'd fit in!"
"Fine." She shut and locked the window, walked over, opened the door and prepared to call out of it. She was perfectly ready to resort to black mail. Howl sprung across the room grabbed her by the shoulder after shutting the door. "Al right, al right. I'll take you on trial for a month and see how it goes! But if one tiny little thing goes wrong, you're out! Do you understand?" He collapsed back onto the bed. She grinned, "Perfectly!" This was going to be interesting.
Sometimes when you do something on an impulse it doesn't work and you end up wishing you'd never started. Charlotte knew this and she didn't care. She had nothing to keep her in her old life. She wanted to disappear. And this was what she was going to do. She was going to cling onto every single opportunity offered to her. She was going to be something completely and utterly different. There was a whole new world ahead of her and she wanted to see what that world was. Granted there was a bit of a gap between a banker and a magicians assistant. But it was a gap worth crossing. It was a gap that had been crossed. A gap that had been crossed by three days in Venice.