The Midnight Dancers: A Fairy Tale Retold by Doman Regina

Author:Doman, Regina [Doman, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chesterton Press
Published: 2011-10-21T04:00:00+00:00

Paul was apprehensive. Rachel and Prisca had walked off with Michael some time ago, and that worried him. However, Alan and Rich, who had struck him as fairly solid guys, were with them, so he had stayed with the larger party.

He didn’t like the look of Michael’s buddies who had remained behind, drinking. He noticed the one man kept casting glances at Debbie and Melanie, who were dawdling about on the edges of the portico. Debbie was so pretty that she was often mistaken as older than her eleven years. Paul leaned against the curved trunk of the oak tree, pulling his wrists backwards in his joint exercises, and watching both parties.

Still, his thoughts kept drifting back to Rachel and Prisca as he did his nikyo. He was feeling uneasy. His wrists were unexpectedly sore tonight, and he chafed them, wondering and turning the strange fears over in his mind.

His attention was focused again as he realized that Debbie was approaching the glade where he was hidden. She lifted up the thin curtain of willow branches that shaded the covered area, and stepped inside.

Debbie began to look around the trunks of the big oak and willow trees a few yards away from his, and Paul guessed what she was doing. He reached for the branch above him and silently pulled himself up. The massive limbs of the oak didn’t quiver as he settled himself on his new perch.

“What are you doing under here?” Melanie asked, the faithful buddy following right behind her stepsister. She pushed aside the branches timidly and stepped inside the partially-shaded clearing.

“Oh, just looking around,” Debbie said mysteriously.

“For what?”

“Oh, for something that hides in the woods, watching us. Maybe a wood spirit. Doesn’t this seem like the sort of place where you’d find one?”

Melanie shivered. “That sounds so pagan.”

“Oh, you Fendelmans always think things are pagan.”

“Well, a lot of things are pagan,” Melanie said reasonably, glancing behind her. “I don’t like the music they’re playing.” Paul agreed with her. The rest of the girls were all on the dance floor now, and the song, which Paul had heard before, was among the more crass popular tunes of the summer.

“Come on and explore with me,” Debbie said invitingly. “I’m sick of dancing.”

“No thanks,” Melanie said. “I just wish I could go home and go to bed. I don’t like coming here.”

The song ended, and a faster song started at once, and the dancers picked up their pace. Tammy was dancing with one of Michael’s pals now. All the other guys were dancing as well. The party was heating up.

Just then, a figure lurched in their direction. He ducked beneath the overhanging willow branches and blinked at them. “Hey there.” Paul recognized one of the drinkers and lightly leapt to the ground, still in the shadows.

“Hi, Mark.” Instantly, Debbie adopted the chilly air of an utterly bored socialite.

“Either of you girls want to dance with me?”

“No,” Debbie said distantly.

“Aw, come on. You have to have some fun too. What about you?” the man looked at thirteen-year-old Melanie, who flushed.

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