Silent Doll by Sonnet O'Dell Page A

always made her seem somewhat surprised or scared; I had to watch her mouth to gauge her emotions. She looked back down at her hands in her lap.
    “It’s all right.”
    I sympathized with her. I had never been under such a compulsion, but I found the very notion distasteful. “Okay,” I said. “So, you want my help? What exactly is it that you want me to do?”
    “I need you to break this spell. I want free will. Mother’s gone too far this time. They need me, but without me things will be better. I can pay you–but not a lot.”
    She reached into a pocket and brought out a small porcelain pig with china blue eyes that matched her own; its rear was printed with a bright yellow daisy.
    “I think there might be a hundred or so pounds in there. I couldn’t bring myself to smash it open, but it’s yours.”
    I picked up the little pig and looked at its slightly downturned eyes. It was a very sweet little thing and felt quite heavy.
    “Look, I’ll help,” I said standing and dropping the pig back into her lap. “You can keep that.” She blinked; I saw that her eyelashes were hot glued on to her eyelid flaps. I gave an involuntary shudder. Think of her as a person , I told myself, not a gigantic china doll. You’ll feel better.
    “You’ll help?”
    I nodded. Her face visibly brightened. She bounced to her feet.
    “Go home and just start by trying to talk out your grievances with your family.” My psychology courses came in handy sometimes. “Communication is the first step toward finding a solution. I’m working on something for the police right now, so it may take me a couple of days to find a way to help you, but I promise I will.” I didn’t have any books on alchemy; I would have to borrow them from Virginia, and seeing as she and I weren’t really talking right now….
    Her smile faltered.
    “A couple of days?”
    “I’m sorry, Trinket; it’s the best I can do for you right now. Just go home, and I’ll be in contact, okay?”
    “How? I had to sneak out! That’s not easy, you know. If Momma caught me…” She was pouting now, sullen.
    “I’ll come to the show again. We can talk after. You can tell me how the talk went. If you don’t want them to see us, we can meet in the bathrooms or outside.”
    The dejected look on her face as she left stayed in my mind for a long time.

Chapter Twelve
    The next day I was lying in bed staring at the ceiling and thinking. Not anything deep or meaningful, just those lazy half thoughts you have when you’re still half asleep and are trying to decide what to do with your day. I used to fill my days with college, but since I had quit that in favor of running my own business. I’d been working extra daytime hours to make ends meet, and had drained my locket dry in the process. I looked at it, sitting nestled between the three prisms, charging up. I was glad to be forced to take a break while I waited for it to be energized’ I’d need to get away from distractions like werewolves and vampires.
    Aram hadn’t returned to my dreams since the encounter in the alley, which I could only be grateful for. I closed my eyes, thinking back to it, and felt my belly flip. On the one hand, I was extremely embarrassed to have been so wanton; but on the other hand–and there was always another hand–it was one of the most erotic experiences of my life. We’d never done something like that before; and after nearly three months untouched, I was so shamefully easy. I squirmed a little.
    The phone rang. I reached over and picked it up.
    “Hello,” I said, trying to make my voice sound normal. I tried again. “Hello.”
    No answer. I sat up and looked at the handset: unknown number . I put the phone back to my ear, straining to hear any sound on the other end.
    “Hello? Is someone there? Hello?”
    I thought I heard the faint sound of breathing. I was starting to get pissed off.
    “Who is this?”
    The dial tone was my only answer. I had never had a phone call like it