Child of Darkness (Gemini 3)

I hurried to catch up to her down the hallway, which was lit by a line of evenly spaced smaller chandeliers because there were no windows.

"Your room is directly across from Wade's and mine," she said, pausing.

All the bedrooms had eggshell white double door-ways with gold moldings and brass fixtures, and all were as tall as the ones below, at least nine or ten feet.

"Ready?" Ami said, turning to me with her hands behind her on the doorknobs.

"Yes," I said, smiling.

"Ta-da!" she cried, and opened the doors.

Could the princess of any country sleep in a more grand and beautiful bedroom? I wondered. It made my room at the Prescotts' house look like a room in a bungalow. I had never slept in such an elaborate king-size canopy bed. It had white and pink bedding, the blanket turned down at a perfect folded angle. In front of the arched headboard, which had a pair of angels embossed on it, were more pillows than I had ever seen on a single bed. There was a white netting down the sides of the bed, which was set on a very large, fluffy mauve rug. And there were softlooking fur-lined slippers as well.

The windows she had pointed out to me when we first drove up to the house were draped in sheer white curtains with sun-blocking shades to pull down. To the right was a beautiful antique vanity table with a gilded oval mirror, on the frame of which were also embossed angels. I saw new brushes and combs and a hair drier.

I simply stood gaping. It was as if I was afraid that stepping forward would make it all disappear.

"Well?" Ami asked.

"It's . . . beautiful, the most beautiful bedroom I've ever seen."

She laughed.

"I think I enjoy the look on your face more than anything." She ran her hand over the vanity table. "I didn't get you any makeup yet. We'll do that together, and we'll get you perfume and body talcum powders, all the things you've probably never had," Ami said.

I was speechless, caught in a storm of promises and luxuries.

"I want you to be as equipped out there as I am,

" she continued. "That way, we will be more like sisters."

Sisters? She had said that in Mother Higgins's office, too, but something about the way she said it this time caught my attention. I looked at her, at the way she was smiling at me. Was that what she really wanted? I wondered. Was that why she was doing all this? Where were her close friends, her own surrogate sisters? She hadn't mentioned anyone to me, or anything she did with other young women.

"Your clothes look pathetic in this walk-in closet," she said when she opened the door. They did, because there was so much empty space, so many empty hangers. "We'll correct that right away. I expect to take you to the finest restaurants, and maybe we'll attend some of these charity functions I keep getting invited to. Usually they're boring and full of phonies, but I think you and I can have fun, don't you?"

"Yes," I said, even though the way she said, "You and I can have fun," made it sound like far more than just attending a charity event. I tried to look excited and happy about anything she suggested. At this moment I wanted to please her every way I could.

"This is your private phone line," she said, lifting the pink phone receiver on the matching bedside table. "There's another phone on your vanity table," she pointed out. "I had them installed just yesterday. The unlisted number is five five five, four two four two. Be very select about whom you give the number, especially selective about the boys you meet at school. There are many vipers in the garden," she warned.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh, you're wondering how I went ahead and set all this up for you, how I knew you'd agree to come, or how I knew it would all work out? It didn't matter," she said, answering her own question. "I was determined, and when I'm determined, I usually get what I want. Again, Wade thinks that's because I'm spoiled, and again, he's right." She laughed and then opened a cabinet on a wall across from the bed. "Your television and sound system, Your Majesty," she said. "I just love lying in bed and watching television, don't you?"

I shrugged. I had never done it. Even the Prescotts hadn't put a television set in my room for me. What could I say?

"Oh, that's right. You probably never had a television set where you slept. Well, you're going to have a lot of things you've never had before," she said, almost like a threat.

She walked to the bathroom door and opened it, stepping back, a wide, almost clownish smile on her face. I approached slowly and looked. Beside the marble tub there was a separate, tiled shower stall, mirrors everywhere, a bidet as well as a toilet, and another vanity table. The floor was all marble tile. A terrycloth robe hung on the wall beside it, and there was another pair of slippers under it.

"I had this bathroom redone just a month ago," she said. "Well? Do you like it?"

Did I like it? What could I say? For years I had been sharing a bathroom with a half dozen other girls. We actually had to schedule our showers and baths.

"Fantastic?"

"Yes."

"Good. Make a big deal of it at dinner. Wade's such a tightwad. I call him a Tight Wade for fun. Nothing is ever necessary, according to him. He'll argue with someone over a dollar and tells me constantly that just because we're wealthy doesn't mean we have to be stupid about spending money. Well, I like being stupid when it comes to spending money. I dream sometimes of casting it about like chicken feed in malls. It was never important to me, and I've never lived on a budget. You should see the way Wade keeps our books. I think he knows exactly how much each fixture costs to run, each light. He's always going around the house turning off lights, but he better not think he can come in here and invade your privacy," she warned.