Even Sydney looked startled at that. “Adrian . . .” she began nervously.
“You do hair and makeup here?” I asked, pointing at the salon. “Get her in there, and also help her find a dress. A good dress—not just one of these.” I nodded toward a rack we were standing by, marked BARGAIN DRESSES.
“Adrian . . .” said Sydney again.
“I’ll need a tux too,” I said. I pulled out a piece of paper from my pocket and plucked the pen the sales consultant was holding from her hand. “Here are my measurements. Get one that goes with her. I trust your judgment. And then anything else she wants.”
“Are you leaving?” asked Sydney in sudden realization.
“I have some errands to run. But I’ll be back in two hours.” She and the consultant still looked dumbfounded. “Ah,” I said. “I suppose we need to talk about money. How silly of me.” I took the pen again and wrote an amount—a very large amount—next to my measurements. “Will this cover everything?” Sydney gasped when she saw it. The consultant merely raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, sir. Considerably. I don’t suppose you actually have any of that money up front?”
“Nope,” I said. “But I don’t need it. I have an honest face, and you trust me to come pay my bills.” I turned the compulsion on full blast, and after a moment’s wavering, the consultant nodded in acceptance. The ironic thing was, I could’ve compelled her enough to give us everything for free. I knew Sydney would never forgive me starting our marriage with that kind of deception, though, not to mention it’d likely get the poor woman fired. I kissed Sydney on the cheek. “Have fun. I’ll be back soon.”
Sydney hurried after me and caught my arm. “Adrian, what are you going to do? Even you can’t get that kind of money in two hours.”
I kissed her again. “I’m going to make one dream of yours come true, Sage. Have faith. And if the Alchemists show up . . .” It was a downer, and it seemed unlikely, but we had to prepare. “Do whatever you have to do to escape. We’ll meet up in a dream or through Marcus.”
“Be careful,” she said, still looking understandably concerned.
“Always,” I lied.
I headed out, back into the shopping complex, trying to hide how uneasy I felt. The smart, safe thing would’ve been to use this window to escape Vegas and get married in some other place. But aside from the fact that this city was built around fast weddings, I really meant it about wanting to make one of her dreams come true. I just hoped it wouldn’t cost us in the end. My phone chimed with a text message, and I glanced down, expecting some ominous warning from Marcus. Instead, I saw a message from Jill:
This is the most romantic thing ever. I feel like I’m watching a made-for-TV movie.
Thanks, I wrote back. Any tips?
No, you’re doing just fine. Eddie’s furious you guys took off. Maybe this’ll make him feel better.
It was a relief to know he was back with her, and no harm had been done in borrowing him for the rescue. I wrote: Keep it secret for now. Then be ready for the fallout. Provided I can even get us out of here.
I might be able to help with that part, she responded. I didn’t see how she could, but she sent no other messages, and I soon grew lost in my other tasks.
It didn’t take me long to reach my destination: a jewelry shop that both bought and sold items. It wasn’t exactly as seedy as a straight-up pawnshop, but their operating principle was similar. This was Las Vegas, after all. An older, white-haired man greeted me as I entered, asking how he could help. With a deep breath, I did the unthinkable and took out one of Aunt Tatiana’s cufflinks.
“What’ll you give me for this?”
His breath caught as he took and looked it over with a jeweler’s glass.
How can you do this to me? cried Aunt Tatiana. How can you throw away my jewels?
I’m not throwing them away, I told her. This is important. This is for the future.
A future with a human!
A future with the woman I love, I responded. I love you, Aunt Tatiana, but you’re gone. Sydney is here, and my place is with her. These cufflinks do no one any good just lying around.
Phantom Aunt Tatiana was still outraged. You’re betraying me!
I felt a little sick inside but still resolved. Once, I’d taken a ruby from these cufflinks to a pawnshop, with the intent of buying it back. I had gotten it back—barely—and that experience had been more than a little traumatic. Now, there was no going back. Not only was I giving up an entire cufflink, I was giving it up for good. With our time constraints, I wouldn’t be able to win enough and come back here to buy it out. This was my sacrifice for Sydney’s dream.
The amount he named was low, of course, and we haggled our way around various numbers. We’d almost settled at a price (though it was still less than the cufflink’s worth) when I played my next move and took out the second cufflink. “Give me that amount,” I said. “And I’ll cut you this deal. I want these stones set into an engagement ring—white gold’s fine. Then I need two plain wedding bands. You keep the platinum as payment. It’s worth a hell of a lot more than what you’ll be giving me in return. Oh, and I need it done in an hour.”
We haggled some more details, but he knew he was getting a good deal out of all this and wanted it. We finally settled, and he showed me an assortment of rings. I didn’t have much time and chose a simple engagement style that would hold the rectangular diamond with smaller rectangular rubies on each side. I’d planned on just getting plain bands, but he showed me a set of matching white gold rings with tiny rubies scattered throughout them that appealed to me. They seemed like a tribute to the cufflink that had been sacrificed on behalf of this crazy scheme. I signed off on everything, took my cash, and reminded him he had an hour.
From there, it was a trip to the nearest casino with a high-stakes poker room—with a very important phone call made along the way. Playing with that kind of money was a bit daunting, especially knowing I had such little time and that so much was riding on it. If I lost it, there’d be no time to win it back, and a lot of plans would fall through. I stayed calm and refused to panic, treating this as a casual game and relying on my usual trick of reading auras. The players here were no different than the others I’d played against, I told myself. They were just throwing around much bigger bets.
An hour later, I left the table with enough to cover all the wedding expenses I racked up, as well as a way out of Las Vegas. I headed back up to the jeweler, who’d come through with what he promised. I pocketed the rings and placed another phone call as I made two stops: one at drugstore and one at a wine store. With a sigh of relief, I realized I’d completed the last of my tasks, short of the wedding itself. I headed back to the bridal shop, amazed to find that I was right on schedule.