Hannah's Tale

I returned to Darknight's section after leaving Alex, my fiance, in the lower Hall. I immediately took Beth's place at the register while she went on break. Todd's instincts were right about this year's Kubla Con. The line of people waiting to buy stuff was quite long. I expected to be busy.

I'd only been at it for a few minutes though when Randal tapped me on the shoulder. "Todd wants to see you. He's over with Amy. I think it's time for you to change," he said.

He was trying to supress a grin. Todd has a reputation as a joker, so I got suspicious. "All right, what's he up to this time?"

"I can't say, but it has to do with you hating sushi."

"Oh Lord." I rolled my eyes. I would have grilled Randle further, but I didn't want to keep the customers waiting. Todd had made a fuss some time ago about me not liking sushi. Well, one doesn't introduce a girl (or anyone else for that matter) to something new by plopping a tentacle down on her plate. If he had started with a Calafornia roll or something like that, I might have tried it, but I don't eat Cthulu, especially not raw.

When I got to Amy's booth, she was working on Todd's new costume. He had been a ringwraith all morning, and at six foot five, the effect was quite awsome. Now he was being done-up as a Hobbit. Yes, a Hobbit. At least he wasn't afraid of poking fun at himself as well. Todd's not a bad guy, in fact he's a pretty good boss, once you get past the practical jokes. He's honest, fair and, sometimes, even considerate. His business instincts are also good. He had built his publishing firm up from virtually nothing. And, after less than four years, he now controlled one of the top five producers of fantasy and sci-fi books and games in the country.

Being on Darknight's back doorstep, Kubla Con always played an important part in Todd's plans. This year, with all the additional resources plowed into it by Eric Winter, the Con was going to be much grander and Todd was prepared to go all out to match. We rented space for ten tables and brought books and materials to fill them all twice over. Some of that space was given over to Amy. Todd decided, almost at the last minute, to hire Amy to create costumes and make-up for him and all the Darknight employees in honor of this Con's costume theme. Beth, for example, was Arwen from the Peter Jackson films, Randal was a Star Fleet medical officer from the early Trek, I was made up as a female Vulcan officer from Wrath of Khan, with the red jacket and everything. Amy was a real pro, she had actually worked for Universal before she went free lance. In other words, we looked great.

She was working on Todd's hairy prosthetic feet blending them in to the flesh of his ankles when I arrived. It was fascinating, I had to pull up a chair and watch. In fact, there was almost as big a crowd watching her work as there were buying stuff. A lot of her business cards were being picked up and passed around as well. Todd was just as absobed as everyone else, watching her work, but he finally turned to me and grinned. "Ready for your next role?" There was more than a little mischief in his voice and look.

"Um-huh," I nodded, still watching the feet being worked on.

Amy pointed with a brush under one of the tables. "It's in the cardboard box, on top."

I reached over and picked it up. On top, written in black sharpie was the word 'mermaid'. Todd giggled like a school girl.

"You're kidding, right?" I pulled it open, fully intending to take the tail and strangle him with it. I was already preparing my defense. It was pretty though, in fact it was gorgeous. I couldn't help but, "Oooh". The scales were translucent tourquoise and silver