Demon (28 page)

Rebecca rolled her eyes and looked down at her own slovenly attire. Her mangy gown and bonnet were made to look filthy and ragged. The dress hung down around her ankles in mismatched patches, and even the petticoats beneath were stained with grime. Her face was smudged with soot, and just in case she wasn’t unattractive enough, the makeup artist had added fake blisters around her lips. It was a far cry from the glamorous wardrobe she had modeled as Christine in
Phantom
. Still, acting was all about diversity, and Rebecca was learning to enjoy her part in
Demon Barber.

“Come on.” She looped arms with Justyn. “We better get on stage before the orchestra is tuned. We don’t want to give Professor Carter anything to get upset about.”

Justyn nodded, and the two of them went to wait backstage for their curtain call. However, they weren’t the ones giving the director gray hairs that day. Chad and Scott were all over the place. Half the time they were flat, and the rest of the time they sang too fast and were throwing off the orchestra as well as the other actors. They kept forgetting their lines, and Scott even walked out on stage during the wrong scene more than once. Professor Carter looked about ready to have an angina attack. Rebecca was sure that if he could have had them legally flogged, he would have happily done so.

“What is his
problem
?” Rebecca shook her head as she watched Scott stumble into a pile of discarded costumes backstage. They were running through the whole play as though they had a live audience, which meant they had a fifteen-minute break in between acts while the orchestra was in the midst of a full instrumental set. With the exception of Livy, who gets a dress upgrade once her human pie business takes off, the rest of the cast didn’t have to worry about changing costumes. So Rebecca, Frankie, and Justyn were loitering behind the curtain as they waited for the second act to begin. Quinn was there too, though he stayed off in a corner by himself and didn’t try to join in the conversation.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Frankie cast a disgusted look in Scott’s direction as their hyper co-star smacked the backside of a disgruntled chorus girl. “He’s flying higher than a kite.”

“Oh.”

Rebecca felt stupid again. She didn’t seem to be able to distinguish drugged-up from just plain annoying. Of course, where Scott was concerned, there didn’t appear to be much difference.

“The fact that Scott is a cokehead only adds more credence to Quinn’s theory,” Justyn said thoughtfully. “It’s been known to bring out the violence in people, especially if they’re already predisposed to it.”

The fact that Justyn was back in unofficial investigation mode made Rebecca wish she hadn’t mentioned it at all. Especially when Scott felt them staring and turned to them with that nasty scowl he wore so well. It seemed to suit him even more while he was dressed in the clothes of the judge’s heartless lackey.

“What are you freshmen looking at?” Scott demanded.

Justyn frowned. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Yeah … well.” Scott didn’t seem sure if that was an insult or not. “You just better keep your eyes to yourself, bat boy.”

“Don’t you boys dare start this
again
!” Livy ordered.

As if on cue, she appeared at just the right time to play referee. It was an odd role for anyone who looked so dramatically elegant, yet somehow ridiculously overdone. Livy was stunning in the tacky finery that Mrs. Lovatt acquires for the second act. As a widow, she is still required to wear black in Victorian England, but she wears black that shimmers with an overabundance of jewels, lace, ruffles, and bows. Her hair was pulled back in an elaborate updo with a small feathered bonnet perched in the center of her dark curls. She had even done away with the red tinge on the edges so as not to ruin the effect. Rebecca had thought it was impossible for her to look more magnificent than she did in her standard Gothic wardrobe, but at that moment, as she stared down the guys into their corners, Livy had somehow outdone herself.

“Why are you always coming to his rescue, Liv?” Chad asked suddenly, shocking everyone. Chad
never
stood up to Livy. For a moment, the boring old argument between Justyn and Scott was forgotten, even by them.

“
What
did you just say to me?” Livy demanded, her eyes wide.

“Don’t you get it, Liv?” Chad continued, “the guy doesn’t want you. He’s not interested. Why can’t you just realize that and give
me
another chance? You know that I lo…that I care about you.”

Livy’s eyes flashed for a minute, though her voice feigned indifference. “Until you realize there’s more to life than how much junk you can shove up your nose, you’ll never have a real relationship with anyone! Now get out of my face!”

Livy shoved her way past him to wait out on the stage for the second act to begin. Chad’s head drooped, but he was chastised to silence. He sighed as he watched her glide away, so graceful in her lace-up boots. Her feet hardly seemed to touch the ground.

“Forget her!” Scott told him. “Forget all of them. Come on. Let’s take a break for a second.”

Chad shook his head. “No thanks, man. One hit a day is enough for me.”

“Suit yourself.” Scott shrugged and headed toward the guys’ dressing room. Along the way, he winked at Rebecca. “If you ever want a real man, Jerseylicious, come find me.”

Rebecca didn’t even have time to roll her eyes before Justyn had Scott pinned to the wall. With the black-and-white wig and the crazed look on his face, it was like he had become possessed by the real Sweeney Todd. He didn’t have a razor blade, but his hand around Scott’s throat was just as threatening as any knife. Despite the fact that Scott had twice the body mass, he seemed powerless to stop Justyn as he squeezed the breath from him.

“
Stay away from, Becca
!” Justyn spat, each word enunciated, “or I swear—”

“Justyn, stop!” Quinn shouted.

Quinn was quickly joined by Frankie, and both of them tried to pry Justyn away while Scott choked and gagged. Even with Scott struggling to break free, they had trouble getting Justyn to release him. When they finally managed to tear him away, he still looked furious. His face was beet-red, and his lips twisted into an unbecoming snarl. He leered at Scott, who was huddled on the ground, trying to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Rebecca stood with her back pressed against the wall, watching the whole thing as though she were just another horrified spectator instead of the reason for the inevitable face-off.

“You’re freaking wacked in the head, man!” Scott managed to croak, once he had recovered the use of his vocal cords. “Seriously.”

“Just keep your hands to yourself, you disgusting bastard!” Justyn told him.

“Screw you!” Scott pulled himself to his feet, still rubbing his throat, and headed back to his original destination. “You better pray you didn’t mess up my voice or you’re dead!”

“I’d love to see you try, you mother—”

“Justyn, please,” Rebecca begged, finally finding her tongue. She stepped in front of him as Scott walked past. “You need to stop this! You’re not helping anything. You’re only risking everything we both worked for.”

Justyn seemed to see her for the first time. Like Sweeney Todd, Justyn was so blinded by his rage he didn’t even notice the very reason for it was standing there beside him until it was almost too late. When he finally did notice her, the glazed fury was replaced with only worry and remorse.

“Oh, Becca, I’m so sorry.” He pressed his fingers against his eyes. “You must be terrified of me.”

“Of course not,” Rebecca soothed, though her heart was still pounding. “But please, Justyn, you have to let this be. Just because Scott is an idiot doesn’t mean he’s guilty of anything else. If you keep throwing punches at everyone you suspect,
you’re
the one who’s going to suffer.”

He nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right. It just makes me crazy to think about anyone hurting you.”

She noticed his gaze fall upon her bare arm. The large jagged wound was nearly healed and no longer bandaged, but the ugly scar would always be a reminder. Rebecca sighed and was relieved when the crowd that had been watching started to disperse. Even Frankie and Quinn had backed off to give them some privacy, and Rebecca was grateful to have a few minutes to talk to Justyn alone before their next curtain call.

“Look at me, Justyn.” She forced him to meet her eyes. “Really look at me. I’m
okay
. I’m okay because of
you
. Now, I need to know that
you’re
okay. I hate to see you like this, so full of anger. It’s not who you are.”

“I know,” he whispered.

Rebecca wrapped her arms around his waist, and he buried his face in her hair. She gently ran her fingers along his neck to massage away the headache she knew was starting. They didn’t speak about it anymore. She heard the music outside start to wind down, and Rebecca realized the nerve-wracking intermission was almost over. If this dress rehearsal was any hint of what was to come once opening night rolled around, Rebecca wasn’t sure how she could avoid having a nervous breakdown. At least Justyn seemed to have calmed down. Even Scott returned to the stage with renewed vigor, though accompanied by a very drippy nose.

Justyn avoided any additional confrontation. But as Rebecca watched his performance from the sidelines, she could see he was drawing on his own inner turmoil. He was especially convincing in his big solo, where he walks through the crowd of London in a fantasy sequence, promising to end the life of any man who steps into his barber shop. With each stomp of his foot and each line of the song, he presses his plastic blade against the throat of an actor who stands still as a mannequin for the monologue.

The scene always made Rebecca shiver, but that day it seemed even more intense.

“There is no man who does not deserve to die.

Just listen to me and I’ll tell you why.

Whether we walk in sin or suffer at its expense.

Death is a gift Sweeney Todd will freely dispense.

Come to see Sweeney for a shave, my friend

Come in, don’t be shy. Meet your bloody end.”

After that scene came to an end, it didn’t take long to reach the climax of the play—the part where Sweeney Todd extracts revenge on both Beadle and the judge. Unfortunately for Rebecca, Lucy gets stuck in the middle of the murderous rampage and becomes an unplanned casualty. Even more regrettably, Rebecca gets stuck inside the trapdoor with Scott for a good fifteen minutes before the set change. After the events of the day, it was a scene she was looking forward to even less than usual.

Rebecca watched as Scott inched his way up the platform, cheerful at the prospect of a free shave. Justyn’s overly pleasant smile hardly masked the wicked glint in his eyes, and it had very little to do with acting. Scott had barely lifted his neck for the shaving cream when the dull blade touched his throat. A pouch of fake blood that was hidden beneath his clothes was easy to burst with the plastic blade, and immediately drenched his white collar. Scott shuddered on the seat, making unusually realistic gurgling noises before Justyn activated the trap door. Scott slid to the safety of the air mattress below, while Justyn disappeared to help Mrs. Lovatt/Livy find Toby/Frankie, who had gotten suspicious and needed to be removed from the equation. That left Rebecca to make her grand entrance for her only solo scene. She crept slowly up the steps, humming at first, and then calling out in a sing-song voice.

“Beadle, dear. Beadle, where
aaaarrreeeee
you? I saw you come in here,
Beaadddleeee?
”

When she steps into the apartment, Lucy recognizes it as the home she shared with her husband. For a moment her delusions melt away, and she remembers who she is …
where
she is. In her role, Rebecca reached toward the worn, empty cradle that had once held her baby with real tears in her eyes. Then Sweeney Todd bursts back into the room and her one lucid moment is lost. Almost.

“Hey there, sir, don’t I … know you … from somewhere?” Rebecca whispered

She reached out a dirt-encrusted hand to touch Justyn’s cheek. It was almost scary how he could look at her with such a heartless, emotionless stare, as though she were a complete stranger. Sweeney Todd refuses to see—refuses to recognize the very love he had fought and killed for was right within his reach. He hears the judge coming up the steps, and he’s so afraid he’ll lose his chance at revenge, all else is forgotten. His blade slices across Lucy’s throat.

Rebecca felt the red paint splash cold against her bare neck. The shock of it made her eyes widen. She left them that way, open in the terror of near death. She did her best not to blink until, with a well-concealed smile and a secret wink, Justyn opened the trap door, and she was swallowed into the darkness.

Rebecca slid down the small chute, expecting to hit the air mattress as usual. Scott would be in the corner, whispering snide comments, until finally Chad would shimmy down and join them. Then the scene would be over, and Rebecca would get to spend the rest of the play as a lifeless corpse. However, Scott had forgotten to move out of her way. She cried out in surprise as her rump landed on his chest. Luckily, her cry didn’t overpower the duet that Chad and Justyn had already begun.

“Scott, what are you doing?” she demanded in a whispered hiss. “Move over!”