Chapter 10
Nicky and Ryan had lapped the floor twice without a word between them. Nicky wanted to open the conversation, but knew she wouldn’t get anywhere with him if she pushed him into speaking. Ryan wasn’t someone who liked to be pushed. So she waited.
Eventually, he broke the silence, saying, “I had no idea you were planning to enter the contest.”
“I wanted to tell you,” Nicky said, truthfully. “But it was important that nobody knew.”
“You didn’t trust me to keep your secret?”
“No, that’s not it,” Nicky said. “With you it was different. With you, I didn’t tell you because I was worried it might mess things up between us.”
“Well, here you are tonight wearing black,” said Ryan. “I’d say things are messed up.”
“You don’t want anything to do with me anymore, do you?”
“Nicky, I don’t understand why you entered. It doesn’t seem like you at all. I never would have expected this. I thought you were different.”
It was heartbreaking to hear him say the words. A part of Nicky wanted to take him outside right now and tell him he was right, that she was different, that she was playing a character and this was all an act.
That the real Nicky hated the immortals, but liked Ryan Jenson.
Such a tricky little devil this one had turned out to be. In the two weeks between the start of school and the Homecoming Masquerade, Nicky’s primary objective was to cozy up to Ryan, to get him interested enough that he would throw his tremendous wealth behind her. And while it took Nicky a little bit to figure him out, once she did, she and Ryan really hit it off.
Ryan had no interest in social status, gossip, or any of the other things that mattered so much to the students of Thorndike Academy. He liked to relate to people in a more substantive way.
So Nicky had to become more substantive. Unfortunately, real substance wasn’t something you could fake, so she had resorted to playing herself. For two weeks, she and Ryan hung out every day at lunch and after school, being themselves.
Nicky loved it. A part of her wished she and Ryan could just go on being themselves for the rest of the year.
The problem was, the real Nicky, the one she showed for Ryan, would never wear black to Homecoming. The real Nicky saw Coronation as the atrocity that it was. Even though she didn’t speak with Ryan about her hatred for the immortals, for Thorndike, for Coronation, it all was implied. She was being herself, after all. So when Nicky walked through the door of Renata’s mansion in a black dress, Ryan was confused and disappointed. He had to be. He knew the real Nicky, and the real Nicky would never have entered this contest.
“Can I tell you something if you promise never to tell anyone else?” she said.
“You can tell me whatever you want, but I’m not promising you anything,” said Ryan.
“Okay, I can understand that. You trusted me once, but now you don’t. I don’t blame you. But here’s the thing. I still trust you. I trust that you’ll understand why what I’m about to tell you needs to be a secret.”
Ryan looked at her with skepticism.
“I really enjoyed spending time with you these past two weeks, and I know that wearing this dress has--”
“Is this what I’m not supposed to tell anyone? That you enjoyed spending time with me?”
“No, I’m just trying to…”
Nicky was stumbling over her words on purpose. She had allowed Ryan to get so close that he might know she was lying if she didn’t make it good.
“Just trying to what?”
“It wasn’t my choice, Ryan. None of this was my choice.”
Ryan pulled back so he could get a better look at Nicky’s face.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Nicky leaned in close and whispered in Ryan’s ear.
“I have backers. People who want to ensure Kim doesn’t win, but have to be secretive about it.”
It pained her to lie to him, but it was necessary, and part of the plan. “The secret consortium” behind Nicky Bloom was both Jill’s and Nicky’s script tonight.
The secret consortium story was Jill’s idea, and it was a good one. Not only did it give credibility to Nicky and her campaign, but it did so in a neat little package that practically sold itself. It was such a juicy little story that people couldn’t help but spread it around. The notion that people in this very room had become fed up with the Renwicks and tried to take matters into their own hands was a compelling one, and every time a person passed on the story, it became that much closer to truth. In DC, truth had nothing to do with reality and everything to do with what other people said.
“I figured as much,” said Ryan. “Some insider types who can’t stomach the thought of a Renwick who lives forever, but are terrified to take them on directly. They’ve put you here, right?”
“Exactly,” said Nicky. “They’ve put me here to win.”
This was the other thing that made the secret consortium such a good ploy. It gave Nicky an out with Ryan. It removed culpability from her. She was just another victim of the Washington machine, forced to enter the Coronation contest against her will.
“Let me guess,” Ryan said. “The Crenshaws from North Carolina are a part of this. And the Hernandez brothers.”
“You know I can’t give you any names,” Nicky said. “The whole point is that they wanted to do it in secret. They want to beat the Renwicks, but in a way that they remain invisible while it’s happening. My backers are scared of Galen Renwick.”
“Your backers are right to be scared,” Ryan said. “But if you’re going to win, at some point they’re all going to have to come out of the woodwork, aren’t they?”
“Yes, and that’s why my first task was to build a relationship with you.”
Ryan’s feet started dancing out of rhythm. Nicky pulled him back to the beat.
“That really pisses me off, Nicky,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
They danced a few beats. The music was a slow tempo waltz.
“You’re telling me I was just a pawn in your game,” Ryan said. “I can’t believe – these past two weeks…”
“Ryan, I was only pretending in the very beginning. I knew that first day when we went out to lunch that there was something between us. I felt it, and I quit playing the part. I really like you and it kills me--”
“Don’t talk about this like it’s not your choice. You’re the one wearing the dress tonight. You’re the one who becomes immortal if you win.”
“I know all that, and I’ve made my own peace with how it has to be,” Nicky said, reciting a line she had rehearsed in her head before falling asleep the night before. “But I never chose this. I was chosen. Powerful people in Washington found me and decided I was the one they were looking for. My family was broke, Ryan. We were deep in debt, on the edge of slavery for all I know. My parents couldn’t resist. We were nothing when they agreed to this plan where I enter Coronation to beat Kim Renwick. Now we’re millionaires. But if I blow this, well, I don’t know what will happen to me or my family.”
They danced in silence for a time before Ryan said, “So I was supposed to be your first big donor.”
Nicky was crying now. The tears were faked, but they were easy to come by.
“Yes,” she said. “My backers thought that you were the one with the courage to stand up to Kim and lead the way.”
Ryan smiled, then began to laugh. “What?” Nicky said, laughing back at him. At that moment, her eyes caught Jill looking right at her. Jill looked away.
“I’m just laughing at how fucked up this whole world is,” Ryan said.
“I’m glad you can laugh about it. I can’t.”
“Here’s the deal, Nicky Bloom. I’m not donating on your behalf. Ever. And it’s not because I’m mad at you for using me, even though I am. And it’s also not because I don’t want you to win. Hell, if somebody’s got to win, it might as well be
you rather than Kim. But I don’t get to make that choice. I’m like you. My choice has been made for me.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that powerful people in Washington have a hold on me too, and, just like you, I’m acting against my will.”
Powerful people? Who in the world was powerful enough to tell Ryan Jenson what to do? His family was one of the wealthiest in the history of the world.
“Ryan, are you saying...do the Renwicks have something on you?”
Ryan nodded. Nicky’s shoulders slumped. She used the mother of all curse words for the second time that night, showing the very real frustration that she felt.
This was bad news, and a big error on the Network’s part. The Network’s intel officers were certain they knew of every single blackmailing scheme that Kim and her father were running. They didn’t know of anything being held over Ryan’s head.
The music was starting to slow. The song was coming to an end. It would be awhile before Nicky had another chance to talk to Ryan in private. She needed to pull herself together and try to figure something out.
“I can help, Ryan,” she said. “I have powerful friends.”
“You can’t help me with this one. There’s not a thing you can do or say that will keep Kim from getting my money this year.”
“Maybe if you just told me a little bit. I swear you’d be amazed at what these people--”
“Forget it, Nicky. You have your secrets and I have mine. And I’m sad that things have worked out this way, but that’s kind of how it goes, isn’t it? The immortals take our money, play with our lives, enslave little kids, and eat people for dinner, and we all just have to sit back and watch it happen. Sometimes the bad people win, and the good people have to do whatever is necessary just to stay alive.”
The music came to a stop.
“Good luck, Nicky,” said Ryan, then he turned to dance with someone else.