Джордж Мартин – Wild Cards (страница 15)
On the piano at her feet, Cesar pounded away at the bass and maintained the arpeggio. Marissa took the melody into a high-pitched wail that took Jade Blossom by surprise.
“Get down here, bitch!” Carnahan gave her a hard grin.
“Whoa, now,” said Rustbelt. “That ain’t right.”
Carnahan gave him a wary glance.
“Wanna dance, little boy?” Jade Blossom laughed and turned slightly, angling one hip toward Carnahan. She increased her density again, going past aluminum toward lead.
The two security guards reached up, Carnahan grabbing her ankle and Berbelia reaching for her arm.
Jade Blossom lifted the ankle with a hand wrapped around it and slammed her foot down. The polished surface of the piano cracked. Carnahan let go, wincing in pain, and walked backward.
“C’mon, knock it off, fellas,” said Rustbelt, moving between Carnahan and the piano.
When Berbelia grabbed Jade Blossom’s arm, she folded at the knees and slammed his hand against the wood, breaking the fine bones.
Berbelia gave a throaty growl of pain and released her, staggering back.
Rustbelt eased to one side, now blocking Berbelia from the piano.
“Jade Blossom?” Cesar shouted, though he kept playing.
Carnahan ducked around Rustbelt and launched himself at Jade Blossom’s legs like he was making a football tackle.
Jade Blossom sprang up to avoid this grasp, though not very high given her great weight now. When she came down, her Jimmy Choos smashed through the top of the piano and through the wires.
Carnahan’s tackle missed her and the music came to a stop. He bounced off the edge of the piano and fell to the floor, tangled in wires and big chunks of wood.
The crowd of kids burst out laughing.
Annoyed, Jade Blossom kicked out, breaking more wires and wood. Gradually she crashed her way down to the floor, knocking big splinters of wood aside with her hands and stamping a bigger opening even though she was trapped in the middle of the piano’s wreckage. Then she pounded on the piano with her fists, splintering more wood so she could eventually break out.
“Awww, geez,” said Rustbelt. “Didja have to go and wreck the piano? I’ll bet them things are real expensive.”
“Aw, Rusty, don’t you know I always make a mess?” Jade Blossom grinned at him as she stood up straight, though she was still caught inside the remains of the big piano. She saw Cesar backing away, holding Marissa by her upper arm.
“Get away from my son!” Lara pushed through the kids, screaming. “What’s wrong with you?”
“The piano was out of tune,” said Jade Blossom, shaking her hair loose. Still using her great density, she smashed her way out of the piano, throwing chunks of wood ahead of her, forcing Lara back.
“Somebody arrest her!” Lara yelled.
“Okeydokey, I think we’re done here,” said Rustbelt. He turned to Carnahan and Berbelia. “Find Michelle, will you?”
The security guards turned and pushed their way through the crowd.
Ignoring Rustbelt and Lara, Jade Blossom kicked the remains of the piano out of the way and looked around. She found Cesar and Marissa standing together, staring wide-eyed at her and the ruined grand piano.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Cesar muttered, looking at the huge mess.
“Here!” Jade Blossom snatched up some loose keys and tossed them toward him as she reduced her density to normal. “Play all you want.” She stepped between the two of them, blocking out Marissa with her body, and grabbed his arm. “Come on.”
“What?”
Jade Blossom pulled him close and threw both of her arms around him. Before he could react, she put her lips against his and kissed him. He wriggled with surprise but she held on.
Around them, the kids cheered, hooted, and whistled. Boys shouted obscene suggestions. “Get away from him!” Lara yelled.
Still in the clinch, Jade Blossom spoke in a whisper: “Listen, turd brain, I’m making you the hottest hunk around. If you won’t try to use your dick, I might as well rip it off your body myself. Just tell everybody you’re leaving me, if your IQ is any higher than room temperature!” She increased her density, certain she would need it.
“Hey! I’ve got an IQ of a hundred and forty!”
Jade Blossom put her palms on his shoulders and shoved, using her greater weight to send him staggering backward to Marissa.
The crowd of kids, some of them more tipsy than ever, cheered.
“All right, then!” Jade Blossom shouted, with a melodramatic expression of horror. “Take your joker girl, you like her so much!”
Marissa’s rigid mouth dropped open in surprise. Her shocked eyes stared out of her otherwise rigid, blocky white features.
The kids quieted, curious to see what would happen next.
Lara stared with them. When Rustbelt started toward Cesar, Lara gestured for him to stay back and he stopped.
Across the room, the security guards returned with the Amazing Bubbles, her platinum hair distinctive in the press of the crowd.
Jade Blossom knew she did not have much time before Bubbles stepped up to confront her. She watched Cesar’s expression change from incomprehension to realization, but had no idea what he would do. Suppressing a laugh, Jade Blossom wailed, “Cesar! At least finish our date! Don’t leeeave me!”
The crowd broke into laughter and hoots of derision at Jade Blossom but encouragement for Cesar.
“The bitch is hot for ya, Cesar!” One boy’s voice carried over the general din.
Cesar glanced around at the other kids, astonished.
Marissa, looking mortified, took a few steps back.
The two security guards had advanced, but Bubbles was following them slowly, watching Jade Blossom without hurrying. She glanced over to Cesar and Marissa.
Jade Blossom glared at Cesar, thinking,
“What for?” Cesar asked, with a tentative smile.
“You’re not leaving me for her, are you?” Jade Blossom wailed in an embarrassing display of overacting.
This time even Marissa’s hard facial features seemed amused.
“You won’t leave me for that joker, will you?” Jade Blossom pleaded.
“Now wait right there!” Lara edged around Rustbelt and stomped toward Cesar. “Cesar, you just get away from her!”
“Which her?” Cesar asked, with a hint of humor.
“Not me!” Jade Blossom whined, fighting down a laugh.
The other kids guffawed, enjoying the awkward moment.
Even Bubbles smiled with reluctant amusement.
Lara swiveled to Marissa. “Back off, you mutant!”
Cesar stepped in front of his mother.
Jade Blossom shifted her density to aluminum.
“Uh, Mom? Go upstairs, okay?” Cesar said.
“Are you talking back to me?” Lara shrieked. She eyed Marissa, looking over Cesar’s shoulder. “Get away from him!”
“It’s about the music,” said Cesar.
“Don’t you talk to me like that!”
Just as Lara reached for the front of Cesar’s shirt, Jade Blossom leaned down, grabbed Lara’s petite form below her butt, and hoisted her up on one shoulder. “No!” Jade Blossom shouted, just for the fun of it.
“You put me down!” Lara yelled.
Jade Blossom carried Lara, whose short arms and legs were kicking and punching, with her typical long strides, heading out of the ballroom.