Chapter 6
CHAPTER
SIX
MYLO
My alarm buzzes at five AM, but I’m already half awake. Before I hit snooze, I shake out a white circular tablet from the pill keeper on the nightstand and swallow it with the cup of water I left there the night before.
It’s the ritual upon which my entire life depends, one I haven’t failed since my eighteenth birthday. If I could scrub the omega gene from my DNA entirely, I would.
I’ll just have to trust the strategies that have gotten me this far, no matter how close-quarters with an alpha I’m going to be. This opportunity is important enough to take on the risk.
Calculated risk is basically my entire career, anyway.
Now that the shock has worn off, I’m ready for the challenge. I only have two more training days before the big stunt—two days to learn the fight choreography, build rapport with the stunt team, make sure I’m nailing the director’s vision, and fifty other things.
No problem.
Last night’s welcome dinner was a great head-start on getting to know the stunt crew.
It’s a great team, tight-knit and hard-working, but still committed to having fun with it.
And the info packet finally came through to my email.
I skimmed it last night, but I was dead tired, so I pull it open again.
At the top, bold text simply states: Electra 2.
It’s absolutely surreal to be working on a Detective Marvelous movie. It doesn’t get more ‘household name’ than the DM franchise.
Christine is playing Electra, obviously.
Haley O’Hare’s character—our character—is Melinoe, though most mortals know her as the Mad Shadow.
Her main powers are camouflaging in darkness, teleporting, seizing mortals with temporary madness, and superhuman fighting skills.
In the movie’s plot, she rises as a nemesis to Electra, working under the orders of her father, Thanoseid, one of the most powerful supervillains in the DM franchise.
Villains tend to get the more interesting plot arcs, and Melinoe is no exception. I’m already dying to see Haley in action and get a feel for how she’s interpreting the character.
But first, more training. I pile into a van with the rest of the stunt crew at five-thirty sharp, and we trade stories all along the winding drive.
Then it’s a few hours with the fight choreographer, Andy Chan. His kindly face starting to show its age, and he stands a few inches shorter than I do, but he could kick my ass in a heartbeat.
I try to forget that he’s another legend, responsible for all my favorite Kung-Fu movies, as I get into the zone, soaking up as much of the choreography as possible.
One of the few reasons it’s possible for me to ramp up so quickly is that Andy’s choreography is utterly intuitive.
He plays into the actual decisions a skilled fighter would make based on what’s coming at them, adding flair in a few places but generally making sure the fights still feel grounded.
He warns me that the choreography will continue to adapt to make full use of the surroundings, and I’m elated.
By the time we break for lunch, I think I’ve earned Andy’s confidence. That was my last anxiety. But if Andy’s ready to put his faith in me, I know we’ll be able to pull this off.
I stick to a light lunch, knowing I’ll be yanked around later. Then it’s a whirl of wardrobe, hair, and makeup. I stay focused on getting to know the team, which is my best possible distraction from thinking about having to see Christine again.
The trio of women overseeing Melinoe’s character seem to have great rapport. First there’s Kristen from Wardrobe, a freckled redhead, who pointedly introduces herself as an Australian before quickly taking my measurements.
Then there’s Keysha, whose sunset ombre micro-braids I enthusiastically compliment as she holds up a couple of wig options, gently teasing me about having a bigger head than Alanna.
We start chatting, but Sharon hurries me into a chair. She’s a charming woman in her fifties, and as soon as I catch her saying “Ope!” we bond over being from the Midwest.
Soon, I’m a spitting image of Haley.
“You even have similar cheekbones!” Sharon coos as she gives me a shave. Not that I grow much to begin with, but the less there is to work around, the better.
A quality wig, some tasteful padding across the chest, compression tucking briefs, and I’ve become Melinoe.
Kristen and Keysha share a high-five as Sharon nods eagerly.
Just as the last spritz of hairspray settles, a young production assistant pokes her head into the trailer. She wears a one-ear headset plugged into a walkie-talkie, and all black, which is basically the PA uniform. “Mylo, they’re ready for you on set!”
The trio wishes me luck, and I follow the PA down the gravel road and around toward today’s filming location.
Her dirty-blonde hair is pulled into two neat braids, and she holds an iced coffee in each hand and keeps her folder tucked tightly under an elbow.
Her accent marks her as American, and the Cal State zipper pull on her side pocket hints that she’s a Cali native.
“Need a hand with that?” I offer.
“No, that’s alright. Thanks though.” She carefully picks her way down the gravel slope, moving stiffly to keep from dropping anything.
“You sure? I’m just a double, I’m not gonna tattle.”
The PA hesitates, then twists the folder toward me. “Actually, that’d be amazing.”
I grab the folder, and her shoulders relax.
“Remind me of your name?” I ask, even though I haven’t been told yet; I equally don’t want to call her out and don’t want to bring attention to my being new.
“Oh! Sorry. I’m June, Haley’s PA. And kinda yours now, too! So be sure to let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do,” I say, even though I’m unlikely to take her up on it.
“Haley’s super sweet,” June says. “I basically have to bully her into giving me her coffee order. I think you’ll love working with her; Alanna did.”
“I’m so sorry about what happened to Alanna.”
“Yeah, we all miss her… But don’t let that make you feel weird! Everyone’s super grateful we can keep filming. I can’t believe there’s less than two weeks left…” June gives a wistful sigh.
I let my eyes drift over the slender, branching trunks around us. The winter is mild enough that the trees don’t drop their leaves, and it’s overcast at the moment, lending the forest an otherworldly light.
“It’s gorgeous,” I say.
“Yeah… I’m gonna miss it. But enough sad thoughts! There’s still so much to do.”
I offer a light chuckle. “Yeah, no kidding.”
“Excited for the big stunt?”
“Elated.”
The gravel road leads us out into the clearing where today’s shooting will take place.
June gives one coffee to Bella and the other to Haley, who thanks her effusively. I give June her folder back, and she scurries on to her next task.
Christine is blessedly distracted, chatting with Lana and the assistant director, who I now know is former telenovela actor Alejandro García, thanks to a thorough primer from the stunt crew last night.
Haley waves and steps over. “Hey, Mylo! Thank you again for rescuing me; you have no idea how happy I am to not be in that harness today.”
“No problem. Just doing my job. And if it makes you feel any better, nobody likes the corset harness. They’re a hell of a lot more uncomfortable than a jerk vest, and that’s saying something.”
Haley gives a bashful smile. “That does make me feel better, even though I haven’t a clue what a jerk vest is.”
“Goes over your whole chest, like a vest. And it has straps around the hips, to the insides of the thighs. A lot more area to spread the force over. A lot harder to hide under a bodysuit, though.”
“Ohhh, that makes sense.”
Bella scans the clipboard in her hand. “We’ve got a Texas switch today for a dramatic exit, and I want to see if we can get a jump up onto that boulder. Think you can fit a front flip in there?”
I follow Bella’s hand to an eight-foot boulder. The area at its base has already been cleared to make room for a mini trampoline, which will be my only help in clearing the height.
“Yeah, no problem. Worst case, I work in a handspring. I can give you a few options to work with.”
“Great, let’s go ahead and run those now while they’re still working on blocking.”
“Can I watch?” Haley asks.
“That’s supposed to be my question,” I say with a laugh.
“Watch me?” she says, blushing.
“Of course. I’ve got to be you.”
“Oh, right.”
Bella leads us over to the boulder. I’m already warmed up from the morning’s fights and the walk over, so I jump right in.
A few strides for speed, then I hit the mini tramp, springing off at just the right moment for maximum height.
Bringing my hands down over my head starts my rotation.
I spot a smooth area on the stone and land my hands there, then push off, finishing the rotation to land in a crouch.
“Yeah, I’ve got plenty of room for a front flip.”
“Let’s see it,” Bella says.
I hop back down, easily soaking the eight-foot drop into a roll along the leaf litter, then find a good starting spot again.
This time, as I spring off the trampoline, I curl my body tight.
Pulling my legs in speeds up my rotation, and as soon as my head comes up again, I find my landing spot on the boulder.
My feet hit first, and I rock forward into a crouch, putting down a hand to steady myself.
“We’ll let Lana take a look,” Bella says, “but I think that’s the one. Can you land with the leg closer to me out straight?”
“Sure thing.”
We run through a few more times until Bella is happy.
I get a feel for the tramp and the boulder and how far I can push it.
Once Lana is free, we pitch her two options, each with its own landing flourish.
She opts for the front flip, and we mark out where my run will start, making sure it’s off-frame.
Haley looks on in wonder. “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course,” Bella says.
“You figure this all out day-of? That’s incredible.”