Chapter Four
So that was why we were there. That’s what this was all for.
To introduce Darcy Jackson, fledgling actress and descendant of rock royalty Steve Jackson from The Sweats, to confirm her as the newest cast member of the franchise, to reveal her as Loreia Buckthorn, the fan favourite villain of the later Wonderwick books, daughter of none other than Lord Thorn, the OG Wonderwick villain from book one.
‘She’s not really your nemesis, is she?’ Max asked from across the top of his cocktail. His upper-class accent hung on the word ‘nemesis’, making it sound like the most ridiculous thing in the world.
Felicity rolled her eyes and swatted at him with the back of her hand. ‘Oh, don’t be so silly, what are you talking about, nemesis?’
Max held his hands up in submission. ‘I don’t know, do I? No one tells us anything, do they, Tommy?’
Tommy smiled and shook his head, running a hand over his tightly cropped hair. ‘Don’t think we’re important enough, mate.’
‘There was that article, though.’ Max glanced sideways at me.
‘Max Rogers, you have been in this industry long enough to know that most of what’s in the media is a load of bollocks!’ Felicity chided him. Even off the Wonderwick set she seemed to inhabit a maternal role for all of us, despite her best efforts to remain regal and icy.
‘Yeah, well, it’s different when it’s not about you, though, isn’t it?’ Max said with a completely straight face and the rest of us couldn’t help but laugh, even me.
‘What did the article say, anyway?’ Tommy asked, flicking a nervous glance in my direction.
‘Wasn’t just one,’ Max said through a mouthful of dyed green popcorn. ‘Articles plural.’
I was fed up of being talked about, across and over, especially by some of my oldest friends in the cast. ‘That I’ve been campaigning hard behind the scenes to get her blocked from being cast, that I see her as a threat to my position in the Wonderwick universe, that I’m scared she’s going to be more popular than me, that I’ve been trash-talking her dad’s music, that I got my “people” to make sure she was on the second row at any fashion week shows where I was on the front row.
’ I listed off all the silly accusations the gossip sites had made about me and Darcy. ‘To name but a few.’
‘But it’s all a load of bollocks, right, Emily?’ Tommy raised his eyebrows. He would often get involved in Max’s silliness but he was more peaceful by nature, and clearly wanted to draw a line under this for me.
‘Right,’ I said firmly.
Technically that was true. With one exception.
I hadn’t been campaigning to stop her getting cast in Wonderwick.
I definitely hadn’t been doing any trash-talking about her rock star dad or his discography.
And I hadn’t done any behind-the-scenes meddling at fashion week, I promise.
But I did know she was a threat to my position in the Wonderwick universe.
Not just in the story of the books, I mean.
The fans had been making it clear for years that she would make the perfect Loreia Buckthorn, bringing it up at every ComicCon, mentioning it in every Wonderwick-related Reddit AMA, flooding official social media posts with replies about Darcy.
It all started with one post on one Tumblr fan page where someone observed how close she looked to the way Sylvara Runequill had written Loreia in the books.
Back then, it was a bit of a joke, she was just some rock star’s kid, occasionally spotted at celebrity parties in LA.
But then it gained momentum as she grew up and the two paths converged, and I would be lying if I said that it didn’t rattle me a bit.
Where does a bit of fan service end? With Linderley Jones getting reduced to a supporting role by the final film, and Loreia Buckthorn getting a spin-off series?
If you wanted to know what my real problem was, it was that Darcy was so deeply the opposite of me.
How could I ever lose my reputation of being the good girl, the prim one, the stuck-up one, the safe one if people already believed that anyway, and now they would have a super-sexy, confident, daring, laid-back, cool rock star of a person to compare me to?
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would always come up short, that I would always be just a little bit boring, a little bit too much of a goody two-shoes.
Who would want that when they could have Darcy Jackson?
‘Do you know the funniest thing?’ I said, trying to keep my voice light. ‘I’ve never even met Darcy before. There’s all this gossip and we’ve literally never met.’
‘Don’t look now but I think you’re about to get your chance,’ Alexander whispered discreetly in my ear.
I barely had time to glance over my shoulder when Darcy was upon our table, complete with entourage: a man in a huge fur coat and a woman with a mane of neon-orange hair, both of whom were wearing sunglasses indoors and neither of whom spoke.
‘Striking’ was the word that most often got used about Darcy Jackson.
Platinum blonde hair cut into a sharp bob.
Six feet tall and never seen without a pair of vertiginous heels unless she was working out, which she did often – how else would she have the kind of ripped physique that inspired legions of fans to comment ‘step on my neck’ under every photo where you can see her toned thighs and biceps.
She was like a real life , and absolutely nothing like me.
‘Hey guys, I can’t believe you’re all hanging out without me!
’ She gave a sly smile, her dazzling white teeth glinting wolfishly in the low light.
Her outfit was kind of crazy but also totally inspired: a way-too-long ultra-tight fishtail skirt with a matching bralette that barely covered her nipples and showed off her rock-hard abs.
I had absolutely no idea how she came up with these looks or where you would even get such an outfit.
All I knew was that the British Vogue reporter on the carpet outside didn’t ask her about heritage brands.
‘Isn’t this party so cute? I’m Darcy, by the way.
’ She said all of this slowly, in a lazy drawl, her eyes heavy with black glitter like a galaxy behind aggressively spiky lashes.
Note to self: eyelashes not sufficiently spiky.
She held out her hand to each of us in turn, and far from the limp, weak suggestion of a handshake I was expecting, she squeezed my knuckles in a bone-crushing grip that took me completely by surprise. Her vibe may have been laid-back but her handshake was all business.
‘Nice to meet you, Darcy,’ I said, trying to smile through the nerves. ‘I’m Emily. I’m really looking forward to working with you.’
‘I know who you are. And I look forward to working with you, too.’ What did that mean? That I was famous or that she was bringing some kind of energy with her, just like I was?
‘It’s so great to meet you,’ Max said, scrambling to his feet and offering her his place in the booth. ‘Please, come sit with us, Darcy.’
‘No, that’s OK, babe.’ She shrugged lightly.
‘I just wanted to come say hi so we weren’t all meeting for the first time on set.
Me and my team are going to mingle. See you around.
’ She gave a little flick of the head to signal that the conversation was over and she and her fashion minions disappeared into the crowd.
She had barely stepped away from the table when the group erupted into chat. ‘Oh, please, come sit with us Darcy,’ Tommy mimicked his friend in a high-pitched mocking posh tone. ‘Is this what you’re going to be like next week?’ He shook his head at Max whose cheeks were glowing scarlet.
‘What? I was just being polite,’ he mumbled.
‘I thought it was very gentlemanly of you,’ Alexander said.
‘She seemed nice,’ I said, shrugging my shoulders casually, acutely aware of the heaviness of the blazer against my skin. I felt so covered up all of a sudden.
‘I think the next film will be very interesting,’ Felicity said archly, taking a sip of her cocktail, which she refused to drink out of the carved wooden mugs and instead had decanted into a Martini glass.
‘Though I have to say, my friend’s brother was Steve Jackson’s PA for a while and said she was, and I quote, “fucking delightful”, so you never can tell. ’
Swiftly, Darcy was replaced by a breathless Chloe.
This must have been a pretty big deal if it could tear her away from chatting up Blake Shaw.
‘Shit, Emily, I had no idea! They’ve completely sprung it on everyone!
I think it was meant to be a surprise to maximise the hype around the video game but bloody hell they could have given us a little warning. ’
‘It’s fine,’ I said to her, looking her intensely in the eyes.
It wasn’t really fine, and in fact what Chloe said only made it worse: I knew they hadn’t sprung it on everyone.
I knew that Tommy and Max and Felicity and Alexander and, presumably Josh (wherever he was) knew that this party was all about Darcy, but a decision was made to keep it from me.
The idea that I was seen as either a diva or a sensitive little child both made me want to scream.
‘I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal about it. ’
Chloe’s expression clouded for a moment before she fixed a smile. ‘Of course, it’s nothing! If anything, it’s exciting to have a new cast member to liven things up.’
Liven things up was exactly what she’d done already: not only were my co-stars hunched over the table, talking a million miles an hour about their brief encounter with our new colleague, but the whole room seemed to be tracking her every move.
Surreptitious glances over shoulders, sneaky photos on covertly positioned phones. The excitement was palpable.
‘My thoughts exactly,’ I said, resolutely. And for the second time today, I found myself saying, ‘Whatever’s good for Wonderwick.’