"Mercedes Lackey - Tregarde 2 - Burning Water" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

unconscious. Sherry knew a handful of dancers who moved that way, but not many. She was about to say
something to get Robert's attention, when he turned and spotted the girl himself.
He froze; just stopped moving completely. Sherry had been steeling herself for his inevitable
reaction to an attractive girlтАФbut this was an entirely new response, or at least one she'd never seen from
him before.
He might not even have been breathing; he didn't even twitch when an enormous fly landed on his
arm. It was like the old clich├й of being turned to stone.
His reaction was so abnormal she found herself thrown entirely off-balance by it, so that she froze
in place.
While they stared like a pair of idiots, the girl approached both of them, head held high, the image
of some ancient goddess deigning to take notice of a pair of mortals.
"Senor?"
The liquid sound of her voice snapped the strange trance that held both of them. The girl held out
an arm draped with silver necklaces that gleamed in the sunlightтАФnot with the highly reflective glitter of
most of the jewelry that had been offered to them, but with a soft, subtly textured shimmer, like antique
satin.
OrтАФlike scales.
Sherry was suddenly struck by two strong and mutually antagonistic reactions. Half of her wanted
to reach out and touch those bright garlands of metalтАФand the other half shuddered with revulsion at the
thought.
That jewelryтАФit's like dozens of skinny little snakes wrapped around her armтАФ
"Silver, senor?" The girl struck a pose within touching distance of Robert, and smiled up into his
eyes. "Very fine, very cheap."
"My God . . ." he mumbled; the girl did not seem to notice that he had said anything at all. She
simply continued to pose, patiently.
He continued to stare; the girl, strangely, did not seem in the least disturbed by his scrutiny. "My
God . . ." he said at last, "you could have come down off one of these wallsтАФ"
"Pardon?"
Robert pulled himself together with an effort clearly visibleтАФat least to Sherry. "Senorita," he
said, in Spanish far better than Sherry's, "I will buy your necklaces, on one conditionтАФthat you pose for
me hereтАФ"
The girl regarded him measuringly.
"Senor," she asked, "are you wishing for a model?"
"WellтАФyes, I suppose so." For the first time in Sherry's experience a woman had succeeded in
making him uneasy.
"You photograph for the American magazines?"
"SometimesтАФ"
"Then," she said coolly, "I make you an offer. I will pose for you, and my sistersтАФall tomorrow if
you wish. You need buy no silver. But you must see that important people see the pictures, and know who
we are. You must see that we are given more jobs, so that we may have green cards. My sisters and I look
much alikeтАФit is our resemblance to the Ancient Ones you wish, no?"
Both Robert and Sherry stared at her, more than a little surprised at the strange turn the bargaining
had taken. The girl smiled again, a serene, slightly superior smile.
"You see," she said, "I am no ignorant Mestizo. I have some learning. I know what a camera like
thisтАФ" she gestured gracefully at Robert's hands, the necklaces chiming softly with the movement "тАФ
means. We wish to come to America, and as legals; we wish to be models, and rich. You will take such
pictures that will make us famousтАФ"
"ThereтАФthere's no guarantee of thatтАФ" Robert stammered.
The girl shook her head, dismissing all doubt. "You will make us famous. And yourself."
Now she turned to Sherry, who had been totally ignored until this moment. Her eyes were just as