Finding Real Magic Read online

  Finding

  Real

  Magic

  Shawn Keys

  For more information about the Author

  Visit:

  https://authorshawnkeys.wixsite.com/website

  Cover Art by:

  Christina Patricia Myrvold

  Freelance Concept Artist/Illustrator

  To view her portfolio, visit:

  https://www.artstation.com/christinapm

  See Discussion on this title and others on Facebook:

  Harem Lit Facebook Discussion Group

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1520110688072405/

  Originally Published by Shawn Keys

  Copyright © October 2019

  ISBN: 978-1-9992853-0-2

  Quick Links to Chapters:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 1

  “This is such bull shit!” The soft but heartfelt curse floated over the warehouse-sized sound stage. It was carried on a songbird voice better suited to poetry.

  Zahn recognized her right away. Even while tucked under a platform supporting a gaggle of technical gear near the back of Visionary Studios’ famous Lot B, he couldn’t mistake the beautiful tone of Angelica Laviolette. He had been enchanted with her from the moment she swept across the silver screen as Princess Eranyia in the fantasy movie Rain in the Sky .

  Sure, he had loved movies from childhood, but he had never really fallen into celebrity worship. But she was an exception. He understood why her fans were so rabidly loyal. She had everything. Supple legs that stretched on for miles, sculpted by her dancer background. A wave of blonde tresses that shone like the fairytale spun gold. A talent for learning any random skill necessary for the various parts she played. Invested in charitable work all over the world. She was the perfect image of a dazzling and elegant Hollywood starlet. How could he not love her? So, he joined the ranks of her followers with perhaps a little more restraint.

  He wormed his way from below the stage, leaving his work lamp concealed. At just over 5’8”, he still had to take care not to whack his head on one of the steel pipes. The space below was tight, even for his body made of lean muscle.

  No-one knew he was working on the Lot after hours. He had thought he was alone. Apparently not. He peered through the gloom of the warehouse-sized space to the central filming location. That space was the focus of all the lighting, sound equipment and technological wonders that created Lot B’s movie magic.

  Angelica was propped against a piece of the set fashioned as a metal prison table. Only a single large spotlight illuminated her. The rest of the set was meant to resemble a jail cafeteria intended for her latest project, On the Sly . She was breathing heavily, swelling her firm breasts and making them press out against her form-fitting cat suit. Dressed from neck to ankle in black, skin-tight lycra, she looked the part of a slinky cat burglar turned secret agent .

  Naturally, this was still Hollywood, and this was a blockbuster action movie. Despite all her black clothes, her costume left her famous pearl-toned face and trademark blonde locks uncovered. At least they let her tie her hair back so it trailed behind her neck. That kept it out of the way while she tried to flip through the screenplay’s gymnastic-style action sequences.

  Right then, frustration was painted on her face. She glared at the prison table like it was her nemesis. Clenching her teeth, she stood upright again. She balanced on the three-inch stiletto heels of her leather boots, totally impractical for a thief but the perfect kind of sexy for this sort of role. Unfortunately, they weren’t making this trick any easier.

  Fixing her eyes on her target, she took two quick steps and launched herself at the table. She planted her hands on the top and tried to vault over. Halfway through, she realized she wasn’t going to get all the way across the extra-wide table. She bailed out to the side, landing right on the mark where one of her enemies was supposed to be standing. Even with the unrealistic physics of an action movie, she’d be as good as dead. She hissed in disgust and smacked her palm on the unrepentant obstacle. “Why can’t I get this?”

  Zahn guessed Angelica wasn’t used to failure. He sympathized with her. How many nights had he trained and trained and trained, doing the same task over and over until he got it right? Failure meant death, sometimes. For her, it meant her reputation.

  He glanced down into the claustrophobic space where he’d been working. Nothing but hot, sweat-smelling air and hard labor waited for him down there. Necessary, but less than pleasant.

  Then, he looked back across the lot at the gorgeous icon of the movie industry. When was the next time he’d ever have the chance to speak with her? Sure, he worked on the set. But he was a stage hand. He was hired to build the backdrop pieces. Angelica was classy and not above saying hello to the help. But she was also busy. Her entourage surrounded her the whole day. When she wasn’t filming, everyone from advertising headhunters to studio executives snatched up her spare minutes.

  He could count on one hand the reasons that could interrupt his important work. She was one of them. Admitting the truth to himself, he wiped his hands on a rag and tossed it back into his workspace. Tugging into place the wooden slats that concealed his secret work, he walked down into the central stage area.

  By the time he arrived, Angelica had lined up another pass. Once again, she kicked her legs into the air, but veered sideways with an awkward cry. Landing too heavily, she banged her palm on the table top and spat, “Damnit to hell!”

  Summoning all the cool he had, Zahn offered, “Looks tricky.”

  Surprised that she wasn’t alone, Angelica jumped a little. She spun to face him. “How’d you get in here?”

  Zahn gestured around. “I work here. Just doing a little overtime. You know better than anyone how much it takes to get one of these pictures looking good.”

  Giving a grudging nod, the movie star looked both embarrassed at being caught in the middle of practice and a little irritated that her solitude was broken. “Yes, I know. That’s why I’m here too, I guess.” It came out waspish, and she immediately seemed to regret it. Her face softened. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m being mean. This isn’t going well, and I’m filming this scene tomorrow.” A pause. Then, she asked, “Are you supposed to be in here?”

  Zahn shrugged, trying to act casual as he stood a few feet from the superstar. This wasn’t the time to babble! “Not sure the bosses would approve the overtime. Lucky for them, I just like my work. Name’s Zahn. I work on some of the backgrounds.”

  The movie star searched her memory. “Oh, right.” She asked with real interest, “I don’t believe I know anyone else with that name.”

  Not in any rush to end the conversation, Zahn gave up a little more detail than he normally did to anyone else. “I was in a foster home since I was a child. I was a ‘John Doe’. My first foster mother came from Hong Kong, and always pronounced ‘John’ with an Asian flare. The ‘z’ comes across as more of a ‘jz’ sound. Hard instead of soft. I liked it better than ‘John’ since it is intentionally bland.”

  The story amused her. “Turning something impersonal into something personal. I like it.”

  Taking that as an invitation, Zahn meandered onto the set. “Is this a key scene?”

  Angelica actually laughed, releasing a little tension. “ Only because I insisted on do
ing it this way. I don’t want to be wrong. If I cave in, I won’t get my way as easily next time.”

  Zahn didn’t understand, so he flashed her a puzzled look.

  Angelica pointed up at the ceiling rig above them. “The director wants to use wires. He’s sure it’ll make the whole thing more impressive. But wires always seem a little fake. They look great in the right movie, but we’re trying to keep the action fast, gritty, and passably realistic. Wires would totally break that.”

  In full agreement, Zahn asked. “What has you stumped? I’ve seen you do stunts before. Always been impressed that you do your own. Ever since I found out you learned to ride horses for The Adventures of a Seamstress in Africa . It was wonderful. I always thought you should do more quirky comedies.”

  Her mouth dropped open a little. “You saw that?” Her face tinted pink with light embarrassment.

  Zahn ventured a self-mocking smile. “Would it be horrible to admit that I’ve seen every scrap of film you’ve put out? Or is that going to make this weird?”

  She rewarded him with another delightful laugh, a sound Zahn was loving more each time he heard it. “We’re both working in near darkness on an old movie lot. How is this not weird already?” She paused, and then decided to trust him. “I can’t hit the timing. I’m supposed to vaulting off the table and then sticking the landing on that mat disguised to look like part of the concrete floor. But I know I’m not going to clear the seats on the far side. I don’t want to end up as a smear on the metal seat.” Frustration clouded her face again.

  Zahn nodded. “You have experts to teach you this stuff, right? What’d they say?”

  Angelica rolled her eyes. “They said ‘jump further’. They mean well, but they think I’m doing everything right. They keep telling me to push harder, but I think they are even more frustrated. They are ready to go for the wired solution.”

  Measuring the space, Zahn asked carefully, “Are you sick of advice? Because I think I might see something, but I wouldn’t want to piss you off.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Wow.”

  Zahn was confused again, and showed it. “What?”

  A smile worked its way onto her lips. “Not many guys who just admitted to being a fan would be brave enough to ask that.” She smirked. “But fair warning, if you tell me to jump further, I’m going to use all my power to crush you.”

  She dissolved into a soft giggle that took any sting out of the aggressive words. Not that Zahn had felt threatened. He knew beyond a doubt she wasn’t the sort to carry through on a threat like that. So, he took the joke for what it was and laughed along with her. He could hardly believe this was happening. Chatting with Angelica Laviolette! Since pinching himself in public would definitely be weird, he’d have to settle for accepting this wasn’t a dream for now.

  Taking risks was paying off, so he forged ahead. “You don’t need to jump further. You need to jump faster and higher.”

  Angelica asked, “What do you mean?”

  Zahn tapped the table top. “You’re basically doing a round-off vault in gymnastics. No trampoline to give you the first spring, so you need to generate that by yourself.”

  “OK, I’m with you.”

  Zahn smiled. “So, you need two things. First? When you plant your hands on the table top, you want a little flex in them. Then, as your legs kick over your head, push off. Your arms can’t be there to just support you. You need to think of them as twin springs launching you off.”

  Angelica chewed her lip in thought. “And second?”

  “Speed. You have bounce in your step, but you need to really explode off this mark. You only have four running steps here. Gymnasts have a massive runway to do this sort of thing. True, they’re doing double flips and twists after the handspring –“

  “- one thing at a time…” Angelica’s lips were twisted into another of her cute smirks.

  Zahn grinned back, and finished, “…but this should be enough room to get your legs over and clear that bench.”

  “What you’re saying is I have to commit, aren’t you?”

  Zahn wondered how to agree without sounding like he was calling her out.

  Angelica saw him struggle, and blessed him with another soft smile. “Don’t lose your nerve now, just when you’re about to be my hero.” She sobered a little. “But I think you’re right. I’m trying to leave myself a way out. But I can’t. I have to go for it with everything I have. If I wipe out, then I might as well make it spectacular, right? ”

  “Damn right. All about looking good and dying young!” Zahn added supportively, “But you have more than enough power to get over this. I don’t have any doubt.”

  The movie star canted her head to the side, peering with a strange sort of wonder. “Such faith in my skills, you have. Is this the fan speaking? Or are you the real expert I should have hired?” Her eyes traced over his athletic form, including his carved muscles not quite hidden behind his grey t-shirt and loose-fitting jeans. “You’re certainly built like you might have done this before.” Her mouth curled into an appreciative smile, and her eyes lingered just a few seconds on the bulge in his jeans which betrayed the impact her skin-tight clothing was having on him.

  Zahn tried not to stare at her expressive mouth delivering so sexy a compliment. Instead, he decided the right words to deflect her line of questioning away from his personal quests that had given him his rugged body. He wasn’t quite ready to share those stories quite yet. Finding his smile, he went with, “Let’s just say I’ve had reason to leap over a few things in my day, and getting it right was the difference between life and death.” He thought about it. “More than a few times, actually. Too many times.” He shook himself. “Anyway, this isn’t about me. This is your moment to shine. Ready to fly?”

  Angelica was clearly curious about his rambling, but ended up being too focused on her own problem to pry more out of Zahn. “OK, stand back. I don’t want to take you with me when I wipe out. Here goes nothing.”

  “Here goes everything !”

  She laughed. “Right. Now, count me down.”

  Zahn stood back, keeping out of her view, letting her zero in on the mission in front of her. “Three…two…”

  * * *

  Greg groaned as a truck pulled up to his security gate. He pried himself away from his tablet on which he was binge-watching Cat’s Cradle . He grabbed his Visionary Studios’ security guard cap.

  He scowled one last time. He loved the evening and weekend shifts. No-one ever showed up! He got paid for sitting on his ass and doing nothing. It was awesome! Only this time, there had been continuous traffic right up until an hour ago. He’d finally settled down to watch his show, and now there was another interruption!

  He pasted on a smile. He didn’t dare snap at this driver. One complaint and he might lose this jammy shift. But his sour mood lingered; this idiot was interrupting an amazing cliffhanger ending to this episode! But he had to be careful. He’d almost barked at the last driver, who had turned out to be Angelica Laviolette herself! He had no idea why she was here, but if he had gotten snippy with one of the media darlings of the studio, being fired would be the luckiest thing that could happen to him!

  His smile faded as he saw the truck was a delivery service. No chance any stars were at the wheel this time. Even better, there was no way this delivery was planned for after hours. He was going to send this driver packing. He stepped up to the window as it rolled down. “Are you lost, friend?”

  * * *

  Dana tried to keep calm. But the security guard’s question wasn’t a good start. She forced a smile onto her sweaty face, trying to act natural. “Lost? Oh, umm, no. Not unless you know another movie studio with the same name. Visionary Studios?”

  The poor joke drew a scowl from the guard instead of a smile. The guard glanced back at his shack, looking a little impatient and distracted. “Alright. You got the right place. Maybe the wrong time? I mean, did the ‘PM’ light on your watch burn out? Ain’t no-one here this lat
e at night to receive any packages, friend. Maybe you should come back in twelve hours.”

  Dana ran a hand through her hair. Come on, keep it together, moron. You practiced this. Just deliver the lines. “Look, I know this isn’t normal. But you’ve got to help me out here. My little girl has a dance recital tomorrow. My boss wouldn’t hear me out. No time off. Deliveries can’t wait, right? But he can’t stop me from taking care of them tonight. Then I can be at her school in the morning. He won’t know.”

  The guard looked ready to argue, but the sob story made him pause. “Seriously?”

  Dana pleaded, “Look, I’m not asking for much. I’m just dropping off. Check the shipment. It’s just a bunch of stationary. Paper and pens. Nothing anyone is gonna call dangerous. I’ll leave it inside the loading dock. The studio people can unpack it when they get in tomorrow morning. No harm, no fuss, no mess.”

  The guard looked suspicious. “And what if they find half the shipment missing? If I sign for it, my head’s going to be the one that rolls.”

  Dana objected, “Why? My company’s number is right on the papers. If I screw this up, sell me right down the river. You have my name on the delivery notice, right? But I don’t want to get fired. I won’t screw it up. Sign me in, give me a half hour, and I’ll be gone before you know it.”

  The guard glanced toward the back of the truck, then back at his shack. He repeated the motion, looking uncertain. Finally, he decided, “OK, what the hell. Call it my good deed for the night. Half an hour, hear me? Otherwise, I’m calling in the guys dressed in black carrying guns. Hear me?”

  She smothered her surge of desperate delight. “Want me to open the back?”

  The guard stepped over to the shack, plucked out a pass for the lot, then handed it through the window. “Just get in and get out fast.” He smacked the side of the door and hit the button to lower the barricade.

  * * *

  A lonely black minivan loitered on the second floor of the parking lot opposite from Lot B’s main entrance. The windows were dark mirrors hiding the four people inside.