Setsuna’s Knotting Hill
Book 2 Bonus Blooper
“Here, I'll open one you can see.”
She created a small portal in the air before them, and Privet examined it closely. The edges were ill-defined, a kind of thickening mist that swirled in the center and evaporated at the edges. It was flat, like a piece of paper, but try as he might he could not see the width of it as he moved his head around. When viewed from the side, it seemed to disappear completely. Its sister gate sat in the air alongside it.
Setsuna took a bagel from her plate and dropped it into one of the gates. It popped up from the second gate then fell back down into it, only to pop up again from the first gate. Watching the bagel pop up and down was strangely hypnotic. It gave it the sense of being weightless somehow.
“We are all born with two gates,” she explained. “One in our mind, and another in our heart, most people just never learn how to open them.” Setsuna leaned forward, hooding her green eyes in a very sultry way. “Do you know where they lead?”
Privet cleared his throat and tried to ignore the obvious advance, for cold experience had taught him to beware a beautiful face with an outstretched hand.
“Can I just say no to your kind request and leave it at that?”
Setsuna retracted her hand. “Yes. Fine, of course I...of course.” For a moment her eyes flashed with rejection, but she covered it up with an awkward smile. “Well, I'll just be going then, it was nice to see you.”
Privet leaned in, unwilling to leave things unexplained. “The thing is, with you I'm in real danger. It seems like the perfect situation, apart from that foul temper of yours. But, my relatively inexperienced heart would I fear not recover if I was once again cast aside, as I would absolutely expect to be.”
Setsuna fidgeted with her purse. “It really is real now, isn't it?”
Privet sat back and looked at her sympathetically. “I live on Knotting Hill, you live in Beverly Hills. Everyone in the world knows who you are. My mother has trouble remembering my name.”
“Fine...fine...good to see you.”
Setsuna turned to leave, but then paused. “The fame thing isn't really real, you know? And don't forget, I'm also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”
“CUT! Conflabbit!” the director yelled.
Setsuna and Privet gave each other a high five.
“That was awesome,” she praised.
“I know,” Privet said excitedly. “I was like, 'is she gonna' go for it?' And then you totally did.”
The director huffed. “You know, neither one of you bother to memorize your actual lines, yet you seem to be able to rattle off other people's lines like it was nothing.”
“Maybe if you wrote better lines we'd bother to memorize them,” Setsuna said flippantly.
The director stood up in his chair. “What did you just say to me? You worthless bottom-feeder? Where do you get off? When I found you your resume contained nothing but a series of laxative commercials!”
Setsuna dropped into a fighting stance. “Bring it on, Aaron! I've been waiting to go a couple of rounds with you since day one.”
Losing control, the director tried to run at her, but his foot got caught in the chair leg and he only ended up flopping painfully to the floor. Setsuna laughed and danced around him like a flippant schoolgirl.
“That's it!” the director said, painfully standing back up with the aid of two gaffers. “I'm killing you off in the sequel. You hear me? You're dead, lady!”
Setsuna stuck out her tongue. “I'm not afraid of you, I've got plenty of work lined up.”
“Where? Playing one of Santa's elves at the mall?”
