Page 31 of Wolfsbane Hall #1

Civic Auditorium - The Opera House

San Francisco, California

All that glitters was not gold—except when it actually was…

She gulped and pinched her eyes before walking onto the grand stage, with its lights glaring and the audience silhouetted.

From what she could tell, there were three men in the audience.

The Opera General Director and Opera Conductor were sitting relatively close to the stage, and one more man wearing a top hat was far at the back.

Celestine bit her lip and begged God—or whoever was up in the sky—to help her. Make it so she didn’t stand out like a sore thumb.

Her shoes were covered with holes, and her dress had rips in the hem and bodice, which she had desperately tried to cover up with cleverly placed stitches, brooches, and lace formed from discarded plastic.

The Great Depression had not been kind to her, but this was the first step toward her future. She just needed to make it through these auditions.

Unfortunately, luck was never on her side, and neither were her nerves.

Anxiety was a noose that strangled her vocal cords and wobbled her notes, and that could not happen during the biggest auditions of her life.

But that was her luck. Celestine was an incredible singer, trained by her mother since the age of five.

She had technique, tone, clarity, and near-perfect pitch except when she was nervous…

Which, of course, always happened during auditions.

The song floated out of her like doves taking flight.

Gentle, yet radiant. That was until one of the notes soured and curved sharply and then immediately flat as a counterbalance.

After that initial struggle, all those notes faltered, and those birds flying gracefully in the sky turned to ash.

And as she entered the B section of her Aria, she knew she’d messed up beyond repair.

There would be no respite from her suffering. There would be no hope. She’d either have to turn to prostitution to survive, or something far worse.

The director held up his hand, signaling her to stop. “That is enough. You can see yourself out.”

Celestine bowed her head, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. She’d failed. Again.