A wake-up punch.
One of the women briefly notices me watching her. She smiles at me with such joy, as though my audience of one has made this night for her. I smile back.
A woman wearing nipple tassels fills my glass without speaking. I try not to ogle her. Women don’t really speak here, I’ve noticed. They dance, or serve drinks, or breathe fire. If they’re really lucky, they’ll sing someone else’s words.
I down the water myself, throat suddenly dry.
“Excuse me,” I say, tapping the server’s bare arm with my hand. I look her straight in the eye; she returns my gaze with a glassy, dazed look.
“Yes?” Her voice is tinged with an unknown accent.
“Would I be able to get a jug of water, please?”
She nods. “Certainly, sir.”
She makes her way to the bar area. I follow behind. Her journey is impeded by the number of people who deliberate over which drink on her tray to choose.
It’s noisy over in this part of the hall. The woman in the neon lobster costume is still at the bar, as Adam had said she was. I wonder if she’s left the bar all evening. She’s laughing uproariously, surrounded by a whole entourage of followers hanging onto her every word.
I watch the interaction between barman and server, how he keeps staring at her chest. Instead of using the tap behind him, the barman takes out a number of thick-cut glass bottles and begins to pour them out, pure water gushing into a larger container.
When the server leaves the bar, she’s carrying a huge gallon-sized pitcher filled almost to the brim with crystalline-clear luxury water. Quickly, I take it from her hands — she seems surprised but pleased that I’d even bothered to follow her in the first place.
“Thank you, sir,” she says with a smile, then picks up her refreshed tray of drinks and slinks back into the restless crowd.
“Heyyyy, dude,” a voice drawls at me.
I turn in its direction. It’s a man I recognize, but in the darkness I can’t be sure.
“Heyyyy, dude,” he says again, and I realize he’s slurring. He slings a heavy arm around me. I raise the jug into the air so he won’t spill any of it. Man, I really need to get back to Kat. “Dude, will you get me a glass that size... of vodka?”
“I’m not a server,” I inform him, guarding the jug from him.
“But you dress like one.” He laughs like a braying donkey, and I watch in horror as a thick bead of blood slides from his nostril.
I tear myself from his grasp. “Let go of me,” I snap, and as I turn back to see him stagger away, my suspicions are confirmed: Dan Mercury of Depraved Sin. His long black hair is matted and lank and I notice white dust all over my sleeve.
“Fuck you, li’l dude,” Dan cries, wiping his nose violently against the back of his hand. “Fuck you!”
I need to get out of here.
I dart away, slipping between the crush of bodies. There is no time to catch my breath. It’s a small mercy I’m not the most popular member of Royal Element and can apparently pass as a damn server. I stop beside a pillar, trying to find Adam’s room, when a snatch of conversation catches my attention:
“We need to organize that as soon as possible.” It’s Carla’s voice. I try to see where she is and notice her standing beside her daddy. Both their faces are in pure business mode. “That boy is a menace. The sooner he’s gone, the better.”
I grip the jug of water tight in my hands. Who are they talking about — and is it one of us?
“Under these circumstances,” Mr. Merksworth says, “the best thing to do is call the whole group together for a meeting.”
“I know you, Father. You’ll have meetings about meetings until the cows come home.”
“They’re all in London now.”
Carla laughs and raises her arms toward the room. “Yes, apparently so — though where are they now?”
“Sleeping together, probably.”
I frown. What’s that supposed to mean?
“Leon would never,” scoffs Carla.
As I try to listen further, I’m distracted by the vibration of my phone in my jacket pocket.
“We can do something as soon as tomorrow,” Merksworth says, placating her.
But Carla shakes her head, her voluminous curls gleaming as they catch the light. “I’m doing work on Stella’s UK promo tomorrow. I’ll damn well get them to sign her for the next John Bind theme song.”
My phone is still vibrating. I can’t answer here.
“The day after, then.”
She shrugs elegantly. “I suppose. It’s been a long time coming. There needs to be a long conversation about the future of Royal Element.”
My stomach plummets to my shoes. I watch, wide-eyed, as they wander off into the crowd. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve just heard the death-knell for Royal Element.
My phone stops vibrating. I fish it out my pocket.
One missed call. Cally.
I sigh, letting my head fall against the pillar, the weight of guilt and self-loathing heavy in my heart.
This is it, then. This is the end.
A small voice in my head asks, Why not jump?
As I weave my way through the crowds again, I finally see the corridor I walked down and the small door at the side. I knock. I hear the sound of raised voices and heavy furniture being dragged, and then the door is ajar.
The sight that greets my eyes is not one that I’d expected.
Adam’s head is in his hands as Tarek stands above him, shouting. Tarek is absolutely frothing with anger. Leon stands guard by the door, his arms folded, gazing at the scene impassively. Seth is still beside Kat, though he too is glaring daggers at Adam.
What the fuck has happened in the time I’ve been gone?
Kat is awake. It’s promising, though she still seems to be on another planet. Her eyes are bright and black.
I ignore all of them and go straight toward her. I take Tarek’s glass and pour some water into it from the jug. Seth gently guides Kat into an upright seated position. I tilt the rim of the glass to her lips, and she sips automatically. In the background, the din of Tarek and Adam’s row irritates me. I can’t even make out what they’re yelling about, it’s all just white noise to me.
“Will you both shut up?” I hiss, still pouring water into Kat’s mouth. My own quietness seems to startle them into silence. “How’s all this fighting gonna help her?”
Tarek can’t help but open his mouth. “Ask the person who put her in this condition in the first place!”
“You’re making shit up,” Adam says, and he kicks the wall in frustration.
“And you’re lying. Ever since we’ve been in this room, you’ve been lying.” Tarek exhales harshly. “We’ve been together for years now. I think I can tell when you’re lying to me.”
I ignore them.
“Are you okay?” I murmur quietly to Kat, trying to help her return to normality.
“Yesss,” she says, voice slurred as she stares unseeingly at me. Her pupils are massive. “M’camra...”
“It’s fine,” Seth tells her in a soothing voice. “I’ve got it here. It’s safe.” He glances at me. “Give her some more water. If she’s taken what I think she has, she’ll be badly dehydrated.”