“Oh, yeah, we’ll take one right now. Thanks.”
She hovered as the delivery guy set up the popcorn machine and started it popping. One of the succubi fluttered a wave at a passing dude in a polo shirt and khakis. He stopped in the middle of the aisle, causing another guy in a far better fitting polo shirt to nearly crash into him. The victim drifted over, oblivious to dagger eyes from the people around him. Ronaldo perked up and moved to intercept. But once again, the succubus and her captive ignored him.
“What the hell? I thought they were supposed to get us leads,” Ronaldo fumed.
“I didn’t want them at all,” Morgan pointed out.
“What is that amazing smell?” the third and last of the succubi asked.
“Here, let me introduce you to popcorn. Scoop it into the paper cone with the scoop, don’t touch the metal part,” even though she wasn’t sure if the succubicouldget burned, “and hand people the popcorn. And then send them to Ronaldo, don’t take the people anywhere.”
The succubus pouted, and then sniffed again. “It’s food?”
“How do you not know what popcorn is?” Ronaldo scoffed. “Or are you one of those sorority girls who live on black coffee, lettuce, and sem—”
“Finish that sentence and you’re fired,” Kelly said, coming up. “I’d love some of the popcorn, please. Has anyone seen Brad?”
“He’s still prepping for his announcement,” Morgan said. Her phone buzzed. It was her mother. Finally. “I’m going to go look for him.”
The succubus tentatively put a piece of popcorn in her mouth. Her eyes grew round. She shoveled a handful in after it.
“Great,” said Kelly. “Ronaldo, get back to the front of thebooth. Hey, stop eating all the popcorn. You can have some, but leave most of it for the prospects. Now, everyone, what are our two rules today? First rule is?”
“Don’t demo the Kaleo until after Brad’s pitch,” everyone mumbled back for the third time that day.
“Great,” said Kelly. “And after the pitch, the rule is?”
“Don’t double-load the Kaleo.”
Morgan hurried off, making a calendar reminder to check if she needed refills in an hour. She didn’t want to be thinking about popcorn when she could be facing the end of the world as she knew it, but no one else was going to think about the popcorn. She’d pulled off a miracle to get this entire thing set up in so little time: it looked amazing, and it hurt that no one was really even going to notice with all the other potential fireworks going off. They would have noticed if she’d failed, though.
Halfway to the entrance, she ran into Gisele. Who had a familiar friend with her, wearing an unfamiliar vest.
“Why is Rix here?” Morgan demanded. “And where did you even get a support animal vest?”
“Look, I’m not going to leave him in the apartment on his own. I already don’t know how to explain the bite marks taken out of the fire escape,” Gisele whispered back. “And Luke added it to the illusion.”
“Fake support vests give real support animals a bad name!” Morgan protested, but quietly.
“Yeah, I know, but also we’re involved in a soul-laundering ring and I can’t afford not to get at least some of the damage deposit back. Priorities.”
Morgan opened her mouth and then stopped and chose to let it go. “Fine. You’re going to the booth?”
Gisele shook her head. “Brad and Luke are holed up in one of the rent-a-meeting-rooms.”
She thought about being trapped in a room with fake walls with Brad while he prepped for a speech, and felt a tiny bit more relieved about Luke not texting her. Maybe her mother was just getting into her head. No, if things were broken between them, it wasn’t Fiona; it was one hundred percent her fault. She tried to push past the navel-gazing she didn’t have time for. “How is it going?”
“I’m tacking on my pain-in-the-ass surcharge,” Gisele said matter-of-factly. “Because your boss is definitely one of the bigger pains-in-the-ass I’ve had to deal with. He’s got two speeches—the five-minute Disruptors Stage pitch and then the Spotlight Series demo on the floor—and he’s being a big baby about them both.”
“Well, I’m the one who will sign off on the expense, so go ahead and tack it on,” Morgan sighed.
“Where are you off to, then? I would have thought you’d be babysitting the booth.”
“I’m supposed to be finding my mother—oh, there she is.”
Her mother had a Black man with her. They both had attendee badges devoid of title or company name. Fiona had put on a white button-down as a nod to the professionals around her, but undercut the gesture by layering her battered leather coat over top. Black leather was cool; black leather with a scorch mark on the shoulder was a little eccentric. Gisele patted her arm and took the opportunity to escape.
“I brought backup,” Fiona announced as Morgan came into speaking range. “You remember Steve Cunningham from the Council, right?”
