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It was a pretty impressive costume.
Still one of the strangest things I’d ever experienced, but impressive all the same.
Now the karaoke was about to start, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was almost expecting something super weird and kooky, and there was a good chance the vagueness had made my expectations a little too high.
There was an impressive stage area set up on one side of the pub, and by all means, it was completely packed in here. I didn’t even know where my brother was—the last time I’d seen him he was with Esme talking about animals.
I didn’t know if that was the safest place for him to be. Esme liked acquiring animals, and my brother liked rehoming them, so it was going to go one of two ways.
No matter how it went, I wasn’t going to be responsible for it.
“When is this—” I was cut off by the lights going out, and two seconds later, a spotlight appeared, focused on the central point of the stage where Penny was standing.
“Good evening, Windermere!” she said into a mic, holding up her hand. “I hope everyone enjoyed the always-entertaining Windermere Farm Parade, and I’m pleased to share that we’ve raised well in excess of two thousand pounds for the Windy Animal Rescue!”
Everyone cheered.
That… was impressive. Seriously impressive, actually, for a village of this size. That was a lot of money, and I knew from experience just how far that money would go.
“So thank you all for that. You can continue donating all night at the bar or the raffle table out back. The final amount will be counted tomorrow and will be shared in Monday’s edition of The Windy News.”
They really went in on the whole ‘windy’ thing here, huh?
“For now, it’s karaoke time!”
Another cheer went up.
Wow. This lot liked their karaoke.
“First up is the one, the only, our beloved duchess, Esme!”
“Oh, shit,” Max muttered. “That’s why she was in the attic earlier.”
I turned to ask him what on Earth that had to do with the karaoke, when the sparkles on the makeshift stage answered the question for me.
Esme was head-to-toe in hot pink sequins—literally head to toe. She even wore a pink sequinned headband that was adorned with feathers and glitter and sparkly gems.
I…
The first beats ofTotal Eclipse of the Heartcame out of the speakers, and Max rubbed his hand down his face.
“Oh, no,” he said in a low voice. “She’s going in hard.”
I eyed him, leaning into him to see around the person in front of me. “Can she sing?”
“She can sing,” he confirmed. “For now. She’s still sober.”
Esme broke out into song, and my eyes widened. She really could sing—she was hitting all the right notes, and everyone in the pub was lapping it up.
“Wow,” I whispered to Max, holding onto his arm. “She really can sing.”
I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.
“I don’t understand how this is wild. This is great,” I said.
He leant down, bringing his lips close to my ear. “Just you wait.”
And wait I did.
