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We park at the club. I link arms with Eli and Noah, and Gabe takes George and Yara. Heads turn when we enter the room. Students from schools all across Emerald Beach gape at the Jesus-like Ice Queen who’s returned from the dead, the girl with the three boyfriends and the penchant for violence who brings drama everywhere she goes.
The dance is ‘Tunnel of Love’ themed, with garish swans and kooky carnival decorations everywhere, totally ruining the actually-classy speakeasy-style decor. One-half of the room is dedicated to round tables covered in striped tablecloths. Magicians and fortune-tellers wander between the groups, and candy stripers deliver pink cotton candy on sticks. The other half is a heaving dance floor. My stomach clenches as I scan the room. Too many people, too many dark corners where Mackenzie can hide.
Noah stalks up to a table close to the stage, where a group of Emerald Beach sophomores is hanging out. “Move,” he barks. They scatter. Eli pulls out a chair for me and I settle myself down, while Gabriel drags George and Yara onto the dance floor.
I watch my best friend dance with my boyfriend, my thoughts swirling. Mackenzie Malloy, Cleo St. James, Alec LeMarque, Daphne Ballantyne and their ilk made damn sure that George had as few fun high school experiences as possible. To see her having fun, with her shoulders relaxed and her arms waving about like a constipated chicken, makes me smile. This is what her life should have been. George is the best person, and she deserves to be happy.
Now all I had to do was get her laid.
A magician moves in front of me, offering to pull a rabbit out of a hat. After Noah shoos her away I look back at the dance floor, momentarily panicking I can’t see my family. But no, there they are. Yara and George are dancing with a couple of guys from Gardin Academy. Gabriel is nowhere in sight.
Where is he?
I told everyone they had to stay close, in line of sight at all times. I told them.
I hope he hasn’t gone off to spike the punch.
I told Gabriel he needs to sort out his substance abuse, and I truly believe he wants to do it. But I don’t think willpower alone is going to get him there. I keep telling myself that as soon as we’re out of danger, as soon as my empire is secured, I’ll get Gabe the help he needs. But I’m starting to wonder if it might be too late by then.
If my fallen angel falls too far, I might not be able to drag him out of the abyss.
“I don’t see Gabe,” Noah whispers to me. Over his shoulder, Eli pretends to look interested as the magician pulls colored scarves from his ear.
“Me neither.” I rise, scanning the room again. “I’ll check the bathrooms, the bar. You text Antony and tell him—”
The lights dim. A single trembling note sounds from the stage. Students hush their conversations and turn to the lone figure standing beneath the spotlight – a girl with a waterfall of dark hair tumbling down her back, her eyes closed as she lets a note from her violin ring out.
A second blood-red spotlight flickers to life, and she’s joined by a second violinist – an ice-haired man with a snowy-white violin. Fire and ice. Perfectly in harmony.
I want to find Gabe, but I’m rooted in place as the music swells, filling the club with somber, haunting notes, drawing all eyes toward the stage.
Red-tinted spotlights pulse on the sides of the stage, illuminating two other musicians – a guy with waist-length braided hair who looks like he could give Noah a run for his money in the ring plucks an electric guitar, and a raven-haired, too-pretty boy sits at the piano, cigarette hanging from his pouty lips, as he pounds the keys.
The crowd screams for Broken Muse – the same band who played at homecoming, only this time they’re darker, more lush and haunted and ethereal.
I waver. The music fills me, and I can’t tear my eyes from the band, even as panic about Gabe’s whereabouts stabs at my chest. A fifth person joins them on stage, a shadow strutting through the classical instruments like he was born to be there.
Gabriel steps into the girl’s spotlight, throwing his arms wide.
My panic turns to hot, needy addiction. I grab Noah and Eli and surge toward the stage. What the fuck is he doing up there? Does he know how fucking incredible he looks?
The dark-haired beauty tosses him a microphone. Gabriel stares out into the crowd, searching the sea of faces. His eyes land on mine, and his labret piercing bounces as he flashes me a nervous, adorable smile.
“Hello,” he says into the microphone, addressing everyone even though his eyes never leave mine. “My name is Gabriel Fallen. I know you didn’t expect to see me here, and I hope you don’t mind me ruining Broken Muse’s set with my warbling. I’ve been mates with Dorien and the guys for a long time, and now that Faye’s in the band, they’ve started experimenting with new musical directions. And one of those is letting a British tosser write lyrics for their music.”
Lyrics?
Oh, Gabe. You beautiful creature. This is the best surprise.
“It turns out, we’re quite good at working together. We’re heading into the studio this month to record an album. And there will be a tour later this year, once I’m done with school. But I wanted to surprise you tonight with a special preview.” Gabriel’s grin is made of starlight. “I know you’re all on social media, so you know I’ve been going through a rough patch. Someone I loved very much died tragically and unnecessarily, and I blamed myself. I thought the music had left me. I thought I didn’t deserve the gift of your attention. But my girl set me right. That’s why this song is for her.”
He holds his hand out to me. To me.
In this room filled with screaming fans, the stars on his lips are for me.
I’m no longer Claudia August, notorious Imperator. I’m back to being the lonely, lost girl crying in an empty house while Gabriel sang my sorrows into a void. And here he is, my dream brought wondrously, perfectly to life, standing on stage with his hand held out to me.
I swallow the lump in my throat. Fuck, Gabe.
