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I feel the music in my bones, my marrow. Lighters and mobile phones raise in the air. An ocean of flickering stars that swirl and sway to the music as the band takes over, the crunchy guitar riffing with the pianos while the two violins duel for supremacy. Only Gabe and I know that this song isn’t only about personal triumph. It’s our battle cry.
Gabriel holds me to his chest with one hand, the other raising the mic to his lips as his face breaks out into a wonky, genuine smile. “I’ve got you.”
That smile. Gabriel’s smile. It melts away the edges of my savagery.
“I’ve got you.” He whispers the words into the microphone again, and the whole room goes mental. Gabe’s eyes remain locked on mine, and I know he means those words only for me.
As Gabriel screams the last, lingering note, a hail of rainbow bubbles explode from the ceiling, It’s so completely ridiculous and utterly Gabriel that I throw my head back and let the sticky bubbles pop over my face, soaking up the sheer seduction of the crowd and the music and his love.
As I stand up straight, a single face resolves in the surging crowd. The only person not singing. The only person standing still, icicle eyes watching me with cold, calculating glee.
The only person holding a pistol in her fingers, pointing directly at Gabriel’s heart.
Mackenzie.
Claudia
The sight of her freezes my blood.
The music dulls into background noise.
The band, the gyrating people, the flickering lighters fade and blur as every inch of her stands out in crystal clarity.
I can’t move.
My eyes meet hers, and in that millisecond where we regard each other across the packed club, she hits me with an entire lifetime of hate.
It’s like entering the fucking Matrix. I half expect streams of code to cascade over her cheeks. I know she must look like me, but seeing my own wavy gold hair, full lips, heart-shaped face, and cold, determined eyes reflected back at me is creepy as fuck.
Especially since she’s holding that gun.
People dance around her, oblivious to the danger. They probably think the weapon is fake, part of a costume or elaborate stunt. But it’s real and it’s pointing at Gabriel’s chest.
No. No. This can’t be how it ends.
Everything happens at once. Eli calls my name, his voice muffled like he’s speaking underwater. Noah launches himself at Mackenzie. I throw myself in front of Gabriel, my body shielding him. The bullet belongs to me and me alone.
There’s a flash. I think that maybe the gun goes off, but she had a silencer so the sound doesn’t register over the roar of the music. And Gabe, sweet oblivious Gabe, kisses my cheek and dives off the stage, his arms thrown wide.
The crowd raise their arms to catch him. He floats above them, his head tossed back in ecstasy, his arm raised and his fingers curling, beckoning me to fall with him. I can’t see Mackenzie or Noah anywhere. Eli shoves his way through the crowd, his face panicked.
I have to get to them.
It’ll take me forever to push my way through the crowd. Even under the glare of the stage lights, I feel the claustrophobia of them surrounding me, pushing and shoving, bodies hemming me in and preventing me from reaching my family. I’m trapped up here, and the gun went off. The gun went off.
A scream penetrates from the back of the floor. People start to turn to look. Fear and confusion scent the air. The band keeps playing, but the guitarist moves toward me, his features grim. “What’s going on?” he yells.
I can’t answer. I do the only thing I can do. I follow Gabriel over the wall, into battle.
I cross my arms over my chest like an Egyptian pharaoh. Even though it feels like a betrayal, I turn my back on the crowd, facing the four musicians who’ve welcomed him into their fold. The girl, Faye, waves at me, her eyes twinkling with mischief. But the pianist, Dorien, seems to have scented the change in mood. He yells something at me, but it’s too late to answer him.
I fall.
I fall back into the stars, my eyes and heart wide open.
For a moment I’m suspended, falling through space and time. And then the crowd catch me. Hands clamp around my legs and lift my back, my shoulders, my arms. It’s an incredible feeling. I would be on high on the thrill of it if I wasn’t so terrified right now.
I allow the crowd to carry me along on a river of hands, trusting that they won’t let me fall, trusting Gabriel to light the way through the darkness.
