by Amy Patrick
The scent of the grilled fish and savory vegetables wafted up, filling my nose and making my mouth spike with saliva. I was ravenous. Thirsty, too.
“Any sweet tea?”
That got a big smile out of him. “I’m afraid my staff isn’t used to providing that particular beverage. Maybe you could make some for us while you’re here—we do have saol water on hand.”
I smiled back. “Maybe I will, and if you’re really nice, maybe I’ll share.”
I had brought some saol water with me, in the metallic flask Lad had given me a few weeks ago, during better times. A tiny amount went a long way, but it was nice to know there was more in case I did actually want to whip up my special recipe sweet tea. Then again maybe not—the thought of cooking in Nox’s kitchen was too strange.
I lifted a portion of fish onto my plate along with some salad. “So, you were eating alone then? I guess your fan pod hasn’t arrived yet.”
My tone was snarky, but Nox didn’t seem bothered. He seemed… resigned. “Well, actually, quite a few members did arrive this afternoon. Alfred was very enthusiastic when I told him I’d finally agree to having one. There was already a wait list apparently.”
“Oh. And you didn’t want to eat with them?” I took a bite of fish. It was buttery and delicious. Kudos to the chef.
“Definitely not. I haven’t even met them yet. It feels weird to have a bunch of strangers in my house, though I guess I’ll have to see them eventually.” He put his fork down and caught my gaze in his. “I’m so glad you came back… I was worried about you.”
Feeling suddenly shy for some reason, I returned my attention to my plate. “The streets of Brentwood aren’t exactly dangerous territory.”
“You never know. If they turned you away immediately, why were you gone for so long? What did you do all day?”
I shrugged. “Walked around Vallon’s neighborhood, looking at the houses—at high walls and gates mostly—people sure like their privacy out here. Then I walked into the village at Brentwood, sat at Starbucks all afternoon, trying to figure out what to do next.” I looked down at my plate, stirring the food around with my fork. “I was embarrassed to come back here, to admit I needed help. And after the way I acted… I wasn’t sure you’d let me in.”
His hand reached out to cover mine. “I’m happy you’re back. And… I’m happy to be needed. That doesn’t happen very often.”
The odd remark drew my eyes back to his, but I quickly looked down again. Pulling my hand from beneath his, I used it to readjust the napkin in my lap, though it had been draped perfectly fine already.
“You’re a star. Everyone wants to be around you. I’ve seen it.”
“They think they want me. But they don’t even know me,” he argued. “And no one needs me. There’s a difference. When my parents died, I was lucky to have my aunt and uncle to take me in… but I never really belonged there at Altum. I always felt different. While they were kind to me, I always felt like they were stuck with me, you know? I had no real role there. Lad always knew he would grow up and be king. He knew exactly what was expected of him. I had no real purpose. It didn’t really matter what I did. All of Ivar’s attention was reserved for Lad—he was obsessed with making him the perfect future ruler. I gave up trying to please Ivar and actually tried to make him angry with me, make him punish me. I broke rules—even came home once wearing human clothes, expecting him to be furious. He barely noticed.” Nox’s tone turned morose. “They didn’t even miss me when I turned sixteen and began staying away for longer and longer periods of time, playing with the band, traveling.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. Lad told me they did wonder where you were—and he missed you, at least.”
He huffed a humorless laugh. “Well… I’m sure he’s gotten over that.”
“So… you two had a falling out then. Over me?” The thought of Lad feeling passionate enough about me to be angry with Nox made me happy and depressed at the same time. A renewed sense of loss swamped me and made me even more tired than I was already.
Nox leaned back in his chair and surveyed the rolling waves and the nearly dark sky above them. “Oh yes. He was… not pleased with me when he found out I’d been spending time with you. After he saw us together in your yard—the day he was shot—I was almost afraid to ever go home again. Really, I didn’t go back until the Assemblage. I figured it would be safe then with all those visiting witnesses around. And of course, since he was getting married, there wasn’t much he could say to me anymore on the subject. I had hoped we might bury the hatchet that day.”
I winced at the memory of the heartbreaking visit to Lad’s home, discovering it was his wedding day, running into Nox there in his full Elven garb.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He could have no doubt about what my quiet question referred to.
Turning back to me, his eyes pleaded for understanding. “You know why. Keeping the secret of our existence is our most sacred law. It’s hammered into us from the earliest age. To have broken it would have meant danger for you and probably eternal banishment for me.”
“But now I know. And instead of banishing you, Lad left me with you, told you to take care of me. Why? It doesn’t make sense. Why would he choose you?”
Nox’s intense gaze revealed the answer before his words did. “Because he knew I would. He knew I’d do anything for you.”
For a moment, the two of us held blazing eye contact. I was having difficulty finding my breath.
Suddenly uncomfortable, I pushed away from the table and stood, knocking my water glass over in the process. “Oh, my gosh—I’m so sorry.”
Nox jumped from his seat and lifted his plate to remove it from the pathway of the approaching tabletop flood. As soon as he picked up the dishware, the breeze caught a piece of paper that had been tucked underneath and blew it across the table toward me. Instinctively, I grabbed it to keep it from blowing off the patio onto the beach.
I barely had my fingers on it before Nox snatched the paper from my hands. “Thanks. I’ve got it,” he said in a breathless rush.
“What is it? A letter?”
I couldn’t see it well, but there appeared to be several paragraphs of handwriting on the page.
An uncharacteristic blush colored his face in the light of the deck lamps. He folded the paper several times and stuffed it into the pocket of his shorts. “It’s nothing. Just a new song I’m working on.”
“Let me see it,” I ordered sweetly.
The blush deepened. Interesting.
“Nah—it’s not very good—needs a lot of work. So, you finished with dinner? I can get somebody out here to clean this up and bring you a new plate. Or dessert if you want.”
“Actually, I’ve had enough, and it’s been a long day. Thank you. It was delicious.”
There was an awkward pause. It was time for some humility. “So… you were right. Trying to get to Emmy on my own was useless. You already know I need your help, but I can make it official, if you want me to grovel.”
“Yes. I’ll help you. It’s why I’m here.” He lifted his hands to the sides, indicating our luxurious surroundings, as if to say why else?
“So then… I guess that means I’m staying here… as one of your ‘fan pod members.’ Where should I sleep?”
There was a new gleam in his eye that alarmed me for a moment, and I caught a hint of a suggestion from his mind—with me—but it was quickly whisked away, like smoke from a match that’s been blown out. I wasn’t even sure if it was something I’d picked up from his thoughts or if I’d imagined it.
He coughed and cleared his throat. “The other… the girls who’ve been recruited have their own quarters on the other side of the house, but you can keep your own room, the one where you slept last night.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Where’s your room?”
“Next door to that one.”
“Then I’ll stay in the harem.”
We were both laughing as I preceded Nox into
the kitchen from the deck, but the sound was drowned out by loud squealing. When Nox came in immediately behind me, the squeals turned to screams.
“Oh my God—it’s him!”
“There’s Nox!”
“You sure about that decision?” he muttered close behind my ear. “I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to stay as far away from that as possible.”
“Ladies, ladies—gather round. It’s not time to meet Nox yet. Please, stay together.”
A tall, gorgeous woman in her early twenties with cascading dark curls spoke sternly to the new pod recruits. Then she glanced over at me. Clearly taking me for an escapee who’d gotten far too close to her master, she pointed at me and ordered, “You! Get back with the group. Stop bothering Mr. Knight.”
With one last peek back over my shoulder at Nox’s face, I stepped forward to join my fellow pod sisters.
Chapter Nine
Fangirl Hell
“Oh my God, he is so beautiful. Did you see those eyes?”
“I know. I’ve only seen him in concert, never up close except for videos. He is way hotter than I realized. I can’t believe we’re here!”
I was in fangirl Hell.
Not since my tween One Direction and Belieber phase had I experienced anything close to this. But the girls crowding my room were all my age or older, and they were acting completely over-the-top delirious about Nox.
When had he managed to glamour all of them? He’d said he hadn’t even met them yet. Or maybe they were like this without glamour—scary thought.
“You’re so lucky you got to have dinner with him. How did you pull that off?” a short baby-faced girl asked me.
“Oh… I don’t know. Right place, right time, I guess.”
“Well, what did he say? What’s he like? Did he sing for you?” a Latina girl with glasses asked.
He had sung for me in the past, and if I could help it, I’d never hear him sing again—I was far too susceptible to his musical glamour. Lad had told me how different family lines of Elves had different kinds of glamour in varying strengths. Though Nox didn’t seem to be able to glamour me through words alone, when he sang—well let’s just say I should probably be more sympathetic about girls like these losing their minds along with all notions of free will.
“We talked—about Los Angeles, his upcoming tour, stuff like that, no big deal,” I explained.
More squealing. “But he talked to you—like individually. How can you stay so calm? I’d die if he even looked directly at me.”
There were nods and laughter all around as the others agreed. Part of me wanted to be disgusted with them, but the other part could commiserate. Maybe if I weren’t a quarter Elven, I’d be just like them. That bit of Elven blood had made me immune to Nox’s Sway. And Lad’s. I had fallen for him the old fashioned way, much good it did me now.
When it came to Nox, I guessed I’d have to pretend to be more overwhelmed. “I’m really jet-lagged,” I said, making an excuse for my previous lack of hysteria over my exclusive dinner with our pod-master. “When I get some sleep and wake up tomorrow, I probably won’t even be able to believe it happened.” I ended with a big smile I hoped conveyed my “excitement” at being here.
Speaking of sleep, the pod quarters were sort of like the college dorms I’d visited at Ole Miss and Mississippi State when I’d gone for tour weekends. I was in a suite with three other girls. We each had a single bed and shared a common bathroom, though this one was definitely nicer than the dorms’ bathrooms had been.
My suitemates Gigi and Kim were about my age—soon-to-be high school seniors, the fourth girl, Bonnie, was in college. They were all cute and friendly, but none of them seemed to have any other ambition in life than to serve Nox and meet his fellow celebrities. Maybe they had before they’d succumbed to the glamour and forgotten everything else existed.
After we’d all introduced ourselves and chatted a bit, we took turns taking showers and getting ready for bed. It was three hours later back home in Mississippi, and I really was jet-lagged, but I didn’t sleep for a long time. Instead, I lay awake thinking about Emmy.
Was she lying in bed right now in a room like this one behind those ivy-covered walls at Vallon Foster’s estate? Was she homesick, or was she as happy as these girls all seemed to be? And what would happen to her between now and the time I was able to get to her, whenever that was?
This fan pod thing was worse than I’d expected. Judging from the behavior of my roomies, they would be willing to do anything and everything Nox wanted them to.
Like me, Emmy was a virgin—or she had been when she’d left home. Had she met Vallon already? Had he selected her out of his harem for his special attention one evening?
And then a new thought occurred to me—was that what Nox would do? Housed in separate rooms as we were, I’d have no idea if he were to summon one of his podettes to his suite. That’s what they were here for, right? To serve and entertain their master?
Well, it was none of my concern if he did. As long as he helped me find Emmy, it was none of my business what he did with his time. Or these girls.
* * *
I woke to the shrieking, giggling evidence of near hysteria sounding through the hallway the next morning. Gigi opened our door to find out what was going on as Bonnie and Kim emerged from their room.
The same knockout woman from the prior night stood amid a crowd of girls in the hall, holding a clipboard.
“Ladies, Nox will be appearing on a morning TV program today. We’ll need you to come along and cheer him on. Anybody ready for a bus ride to Burbank?”
You would have thought she’d announced a free trip to Maui from all the resulting commotion. Girls were jumping up and down, gripping each other’s hands.
“You have one hour to dress and report for breakfast. Then we’ll go to the station together. Be sure to wear your swag and bring your signs.”
My suitemates ran back inside, going through their suitcases and chattering as they pulled out clothing and some other small items.
“What’s that?” I asked, looking over Gigi’s shoulder at the baubles in her hands.
“This is my swag. Don’t you have any?”
She held the items up to me—a necklace with Nox’s picture at the end, a charm bracelet with several charms. One of them was his name spelled out in black, glittery block letters, another was a guitar with “The Hidden” written on it in a cool-looking script.
Bonnie and Kim also displayed similar items—was it like the podette uniform? Later, as I stepped out into the hallway, dressed in my regular slogan-free clothes, I concluded that was exactly what it was.
The other girls were decked out in The Hidden t-shirts and swag, some carried glittery hand-made signs bearing silly sayings like “Nox Rox” and “Come Nox my sox off.” I stifled giggles, embarrassed for them.
Falling into line, we filed through the mansion, first to a dining room for a quick breakfast, and then out a side door to where a private bus waited in the drive for us. The ride to the TV station seemed interminably long, partially because of the L.A. traffic, which lived up to its nasty reputation, and partially because of the unbearable fan-girling that surrounded me.
“I was one of the first applicants for his fan pod. I applied over a year ago,” someone behind me said.
“Well, I applied two years ago,” countered a girl from the opposite aisle.
“You did not. He wasn’t even playing two years ago.”
“He was! I heard some underground club recordings of the band from when he was like, sixteen.”
I snorted, imagining it. The only thing that could possibly be more obnoxious than Nox at eighteen would be Nox at sixteen.
“Hey, you okay?” Gigi bumped my shoulder with hers. “You’re so quiet.”
“Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. I just… miss home, I guess,” I said, grappling for an excuse.
Her face quirked in an expression of amusement. “Really? I haven’t even thought about home.�
� Something like melancholy ran across her face. “Until now. That’s so weird. I said I’d call my mom as soon as I got here, and I haven’t even called yet.”
“You should.” Maybe if she thought about calling home, she’d realize she didn’t even have a phone anymore—maybe she’d start questioning things.
“Yeah, I really should. I’ll call today, when we get back. It’s all been moving so fast I guess. And everything’s so exciting—don’t you think?”
“It is,” I said, without much enthusiasm. “What do you think we’ll do at the TV station?”
She seemed to be so much more in the know than I was—they all were. Had the new pod members been given a brochure at the door or something? Maybe it was part of the glamour program.
Gigi lifted her shoulders and let them fall. “Show our love, support Nox—you know. There will be cameras everywhere. We have to show the world Nox and The Hidden are the best band ever. Maybe we’ll even get on TV.”
“So, we’re going into the studio with him?”
“Oh, no—there’s an outdoor stage. We’ll be in the front few rows of the crowd.”
A chill seized my heart. “He’s going to sing?”
“Yeah, silly. He’s a singer. What did you think was going to happen—juggling?”
“No. I… it’s a talk show. So I thought he was going to, you know, talk to the hosts or something.”
“Well, he’ll probably do that, too. Oh look—there it is.”
She pointed out the window to a huge modern structure topped by satellite dishes just off the highway. How many people must work in a building that big? To my eyes, the whole population of Deep River would fit into the place. The bus pulled around to the building’s rear and parked.
As soon as it rolled to a stop, Amalia stood at the front and gave us our instructions. “Now this is not national TV—not yet—but it’s equally as important because the eyes of the world are on California, and whatever viewers and music fans here adopt, the rest of the world wants to know about. We want everyone to know about Nox and love him as much as we do, right?”