by Joseph Evans
With a smile, Seckry crossed off the last but one day on his bedroom calendar before the Broken Motion gig. He had been excited about finally seeing them live since he had bought the tickets, and now he and Eiya were going to be heading backstage with them. He couldn’t believe his luck. Not only would they get to chat to the band about their music, but they’d be able to find out more about this innoya thing, which seemed even more important since Vance’s strange encounter with Professor Thaumatop.
That night, just before bed, Seckry’s mum sat with him in the kitchen area and said, “So . . . you and Eiya are getting along really well.”
“Yeah” Seckry nodded. “She’s great.”
Coralle smiled and nodded. “She’s different to every other girl to you, isn’t she?”
“Eiya? Yeah she’s really down to earth. I thought having another girl in the house would be a problem after a while, but she’s so easy to get on with . . . why are you smiling at me like that, mum?”
“Because for the past month you’ve been happier than you’ve ever been since . . . well . . . since your dad left.”
“Yeah . . . I’m enjoying it here,” Seckry said. “I’ve got good friends.”
“And one very good friend in particular,” Coralle said. “Whenever I say the word Eiya, your eyes light up and your cheeks blush.”
“What?” Seckry said defensively.
“They’re doing it now,” said Coralle with a smile.
“You know we’re just looking after her, mum. I enjoy her company and she likes the same music as me, that’s all.”
Coralle nodded. “I think you got really hurt by that Natania girl and that fake date and you’ve put up a guard around you. But I think Eiya means more to you than you’re letting yourself believe.”
Seckry blushed and dismissed it before heading to bed.
He didn’t fancy Eiya, did he? He could see why people might think that. They spent most of their time together in the day, they enjoyed each other’s company, and they even slept in the same room. But there was a reason for that. There was nowhere else for her to stay.
He sat on his bed and watched Eiya sleeping, something he’d been doing quite often lately, before lying down and sinking into a warm, fuzzy sleep.
During the day on Friday, Seckry and Eiya kept giving each other excited glances during lessons, and when the bell rang in their last lesson, botany, Seckry couldn’t contain himself any more.
He crammed his lypicus bulbs into his backpack and he, Eiya, and Tenk headed for the monorail.
“You sure you don’t want to come tonight?” Seckry asked Tenk.
“Sorry man,” he said. “You know I love The Broken Motion, but my nan’s visiting and I’m telling you, if I ditched her to go to a gig, my life wouldn’t be worth living.”
“Your mum would give you a hard time about it?” Eiya said.
“My mum? No, my nan herself would probably beat me to a pulp,” Tenk said. “Freakishly strong woman for seventy five.”
When they got back to the flat, Seckry and Eiya had a shower each and Eiya put on some clothes that she had bought the previous weekend with some of Seckry’s small fortune.
When they eventually took the monorail to the venue, the place was heaving. There were all sorts of people and ages there, some with Broken Motion t-shirts on, some with t-shirts of other bands that Seckry recognised and some who were completely clad in gothic leather and spiky things.
“What are you talking about?” someone shouted whilst they were waiting in the queue. “Kaleidoscopic Slide was their best album.”
“Looking for Tomorrow was their best!” shouted someone else.
When they got inside and hung around for another fifteen minutes or so, the lights began to dim and the crowd went wild. Then, as The Broken Motion appeared from behind a curtain the crowd went even wilder.
Seckry and Eiya exchanged glances, both beaming with excitement.
They played a few upbeat songs from their second album to begin with, which got the crowd jumping up and down, and then a couple of newer ones that Seckry loved, then the lead singer, E.J. began talking.
“Our next track is one that’s very special to us. We wrote it one night when all our electricity had cut out. It was just us, our guitars, and a couple of lighters. We want you to hold up your lighters and sing with us.”
The lights dimmed and there was an expressive sigh from the crowd as the ceiling lit up like a star field, tiny lights scattered above them.
“It’s called, ‘Do You Feel it Too?’” said E.J, and the song began.
“It’s so beautiful,” said Eiya, beaming.
Seckry had listened to the song so many times on his player that he knew every word, every chord change, every drum beat and every riff, but hearing it now was like hearing it for the first time again. He felt the hairs on his arms stand up.
“I love their music so much,” Eiya said. “I bet I was their biggest fan before I lost my memory. I can’t have only just discovered them. I feel like I’ve been listening to this song all my life.”
Seckry felt Eiya’s small hand squeeze his own, and something strange coursed through his body. Eiya brushed the fine strands of her hair that were falling across her face and tucked them behind her ears.
The rest of the gig was just as good. One screaming girl had fainted and had to be taken out on a stretcher, though as they were carrying her, she managed to say, “I love you, E.J.” weakly, and reach her hand out in his direction.
As everyone was squeezing out, Seckry and Eiya made their way backstage.
They were both gripped tightly by security guards.
“Stop!” shouted E.J. He came towards them. “Seckraman?”
Seckry nodded.
“Let them go, they’re with us,” E.J. said, and the guards let go of them with dissatisfied growls.
E.J. led them into the band’s dressing room where the others were sitting on sofas.
“Here, have a drink.” Jopherson handed them each a can of ice cold pop.
Seckry was so excited he could feel his hands shaking a little.
“Thanks for inviting us back here,” he said.
“It’s no worries, you two,” said E.J. “We wanted to see you just as much. We were very interested in the email you sent us.”
After introducing themselves to everyone, Seckry and Eiya told them about how Eiya had been found in the Endrin compound, and they all looked at each other with contemplation on their faces.
“You just woke up there?”
“It’s the first thing I can remember, yeah,” Eiya replied.
“Wow . . .”
“Why do you think Sanfarrow and Kayne were expelled from Endrin?” Eiya asked.
“We think Darklight must have had a massive disagreement with them. Here, this is the reason we invited you backstage tonight,” said E.J. and he pulled a small computer memory stick from his pocket. “If you’re serious about finding Sanfarrow and Kayne, this might come in handy. It’s a scan of some paper that was found in Kayne’s old dorm. It was wedged between drawers.”
He handed Seckry the memory stick.
“We’ve never been able to fathom it out, but we knew it would be useful to someone someday. Maybe you’ll have more luck with it. There’s also a photo on there of Darklight, Sanfarrow, and Kayne when they were at university. Anyway, aside from this talk of conspiracy and corruption, what did you think of the concert?”
“It was amazing!” Seckry said excitedly. “When you played the alternate version of ‘Leave My Place.’”
“And the skylights,” Eiya said. “They were so pretty when you were playing ‘Do You Feel it Too,’ and everyone had their lighters held up.”
“That was Denno’s idea,” said E.J. and patted the drummer on the back.
They sat and talked for the next hour and a half, and E.J. even played the verse of an unrecorded song on his acoustic guitar for them.
In the taxi back, Seckry and Eiya were smiling
at each others’ t-shirts, which the band had all signed, until Seckry noticed that Eiya was gazing into his eyes.
“What’s the matter?” he asked her, and she smiled innocently.
“It’s just nice watching someone’s dream come true,” she said.
When they got back, Seckry plugged the memory stick into his computer and opened the single file that was stored on it, named sanfarrow_message.jpg. It was a tattered piece of paper that read: