by Anita Oh
The online video was released two days before the concert. They took time off from rehearsal for a viewing party in the main room of the house. Audrey had thought the other kids from the academy would be bitter about it, but apart from Maddie & Matt, they seemed to love it, especially the younger kids. Audrey sat in the corner, eating air-popped popcorn and watching everyone’s reactions as much as she watched the video. People laughed a lot, especially at Thorne’s stupid dance when he found the trophy. It was fun to see Koko’s and Peg’s viewpoint as well, the different way they’d approached the hunt for the trophy. They’d been much more professional about it than Audrey and Thorne, as both entertainers and trophy hunters.
At the end of the party, Thorne got a message from the president. “Half million new subscribers. Good work.”
“Wow!” Koko said, reading over his shoulder. “Has the president ever said ‘good work’ to anyone ever before, ever?”
If she had, Audrey definitely hadn’t heard it.
As the days passed and there were no more attacks from the cult, Audrey started to worry. What were they doing? If they weren’t watching her, and they weren’t attacking people, what were they doing? She couldn’t imagine it was anything good.
The night before the concert, Audrey couldn’t sleep. In her head, she kept going over and over the concert schedule from beginning to end. There was one song in particular that she kept forgetting the lyrics for, and another song where she kept messing up the choreography. It wasn’t just that. She had to know the right way to exit the stage for each costume change, where to be to make her entrance, even which direction to look when she waved at the crowd. She didn’t think she’d ever had so many things to think about at the same time before in her life.
Even though the president seemed happy at the moment, Audrey still had the sick feeling that when she first stepped out onto the stage and looked out at the stadium, all the seats would be empty. It wasn’t just the agreement with the president anymore. As much as she wanted the power to defeat the alpha and for everyone to keep their souls, she wanted Supernova’s first concert to be a success.
She paced her room, walking herself through the choreography and feeling a little bit sick. Somebody knocked on her door. It was the middle of the night, so she assumed it would be someone telling her she was being too noisy, even though she was trying to be quiet. She was surprised to open the door and find the other members of Supernova.
“Can’t sleep?” asked Peg.
“We thought we might go to the stadium,” said Thorne. “No point sitting around worrying. We may as well work.”
Even though they rehearsed over and over, Audrey still didn’t feel ready for the actual concert. It was well into the morning by the time the four of them finally fell asleep, sprawled out on the sofas in their dressing room.
When they woke up, people were buzzing all around them. They all had clipboards and were wearing headsets. Everyone seemed very busy and stressed, but for the first time she was starting to feel excited. Even if they couldn’t break all the records, they still were having a concert. The whole world would see how awesome Supernova was. It was just like when they had to film the show; she knew she had to forget about what was at stake, that it was part of their job, and imagine that it was a fun thing she was doing with her friends.
The day went by in a blur. As it got closer to the time when the concert would start, she could hear the crowd above. They were loud. It might be a bit hard to ignore them. She’d never had to perform in front of a crowd before, but she figured nearly everybody would be looking at Thorne and not her anyway.
Somebody bought them dinner, but none of them could eat. They didn’t speak to each other, but occasionally they caught each other’s eye. Audrey could see the same feelings reflected on their faces. Something amazing was about to happen. After this, nothing would ever be the same again.
As much as she tried to tell herself she wasn’t nervous, when she climbed the steps up to the stage, her stomach churned. She was pleased she hadn’t eaten because she definitely would have thrown up. The four of them were dressed in skintight white sequined bodysuits, with massive arrangements of colored flowers and feathers coming out from their backs. It was heavy. It was hard to dance in. But the costume people seemed sure it conveyed the image of Supernova. At any rate, Audrey was sure it would leave an impression.
On the other side of the chipboard wall, the crowd was screaming. The first notes of “Super Explosion!” blasted through the stadium. It was about to begin.
The four of them stood in a circle, looking at each other nervously.
“Thorne, you should say something,” said someone from beyond their circle.
Thorne took a deep breath. He stuck his hand out into the middle of the circle. Koko put hers on top of his, then Peg, then Audrey. She wasn’t sure why, but it felt right.
“We are Supernova,” Thorne said quietly. “Let’s go out there and make this stadium explode!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
At first, the lights were too bright for Audrey to see anything. They’d rehearsed so many times that Audrey’s body moved automatically to the music, which was a good thing because her mind was a complete blank. With the lights, the heavy costume and the intensive dancing, she sweated a lot more than she had in rehearsals, but it felt good, as if the more she sweated, the better she was performing. She could hear the cheers of the crowd, but it wasn’t until after the second song that the lights lifted and she could see them. It was like an ocean of faces, of people there to see them.
The next song started, and the four of them headed down the walkway to the center stage, waving at people in the crowd as they sang. Most people only had eyes for Thorne, but some of them had signs with Audrey’s name on them, and a couple of them were even dressed in catsuits. Nobody stopped her, pointed at her and told her she didn’t belong there. Even the Thorne fans seemed happy when she waved at them. It felt as if the ocean of people was giving off waves of love and happiness, and even though they were in such a vast, unsecure space, Audrey had never felt more safe.
The whole concert seemed to go flawlessly. A few times, Audrey went off-key, but it was covered up by the others’ voices. One time, Peg turned the wrong way in the middle of a complicated bit of choreography and nearly ran into her, but she ducked around him, and it didn’t seem like anyone noticed. They were a little slow with the costume change between Set C and Set D, and Thorne had to go onstage with his feathered capelet unfastened. It kept slipping from his shoulders, so halfway through the dance remix of “Super Explosion!” he tore it off and tossed it to the side of the stage, ripping his shirt open in the process. The crowd loved it. Audrey found it a little distracting, all that pale flesh, and the mole just above his belly button. She forgot the words at the start of the second verse, but she didn’t think anyone noticed.
When they became shooting stars and flew out over the crowd, Audrey thought that even if they failed, even if she couldn’t defeat the alpha and they lost their souls and the world ended, at least she’d have this moment. This one perfect moment.
When they finally got to the last song — a ballad version of “Super Explosion!” — Audrey couldn’t believe they’d gotten all the way through it. She couldn’t remember any other time in her life when she’d been able to let go and have fun like this.
As Koko and Peg gave their farewell speeches and thanked the crowd, Audrey realized she’d completely forgotten what she was supposed to say. She shot Thorne a worried look.
“Just say what you feel,” he told her.
She nodded. That was easy. There was only one thing she was feeling.
“I love you guys!” she told the crowd, waving at them. “I love Supernova! I hope you love us too!”
The crowd seemed to really like that, so she waved at them some more.
Then it was Thorne’s turn to speak. He recapped Supernova’s entire career, starting from when he’d first joined the academy and met Ko
ko and Peg, and thanked everyone who had helped them since, in great detail. Audrey had been really moved by his speech the first few times in rehearsals, but she’d heard it so much that the words had lost meaning to her now. Instead, she looked around at the crowd, trying to memorize every single face there, from the first few rows, right up to the very back of the stands. These people were all in danger from the cult. They all needed protection. She’d do whatever she had to do to keep those innocent smiles on their faces.
Then she saw it. Right at the back of the middle tier. A dark shadow. It was only for a moment, then it flickered away. Maybe she was seeing things. Nothing could hurt her there. She was protected.
“And lastly, I want to thank Supernova,” said Thorne.
Audrey turned to him, the shadow forgotten. That part hadn’t been in their rehearsals. It wasn’t like Thorne to freeform. He must’ve practiced this on his own.
“Koko, Pegasus: the two of you have always been beside me. From the very start, the three of us have had the same goal. I’m glad you’re standing on this stage with me now, but we still have a long way to go!”
The crowd went nuts at that. They obviously really loved the three original members of Supernova a lot.
“And Audrey…”
Audrey gave him a wary look, not sure where he was going with this.
“Audrey, in the beginning, I didn’t understand why you were put in this group. You hadn’t trained with us. You couldn’t do anything. I thought it was a mistake and that you were going to hold us back. I wasn’t very nice to you, and for that, I’m sorry. Over the past few weeks, you’ve worked harder than I’ve ever seen anyone work. You’ve done everything asked of you and more. The three of us had grown complacent, thinking we could rely on our talent to get us through, but because of you, we’ve pushed ourselves harder than we thought possible. And I get it now, why the president put you with us. You’re the fuel that’s ignited us. Without you, Supernova could never explode. I’m glad you’re with us, Audrey.”
Stupid Thorne, saying something like that at a time like this. How was Audrey supposed to sing after that?
“Shut up, Thorne,” she told him, and he unleashed his beam on her, full blast. Even standing in the spotlight, with all the lights shining down and the crowd screaming, Audrey thought nothing could ever be brighter than that smile.
They got through the last song, but before they could even leave the stage, the crowd was already chanting for an encore.
“We don’t have any other songs!” Koko said as people pulled their costumes off them and replaced them with something different.
“Just sing ‘Super Explosion!’ again,” said Agnes. “They won’t care.”
They hadn’t rehearsed for an encore, so they ran around singing “Super Explosion!” for the fourth time and waving to the crowd. Audrey stood at the edge of the back stage, trying to send her feelings right up to the people at the very top level. She felt so happy, she thought she might explode. She never wanted to leave.
As the last refrain of the song played, the four of them raced toward the main stage, laughing and running with all their might. She was still laughing and waving as the song ended. The other three had to drag her offstage.
She was still smiling after she had showered and changed into normal clothes. The other three were already in the dressing room with the president, looking as ecstatic as she felt. In her wildest dreams, she’d never imagined it would go so well. She been so busy concentrating on all the ways she might mess up that she had never even considered how she’d feel afterwards. She felt as if she could fly, even without all the wires. She could become a shooting star. She felt invincible. She felt as if she could take on the alpha and all his creepy followers, and they wouldn’t even stand a chance.
She grinned at the president and sat on the sofa between Koko and Thorne.
“Hey, President Sparks!” she said. “What’s up?”
The president raised her eyebrows. “Well, look at you. Not exactly the street urchin you were when you first came to me. I take it you enjoyed the concert?”
Audrey nodded. That seemed pretty obvious, but the president was stalling. Now that the concert was over, even though Audrey was still pumped, there was only one thing on her mind. “Did we win? We won, right? Of course we did. We definitely did.”
Thorne laughed. “Is that the most you’ve ever talked?”
Audrey wrinkled up her nose and elbowed him in the side.
“It probably takes a while for all the figures to come in, right?” Peg asked the president.
The president shook her head. “No, we get the numbers quite quickly.” She pulled out her phone and tapped on it. “You did exceedingly well. Much better than I expected. Better than anyone expected.”
Something in her voice caught Audrey’s attention. She was trying to be nice. It made Audrey’s stomach flip over. The last time she’d been nice, it was because Patty was dead.
“We didn’t win,” she said.
The president smiled. It was a normal smile, not a dragon grin. It only made Audrey feel worse.
“You came very close,” the president said. The sympathy in her voice was the worst thing Audrey had ever heard. Audrey doubted it was sincere.
“Well, can’t you still loan us the…” Peg glanced around at the concert staff who were coming and going. “You know.” He waggled his fingers.
The fact that he said “us” made Audrey feel a little better. Even if she didn’t intend the others to be involved in fighting the alpha, it made her feel less alone.
“The agreement was binding,” the president told him. “I can’t fulfill my part of the agreement if you don’t fulfill yours. That’s not how business works.”
“But isn’t that completely up to you?” said Koko. “You could still choose to let us use it. You said yourself we did better than you expected, and anyway, our souls for your dragonfire is more than a fair trade.”
That red glow lit up behind the president’s glasses. “And what sort of a precedent would that set for future business dealings? What kind of impression would it give if I suddenly backed down on the agreed-upon terms?”
“But it’s the right thing to do,” said Audrey.
“Forget it,” Thorne said, getting to his feet. “She never intended to let us use it. She said herself it was impossible for us to break the record. She gave us an impossible task so she wouldn’t have to help us but would still get all the rewards.”
He turned to leave but was blocked by a wall of fire.
The concert staff barely looked at it. Audrey wasn’t sure if they were used to that kind of thing happening backstage after concerts, or if they thought ignoring it was the safer option.
“Don’t ever turn your back on me, Thomas Thorne,” the president said. “You think I’m being greedy, but I have an entire company of employees to consider. Do you think you’d be standing here with the opportunities I’ve given you if I backed down from every business deal that someone wanted to renegotiate? Have some common sense. Now, get out of my sight, the four of you. And think very carefully the next time you want to ask me for a favor. Your souls are in my hands now, you don’t want to make me angry.”
The wall of fire vanished, but as they fled the room, Audrey could still feel the heat of it on her skin.
Chapter Twenty-Five
After they’d stormed out and were away from the president, Audrey ran out of steam. The reality of defeat started to sink in.
The staging was being packed up and loaded out, so the way to the exit was blocked. The four of them turned back, trying to stay out of the way as they wandered out onto the main stage. They sat on the edge, dangling their feet over the side. The stage near the back of the stadium had been completely disassembled, and the staff were now taking apart the center stage.
The main lights were on, giving everything an air of mundanity after the brightness of the stage lights. The seats on the stadium floor that had been lined up in neat
rows were all scattered, knocked over. The floor was covered in litter and confetti. Just a short time ago, this space had been filled with magic, something greater than just lights and music. They had been more than just four helpless teenagers. During the concert, Audrey had felt as if her life had been changed forever, but that was an illusion. She wondered if all those people in the crowd felt the same now, as if they’d been woken from an amazing dream into a gray morning.
“It was a great concert,” said Peg.
“We deserved to win,” Koko said, picking bits of confetti off the stage and flicking them into the air.
“I bet we lost it on merchandise sales,” said Peg. “Tempest always has great merchandise. They had those twirly umbrellas at their first concert. That’s way cooler than our phone cases.”
Thorne snorted. “Tempest merchandise is shoddy, and breaks the first time you use it. Our merchandise is high quality. People shouldn’t be taken in by flashy good looks.”
Audrey didn’t know anything about merchandise. She didn’t know anything about business. All she knew was that she’d blown her one chance to stop the cult from hurting more people, her chance to save the world. Even if she hid herself away so they couldn’t complete the ritual, they’d keep attacking people. They might even find someone to replace her, and everything she’d done would be for nothing.
And why should she get to hide? Why was her life any more valuable than someone else’s? Why should she get to be safe when Patty was dead, and all the other people and animals? At what point did it become too much? If the cult went through with their ritual and turned the alpha into some dark lord who brought on the apocalypse, would that really matter if the alternative was them picking off people one by one until nobody was left? Because they weren’t going to stop.