by Raven Dark
She yanked me into a sharp hug and then pulled back taking my face in her hands.
“Miss Peterson!” the stagehand shouted.
“Yeah, yeah, hold your horses,” Shelly said. Her grip on my face tightened. “No matter what happens, you have to know I tried to change things. I tried.”
The knot in my stomach tightened. “You tried to change what? Shelly—”
“Peterson! Showtime!”
I sighed and snatched one more hug from Shelly. She kissed my forehead and then pushed me gently toward the stage. “Knock ‘em dead, girl.”
I blinked, walking backward toward the stage’s rear stairs. She was crying.
What was that about? Those weren’t a few tears of happiness for a girl whose dreams were about to come true. They weren’t the watery eyes of a proud surrogate mother getting emotional about one of her girls leaving the Home, about to spread her wings. She was sobbing, full-on, shoulder-shaking sobs.
She wasn’t happy. She was scared.
Jesus Christ, was Blackwell that bad? Was he so much of an ass that he made grown women blubber? Then again, I’d seen girls burst into terrified tears before auditions like this. Sometimes their mothers were worse.
The blood left my face, and I almost turned and scurried out. I almost folded like a coward and told Shelly that I couldn’t do this, that my father was right and I was way out of my damn league. Except I wasn’t a coward. I wouldn’t spend my life at the bottom rung of society, always wishing for something I could have had. I wouldn’t let my father win. Instead, I started up the steps.
“Shelly, come on, get out here.”
I looked back to see Sauders pulling her toward the backstage door, his voice an impatient hiss.
Shelly hurried after him, dabbing her eyes without a glance for me.
“See, this is why I almost didn’t let you come. I knew this was against my better judgment. How many times have I told you and the other staff, never, ever get attached? Product, that’s all they are. Let her go.”
He and Shelly disappeared.
Product?
I was so focused on their bizarre conversation that I almost tripped on the steps to the stage. The heel on one of my black pumps snapped.
“Fuck.” My arms pin-wheeled, and I nearly ended up sprawled on the floor. They always said break a leg, but really?
The stagehand grabbed my elbow, pulling me up the steps and ignoring my stumbling.
“Wait a minute, my shoe. I can’t go out there with—”
“Typical woman, worrying about her shoes. Just put on a good show and he won’t notice.”
I huffed and tried to walk without falling on my face. The stagehand shoved me toward the still-closed curtains.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears. This was it.
I’d never performed in a situation like this, but until I’d run away, my father had done it every night. He’d done it half drunk, half high, and once, sick with a hundred and one fever. Pain was just a temporary thing, he’d said, something you put to the back of your mind and pushed through. Letting any setback stop you from winning made you a pussy, and if you allowed that, show business wasn’t for you. He might have been the king of jerks, but he’d made me nothing if not strong. If he could go on stage half dead, I could go on with a broken heel and terrified out of my skull.
The curtains whooshed open. The hot, bright lights above the stage flashed, nearly blinding me and reducing the dance floor to glared shadows. I shielded my eyes and tried to see beyond the haze of light.
The club was still nearly empty. None of the patrons would be allowed in until the auditions were finished, except for anyone Blackwell let in to watch. His auditions always ran late, up until the doors opened.
I could barely make out Sauders and Shelly seated in the audience, along with a handful of men in expensive suits—owners of other clubs. My roommate at Xandar, Stacy, had said they’d be there, hoping to enlist whoever made the cut to sing at their clubs as well and capture the same talent Blackwell found to be up to his standards.
That was the thing—if Blackwell liked you, you were someone worth listening to.
I walked carefully toward the mic that stood in the middle of the stage.
I saw him then. Blackwell, sitting in a booth front and center and looking just as Stacy said he would be. Expensive suit and tie, tasteful men’s rings gleaming. And yet, as I headed for the front of the stage, I only noticed him for a second before someone else caught my attention.
Beside the club’s owner, another man lounged in the booth, his arm draped along the backrest. My breath caught.
Holy hotness.
He had the most stunning eyes I’d ever seen. Although he was too far away for me to make out exactly what color they were, they made my pulse race. His hair looked blond, but with the lighting, I couldn’t be sure. His arms were twice the size of Blackwell’s, his black shirt stretched over a massive chest. Even with him sitting, I could tell he was as big as Goliath. His fingers cradled a drink, the whisky glass dwarfed in his hand.
Jesus, who was that? Blackwell’s assistant, perhaps. Or, with a build like that, his fucking bodyguard, not that he’d need one in this town. Whoever he was, his eyes drank me in, and that single look seemed to radiate through my whole system, electrifying my blood.
“Well?” Mister Blackwell said from beside the mountain in a suit.
I shook myself. I’d been standing there staring at the big guy like an idiot. I cleared my throat and took the mic from its stand with trembling fingers.
If I’d been terrified of singing for Blackwell, somehow, I was far more nervous with Mr. Hotness sitting there watching me. I felt an absurd and almost overwhelming need to please him, as if having him do any less than fall completely in love with my voice would be the end of my world.
Good God. I wanted this job, and singing on stage like this had been my life’s dream, but why was I being that melodramatic? Besides, his approval didn’t matter. He had no say on whether I set foot on this stage again, only Blackwell did.
Praying my heel didn’t decide to send me toppling, I moved closer to the mic stand. Or maybe I was just moving closer to Mr. Gorgeous still watching my every move. I forced myself to ignore his magnetic stare and focused on Blackwell who sat waiting with a scowl for me to get on with it.
The time for second thoughts was over, because the first notes of my number floated through the club speakers.
For one horrible moment, I froze, expecting my voice to sound like an off pitch squeal when the cue finally came to sing the first note. Shelly gave me a small nod, encouraging. I drew strength from that.
Then I closed my eyes, picturing the much smaller auditoriums and school rooms I was used to. I pushed Blackwell and his bodyguard, or whatever he was, out of my mind and imagined a room full of people I knew. Kids who’d likely forget about me the moment it was over.
Then I opened my mouth and began to sing.
As terrified as I’d been up to that moment, once the first clear note fell from my lips, the rest of the words flowed with surprising ease. I lost myself in the melody, letting it become my whole world. All that mattered was the music.
Before I knew it, I’d sung the last note to one of my favorite songs, Darkside by Alan Walker. The music accompanying me faded. I opened my eyes.
Blackwell was sitting more relaxed on the couch, listening. He gave a nod. “Stunning performance, young lady.”
Elation swept through me. “Seriously, sir?” I covered my mouth, biting back a squeal. “Did I get the job?”
“You sure did. One of my assistants will call you tomorrow with the details.”
Shelly was dabbing her eyes—with happiness, I hoped. Sauders nodded his congratulations. I beamed at Shelly, but a moment later, the smile slid off my face. The big guy was gone. The seat on the bench next to Blackwell was empty.
Where had he disappeared to? I looked around the club but didn’t see him. Voices rang from the front doors; pa
trons were already being let into the club.
It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t help thinking that the giant had found my voice so lacking that he’d gotten up and walked out. My heart did the same nosedive it would have done if Blackwell had ordered me off the stage.
Shit, I should have been thrilled. I not only had my first job, but my dream job, and yet that man’s absence hung over me like a dark cloud.
Shelly and Sauders met me at the stairs to the left of the stage, and Shelly threw her arms around me.
“I did it,” I squeaked, squeezing her hard.
“Congratulations, sweetie.” There was an odd, sad note in her tone.
“Fantastic job, Danika.” Sauders smoothed my hair back. “You and that million dollar voice.”
I flinched from his touch before I could stop it. “Thank you, sir.”
If he noticed my reaction to him, he gave no sign.
Face flushed, heart racing with excitement at the turn my life had taken, I gave Shelly another hug and whispered so that he couldn’t hear. “Thank you so, so much.”
“Of course. You deserve it.”
“So, what happens now?” I asked them both.
“Now, we go celebrate,” Sauders said. “Blackwell’s lending us the limo for the night. Let’s go paint the town red.”
I beamed at Shelly again. Now that the audition was over and my nerves were gone, my stomach rumbled. I was starving.
As we headed toward the front entrance, I grabbed Shelly’s hand and held it tight, then clutched the pendant she’d given me. “Thank you,” I whispered to her.
Tears welled in her eyes and she nodded mutely.
Outside, the cold air whipped, blowing a dusting of snow against my face. Sauders put my coat around my shoulders and pulled it tight, ignoring it when I stepped back from him.
I hardly noticed the cold as we got in the back of the limo. The excitement was electrifying. I didn’t even care that Sauders was coming. Nothing could ruin this night. He and Shelly climbed in, Sauders sitting across from me, Shelly at my side.
“Well, that was an interesting evening,” Sauders said as the driver climbed into the front seat and put the partition between the front and back of the car down. “There’s only one thing left to do.”
“What’s that, sir?”
“Danika, look at me.” Shelly clasped my hand in hers, and when I looked at her, her eyes were large and sad. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m so sorry.” A tear leaked out of her eye.
Inexplicable fear reached up, making my heart batter my ribs. “Shelly? What—”
There was a sharp prick in my shoulder. Sauders had leaned forward and was now sitting back in his seat, slipping something into his pocket, seemingly waiting for something.
Dizziness swam through me, the driver’s voice sounding distorted and distant. “The Xandari Order thanks you for your service, Mr. Sauders…”
Blackness zoomed in and nothingness took hold.
What felt like seconds later, a loud electronic whining sound filled my ears. I sat upright, opening my eyes. My head spun, and bright lights filled my vision, white and blinding.
“What the hell?” I tried to stand, but my legs felt like they had lead weights on them and wouldn’t move. I looked around. I was in the middle of a clearing, trees towering on all sides, the ground icy and cold under my palms. There was no one around.
What the fuck? What the hell was I doing out here?
Sauders. He’d shot me up with something. My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and my shoulder ached where he’d put that needle.
Drugged. I’d heard too many stories about this kind of thing—girls taken to a secluded wood by some sicko who meant to show her what he considered a good time.
Panic welled up. Weakness flooded my limbs and I flopped back down.
As soon as I saw the sky, my jaw dropped.
Above me, a giant circle of light revolved slowly. The light was pulsing, like the massive heart of some otherworldly beast. A huge metal disk surrounded it, and the light gave off a thundering hum, throbbing with a slow beat.
“What the actual fuck?”
Except I had a feeling I knew what this was. That light wasn’t the strobe on some strange stage. But it couldn’t be what it looked like, either. There was no such thing as…
“Oh, my God. Shit, I gotta get out of here.”
I tried to roll, roll the fuck away and closer to the trees, but my body still wouldn’t move.
Because that was an honest to God UFO, and it was going to take me.
“Help!” my voice rang out. “Someone help!”
No one came. The disk drew closer. The pulsing intensified. I screamed. “Somebody fucking help me!”
My own scream faded. A tingling sensation filled my entire body, and then a feeling as if I was being…pulled somewhere by a giant tether.
This couldn’t be happening. No, no, no!
Sauders had sold me to the freaking aliens. I screamed at the UFO at the top of my lungs. “You sons of bitches, let—”
The light engulfed me.
From the Xandari files:
Case #1136
Name: Danika Peterson
Gender: Female
Race: Earthling
Age: 18
Sexual history: Virgin
Height: 5-4
Weight: 120 lbs
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Universal translator chip: Inactive.
STATUS: ACCEPTED
2
Atan Raul
“-me gooooooooo!”
My scream filled my ears, gradually growing less faint until it reached a glass-shattering decibel level.
The light that had become my world faded behind my eyes. Speaking of eyes, I couldn’t open mine to save my life. It felt like they’d been glued shut. My head felt like it was going to float away, my limbs heavy. I was breathing as if I’d run a mile-long marathon.
I heard a pounding. The pounding of my heart in my ears.
Am I still asleep? Why can’t I wake up? Why do I feel sick? And why the fuck does it feel like I’ve been sleeping for a hundred years?
I had the sensation of my body being lifted. I’d been lying down—or thought I’d been—and now I was being slowly turned upright. A hydraulic humming filled my ears.
I tried to open my eyes, and it stung like a mother. When I finally got them open, I saw that the room I was in was turning slowly upright. My feet came to rest on a cold metal floor.
The humming stopped.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of what looked like a mechanical arm reaching for me. Before I could react, my arms were grabbed and pulled up above my head. I glanced frantically to either side. Those mechanical arms were pushing my wrists into metal cuffs attached to whatever I’d been lying on. The cuffs clicked shut.
Another hum behind me, and then a resounding, heavy thud. A cool draft caressed my back; whatever I’d been lying on had dropped to the floor behind me.
Wait a minute, where the hell were my clothes? I looked down at myself. I was naked. I was fucking stark naked, my cocktail dress, my pumps, gone.
Oh, my God. The fucking space ship.
Panic rose up, dizzying.
Sauders had stuck me with something—a needle, I realized. Then that light above me. The light of a UFO.
My head snapped up. I froze.
In front of me, a glass pane looked out onto… What the fuck was I seeing?
On the other side of the full-length partition, large monitors glowed. Strange letters and symbols scrolled across the middle one. To either side, the images of galaxies and star charts flashed and changed.
My mouth fell open. I tried to speak, but nothing came out, fear stealing my voice.
The screens split apart, moving aside to reveal a wall-sized, domed window. The blackness of space stared back at me, stars and planets whizzing past in blurs of light and color.
“Ohhh, no.” The impli
cations of where I was sank in with icy suddenness. Especially with what was sitting right in the middle of the screen.
A planet three times the size of Earth’s moon sat like a glittering jewel. The color of molten gold, the sphere dwarfed everything around it. And it was growing slowly larger.
I didn’t know if the planet’s enormous size was because we were getting super close to it, or because it really was that large. Whatever the case, now I understood why it felt like I’d been asleep so long.
There was no way to tell how far I was from Earth, but I obviously wasn’t in my neighborhood anymore.
Exactly how long have I been in space?
The thought sent my heart slamming against my ribs. I could have been asleep so long that everyone on Earth was dead. Frozen in some kind of cryogenic state that kept me from turning into an old crone or crumbling to dust.
If I had any luck, we’d be bypassing that mammoth world. Everything in me screamed to avoid something so unknown. So…alien.
Movement from in front of the domed window caught my attention.
A man stood up from a chair and crossed to a console, his naked back to me. His fingers moved over the keys of a control panel. Stripped to the waist, his dark, skin-tight pants had a leathery look that made me think of some sort of scaled reptile.
Someone was talking. A robotic male voice filled the room, seeming to come from everywhere at once. “Dak. Ziz. Az. Vek.”
The rhythm of the words sounded like some sort of countdown. A countdown? That was never a good sign.
Panic bit into me, but before I could shout at the man for help, I felt something licking at my feet with a soft snuffling sound.
I looked down.
A huge creature sniffed at my legs and feet. With four legs, tufted ears, and thick fur, I could only think of it as a dog, but it didn’t look like any pooch I’d ever seen. For one thing, it was bigger than a mastiff, reaching almost to my waist. For another, purple-ish blue scales glittered on its legs and sides, between its fur.
