by Anita Oh
“Could somebody please pass the casserole?” she asked, pointing to it. Her voice was still weak, so she wasn’t sure anyone heard her over their conversation.
“It’s not right,” said Matt. “She’s not trained. We’ve all spent years at the academy. What’s the point in studying here if the president is going to recruit outsiders?”
“Audrey has just as much right to be here as you do,” Thorne said icily. “You don’t know anything about her, so you should shut your pie hole, or it might get back to the president that you don’t trust her judgment.”
Audrey stared at him in amazement, unable to believe he was standing up for her, especially against the same argument he’d made himself only hours earlier.
Then Peg put the casserole down in front of her, and she got distracted.
“Maybe you’d be better off worrying about why the president didn’t choose you to debut, rather than why she did choose Audrey,” said Koko. “I’d start with those sweaters.” She made a vomit face.
“So, you admit you’re debuting, then?” Maddie said with a triumphant look.
Koko shrugged and popped a cherry tomato into her mouth.
“You guys are so full of yourselves,” Matt said, pushing back from the table. “But everyone knows you only got to where you are through Peg’s dark magic. Just like his father.”
Beside her, Peg went very still. Audrey didn’t see why he was bothered, since it was obviously a lie. Of all the potentially evil people in the room, Peg was the least likely.
“Peg isn’t evil,” Audrey said quietly. “But maybe you are.”
Matt huffed and stalked from the room. Maddie shot her a dark look, then followed him.
While Audrey was on a talking streak, she thought she should set things straight. “And I’ve never been to Canada,” she told the kid down the table.
After dinner, Audrey was so exhausted that she almost fell asleep on the way back to her room. When she got there, there was something hanging from the door handle in a shiny red bag.
Several possibilities flashed through her mind. A human head. An animal’s head. A heart. Some other body part. But the bag wasn’t dripping blood, and surely someone would know if one of the Followers had gotten inside.
She approached the bag warily. Just because it wasn’t a body part didn’t mean it was safe. It could be booby-trapped. There was a tag attached to the bag handle. She reached out and flicked it over to read.
Thought this might be useful :) — Eli
“He’s sending you gifts now?” Thorne said with a sniff. “That seems strange.”
Audrey agreed. “He’s stingy.”
It was one of the things she liked about him.
“Well, open it!” Koko said, hovering over her shoulder.
Audrey would’ve preferred to do it privately, but the three of them piled into her room after her.
“Oh, it’s just a phone,” Koko said, sounding disappointed.
“What did you think it was?” Audrey asked.
Koko shrugged, then collapsed onto Audrey’s bed. “I dunno. Something romantic, maybe. Or something dirty. Then I could bribe you.”
“Makes sense,” said Thorne, sitting down beside Koko. “He does ads for those phones. He probably got it for free.”
Audrey had never had a phone before. If she’d had one, she would’ve traded it for food. She slid it out of the box and held it in her hand. It made her feel like a real person, someone credible. Not someone who hid in the shadows.
“It’ll definitely be useful,” said Peg. “It was really nice of him to think of it.”
Peg helped her set up the phone while the other two lounged around watching TV. Even though Audrey was tired, she didn’t mind them being in her room. It was kind of nice. They chatted about unimportant things, like who from the academy would debut before Maddie & Matt — Koko thought everyone, and it would drive Maddie crazy and Matt would become a mime.
“A mime?” said Audrey. “Why?”
Koko looked up from braiding Thorne’s hair. “He just has that sort of face,” she said.
Once Peg was confident that Audrey could use her phone, the three of them got up to leave. When Thorne reached the doorway, he turned back toward her.
“You shouldn’t trust Eli Gale so much,” he said. “Don’t trust anyone outside the group. Everyone else has their own agenda. We’re the only ones who care about our best interests.”
Audrey wondered why the two of them hated each other so much, but she was too exhausted to think about it.
The next few days were no less exhausting. She had voice training every morning with Suzie. After that was media training with Agnes, then lunch. In the afternoons, she did modeling stuff with the angry gray-haired guy, Mike, dance rehearsals with Kento, and bass guitar lessons with Joe. The president wanted them to be a multi-faceted band so they’d have mass appeal over a long period. Audrey thought she should concentrate on being single-faceted first, but she did everything the president told her.
On Tuesday, they held a small, private ceremony for Patty, with just Audrey, Supernova and the president. They sat in a room full of flowers while an old man that Audrey didn’t know said a bunch of stuff that didn’t mean anything.
At the end, they gave Audrey a big container with Patty’s ashes inside, but that wasn’t Patty anymore. Audrey would’ve liked Patty’s necklace to remember her by. That seemed more Pattyish than a bunch of dust, but the president said nobody had found it. She didn’t know what to do with the ashes. The only place she associated with Patty was the train station, but she didn’t like the idea of dumping Patty there with the litter and the rats. She figured the best thing to do was to hold onto the ashes until she found somewhere nice, so she took Patty home and sat her on the dresser until she thought of something.
Seeing the jar of Patty’s ashes every day reminded Audrey of what she was working for. The cult had been silent since the alpha had killed Patty. There had been no sign of them lurking around outside the academy or the agency. There had been no reports of weird killings. It was as if they’d vanished, but they’d be back, and Audrey would be ready for them.
Every day after Audrey’s lessons, Supernova had a meeting with the president in her office. Usually, it was so late that the president had ordered in food for them before they arrived, but on Thursday, a week after Audrey had signed her contract, instead of food, all of Audrey’s tutors were waiting. Plus Sheela and some people she didn’t know.
“What’s going on?” Thorne asked suspiciously.
The four of them hovered in the doorway.
“Come in and sit down,” said the president. “Shut the door.”
That didn’t put them at ease. The four of them squeezed in on a sofa together.
“Tomorrow, we’ll hold the press conference to announce your debut,” the president told them. “But we have a few things to go over first.” She waved a hand toward Sheela.
“We need to talk about your image concept,” said Sheela. “Going with the whole ‘exploding star’ motif, the main points are explosiveness, brightness, uniqueness. You’re a once in a lifetime event. You’re brilliant, beautiful stars. Without you, there’s only a black hole.”
The others nodded seriously, so Audrey did as well, even though she didn’t really get it.
“We want each of you to focus on a different aspect. Pegasus, we want you to bring the uniqueness. Your target audience are the people who see you as the prince in a rock dynasty. Any time there’s an opportunity, mention your father.”
Koko coughed.
“I’m sure he’ll have no problem with that,” said Thorne.
Sheela ignored them and went on. “Because you’ve always been in the public eye, you have more leeway to be outside the norm. You can afford to be wild, quirky, so long as you do it with a sort of regal air. Think ‘Bohemian prince’. We’ll try more unusual fashions with you and see what people respond to, but we’re going for something along the lines of ‘K
hal Drogo, the barista’.”
Koko snorted. “So, instead of horses, his khalasar ride penny farthings?”
“Should I grow a beard?” Peg asked, stroking his chin.
Sheela shook her head. “That would age you too much. Some stubble might be okay, though. And we’ll try out a man bun.”
Peg winced but didn’t argue.
“Koko, you’re brightness. You’re the cute one. You need to be perky and fun. Any sort of sexuality from you needs to come across as being accidental. We’ll put you in short skirts and pastel colors. You need to pout a lot and be wide-eyed. We’d like you to play up the Japanese thing a bit, so talk about anime and Harajuku street fashion. One of the assistants has some information for you to read through.”
“I’m on it,” Koko said.
Sheela turned to Thorne. “What you’re doing now is perfect.”
Thorne couldn’t hide his grin.
“We’d just like to refine it a little, make it more complex.”
Thorne nodded, sitting forward in his seat. “What do you have in mind?”
“With your face and your talent we’ve got an opportunity to do something remarkable, to push further than we’ve ever pushed before. We’d like you to work with the idea that inside a supernova, a new star appears that is more bright and shining than anything ever before imagined. A star just out of reach. You need to be princelike – not in a flamboyant way, like Pegasus, but like a fairy tale prince. A dream. A perfect dream.”
Thorne shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but his smug smile gave him away. “Obviously,” he said, his voice about two octaves lower than usual.
“We’ll push fashion trends with you, anything our affiliates want to make popular. We’ll give you street wear to be photographed in by the paparazzi and a list of restaurants you need to be seen at. You’re going to be in high demand, especially at the start. If you’re making appearances or doing interviews alone, take that as an opportunity to talk about the group and how close the four of you are. You’re going to outshine them, and that’s to be expected, but you don’t want people to think you’re a prima donna. Always bring it back to the group.”
Thorne waved the thought aside as if it wasn’t worth thinking about. “Of course.”
Sheela sighed as she turned to Audrey. “Don’t talk about any personal details. Don’t mention living on the streets or losing your memories. Don’t mention the cult. If you’re not sure how to answer a question, just smile and say something general. Answering with another question is fine too.”
Audrey nodded. She was fine with not talking about stuff. More than fine.
“Your concept is simplicity. We want you to represent an ordinary teenage girl.”
Audrey snorted.
“We’ll give you a list of movies and actresses to watch and study. Try to imitate the way they speak and move. Don’t do that thing you’re doing right now where you fold up into yourself. It makes you look unapproachable. We’ll dress you mainly in vintage A-line dresses and jeans with oversized sweaters to give you a wholesome appeal. Just keep it simple. If you get stuck, smile.”
It didn’t seem as supernova-y as everyone else’s concepts, but Audrey thought it was about as much as she could handle.
“Don’t talk. Smile. Got it.”
Sheela rubbed her temples. “We’ll all be there with you. The president will introduce you and lead the conversation. If she says the codeword “pineapple” at any point, that’s a signal for you to stop talking and throw back to her.”
The four of them nodded.
“Audrey in particular, have you got that?”
“Got it,” she said. “Pineapple.”
“We’ll give you scripts before you leave tonight. Memorize them enough to be comfortable with deviating from them.” Sheela turned to the president. “That’s it from me.”
The president got to her feet. “Bring out the cake!” she called to someone. “Pop the champagne! Let’s celebrate the debut of Supernova! Congratulations!”
Chapter Twelve
The press conference was in an auditorium on the ground floor of the Sparkling Gems building. They waited for it to start in a small room off to the side. They’d been there since the crack of dawn, getting their hair and makeup done, going over their scripts. They all wore simple black outfits each with just a touch of sparkle. Audrey’s black sequined dress was tight under the arms, which made it difficult to sit comfortably. She let it distract her from the overwhelming nervousness. It was a different kind of fear to when she was confronted with the alpha. It wasn’t something she could fight.
The other three were pale. None of them spoke. People kept coming in and out of the room: the president, Sheela, Agnes. Thorne’s hands trembled, and Peg kept drumming on the table. Audrey went over her vocal exercises, wanting to be sure her voice would work when she had to speak. She wished she had some of Suzie’s special tea. It really worked, even though it tasted like butts.
“If you don’t stop that, I will throw you out the window,” Thorne said.
Audrey didn’t know if he meant her or Peg, but they both stopped.
“Don’t be mean,” Audrey said, pleased that her voice sounded okay. “Everyone is nervous.”
Agnes burst into the room, looking around with wild eyes. “Sullivan Snell is here,” she said. “He wasn’t on the press list, but he’s the top music journalist in the country, so we couldn’t turn him away. He’s been out for blood ever since we got that court order to shut down his tell-all book about Sparkling Gems. The four of you will need to be careful. He’s here to write an expose, not a promo piece, so there’s no way he’ll stick to the sample questions. Try to deflect anything he says.”
“I’m going to throw up,” said Koko.
“It’s fine,” said Thorne. “We have nothing to hide. It will be fine. Fine.”
His hands were balled into fists, and every time he said the word “fine”, his knuckles turned more white.
Audrey went back over the script, trying to engrave every word on her brain. On the table, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Eli. It only said good luck, but it made her feel a bit better, like maybe she could get through this after all. He was on tour now, too far away for her to feel anything through the empathy ring, so it was nice to know he hadn’t forgotten her.
Eventually, the president came in and told them it was time.
“This moment will be replayed over and over throughout your entire careers. Every special event, every time you screw up. You’ll see it over a thousand times. Are you sure you’re ready?”
“We’re ready,” Thorne said, but his voice wavered.
The president ushered them out the door and into the auditorium. At one end, there was a small stage with five microphones and a black backdrop with a supernova on it and the word SUPERNOVA printed across the middle in white block letters. The rest of the room was filled with reporters sitting on plastic chairs. As the president led the four of them onto the stage, an instrumental version of “Super Explosion!” started to play. They took their places behind the microphones, Audrey at the end beside Peg. Peg caught her eye and bent down to speak into her ear.
“That’s Sullivan Snell in the front row, the one in the brown trilby hat. Try not to make eye contact with him.”
Audrey couldn’t help but look. Sullivan Snell had a bright orange tan and a little triangle of facial hair on his chin. He looked around at everyone as if he was too good to be there. Audrey was determined not to mess with him. Reporters were dangerous. They could set angry mobs on you if you weren’t careful.
Photographers were crowded around the sides of the room, and at the back a video camera had been set up on a raised platform. Beside Peg, Koko stumbled backwards. Peg caught her by the arm, making it look as though her movement had been intentional as he moved toward her, but Audrey knew it hadn’t been. The president should’ve let Koko eat something other than salad, at least for today.
A moment later, Koko se
emed fine.
“Your man bun is crooked,” she told Peg, reaching up to fix it.
Thorne didn’t speak. He was staring out into the sea of reporters, trying to act cool, but Audrey noticed that his breathing was irregular. It made him seem a little bit more human.
Eventually, the president stepped up to the microphone at the other end of the stage.
It struck Audrey that this was the last possible moment that she could change her mind. She could still break the contract, even though there would be consequences, but once the president had made the announcement, it would be out there. No takebacks, no renegotiation. For a split second, the finality of it made Audrey want to run, but that wasn’t really an option. She had to defeat the alpha. She had to get back her memories. The only way she could do the things she needed to do was to keep moving forward on this path she’d set for herself. She was in exactly the place she needed to be.
And it wasn’t only that, she realized. She’d come to enjoy being in Supernova. She really liked being part of a group, being included in something special. She liked dancing and even her singing lessons weren’t awful. Well, she’d probably never like her lessons with Mike, but even that sure beat being sacrificed to some cult’s dark lord. Nope, she was in this, all the way.
The president tapped on the microphone, and there was a squeal of feedback.
“I’ll make the official statement first, then you can direct your questions to each of the group members,” she said. “Three of them, you’re familiar with. Thorne. Koko. Pegasus. They entered Sparkling Gems Training Academy as children and quickly rose through the ranks. You’ve seen them doing backup for acts such as Tempest and Girlforce, acting in acclaimed roles with other Sparkling Gems talents. You’ve seen Koko and Thorne triumph over various challenges, and you’ve watched Pegasus grow up on tour with his father, one of my first success stories, Huxley King. They’ve clearly stood out among their peers, among the most gifted, most exceptional of any who have passed through the academy. There have been a lot of questions about why this day has been so long in coming. All I can tell you is that it wasn’t a matter of these three not being ready, but more that I felt they were incomplete. Something was missing, but I didn’t know what until I found it. It’s an unprecedented move, to recruit someone who hasn’t been trained at the academy, but when I met Audrey, I knew right away that she was the missing piece of the puzzle, the catalyst to set off this explosion. I’d like to introduce to you all my newest group — SUPERNOVA!”
