Rocky Road

by Susannah McFarlane

  ‘Hello EJ12 and welcome. I am Agent REV1, your driver today. You are sitting in a SHINE hybrid-powered limousine, one of the first in the world. Incredibly quiet, very environmentally friendly and glamorous, it has everything you might need or want. Make yourself comfortable, help yourself to a drink and then tune into the in-car television for a mission briefing.’

  ‘Thanks Agent REV1,’ said EJ, ‘I’ll do that.’

  Make myself comfortable, thought EJ, that shouldn’t be hard!

  EJ was sitting on a white leather sofa, which curved around in a semi-circle. On the floor was white fluffy carpet and in front of the sofa was a large television with enormous speakers on either side. There was also a drinks cabinet with rows of glasses next to a small fridge stocked with delicious fruit juices and soft drinks and a freezer full of ice cream. EJ leant forward and made herself a raspberry lemonade spider in a long glass. On past missions EJ had run into the other kind of spider, the eight crawly legs and lots of creepy eyes kind. EJ definitely preferred the raspberry lemonade kind of spider. As a finishing touch, she added a little paper umbrella and straw and sat back, smiling. This was so cool and there was so much room. All the members of Squishy Music could have fitted, and she wished Hannah, Elle and Isi were there to share this. They would have loved the rock star treatment.

  EJ turned on the television. The SHINE logo appeared with a menu below.

  Training exercises, that sounds like homework, thought EJ as she pressed ‘Mission Briefing’ and A1 appeared on the screen.

  ‘Hello again, EJ12. I trust you are finding your drive comfortable,’ said A1. ‘Now let’s review your mission objectives. We are pretty sure that SHADOW is planning something and we suspect that that something is somehow connected to both the internet and the Pink Shadows concerts. Your job, EJ12, is to find what the something and what the somehow is.

  ‘To help you, the in-car entertainment system has been loaded with material about the Pink Shadows and, in particular, Shady Lady. The connection between SHADOW internet activity and the Pink Shadows concerts only started when she joined the band. Do review these EJ12, they may give us some more clues.

  ‘Please also check your equipment. While your phone is also an mp3 player, the spy-pod has enhanced audio options, particularly our new hyper-hear listening device.

  ‘You will also need the spy-pod if you wish to use your guitar charm, EJ,’ continued A1. ‘Once activated, clip the charm to the spy-pod and upload required songs. You can then clip the charm to the fret of any electric or acoustic guitar and select a music track. The charm will then “play” the selected song. All you need to do is pretend that you are playing and the charm will do the rest. Okay, EJ12, that’s all. Make contact when you find out what’s going on. Good luck. SHINE out.’

  EJ took another sip of her drink then returned to the menu on the touch screen and pressed ‘In-car Entertainment.’ She could then select the program she wanted to view. EJ chose an interview with Shady Lady and sat back and watched.

  The Music Now music channel logo appeared and then cut to Shady Lady sitting on a black leather sofa. For someone who seemed larger than life, Shady Lady was actually tiny, hardly taller than EJ. But what she lacked in height, she made up for in her outfits. For this interview, she was wearing bright pink tights, pink boots and what looked like a long, sleeveless, pink raincoat decorated with black dots. On her wrists and forearms she was wearing dozens of black and pink bangles and she had a tattoo on her upper right arm of a black heart with a treble clef shooting through it like a lightening bolt. She looked amazing, in a crazy, rock star kind of way. Pinky-poo was next to her, also wearing a little pink raincoat, and was sitting in Shady Lady’s handbag again. Poor dog, thought EJ. No wonder she bites. I think I would probably bite if I was being dressed up like that and squashed in a handbag all the time.

  A woman was sitting opposite Shady Lady and now she leant forward towards the singer with her microphone and began to ask questions.

  ‘You’ve made quite an impact on the Pink Shadows since you joined the band earlier this year,’ started the interviewer. ‘How are you settling in?’

  ‘I’m like totally having a blast,’ replied Shady Lady.

  ‘Your song lyrics are wild, Shady, so imaginative, they’re almost like a secret code. Where do you get your inspiration from?’ she asked.

  ‘Well, you know, it’s like, I just kind of feel it, and it comes together out of the shadows and into my head, into my music.’

  ‘Okay,’ said the interviewer, looking a little confused. ‘Your live shows are amazing. How does it feel to be on stage?’

  ‘I love performing, it’s so totally my life, you know,’ said Shady Lady. ‘I can, like, connect with my Shadow peeps, take my message to them.’

  ‘Is there any truth to the rumours that the other band members feel you are taking over, sending a different message than the one they want?’

  EJ noticed that Shady Lady suddenly looked less relaxed, even a bit scary. The singer sat up in her chair and her eyes narrowed.

  ‘No,’ she said sharply, glaring at the interviewer, ‘next question.’

  ‘And what can the fans expect from the Decoder Tour?’ asked the interviewer, a little nervously.

  Shady Lady lounged back on the chair, at ease again. ‘It’s, like, our best yet. It’s like totally sick. Everyone will be racing to upload our songs. And for our last song at our last gig, we’ll play a brand new, never before heard re-mix of “Rock ’n’ Shine”. I guarantee you,’ said Shady Lady turning to face the camera with a not completely friendly gleam in her eye, ‘it will be chaos!’

  ‘Thanks Shady Lady, I think,’ said the interviewer, turning to face the camera. ‘Now let’s take a look at the Pink Shadows, live in concert at one of their earlier shows.’

  EJ watched, entranced. The concert was amazing, especially Shady Lady who danced and leapt all over the stage, dazzling the audience. She even sang one song hanging upside down from a trapeze.

  Shady Lady certainly doesn’t have a problem with stage fright, thought EJ as her mind wandered back to her own band and the We’ve Got Talent competition. Thinking about it again made her feel nervous, nervous about performing, nervous about letting her friends down. Her friends, that reminded EJ, she needed to upload her mission BESTie.

  SHINE understood that no agent could do everything by herself and that everyone needed help—with knowledge, guidance or sometimes just moral support. BEST stood for Brains, Expertise, Support, Tips and every agent had a network of people she could call on to help her. The BESTies, as they were known, were screened by SHINE HQ and cleared to help the agent on missions. Sometimes they helped with codes, sometimes they had expert information but more often they were there to support the agent when the mission got tough. The BESTies could ask no questions and an agent could never discuss her work with them when a mission was over. And there was another rule—an agent could only choose one BESTie for each mission.

  Who will be able to help me on this mission? wondered EJ, twisting her bracelet absent-mindedly. She flicked through her contacts, Elle, Hannah, Isi, Mum ... EJ thought back to when she and Elle were singing and dancing at her house. All of EJ’s BESTies were great to have as back-up, but they each had different things they were good at. EJ tried to think who would be the best BESTie for this mission? There seemed to be a lot about music in this mission and that made EJ think Elle could be a good choice. Elle knew all the words, all the dance moves, everything about the Pink Shadows—and she always got EJ up and dancing, made her feel good. EJ uploaded Elle, who would now be sent a text message alerting her to be on stand-by for mission assist.

  Agent REV1 slid back the window again. ‘We are approaching the stadium now, EJ12. Are you ready?’

  Ready for what? wondered EJ. She would have to be ready for anything. It was show time!

  The white limousine cruised into the stadium grounds and past the crowds queuing to get in. As a Pink Class ticket-holder, EJ had
premium parking and could drive straight through. When the car stopped, a doorwoman opened the car door for EJ.

  ‘Welcome to Pink Class, Miss,’ said the doorwoman. ‘Please follow the pink carpet to enter the stadium. Don’t forget to pick up your exclusive merchandise in the foyer, and enjoy the show.’

  EJ was excited. She felt like a rock star. But this is still a mission and I have to keep focussed, she told herself. I need to check out the stadium and I need to buy my headset. And my hair, whatever that means!

  EJ walked down the pink carpet and followed the signs to the stadium foyer. EJ had never been to a concert before and was thrilled by the buzz of the crowd. It was hard to see though. EJ clicked her sneakers and waited. Within seconds she was about thirty centimetres taller and could see everything. I wouldn’t walk in these though, thought EJ, it would be impossible!

  There were people milling around stands where you could buy Pink Shadows t-shirts, glasses, posters, books, even Pink Shadows pyjamas. There were food and drink counters and people everywhere, excited people, thousands of Pink Shadows fans, many in pink and many wearing shiny fluorescent-pink wigs made of strips of pink foil. It really was crazy hair. Then EJ remembered the message. Hair. Buy Hair. I can’t believe I am saying this but I need that hair, thought EJ. She looked around and then saw a stand and a sign.

  EJ headed over to buy her crazy hair although how it was going to help her she had no idea.

  How many SHADOW agents are here? wondered EJ as she paid for the hair. There was certainly one, the one whose message SHINE had intercepted, but were there more? Was everyone wearing pink hair a SHADOW agent? EJ began looking at different people, trying to guess if any of them were agents. She couldn’t though; SHADOW would make sure their agents blended in, just like SHINE did. But if they were here, they would do something and EJ needed to be ready.

  Suddenly an announcement blared through the stadium foyer.

  ‘Please take your seats. The Pink Shadows concert will begin in five minutes.’

  I’d better hurry up, thought EJ and she quickly bought a pink glow stick and a headset. She took a quick look at them but the headset looked pretty much like any other, besides being very pink. Could they really be part of a SHADOW plan? EJ stuffed them and the pink hair into her bag and made her way to the Pink Class section at the very front of the stage area. She checked her ticket for her seat number. It was AA 24, front row. Awesome!

  EJ had just found her seat when the stadium went completely dark, except for the sea of pink glow sticks being waved all around her. EJ waved hers too. Then the crowd suddenly hushed. Everyone was waiting.

  A single pink laser began to flash across the stage. Then another laser flashed and then another. Lasers started to appear everywhere, flashing around the stadium and over the heads of the audience, who were now cheering wildly. Then, as suddenly as they started, the lasers stopped and everything went dark again. As a single drumbeat echoed around the stadium, a screen at the back of the stage turned bright neon-pink and then began to flash in time with the drumbeat. Next, four dark figures were slowly lowered from the top of the stadium. They came down to the stage, black silhouettes, in front of the pink screen, silhouettes of four women, one on drums, one with a bass guitar, one on keyboards and one with a lead guitar and microphone stand. Suddenly the screen went black and the silhouettes turned pink—pink shadows, the Pink Shadows. Jets of pink smoke started to stream up from the stage as the drumbeat quickened and the neon-pink screen flashed faster. A voice boomed through the stadium.

  ‘Live, on the final night of their Decoder Tour, the Pink Shadows!’

  The stage lights went on and the band started to play. The whole crowd went completely crazy, screaming and stamping their feet. EJ joined in, feeling herself pulled into the incredible atmosphere. It was exhilarating. And leading it all, in the centre of the stage, was Shady Lady. She was wearing a pink jump suit, glittering with hundreds of silver flecks and knee-high, almost impossibly high-heeled silver boots. She was wearing a straight black wig and her face was completely white, like a Japanese doll. Black-line make-up swirled around her face, like a painting of black ivy trailing her eyes. She looked awesome, a bit scary but awesome. The make-up was like a mask on her face.

  Shady Lady walked down the catwalk that came out from the centre of the stage, prowling, stalking her way down until she was standing almost in the middle of the crowd. Then she raised one arm above her head and pointed upwards. There was a flash and the stadium went dark again except for a pink light beam shooting out from a large black ring on Shady Lady’s finger. The crowd roared and the lights went on as Shady Lady brought her arm down again and started to play her guitar. Then beams of light shot out from rings each of the band members was wearing and they began to play their chart hit, ‘Getting Dark’.

  EJ looked around the crowd, trying to detect anything unusual, but she couldn’t. There were just lots of people enjoying the show, cheering, screaming and dancing to the songs. Perhaps SHINE had been wrong about the message?

  The Pink Shadows had been playing for nearly an hour when Shady Lady shouted out, ‘Okay, do we have any Shadows out there?’

  There was a roar from the crowd.

  EJ started. Did she say Shadows? Did she mean Pink Shadows or Shadows, SHADOW agents? Maybe there is something going on after all.

  Shady Lady went on. ‘Oh yeah, we do I guess. Well I’m talking to you, all you Shadows. Get your heads pink, the song after this is for you!’

  EJ turned around and scanned the crowd again. This time, there was something suspicious happening. Suddenly people seemed to be putting on the pink headsets. As the Pink Shadows started to play the song, EJ did the same, plugging them into her spy-pod. Where else would she plug them? Not surprisingly, she couldn’t hear anything through the headset.

  Maybe mine are broken, she thought but as she looked around her, she could see other people doing the same thing, taking off their headsets, shaking their mp3 players and looking irritated. They can’t all be broken, can they? Then, still watching the crowd, she noticed something else. Some other people were still wearing their headsets and everyone who was seemed to be wearing a crazy Shady Lady pink hair wig. A coincidence? EJ checked out different parts of the stadium and yes, everyone still with their headsets on had pink hair.

  The song finished and then Shady Lady cried out, ‘Okay Shadow peeps, hold on to your hair, this is it, rock on!’

  Hair. Suddenly things started to join up for EJ. Shadow peeps, hair, all the people still using the headsets wearing the Shady Lady hair. It had to be connected but how? Were all the people wearing crazy hair SHADOW agents? Did you need to use both the hair and the headset at the same time? EJ wasn’t sure but there was only one way to find out. She grabbed her wig and as she held it upside down to put it on she noticed the label.

  Headset Hair? What did that mean? EJ looked closely at the wig and lifted the label. There was nothing there. Or was there ... EJ looked again, even more closely than before and this time she could see something. A tiny hole. A little hole to connect a headset to? No one would look there and no one would think twice about a little hole—unless of course they knew what they were looking for. EJ took the headset and put the plug into the hole. It fitted perfectly, just as EJ suspected it would. You had to hand it to SHADOW, thought EJ, they did come up with some clever, if a bit crazy, ideas. She wondered if Adriana X, A1’s evil twin sister, was behind the crazy hair.

  With the headset connected, EJ put her earphones in and put on the pink hair. The wig fitted perfectly over the headsets and she could feel them lock into each other. There was a beep and then, just as the next song was starting, EJ started to hear things. But what she heard wasn’t what she was expecting. Things were starting to get interesting.

  The Pink Shadows were really knocking out the song on stage. Shady Lady was now swinging over the audience from a rope suspended from the stadium roof.

  With the headset off, the noise of the con
cert was almost deafening but with the headset on EJ heard something very unexpected. She could still hear the music, but now more as a fuzzy background noise, almost a buzz. The headset hair seemed to be blocking out all the noise, the band, the crowd, everything except Shady Lady’s singing. And, as EJ listened, she noticed something. Shady Lady was singing a different chorus to the usual version. As well as the words she knew, there seemed to be other, new words added to the chorus, a new one every ten seconds or so. And the headset made these words louder. But why? As the song was coming up to the chorus again, EJ connected her spy-pod to the headset and set it to record. There were the same new words again in the chorus.

  The song finished and the Pink Shadows left the stage. It was interval and the perfect time for EJ to try to work out if those extra words were connected to SHADOW. EJ needed a place where she could be alone, where she could play back the chorus, but where could you find a place like that at a sold-out rock concert?

  ‘Oh no,’ she said to herself as she thought of somewhere, ‘not again.’

  The toilets. The only place EJ could think of was the toilets. Why was she always finding herself sitting on a toilet seat as part of a top-secret mission, and just when she thought this mission was more glamorous?

  EJ made her way towards the toilets but she wasn’t the only one. In fact, it seemed like the entire audience was heading in the same direction and as EJ got closer she could see a long queue outside the women’s toilets. So much for that idea, but where could she go? Then EJ spied a door with a sign saying ‘Cleaners only’. EJ tried the door but it was locked. EJ took her key charm and twisted it to activate the skeleton key. Quickly, hoping no one would see, EJ unlocked the door and stepped inside. Actually outside. EJ was standing outside in a dimly lit, very smelly area with all the rubbish bins from the food stalls.