“Ouch. You didn’t tell the other musicians that, did you?”
“Yes, but I covered with cleverness and false humility. I’m serious. I have things to take care of, serious things.”
“Come to my house. I’ll order dinner, and you can drool over your instrument while watching Scooby.”
I shook my head. “I can’t. Janice has inspired me to work extra hard for the gig.”
He laughed. “Sounds like villainy. What’s the plan?”
“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
“I’m always up for that.”
I shook my head and hung up, but I was smiling as I watched the back of his head get further and further ahead of me. Iwanted to go to his house, see what his villainous lair looked like. Maybe he had tech gadgetry lying around that I could boost.
I’d do it later, after I knocked him out with my brilliance, at least figuratively.
When I got to Jezebel’s house, I found her in the kitchen, staring at a salad with an empty expression on her face.
“Could I get your friend Felicia's number? She’s the hacker, right?”
She blinked and refocused on me. “She’s retired, or has never been a hacker. Right. Sometimes I forget the small details.” She took a vicious bite of salad, as if they were at war.
I sat down on the other side of the table and scooted the chair next to her. “Janice wants me to perform on a revolving stage, as the star of this musical travesty, and the music will be prerecorded. You understand what must be done in this kind of situation.”
“Do I?” She frowned for a second before she shook her head and took another bite.
“I need to get the musicians together outside of regular rehearsal and come up with something brilliant, so brilliant that no one else sees it coming.”
She chewed and swallowed, then pointed her fork at me. “And you can come up with a plan that elaborate? including written notation, or whatever you fancy musicians call it for each piece in three days? You can’t rush a good plan; it takes time to develop a really good flavor.”
I leaned closer to her. “I have an idea. I’ll need a really good costumer who is part chemist, and a hacker who could hijack the sound system, but I think that it could be really, really good.”
She licked her lips and sat back, then studied me with her arms crossed. “All right. I’ll invite the girls over for a late-night snack. If they are in the mood to steal Horse’s show, I’ll allowthem to assist you. But…” She held up a finger and gave me a very serious look.
“What?”
“You have to handle the pressure, the gazes, the expectations. The spotlight is a lot for anyone. Can you take it?”
I raised my chin and nodded. “I want to do it. It’s terrifying, but it’s something I have to master. I don’t know if I can, because I’ve never tried before, but I want to try.”
She grinned and cupped my chin. “In that case, take a nap, because those girls are going to keep you up all night.” She winked and kept working on her salad.
I didn’t nap; I stayed in the music room scribbling notation until I had an outline of what I wanted. Dante’s Inferno belonged in Providence, and it was going to be amazing.
When Felicia and Minx came over, it was after midnight. I looked up from the sheets of music scattered around me while Minx and Felicia lingered in the doorway.
“Hi,” Minx said with a little wave. She was wearing a lot of makeup and a black leather outfit.
I stood up and went over to her with arms outstretched. “You’re here! Did Jezebel say what I wanted?”
Felicia laughed. “Chica, you don’t want to know what she said. Still, we’re intrigued. You’re going to steal Horse’s show? Tell us more.”
I explained everything, and between waving the sheets of music around to tugging on the halter neck of Minx’s shirt, may have expressed myself too passionately.
Minx smiled kind of shyly at first, then leaned forward while she listened and nodded encouragingly as I described the theatrical effects.
“Jordan will do it, don’t you think, Lish? He’d take it on as a challenge. His crew could do it that quickly, and you could easilytake on Janice. You’ve been wanting to, admit it,” Minx teased gently.
