But since I can’t imagine this has anything to do with the Herald or The Path, I’m intrigued as to what a rock band might want with me.
“So, you’re Saint. It’s nice to put a face to the name,” Micah says with a soft smile.
Is it? I raise an eyebrow and then glance at Iri. “It’s Sinjin. No one’s called me Saint in over five years. How did you find me?”
He stretches his arms out lazily and cocks his head to one side. “We’re rock stars, Sin. Plenty of money and influence will get you any information you want.”
When I just stare him down, because that sounds like a crock of shit if I’ve ever heard one, he snorts a laugh. He then pours glasses of water for each of us and passes one to me. There’s also a platter of fruit and another of chocolate laid out and I eye them both, snagging a piece of melon and taking a long drink of water before I cross my legs and turn to face the two rock stars.
“First, I’d like to tell you why I wanted to track you down. Then if you’re still interested in knowing more, I’ll tell you how we found you. It wasn’t easy, if that makes you feel any better,” Iri says, squaring his shoulders and facing me.
Kind of, I guess? My mind is going slowly as I try to wrap my head around them knowing both my old and my new name,andwhere I work.
“I don’t think any of us thought it would take nearly a year to find you,” Micah adds softly.
A year? I scoot forward in my chair and lean in. Now I’m really curious about what they want from me if it took them that long to track me down.
“We've been playing with Orpheus Underground for over ten years,” Iri says, handing Micah a plate before sprawling back in his chair. “We’ve toured almost every year without fail in that time. And our tours are good. Great, even. But we want this one to besomething special. Give the fans an experience they’ve never had before. One they’ll never forget.”
“It’ll be our last tour,” Micah adds. “For a while, at least. Possibly ever.”
Iri nods. “So we want to go out with a bang. We decided to have this tour a year ago, and I started researching who we could bring on board for the staging and set design to make it an unforgettable experience.”
I nod dumbly, my lips numb. “Y-you want me to work for you?”
“It’ll be an intensive gig,” Iri adds. “We’d work closely together for the next month as we lead up to the first gig, and then you’d accompany us on all seven dates over the tour. Seven different cities dotted around the world.”
What the what now?
“That sounds nuts, you realize that, right?” I might be shooting myself in the foot here, but it’s true. “You haven’t ever even seen my work.”
“You’d be surprised how much of an impression you left, Sinjin,” he replies. “When I put word out I was looking for someone to bring a unique atmosphere to a stage show, The Path was something that came up consistently. And the rumors were that things went downhill after the leader’s daughter disappeared one day.”
“Not his daughter,” I mutter.
My mind’s reeling. Not only did Iri hear about me from people discussing acultas having a good atmosphere and then was like ‘hell yeah, I want to hire that person’, he also apparently wants me to come on a worldwide tour with them.
“I know what I want, Sinjin, and believe me, it’s what you can offer,” Iri says, sending my eyebrows sky-high.
“You’d be compensated accordingly,” he continues, as though that’s my issue here. Iri then scribbles something on a napkin and hands it over at the same time that Micah hands meanother plate piled with a carefully selected assortment of treats. I take both and shove some chocolate into my mouth, chewing as I glance down at the napkin.
... and almost choke.
Shit. That’s a lot of money.
More than I earn in three entire years at my current salary.
I swallow hard and take another gulp of water.
“What exactly is it you’re expecting from me here?” I say, my breath rushing out of me. “You’re not trying to persuade your fans to kill themselves or something, are you?”
My past life was far too cult-like. I don’t want to be part of anything like that ever again.
Micah looks confused. Which suggests he doesn’t know exactly what I used to do for the Herald.
I really hope he never finds out. I’d rather keep that part of my past as a dark secret that never sees the light of day.
Iri’s face is blank and I don’t know how much he knows, or if he suspects what role I played in all that manipulative fuckery.
