Chapter 8
Sin
10 minutes earlier
Isit in silence for a couple of beats once Dorian and Cal have left the shop. I’d basically made my mind up about what I was going to do last night, but having them both here inside Grizz’s threw me for a loop.
My phone buzzes and I see I have a message from Elara.
Elara: Check Orlog’s daily dose of dickheadedness.
Elara: You’re welcome.
For a moment, I consider telling her to fuck off. I’m still pissed at hell at her. But I shake off my irritation and thumb the tab I permanently have open on my phone. It takes me straight to The Path’s online channel. The one the Herald resorted to using when they could no longer even fill regular sized meeting rooms. Once a week, he posts an Awakening, which ends with him asking for donations.
His decline didn’t come with a bang, so much as he kind of fizzled out with a whimper. He’s always taped his sermons, and some sick sense of morbid curiosity and self-preservation meant I wound up tuning in. Maybe not every week, but regularly enough. So I got to witness his regular audience of Devoted shrink from thousands, to hundreds, to fewer than ten.
He used to talk about me.
A lot.
To begin with, I was the Devoted who had gone missing. He asked for support in finding me, splashing an ancient picture of the two of us together. Back when I was still a teenager, still auburn-haired. Dressed demurely, in a high-necked blouse with full sleeves, even though it was the middle of summer and hot as hell. He’s smiling, flashing his fake teeth in an even faker smile. And I just look tired. More tired than I should have at that age.
He used my disappearance as an excuse to request more money from his Devoted. Donations to track me down. Donations for the supposed ransom someone requested for me.
... yeah, I’m betting none of that money got any further than his pockets. For the first time, I was grateful for his selfish, money-grabbing tendencies. If he was spending the cash on his teeth, hair and tan, along with his brand new car, he wasn’t spending it on tracking me down.
By the time I moved to Willow Ridge, he’d stopped with the whole ‘Search for Saint’ shtick and instead I became a lesson for his sermons. A lost member of his flock.
These days, he doesn’t mention me so often. Clearly, it’s no longer bringing him in cash, so it’s not worth doing.
But when I tune in to the Dose of Devotion as prompted by Elara, I see that same old picture of me frowning at me.
Saint Madison Orlog.
RIP
I stare at it before it sinks in exactly what I’m seeing. The announcement of my death.
That wasn’t even my name, but it’s still weird as hell.
The camera angle makes it impossible to tell how many people are in the room with him, but I’d guess it’s fewer than ten. Yet he still has a couple hundred people currently watching online. I spot Gina and Gerry in the audience, but my mom hasn’t been a part of his Devoted for a long time.
“Today, we remember one of our lost members. Saint, I hope you find peace in the next life.” He stares at the camera, doing his best impression of a guy who has regular emotions.
I call Elara immediately, shoving aside my annoyance in preference to finding answers to what the hell is happening.
“All right, Sin?”
“I’ve had a weird couple of days,” I reply. “Yesterday, I met a world-famous rock band, and they invited me on tour with them. Then today, I discovered that I’m apparently dead. Have you got anything to tell me, Elara?” I growl down the phone at her.
She groans. “Sinjin. I’m sorry, okay? But it was Orpheus Underground, Orpheus fricking Underground. Do you know how much I wanted to be Iri Dium a few years back?”
I roll my eyes. “How did they track me down, Elara?”
“Their guy was too damn good, Sin. They hired this legit tracker, and he found some holes I wasn’t aware of. Apparently, it led him right to me. He was so good. But he was really damn helpful too. He gave me some tips on how I could wipe you from the internet better. So I did. You’re welcome.”
I let out a high-pitched exasperated noise that makes me sound like a steaming kettle. “I can’t believe you sold me out because you’ve got a lady boner for Orpheus Underground.”
