It’s on the outskirts between the neighborhoods with a strong lucent presence and those that are almost entirely drab. Maybe a twenty-minute walk from where Other Elodie met her grisly end.
Hmm.
My double was definitely concerned about more than just her personal problems. Her potentially misguided efforts to help the Beacon Prep families with whatever they’re facing proves that.
But she could still have been wrapped up in something illicit at the same time. I can’t see how Grady could be connected to Beacon’s student disappearances.
What business would be happening out of the back of a dance club that might elevate your skills? Is it related to the lucent drug deals I witnessed when I poked around at the strip mall? Some of those enhanced chemicals can supposedly lift your mind to another plane of consciousness.
How deep was Other Elodie intothatside of lucent life?
I waver for a moment at the edge of the restaurant parking lot. The thought of having a new, definite direction steadies me.
Groove Garden doesn’t open until seven o’clock tonight. I’ll go home, force a smile through another family dinner with my wacko aunt and the dad who doesn’t know he should be mourning me, and then sneak out to see what’s what.
When my ride drops me off down the street from Groove Garden at half past nine, I immediately regret the timing. Thick shadows drape the buildings on either side of the street between the narrow yellow glow of the streetlamps.
It’s way darker now than it was on the dreary early evening when I was literally stabbed in the back. My unknown text harasser could be lurking anywhere nearby, the knife they threatened me with in hand.
I gird myself, brushing my fingers across the hip pocket of my jeans where I’ve tucked my own weapon.
No one should have any idea where I am. I took the same steps to conceal myself that I did when leaving this morning, and before I summoned a ride, I put my illusion-imbued ring back on.
There’s no reason Chuck couldn’t poke around this venue. I’d rather no one realized that Elodie Devine has been here.
The effect will wear thin soon. My own capacity to work ephemera is fading with fatigue. As I walk toward the dance club, a familiar pinching sensation nibbles at my joints. Dizziness prickles through my head when I turn it too fast.
I’ve pushed myself hard today. Please, let it be worthwhile.
The sign for Groove Garden comes into view down the street, green neon letters surrounded by crudely painted flowers and stars in blue and red. The night is still young, but a few patrons are just coming to the door, looked over by the bouncer before bounding inside.
They’re all lucent, giving off the slightly heightened quiver of energy that drabs never do unless they’re carrying someone else’s magic. The bunch I saw were dressed in what Madisonwould call “mall clothes,” not the more tailored, high-end brand stuff I’d expect on the company Grady seems to keep.
Maybe he comes here to slum it. All the better that I’m disguised.
Since Other Elodie specifically mentioned business being conducted out of the back of the club, I amble over to the alley between Groove Garden and the neighboring Japanese restaurant. With one glance down the cramped space, my heart skips a beat.
I recognize the black-painted wall with its scrawled neon graffiti and the steel staircase that leads to a second-floor entrance at the rear of the club. I’ve seen it in a few of Other Elodie’s secret photos.
There was one with a figure right on those stairs, wasn’t there? One of the images where the face came out blurred.
She was documenting some kind of activity happening here. Competitors? A crowd she got sucked into and then realized she’d need leverage to get out of?
What does it have to do with the other situations she was poking her nose into?
No one’s hanging out in the alley right now. I shift on my feet and pretend to look at my phone while I watch more club-goers arrive.
Pay no attention to me. Just a dude waiting for his friends to show up before heading inside.
My doppelganger talked about people trying to elevate themselves. Grady mentioned some way they might increase their skills. That definitely sounds more like an illicit substances situation than a torrid forbidden love affair.
I can’t imagine that some brilliant lucent is offering tutoring sessions out of a dance club—or that Elodie would have been so skeptical of the service if it was just regular lessons.
Other possibilities weave through my thoughts. A cheating ring, with inside info on upcoming tests and assignments at the academy? Someone distributing blackmail material on the professors? Rising in the class ranks would also be quite the elevation. Could Other Elodie have been involved in dealings like that, or trying to expose them?
So many possible murder motives, like hydra’s heads: more popping up every time I think I’ve narrowed things down.
Well, the best way to find out what this place might be selling is to present myself as a customer.
