“I side-stepped and avoided questions my entire adult life—not to spare you, but to spare me—but now? Now, I think if I did something, I’d have the power to change something. I think that bothers you.”
“No one will listen to someone with an axe to grind over a UniVox snub. I will make it out to be that way. I have the power?—”
“No, it’s much more than that. All my bandmates would know. Every woman you’ve ever worked with probablydoesknow. Now, some won’t come out, but I guaranteed if many of us did, we’d have enough power to do it. I can take the hit at this point.”
“You’re just an angry lesbian who?—”
“No, I’m your worst fucking nightmare, Max,” I roared. “And you’re trying to get in my head, but you won’t. You only give me fuel to knock it out of the park. And that? That is sweet. Thanks, by the way. It helps.”
“A little birdie told me you’ve been sneaking around withone of our hosts,” Max said. “That would be an awful thing to get out.”
Don’t react, Mary. There is no way anyone knows!
“That’s an interesting theory,” I said. “But you’re not going to threaten me out of knowing the truth or speaking it to power.”
I put my headphones back on, seething. “Good luck to you all. We’re done here.”
“You’re going to fucking regret it!” He shouted, getting an earful from a PA holding the stage doors closed.
Not as much as you will when I tell everyone what you’ve done!
“Fuck him,” Barry said. “I will break his fucking knees if you want me to.”
“No.” I took deep breaths. “No. It’s not worth it. What he wants is to ruin our performance.”
“So, we won’t let that happen, will we?” Alicia squeezed my hand. “He cannot take this from you.”
“He won’t. I am going to use this rage to get us to the finals. He’s only helping me.”
Alicia patted my back. “There’s my angry Viking. Come on!”
“Let’s just kill and ignore that cunt,” Clarice added.
We waited as Alia killed, belting and dancing her way to a place in the final. There, we’d compete against the top ten artists. I knew we would make it to the final. Deep in my bones, it was meant to be. We might not win, but we’d get further than this. That alone was a novelty for the Brits.
“We’ll slay,” Clarice promised. “It will be legendary.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath and not letting this get to me. I thought about my father in the audience and how proud he must be. I thought about all the good that would come from this. And almost on cue as she spoke, I thought about Betty and how she was in my corner. I thought of how she told me she was proud, even when my words made things alittleawkward. I wanted to step off stage, knowing I made them all swell with pride.
“Sweden, wow,” Betty said.
A Norwegian actress, Astrid Berg, replied, “It’s hard to admit, but I think they did a great job!”
Betty added, “The best part about this is we get to come together, and just enjoy the music.”
“Indeed. That’s what UniVox is all about. Now, our next act is a global supergroup known as the Zamboneys!” Astrid’s voice picked up, calling us in.
The stagehand cued us. Alia and Max passed us with nary a look, but Jason hung around, scrolling on his mobile. I felt that was odd. Was he here to intimidate us? If so, it wouldn’t work. He wasn’t supposed to be here.
I put my ear in and prepared, looking at my band for support. However, as soon as we took the stage, I knew something was wrong. I heard feedback. I struggled to think as Clarice played the opening to “Justice”. Without a second thought, I ripped out my ear and hoped for the best.
Years of going from perfect arena setups to shitty gigs had taught me one thing—you could only rely on yourself. So, all things be damned, I began the song with strength. But two bars in, I heard Barry’s voice shouting over the music. Somehow, it was the IEM going out that saved me. I lost my ear protection but heard him loud and clear. I turned to survey the scene behind me. To my immediate right was Clarice. Bea was to my left. Barry gesticulated on a platform a few feet back.
“Move! Move!” He screamed, pointing up with a drumstick.
I listened, as did the rest of the band. My eyes followed his pointing to a purple par light rig dangling precariously about fifteen meters up above Barry’s cockpit. It waved for what seemed like ten minutes—probably only seconds in real-time—before careening, landing hard on the stage with a massive, stage shaking thud. I noted that it wasn’t loud. I somehowblocked out sound as I tried to rush off stage from the implosion.
I followed Alicia and Clarice, but tripped and fell hard. I looked for everyone else and spied Barry, having leapt off the platform to safety. He sat on the ground, checking on us three who were closer to the impact. He picked me up with one hand, Alicia lifting me with the other. They tried to pull me off stage, but I took one last look, surveying the chaos as the houselights came up. No matter what I did, I couldn’t place Betty. That fact terrified me.
