“I know it was just a mission for him to get me back home safely, but he could’ve done it without the promises.”
“What did he promise?”
“That I’m going to be stuck with him,” I yelled and Lucian squinted. “He made me fall for him hard. Ever since we came here, I hardly saw him. I know it’s a lost cause, but I like him more than I should,” I whispered the last part, hoping that the Rubicon won’t hear me.
“Elena?” Lucian said, and then the MC’s voice blared through the speakers. He announced the pre-show. It was the Shifters again.
“You knew about this?” I asked Lucian.
“Yeah? Sorry. I thought you did too.”
I shook my head. “It’s okay.”
The footage on the screen showed a podium hoisted out of the ground. The band made everyone scream.
Blake’s face popped up. He wore a dark tank top and his muscles bulged everywhere. The rest of the band members wore the same. A leather skirt covered his waist and fell down to his ankles.
He was doing the pre-show. That was why he wasn’t here.
“I hate his voice,” I whispered, and Lucian laughed. “Blake actually serenaded a song for me on the other side. He really went out of his way to get close to me. He could’ve toned it down.”
The cheers stopped, and Blake spoke. “Wow, guess all of you can’t wait to see the Rubicon fall on his ass.”
Lucian and the audience laughed, as that statement weighed more on top of my gut.
“It’s my honor to play for you tonight and introduce a girl that is very close to my heart and, with time, yours, too. She is a Malone through and through. Drives everyone nuts.”
More laughter came. Why did he say that?
“Hear, hear,” Isaac yelled over the microphone.
Blake chuckled and then yelled Isaac’s name. He strummed the guitar and everyone went crazy.
Ty was behind the drums. He was a stocky dude, with army cropped style hair. He had beautiful dimples as he pounded the drums fast, and from what I remembered of that night, cocky too.
Then it was Jamie, also on guitar, and Theo on the keyboard. And that made the Shifters.
“Today, I’m going to give you a bit of a look into the princess’s life. It’s one of her favorite songs and I didn’t know how much meaning it had until I listened to the words. I hope you enjoy it.”
The keyboard played the intro of “Fix You”, and I glared at Lucian.
He lifted his hands. “I didn’t tell him. I swear.”
He sang, and it was almost better than Coldplay. Music was his life. He had so much passion. The emotion played on his face with his eyes closed. Everyone cheered as he sang the last verse of the first paragraph. And he smiled as he opened his eyes.
Everyone listened with abilities dancing on their palms. The screen on the TV changed into images of home.
“What is this?”
“He is showing them what the other side looks like.” Lucian squinted at the TV.
Blake was better than Emanual.
I got up and went to the gate, but I could only see blue, yellow and dark tones of light reflecting on the ground. The stage hovered above the gate. I couldn’t see what they saw.
I looked back at the TV. It was the lights that guided the way on the screen. It was what we saw when we came back.
I sat down next to Lucian in awe, watching the screen.
