MySoultoSave (28 page)

Daan perked up. “Are we going on a mission?”

“Yes.”

“How exciting! I know just where to begin.” The Shepherd
stood and rushed toward the door—and then straight through it.

He sighed. “Daan! I can’t phase through things any more.
Wait for me.”

Daan’s head pushed back inside, sporting a sheepish grin.
“Sorry, Jaeryth.”

Scowling, he opened the door and strode out, with Kobol’s
laughter chasing him.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jaeryth sat stiffly on the hard plastic seat, glaring
through the window beside him as the bus wheezed and lurched to the curb to
pick up yet another passenger. They hadn’t gone five minutes without stopping.
His hands rested on his knees and he drummed his fingers impatiently. “Could
this damned vehicle possibly move any slower?” he said under his breath.

“It will be on time.” Daan, sitting next to him with legs
swinging happily, offered a thumbs-up. “Six thirty-five, Festival Pier.”

“It had better be.”

One of the women seated in front of him turned around. “Are
you talking to me?”

“No,” he snapped.

She glanced at the seat next to him, shrugged and turned
back.

Jaeryth looked out the window again. He was no longer
concerned whether people thought him mad for appearing to talk to himself. He
faced greater problems—such as challenging a few hundred demons, armed with
nothing but his determination and one slightly addled Shepherd. The odds were
impossible.

But he had to overcome them, because failure was
unthinkable.

An eternity or two later, the bus entered thick traffic and
slowed to a crawl. It progressed in fits and jerks for a few moments, and
finally stopped altogether with the engine still rumbling. Jaeryth craned to
look through the windshield. Far ahead, across medians and parking lots, he
made out an arched sign that proclaimed
Festival Pier Parking.
And
between the sign and the bus, a twisting half-mile of gridlocked vehicles.

They’d never make it in time.

He stood and stared down at the oblivious Daan. “Move. We’re
getting off here.”

Several heads turned in his direction. He ignored them. Once
the Shepherd scrambled clear, he stepped into the aisle and strode to the front
of the bus.

“Stay behind the white line,” the driver droned without
looking at him.

“Let me out.”

The driver snorted. “You see a bus stop here? You can only
exit the bus at a bus stop.”

“I have to get there by seven.” He pointed ahead to the
archway. “Open the door.”

“Buddy, I could lose my job if I let you out in the middle
of the road. Take your seat, please.”

“This is an emergency! I—”

“Jaeryth, wait.” Daan drifted in front of him. “Let me
convince him.”

“You can’t.”

“Hey.” The driver turned toward him. “I said, take your
seat.”

“I can do it, Jaeryth.”

“No, you can’t!”

“All right. If you don’t calm down, I’m going to have to
call Transit Authority.”

Daan walked to the driver and leaned toward his ear. “The
poor man is obviously disturbed,” the Shepherd said in dulcet tones. “He could
be a danger to the other passengers. You should let him off the bus.”

The driver sent Jaeryth a critical look, grunted and swung
the door open in a hiss of air. “Go on,” he said.

Jaeryth hurried down the steps without a word. Outside, he
made his way through the stopped cars to the nearest concrete median and headed
for the sign. This would still take longer than it should, but at least now he
had a chance.

Daan caught up with him easily. “See? I told you I could
convince him.”

“Obviously disturbed, am I?” Jaeryth smirked, not breaking
his stride. “Well, I am no longer on the bus. So…thank you. Daan.”

“You are welcome.” The Shepherd practically glowed. “What
can I do now?”

“I don’t know yet. Er…stay alert.”

“Of course. I will be ever vigilant.”

Though it took only ten minutes or so to reach his
destination, it seemed far longer. A digital clock set into a short column in
front of the archway informed him that the time was six forty-five. And he
might have actually reached the stage, where Logan would be, in fifteen
minutes—if it weren’t for the eight thousand people packed between here and
there.

His heart sank. It just wasn’t physically possible to push
through all those people in time. And he probably couldn’t even enter the
concert area without a ticket.

Daan shivered beside him. “There are so many demons here.
It’s not safe.”

“Yes.” With nearly all the concert-goers clad in black, he
couldn’t actually see them—but he felt their presence, like a massive gathering
storm.

And at once it occurred to him that while he might escape
their notice for a time, as one human among thousands, Daan certainly would
not. A lone Shepherd didn’t stand a chance against a hundred Tempters. They’d
tear it apart.

“Daan,” he said gently. “You can’t come any further with
me.”

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

Daan’s smooth brow furrowed. “They’ll hurt me?”

“Yes. I want you safe, so you must stay behind.”

“But you need me.” Daan stared ahead for a moment, and then
a grin surfaced. “We’ll disguise ourselves!”

He frowned. “How can you possibly—”

Before he finished speaking, the Shepherd’s garb had changed
from pale blue to the simple black of a Tempter. Daan’s eyes remained blue, but
the shade was so dark that from a distance, they would look black.

“All right.” Jaeryth laughed and shook his head. “I suppose
you’ll do. But I don’t have a disguise, so…”

“There.” Daan pointed.

He followed the gesture. Just inside the archway stood a
narrow, windowed booth. No one occupied it, and a sign on the front said
Parking
lot full.
For an instant he wasn’t sure what Daan was indicating—and then
he saw a black jacket and cap hanging on a hook inside the booth, each printed
with SECURITY in large white letters.

That would not only disguise him. It would get him through
the crowd.

“Daan, you’re brilliant.” He might have hugged the little
Shepherd, if it had an actual body. Instead, he offered a smile, then dashed
over to the booth to retrieve the cap and jacket.

Uneasiness crept over him as they started toward the arena.
It would still be a struggle to reach the stage, even with people letting him
through. And time was very short. But as they walked along the high wooden
fence that led to the main gates, a solution presented itself in the form of a
red-painted door, bearing words that lodged a flicker of hope in him.

SECURITY ACCESS CORRIDOR

Hardly daring to breathe, Jaeryth reached for the handle and
pressed the latch. It clicked down and the door swung open onto a long,
deserted dirt path that led clear to the back of the area—and presumably the
stage.

He stepped through with Daan at his heels. And when the door
closed behind him, he broke into a run.

* * * * *

Logan stood behind the biggest stage she’d ever seen this
close, at the foot of the stairs she would take to reach it. Scaffolding
towered above her, mounted with myriad floodlights and speakers and electronic
effects at the apex. The crisp, clean scent of the river just a few yards to the
right filled the air, mingling with the excited buzz of the massive crowd and
occasionally punctuated with bursts of noise from the techs onstage, running a
sound check.

What a place to crash and burn.

She was determined to go through with her plan and ruin the
show. She’d told no one and hidden her frazzled nerves beneath a veneer of
enthusiasm that was wearing thin. Ten more minutes until the end of her world.

It broke her heart to know she’d be letting her friends
down. But it was the only chance that Jaeryth wouldn’t end up in Hell. Their
pain, and hers, would fade in time. Jaeryth’s would last forever. And besides,
they could go on without her. It happened all the time in the music world—lead
singers self-destructed, or their egos got in the way. They were replaced and
the band played on. Ruined Soul had already done it once. They could do it
again.

She was only throwing away her own shot at her dreams.

“So. You ready for this?”

Logan blinked and focused on Blue, who was standing in front
of her. “Um,” she said. “Define ready.”

Blue laughed. “I can’t believe this is really happening.
Isn’t it amazing?”

“Oh, yeah.” She smiled, hoping the expression looked more
genuine than it felt. “I just hope I don’t run out of breath before we finish.”

“You’ll kick ass.” Blue clapped her shoulder. “It’s nice not
having to do setup ourselves. I feel like a total celebrity.”

Logan nodded and tried to think of a suitable response.
Before she could come up with anything, half the overhead lights snapped on and
an electronically amplified male voice boomed out from the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Philadelphia’s Festival
Pier!”

“It’s too early,” Logan shouted over the answering roar of
the crowd.

Blue shrugged. “I think that’s just a recording.”

“Please note the emergency exits to your left and right,
near the front and back of the arena. The bathrooms are located…”

“Yep, a recording,” Blue said as the voice droned on. “We’re
still good for a few minutes.”

Logan caught sight of Tex and Reid hustling toward them. “Or
not,” she said.

“All right, ladies. It’s showtime.” Reid’s drawl sounded
confident as ever. If the size of the crowd affected him, he didn’t show it in
the least. “Let’s get it on.”

Tex sidled over and hugged her. “This is it,” he said, soft
enough so that only she could hear him. “You ready to change the world?”

She forced a smile. “I guess we’ll see.”

The answer must have satisfied him, because the next thing
she knew, she was heading up the stairs with the rest of them. Through the
metal grating, she caught glimpses the crowd—a sea of upturned faces washed in
the waning dusk. So many people, all expecting the legend she’d somehow become.
Could she really let them down?

More than ever, she wished Jaeryth was here.

Tex halted them when they reached the top, as the automated
voice played out the last of its message. “…
and thank you for attending this
event at Philadelphia’s Festival Pier.
” The lights flickered off and Tex
turned to face the group. “Our cue’s coming in a minute. Frost, you’re out
last. Anybody need to pee? Because if you do, too bad.”

Logan laughed with the rest of them. But her stomach felt
greasy and slick, and a slight tremor had settled in her hands. She shoved them
into her pockets to hide it. Whatever resolve she had was drowning in a
whirlwind of confusion. She’d go out there and…what? Drop the ball, damn her
friends and disappoint thousands of people—or sing her heart out, touch
millions of lives and condemn the one that mattered to her more than all of
them?

A loud and thrumming pulse infused the air, vibrating the
floor beneath her. Colored lights blinked into existence overhead, one by one,
and played across the stage like slow-motion fireflies. A single floodlight
beamed a white wedge over everything. Tex gestured, smiled and turned to trot
onto the stage.

The crowd blasted its approval.

Logan swallowed hard and watched as first Blue, and then
Reid moved into the light. Her turn now. For a terrifying instant her feet
refused to move. She forced a single step, and another. Finally, she was headed
for the microphone against the deafening screams of the audience.

She reached the stand and grabbed the mic. The shakes were
more pronounced now, and her breath came in short, rapid pants. The blazing
lights prevented her from seeing much of the crowd—but she could hear them,
transcending the pulse that still hammered from the speakers. Uncertainty
ripped at her, to the point where she feared this would be a nightmarish rerun
of her first time at Blue’s. The band would play. And the singer would choke.

All at once, the world stopped.

At first she thought she’d fainted. But after a moment of
deafening silence, a low murmur of voices filled in the spaces, rising
steadily. She finally realized that the sound effect no longer played and all
the lights were dark. The power had gone out.

And the crowd was not happy.

A man in jeans and a dark shirt, wearing a headset, rushed
out onto the stage waving his arms in the air. “Hold your places, please,” he
said to the band. “Just a glitch. We’ll have it fixed soon.” He turned toward
the audience and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Everything’s fine, folks,”
he shouted. “Hang tight. We’ll be up and running in just a couple of minutes.”

A few angry shouts transcended the murmur of discontent. One
exceptionally loud voice called, “You
suck
, techie!”

Shuddering, Logan slid the mic back onto the stand. She
could feel the anger from the crowd, a black and malevolent force thrusting
tendrils into the atmosphere and sucking the life out of everything. It shouldn’t
have escalated this fast. Those people were just about demanding blood.

She moved slowly toward the edge of the stage. Without the
blinding floodlights, there was just enough daylight to get a clear picture of
the audience. They were restless, jostling one another, their faces drawn into
snarls and grimaces.

And among them were the Tempters. Hundreds of them, their
black eyes glittering with evil hunger as they urged the mob toward frenzy.

Logan froze, unable to look away. She couldn’t even open her
mouth to get Tex’s attention. The shouts and taunts kept piling on, building to
furious peaks. Someone booed—and the call spread through the crowd like
wildfire. The sound lodged in the pit of her stomach, turning her blood to ice.