The Elementalists

Chapter 8

Rai

Boom—ka powwow boom BOOM—bada dumdumdumdum. . .

The beat is a pulse, synthetic, electric, reverberating through my skull. Boom BOOM—bada dumdumdumdum—

Closing my eyes, I sway to the rhythm. Owning the dance floor. 

Oh . . . ah, ah, ah . . . lovin' life, i-i-i-it's-so-bright—

My hands cover my ears, pushing my headphones in deeper until the music swallows me whole.

Yeah, yeah, w-w-we got tomorrow—

The beat rises to a climax. I lift my head, feel the whole room jump together—

AND—

'Hey?'

There's a light touch on my arm. I open my eyes, squinting through the darkness and the haze of flashing lights. Someone's in front of me, his face shining with sweat and a smoking shot-glass in one hand.

'Quail?'

It is Quail. His headphones hang out of his ears like freaky little insects, all flashing bright yellow. Like stars. I laugh, reaching out to brush them aside, accidentally getting them tangled in his hair. His sweat lingers on the back of my hand; I don't care. It feels nice. Then my body's distracted by the pull of the music—all I want to do is dance right now, dance right now—but Quail's lips are moving. Reluctant, I slide my own headphones out of my ears.

'So, what d'ya say?' Quail looks nervous; he's grinning at me a little too hard and when my fingers nudge his hand, it's so sweaty. Too much to be from the heat. I smile. At him and to myself. 

He's nervous because of me.

'To what?' I yell, then I laugh again, all sheepish; the problem with headphones is that when you take them out, everything sounds too quiet. I'm overcompensating. But Quail doesn't seem to mind; he tucks my hand in his and leads me away through the dance floor.

'Wait for me,' I mutter to Dove as I pass her. She winks.

'Will do!' She lands a kiss on my lips and I push her away, laughing, laughing too much, too hard, I don't know why.

'Come on,' Quail whispers and I flick Dove on the nose as I leave her behind.

'Promise you won't leave without me.'

'I won't!' She turns her back on me, not listening or caring; she's dancing, head lolling from side to side, drifting further into the crowd.

Needless to say, by the time I get back, she's gone.

*

'Stupid, stupid. I knew I shouldn't have listened to her.' I shove my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans, shivering in the midnight breeze.

There's no one to hear me, no one to reply. I scuff my trainers along the pavement, cursing Dove into oblivion.

By the time I got back, the party was almost over. Only the dregs remained, and let's be honest, who wants to be around at the end of a party, am I right? Calico was frantically tidying up before her Guardian got home, whilst Froz swapped between vomiting into paper cups and tossing them into the incinerator. Except, he kept missing. Cali was screaming at him, and the noise—jeez —it went straight through my head. There was no sign of Dove or any of the others; they must have Wormholed home together.