Page 22 of Leviathan's Song
The girls opened their circle to include us and cast us friendly smiles while they danced, cheering and waving us into their group. I couldn’t tell if they were just super friendly or if traveling with hot guys had perks. Probably both. There was definitely a free-love type vibe among many of the dancers. I didn’t know what to do with that, so I just smiled back and waved a little.
Josh leaned over my shoulder from behind me. “Can you actually see anything down here? You can sit on my shoulders so you can see!” When I tried to look up at him, he was already hoisting me into the air. I expected him to seat me around his neck, but he was big enough that he just perched me on one shoulder and kept dancing.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to hide from the Phantoms down below?” I asked in his ear. I felt safer down below, where I was more hidden from view. Being exposed like this gave me anxiety.
He shrugged and shook his head. “Nobody’s gonna touch you. Sam would put anybody who tried anything in a dumpster somewhere, I promise. Have fun and enjoy the show!” His confidence relaxed me a little, and I sat up to take in the party.
Music hammered around us with stuttering, drumming beats and people gathered in tight groups, dancing and stomping and passing people up to crowd surf over the surging horde.
An illusionist off to my right created a light show as he danced, shimmering orbs spinning into planetary systems that morphed into galaxies before disintegrating and becoming something else entirely. The hot press of bodies swayed and shook and waved and sang as one DJ after another entertained from high above us.
Eventually, another DJ, in a headscarf that glowed bright green, took the crow’s nest, and I recognized Levi immediately as he spoke, amplifying his voice with an amulet. His enchantment rolled over the screaming crowd, but I couldn’t pick out its effects since it was blocked by my ward and there was so much other magical distraction flying around me. That is, until he boosted it with another amulet, and I began to feel surges of elation and glee paired with his usual siren lure.
The crowd roared around us, screaming and jumping in time with the music so that the floor shook dangerously, and I ducked a bit, feeling a little concerned about the stability of the warehouse as everything pounded and rattled deafeningly. Someone shot streams of water into the air nearby and a water bender turned it into mist, a welcome respite to the hot bodies dancing below. She didn’t even open her eyes or pause in her dancing. If I hadn’t felt how strong her magic was, I wouldn’t have known how it was done.
As the volume of the music dipped momentarily, Sidney leaned over and yelled, “I don’t know how he found you, but he’s staring at you!” She pointed up at the crow’s nest.
I craned my neck to look up and sure enough, the hood of Levi’s glowing scarf was pointed in our direction. I shivered despite the heat in the room, unsure how I felt about being so easily spotted. To be the focus of his singular attention among a crowd of slathering groupies felt heady, and I fully acknowledged that I was in full-blown crush territory now. However, it didn’t speak well for my safety that he’d seen me so easily.
After another song with his stare unwavering, it looked like he raised his arm and beckoned, but I couldn’t be sure I was seeing it correctly. Even if I was, I didn’t know if he was directing it at me or even how to get up there.
“I think he wants you to go up there,” Sidney yelled next to me.
I gave her a deer-in-the-headlights expression and shrugged my shoulders. Then I almost lost my balance and Josh had to grab my waist to keep me from pitching backward when a wisp swooped too close to my face. I glanced at Sidney to see that she’d managed to keep her composure by not noticing at all.
I wondered briefly if anyone would even notice her turning into a bird, then a naked woman, and then getting dressed in this chaos. Probably not, but I shuddered to think how easily a magpie could get crushed in a crowd like this. Sidney shook my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Tall, dark, and death! Twelve o’clock!” she yelled. I raised my head as Grim pushed through the crowd toward us. “Man, you weren’t kidding about that guy being menacing. Yeesh.” She cringed back just a hair. When he reached us, he shot Sidney a look like he wasn’t amused, but I had a hard time imagining he’d heard her.
My eyes snapped open.HOLY CRAP, what if her dressing as a Valkyrie was some kind of grim reaper cultural appropriation? I knew my expression was a bizarre mixture of absolute horror and inappropriately absurd amusement when he made eye contact with me and arched an eyebrow. I slapped my hand over my gaping mouth and just shook my head. I’d have to try to ask him later.
His eyebrows drew together in confusion as he held my gaze, and then he glanced up at the crow’s nest and back at me with a question in his eyes and shrugged. He turned his body toward Levi, but looked back at me like he was waiting for an answer. Did he want me to come with him? Did the man ever actually talk?
I looked to Sidney, and she clapped her hands like an excited child. “Go if you want!” She leaned toward Grim, and I heard her yell, “You’ll keep her safe?”
He nodded without taking his eyes off mine, and I shrugged. The man still made me nervous, but it was in the way a person might respect a calm but vicious-looking guard dog. My fear felt deeply embedded but at the same time logically irrational.
I patted Josh’s neck, and he hefted me off of his shoulder and set me lightly on the floor. He glanced at Sidney with a concerned expression, and she waved him off.
“We’ll go closer so we can keep an eye on her,” she yelled to him. I still had my wasps on me, but I tried not to bristle at their kid-glove treatment. This felt like being inside a blender and a riot all at once. Wild was an understatement.
I moved toward Grim, and he put an arm around me, not actually touching me but hovering a bit as if to shield me from the crowd. He walked half a step ahead of me, and I noticed the crowd parted slightly, always moving just before he touched a person. I wondered if others could feel his magical aura.
A glance behind me showed Sidney with a hand around Josh and Aaron’s wrists, dragging them along in our wake. I laughed as I heard Sam whine loudly in the back about having to leave behind the pretty girls.
Flashing lights reflected off of an ogre’s jagged teeth, making him look particularly gruesome, though he danced with great care for those around him as we passed by.
When we got to the wall near the crow’s nest, I saw a recessed groove that had a built-in ladder going up the side. Metal rungs stuck out of the side of the groove, but the bottom rung was up above my head. Before I could puzzle out if I was supposed to jump for the ladder, Grim startled me by wrapping his long hands around my waist and hoisting me up so that my feet touched the bottom rung.
He waited until I grabbed onto a higher rung with my hands before he turned and gazed out over the crowd with a bored expression. I guess he was acting as Levi’s bouncer tonight. Feeling a little self-conscious, I glanced over my shoulder to see if people were staring, but the groove was so deeply shadowed that it would have been hard to see me, so I began my slow ascent.
When I reached the top, Levi leaned over and took my hand, hauling me onto the small metal platform that made up the crow’s nest. There were metal pipes running this way and that, and levers and dials that must have been used for some kind of maintenance. A small ledge served as a table where he had amulets laid out with an entire handful of calling stones. It was barely enough room for both of us.
He kept ahold of my hand and pulled me close so he could speak directly against my ear without yelling. “What in the world are you doing here?” I shivered a little despite the oppressive heat this high up in the rafters.
“Having… fun?” I was a little surprised to find the statement was true. I was overstimulated and still felt like I was in a washing machine spin cycle, but as long as I wasn’t actually down amidst the swaying, shaking, and jiggling mass of hot bodies I was willing to admit this was more fun than I would have expected. I’d have to thank Josh for letting me ride on him like a camel all night.
Levi glared over the meager handrail. “Is one of those your boyfriend?” he asked as he tapped on various calling stones, shifting them from one spot on the ledge to another with his free hand while he worked.
