Page 103 of Foes & Cons
Ihover in the doorway, certain I can hear someone crying in the distance. Wondering if it could be Felix and if I need to unholster that hug, I look down the corridor, but Sadie runs round the corner, her face blotchy and streaming with tears. I don’t know what’s happened, but the sight of a crying Sadie splits my heart in two. I open my arms as she gets closer and she falls into me, squishing her face into my shoulder.
“Sadie? What’s the matter?” I say, looking over her for injuries. “Are you OK?”
She triesto speak but just sobs louder. I squeeze her back, waiting for her to find her words until Charlie runs round the corner. A mix of relief and tension confuses my body as our eyes lock, and he stops a couple of steps from us.
“Sadie, I know you’re upset but please don’t ever run away from me like that,” he says.
She clings to me tighter and hiccups something into my chest, like she’s seven years old again and doesn’t understand why she can’t watch the lady with the sword tell off monsters with us.
“What did you say, Sadie?” I say, frowning at Charlie who justshakes his head and shrugs.
She looks up at me, her huge eyes spilling over with tears.
“The. . . the . . . karaoke p-p-party is c-c-cancelled,” she manages, squeezing her eyes closed.
“What?” I say,shaking my head. “Felix wouldn’t do that, not for the last convention. He knows what it means to us.”
“And Ch-Ch-Charlie says we have to l-l-leave today!”Charlie puts his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugs him off. “Ihateyou, Charlie!”
“I don’t understand,” I say. “What’s happened to the party tonight?”
I stroke Sadie’s hair, as Charlie looks over his shoulder then leans into me. Child is suffering trauma, yet my skin still sparkles as boy closes the space between us. God, I’m pathetic.
“Apparently the karaoke guy hasn’t shown up,” says Charlie.
“How do you know?”
“Sadie has made me sit in the green room and all the other off-limit sections the entire weekend. I heard a couple of Felix’s team stressing about it. The guy isn’t answering his phone and Felix has already paid him.”
“Can’t they just do another silent disco?” I ask.
“The sound guys are halfway to Newcastle with all the equipment. I heard there’s literally zero money left. Apparently, Felix put everything into this weekend. He’s skint. Most of this has run on the goodwill of the guests,especially. . .” Charlie nods towards the open door. I look round. Damon Van Schwartz. “Apparently, Damon thinks a lot of Felix and loves doing this so much he talked all the other actors into coming without an upfront fee. Felix isn’t making a penny, and now the karaoke guy hasn’t shown up.”
“So,” I say, totally relating to Sadie’seleven-year-old meltdown, “the final,finalconvention party isn’t happening?”
Charlie shrugs. I look at him and swallow.
“But why are you guys leaving early?”
“What’s the point in staying?” He tries to shrug again, but his shoulders have tensed up. “It’s not going to end how I . . . how she wanted it to.”
Charlie puts his hand round my back and for a moment I think he’s going to hug me, but instead he takes Sadie’s hands and unfurls her from me. She’s just snivelling now, worn out from the crying.
“C-can I have a piggyback?” she asks, looking more like the little girl I first met nearly five years ago.
Charlie assumes the universal piggyback position, and Sadie manages tojump up, pressing her head against Charlie’s shoulders. I tuck her hair behind her ear, and she blinks at me, her bottom lip wobbling a little.
“Sorry, Sadie,” I say, as Charlie carriesher away to pack up her unfinished weekend.
I watch them disappear, then Debbie’s voice pipes up beside me.
“Shall we?”
Shall we what?I wonder for a second then I sense that I’m close to a forcefield of greatness and never-ending talent, and I remember why I’m there. Damon Van Schwartz stands next to Debbie, looking at me with his slushie-blue eyes.
“Sorry, I was on my cell, and honestly, I couldn’t bear to see the kid like that.” He shakes his head, his hand on his chest. “Anyway, let’s do this. Eliza, right?”
I nod and follow him into the small meetingroom. We sit at the end of a long table with a few headshots of him fanned out.
