The Enchanter Heir

Chapter Forty-two

Got Ourselves a Gig

“I’m not doing it,” Jonah said flatly. “No. Absolutely not.”

“But . . . I already said we would,” Natalie said. “You don’t have plans for Halloween, do you?”

“Do I ever have plans?” Jonah rolled his eyes. “Since I haven’t been traveling, I—oh, wait, I do. I’m clipping my toenails. If there’s time left, I’m doing my fingernails, too.”

“It’s a paying gig,” Rudy said. “They’re offering good money, in fact. And Gabriel says they’re really excited about having us come.”

“Of course they are,” Jonah muttered. “Don’t you see? It’s Halloween. Invite the monsters in to entertain at your party.”

Rudy and Natalie looked at each other. “I don’t think that’s why they invited us, Jonah,” Natalie said. “Patrick gave them a list of bands, and I guess Ellen Stephenson heard Fault Tolerant at one of the teen nights downtown, and so when we showed up on the list, they chose us.”

“There are a lot of bands in town,” Jonah said. “They can pick another one.”

“We don’t want them to pick another band,” Rudy said. “We need to get out in front of some audiences and build some buzz. Once we get a good set list of original music, I’d like to go into the studio and record an EP. We’ll need money to do that.”

“Gabriel will front us the money,” Jonah said. “Studio space, equipment, everything.”

“Gabriel’s the one who wants us to do this gig.”

They were in the first-floor practice room of Oxbow, which had become their default hangout over the weeks since Mose died. Even Jonah had to admit, the more they practiced, the better they sounded. More cohesive. More than the sum of their parts. As Natalie said, the best band she’d ever been in, meaning no disrespect to Mose.

Emma had been cool and distant to Jonah since the night of the visit to Cleveland Heights. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?

At least she’d shown no signs that she recognized him as the one who’d murdered her father. Maybe Fortune had finally decided to shine on him, for some unfathomable reason.

What he hadn’t expected was the relationship that was developing between Emma and Kenzie. She’d been over to see him several times since he moved to Steel Wool. They had a lot in common, in particular a knack for music theory and composition. She’d take her guitar and serve as the voice for Kenzie’s flights of fancy. When Jonah asked, Emma said she liked Kenzie because he told the truth. Which to Jonah’s ears sounded like a barb at the rest of them.

She knew they were keeping secrets. Jonah knew how that felt, now that he was on the outside, no longer a part of Nightshade. He knew Alison still went out on missions . . . in fact, her frequent absences were becoming an issue when it came to scheduling practices. Jonah knew the shadehunters were still holding meetings and planning strategy and launching aggressive killing operations. He just wasn’t privy to their activities anymore. Was it because he didn’t need to know, or because Gabriel didn’t trust him?

Emma had remained silent through the argument, head bent over her fingerboard. She was playing one of her own guitars, an electrified acoustic with a fabulous voice. But she still wasn’t satisfied with the action. Now she spoke up. “Who’s having the party?” she asked.

“Gabriel’s contacts were Jack Swift and Ellen Stephenson,” Natalie said. “But the party is at Seph McCauley’s house, and I think Madison Moss is cohosting. It’s a kind of open house . . . members from all the guilds are invited. Apparently it’s gotten to be a Halloween tradition.”

“Well,” Emma said. “I could stand to make some money. I’m building guitars, but I haven’t had as much time to work on them, what with practice and school and all that.”

“If you need money,” Jonah said, “I know that Gabriel would be glad to—”

“I’m not talking about walking-around money,” Emma said. “I need to make enough money to open my own shop. I’ve got some saved up, but not enough. I’m already living on Gabriel’s dime. I don’t expect him to stake my business.”

“He probably would,” Jonah said. “He’d love to show you off . . . ‘Savant Makes Good, Starts Own Business. Film at eleven.’ ”

“I said no.” Emma punctuated this with a trill of notes.

“I said no, too, but nobody seems to be listening.” Jonah looked around the circle of faces and saw no support at all.

To buy some time, he set his guitar in its stand, crossed to the refrigerator, and pulled out a can of pop. Taking a long pull, he considered his options. He could try using his powers of persuasion, but he knew Natalie would call him on it. She had a habit of drowning him out with a drum solo whenever she felt he wasn’t playing fair.

“Alison?” Jonah looked to the one person he thought might back him up, though she’d been even harder to read and predict since Mose had died. “What do you think? Do you really want to go along with this?”

“Maybe,” Alison replied, with an odd, vague smile. “Can we run amok during the show? Set fire to the stage? Kill a few people?”

No help there.

“You know as well as I do that it was vigilantes from Trinity that tried to blow up Safe Harbor,” Jonah said, “whether Gabriel admits it or not.”

“If that’s true, I’m guessing it wasn’t the people hosting the party,” Natalie said. “You know I’m no fan of wizards, but not everyone over there is a bigot. Mercedes Foster is really—”

“Then let the nonbigots come to the benefit concert in the spring,” Jonah said. “Let them come onto our turf.”

“Gabriel thinks it’s a good idea. It will be good publicity for the school, and it might change some opinions about—”

“Of course he thinks it’s a good idea. And he knows I’ll think it’s a bad idea, which is why he brought it to you and not to me. He knew what my answer would be.”

“This is business,” Natalie said. “This is income, and exposure, and maybe a chance to show them all what we can do.”

That’s the trouble with bands, Jonah thought. You join one because you love to make music, and before you know it, it’s a business.

“I don’t need to show anyone anything,” he said. “Have you considered the fact that we might be walking straight into an ambush?”

“Jonah,” Emma said. “Rowan seemed to think that people in Trinity were involved in my father’s murder. You think they were behind the attack on Safe Harbor. We can all sit around here talking to each other, but if we really want to find out something, it seems to me we might learn more by going there, meeting some people, and asking some questions. Even if the people who were involved in the attack aren’t at the party.”

“I can’t imagine what we’d learn that would justify putting you in danger,” Jonah said.

“You’ve been complaining about Gabriel doing this very thing—avoiding confrontation,” Natalie said.

“I think you’re outvoted, dude,” Rudy said.

“All right,” Jonah said, giving in. “We’ll do the gig. But if it’s a disaster, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”