Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)(99)

Mae finished putting together her larger gun for the third time, checking it in such a way that it pointed directly at Dennis. He flinched and backed up, nearly running into Tessa. It took him several moments to realize he’d been addressed and finally turned his wide eyes toward Justin. He gulped.

“Westfield Plaza, sir.”

“Outside or inside?”

“Outside.”

“General seating?”

“Yes.”

“You bringing blankets?”

Mae loaded a cartridge into the other gun with a bit more force than she probably needed. Dennis jumped again.

“Y-yes, sir.”

Justin said nothing right away and simply stared at Dennis in a way that seemed to terrify him more than the guns. Tessa could see lines of fatigue on Justin’s face and was surprised he could be so intimidating. He and Mae had only just gotten back from their recent trip an hour ago, and from the tension between them, things hadn’t gone well.

“How many other people are going?” asked Justin.

“Six.”

“Poppy’s one of them,” said Tessa, feeling a need to help Dennis.

Justin scoffed. “That’s not reassuring. You’re the kid who goes to church, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are they still preaching that cr—stuff about virtue and pure bodies?”

Dennis nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes. They just had a lecture last week.”

Justin subjected him to more dramatic scrutiny. “Okay. You can go…but I did a background check on you. I know where you live. She’s back by eleven, understand?”

Mae finished putting together a handgun and practiced aiming this one as well.

“Absolutely, sir. Thank you, sir.”

Tessa and Dennis hurried away.

“Wow,” he said once they were en route. “It must be pretty brutal living here.”

He sat almost a foot away from her on the train downtown, and Tessa had a feeling she didn’t have to worry about him attempting moves on her virtue tonight. Or ever.

They met Poppy and the others at a busy fast food place near the concert venue, which was a far cry from the fine dining establishments Justin frequented. Watching the way the servers churned out food didn’t inspire confidence, but it did give Tessa material for her film class. She’d taken to bringing her camera everywhere lately so that she could film snippets of Gemman life for her project. Her instructor was the only one who seemed to think Tessa’s background could actually offer something useful in observing the RUNA. Part of this included candid interviews, something her friends were more than happy to do.

“I was worried you wouldn’t come,” Poppy told her later. “Thought those provincial hang-ups would get the best of you.” As usual, though, she spoke of those “hang-ups” fondly.

Poppy was dressed like a girl Tessa had once seen on a corner while traveling by car with her family. “That girl didn’t listen to her parents,” Tessa’s mother had said ominously.

“This is going to blow your mind,” Poppy added. As the others chatted excitedly, she leaned toward Tessa and lowered her voice. “What do you think of Dennis?”

Tessa glanced across the table to where he was chatting with his sister, fresh off her suspension. “He’s okay,” whispered Tessa. “But I don’t think he’s the one for me.”

“Who needs the one?” Poppy grinned. “Nothing wrong with having fun with a guy.”

Tessa didn’t think she would ever be into the kind of “fun” that Poppy was referring to, at least not in a casual way. Maybe there was nothing more to attraction and Tessa was just deluding herself. Just like Dennis, no guy at school had really wowed her. No girl had either. She would’ve blamed it on a cultural contrast, but she’d never met anyone of interest in Panama. Poppy seemed to love a different guy every week, and Tessa feared there might just be something wrong with her.

The fact that the concert was outdoors helped with Tessa’s crowd claustrophobia. It was the music itself she had trouble with. She’d meant to preview Vital Lucidity on the stream but hadn’t gotten around to it. They caught her totally off guard and were like no band she’d ever heard before. The lyrics were indecipherable, and the background music sounded jarring and discordant. Worst of all, everything was just loud. All conversation had to be shouted, and Tessa half expected hearing loss later. Sitting outside in the spring evening was pleasant at least, and recording her friends’ enraptured faces provided more material. Rhea was a particular fan and kept going on about how much she knew about the band, all the paraphernalia she’d collected, and all the stats on their next album. It was another of those moments when Tessa was struck by how an antireligious country managed to find gods without even realizing it.

“You want some?” Poppy offered her a flask at intermission.

Tessa hesitated. One glass of wine at Leo and Dominic’s had nearly knocked her out. “I don’t know if I should.”

“There’s another one in my purse. I stole it all from my dad’s liquor cabinet—not that he’ll even notice. I swear, he drinks more than anyone else in the world.”

After living with Justin, Tessa wasn’t so sure about that.

Dennis overheard and moved to their side of the blanket, panic all over his face. “No. Absolutely not. If she goes home drunk, they’ll kill me.”