Page 55 of The Music Demon

“Can I do those things?”

“Well…”

“Well, what?”

“Um…” A two-hundred-thousand-dollar Jacob and Co. watch appeared on his wrist for use as a prop purely so that he could look at it and pretend to care about human timekeeping. “Oh look. Late for my party. Got to go, snookums.”

He kissed the air twice and vanished.

Few things would have ramped up her need to know more than his abrupt disappearance. The cagey behavior was clue enough that she was asking questions he didn’t want to answer.Why?But vanishing with a kiss-kiss was not to be tolerated.

Her emotions revved from curious to furious in the blink of an eye.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said.

Without thinking it through, which was her usual modus operandi, she acted on instinct alone. She let her eyes go slightly out of focus so that she could pick up the lavender mist trail he left in his wake, and flew after him without having any idea where she was going. She was aware that she was traveling faster than ever before, but had no time to wonder about that. Her focus was determinedly fixed on making sure that slacker angel didn’t get away.

Almost slamming into his back when he solidified, she came to a full stop in some sort of heavenly gathering place. Not a bar. More like a club without walls, floor, or ceiling.

At least he was telling the truth about going to a party. Everyone was dressed in white or black amid towers of white and black balloons tied with curly white ribbon trailing so far that the end was out of sight. Everything at the party was black or white except for one scarlet balloon in the middle of the big center bouquet.

All eyes turned to stare at her.

“Kellareal,” said a voice that rumbled like thunder. “Who’s your plus one?”

Kellareal hadn’t known he’d been followed until he turned around to see what everybody was looking at. He hadn’t known she could follow.

A hundred thoughts went through his head in an instant.

Maybe he’d handled the situation wrong.

Maybe he could explain her away.

Maybe it was the beginning of the end of all creation.

“Rosie…” he began.

“Ah,” said thunder’s voice. “Rosie. Nice name.”

Feeling a little self-conscious to be crashing a party in a place she hadn’t known existed, populated by creatures who were more curious about her than she was about them, she was rethinking the advisability of rash behavior.

In an apologetic tone, she said, “I’m sorry to barge in. I was having a discussion with my friend that wasn’t finished.”

The bearer of the godlike voice had the bearing and demeanor of a person who expects to be in charge no matter where they find themselves. He had handsome features, as did most heavenly creatures. Sharp gray eyes. Black-as-night hair and an air of strength that was unmistakable.

He was wearing a white robe much like Lally’s usual uniform. She wondered if that meant he would normally be seen in black leather.

“Rosie,” Kellareal said. “This is Micheal.”

When Micheal looked her way, she said, “Elora Rose Storm.”

“Ohhhhhh,” said Micheal as if all had just been made clear. “I see.”

“You do? I mean, what do you see?” She looked around and saw that everyone was still staring. “I apologize again. I shouldn’t be interrupting your, um, party. I’d just see myself out, but I’m not sure where I am?”

“Now that you’re here,” Micheal said, “we all want to know why you followed our associate.”

“Well. No. Really. I think I should just be going.” Someone pushed a chair against the back of her legs with just the right pressure needed to make her knees bend. When she sat, all the partygoers crowded around like she was the attraction of the millennium. She looked around until she found Lally. He shook his head slightly, but she had no idea how to interpret that.