Mr. Burly hollered out, “One minute, sass pants!”
I threw on some jeans and kept on my black shirt that said “NO!” It was a pajama top and not my usual, carefree invisible style, but I didn’t care. My hair was a bigger problem. I’d need at least ten minutes to detangle and straighten it back out. I tied it into a wild knot and stared at Annie in her sleek, black case.
I didn’t want to leave my guitar in the trailer; she could be stolen. But I didn’t want to touch her either. To be honest, it hurt to look at her. The trailer jerked into motion again, and I jumped out, pushing my headphones into my ears so that Mr. Burly knew I wasn’t going to talk to him.
I walked to the quay. The ocean was a brag artist of sparkles beneath a bright sun, and the production crew was loading up the huge ferry with equipment vans and trailers. I found Shoshanna siting on a rock wall down by the water, skipping stones and watching an eighty-year-old skinny dip in the near distance.
“Is that really happening?” I asked, popping out my earbud in slight shock.
“Yes,” Shoshanna said without looking at me. “I’m disgusted and yet I can’t turn away. Who knew skin could drape like that?” Shoshanna glanced over her perfect shoulder and motioned to my clothes and hair. “That’s a good look on you.”
I couldn’t tell if she was being serious. My scan of her tone only provoked the feeling I’d had when I first met her: that she was royalty and I was a lowly creature.
“Sorry for being a dick last night,” she said, surprising me.
I wanted to say something cool back. I didn’t. I kicked some loose stones and felt my chest tighten. “Where is everybody?”
“Almost all gone. Cate and your brother are at the restaurant. Roxanne went off with the rest of the crew. They’re going sightseeing on their way to Killykeen.”
I wasn’t sure why Shoshanna was telling me where the makeup artist went, but I left it alone. “Everything okay?”
“There’s been some drama about the teaser trailer. This damn production…” Shoshanna picked up a rock from a pile and threw it at the water. As much as my mouthy pajama top was a different look on me, Shoshanna’s distress altered her fierce, confident facade, showing deep cracks. “How come when your dreams come true, they come true all effed up?”
Another rock hurtled at the water, making a bank sound when it hit.
So she wasn’t skipping stones. She was cannonballing them.
• • •
I hurried to Tí Joe Watty’s, vaguely noting how much I’d gotten used to the quiet, unhurried motion of Inishmore. When I ducked inside the restaurant, my eyes adjusted slowly. Ryder was sitting at a table in the corner with Eamon. He waved but pulled his hand back like he shouldn’t have done that. Eamon looked over and then away, which stung.
I turned from both of them. The restaurant was mostly empty, the crew members gone. Cate held court at the biggest table before three different laptops, a printer, and stacks of paper. Henrik sat next to her, talking on the phone in a hurried rush.
I walked to Cate, and she glanced up, her gaze heavier than usual.
“I wanted to tell you that I’m leaving as soon as my da—”
“Sit,” she said. “We have to talk.”
Henrik started yelling on the phone. He left the table while Cate and I watched him go.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“You don’t like Elementia,” Cate said.
“I think we’ve covered that much,” I tried.
She swiveled one of the laptops so I could see the screen. “Watch. Tell me what you think as a nonfan.”
I paused Florence who was still wailing through my iPhone and plugged my earbuds into the computer. Cate looked at me a little strangely but pressed play. I watched the same trailer I’d seen with Julian a few days ago, only this time it was more finely cut and orchestral music swelled along with it. It didn’t feel as powerful as it had during the first viewing, but then, I wasn’t snuggled up to a movie star in the dark this time.
When the minute forty-five was over, I pulled out my earbud. “It’s good.”
“Good is the kiss of death.” Cate shuffled some pages. “The focus group of non-Elementia readers found it to be ‘okay.’” She rubbed her grey hair with both hands. “Okay is not good, and even good is not okay. We don’t have fan support, and now we don’t have nonfan interest either.”
I wondered if she was the sort to cry, but instead she slammed a gold-tinted beverage in a whiskey glass. When I eyed it, she snapped, “It’s ginger ale, Iris. Sugar is my preferred poison.”
She tried to take back the laptop, but I held on to it. “Can I try something?”
“Oh, by all means.” Cate grabbed her glass and headed for the bar.
I had a weird idea. I reclaimed my headphone cord and put it back into my iPhone. Then I synced the Florence song that had been in my head all morning with the trailer on mute. It sounded good. It felt good. When Cate came back, I handed my headphones over, turned the laptop and played it for her with my song choice. She listened and watched once, and then twice.
When Henrik came back, she grabbed his arm and handed over the headphones. He listened twice as well. Then they stared at me.
I shrugged. “You want to appeal to non-nerds, you’ve got to choose cool music.”
“What is that song?” Cate asked.
“‘No Light, No Light,’” I said. “It always felt like a fantasy to me.”
Cate looked at Henrik. “Did it make you feel feelings?”
Henrik nodded. “And you know I prefer not to. But…we do not have the budget for the permissions to a song like that.”
“Find out how much and take it out of the
