Page 77 of Elemasters

“Since you made me give it up?” Dustin raised his eyebrow, partially teasing, but also just stating the truth. Charlotte’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“Yes. I suppose you’re right. What’s the occasion?”

“Chloe needs us to play the Winter Formal tonight. Last minute cancellation. My brother’s missing, and yet the show must go on,” Dustin deadpanned, his eyes flickering to the picture of him and Chris he had pinned up on the corkboard across the room. Right next to his meet schedule with all the dates after regionals crossed out since they’d been cancelled following Leo’s death. That photo of the two of them, high out of their minds, making devil hand signs outside of a concert.

“Mustn’t it always,” Charlotte said, pain weighing down her voice, “well, I think it’ll be good for you to do something fun with your friends tonight. I’m sure Chris will forgive us for taking a single day off, right?”

“He’d probably be angrier if we didn’t,” Dustin replied with a giggle.

“Good luck tonight. Or should I say, ‘break a leg’? Do people say that in real life or is that just a TV thing?”

“Who cares, the thought’s what counts. Drive safe, okay? Apparently, there’s a big storm brewing,”

“Don’t worry. Haven’t died behind the wheel yet,” Charlotte replied with a wink, jingling her keys as she turned to leave.

“Pretty sure it only has to happen once for it to stick…” Dustin mumbled to himself as she made her way out of the house.

Once he was alone, Dustin took a deep breath.

No more time to wait. He was locked on course now.

Dustin was definitely feeling a bit… exposed.

He’d pulled out a black tank top with a goat skull and pentagram scrawled on it in what looked like white paint, a pair of charcoal skinny jeans that hugged his ass like a second skin, and his favorite pair of old converse— the ones with stars and hearts drawn all over the white bits by Bailey.

Normally he would’ve been anxiously covering his midriff or allowing his curvy frame to be consumed by one of his oversized hoodies; but despite the revealing nature of the outfit… he felt good. Damn good.

He sauntered into the gym, for once not consciously fighting the natural sway of his hips as he went, and took stock of the decorations. Chloe had truly outdone herself; a silver, white, and blue balloon arch welcomed him inside, massive snowflakes coated with sparkling glitter lined the walls, and at least a hundred icicle shaped lights dangled from the ceiling. It was like he’d just walked into an honest to God Winter Wonderland, clearly funded by a generous donation from Alicia Moore and not the school’s flimsy activities budget.

The stage had already been set up with mics and instruments, and Dustin was so preoccupied going through the mental logistics of having to perform their old songs without a keyboardist, that he didn’t even notice James and Bailey walking up behind him.

“Holy shit… there he is,” Bailey said softly, beaming with pride as Dustin turned to face her. James’s jaw had dropped so far it had burrowed through the floor and ended up with Dante and Vergil in the first layer of Hell.

“Sweet mother of molasses,” he mumbled when his neurons finally started firing again, “I feel like I’m seeing you for the first time all over again,”

“What can I say? I couldn’t bring back Colorful Trauma without the look to match,” Dustin replied, his cheeks reddening despite his flippant tone.

“Well, welcome back Dusty,” Bailey blew him a kiss, “now, I hate to get straight to business, but we need to pick a song and rehearse it at least twice if we don’t want this to be a complete disaster,”

“I was just thinking that it’s gonna be hard to pull off without a keyboardist. We could probably get by without a drummer if we had someone on a synth drum kit,” Dustin tapped his chin in thought for a moment, before James interjected like an excited kindergartener.

“Oh, I can help! I was in a garage band with my cousins last summer for shits and giggles and I was on synths! Gimme a sec to run home and grab my stuff, be back in a flash!”

It didn’t take too long for James to return, and before Dustin knew it they were on stage; him and Bailey looking through their notebooks of old songs trying to settle on one that wouldn’t be too difficult for James to pick up on such short notice.

As they were focused on that, James started absentmindedly playing the opening notes of Total Eclipse of the Heart on his keyboard. He was really just dicking around and channeling his nervous energy, but the moment Dustin heard it, his eyes widened.

“Sorry, it was just stuck in my head,” James sheepishly spoke up, noticing the sudden shift in Dustin’s demeanor, “I was just thinking about that time we did karaoke at my place, when you and Chris sang that song,”

“No baby, it’s fine,” Dustin assured him. He glanced down at the Fire Ring on his finger, Chris’s ring, “I think we should perform it. It’s something we all know, and it just feels… right,”

“Agreed,” the sound of Chloe’s voice directed everyone’s attention to the far end of the stage, where she was standing with a clipboard in hand, her hair obscured by a large silk bonnet and her makeup still a work in progress, “don’t judge, I’m multitasking. Anyway, I was just about to ask what song you guys were doing so I could let the AV nerds know. They wanted to handle the lights for the performance… but if you’re doing that song, it only makes sense for me to take care of that part myself,”

“You’re good with lighting effects?” Dustin wondered aloud, more shocked at the fact that he was doubting Chloe than anything else.

“You think my mom left me with a babysitter growing up? I spent my whole childhood in fashion show tech booths. Trust me, I’ll make it special,” she said with a wink, “now get to rehearsing! I won’t have you sounding like shit and ruining my event!”

Dustin smiled and nodded as he took his spot at the main mic. Wherever Qin Shi Huang had taken Chris, whatever he was forcing him to do, Dustin could only hope that he’d somehow know that they were doing this for him, and that it wouldn’t be much longer until they broke him free.