Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 77: Dancing On Loose Tiles

That same evening, my ride back home on the bus wasn't long enough. I didn't want to come back home. I was a nervous wreck.

I, becoming a model?! Eros had looked as if he had been on cloud nine, but I had felt as if I was bungee jumping from that same cloud, falling below at full speed. I'd soon become a splatter of blood on the ground.

It didn't matter that Mrs Nevermore had looked eager to meet me on the next day for the photoshoot. It didn't matter that Eros' look of satisfaction had met with the hyperactive yet guilty butterflies in my stomach. It didn't matter that Kono was elated and replying to Mirela's glare with a naughty smirk. It didn't matter that I would become the one and only model who also was a traditional human.

That ad could get me in real trouble. First, what could I tell my father?

'Hello, dad. My first day at Oyster's been fantastic! I've been promoted from shop assistant to model in a day. I'm gonna be in the ad on the BioBank's façade next week, wearing only a swimsuit. It's a whim of my boss' son, Eros. Yes, the same young man who sent me a fruit basket a few days ago. The one you think I should not have got close contact with.'

Now, I couldn't tell him that!

But Oyster's ad would become the talk of the town if Mrs Nevermore won the bid – so I would not be able to hide the truth from him. My face would be on the BioBank's façade, and in many magazines, too.

What would Agape think? And Sigi? And the fellow rebels who hated my guts? That smelt like a disaster already! My stomach churned out of revulsion and fear.

I got home and answered any questions from my father as briefly as I could as if nothing was the matter. I could barely eat my dinner, and I could tell he found it suspicious. I went to bed early. Thankfully, so did my father. I told him I was exhausted, and he bought it.

The full moon danced up in the sky on a dancefloor made of diamonds. While I stared at its beauty, I wished morning would never come.

A few minutes after I started hearing my father's snoring, I changed into some jeans and a T-shirt under the pale moonlight.

The drawer where my socks were was still open when I saw that the Kolibri that Sigi had given me was silently pleading me to come with. I hated guns as much as I hated the idea of killing. I sighed, but took it and hid it in the right pocket of my jeans. It was so small that the bulge could've been mistaken for my keys.

Then, I sneaked out from home and rode Frankie towards Amanita. Agape wanted to talk to me, and later I would be practising meditation with Sigi – if I managed to survive Agape's fury, that is.

Because I assumed she was still mad at me. She believed I had had something to do with the inexplicable identity awakening of those androids during Apollo's press conference.

I drove up Dawn's promenade. The Neon Sea was deadly and beautiful, as usual.

"Hey! Look who's there!" Gabi's joyful voice greeted me from his bedroom's open window. He was sitting sideways on the window sill and had an electric guitar in his hands. He was, surprisingly to me, talking to K8, who was leaning on the window sill in front of him. K8 had a spoon and an empty bottle of anisette in her hands. "It's Daphne!"

"Hello, you two up there!" I replied in the same mood as I parked Frankie by the door. I took off my helmet and stared at both of them in a joyful kind of disbelief. Were they friends? "Gabi, are you playing a song for K8 maybe?"

"Oh, no. She's helping me practice a song... for a very special girl," he replied and winked at me.

"He plays the guitar, while I play this... this special Spanish instrument," K8 said then. "I can't still believe it's for real." Then, she made a brief demonstration by rubbing the spoon on the engraved glass bottle with a nice smile on her face. "This sound of metal on glass is charming, though."