Darkly Devoted Companion Book

Nightmare Eater (on hold)

The Nightmare Devourer

Althea Liu

Chapter 1 What Nightmares May Come

"You must be the luckiest girl in New York City!"

"What?" I yelled across the length of the packed 7 train.

"I heard from Jon that you are doing the Million interview!"

"Is that a good thing?"

"Million is only like the hottest singer in recent history."

"I've never heard of him."

Was Kimberly kidding? Was I interviewing the hottest singer in history? I had never even heard of him until three hours ago.

There was no time to finish our chat. The train doors opened at the Times Square stop, and I jumped onto the platform.

I wanted to talk to Kimberly some more, but there wasn't time. I was running late for the interview. Kim and I were on the volleyball team together, and she had never taken an interest in the school journalism staff before. Jonathan Peters, our editor-in-chief, had hastily texted me that afternoon during our Art Appreciation lecture that he had tested positive for COVID and needed someone to cover an article today. He knew I hadn't been pulling my weight in the paper lately because I'd been so busy with my volleyball meets.

Who tests themselves for COVID right before a huge interview?

Or hands it off to a girl who didn't listen to pop music?

I tried to walk and google Million at the same time. I knew he was a singer and I was supposed to meet him in a 3rd-floor conference room in 3 Times Square at precisely 4:00 pm. His real name was Mathew Chu, but he went by the stage name "Million." His music had been described as a mix of Marilyn Manson meets Justin Beiber. His costumes were theatrical, and his dreamy eyes were always outlined with an ungodly amount of blue eyeliner.

I never felt more out of place than inside the sleek glittery Swarovski diamond of a building whose address I needed to double-check three times. I was ushered into the VIP elevators at 3 Times Square and taken up to the conference rooms on the third floor. One of Million's people, a pretty girl wearing a black perfectly fitted suit, was waiting for me when the elevator doors opened.

"Ms.Rimon of the Gotham University Daily?" She asked with a smile sweeter than Oishii strawberries.

"Yes!" I gasped in relief. It was 4:05. I wasn't usually late, but it had been a long day of classes, and I was operating on about three hours of sleep. Ms. Oishii didn't have the patience for small talk. She spun around on her designer heels and bid me to follow her down the spotless hallway. I tugged at the frayed edges of my GAP sweater and wished I had the decency to put on jeans without holes in them that morning.

"He is heading out to the club soon. You don't have much time."

"I-I know," I stammered. "I don't need much. Just a quote or two."

There were a group of boys milling about a room overlooking Times Square. They were all more handsome than the last, but I was directed to a couch beside a boy who was clearly the head honcho of the group. He had the sharpest chin and the best skin out of all of them. I knew he was Million, even though he looked nothing like the photo on Wikipedia.

I sat at the edge of the couch even though I was in no danger of suffocating him or even touching him, for that matter. I did it because I wanted to stress that I was a normal person, not some crazed fangirl who was having palpitations from breathing the same air as His Holiness. I hoped that some degree of normalcy meant he would forgive me for not having heard his music.