Searchlight (Crystal 1)

Chapter 24

The second live show was a breeze for Crystal, just like the first. She sang and worked Alejandro’s pale green—or ‘honeydew,’ as he called it—dress, but for some reason, she didn’t have that ‘on top of the world’ feeling this time.

The judges were gushing with their praise again, calling her ‘the star of the competition’ and ‘a real entertainer.’ Kyle Martins had talked about her work ethic and asked the technicians to show a video clip of her rehearsing. The crowd had been wild all through her performance. It seemed everyone was in love with her. But she just felt empty.

As she changed back into her regular clothes after the show, Crystal felt fatigued. It could be the ‘cleaning’ she’d been having every morning taking its toll on her, or it could be the drugs. She’d heard Max say that to Amanda yesterday evening when she’d stopped rehearsing because she was tired. Usually she had so much energy and continued to rehearse after everyone else left. Max had said her body might be working too hard to deal with the drugs.

“Is everything okay, miel?” Alejandro asked.

“Yeah.” Crystal smiled. “I’m just tired.”

“Go and get some rest.” He walked to the door. “You did good tonight,” he said winking, then he left.

Crystal removed the necklace Juda had given her from her purse, and put it on. She tapped the star-shaped pendant. She’d heard that there’d been speculation about her relationship with Alejandro. Apparently it was all over the media. She hoped Juda would know it wasn’t true. She had no way of contacting him, since Randall had taken her cell phone.

Paul appeared in the doorway to the dressing room. “Hey,” he said looking around the room. “Where’s Amanda?”

“With Saleisha, I think.” Amanda seemed to spend a lot of time placating Saleisha and assuring her that the SOT had plans to make her a star too, not just Crystal. “You guys did good tonight,” Crystal said smiling, thinking about Soul Fugz’s performance. They’d been shirtless again and their dance moves were pretty provocative—lots of crotch grabbing and sensual moves. They’d had all the girls in the crowd screaming. “I can’t believe Kyran’s pants fell down.”

“Yeah,” Paul said distractedly. He produced a small bottle from his pocket. “Drink this.” He pressed it into her hands. “Quick.”

Crystal uncapped it and drank it.

Paul watched her, shaking his head. “What have they done to you? You’re a meek little lamb, doing anything that anybody tells you to do.”

Crystal drained the bottle. Paul took it from her and pocketed it. “That will neutralize Armistol and Cordacil. I hope they’re not also giving you Andraxin, because I don’t know what to use to neutralize that. I guess I could ask Grayson, but he doesn’t want either of us calling him.”

Crystal looked at him blankly. She was sure that whatever he was saying was highly fascinating, but she just wanted to go to her hotel room and sleep.

“There’s a midnight meeting tonight,” Paul said quickly. “So don’t give away that you’re not under the influence anymore. You need to act like you are.”

Crystal shrugged. Whatever.

The midnight meeting was in the same forest as last time, or at least Crystal thought it was. It looked the same to her bleary eyes. She’d gotten about an hour’s sleep before she was awakened for the meeting.

She felt like screaming or maybe slapping someone— preferably Randall, or Luke. Couldn’t she get some rest? What was so urgent about the meeting that it had to be tonight?