Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
They led to a doorway covered in overlapping black strips of thick plastic. It reminded me of the doors they used for refrigerated rooms, making it easy to walk through while keeping the air-conditioning in. I pushed my way through, and it took a moment to recover from the halos the strobe light caused before I could take in my surroundings.
This was the great hall of the castle.
It was tall and narrow. Its ceiling was lined with rafters, and stone columns rose from the floor to support the weight of it. The long walls were decorated with arched stained glass windows, although I couldn’t make out their designs against the night sky.
I wasn’t interested in them anyway. I was far more intrigued by the chaotic goth rave underway in the space.
The room was dimly lit with blue and purple lights, giving it an otherworldly feel. The deejay booth was perched on the second-floor balcony, and a light show radiated from it, the light beams pulsing in time with the music.
The uneven stone floor was full of at least a hundred people dancing to the incessant beat. It streamed from the speakers, one of which was suspended from the enormous iron chandelier. I was suddenly grateful for the change of clothes. Everyone was in black leather or latex, so my street clothes would have made me horribly out of place.
Not that I felt like I fit in, but at least I could try to blend in with my black clothes.
There were so many people packed into the room, I marveled for a moment. Were these all Void performers? Or had the production company invited people to rave and they’d shown up?
There were pops of color around the room. A girl wearing red gloves. A guy with dark purple pants. And on the wall opposite the deejay booth was a massive fireplace, with a bar set up on the hearth. One of the bartenders had lime-green hair that fell past her shoulders.
It was most likely a wig, but it didn’t matter. I’d been told to find her, and she was kind of hard to miss, so I worked my way through the crowd.
She’d been leaning against the wall, but when I reached the bar, she straightened and gave me an expectant look. “What can I get you?”
“Something to fill the void.”
She nodded and reached beneath the bar before producing a shot glass. She plunked it down, and then grabbed several bottles to pour small unmeasured amounts of their liquids into a cocktail shaker, moving too fast for me to read the labels.
Her green hair shimmered as she capped the shaker and mixed it then strained the faintly blue drink into the glass with one hand. As she did it, her free hand reached into the center of her low-cut top and pulled a clear baggie from her cleavage.
My gaze zeroed in on the collection of red-and-yellow pills inside, and I stood utterly still as she plucked one from the bag, dropped it into the drink, and nudged the shot glass toward me.
My heart rate climbed.
I wasn’t the adventurous type, and the idea of taking an unknown drug from a stranger? Cold sweat broke out down my back.
“What is it?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
The bartender raised an eyebrow to let me know I was breaking a rule. I wasn’t allowed to speak unless instructed to. On some level, I knew this wasn’t real. It was a placebo meant to cause the reaction I was having right now.
But I hesitated long enough for the bartender to make a face. I’d pissed her off.
“Guess you don’t need my help,” she snapped.
Time slowed as she reached for the drink to take it away, and with it, my chance of reviewing Void.
No. I couldn’t let that happen.
I kicked into gear, snatched up the shot glass, and downed the whole thing in one committed gulp.
Chapter 4
The shot was sickly sweet, as if it were trying to mask a medicinal taste. The pill went down easy, but the concern over what I’d just ingested? That was harder to swallow.
The bartender cleared the glass and moved off. I stood still, watching her as I waited for my next set of instructions. But the woman was done with me. She took an order from someone at the other end of the bar and began to mix their cocktail.
Okay. What now?
A hand slid across my shoulders in a gentle caress. I turned to discover a girl at my side wearing a black dress that was more grommets and strings than leather. Her lipstick was so dark, it might have been black, but it was hard to tell in the low light. Whatever color it was, it accentuated her wide, toothy grin.
She leaned in, bringing her lips close to my ear. “Dance with me.”