Elias looked up with lazy smile. “Did that feel real back there?” he asked.
“What?” Kai replied.
“Earlier, you said that what might have happened at Uncle Moodie’s wouldn’t have been real. Is it real now?”
Craning his neck, Kai leaned down until they were only a breathapart. Elias closed his eyes in anticipation. “Yes,” Kai said as he playfully shook his head, spraying Elias as water flew from the ends of his hair.
“Tickets!” a woman seated at the desk shouted over the music, startling Elias.
Kai laughed as he urged Elias forward. He whined as he wiped his screen against his pants, then handed his phone over to the woman. “How many people have figured out the scavenger hunt?” he asked.
“You’re number ninety-nine and one hundred,” she said as she looked over his ticket. “Congratulations,” she added dryly.
Pride flashed over Elias’s face, and he turned back and winked at Kai.
He stood on his tiptoes as he waited for Kai, seemingly trying to catch a glimpse of CYPHR over everyone’s heads. But from all the way back here, the entire stage was pretty much washed out by the stage lights, and there were a few support beams in the way. They could only hear CYPHR.
Kai reached into his pocket and pulled out the remains of his paper ticket. He tried to open it up, but it crumbled under the weight of its own sogginess and disintegrated in his hands.
“Do you have a digital ticket?” the woman asked, her expression flat as she eyed what was now a wad of pulp. “Proof of purchase for CYPHR’s canceled show is required.”
“If you give me a moment.”
“Too late. Looks like you’re numbers one hundred and one and one hundred and two,” she said, waving in another soaking-wet duo who hurried in from the rain.
Elias slid in front of them and said, “He showed you his ticket.”
“I have to be able to scan it. Those are the rules.”
A young man wearing a security T-shirt approached. “We’re at capacity. If you’d please step outside, unfortunately, once you’re out, re-entry isn’t possible, even with a ticket.”
“Joshua?” Elias said, his eyes taking on a glimmer of hope.
“Joshua?” Kai puzzled aloud. “Wait, Joshua from the bus stop?”
Elias’s fast friend from earlier that night, the gym rat. Kai supposed this is what he meant when he said he worked in security. He’d initially assumed Joshua had meant cybersecurity or law enforcement, but this certainly qualified as well.
“Sorry, Elias,” Joshua said, his expression still blank. “I can’t let you guys in.”
“Come on, you know me, man. You can vouch for us.”
Joshua appeared to have said all that he was going to say. He simply folded his arms and looked at the two of them with a menacing glare.
Of course,Kai thought with a mental facepalm.Elias would make friends with a human biceps.
“You can tell the lady to ask nicely, and we’ll leave,” Elias said, folding his arms over his chest to mirror Joshua.
He could hear the two whispering to each other for a moment before the woman said, “Would you be so kind as to step outside?Please.”
“No,” Elias replied with a snicker.
She made a motion, and Joshua advanced.
Elias held up his hands defensively. “Fine. Relax. Just give us a minute.” They appeared shocked that he’d relented so easily. “Expect a zero-star review, though. I thought we had something special, Joshua!” Elias shouted as he yanked his bucket hat over his eyes and opened the door. “Did you hear, everyone? This place is haunted and has rats!”
A few people standing at the back of the crowd looked in his direction but quickly dismissed him.
He proudly waved his middle fingers like flags as he and Kai exited the building with nowhere to go.
