Page 34 of Nine Inch Nasty
“Somebody was staring at you?” Jackson asks as he jogs by, running perimeter with August.
“No, I don’t think so. Just had a weird feeling earlier. We’re good.”
“This seat taken?”
I don’t even look up. “You mean the seat in front of me with someone sitting in it? Or the one behind me with someone also in it? Or the one I’m currently in with two butts sitting in it? Yeah, I think so, buddy. There are a bunch of seats over inthat section, though,” I tell the rando as I keep my eyes closed, enjoying Cory’s motions.
His voice is deep though, making me shiver a bit.
“Delaney.”
I wave my hand around until I find the stone of Leo’s shoulder, grabbing onto him. “What’s up, rock daddy?”
“Ew Delaney, no,” Adam says with a fake gag, and the stranger laughs.
Okay fine, I’ll open my eyes.
The first thing I notice is his eyes. They’re…familiar, but why do they feel like the wrong shade? They’re purple. “Woah. Wicked. We were just talking about you. The only male conduits I’ve met are my dads. How’s it going? I’m Delaney.”
I reach out a hand, trying to be friendly. Every once in a while, someone approaches me and wants an autograph or something weird like that, but I can offer support to a fellow conduit, I suppose. Probably just curious about me since I have two male conduit dads.
He yanks on my hand, making Cory stumble off my lap, and I’m totally about to scold him for being incredibly fucking rude, but then his hands grab my hips and steady me, and I get hit with a strong cotton candy perfume and my mind immediately tells me why his eyes are familiar.
“H-how? What are you doing here? I- I thought you were fake! Oh my gods! Look guys, it’s Saladriel!”
I throw my arms around him and squeeze, days of anxiety and depression melting instantly. And fucking sue me, I leak a few tears.
“Ah, actually,” he says as he peels me off of him, “My name is Skylar, but—”
Just then the entire cadence of the marching band changes, and they make their way onto the field for a different type of show. Their sound switches to a sort of pop/soft rock feel, and glitter canons explode around the top of the arena, making my jaw drop and all of my attention go immediately to them.
“What is happening? Adler didn’t mention there was anything special happening tonight, how fun!” I’ll be cornering him later for not ruining this surprise.
The not-Saladriel fellow sighs dramatically and rubs his forehead. “Damnit. I told them not to do this.”
“Not to do what?” I ask all innocent like, eyes like a puppy dog in an anime movie. The sky is now beaming with multicolored lights, and with glitter now falling everywhere, it isspectacular.
“They’re definitely not making it on our holiday card list,” this man mumbles confusingly, and then from the break in the arena roof floats down what else, but a herd. Of. Unicorns.
I squeal, because I was for sure in the mindset that they weren’t actually real after all and that I sort of fake-killed them all off. “I feel like I just won a magical prize! They’re so pretty! Even better than the ones we met in Glittertopia!”
At this point, my mates are all staring, just as slack-jawed as I am, entranced by the aerial delight happening above us all.
The unicorns are swooping and diving, spinning, and flapping those fucking magnificent white wings, and… “Are theysinging?Those aren’t unicorns, they’re angels!”
“Technically, they’re one in the same,” male conduit says, still clearly exasperated.
That’s when I finally realize he likely has something to do with all this, because he’s not reacting nearly enough to everything that’s happening around us in such a glorious manner.
“What do you know about this?” I don’t turn to him because I can’t take my eyes off the unicorns.
His sigh is nearly as loud as the words. “Delaney, meet my family.”
“You clearly know my name, knew me by sight, are strangely familiar, but you claim you are not who I’m pretty sure you are. You’re like a different brand of Saladriel. Different enough that I didn’t recognize you at first, but similar enough that I still did. Feel like filling me in? Holy fuck! They’re making a pyramid!”
“They’re…fuck this is embarrassing. Look, I just want you to know that whatever they end up doing out there has nothing to do with me; I mean it does, but I specifically told themnotto do any of this. I have much better taste than this, I promise.”
The unicorns start flying towards each other mid-air, forming a long line of perfectly straight rainbow hides, each one a pastel shimmer in multiple colors. One by one, they release a scroll that I’m not entirely sure I want to know where they were hiding, and they spell out a message.
