The Freaks

chapter twenty-four

The Soldiers look about ready to leave when I arrive back at the club.

Only a couple handful of them are dancing now, the music still playing but not as loud as it was earlier. The Soldier on the DJ's platform is not moving around as enthusiastically as he was when the party first started, but he's nodding his head to the beat of the music just the same, the large pair of headphones still pressed against his ears. I scan the crowd, looking for the familiar pair of dark eyes, but I cannot seem to spot them anywhere among the sea of people. I check the bar, seeing someone who isn't Mia behind there, still serving drinks to a few of the Soldiers.

In one corner of the room are three male Soldiers. Two of them are looking at the third who has his whole body pressed in between both walls at his sides, clutching something white to his face that's stained with blood. None of them are Nox.

I start to turn away but I suddenly feel the injured Soldier staring back at me. I lock eyes with him, watching as he says something to the other two and nods in my direction with something akin to hatred in his gaze. His entire face doesn't look happy to see me. The other two look at me then look back at their friend, shaking their head and saying something that I suddenly wish I could hear.

I turn away from them, still looking into the crowd but not seeing him.

Nox, where are you? I send to his mind, hoping he can hear me over this music.

When he doesn't reply, my heart starts to pound as I make my way farther into the crowd of people, scanning each and every face to make sure that I didn't skip over him. I shake the remaining fogginess from my mind and continue to look.

He's not here.

Where are you? I send again, more rushed and urgent this time.

A few beats pass. Then, I can see you, he says into my mind, the familiar buzzing sensation floating around inside my head. Look up, to the right.

There he is, sitting on some kind of box, a white cloth very much like the other Soldier pressed firmly against his cheek. What happened here, while I was gone? Someone is up there with him, but I can't make out who it is from down here.

I look back down to the ground and silently curse Nox for getting into a fight with one of the Soldiers. The main objective of this mission is to keep a low profile and be background players. He even said that to me. Now it seems this fight was the life of the party. Most of the Soldiers still on the dance floor are murmuring about this, causally glancing up at Nox and over at the other Soldier who he fought with.

"He's up on the mezzanine," someone says from next to me. I turn to see one of the female Soldiers looking at me, waiting for my reply.

"Excuse me?" is the first thing that comes to mind.

She nods up to what I'm assuming the "mezzanine" is. "He's up there," she repeats, eyes lingering where she's looking.

"Thanks," I reply as I make my way to the stairs that lead up to the next level, ignoring the burning feeling of the other injured Soldier's gaze following me up the steps.

Mia looks at me over her shoulder from where she's sitting on a storage box in front of Nox. She smiles and immediately stands up and offers me her seat. I thank her quietly and lower myself onto the crate in front of Nox who still has the white cloth, stained with blood, pressed against his cheek. It would probably look worse than it is, if he removed the material from his skin.

"What happened to you?" I ask in a low voice, looking up at Mia when Nox shakes his head and doesn't reply to my question.

She crosses her arms over her chest and looks down at Nox, her face dropping the longer she looks at him. "There was this fight..." she starts.