“Let go of me!” I hear Jade shout.

It takes me a moment to make sense of the scene before me.

The helicopter is hovering above us like a swollen obsidian dragonfly stirring the sky with metal wings, a rescue ladder dangling down, held by the scowling lady in black.

She’s shouting “GO! GO! GO!” in the general direction of the boys.

Kitty is half way up the ladder, her dress billowing around her legs.

A huge man in a black suit is holding Jade back. Jade’s yelling Kitty’s name over and over, fighting to break away.

For a moment Kitty stops climbing. She looks back over her shoulder at Jade, and I can see the pain written all over her face.

But the lady in black looks up at her and shouts “DON’T STOP!”, and Kitty hurriedly turns her back on Jade and continues climbing, before disappearing into the helicopter.

“NO! Kitty!” Jade is yelling, his voice now hoarse from shouting. The man in black is showing no signs of letting him go, and seems to clamp on tighter as Jade struggles to get free.

Jade’s no weakling - I’ve spent many hours at the coffee shop covertly admiring his tanned, muscular arms and ripped physique - but even he’s no match for this giant of a man.

There’s something hard and grim about the man in black, deadly even, and it strikes me that he’s not just some hired bodyguard - he’s seen things. He’s done things.

And he works for BYG Records. What the hell kind of a business are they?

Just when it seems the man might actually crush Jade in his arms, an unlikely rescuer steps up.

To my surprise, Felix strides up to Jade, and in one quick movement, detaches the man in black and swings him into the air, sending him flying a good ten feet down the road and into the side of a white minivan, as if he were a crumpled up piece of paper instead of a four-hundred pound giant.

The man crashes down into a heap, a thin line of blood snaking from his right ear down his neck.

I can hear people screaming all around; someone behind me is on the phone to 911, rambling in a panicked voice about that famous rockstar Felix Lockhart having supernatural strength and going berserk.

“What the hell was that?!” Ben yells at Felix, staring at the unmoving man slumped against the side of the van. “How did you... is he… dead?”

“Um… Fee?” Lyall stammers. “What… how....”

His voice trails off mid-sentence.

Everyone stares at Felix in confusion and disbelief, most of all Jade, who is opening his mouth like he wants to say something, but is clearly struggling to form words.

Felix steps forward, and places his hands on Jade’s shoulders, speaking in a low and serious voice.

“Jade, listen to me carefully,” he says. “I know you care for my sister. And I know you want to come with us. But you can’t. Right now you need to trust us. Trust her. Kitty knows what she’s doing.”

Jade nods, defeated.

“I’ll trust her,” Jade says. “Even if I still don’t understand what the hell’s happening.”

“All you have to understand is that we can’t stay here,” Felix says. “We’re putting you in danger. Both of you.”

His golden green eyes meet mine for just a moment.

“I promise, I’ll come back for you Ash,” Felix says. “I’ll explain everything.”

“Yes, an explanation would be lovely,” Alastaire says, stepping forward as he rips the costume angel wings off his back, leaving them to lie on the tarmac as he strides forward and takes my hand, pulling me to him. “Seeing as you seem to know so much more about the entire situation than any of us do, please, enlighten us. What in the bloody hell is going on Felix?”

“There’s no time for that,” Felix says, narrowing his eyes at Alastaire. “While we’re here, Ash is in danger. They see her. The second we’re gone, she’s invisible to them. We have to leave.”

“No,” Alastaire says. “I’m not leaving without Ashling.”

Alastaire called me by my actual name for once. Not Cupcake. He called me Ashling. It feels… strange.

“It’s us they’re after, not her,” Felix says. “She’s safer here. Without us.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Without you, you mean,” Alastaire says.

“You don’t know anything,” Felix says.

“I know enough,” Alastaire says. He pulls me closer to him, holding me in his arms.

“Let go of her,” Felix says, his voice sharp. “I’m warning you. If you don’t, I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” Alastaire interrupts him. “Pull me off her? Take her away for yourself?”

“She’s not one of your groupies, Alastaire,” Felix says.

“And she’s not one of yours either,” Alastaire snaps back.

They both look to me, maybe waiting for me to say something, but all I can do is choke back tears, biting my bottom lip as my body begins to shake and my eyes begin to water.

This isn’t what I wanted.

Lyall steps forward, about to interrupt, maybe break it up, but Ben and Elliot pull him back.

“Back off Alastaire,” Felix says. “I’m serious.”

“So am I,” Alastaire says.

Felix laughs at that, shaking his head.

“Nonsense,” he says. “You’ve never been serious about a thing in your life. The band, the music, the fans… it’s all just a game for you. A little distraction to pass the time.”

“Maybe,” says Alastaire. “But I’m serious about Ashling.”

He squeezes me tighter as he says it, and I let out a little gasp - partly out of surprise at his earnestness, and partly because he’s holding so tight, and need space, I need air, I need to breathe.

“Let go,” I murmur, knowing my voice is faint and weak - but he seems not to hear me, and keeps his bright blue eyes fixed firmly on Felix.

“I’ll say this one last time,” Felix says. “Step away from her.”

“Make me,” says Alastaire.

“Enough!” I scream, my voice shattering the tension like glass. “Stop! Just stop.”

Alastaire loosens his grip, searching my face for answers.

“Cupcake?” he murmurs.

“Stop fighting,” I say. “Just… stop. Have you forgotten where we are?”

I gesture to the surrounding crowd, a sea of shimmering shining phone screens capturing our every move, our every word.

I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to destroy the band I loved so much. I never wanted to be sucked into a hole deeper and darker from the one I’d only just started crawling out of, when these boys crashed into my orbit like a meteor, shaking me to my core, spinning me off my axis.

Fable is breaking apart. And I’m the one breaking them.

I won’t let it happen.

“Go,” I say, casting my eyes down to my feet. “All of you, just… go. Please.”

I turn on my heel, and march away towards the car.

I feel someone grab my arm from behind but I break free and shake them off without turning around.

It can’t be more than a few feet to the car, but it feels like the longest walk of my life.

I grab for the car door handle, swing open the door, slide into the passenger seat and slam the door closed, all without crying.

Even once I’m alone in the dark car, practically invisible in the shadowy interior, I don’t cry.

I don’t change my mind and run out of the car and beg the boys to take me with them.

I don’t even watch them go.

I just close my eyes, lean back in the car seat, and try to ignore the sound of Alastaire shouting that he’ll call me, and the unmistakable whisper that washes over my mind, drowning out the cars’ hooting, the monstrous cacophony from the helicopter hovering above us.

The voice is somehow there and not there at the same time, like music playing in another room, just perceptible on the very edge of my consciousness.

It’s Felix’s voice.

Wait for me, he says.

The whisper echoes through my mind and is gone.

I screw my eyes shut tighter, cradle my head in my hands.

Time passes.

Five minutes, fifteen… I don’t know.

I sit in darkness, waiting for it to be over.

The helicopter’s roar fades to a soft distant whirring before it vanishes; the honking and yelling from angry confused people in backed up-cars dies down, replaced by the soft murmur of traffic, cars driving by, clueless people heading back to their clueless lives.

Jade opens the car door so quietly I almost don’t notice him slipping into the driver’s seat.

“They’re gone,” he says.

I nod, and we drive to my house in silence, not a single word spoken between us.

The suburbs are eerily quiet as the car drifts through the night, as if the whole world shares my sombre mood.

When we pull up in front of my house, I take in the darkened windows and my mom’s Kia missing from its usual spot in the driveway. I open the silver clutch bag that Kitty bought for me, digging around until I find my house key.

I guess my parents are still at the Jubilee. Clueless I left probably. I’ll text them when I get inside.

I’m about to unlock my door when I notice a small group of girls standing on my lawn. They look a bit older than me, maybe nineteen or even twenty years old. They are filming Jade’s car their phones, shrieking unintelligibly.

They run up to the car and peer through the window at me, then at the empty back seat, and I hear the one girl yell “They’re not here! It’s some other randoms!”

Her friend yells back that they should have gone straight to the airport, and they can still make it, and they have to leave NOW.

They make a dash for a red convertible parked across the road, piling into it in the blink of an eye before speeding away in pursuit of their idols.

I wait for the taillights to disappear into the dark before opening my door.

“See you at the cafe tomorrow?” Jade asks.

I climb out of the car.

“Sure,” I say, closing the door. “See you tomorrow.”

I walk up to the house without turning around to wave goodbye. I fight the urge to break into a run, sprint upstairs as quick as I can, away from the outside world.

Away from today, and everything that happened.

As I unlock the front door and step inside, I hear the soft whoosh of his car as he drives away, leaving me alone.

Everyone’s gone.

They’ve left me.

Mia. Evan. Kitty. Felix. Alastaire. Ben. Lyall. Elliot. Everyone I care about disappears.

I stumble up the stairs in the dark, almost tripping over my dress.

I hurry down the hallway, past my parent’s room, wreathed in shadows.

My bedroom is so dark, almost totally black, and rush into the comforting gloom.

I’m too tired to think anymore.

All I want now is sleep, and nothingness.

Oblivion.

By the time I reach my bed, the tears are streaming down my cheeks; my heart is hammering against my ribcage, and I can feel something inside of me fighting to get out, like a terrified bird beating against the bars of its cage.

They’re gone. They’re really gone this time. I’ll never see them again.

It’s over.

The dress which felt so light and airy earlier suddenly feels heavy and scratchy, too tight and clingy, and I gasp for air, pulling it up over my head, collapsing on the floor out of breath. I crawl into bed trembling, discarding the silken silvery sheath like a snake’s skin behind me.

And then I curl up and scream into my pillow until I pass out.