WARNING: Slight Mention of Sexual Assault
“Okay everyone, we’re done here.” Emma, their producer, called them from the booth where she was sitting beside Robert.
Recording session went well. Chantel took a glance at the red lighted “Recording” sign turned off when their session completed. Now, it is time to listen to the recording to make sure everything is perfect. She got off the piano, while Jesse, Trenton, and Darren put down their instruments from their individual isolation booths. Linda soon followed them, but not before taking off her headphones. The group headed to meet with Robert and Emma to listen to their recording.
“Pardon, everyone here. Ah, we are seeing my favorite people today!” A man with black hair, who wore a white business suit with a silver tie, walked in the recording booth.
Chantel felt the area get too tight once Mr. Travolo came in. He ended up standing too close to her, which made her uncomfortable.
Clearing her throat, she said, “Um… Mr. Travolo, I think you are a little too close, into my personal space.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, Miss. Delisle. My apologies.” Blinking in shock, the man moved back a little from Chantel.
She took a deep breath when Mr. Travolo stepped away from her. As he did that, Chantel felt someone tap her butt, which made her almost jump. Surprised by this, she stayed quiet and tried not to make it an issue. Maybe that could’ve been an accident.
“Oh, Mr. Travolo, we are just about to playback the recording before we’ll work on the last fixes.” Emma talked to Mr. Travolo as he flashed a smile.
“Nice, I would like a listen.” Mr. Travolo crossed his arms, watching Emma press playback the recording.
The music sounded fine, at first, but over the course of the recording, the sound became disordered as it went on. Chantel did not know why, since the sound was perfect when they were recording! Maybe the recording equipment is not working well today? Soon, static came up, which made the environment more ominous.
“Miss. Reyes… Is this some kind of practical joke? I thought you were more professional than this?!” Mr. Travolo scolded Emma, while she tried turning the sound off.
“I don’t know! It was working earlier! Why can’t I get this thing off?!” Emma’s voice went into a panic.
Chantel watched her, repeatedly pressing the off switch on the mixing console. The two adults looked at Emma in concern, not understanding either what was going on. Robert stepped in, touching Emma’s shoulder.
“Emma, try to turn it off!” Robert said, trying to help Emma as best he could to turn the recording off.
Chantel saw the lights in the room turn on and off until their recording reversed itself. Her memories flashed back to the gig up in Underwood! The air in the room got colder as the recording still continued to play. Chantel felt Darren grab and pull her close by the hand. Jesse huddled next to Darren and her to get warmth. The sound suddenly had a female voice under the static, but it did not sound like Linda’s voice. Her bandmates looked at each other in confusion on who this voice was.
The voice sounded so cold and harsh it shouted, “Burn this place down!”
Suddenly, the recording stopped, and the lights turned back on. The group glanced at each other. Chantel witnessed the pale, shocked looks of her bandmates, Emma, Robert, and Mr. Travolo.
She thought to herself, “What the hell just happened? Did the bad luck follow our band to the recording studio?!”
“It’s okay, we have other takes. I’ll see what I can salvage to fix up the song we recorded.” Emma used one hand to cover her face from stress and embarrassment.
“You better! I don’t know what went on here, but this better be fixed, Miss Reyes!” Mr. Travolo straightened his tie, then headed over to Linda before he left. “I didn’t forget our meeting with you and Mr. Mills, Miss. Fall. It will still be on.” Chantel overheard Mr. Travolo talking to her leader.
“It better be because Robert and I have a lot of things to address…” Linda commented.
Soon, the band exited the recording studio with Chantel, Jesse, and Darren hanging back a little to the side. To their surprise, they saw Leticia, but she wasn’t with her band this time.
“Where is Mr. Travolo?!” Leticia boomed in her loud voice, which made Chantel’s wince at the sound.
“Babe, why are you here?” She overheard Trenton asking his girlfriend as she saw him rush out of the studio to meet Leticia.
“Miss. Hernandez, what brought you here?” Mr. Travolo came out of the room, greeting Leticia after Trenton met with his girlfriend.
Chantel did not hear the conversation, since she focused her attention on her phone. Sifting through her texts, it was not any of her business to know why Leticia was here. Chantel's peaceful moment ended when she heard Leticia’s voice again in rage.
“What do you mean you won’t fire the motherfucker songwriter who fucking assaulted my songwriter?!” Leticia ranted.
“Miss. Lane is making an odd… accusation towards one of our best songwriters, Mr. Jason White. I’m surprised she never went to me for it. I will look into the matter first before deciding about this incident. I promise you I don’t tolerate harassment in this workplace.” Mr. Travolo walked his way from Leticia towards Chantel's direction. “In the meantime, Miss. Delisle, Mr. Cross, I would like to see you real quick. Miss. Hernandez, you too.”
The three of them shrugged. As Chantel did not know why Mr. Travolo wanted to see them. They could not say no, since he owns this label, well sub-label. Recently bigger label, Crest Gem Entertainment acquired Crimson Crown Music Group. Darren and Chantel told Jesse that he can leave and they will catch up later.
They followed since. Travolo and Leticia to his office. Chantel has only been to his office, at least twice, but that was when she was with Linda. Record awards and pictures with other musicians artists decorated the office. His desk had paper scattered all over it, which he had a picture of his family, which included a wife and a child on it too. The three seated themselves into beautiful, brown, comfortable chairs near his desk.
Not too long later, Roxy came in with another woman. This dark-skinned woman had straight, black with dyed brunette color at the ends of her stands. Chantel remembered seeing her around, since she was Roxy’s agent and... well... yeah, her girlfriend named Casey Halworth. Casey is a close assistant to Mr. Travolo and Roxy’s talent agent. She is also the half-sister of the Apple Queens drummer, Dakota Ramsey, from what Chantel knew about the Apple Queens members over the years.
Casey sat in the far back chair back in the room with Roxy where Mr. Travolo's stood over at his desk, looking at the group. There was only one question: Why were Roxy and Casey here?
“I called you all here to have a brief chat. You see, I want my artists to be more comfortable here since Mr. Dear Charles Halworth has entrusted me with this little label, full of talented people. I, Nico Travolo, just want all of us to have no secrets between us.” Mr. Travolo, who revealed his first name is Nico as way of trust, went from the front of his desk to sit down on it and smiled at them. “All your secrets are safe with me, Roxy, and Casey, lost ones…”
Chantel jumped at the words, “Lost ones....” Nico’s explanation confused her then she thought. "Did he know about the Rise of Light?" Speaking up, she asked, “Wait, are you a member of the Rise of the Light?”
Darren gave a hard glare at her when Chantel asked that question carelessly. Nico’s eyes brightened then he answered her question, “You can say that a little, but I subsidise the group. My family is full of Supernaturals, but, unfortunately for me, I do not have any powers…”
The group continued to listen to him as Nico showed them a picture of his family members. “My dear father had telekinesis, while my mother had the ability to manipulate a person’s reality. This made my childhood interesting.” Laughing to himself, grabbing his coffee mug to drink his coffee.
“Wait, Outsiders can have Supernatural parents?!” Leticia exclaimed.
“My aunt used to tell me there were Outsiders, who are born to Supernaturals people. It happens, but it’s considered rare…” Darren explained to Leticia, which made Nico nod in response.
“Yes. I’m one of the unlucky ones, not blessed with a single ability, but I cared about Supernaturals. So much that I supported everything that I could for the Rise of Light, even though I’m not an official member. I very much care for the rights of Supernatural people like my parents were so denied in their lives. As my duty as the CEO of Crimson Music Group, I will do everything in my power to protect the Supernatural artists under my label. Even if that means keeping your secret.” Nico’s finished his speech as he sipped another round of coffee from his mug.
Chantel felt relieved, but not completely because she felt there had to be a catch to letting Nico in on the secret. Her eyes focused over on Casey, who walked over to his desk.
“Casey, since how long have you been in on this?” Chantel overheard Leticia’s voice about the woman.
“A very long while, along with Roxy. Mr. Travolo means well. Just as long you support the Rise of the Light, they will protect you. That is a promise that I can give you.” Casey stood by Nico, along with Roxy, who came over next to her.
“Right, hon.” Chantel watched Roxy smile at Casey. “Mr. Travolo and Mr. Richardson trustworthy. We need people like them to protect people like us in this cruel world.”
Suddenly, Chantel felt uncomfortable and got up from her chair. Before she left, Darren called out to her, “Chantel?! Are you alright? Where are you going?!”
“I need to go. You know work duties.” Chantel headed over to the window-designed door, touching the handle to pull it open.
“No worries. All of you can leave for now. Think about it. There are benefits for your career in joining the Rise of Light. Just let your mind think about it.” Nico said.
Rushing past the people down the hallway to the elevator, Chantel figured that Darren would eventually follow, since her sudden departure was awkward. Her heart pumped as fast as a drum. Chantel fidgeted in place, pressing the button, waiting for the elevator to arrive. When the elevator doors opened, she shakily pressed another button to hold the doors for Darren, trying to calm herself down. The two of them were the only ones in the elevator together.
Darren held Chantel’s hand to, at least, prevent her from being nervous. They did not say a word until they walked out of the building. The rain stopped and Chantel looked up to the sky to see the sun, attempting to peek out before it set. That meeting felt strange to her, since everything that she is learning about the Rise of Light so far is still a mystery for her. Sure, her life was better since she finally started embracing herself and learning what really happened those days at summer camp years ago.
But what was a price to all of this? Could she really trust the group, even though they have been nothing but kind to them?
Darren touched her shoulder and asked, “Hey, are you alright?”
Chantel nodded back and answered, “Yeah, I need to think about this and that group.”
The two of them agreed to not speak a word to each other on the long ride back home.
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