Chapter 11

Kayla’s heart raced as she began panicking. Craig had disappeared into the dance floor, lost in the crowd. She frantically searched for him, but as she did the entire world took on a kaleidoscopic effect that made her feel like she had fallen into a sea of broken stained glass. She called for him, but she couldn’t even hear her own voice. She tried the neural messaging, but if he could hear her, he wasn’t responding or she couldn’t hear his response.

A haunting melody of stringed instruments was failing to harmonize with the beat. She had enough sense to recognize that she was hallucinating, both on an auditory and visual level. It must have been an effect of that drink. Her lack of experience with hallucinogens mixed with her claustrophobia, and she was struck with an immediate sensory overload.

Her knees wobbled, and she tried to find her grounding; reminding herself that no matter what she was seeing or hearing, she was still in the dance club. There was a solid floor beneath her, and there were seats at the bar that she could remain in until she either became comfortable with this intoxication, or it wore off. She tried to look through the explosive kaleidoscope of color and people, hoping to find either Craig, the bar, or an open seat. Every time she moved her head, she became even more lost, despite the fact she hadn’t moved her feet at all. Feeling nauseous and weak, her knees gave out completely and she slumped to the floor, fighting the growing need to vomit. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Craig!” she screamed, desperately hoping he would hear her, “Craig, where are you?”

“Hey, are you ok?” a sharp voice suddenly pierced through the horrible music. Kayla couldn’t see the speaker, but knew they were talking to her.

“No, I need help!” she pleaded, “I need to sit down somewhere!”

“I’m going to pick you up; are you ok with that?” the voice asked.

“Please,” Kayla begged, “Get me somewhere stable.”

She felt a bony, four fingered hand grab hers. Soft feathers against her skin told her it was a passaro. With firm strength, Kayla felt herself pulled to her feet. The passaro wrapped an arm around her shoulder, though Kayla was slightly taller in her heels. A powerful and alluring scent hit Kayla from the feathered arm around her shoulder. Under different circumstances she might have taken a moment to appreciate it, but presently it was simply one more straw breaking the camel’s back.

“Alright, we’re going to my table in the VIP section,” the passaro explained, their voice melting in with the stringed melody playing in Kayla’s mind, “Just close your eyes and let me guide you.” Kayla nodded and did as she was told, but now felt her heart racing all the faster. She was heavily intoxicated in an unfamiliar way, and being led blindly by a stranger through an unfamiliar location. There were too many unknowns, and her commons sense was screaming at her for it. However, they had not walked terribly far before the passaro had directed her to sit. She chanced it and opened her eyes.

The booth to which she had been led wasn’t being blasted with strobing lights and effects, and Kayla’s fractured reality began stabilizing. She blinked a few times, finding that it helped clear her vision. As she calmed down, the stringed music hallucinations became more melodic and fitting in with the beat. Things stabilized within her immediate vicinity, though the corners of her vision still betrayed her. Still quite nauseous, she pushed her half-full glass away from her as her rescuer settled into the seat opposite her at the table.

“Thank you, I’m so sorry about that. It’s my first time drinking anything like...” Kayla faltered and gasped as she took in the face across from her. It was Tal Sweep, the racer who had won just hours before in Adrenaline Spike. Kayla knew, even inebriated, that she was not mistaken about this. She had replayed the race highlights for nearly the entire cab ride from the Neurasseum to the casino before Glyph had called them. She had even been reading up on Tal’s career and watching highlights of her other races. Tal did not seem to notice Kayla’s recognition of her. She was now wearing a blue and green dress that accented her feathers perfectly, with a silver beak ornament that reminded Kayla of the ad for the casino earlier, only Tal’s did not seem nearly as fancy, nor as sharp.

“Yeah, you need to be careful with some of these. They hit like a missile,” Tal replied, smooth as silk ash she preened some of the feathers on the wing that had been supporting Kayla, “I’m Tal. I’m going out on a limb and guess that you’re not from around here.”

“N ... no,” Kayla replied, “I...” She realized she had forgotten already where they were supposed to be from. The neural band quickly flashed the answer for her, “I’m Kayla, and we’re from Laithe.”

“We?” Tal asked, looking up from her preening and raising an eyebrow, “You mean that guy you were dancing with earlier?”

“Yeah, my friend Craig. He’s still out there,” Kayla explained, looking back around at the crowd. This was a mistake, as the flashing lights and colors instantly triggered her hallucinations again. She ripped her gaze back to Tal and allowed herself to stabilize once more.

“I see,” Tal replied, “Was he aware you were having a crisis over here?”

“I ... I’m not sure,” Kayla admitted, “He had a drink as well, and he had a lot more than I did, so I can only assume he’s blitzed out of his mind right now.”

“Well, human culture is a bit different than passaro, but as I understand it; any man who’d leave you alone after drinking half a psychohol ain’t worth your time, hun,” Tal stated matter-of-factly, she had taken Kayla’s drink off the table and was now swirling it in her talon, eyeing it warily.

“We aren’t together like that,” Kayla blurted out, feeling her face grow warm at the thought, “And he didn’t know any better than I did about the drink.”