Jake and I made it out of the brothel and onto the street.

The cold breeze immediately hit my face and I paused for a moment to take it in.

"You know when I saw you earlier it almost looked like you had been crying." His voice jolted me out of my second of solitude.

"Well guess you saw wrong." I start walking so I was ahead of him to conceal the expression on my face.

I waited for a moment for Jake to say something, but he remained silent, so I kept talking.

"Everything here seems so weird to me. People used to joke about the future being crappy and write books about it. Well they were right; it sucks. I bet they don't even have good art anymore."

"Art?"

I'd just been rambling on.
I hadn't even thought he'd been listening, so his voice surprised me.

"Yeah." I suddenly I felt self-conscious. "I was about to start college and study art. I guess things like that made sense to me. I just didn't want to be like those artists who only made a name for themselves when they're dead."

"You're not dead."

"A part of me died."

Jake stopped in his tracks and studied me intensely as if he was contemplating something. Eventually he grabbed my hand and began speed-walking down the curb.

I shambled in an attempt to keep up with him.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see."

We walked a little too far for my liking, but my curiosity prevented me from complaining. Just when my patience was starting to run out, we approached a giant house with music blaring.

I'd actually heard it a lot further down the street but hadn't been able to identify it. Yellow and red moving LED lights came from the house, and cheers and screams echoed from inside.

I think the cherry on top of the cake was the song that playing was one that I could easily recognise.

Staying Alive.

"Is that 80's music?" I asked, unable to comprehend.

"Well you said you wanted to feel at home, right?"

"I was not born in the eighties." I grinned. "But it did happen to be my favourite era."

"Well I figured you'd need a party, and if you want a throwback, this is the place to go." He brushed off the idea casually.

"First a brothel and now a house party?" I asked. "My parents would hate you."

"Something tells me it's not your first party." Jake winked at me.

I followed him up the driveway to the main gate.

The line was incredibly long and people were dressed in costumes from different eras. Some I couldn't place, and I'm guessing came after my time, but others were extremely identifiable. In fact, ever so often, someone would walk past in slutty skinning jeans, pink hair and rip off 'Superegos' and I did feel like I was home.

There was a bouncer wearing dark suit in a booth at the gate. He was standing strong with his hands together and looking right past us.

Jake watched the line for a moment and then looked at me impatiently.

"C'mon."

He took my hand again and led me up the driveway past the crowds of people.

"Surely in the future you still have to wait in lines?" I asked him.

"There's no point in wasting time, is there?" I was sceptical about his confidence.

We got to the front and there was bouncer in a suit standing delicately behind a glass booth.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to wait your turn." The bouncer informed Jake.

Jake shook his head. "I'm Jake Maxwell."

The bouncer fumbled around and within seconds the door opened.

"I didn't realise the 'Mr Maxwell' card works outside of the brothel."

"I guess you've got connections." Jake winked.

As soon as we got inside my first instinct was to cover my ears since it was painfully loud.

"You okay?" Jake asked and he looked generally concerned.

I shook my head and shouted, "I'm fine!"

He looked at me weirdly and continued walking.

"Well I'll be damned. Mr Maxwell." A fat peculiar man walked over to us. "When Gregory told me you were at the door, I had to see it for myself."

Jake didn't say anything.

"I see you bought a friend." He gently took my hand before bending down to kiss it. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Dante Groove and who might you-" He stopped mid-sentence when he finally took a good look at me.

"Holy shit," he said. "That glow is really something."

Dante placed a hand on my face and held it steady as he looked at me. I glanced at Jake out of the corner of my eye in shock since I was completely oblivious to whatever was going on.

"Wow!" he howled. "How long have they been like this for?"

"Since I laid eyes on her." Jake confirmed. "But that's not why I bought her here. Pacem is an artist."

"Oh really?" Dante finally loosened his grip on me and I seized the opportunity to pull away. "You any good?"

"She seemed to think she is." Jake jumped in.

"Okay, I'll give her a free shot since I owe you one and I like her, but you're setting yourself up for failure. It really was a waste of my money buying that shit. It's in the back. I call a crowd in about twenty minutes."

Jake nodded and placed his hand on my hip to lead me away, but I stopped him.

"Is there any way I could get a change of clothes. I kind of look like a criminal."

I could see why Jake wouldn't have seen any use for me to get different clothing. In his mind, we were going to have a quick party and then go back. That definitely wasn't my plan and he had to have known that.

Dante led us upstairs to the private rooms and Jake didn't protest. I didn't question why Dante had a wardrobe filled with women's clothing and makeup but it certainly suited me in a time of need.

I picked out black dress but then I realised the dress wouldn't be very useful in an escape situation so I changed it for a low black top, jeans and a jacket.

Eventually I went outside to find Jake waiting for me. He straightened slightly but he quickly put on his cool-boy charm.

"You clean up well," he said smoothly.

"Thanks." My cheeks heated. "So what's in the back room?"

I was starting to get the feeling that I'd walked into a bad situation.
The room was empty, which was unusual for a party zone. Jake put his hand on a keypad-looking-thing before we entered.

The music almost seemed distant from inside, which made me think the walls were sound-proof and the room itself was padded in a white silicone texture. In the centre was a metal podium attached to the floor.

"This device was invented about a hundred years ago by an artist called Dolly Clearwater," Jake said. "Dante bought it a while back and challenged people to try it to make a profit. That's what he does. He collects old shit because he's filthy rich."

I looked at him blankly. "I don't understand."

"Well after Clearwater died nobody had the first clue how to use it. She wouldn't tell anyone her secret when she was alive. And when I heard you were into art... I just thought of this story Dante told me."

"I can't –"

"Try."

I considered it for a moment and rolled my eyes. "What does it do?"

"Get it to work and you'll find out."

I glared at him because I wasn't feeling particularly patient. I was actually filled with a series of emotions, the first and most prominent being curiosity as I seemed weirdly compelled to the creepy silver podium.

I took an anxious step forward and kept going until I was standing on this alien looking disk. When I looked down I thought I saw something- a blotch of a green next to my left foot but when I blinked it was gone.

I bent down in an effort to prove I wasn't crazy, but there was nothing there.

"What exactly would this artist do?" I asked. "Is there an ON switch or something?"

He shrugged. "I saw a video of her once. She kind of just stood there and then things happened."

"Great."

As I glanced down at the ground I saw the colour again, and this time it was yellow. When it didn't disappear from my vision, I bent down on my knees and touched it.

A force of energy pulsed through me and in that moment I felt certain that I'd found the switch. I concentrated on the yellow spot on the floor and suddenly gravity began to defy itself. The colour turned to paint and it started to rise out of the ground. Despite this bizarre situation, I remained fixated on blotch.

As my body elevated back to a standing position the paint splotch followed me and levitated to eye level. I'd never been high before but I'd always heard stories of people seeing things, like a unicorn and fairies. Maybe someone had just drugged me and I was making all of it up in my head.

Only I didn't feel high.

I didn't have little endorphins confusing my thoughts or blurring my vision like people described.
Everything seemed perfectly clear.
This was real.

I closed my eyes and an image immediately popped into my head. The yellow paint had grown into a giant puddle hanging in the air and when I opened my eyes that was exactly what I saw.

I exhaled in disbelief and reached out towards the paint. Before my hand touched it I spun around. When I glanced up the paint travelled with me, leaving a perfect ring around my body.

In the background I had heard somebody gasp, and my subconscious became aware that there were more people in the room now.

I didn't care.

I needed another colour, so I bent down and placed my hands to the floor. By the time I'd straightened up again, a puddle of green floating paint had followed the movement of my hands.

Without thinking, I threw my hands up into the air and the paint followed, frozen in mid-air. It almost felt like the paint was controlling me. I got more colours and I made them in raindrops and patterns. Soon after, I even figured out how to make the paint move in sequences.

It was magical.

All I had to do was visualise what I wanted in my head and then all of it there right in front of me.

Eventually I could feel myself getting weaker and I knew I needed to stop.

I needed a big finish.

I spun my hands to the ceiling so that all of the paint was trapped at the top of the roof and then I threw my arms in a downwards spiral and the paint exploded like fireworks before falling delicately onto everyone in tiny droplets of colourful rain.

Suddenly I became aware of the applause resonating around me and my mouth curled into a smile before my knees gave way and I fell to the floor.

Jake was immediately by my side.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded in a slight daze.

He took my arm and helped me up. I tried to get back to my feet, but I still wasn't strong enough to support myself, so I kept holding on.

"Are you going to take me back to Veera now?" I asked bitterly.

"That would be a slight anti-climax don't' you think?" He glanced away to the crowds who were slowly disappearing threw the doors. "What do you say we hang out here a little longer? Like I said, Veera is going to be a while."

I didn't really feel like I was being held captive at all, which just meant that somewhere inside of me there was this tiny misguided fragment of hope that he might not betray me.

Luckily I knew better.

I smiled at Jake. "That sounds good."

"Are you shitting me?" Dante's jumped in. "Where did you find this girl, Jake? She's a legend."

"It wasn't a big deal," I stated.

"Wasn't a big deal? I don't think you understand. People have been trying to accomplish that for hundreds of years and you did it in a half-hour. Sweetie, Clearwater herself couldn't have a better job if she was alive to try."

Jake nodded in agreement. "She couldn't do half of that stuff."

I blushed.

I'd always wanted to be an artist who made a difference in the world. What I had just done with that machine would be classified as performance art. That had been one of the major fields that I'd been interested in because it was usually used to communicate something.

Yes, it had been done before by this 'Clearwater' person, but I could turn it into more than just meaningless patterns. I could turn it into a protest.

"Is that podium-thing portable?"

"What are you thinking?" Dante smiled. "Because I'm thinking that I can make a lot of money out of you."

Jake didn't share Dante's excitement.

"Pacem, I do have to take you back eventually. When I took you here... This was just a one-time thing."

"Take her back?" Dante asked. "Is she another one of your jobs?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Why don't you try being loyal to your people, Jake?"

"I decide who I'm loyal to," he stated.

"Your eyes say differently."

For the first time, I saw a very prominent glow of orange in Jake's pupils. I'd known he was 'Karnoi', but I hadn't really seen any evidence of it until now.

"Look Jake, I didn't say I was going to go willingly." I shrugged. "Besides, Alluna didn't even think you could get the job done. That's why she told you to take Veera."

"Please." Jake snorted. "It wasn't exactly a hard job to do."

"Then why isn't it done?" I asked.
"Why didn't you just take me back instead of showing me all of this? It seems to me like you don't want to take me back."

We stared at each other for a moment and there was definite meaning in the silence.

"Well, I like this girl." Dante snapped us out of our gaze. "You two chat. I'm going to go tend to my guests."

"I can really make a difference, Jake," I said once he was gone. "Do you really want to go back to her?"

Jake ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not that bad. That stuff only really lasts a couple years and then they give you some freedom. They give you a room and good food and-"

"Freedom?" I raised my voice. "You obviously don't know what the word means because I saw you there and you definitely weren't free. You were sad. I saw it in your eyes."

For the first time he was speechless.

I opened the doors and they closed automatically so I didn't have to fiddle with the handle and ruin my exit. I walked swiftly through the drunk party-goers and headed straight to Dante to do what I'd been waiting to do all night.

"Do you have any drugs?"

Wow! Has Pacem been a drug addict this whole time?

Or does she have something else planned...