“This is done,” you say, because if it’s not done now, you’re going to get burned to ashes in front of a live audience. “Thank you for your time, Maxim. Goodbye.”

You’re backstage in seconds, crew swarming around you, studio door opening. One photo shoot. That’s all it was. You did one Beholder session. It wasn’t even anything scandalous. A few pictures of you in a bathing suit. A little skin, but nothing you don’t see on the streets of Furia every day. Your publicist was all warnings, but the cash was too good to pass up.

Beholder shots of a girl like you sell very well. Only twenty-seven were produced. For each picture, only the first person to open the portrait can see the contents. That’s the two-way beauty of Beholder shots. It gives the buyer something private and unique, something only they can see. And it promises anonymity. You agreed to do it because you thought no one could prove the picture was of you, because no one but the first Beholder can see it.

“What are they saying?” you hiss.

Zeta just shakes her head. “He says it’s a completely revealing shot. The descriptions are crass and crude, but the account’s been seconded already. It’s a nightmare.”

“But they’re lying. You can’t see anything in those photos.”

She frowns back. “It doesn’t matter now.”

And she’s right. It doesn’t matter. Beholder shots work both ways. No one can disprove what they’re saying because no one else can see the shots. All that matters is what they’ve said, and the doubt they’ve already planted in the mind of every fan, every critic.

“We release a statement,” you say. “Dismiss the rumors.”

“Not yet,” Zeta replies. “Go home. Be with your family. I’ll have to come up with a whole new branding strategy. Give me a few hours. I’ll come by tonight.”

“Great,” you say. “Just great.”

But your mind’s skipping ahead. You’re trying to imagine what your parents will say, what they’ll think. And then Bravos. You never told him, either. Dreading all of it, you change into your sponsored evening wear, wrap yourself up in a summer scarf, and storm out of the room. Reporters catch you at the back exit, flash bulbs bursting, but you don’t answer questions as you mount your phoenix.

Instead, you smile wide, look unconcerned, and show them no fear.

Chapter 4: Birthday Dance

The next day there are seven million views.

Farian’s page on the Chats has two thousand new subscribers. Our older videos are getting clicks, too. We skip the second half of the school day, apologizing to Doctor Vass, so the two of us can monitor our pages and make money on all the advertising. We knock on the back door of Amaya’s bar just after lunch hour and she grins us inside.