When Devils Sing(114)
“That’s amazing,” Isaiah mused. “Are there any plans for her to visit soon?”
Neera looked away, her cheeks going warm. “In a few weeks—maybe. It depends on the…” She gestured to the messenger bag on Isaiah’s shoulder. “The podcast. Are we still doing it?”
Isaiah blinked. “Yeah.” He pulled out his laptop, then set it on the counter before them, opening his podcast software. “It’s all there. Every episode ready to go.”
They both stared at the screen in heavy silence. It’d been easier to pretend the Fourth had only been a nightmare once Neera and her family left Carrion behind. But now, with the podcast before her, the crimes of Lake Clearwater felt all too real again. “Are you ready?”
Isaiah’s dark brown eyes met hers. “Once we upload this, there’s no going back. Everything we learned about Lake Clearwater will be out in the open. We can’t know what’ll happen next.”
“It’s worth the risk.” Neera chewed her bottom lip. “What about Reid? Is he gonna cooperate with the FBI?”
Isaiah shook his head. “He’s still in hiding with the survivors. Last he told me, he didn’t think it was safe to come forward unless this season got a lot of attention, which I agree with. The community’s power is far-reaching.”
“Well, hopefully this will take them down a peg or two,” Neera said. “What can they really do if the whole world is watching?”
“Right,” Isaiah agreed. He leaned forward, hovering the mouse over the upload button. “Ready?”
Neera nodded. “Do it.”
A minute later, her phone vibrated with a notification.
New season: Secrets of the South—The Cult and Crimes of Lake Clearwater.
“There it is,” Neera said, showing it to Isaiah.
“There it is,” Isaiah parroted.
Another knock sounded at the door, rattling them both.
Grant’s voice rang from the other side, “You’re up, kid!”
“That’s my cue,” Neera said, struggling to temper the exhaustion in her tone. “I’ll see you after?”
“Yeah,” Isaiah said before pulling her into a hug once more.
A few minutes later, Neera was onstage.
“This first song—it’s a murder ballad,” she said into the microphone. “This one’s for the devil you know.”
Underneath the warmth of stage lights, Neera held her Yamaha across her lap while a crowd of people stared up at her. Instinctively, her eyes found her family seated at a table near the front, her mom waving. They did this nearly every night—Nani watching her with pride. Nanaji watching her with a glimmer of admiration in his eyes. All it had taken was a deal with the devil to, finally, earn her grandparents’ love.
Aside from her family, the rest of the crowd were a formless bunch—dark silhouettes that held clinking glasses filled with twenty-dollar cocktails. Ithaca House wasn’t known for its lively patrons, but the House’s stage was a stomping ground for Nashville’s rising stars.
My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
Neera supposed that’s what she was now—a star burning across a night sky. She didn’t exactly know what to call it, as her image was no longer her own. Blue Mountain Records dictated everything, from the way she wore her hair down to the color of her toenails.
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don’t ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
There was very little choice left in what Neera did as a musician. But when she overtook a stage, no one—not even Grant Langley—could control her. The stage was her own. It was her dominion. Though she couldn’t see him, Grant watched Neera from across the room. He hovered along the walls of each venue she played, no matter the size or crowd, and observed. His job was to get her on a stage, but once she was there, his power disappeared.
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I’m going where the cold wind blows
Grant may have been a wolf, but Neera was no sheep. Her contract with him was binding, but it wasn’t signed in blood. She’d continue to be Blue Mountain’s next musical success story—but Neera’s story, the one she forged on her own, was only just beginning.
SECRETS OF THE SOUTH
SEASON 4: FINALE
(INTRO THEME SONG)
ANCHORWOMAN (clip): Reports have come in of a devastating fire in the region of Southwest Georgia this past evening. In the lakeside community of Lake Clearwater, local authorities are projecting at least a dozen or more people missing in the inferno that razed one of the lake’s many islands. The cause of the fire is yet unclear, though it is suspected fireworks from the Fourth of July celebration may be responsible.
HOST: As you all must know by now, this news report is only the half-truth. Like with most stories out of Lake Clearwater, the narrative is carefully controlled by those from within the community. Until the creation of this season, there were no stories of Clearwater beyond the sanitized tales they told themselves. My podcast has been an opportunity to try to change that.
Through my investigations, I learned the fire was intentionally started from the inside, by a member of the Lake Clearwater community, Reid Langley. He did this in an attempt to save the lives of thirteen innocent people who had been kidnapped by prominent residents of the lake. The townspeople of Carrion have always feared the return of the periodical cicada brood, because when they appear, locals go missing. This year was no exception. Not only did people go missing, but three innocent people died before the Fourth fire even began. They were murdered at the hands of the Clearwater residents—killed in a cultish ritual performed every thirteen years to, in their beliefs, maintain their community’s wealth.