A week later and it’s the big night, our band’s moment in the spotlight. The show that could send us all the way to the top if the crowd loves us…or possibly destroy us if it doesn’t go well. To say I am nervous is a fucking understatement. I start pacing in the green room behind the massive stage, walking in circles and trying not to lose my goddamn mind as every potential scenario plays out in my head. If we nail it, we’re set, and there is no place we can’t reach. We might even end up touring the whole damn nation. We fuck it up…and this is where my dream dies. I shake the thought from my head. There’s no fucking way after everything we’ve done that it ends here. I won’t let it.

In the middle of my internal struggle Anon puts a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from wearing a hole in the floor. “Fang, take it easy. You guys have practiced like mad this week. You’re gonna nail this show.”

A heavy sigh passes my lips as I try to calm the storm. “Yeah, I know…it’s just…” My eyes rise to meet his. “A lot is riding on this, Anon. This night means everything. Our first real performance on a real stage, not just in a bar or restaurant. It’s stressing me the fuck out but at the same time, I’ve never been more excited in my whole life. This is our big chance and if we do it right, we’ll never have to struggle again.”

He takes my cheek in his hand, lifting my lips to his and kissing me. “That’s why you are going to pull it off. Everything we’ve done together, all the time spent working our way through crap venues and people turning us down led us to this, your biggest moment. You are a talented, successful, beautiful ptero and I know you will succeed. I love you.”

I kiss him back, letting my hand rest on his shoulder as I smile up at him. “I love you too. Let’s fucking knock this out of the park! This place won’t know what hit them.”

He pats me on the back with the proudest grin on his face I’ve ever seen. “That’s the Fang I know and love. Kick some ass out there.”

I turn to leave as Jacob and Benji come over and stand beside me, looking happier than I’ve seen them in years.

Benji can’t stop smiling, his teeth glinting in the light. “We’re fucking finally here, Fang! All those years playing for pennies in Pizza Time and here we are, at the fucking concert hall in the Lava Lamp. This is the place so many bands made their names known and we are going to fucking kill it.” He reaches his hand out for mine, giving it a powerful shake. “All thanks to you.”

I don’t get a second to say a word before Jacob wraps both his arms around me in a tight hug. “You’re the fucking best, Fang. I never could have seen us here…I thought I’d be stuck in Skin Row forever making just enough money to live, but now I have an apartment in a better area of Volcaldera. I don’t have to watch my back anymore, and I have money for the best fast food ever!” He lets me go before rubbing his stomach with a dopey grin on his face.

The warmest smile ever to cross my beak is on my face as I hear their words. The guys stuck with me the whole time, even at my lowest, and now they’re finally getting rewarded for putting up with my shit. “Thank you, guys, now let’s get go—” I’m cut off midsentence by a sudden surge of nausea I didn’t see coming. Covering my beak with my hands I flee to the bathroom, unfortunately losing everything I ate before I came in today.

“What…what the actual fuck…?” I hang onto the ridge of the toilet bowl, steadying myself as the wave passes through my body, causing another bout of retching before calming the gurgling in my gut. Anon comes rushing in beside me, kneeling down as he gently rubs my back.

“Shit, you okay Fang? You ran in here like your fucking life depended on it. What happened?”

My beak hangs open as drool drips down and I struggle to look at him, overwhelmed by the miserable feeling in my stomach. “I…I don’t know, Anon. I just feel fucking awful. It came out of nowhere…maybe it’s just nerves getting the better of me. I’ll rest here for a second and I’ll be good to go—hrk!”

He grabs my hair, holding it back as another wave slams through my core, not that there is really anything left for me to purge except acid at this point which nearly scalds my throat passing through.

“Goddamn…are you sure you are going to be alright?” Anon says as I fall back against him, fully spent from heaving my guts out. I pant as I try to catch my breath, weakly nodding to him.

“I’ll be fine, I promise. Just…help me up, please.” He takes my hands in his, gently lifting me up from the floor before taking a towel off the ring and drying off my face, being careful to not mess up my makeup. I blush as I lean against him. “Thank you. I’m sorry…that couldn’t have been fun to see.”

He rubs the back of my neck, giving my hand a squeeze. “It’s fine. I’m here for you through all of it, good or bad.” He stands me away from him, pulling a comb from his pocket and straightening out my frazzled hair. “You okay now?”

My legs slowly regain strength as I give him a shaky nod. “Yeah. I’m okay. Let’s go…I don’t need to be late now of all fucking nights.”

He helps me shake the wrinkles out of my clothes, dusting my skirt off and kissing me on the forehead. “Go get ’em, Fang. Just don’t overdo it. I don’t know if people here would appreciate projectile vomiting from the stage.”

“Well, it’d definitely be something they wouldn’t forget…for all the wrong reasons.” I take one more deep breath before sliding my guitar strap onto my shoulder with a determined grin on my beak. “It’s fucking showtime.”

I walk out of the bathroom with a concerned looking Benji and Jacob glancing my way and I wave them off, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a sip—just enough to sooth my poor throat. “I’m good, guys. Let’s get on stage before we’re late. This is it, time for us to become famous!”

The glint returns to their eyes as they walk toward the stage, but Trish stops me as I go to follow them. My eyebrow raises as a tinge of fear runs through my brain…don’t pull some shit, Trish.

Thankfully she does nothing of the sort. Instead, she holds the end of my beak in her hands as she turns it side to side, examining me before letting me go. “Anon didn’t fuck up your look…good. You get out there and you fucking destroy that crowd, Fang. I’ll make sure no one messes with you, or they’ll leave in a body bag.”

I roll my eyes with a sigh. “Don’t kill the guests, Trish…won’t do us any good if you’re in jail.”

She smirks as she adjusts the iron tips she has put on her horns. I’ve got to admit she looks intimidating as fuck, even with as short as she is. “I’ll behave, at least a bit. But I am not letting anyone fuck this up. This is day we…you dreamed of.”

I hold her close, draping a wing across her back. “No, you were right. This is the day we dreamed of. I’m glad to have you back with me.”

She hugs me, being careful not to impale me on those impressive horns of hers before stepping away. “Nowhere I’d rather be. Now go…they are waiting for you.”

As I take one last glance at Anon and Trish before I walk out on stage, a hesitant smile crosses my beak. Really, really hoping that stomach shit is done for right now. I am not letting it ruin this for me, for everyone. They are counting on me.

I come to an abrupt halt in the wings, staring in awe. Fog machines and lights are positioned across the entire front of the stage, illuminating it in brilliant shades of color that crisscross each other as they pass. There is a raised platform with the drums already set up, another to the side where Benji will be, and dead center is a mic with a platform edging out a little from the rest of the stage so I will be standing just barely in front of the crowd. I peer out from the side to see the audience. It is massive, at least several thousand people packed into every space imaginable. Plenty are pregaming as bottles hit the floor and brawls break out. They have expanded this place for sure…it never could have held this many four years go.

Benji and Jacob make their way up beside me, stars in their eyes as they take in the sight. This may not be the stadium, but this certainly is as close as we have ever been. As we collectively have a mini happy freakout, I see in the corner of my eye a man approaching the mic. A dark green-colored velociraptor with jet black hair and looking as metal as possible taps on the mic, catching the attention of the crowd.

“Alright! It’s time for this concert to get going!” The crowd erupts in cheers as people surge closer to the stage. “Got a hell of a lineup for you guys tonight, but up first we’ve got a fresh local band. You may have seen ’em around at the bars indirectly causing a few concussions but they are here tonight…so please give a warm loud fucking welcome to Strands of Silver!”

He gestures toward us as we come out from the wings, the cheering intensifying as we take our places. I look out across the mob—the energy pouring out is intense and it only makes me that much happier. Here we are on stage at a real venue…we’ve made it, now we’ve just got to seal the deal. I turn back to Benji and Jacob with one last grin before nodding as we begin our show.

My fingers glide across my guitar as I sing. The damn throwing up made this a whole lot fucking harder—my throat is still a little sore—but I am not going to fail, not now, not after everything we’ve gone through, and my voice rings out over the audience. Taking the mic in hand, I dance across the large stage as I lean out into the crowd, smirking to those close by. The attention is intoxicating, each song only driving the energy higher as mosh pits break out everywhere and the lights dazzle across my body. It is everything I have been hoping for—they love us! Benji is shredding like his life depends on it, his eyes locked shut as he focuses solely on his craft, and Jacob never misses a single beat. We are playing to perfection as I keep hyping the people up.

A few years back I was in the crowd, cheering and headbanging to a band, and now I’m up here feeling the intensity as our music washes over them. As the two hours go by, I start sweating bullets. My clothes tightly grip against my body and I flick my damp hair back behind my head. I am probably getting a few lewd stares from them, but I don’t fucking care, I am in my element. My voice finally starts to tire as we finish the last song. My stomach has been gurgling but I am doing everything I can to hold it back. I tilt my head back as the last note trails off before bowing my head down to the stage as silence fills the room, the fog machines pumping out one last billow of smoke.

The silence barely lasts a moment before the crowd once more erupts in cheers and clapping, fists up in the air as I wave to them. I take one last bow, blowing a kiss and causing a few to knock each other over trying to get a little closer to the stage, giving up as soon as they meet the steely gaze of Trish.

The same raptor from before comes out beside me, taking my hand in his as he raises it up in the air. “Let’s hear it one more time for Strands of Silver!” The cheering explodes once again as my heart fills with pride and joy. We’ve fucking made it. We gather our stuff as he continues to talk, preparing to introduce the next band as we make our way off stage.

I sprint over to Anon who catches me in his arms as I envelop him in my wings, and he spins me around in happiness. “We fucking did it, Anon! They loved us! There’s nowhere we can’t go now and we’re going to take the whole damn world by storm!”

He laughs as he holds me tightly in his arms, planting a kiss on my cheek as we stop spinning, resting in each other’s arms. “Told ya you’d nail it, Fang! Wasn’t nothing in this world that was going to stop you.”

I nuzzle his cheek before pulling away from him with a happy sigh. “It’s going to be so much work now, but soon we’ll be playing the big venues. Once word of mouth gets around, there’s no way we’ll be able to fit people into the smaller places. Holy fucking shit, we’ve done it!”

I jump up, spreading my wings wide as excitement takes over. Unfortunately, my stomach chooses this moment to remind me it’s here. “Ohhhh fuck!” I dash to the bathroom, another surge of nausea deciding that now is the time as my ribs feel like they are going to break under the strain. I slump against the wall as it stops, feeling drained. I can hear Anon approaching before he crouches down beside me.

“We might need to get that checked out, Fang. Don’t want to think that you might be getting really sick.”

I shake my head as I wipe the sweat from my brow, panting to catch my breath. “It’s nothing. It’s just gotta be nerves, is all. I’ve been a fucking nervous wreck the whole week leading up to this…probably just got to me finally. For now, I just want to celebrate so let’s get the fuck outta here and hang with the group.”

He takes my hand, helping me back to my feet and we walk out to join the rest who are already busy knocking back whatever drinks are on hand. I snag one from the table and chug it down in one go before tossing the empty bottle into the trash. That was probably a mistake as my stomach gurgles like fucking mad before I stifle it with a breadstick. It’s just nerves, right? It has to be…it better be. It’s the only thing that makes sense. My attempts at convincing myself only increase my anxiety and I take a seat beside Stella, who is too busy celebrating with the guys to notice.

Trish has been eyeing me the entire time since I walked out of the bathroom with Anon. Her concern is as clear as day as she leans down, checking my eyes and my forehead.

“What’s up, Fang? That’s twice today you’ve had to throw your guts up in the toilet and you don’t look that hot right now.” She swipes her fingers across my forehead, showing me the sweat as it drips off her hand.

I weakly push her hand away. “I’m fine, Trish, just exhausted. I never stopped moving for an instant on stage and it must have taken more of a toll on me than I thought. Some rest and some food…that’s all I need to get over whatever it fucking is.”

Her brow furrows as her eyes narrow, staring at me with a near motherly concern. “Best be sure. We don’t need to have you collapse on stage and hurt yourself.”

The rest of the group starts to talk over each other as they listen in, and I suddenly snap. “I’m fucking fine!” I jump back off the seat to my feet as I throw my arms up in the air in frustration, growling as my wings spread out wide behind me. “I do not need everyone fucking babying me like I’m a little girl! I’ve handled myself just fine for long enough. If I say I’m okay, I’m fucking okay!”

A silence settles over the room as they look at me with concern. Sonofabitch…I haven’t gone off the handle like that in ages. I take a few deep breaths, calming my nerves as my wings settle back behind me. I sit back down with a tired sigh and glance up at Trish. “I’m sorry…I know you guys care about me and want to help. I didn’t mean to blow up at you. Please just trust me, I can handle this. If I need to, I’ll call my mom in the morning. She knows all sorts of home remedy shit that could help if something is up.”

Trish takes a second to think and then relents for the moment, handing me a small bottle of water and staying put until I drink it down, nodding and heading to check in with Anon. Everyone else returns to what they were doing and the calm atmosphere returns. I take a few of the boneless chicken wings off the table, stuffing them in my mouth. Goddamn, these taste good! It’s so nice to have food with flavor instead of having to guess what the hell they are made of.

Benji and Jacob are off in a corner chatting about the show, having split off from Stella. They’re boasting, trying to outdo each other on how well they performed before laughing in a half-drunken stupor.

Stella scoots up beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. “You were wonderful up there, Fang. I kept an eye on you from the cameras, and you looked like a dazzling star as you played to the crowd. They were on edge the whole time!”

I lean my head against Stella’s, grinning from ear to ear. “I was fucking amazing, wasn’t I? God, it’s been forever since I felt like I was right where I belonged but up on that stage, feeling the energy of the crowd loving my music…I don’t think anything will top that.”

“Not until we play the biggest place in town, of course. Until then you deserve to soak up the glory, Fang! Get some rest too though, sorry you got so sick.”

“Feh.” I shrug, shoveling down a few more chicken wings to calm my gut. “Nothing to worry about, Stella. We all have off days. I’m just happy it didn’t fuck up the performance…not for lack of trying, though!”

Stella turns toward me with a blush before giving me a gentle hug. “Nothing could have ruined that performance. I’ve never seen you more beautiful than tonight, gliding across that stage.”

A hint of a blush sneaks up my cheeks. “Thank you. We should get going though…the next group is going to need this room. We can take our celebration on the road.”

I sharply whistle, getting Anon’s attention. He jogs quickly over to my side. “All set to go? I finished finalizing everything with the manager. The money will be in the account first thing in the morning, plus whatever you guys snagged from merch sales.”

“Where would we be without you, Anon?” I smirk up at him.

He says nothing as he smiles before turning around and shouting for everyone to get packed and get moving. We stop by a bar on the way home, hammering down a few drinks…or at least they do. Something inside me keeps me from drinking as much as I would like to, some kind of inner voice telling me I should take it easy after being so sick. It kind of pissed me off but hey, at least I had a shit ton of mozzarella sticks. After eating a couple baskets of the delicious gooey cheese, Anon drops everyone off at home before carrying me up the stairs. My legs are fucking toast after all that dancing around.

He opens the door, setting me on the bed before heading back to lock it. He stands over me, smiling down as the moonlight glows around us.

“What is it, dweeb? You can take a picture if you like seeing me fucking spent and covered in sweat.”

“Just so proud of you, Fang. You really turned this shit around. Trust me, after this there’s not a place we won’t be able to go and after we get paid from this show, which was a lot by the way, we can easily get an apartment near your parents. No more slumming it in Skin Row!”

The thought nearly brings me to tears. Not having to watch my back around every corner, actually being able to wear my mom’s gift…it is all so much more than I could have hoped for. In the middle of the thought, however, a bout of nausea hits, causing me to curl up in a ball. Anon quickly sits down beside me, worry etched all over his face as he places a hand on my shoulder.

“What’s wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?”

I feebly reach out and hold his hand, smiling wanly at him as I fight to keep the mozzarella sticks down. “N-no, just…just stay close, please. I don’t know what’s going on but I…I feel so sick to my stomach. This isn’t normal.”

He gently squeezes my hand and I can see the near panic in his eyes. “Do we need to call an ambulance? Is it that bad?”

“No! Just no. It’s like I got food poisoning or some shit. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll pass. Please just stay close if I need your help up. Until then, let’s get some rest. I’m fucking tired after the show.”

The panic in his eyes isn’t getting any better and I sigh, pulling him down to me. “If it keeps up, Anon, I’ll call my mom. I already told Trish I would. So don’t worry about it, okay? Get over here and cuddle me before I smack you for worrying too much.”

He silently nods before scooting closer to me, not pressing too hard on me, wary of causing another episode. Thankfully the nausea passes quickly, but I just hope that it can stay gone for good. We’re about to have everything we’ve worked so hard for, and I can’t let my fucking body stop me from living my dream. If nothing else, my mom will have the answers. She always does.