But then the focus of the reports shifted to the repercussions of the scandal on Paramonos Enterprises and the future of all the venues belonging to it. Amaranthine knew what to expect – she’s seen such reports before – but the consequences of Mr. Paramonos’ crime seemed to have hit his businesses harder than other high-profile duovitaerers. She looked with horror as the charts showed a massive drop in Paramonos Enterprise share prices and the infuriated faces of the shareholders as they commented on their losses. She knew that a duovitaery scandal at this level was inevitably going to bring numerous bankruptcies – a total boycott of all brands by the company afflicted with this crime was unavoidable. In Paramonos’ case, that meant a boycott of all his venues by all Immortals.
Amaranthine slowly turned her head to the side and glanced at the digits hovering above her idatron. Seven-thirty in the morning. She knew the inevitable was drawing near and she had to face it sooner or later. She had to go to the office and speak to her boss. She couldn’t begin to imagine what impact the loss of Paramonos Enterprise business would have on her company. Everything that they worked so hard for – prestige, position, credibility – was in jeopardy, if not already lost. She felt guilty though none of it was her fault.
She finally got up and trudged to the bathroom to get ready. She dressed slowly and carefully, wondering what the meeting with Nectar was going to look like. She dreaded the worst.
As her hovermobile approached the office, Amaranthine felt tension rise inside her, and had no way of relaxing. When the portal opened, she took a big gulp of freezing air and stepped in.
Her office was dark and peaceful. She looked around wondering if this was the last time she was entering it. Considering the moves Nectar made after Mr. Paramonos transferred all his business to their agency, it was very likely she’d be without a job in a few moment’s time.
She took her coat and shawl off and stepped towards the door. Here we go, she thought.
She stepped out and glanced across the office. She hadn’t spoken to anyone since Wednesday and she didn’t even know if they had tried to speak to her. Really, there was nothing to say.
She swept her eyes across the office. Her team were the only ones that dared look at her, and their faces expressed fear. She knew that some of them made hasty financial decisions – just like Nectar – counting on their salary bumps to cover new expenses. Others, who didn’t work with her closely, didn’t even look up, pretending to be in the middle of some extremely urgent business. What business, she thought, are you kidding me?
She didn’t have time to mull over it. Silent and sullen, Nectar appeared in the door of his office. She raised her head and marched in, the door shutting behind her like a prison gate.
Nectar stood at the window, with his back turned to her, as if contemplating the gloomy view outside, slowly falling snowflakes.
‘All nine venues run by Paramonos Enterprises in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington have been totally boycotted by Immortals.’ He spoke so quietly she could barely hear him. ‘Not a single person showed up in any of them for New Year’s Eve parties. All tickets for sold-out events had to be refunded.’
He made a pause, but she remained silent. There was something in his voice that prevented her from making a comment.
‘Paramonos Enterprises went into bankruptcy,’ he continued. ‘Auction to buy The Universe has been announced. So far, no bidders have come forward.’
Again, she had nothing to add. Then he turned around and looked at her. He looked dreadful, his eyes bloodshot so badly she could see it from across the room.
‘Do you know what this means for us?’ he said in a slightly raised voice.
‘I can’t even begin to imagine – ’ she started.
‘No, of course you can’t, Amaranthine,’ he hissed, piercing her with his gaze. ‘Imagination has not been your strong suit recently, has it!’
She stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying.
‘What are you trying to say?’
‘Think about it,’ the same, hissing tone. He approached her slowly as he uttered his words. ‘You’ve worked with this guy for the last six months. You saw him practically every day. You went out with him a few times. And you didn’t notice anything? Nothing struck you as strange, you didn’t hear even a single word that didn’t fit his perfect image?’
‘I’m a PR specialist, not a psychiatrist,’ she replied with anger. ‘And our relationship was strictly professional! How can you even suggest that this is my fault? I know you are upset, but don’t be bringing this out on me, Nectar, because you know it isn’t fair!’
‘I’ll tell you what isn’t fair!’ he was almost shouting now. ‘The fact that I will have to reduce everyone’s pay and let a few people go to keep this company afloat, because our invoices for six months’ worth of hard work won’t be paid. And it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. Nothing’s gonna change the shit we are all in right now.’
He turned away from her again. Finally, Amaranthine decided to cut it.
‘I will go and disconnect my desk, then,’ she said, turning to leave.
‘Who said you were to go and disconnect anything?’ he turned abruptly. ‘You can’t leave now. I need you here to fix it.’
‘Fix it?’ this was beyond a joke. ‘What the hell do you expect me to do??? Even if I worked for the next two years and won every single piece of entertainment business in New York for us, I won’t make up for what we lost with Paramonos’ account. There isn’t a customer in the whole Immortal world who could guarantee us business as big as him. And even if there were, they wouldn’t speak to us after this scandal. We made damn sure everyone knew we worked on his PR!’
‘Congratulations on the perfect assessment of the situation,’ he sneered. ‘You are spot on. There isn’t another client like him in the Immortal world. And no one will want to have anything to do with us.’
‘So what the hell do you want me to do?’
He looked at her straight in the eye.
‘To take on this project,’ he said in a completely different, calm voice, activating a file on his idatron. Warm green glow filled the room.
This was so unexpected that she stared at the projection for a long while as if she’d never seen such a thing before. Nectar didn’t rush her.
Amaranthine felt a huge surge of hope. It seemed that Nectar once again did what he was best at – sniffed out and won some new business, a business the potential of which only he could spot, or spot it way ahead of any competition. It was his talent, his biggest strength and the core of his agency’s success. She saw him do it so many times before, and at the beginning she counted amongst those who doubted him, tried to reason with his choices of clients, convinced he was making a huge mistake. But she was very quickly proven wrong and since then she never doubted him. His gut feeling never once let her down.
She sat down at the coffee table and glared at the title page. Carpe Diem World Tour 2106/2107, it read. She looked up, intrigued.
‘What is Carpe Diem?’
‘A very good rock band.’
She scrolled down, browsing through the brief. ‘I’ve never heard of them. And a rock band? Why do you want me to represent a rock band? We’ve never done it before... I’ve never done it before... And how can they be so significant, how can they allow us to make up for Paramonos Enterprises?’ she understood less and less.
‘They can,’ Nectar said firmly. ‘As I said, they are very good. And they are on a brink of a massive break. People are already scanning the globenet in search for tickets for their first tour.’
‘Carpe Diem, Carpe Diem...’ Amaranthine concentrated intently, searching for any reference to this name in her mind as she scrolled down the pages of the document. They were mainly pictures from concerts. ‘It doesn’t even ring a bell to me... How come I’ve never heard of them before?’
Nectar didn’t say a word.
Then she saw it.
On the last pa
ge of the brief, there were portraits of the four musicians with their names underneath. John Moore. Patrick O’Sullivan. William Hammond. Joe Burrell.
Christian names. Names that only Mortals used.
She moved away from the projection and shook her head from side to side, stunned. Then she looked up at her boss.
‘Please tell me this is just a bad joke.’
The face she saw was that of desperate determination.
‘They want to break into the Immortal market,’ he said.
Amaranthine was silent for a few seconds.
‘You know I won’t do it,’ she said in the end. I will never work with Mortals.’
Their eyes locked in a gaze, none turning away.
‘In that case,’ Nectar finally said, ‘you can indeed go and disconnect your desk. And whilst you’re at it, tell Perenelle, Celestine, Heng and Ambrose to do the same.’
‘This is a disgusting blackmail.’
‘Call it what you want. It won’t change the fact that it’s our only chance to survive.’
‘Give it to Celestine. She’s just as good as me. I can take on everything else, I will work overtime...’
‘Don’t be silly, Amari. No one’s as good as you. And even if they were, it wouldn’t be any use,’ Nectar said, his tone gentle now. ‘They’ve asked for you specifically. It’s either you or we don’t get the contract.’
Amaranthine fell silent again. Now she really did feel like she was locked up in prison. Trapped.
How could he do this to her? She grappled with chaotic thoughts, looking from Nectar to the faces of the four Mortals on the last page.
‘I need you to make a decision, Amari,’ Nectar said in the end. ‘What’s it to be?’
She looked into his eyes. She had never seen a more desperate look in her life. Then she thought about her colleagues. Celestine. Heng. Ambrose. And Penny.
When she spoke, her voice sounded alien to her.
‘Who do I contact?’
‘A guy called Daniel Collins. He runs the Mortal agency which represents them,’ Nectar responded immediately, unable to mask the feeling of massive relief. ‘It’s going to be done in partnership with them. I’ll send you a spec with all the contact details. The first meeting is tomorrow in their office.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I need more time to prepare. Move it to Thursday.’
‘Ok,’ he said.
Amaranthine nodded slightly and got up.
‘You never told me why you hate the Mortals so much,’ Nectar said suddenly.
She froze in her spot.
‘Why? Do you need a specific reason? Isn’t there enough in the news every day to justify it?’ the anger in her voice intensified with every word. Her eyes shone dangerously.
‘Of course,’ he said, quickly retreating from the mine field.
She grabbed her idatron and headed for the door.
‘Amaranthine?’ Nectar stopped her just before she reached the exit.
She turned around and looked at him without a word.
‘I appreciate it,’ he uttered. ‘We all do.’
CHAPTER SIX
Thursday morning was no brighter than Monday or any other day in between. It was still gray and gloomy as Amari looked outside, waiting for her hovermobile to pick her up. She was in a very bad mood from the moment she opened her eyes. Today she’d have to face the Mortals.
Right after her Monday meeting with Nectar, three days ago, she shut herself in her office and started working. Ferociously and constantly. For three days she worked solidly, she didn’t speak to anyone, and no one came to speak to her, sensing that nothing good could come out of it. Her fierce antipathy towards Mortals was proverbial amongst those who knew her well – and no one wanted to risk an interaction with her in the first hours of her new assignment. The walls of Elixir Vitae Communications had ears, like the walls of all offices in the world. The whole place was buzzing with gossip, but no one dared ask Nectar or Amaranthine for any details. In the current situation, no news was definitely very good news. They all still had their jobs, so they tried to go about their business as usual, giving more than the normal due attention to their remaining clients.
Amaranthine felt the tense atmosphere through the walls of her office, but decided to ignore it and focus entirely on the task in hand. At first, despite the way it was forced upon her by Nectar and the sheer fact that she had to work with the Mortals, she welcomed having some specific goal, something to keep her mind off the disaster of The Universe. It gave her a reason to shed off the apathy and desperation that overwhelmed her for days after the Paramonos scandal broke out. But the more she found out about her new client and the partner agency, the more she became enraged all over again. Collins Communications turned out to be a tiny, meaningless company that hadn’t even done PR for rock bands before, or any significant event or venue for that matter. She came to realize that their only asset was the contract with the band. Everything else – the know-how, the contacts, the experience and the resources – would have to come from her. She would basically have to do all the promotional work, win over all of the advertisers and sponsors, and still answer to some guy who was a complete amateur and landed the contract with the band by a stroke of luck. The only upside to the whole horrid set up was that the band indeed seemed to have the potential of becoming huge. Amari had never seen any Mortal thing being so popular within the Immortal communities. However infuriating and illogical she found this fact, her professional sense couldn’t deny it. Nectar’s gut feeling, yet again, wasn’t failing him; properly promoted, these guys could become absolutely massive. The idea of contributing to some Mortals’ success repulsed her, but since she had no choice, she decided to treat them like any other client. A client that would serve her and her agency to come back to the top of their game and to earn them money.
There was one more thing to it. She remembered what Nectar said – that they asked for her specifically. It was obvious why. It wouldn’t be the first time Mortals took a chance of mocking the Immortals. This guy Collins clearly decided to use The Universe failure to humiliate her. He must have known how desperate Nectar was for business after losing Paramonos Enterprises. And he must have known that it was her personal defeat, and he took advantage of this knowledge by giving Nectar the ultimatum. As soon as it dawned on her, she set her mind on showing him what she was capable of. That if anyone would be ridiculed here, it would most certainly not be her. She’d show this rookie what it meant to work with Amaranthine Quinn.
In the last three days she took advantage of all her industry contacts and resources to learn everything that was to be known about promoting rock bands. The spec that Collins provided was far too sketchy and unprofessional, so she created her own, already putting in all the ideas that sprung to her mind. She researched the target group in great detail and made a list of potential advertisers. Armed with all her new knowledge and her plan of action, she was ready to face that son of a bitch, and wipe the smirk off his face before he could even open his mouth.
Her hovercar arrived and she got in.
‘What’s the destination, please?’ Eiko asked, displaying the usual safety announcement on the front panel.
‘Wait, what was it, 20 Sutter Avenue? No, 12. 12 Sutter Avenue, Brooklyn.’
‘I’m afraid I’m not configured for Brooklyn,’ Eiko answered.
‘What? Why not?’
‘My configuration excludes all Mortal areas.’
‘Shit. So it does,’ Amaranthine remembered. ‘Can you configure it now?’
‘Certainly. This operation will require 2 minutes and 16 seconds to complete.’
Amaranthine glanced at the clock. It was 9.52.
‘Go ahead,’ she said. She should still make it right on time for the meeting. She didn’t want to be late, but had no intention of getting there even a minute before it was strictly necessary. She checked her make-up whilst Eiko uploaded the software.
‘Configuration for New York City Mortal q
uarters completed,’ Eiko finally announced. Amari glanced at the clock again. It was 9.55.
The hovercar accelerated and joined the sea of other hovermobiles, moving fast along the six levels of New York’s hover traffic.
As soon as she flew over the Hudson, Amaranthine noticed the difference in cityscape – tall, shiny skyscrapers got replaced with lower, grayer blocks that made a depressing impression on her after the majestic splendor of Manhattan. Her hovermobile flew lower, approaching one of the buildings.
‘Eiko, can you configure portal access and parking for our destination?’
‘Searching... Unfortunately, No. 12 Sutter Avenue does not have any portals.’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Amaranthine couldn’t believe it. ‘Am I gonna have to use an elevator?’
‘This is the only access option.’
She peeked at the time projection which read 9.58 am. She was going to be late.
‘Fuck.’
The vehicle slowed right down as it approached the entrance to the basement parking lot. Amaranthine felt a sudden surge of anxiety at being so close to the ground in her hovermobile. Buildings, which she always observed only from the air, suddenly surrounded and beset her. The entrance seemed like a black hollow, far too small to accommodate her hovercar. She involuntarily hunched her shoulders and bent her neck as it slid inside, mere inches of space on each side of it. The parking lot was dark and dingy.
She floated over to the only Collins Communications visitor charging station, passing a row of hovermobiles that in comparison with hers looked like last century’s military tanks – big, ponderous and heavy, lacking the streamlining of her own Buzzard. The Mortals, if they actually managed to afford a hovercar, were the only people who went for two- or even four-seaters. As far as she knew, there was only one company that made them – the market was far too limited for any of the serious manufacturers to consider them.
She got out, cringing her face at the smell of dump that hit her nostrils, and headed for the elevators. She felt like she’d just travelled a hundred years back in time.