The Lyric Crown was long behind them now. The tour bus rolled quiet through the night, somewhere along a winding Kentucky backroad. City lights had faded into stars, and only the low hum of the wheels and the occasional yawn broke the silence inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The band was scattered around the lounge in a rare moment of calm\u2014no caffeine-fueled antics, no cable coils being juggled, no thundering kick drum coming from the back lounge. Just the soft glow of the overhead LEDs and the flicker of the highway beneath them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonah sat with his legs curled up on one of the couches, hoodie pulled halfway over his face, earbuds in but not playing anything. Cassie lounged across from him, lazily scrolling her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVictor is trending,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel perked up from where he was sitting crisscross on the floor, nursing a mug of espresso like it was soup. \u201cVictor<\/em> is trending? Please tell me it\u2019s not because I tried to summon him onstage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie smirked. \u201cFancam videos, Gabriel. That last bass drop? The strobe hit? People think you did<\/em> summon him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane, seated at the table with his laptop open, glanced up. \u201cTo be fair, it did look rehearsed. Like\u2026 insanely rehearsed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even touch<\/em> the cue,\u201d Mark said from his usual spot in the corner, arms crossed, eyes closed. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel leaned back, tail thumping the floor lightly. \u201cI told<\/em> you Victor was real. I felt a presence. Like stage manager energy, but with unfinished business and dramatic flair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonah chuckled under his breath. \u201cIf Victor had unfinished business, I think it was running our lights better than any of us could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rico wandered in with a half-eaten bag of chips. \u201cI watched a video someone uploaded from the balcony. There\u2019s this weird shadow in the background when the lights hit red. Right where Toni said he used to sit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone went quiet for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even Diesel, still up front behind the wheel, called back over his shoulder. \u201cAll I\u2019m saying is, if the ghost wants a roadie slot, he better not mess with my coffee maker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel sipped dramatically from his mug. \u201cVictor would never mess with the coffee. He respects the grind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark, without opening his eyes, added, \u201cIf he wires his own DMX cues again, I\u2019m going to start charging him union rates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane laughed softly, then leaned back in his seat. \u201cIt was weird. But it worked. That show was electric. One of the best we\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecause of Victor?\u201d Jonah asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane paused, then shrugged. \u201cMaybe. Or maybe we just believed something special was happening. And that made us play like it was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence settled over the group again. Outside, the trees blurred past like soft shadows in the moonlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Gabriel whispered, \u201cDo you think if we say his name again, he\u2019ll follow us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie threw a pillow at him. \u201cGabriel. No.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Lyric Crown was long behind them now. The tour bus rolled quiet through the night, somewhere along a winding Kentucky backroad. City lights had faded into stars, and only the low hum of the wheels and the occasional yawn broke the silence inside. The band was scattered around the lounge in a rare moment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3141,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions\/3141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}