36

As soon as the elevator opened to the lobby, I heard a hissing roar, undulating and piercing at the same time. It took a second for me to realize it was the sound of a crowd cheering and screaming outside. Through the giant glass front doors of the hotel, I saw thousands of people lining the streets of the capital.

“Holy shit,” Zoe whispered.

“Yup,” I said, my mouth going suddenly dry.

“This way, folks,” the fallen angel said.

I was terrified, but my feet followed the gigantic figures in front of me. Zoe slipped her hand into mine, and I squeezed it hard. A moment later, the doors opened, and a flood of noise enveloped me. Strobing flashes from cameras blinded me. Hand-drawn signs waved and swung through the air, but everything moved too fast for me to read them. People were yelling and screaming and reaching over barricades to try to touch me.

“Here she is, everyone!”

The voice was a familiar one. I’d heard it for years every time Zoe and I watched The Reject Project. It was the voic