Maelstrom Extra: Disconnect

Monday night gig in Santa Fe. Not very promising, but it was the best he could do. At least there were plenty of hotels.

“What are you doing, human?”

Ricky glanced up. “If you can’t knock, can’t you at least say hello?” He turned back to the computer and frowned. They would finish the week in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. There was a nice little hot springs resort up there, if he could get a promise from Bo to behave himself.

“Fine. Hello.” Kalila jutted out a hip and waited, but Ricky’s grunted response didn’t satisfy.

Then head back south for—

“What’s so compelling about words and numbers on a screen?”

—a weekend in Albuquerque. They weren’t big gigs, but a small show in a big town had more publicity potential than a big show in Podunkville.

“Ricky. Are you listening to me?”

“Of course I’m listening. I’m just trying to finalize your tour itinerary. You leave in less than a week, you know.”

“We leave,” she corrected him. “You’re coming with us. Or have you forgotten what happened to our last tour manager?”

“Please don’t remind me.” He turned back to the computer and called up a map. It was a straight shot from Albuquerque to Las Cruces, but there wasn’t much along the way. Maybe—

Ricky punched a few keys, trying to unlock his frozen screen. Then he opened the network status window and cursed. He tried to re-connect, but nothing happened. “Kalila, do you think you could…oh.” Kalila was watching with a smug, catlike smile. Ricky shut down the computer and sat back in his chair. There would be no more work until the djinn had gotten what she came there for. Knowing her, she probably just needed to be noticed.

“Okay, Kalila. You win. What do you want?”

NOTE: Maelstrom will be on tour May 23 through June 4. They’ll be blogging their preparations and their tour right here starting May 22, so make sure we're on your blog reader!