Chapter 26

Marie’s POV

I walk in Tuesday afternoon to find Dean, Luke, and Roxie clustered by the speaker stacks, all three staring up at them like they expect the metal casings to start talking back.

"—I'm telling you, it's not the amp, we replaced the amp—"

"Then why does it sound worse than the old setup? We spent four grand on this."

"Maybe it's just a bad room. Some rooms are cursed."

"Rooms aren't cursed, Luke. You just refuse to read the manual."

"The manual is forty pages of German, Roxie!"

"It has diagrams, Luke. With arrows."

"Pictures aren't the same as words!"

"They're the same given you don't read either one."

I grab a handful of bar nuts off the counter on my way past, toss one in my mouth. The salty crunch is the only sensible thing happening in the building right now.

"Your subs are out o