‘Oh. My dear. My love. Let’s get you into something beautiful, you magical creature,’ Caroline says, completely swept away by what she has heard.

Fifteen minutes later, Laura steps out of the makeshift dressing room.

‘Well?’ Caroline looks at Rachel. Of course Rachel doesn’t respond, but her camera does the work. What she sees is Laura as she’s never seen her before, and Laura as she has never been before. Laura looks at their faces, uncertain, but with a shy smile. She likes it, she hopes others do.

Claire sets about accessorising Laura.

‘Wait until hair and make-up get their hands on you. You’ll be hot stuff,’ Caroline says. ‘I’m not sure about the shoes, though,’ she adds. ‘Your legs are shaking, you poor love.’

Laura seems relieved to take off the platforms.

‘Gladiator flats,’ Caroline says finally. ‘You have that vibe. Greek, angelic, goddess. Tall enough to pull them off too.’

By the time Laura’s hair and make-up are complete, the team have created this goddess in a very short white slip, midway up her long toned thighs. If she lifts her arms it travels up past her underwear. Her long blonde hair is tied in a tight knot on the top of her head, gold metallic gladiator flats snake their way up to her knees, and around her bicep is a gold clasp with an emerald stone. Her green eyes gleam.

Everybody is silenced as she stands there before them.

‘That will get you Jack’s thumbs up for sure,’ the make-up artist says.

‘It will get more than his thumbs up,’ Caroline says, and they all laugh before realising the camera is recording, then they quickly hush and disperse.

Solomon is waiting at the stage with Bo. He catches up with his former colleagues while he waits for Laura to arrive for the sound check and dress rehearsal. Laura enters the stage set with Bianca and is guided up the steps to the centre of the stage. Laura, unaware of all the hungry eyes on her, looks around as though she’s landed on a new planet. The lighting, the empty audience seats surrounding the stage, the enormous screen above her head that will display her thumbs up or thumbs down. The gilded throne where Jack will sit and judge her.

Solomon has his back to the stage while in discussion with crew he hasn’t seen since his fight with Jack, but he senses the change of air in the room. It may sound stupid, but he knows that she has walked in. He sees everyone look up, stop what they’re doing, he sees the looks in their eyes, the change in their expression. His friend Ted stops midway through his story, completely distracted by what’s on the stage.

‘Whoa.’

Solomon’s heart started beating faster the second he felt the change in the room. He clears his throat and readies himself. He turns.

‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ Ted says. ‘That’s the Lyrebird?’

‘She wins,’ Jason says in a sing-song voice as he passes the two men. Ted laughs.

Solomon clears his throat again awkwardly. He doesn’t know where to look. If he lays his eyes on her again everyone will know, absolutely everyone will know how he feels. He can’t cope with looking at her, he can’t control himself, the sudden tremble he feels, the awkwardness, the downright unsophisticated urge to take her, and have her all to himself, do all the things most men in the room are fantasising about right now.

Bo watches him, he feels her eyes on him, and he turns away from the stage, busying himself with his audio equipment.

‘What do you think?’ she asks.

‘About…’

‘Laura.’

He looks up again as if he’d barely noticed her the first time. ‘Yeah. She looks different.’

‘Different?’ she studies him. ‘She’s unrecognisable, Solomon. I mean, she’s fucking incredible. Even I want to sleep with her, but you know…’

Solomon looks at her in surprise. ‘What?’

‘It’s not what I was expecting…’ Bo studies Laura again, analyses her.

‘Yeah,’ Solomon agrees. It’s not what he was expecting either. Not at all.

While Laura is surrounded by suddenly over-helpful crew members, and Bo is busy again, he takes his time to really study her now. He can see Laura’s nerves. She looks over at him, a question on her face. She’s seeking comfort, confidence, encouragement, and yet he can’t do anything. If he goes near her, everybody will know. She will know, Bo will know. He can’t allow himself to take one step closer to her right now, under these lights and cameras, for everyone to see. He keeps his distance, he glances at her from afar, from the corner of his eye, grabbing stolen moments.

The floor manager takes her attention away and Rachel documents it all. Solomon jumps into action and hurries over, headphones on, the boom mic in his hand, trying to avoid Laura’s gaze.

‘Lyrebird, I’m Tommy.’ The manager reaches out his hand and she shakes it. ‘You’re very welcome. I know this is nerve-racking, every single person on the show tonight is feeling exactly the same way. But there’s no need, we’re a nice bunch. I’m from Cork too. Us Corkonians stick together.’

She smiles and he and she have a little chat as he succeeds in calming her nerves.

‘Your king and executioner sits up there on the throne. When you’re performing, this is your main camera. That’s Dave behind it.’

Dave waves comically and she laughs.

‘This is your place to stand. Do you think you’ll be moving around?’

Laura looks at Solomon for guidance, he quickly looks down at his audio bag, plays with the tuning.

‘Well, we’ll have a run-through and we’ll see for ourselves,’ Tommy says good-naturedly. No panic. Not yet. A few hours till they go live. ‘That’s what we’re here for.’

He explains timing issues with her, where she stands for the ruling, where she walks to when she’s finished. Finally, it’s time for the run-through. Solomon, Bo and Rachel leave the stage, as does everybody else, while the lights and music dramatically leap into action. Laura looks around, jumping slightly at the dramatic music. The ten-second countdown before she begins, while the stage is bathed in red, and then it is bathed in green, time for her two minutes to begin. The timer on the clock on the screen above her head counts down the seconds she has to convince King Jack Starr whether she will go through to the next round of semi-finals.

Laura holds the microphone to her mouth and looks around. She doesn’t say anything. Her breath is audible in the absolute silence.

Tommy stands at the edge of the stage, holds his hands up in a grand gesture. ‘Say something, anything, doesn’t matter what, we just need to hear you.’

Bo looks nervous, Solomon isn’t sure if she’s worried about Laura or about her own reputation. Rachel is biting her lip and looking down at the ground, an angry energy emanating from her. Solomon makes a note to ask her about it later.

They go through the ten-second countdown again.

Laura looks at Solomon and spends the full two minutes making the sound of the coffee machine. Solomon laughs so much Bo elbows him in the stomach, production staff glare at him, and he has to leave the studio because he can’t help himself.

Hours later, when the live show has begun, while four people have had the thumbs up and five have had the thumbs down, Solomon, Rachel and Bo film Laura’s nervous wait backstage. She can barely speak with the nerves. Bianca, her handler, doesn’t leave her side and Laura, jumpy, imitates the sound of the walkie-talkie in Bianca’s hand and just about everything Bianca does. Bianca ignores it as though it’s not happening.

Bianca counts her down to her performance. ‘We’ll go to the studio in two minutes.’

Laura’s breath catches and she moves away.

‘I need to go to the bathroom.’

‘Hold on, hold on, you can’t go now,’ Bianca says, alarm in her eyes, things no longer cool.

Solomon puts the boom mic down, and Rachel too stops filming.

‘What are you doing?’ Bo looks at them, confused.

Rachel refuses to answer. The camera is on the floor beside her, her arms are crossed, her eyes to the floor.

‘Solomon?’

He takes Laura by the arm and leads her around the corner, out of earshot from everybody else, but still just in case, he moves his lips to her ear, so close that he feels his nose brush her hair, his lips brush her soft earlobe.

‘You have the ability to take people somewhere else. Somewhere they can’t see, but somewhere they can feel. If you don’t know what to do, if nothing comes to you, close your eyes, and think of something that makes you happy. Think of your mum and Gaga.’

‘Okay,’ she says, so quietly, he feels her breath on his cheek.

He breathes her in. ‘You look beautiful.’

She smiles.

He moves away quickly, head down, eyes down, Bo and Rachel’s eyes on him.

‘You ready?’ Bianca asks, the alarm still in her eyes. The message being: you better be.

‘Yes,’ Laura says.

‘Cool.’ She lifts her walkie-talkie to her mouth. ‘Lyrebird on the move.’

Laura stands on the stage, the audience’s welcoming applause dies down and it’s silent.

‘Hello there,’ Jack says from his throne, subtly looking her up and down, and not so subtly liking what he sees.

‘Hello,’ Laura says into the microphone. Solomon couldn’t be more proud, Rachel is biting down on her nails. Jack has been generous with their access so far, but they can’t film while the show is airing live, they will have to get their footage from the show.

‘What’s your name, tell us about yourself.’

‘I’m… Lau… Lyrebird,’ she corrects herself, ‘I’m twenty-six and I’m from Gougane Barra in Cork.’

There’s a cheer from a section of the audience.

Jack big-ups the people from Cork in the house. He likes Lyrebird, you can tell. He is wearing his charming face.

‘And tell me, what are you going to do for us tonight?’