Melody's Whispers (discontinued for a rewrite)

Earned Trust

"this may be a bit of a long shot but ah... do you guys know what Luz is doing here? She said something about talking to your parents." Em and Ed shrugged their shoulders at me.
"don't know. Didn't realise she was here," Em said as she mixed up a hot drink. "Our parents are holding a showcase of their abominations tonight. Mittens was meant to help with that." Em raised her eyebrows like she'd remembered something. "Ed, we're meant to welcome guests tonight. Ah! I completely forgot."
"I told them we had tutoring tonight, it's chill," Ed said with a smirk. "Can't ruin your night with your cute new girlfriend with work." My face burned hot. Em went bright red.
"Ed stop it!" She swatted at his shoulder.
"Hey guys, have you seen Luz-? Oh, Mel, hi. Didn't realise you were here." We turned to Amity.
"hey Amity." I said. "Luz was here when I got here... she said something about talking to your parents and walked towards their warehouse." Amity held a note in her hand.
"I think Mum is going use Luz for the demonstration tonight." I saw sense in what Amity told us. I grit my teeth, angered. Luz was gonna get herself killed doing something like that.
"Mel, you okay?" I lowered my head away from Em and her concern.
"your mother won't be if anything happens to Luz," I told her. I looked up at Amity. "Get Willow and Gus. I'm not calm enough to walk in there and come out without a new bounty on my head."

I paced the kitchen floor with Em and Ed just watching, their heads moving to track my pacing.
"For titan's sake. Of course Luz would get herself mixed up in all this." Neither of the twins dared to interrupt my muttering. "Ma's gonna kill me if Luz gets herself killed. Ma's gonna kill your mother. Probably your father, and the audience. I'm gonna claw her eyes out if she hurts Luz. Agh!"
"uh... Mel..." Em finally spoke up. I stopped dead still and slowly turned my head around. "Mittens has got this covered, trust us. Mum isn't stupid enough to kill the Owl Lady's human kid, pet, uh... what is Luz to you guys?"
"Kid, sister, family, all of the above." I told her tapping my fingers on my legs. "We kinda have a certain level of responsibility to Luz... mean she kinda is stuck with us..." I hadn't noticed at the time, but Em had asked this to draw my attention away from my anger and focus on lighter moments.
"Amity's got this covered. Luz and her friends are more than capable of looking after themselves." I nodded at Em. "Now come on, they're gonna need a way into the showcase... and I have an idea."

All the attendees wore the same green cloaks, covering their faces with the hoods. It made it easy to sneak someone in. We got our hands on three cloaks.
"I can use the root system underground to tunnel our way in?" Willow suggested.
"that'll take too long," Amity dismissed. "We should just rush the guards at the door."
"No, no, no. I'll distract them with illusions of beautiful lady guards." Gus suggested
"This isn't a cartoon from the forties, Gus!" Willow shut down. "We need a plan!" The three continued to argue among themselves. I looked between the twins, they nodded at me.
"Here's an idea," I spoke up over them. They stopped and turned to us. "Just walk in through the front." We held a cape each for them. Em and Ed threw the cloaks to Willow and Gus. I stepped forward to Amity and handed hers over. With my head down. "I know you guys have this covered. Don't let Luz get hurt."
"you're not going in too?" Amity questioned. I shook my head and stepped back toward the twins.
"I really can't walk in there and walk out without a fresh bounty." I glanced back at Em. "I think I just need to sit back on this and let you guys handle it... I trust you."

Em fixed up a hot drink to calm my system. She sat with her back against mine on the floor. Just a moment in time to be alone.
"did you really have to tell Ed?" I sighed into my drink. "That means I have to tell Luz like as soon as Amity saves her ass." Em chuckled behind me and nestled down down closer. "You realise Ed tells Amity... and Amity tells Luz. Then Ma finds out then we're in trouble. She'll want you over all the time and Hooty is just a pain in my feathers and... Agh..." I began to spiral "you have no idea how complicated things are at home... Ma and Aunt Lily have their curses to deal with, Luz and King are always up to something..."
"Sounds lonely." I'd never thought about it. "You're welcome here... so long as we get a little homework done... so long as my parents believe you're tutoring us... they won't care how often you're here." I smiled lightly at the idea before noticing the throbbing starting in my knuckles. I groaned at myself putting my cup down on the floor to rub at my sore joints. "You okay?"
"I've had issues with my joints since the whole petrifaction ceremony thing," I told her. Em shuffled to sit beside me. Her face went bright red as she contemplated her next move, took a deep breath in and out, almost like she was telling herself to 'just do it'. She took my right hand and massaged my knuckles. Not meeting my surprised gaze. I watched her hand rub my knuckles, leaning against her shoulder, I relaxed and felt like I could melt... until she shrieked in horror. "Oh shit... uh... sorry..." I'd forgotten it wasn't a commonly known fact that my limbs just... come off on occasion. I took my hand from her and popped it back onto my wrist.
"What the hell?!" I chuckled nervously as I wiggled my fingers about.
"um... I've got some explaining to do don't I?"
"ya think?!" I rubbed the back of my neck. I didn't even know where to start. A passed down version of my mother's curse seemed like a good place. I told her what I could. Em rested her head in her hand not knowing how to process this information.
"If it helps, it's not like I leave limbs around the house... I'd loose them if I did that..." I told her.
"you're cursed?!" I shrugged my shoulders.
"Yes and no. And kinda... but not really. It's complicated. Ma has this whole owl beast thing she turns into... but I don't seem to have it... or if I do, it's never been triggered... fully... It's fine really. I manage it and haven't had any issues... aside from the nightmares..." Em leant against me with a sigh. "I guess it's better to tell you now than to find out the hard way... Ma's got so many broken down relationships because of this curse... she's always shut people out. I don't wanna feel like that... and I don't think I could stand to loose what I have now." Em began to chuckle to herself. "What?" I couldn't help but chuckle along with her, there was something about her.
"I should have known, his would get weird," she told me. "I figured maybe I'd have to pay bail money from time to time, but a curse? And you can just pop your hands off your wrists?" I smirked at her, she had no idea. "It's not just your hands, is it?"
"don't scream, this one's gross," I told her placing one hand under my chin the other by my ear. With a crack and pop I held my head from my body. "I can do it to EVERY part of my body." She just stared wide eyed. I cracked my neck from side to side after reattaching my head. "It doesn't hurt or anything... but like I said... I kinda run the risk of loosing track of my limbs." She still looked shell shocked. "I warned you it's kinda gross."
"Unnatural more like." Both of us jumped as Ed came up behind us. "Imagine the pranks we could pull with something like this-."
"Not happening," I told him cutting him off. "Have you been eavesdropping this whole time?" Ed shrugged his shoulders.
"More like spying," he admitted. "You two were meant to get a drink then come up stairs, remember?"
"I suppose we have to get some kind of work done tonight," Em sighed pulling herself off the floor. She held her hand out to me and helped me up. She probably would've continued to hold my hand if Ed hadn't gushed about how cute we were. Both of us pulled away quickly, red faced, arms crossed over our chests.
"Jeez you two, do you know how much work I put in to make this relationship happen?" He told us walking past. "I'm just saying, I don't care. Be cute together."

The two of us sat together on her bed, I played music for her. Our homework caught up. It would have been nice if Ed hadn't decided we needed a 'chaperone'. We figured he'd want to go to bed eventually. He wasn't helping the awkwardness I felt. How does one go from friend, to girlfriend?
"you realise, you weren't invited, right?" Em finally spoke up glaring at her brother as I finished playing.
"you think it's appropriate to be unattended with your new girlfriend? Nope. Not happening." We raised our eyebrows at Edric. "Titan, you two are scary similar." I yawned and rubbed my eyes.
"You know I don't wanna share that pillow nest with you, right?" I said putting my mandolin away. "I'm a sleepy little song bird and I want my nest." River chirped and landed on Ed's head, pecking and pulling at his hair. Em and I couldn't help but giggle at him and his frantic shooing. It may have taken some coxing but we did manage to get some time alone together. I closed the door behind Ed as Em fixed up the pillow nest and added a couple blankets.
"Do you sleep like this normally?" She asked. I shook my head.
"not often. Ma has a nest, but I choose to sleep in a bed. It's a lot harder than yours though."
"this looks comfy." Em said holding her hand out to me. "Come on." I hesitated a little before taking her hand. She pulled me down to the floor with her. My face burned as she continued to hold my hand and stroked her thumb over my skin.
"why is this so scary?" I asked my heart in my throat.
"I wish I could answer that for you." Her face was red too. She let go of my hand as I yawned again before dropping her other arm around my back, leaning her head on my shoulder. "I want us to be comfortable... but if you aren't... tell me. I can only help you if you help me." I smiled at her noticing a stray hair across her face. I figured she fixes my hair behind my ear when she notices. I fixed her hair tucking it behind her ear. Her eyes began to drift closed as my fingers crossed her jawline. We fell asleep in the pile of blankets together. I don't think she intended to... but who was I to argue?

One would think, in a single night Ma and Aunt Lily wouldn't get into too much trouble. I'd returned home to the living room looking like something had exploded.
"should I ask?" I sighed. Ma barely awake enough to get her morning apple blood down.
"Edalyn managed to screw up glyphs and caused a mess," Aunt Lily told me. "But we figured out how to combine glyphs to create new spells!" I smiled lightly at them.
"Did Luz get home last night?" I questioned. Aunt Lily looked  at me confused before replying that she had. "Oh good."
"Good on ya for asking the Blight Kid out by the way," Ma grumbled into her mug. "Didn't think you had it in ya." When did Luz even get the chance to find out that information? I grit my teeth.
"Is she still sleeping upstairs?" Ma and Aunt Lily nodded. "Good." With a circle, I held my hand out until a metal pot and wooden spoon came to me. "Not for long. I was gonna tell you guys myself." I'm sure Ma and Aunt Lily would have laughed between themselves hearing the banging and clanging, Luz's startled scream and King's panicked scampering away. I just smirked over her. Mean what are sisters for, right?