Melody's Whispers (discontinued for a rewrite)

Star Gazing

    "Your pacing is stressing me out," I grumbled to Ma as she frantically paced the living room floor. She threw scrolls left and right, taking books from shelves to skim a page or two before discarding them, leaving a path of destruction where she went. "Get some sleep. You've been up all night." She popped her head over her scrolls with that crazy frantic look in her eyes. "O-kay... can you at least sit down?"
    "Hoot, Hoot! How's my favourite musician?"
    "Hooty, not now," I sighed, leaving Ma to her frantic, stressful pacing. I needed a drink. "This Belos business is stressing me out, Ma's constant pacing is driving me mad, and I'm having a little tinny bit of a personal crisis right now." Hooty backed up at the agitation in my voice. "Oh, sorry, Hooty, I'm just stressed out, is all." Even in the kitchen, I could hear Ma's pacing. "Oh, for Titan's sake, Ma, pick a number of steps and stick to it! Six or eight, keep it consistent each way!" I opened the refrigerator and took the large green glass jug from the top shelf.
    "Ah... Melody, you know Eda makes that stuff herself, right?" I raised my eyebrow at Hooty over the open refrigerator door, a jug of Ma's home-brewed fermented apple blood in hand. "I don't think you should be drinking that stuff... Eda gets kinda... weird on that stuff."
    "and just a taste of it keeps me sane in this place... so could you please just..." my mind trailed off as Ma's pacing stopped in the room next door. "Thank you!" I called out to her. "Um... what was I saying? Whatever, I'm gonna go brood on the roof for a bit; if you want me... don't." I threw back a decent mouthful of the home brew before returning the jug to its place in the refrigerator.

I'd not bothered to put boots on; I found it sturdier to be on the roof in only my socks. Music filled the air with magic as I played my mandolin to myself, not caring if anyone could hear. Ma had once called this song 'Raine's Rhapsody'; it was the first and only song I'd learned. I'd learned it on a couple of instruments. Recently, when she played for Raine, she said it was more like 'Eda's Requiem'. I'd wanted to see if playing it would cause the decay as it did with Ma. It wasn't the case; perhaps that time I caused decay around me was a once-off, or I had to be having a bad time with the curse. I watched the stars as I mindlessly played the cords over and over. Inside, I could hear Hooty stirring; it was odd for him to make this much noise. King's little voice cracked at every other word he yelled, telling Hooty to leave him alone; something about demon puberty? Ma's frantic mumbling to herself as she read, defiantly overworking herself. Luz mumbling about Amity's... heart? I wasn't sure about that one, but I was sure it was about her little crush.
    "Hey, Mel! Your, uh, door said you needed a little company?" I lowered my eyes to search for the familiar voice.
    "Em?" My eyes softened seeing her before turning them away to a spot just past her feet.
    "Wanna get down from there?" My eyes wandered back up to the evening sky.
    "No."
    "gonna help me up then?" I smiled lightly before sending River down to help her. It took a little work to get Emira sitting comfortably just above the overhang from Ma's bedroom 'balcony'... that's what she called it. It was more like an oversized walk-out window. Admittedly, it was relatively unstable, where I'd chosen to stew in my thoughts.
    "Something tells me you've never brooded on a roof before." I chuckled with my arm around her waist, preventing her from slipping. She held to River's staff for dear life.
    "Not allowed on the roof," Em said, looking down at the ground from the second-floor landing, afraid to fall. I lifted her chin softly to gaze at the stars beginning to appear for the night.
    "It's easier if you keep your chin up; I got you." Em's body tensed as I attempted to move River. She wasn't having a bar of it. "Help her up to the top ridge River; it's a little sturdier there."

Em sat with her legs on either side of the roof's ridge, her back leaning on my chest for stability. Sitting like this eased her fears. She held my hands and rested them on her legs. We chatted for a while, not about anything in particular. Em drew with her finger to the sky, connecting stars to make pictures, using her illusions to bring them to life briefly. The air seemed to hold still as Emira relaxed further into my chest; she had a small strand of my hair twirled in her fingers. I'd forgotten about the strand of grey starting to grow out near my ear. It had gotten longer, the grey fading into its natural ginger-red just past my chin. I found myself comfortable and almost forgot why I was up there to begin with.
    "You said something about brooding? You okay?" I sighed deeply at Em's question, a sense of dread flooding over me. I'd hoped to avoid talking to her about all that happened. "You've been incredibly busy the last week or so... what's happening?" I didn't know if I should tell her; Ma had told me not to. "I'm worried about you, Mel."
    "Please don't be... I uh... Ah, Jeez..." I sighed. "no matter what I tell you, you won't like it." My eyes wandered off in the distance. "I can't believe I let myself get enchanted at the thought of getting into mischief again." I chuckled through a smirk to myself. "Where do I start? I joined a rebel group of bards, freed some wild witches and conspired to tear down the monarchy. Oh, and I tried dismembering a coven head to keep the person, whom I believe may or may not have been Ma's partner once, from being caught. That didn't work; we haven't heard anything about them in a few days. I snooped in Ma's diary the other night and found they were close up until seventeen-ish years ago... I knew they were school friends, but...." Emira slowly turned to give me a look of shock. "I'm missing something vital there, I think. No, I know. I'm having a little bit of a personal crisis about that last bit. It feels too convenient to me how they abruptly ended a close bond...."
    "You tried dismembering a coven head?!"
    "that's what you're worried about?" I questioned before taking a moment to reflect on what I'd told her. "Yeah, checks out. It was Darius, actually. He has this abomination form; it was tough, but... I managed. It turns out when I have something to lose; I don't have much in the way of 'morals'." Em gave me a confused look.
    "What on Titan, Mel?! What could you possibly have to lose to make you do that?"
    "You, dingus," I told her with offence. "I can't have you wondering why I've suddenly gone missing... or landed myself in prison." I rested my chin on her shoulder with a sigh. "It was fun... up until that last part. Darius is fine, by the way."

I lost track of time up on the roof. That wasn't uncommon. My mind was distracted from the conversations Emira tried to hold. Hooty was causing quite a stir inside. We both jumped, hearing King's little distressed shriek. From what I could tell, he and Hooty were in the store room taking some messed up demon puberty class.
    "That's never a good thing." I sighed.
    "What's going on?" Em questioned as she braided the fine chunk of hair she'd been playing with.
    "We're all kinda going through some stuff at the moment," I told her. "King is having a little identity crisis; Luz has a crush on your sister and doesn't know what to do about it, and Ma... Ma's overworking herself... which kinda worries me. When she does that, she turns into the owl beast... I haven't seen her take her elixir either." Em leant her back further into my chest, starting to go tense again. "I won't let anything happen. I can hear everything happening inside... I'm keeping tabs on what's going on in there. Ma keeps sounding a human air horn. Kinda annoying if you ask me... but it's an improvement over the inconsistent pacing." Em chuckled nervously at me. "You want me to play to drown everything out?"

I didn't ask for her, more so for my own sanity. Em nodded. I held my mandolin over Em's lap; my arms relaxed around her, and my chin rested on her shoulder. I played—just the same as I had earlier in the evening. I found myself being copied as I played, her hands mimicking my finger placements.
    "What's with this song?" Em questioned, flicking her hair from her eyes as it floated in the magic around us. I asked what she meant. "It sounds incomplete."
    "It's written as a duet. It's intended to be played with mandolin and violin." I told her. "Truth be told, it's not my work. Ma taught me the violin as a child; I find mandolin easier to perform with, less strain on my arms for long stretches of work." Em pondered for a moment. "Don't think about it... I'm not playing the violin for you. I haven't picked it up in close to eight years."
    "Then teach me what you know on this." I chuckled with a smirk at the thought.
    "Illusions, healing and bard magics? Wow, Miss Blight, never took you for a rebellious, wild witch." I gave in quickly to her request. Her hands rested on top of mine as I played. The magic around us illuminated her face.
    "HE LEFT ME ALONE!!" We stopped abruptly; I fumbled for River's staff with one hand and held tight to Em with the other as a massive shockwave rippled through the air, knocking us off balance. It came from the tower right behind us. My ears rang. King was upset, but I'd never heard of him causing damage like this. I watched as Hooty slithered away from the tower, distraught by the outcome of his little class with King.
    "You okay?" I asked Em, barely able to hear myself over the ringing. She nodded. "I think you should go home. Things get... weird around here when Hooty's upset." Emira nodded. River helped us down. I covered my ears with my hands as the ringing got worse. My head hurt.
    "... Okay?" I didn't hear Emira completely over the ringing.
    "I can't hear over this ringing... I need to lie down." Em nodded at me, pecking my cheek before leaving. I felt so alone.

    "... Mel... friend... playing?" I raised my eyebrows at Ma with her eyes pegged open. They were red, dry and must have been irritated.
    "There was a massive shockwave from the tower... I can't hear shit." I told her. Ma looked at me, concerned. "Em was here if that's what you wanted." I hated not knowing what was said. Ma dropped her reading materials and walked with me to the bedroom. "Hooty's upset, by the way. Things are gonna be weird tonight." Ma nodded at me. She walked me upstairs. By Ma's bedroom door, Hooty had left some cookies and a note.
For all your hard work, love Hooty.
She handed me one before taking one for herself. A little food couldn't hurt. That's what we believed. Dang, Owl Boy could bake. I yawned, finishing the first bite of the cookie. My eyes became heavy. Ma caught me as my body collapsed. She took a closer look at the cookies, sleeping nettles. I watched through heavy eyes as Hooty smiled over us, saying something about sleeping for hours. Sleeping nettles don't just put one to sleep... they heighten dreams. We were stuck with the worst being imaginable. Everything went dark for a moment.
    "Mel? Melody? Come on. I'm not staying here alone with that thing coming for us." I woke to Ma's voice. No, I wasn't awake; this didn't feel right. The ringing in my ears had lessened to a dull buzz. Still maddening, but at least I could hear over it. "Come on, Mel. Hooty's up to something. And I think we're trapped together."