ShadowSong [Book 1 & 2: Complete] [NaNoWriMo16/17]

Chapter 65 - Thieving From A Thief

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Olivia wasn't about to lie to herself: she was pushing her limits with this whole lack of sleeping thing.

Fatigue was becoming a far longer tenant in her bones than she would have liked. It always stopped by for a visit after a seizure, but in the last few days, it just hadn't bothered to leave afterwards. Though she usually felt re-energised after a transformation, in the last few days, that hadn't been the case.

She flicked through her notebook as she sat at her table, pretending to be busy. Ericka had asked her to take a photo of some design, but the rest of it was just to give her an excuse to hang around Jason. She hadn't really been paying much attention to what she'd been scribbling down on the page. She was pretty sure most of it wasn't legible, but she'd thrown in a few diagrams for good measure.

Olivia glanced up to Jason, who had gone completely still beside her. His free hand was frozen halfway towards the table, like he'd expected something to be there.

"You okay, Frostsong?" she asked quietly.

Jason's hand reached up to his ear as his eyes flicked to hers. They didn't stay there long, barely half a second before they left, but Olivia knew she'd seen real fear in them.

"Jason?" called Aurelia again.

Jason looked over at her, but once again, did not speak.

Olivia's alert was instantly up.

With one final, helpless glance at the table, Jason seemed to swallow everything down before straightening himself up, adjusting his grip on his violin and approaching his mother's desk.

Olivia sat up a little more in her chair, pretending to be reaching for her Liaiser as she took stock of the table's contents, trying to figure out what'd made him hesitate. His violin case was on the table with his headset. She was fairly certain she hadn't seen his Liaiser out, but what else could be missing?

Before, he'd been playing with his headset on. He'd taken something else off--

His ear cuff. He'd taken off the icy ear cuff that Cryo had given him and put it on the table.

Olivia glanced up at where Aurelia now sat at her desk. The High Speaker had a strangely smug smile on her face given the verbal lashing Banshee had laid down yesterday, and Olivia doubted that Aurelia was that passionate about music. As she had Jason begin to play two of the pieces--only two of them--Olivia leaned back in her chair and quickly scouted the floor. No sign of Cryo's ear cuff.

Every part of her was screaming that Aurelia had taken it.

Olivia put herself in Aurelia's shoes for a moment.

What would I do if I were an evil, narcissistic jerk who had taken something precious from someone I like to torture?

Well, that was easy. She wouldn't give it back, and she'd claim to have no knowledge of it.

That meant Olivia had to get it back.

Olivia stood up from her chair and walked over to where she'd left her bag against the wall in the costuming area. The sound of Jason's violin washed over her, but it was nothing like the song he'd played for her before. This piece was flawless, yes, but it had no heart. No spirit. It was pretty to listen to, but it didn't make her want to dance the way the other one had.

Starlight, that music had been beautiful. It'd been years since she'd heard anything quite like that masterpiece Jason had woven.

Olivia flipped open her bag and, with a quick glance around the room to make sure no one was looking--Aurelia's back was to her, Jason was playing--poked the shadows inside. "Viri?"