Silversong (The Fable Series, Book 3)

Chapter 5

My phone screen goes dark for a second, before clicking through to the official Fable website.

The countdown clock which got everyone at school so excited is gone, replaced by a video with the words "live stream" flashing in the top left corner of the screen. There's a live chat window on the right, and at the top it says "6,907,9871 watching now". The numbers change before my eyes, and within a few seconds it's over seven million and rising. The comments in the chat stream are going too fast to read, racing by in a blur as hundreds of thousands of Enfablers type out futile messages to the band, in the hopes that somehow the boys might see their words. I turn my attention back to the video. It takes me a moment to figure out what I'm seeing.

At first the shot is blurry and out of focus - it looks like a pale star-shape in a slate grey sky. Gradually, the scene comes into focus, and I can make out an aerial shot of seven streets converging on a central point - a traffic circle with a sort of monument or statue in the centre. The seven cobblestone streets seem to radiate out from the monument, creating the star-like design. The shot is hovering at birds-eye-view, the tops of buildings laid out like a patchwork quilt of mossy green domes and oaken grey shingled roofs and sunlit glass, glimmering in the morning twilight. It looks like it's somewhere in Europe, or maybe the UK - but definitely not Portland.

Whoever or whatever is filming the scene - a drone probably - suddenly swoops down, closing in on the traffic circle, until it's hovering just a few meters above the central monument. The camera slowly pivots around the magnificent structure, giving me a 360 degree view.

It's so beautiful that I gasp and bring my phone closer to my face.

The monument looks like something out of a fairytale. Upon a stepped stone dais crowded with people, a stately column stretches into the sky, higher than the treetops, bearing six periwinkle blue sundials and topped by a slender spire glowing fiery white in the morning light. At the very top of the spire is a lovely gilded ball, bright as a harvest moon.

There's a murmur of background sound, like the soft buzz of a waiting crowd. Distant cars, traffic, birdsong, commuters on their way to work. The gentle whispers of the waking city.

Amongst the stream of live chat messages racing past on the side of the screen, one phrase seems to be repeating over and over.

Hannah_R: That's Seven Dials in Covent Garden I went there last yr

Lilli_Heart: 7 dials

Enafbler4eva84: Seven Dials London!!! :D

Ben_is_Mine99: NOTICE ME SENPAI! BENBENBENBENBENBENBENBENBENBEN

Alastaire's_Angel: Camden West End Seven Dials

Lyall'sgirl: SECRET CONCERT

LCelli: OMG fml they are in the west end i'm in the east end ;( how can i get to seven dials?

I turn my attention back to the video. The camera pulls away, and the crowd of people pulls back from the monument to reveal a strange set-up - a sort of makeshift stage on the stone steps. I can just make out a tangle of electrical wires and cables snaking all over the ground, leading to two huge guitar amps. A white electric guitar, embellished with two silver angel wings on the scratch-plate, is leaning against one of the amps; a grey base guitar is propped up against the other one. There's a dark green electric keyboard, a bright red drum kit and a mic stand front and centre.

I'd know that set-up anywhere.

This is Fable's stage. And they're about to play.

Fable.