Page 11 of Last Note
“She wants you dead by morning,” I repeat the phrase that gave me a pause at the time it was spoken. “I think someone”—I look at them both in turn meaningfully—“has done pretty good research on us. They hired French assassins from our kind to remove us from their path.” Looking away from them, I stare unfocused at the dark horizon. “Which tells me that we are something standing in their way. I just can’t think why…” my words trail off when a scent of red blooming roses fills my lungs. “The girl!”
“Okay, you lost me there,” Lucien rasps, but Moël is watching me intently.
“Somehow the girl.” Swallowing the urge to roar and tear the world apart, I pause. “Melody. She is somehow connected.”
“It could’ve been just a dream.” Lucien doesn’t sound like he believes his own words.
“It could.” Inclining my head, admitting I might be wrong, I still continue talking. “But, I’m willing to find out for sure.”
“And here is the perfect time to do it.” Moël points at the black cat that bolts across the yard and disappears between the trees.
The three of us are right on its tail.
9
Melody
My cheeks are hurting from the smile that has been stretching my lips the last hour or so. We played, people trickled in, taking the tables and even standing around, leaning on the walls. An occasional hoot or clap breaks the reverent silence they gave us while we played better than we’ve ever done before. Even Harmony is smiling, her eyes sparkling with the high only music can provide us with. Vi screams, “Woohoo!” Raising her violin in the air, roars follow, making my chest vibrate and my legs tremble.
“One more! One more! One more!” the crowd chants.
Seraphina is standing at the corner, watching us with a contemplative gaze. That can’t be held against her since she owns the place. The reaction of the people is what tells her that she’ll make good money if she closes the deal with us. Not that I doubted that they’d like it. I’m just excited and relieved that everyone is alive, and I want to scream along Vi.
“Melody, you play,” Vi urges, and a lump form in my throat, my stomach dropping to my feet. “They’ll love it, trust me. We need the gig, please.”
Vi wants to get out of her parents' house. It’s not a nice place to be with her alcoholic mother and psychotic father. She convinced Harmony and me to get a place together, the three of us. Not that I mind my mom, but I can use less nagging about everything I’m doing wrong and the reminders of how useless I am. Harmony lives with her brother and his wife. Needless to say, she jumped on the idea as well. The money that was offered for this will solve all our problems. Looking from Vi to Harmony, I can see the hope as clear as anything in the pleading gazes they are giving me.
“Okay.” Blowing a long breath, I push away the uneasy feeling in my gut.
Harmony hugs her Cello, leaning her head on it with a soft smile. Vi sits cross-legged on the stage, cradling her violin. She nods encouragingly at me. Looking away from them, I search the faces in the crowd. Excitement is palpable in the air, as thick as molasses. Seraphina’s gleeful face gives me a pause, sending a shiver like icy fingers down my spine but Vi clears her throat, and my eyes snap to her face.
“Go on,” she urges me, her pleading gaze piercing my heart. “You can do it, Melody.”
Forgetting all about Seraphina and the people filling up the place, I lift my violin up. Closing my eyes, I hover the bow above it, willing my heart to slow down. If they want to feel my music, I’ll make sure they never forget it. As Leopold Stokowski said, “A painter paints pictures on canvas, a musician paints pictures on silence.”
I will paint them a masterpiece on silence.
“I will play Tomaso Vitali,Chaconne, in G minor.” My soft words sound too loud in the vast silent space.
Vi and Harmony both sigh. It’s a heart-wrenching piece that can cause tears even in those that don’t usually like classical music. Everyone is holding their breath until the bow glides over the strings for the first time. I lose myself in the beautiful melody, the wildly changing keys that are distinguishable for theChaconne, bringing tears to my own eyes. I put my own spin on it, softening the keys, giving it more of a romanticized tune.
Cristal blue eyes stare at me from behind my closed lids. A handsome face with silky blond hair materializes out of nowhere, and if I am not aware that I’m playing and only Vi and Harmony are close enough to touch, I would think he is standing in front of me. While I saw the air with the bow, my body swaying with the tune and the rhythm of the keys, I allow myself to dream. To see the desire in his eyes, a soft kind smile on his lips. He lifts his hand, holding it so close to my face that I can feel the heat of his skin, but not touching.
My heart beats painfully against my rib cage. He steps away, frowning, a deep line forming between his brows. The crystal-blue eyes that gazed at me through hooded lids turn suspicious, flashing dangerously at me, the threat loud and clear. Not liking to see him like that, I soften my music, luring him to see me clearly. To look at me, at Melody. Not my music, not how I play. I don’t know why I think this is so important, but I want nothing more than for him to seeme. Tears trickle from my closed eyelids, the fat drops sliding hot over my chilled skin.
He growls angrily at me, displeasure written all over his face. The music is reaching its fevered pitch, my hand moving faster, slowing down to barely a twitch. Nothing exists in this place but the two of us. And while my heart is breaking that he is pulling away, getting further and further away, I can’t find the strength to tell him to stay. Why would someone like him want to stay here with me?
“Please…” My whispered words are drowned by the sound of the music, but his eyes widen.
The notes are getting fainter, the song coming to an end, and I still beg him to stay without words.
“Please…” Choking out the word, I watch him disappear a moment before my hand drops to my side.
Silence.
The silence is so thick it’s choking me. A soft sob is wrenched from my chest before I collect myself and open my eyes. What I see makes me stumble back, my head whipping wildly left and right.
The entire place is empty.
