Page 80 of Changeling
“Well…the third death, Kat Loring? I was with Amy when she found her,” Leven said.
“Was this Amy there when any of the other bodies were found?” Nathan asked.
“I’m pretty sure not,” Leven said with an awkward, unsure smile. “Seeing as how I’m talking about AmyHarrington. She died three days after Kat. Kind of takes her off the wanted list, I’m thinking.”
Nathan tried not to show any frustration on his face. “Okay, so whatever got the jump on these people made pretty scarce rightafter,” he reiterated toward Sasha, like passing mental notes to go over later.
Sasha nodded then turned to Leven. “Did you notice anything peculiar about the scene or the body when you found it? Marks? Symbols? Anything out of the ordinary? You know, the kind of things the police might have snubbed their noses at?”
“The weird thing wasn’t the body,” Leven said, which made Nathan and Sasha both lean in a little closer. Leven hushed his voice, even though the only other people in the auditorium were on the stage several yards away. “See, I started thinking back on it, and people have been acting really…strange around the show. At first I thought, well, sure, people keepdying. But the thing is the people who have been acting the strangest are the ones who end up dead next.”
Nathan cast a quick glance at Sasha.
“And when you say ‘strange’…?” Sasha prompted.
“Just kinda…off, ya know? And right before they each died, I noticed they were all really scared about something, like maybe they knew. Do you think it could be something that feeds on fear? Or maybe a ghost that gives the whole ‘Seven days’,” Leven said in a deep, meant-to-be-creepy voice, “like a warning or something? And that’s why they were freaked?” He searched both Nathan and Sasha’s faces for confirmation.
“Well, I’m pretty sure it’s no ghost,” Nathan said, “but you might have set us on the right track. Anything else?”
Leven shook his head. The dark brown of his eyes made a stark contrast to his hair when they widened. “Don’t mind me if I’m a little hysterical on occasion what with all the ‘people in the musical keep dying from some supernaturalthingand I’m the lead in the show so that probably makes me a huge target’. Heh. I’ll just stayreallyclose to you two. Okay?” Much as Leven seemed to intend for that to be one of his flirts it came off a little more desperate.
Nathan gave the kid’s leg a firm pat. “Yeah, about that…would you mind making scarce for a bit? We need to talk some of this stuff over, and it’s not that we don’t trust you but…you’ll probably be happier if you don’t overhear the details.”
A shade of panic overtook Leven’s blush when Nathan first said for him to go away, but he soon nodded. “Sure. But I’ll be right over in that corner by the piano. Gotta get ready for practice tonight anyway. I’m totally messing up one of my songs and Mrs. Larson is gonna kill me if I don’t get it right. Let me know when I can come over and bug you guys again, okay?” Then with a flash of white teeth, Leven was up and heading off to the other side of the auditorium.
Nathan blinked after the kid for a few moments then turned back to Sasha. “So…got anything else to share?”
“Mostly useless tall tales, like we figured, but we better go over all of it before we settle on anything. What about Walter?”
At his name, Walter materialized in the chair next to Sasha. “I seem to be having the same dilemma as your brother, Nathan. Whatever is here is surely sidhe, but its presence is dulled, enough that I might not be banished even if I was standing beside it. Young Leven is on to something, I believe. He is a good boy. I am sure he can help you.”
Nathan nodded. “Nothing more than what we already know, but it seems like we’re looking in the right direction.”
“Well, from what I’ve heard so far, the auditorium may be newer, but it still carries the usual stories,” Sasha said. “Catwalk’s haunted. Dance director’s a witch. Cursed props,” he read off the notepad he pulled from his pocket. “I mean, it gets pretty ridiculous. Leven’s lead is probably the real one, but I don’t know of any dark fae that feeds on fear that could also keep Jim from sensing it. Oh,” Sasha laughed as if he had just remembered something, and gestured back to his notebook,“you have to read more of this. There was this one kid, convinced the football coach is behind everything because of…”
But Nathan didn’t hear whatever Sasha said next. He was distracted by the sudden eruption of voice from Leven’s corner of the auditorium. It was accompanied by choppy piano, but the singing carried over loud and clear.
Leven didn’t need good accompaniment. His voice filled the whole of the auditorium. Nathan hadn’t even noticed the singing at first but Leven had reached some great climax with that part of the song and it wasawesome.
Sasha had a beautiful voice, perfect for a lot of different styles, especially Old Blue Eyes. But Leven hadpipes. The musical fan inside of Nathan—the one that rarely admitted its existence—fluttered somewhere low at the back of his spine. One thing Nathan never denied was that he loved good music, especially when that included a talented singer.
“Wow, he’s pretty good,” Sasha nodded. “Nate?” he said more playfully, poking Nathan in the side. It had the desired effect of making Nathan squirm. “Oh, I see that far away, dreaming of Gene Kelly look, you closet show-tunesfreak. You can’t fool me.”
“Shut up,” Nathan shot back after having been so rudely ripped from his reverie. “There’s no shame in show-tunes. It takes a real man to sing and dance like that in front of so many people. Insulting Gene Kelly would be like telling Batman he’s a sissy for wearing tights. Nowcome on.” Nathan stood and smacked Sasha in the shoulder. “Let’s have Leven show us those death sites.”
Sasha nodded, his laughter fading, and followed Nathan over in the direction of Leven and the piano. There was a girl with him now, and he had stopped singing.
The girl, who had to be one of those freshman ‘kind of’ friends, looked rather distraught. Leven seemed to be trying to cheer her up.
“Come on, Andy, be my Aida,” Leven said as Nathan and Sasha approached. “That part’s always better as a duet.”
‘Andy’, which Nathan guessed was probably an Andrea, shook her head. She was tall and fairly full-figured. Cute, in a too-young-to-even-go-there kind of way. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was, but it didn’t seem to be because of Leven.
“Not now, Lev. Okay? I’m just trying to find Lars so I can tell her I’m going home. I don’t…think I’m gonna be at practice tonight. Sorry.” She started backing away like the piano had to be possessed or something, and ended up backing right into Nathan. She choked back a screech.
“Careful there,” Nathan said. He tried to sound soothing when he went to grab her shoulders, but she shrugged away from him and immediately backed off further.
“I…I have to go,” she stammered, and then the girl was racing for the double doors.
