Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 34--Piano Man

Pling.

Pling.

Blong.

I sat up. What is that? It sounded like...

Music.

Another note was hit. I cringed at the dissonant sound. It was like two keys were being played at the same time, and they were directly next to each other.

I waited a few more seconds to hear the rest. It was as if the beginning of a song was being played, but the person hitting the keys had no idea what to touch.

Blwang!

"Ow," I whispered. I slid off the side of my bed and onto the cold floor. I ignored it, not wanting to try and find the shoes that were hidden somewhere under the piles of mess. I walked slowly out of the room. It was easy to guess where the sound was coming from. The only instrument I knew of that could make a noise like the one that was being played was a piano, and it was in the room next to mine.

Quietly, I tiptoed to the doorway of the piano room. Brennen was at the side of the instrument, hitting the white and black keys in utter concentration. His fingers were too big the notes--unlike the first time I saw him in the room. He kept playing two notes next to each other at the same time, resulting in some twang-y sounds.

Brennen closed his eyes and groaned in frustration as he missed yet another note.

"What are you playing?" I couldn't stop myself from speaking up and asking the question.

Brennen jolted and twirled to stare at me. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, no! You didn't wake me. I was already up." The words rushed out of my mouth as he started to back away from the piano.

He stared at me doubtfully.

"Nightmares." I shrugged and did a weird circling motion with my first two fingers in the air, pretending that it was no big deal.

"Ah. About?"

A head, dripping blood from its still-dangling spine pieces, held like a trophy. The open and staring eyes were a deep crimson, and the pale skin was marred by deep scars. It was being held up by his yellow hair that was matted and stained.

I smiled. "Can't remember."

Liar.

Brennen nodded slowly, clearly not believing me. "Well, I'll let you try and go back to sleep then."

I placed my foot so that I was not-so-subtly blocking the doorway. "What were you playing?"

He chuckled. "There is no realm of possibilities that exists that calls that playing, Lizaveta."

I grinned. "Okay, so what were you trying to play?"

"A song."

I shook my head quickly. "Nuh-uh. Straight answer, Mister Riddles."

He was silent.

"Maybe give me the song's name?" I rolled my eyes.

Brennen looked down. "I can't remember. It was something from a long time ago."

"Oh."

We stood still for a moment longer. Finally, Brennen started to walk away from the piano.

My hand darted out and caught his. "Wait."

"Yes?" His muscles were tensed, ready to dart at the smallest indication he needed to.

He was cautious.