We’ve been in the air for a few hours now. It’s kind of weird for me to be in the air, but Kadaj seems pretty use to it.
“So have you flown on one of these things before?” I ask trying to make sure he hears me over the winds. I’m not even sure he can answer considering his wound has gotten worse.
“No, last time I saw them, they didn’t have wings. Don’t call them things either, they have names.”
“OK, sorry I didn’t know.” I look out to the clouds. I feel like reaching out and touching one, but I have a feeling with my luck I’ll fall off. “You prepared to fight again?” I look at Kadaj. Of course he doesn’t know that I am, being that I’m behind him.
“What do you mean, we need to wait till you’re healed, and by the look of it, that won’t be until a month maybe.” He laughs. Is this guy crazy or something? I mean first he lets a girl shoot him without even trying to dodge it, then he laughs about it?
“I guess you didn’t know, but Haldrins that worked for the government are genetically enhanced to heal ten times as fast as regular humans and other Haldrins. So I should be good by tomorrow morning. We just need to find a good spot to camp.” Well now I’ve learned something new about my own species. I never even knew that much about it anyway, but since he worked for the government, I guess Kadaj knows a lot, and gets certain advantages.
“So how ‘bout we camp down there?” I point to a place where there’s a tree bent over making a good cover for overnight.
“Looks good, how about we and there for the night boy.” He pats Hikaru’s neck and we start to lower towards the ground. We’re moving so fast, I have to hang on tighter than I already was. When we finally land I slide off Hikaru, and fall to the grass like I’ve never saw land before.
“Aw, I missed you.” I say as I pull up a clump of grass in my hand. I can assume Kadaj is looking at me like I’m crazy, but I don’t care. I would rather look crazy then be up in the sky again. I could barely breathe up there.
“Well I guess we should be fine with just sleeping on the ground. No pillows or blankets.” Kadaj says as he plops onto the ground as well.
“Fine with me.” I say as I roll over onto my back and let the sun warm my face. “You better have Hikaru sleep in a higher place just in case.”
“Got a point there. Hikaru.” The creature growls as it gets to its feet and flies up high into the tree. I watch him as he lands on a thick branch. He lays down dangling one of his front paws off, and then he’s asleep. I sit up and look over at Kadaj, and it seems he’s passed out as well. I lie back down and look up at the sky. I wonder if Skylar is OK, I sure hope she is. My eyes shut, and I slip into a slumber as well.
I open my eyes, and I suddenly have to squint. The sun has gotten brighter, so I guess it’s around noon or so. I roll over to my side. When I do I find two pairs of feet. At first I don’t really realize what’s in front of me, but as soon as I do, I shoot up.
“I, uh, I...” I shuffle backwards on my hands and feet until run into Kadaj and fall on top of him.
“What the hell man.” He pushes me off of him and sits up rubbing his eyes. He looks over at the people who are now clearer to see. “Oh...”
They both wear a school uniform, which is a white shirt and black dress pants with a red tie, and black loafers. One of them has hair that is extremely short and it the color of a Cornflower, his eyes a deep green. He looks quite odd if you ask me, with the blue hair and all. The other guy is a blond, his hair fairly short as well. His eyes are a mesmerizing orange color.
They both have a ribbon pinned around their arm, and they both look down on us with terrifying glares.
“What are the two of you doing sleeping on our school property?” The blue haired student demands. He has a surprisingly girly sounding voice. He seems like more of a delinquent though, with his scowl and all.
“What do you mean?” I say leaning against the tree trying to keep my balance. The other boy points to a large brick building in the distance, looks like a castle honestly, that’s like a mile away.
“See that? That is the Seiyo Music Academy, and you are on the ground limits of it. Now this is a very wealthy school, and very strict I might add, and any trespassers must pay a fine.” He holds out a ticket which Kadaj rips from his hand. He seems oddly calm. He looks at the amount and merely chuckles.
“How about instead of paying two thousand dollars, I play you something? Probably better than what you can.”
The blue haired guy scoffs at him, “Is that a challenge?”
“I guess it is. So how about it? You play better, I’ll pay the fine. I play better and you let us off the hook.” He holds his hand out waiting for him to grasp it, but she doesn’t.
“You better have the money, or you’ll be our personal butlers for a month. Deal?” My mouth falls open.
“We don’t have a month!” Kadaj places his hand on my shoulder.
“Deal.” I look back at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t lose.” I feel relief, I haven’t heard him play, but I have a feeling he won’t let me down.
“You do know both of you have to play?” Now Kadaj is shocked. I would be too, if I didn’t know the truth about my childhood.
“It’s OK, I got it covered.” I tell him. I turn to the other two. “We’re allowed to use your instruments correct?”
“I guess being you don’t have any on you. What ones you need?” Kadaj tells them he needs a violin, which kind of surprises them. Now I have to tell them.
“Just tell me where the practice rooms are and I’ll find what I need there.” This ticks them off somewhat, but they go with it.
They take us into the building which seems like an old English castle. The stairs cases are on both sides leading up the next floor. When we first walk in, there’s a giant hall way with fancy furniture and decor. A few people stare at us as we walk through, but we just ignore them.
We finally make it to the practice rooms, and man do they have a lot of them. It’s what I expected from a music academy. I look in every single one of them as we pass, and surprisingly, they all have just what I need.
“Would you like to use the same room or separate?” Kadaj is about to speak up, but I interrupt him.
“Separate please.”
“OK, you can use these two. We will give you the rest of today, and until three tomorrow to practice. Good luck.” They start to walk away. “You’ll need it.” This guy is really full of himself. I walk into one of practice rooms locking it behind me. Kadaj stands there looking through the window watching me. Waiting to see what I play. It’s a good thing these rooms are completely sound proof. I pull the curtain to cover the window so I can’t see him and he can’t see me. This is how I use to practice, with no one around me at all.
The rooms are really small, and they each have a closet full of instruments, as well some lain out on a table. There’s only one window in on the opposite wall where the door is. There’s a window in the door as well, but a curtain that can be pulled to cover it up. Everything is like a red color, the carpet and the walls.
I walk over to the table that holds many different instruments. I assume everyone in the school have their personal instrument, besides the pianists, but I guess they needs these just in case they forget theirs. I pick up a medium rectangular case. I unlatch it, and prop the lid open.
I reach in and grab a silver trumpet. It’s just like the one I had as a kid. As a matter of fact, I think it is. I look at the bell of it and see if my mark is there. It is.
A small cartoon wolf, drawn in permanent marker sits on the bell of this trumpet. I wonder why they have it here. My parents had told me they just threw it away because it was a waste of time, they must have just given it to this place. I’m glad I could find it, this was my childhood.
I place the mouthpiece in the trumpet, after I disinfect it of course, you can’t be too careful. I wiggle the valves, and then put it to my mouth. Soon, The Entertainer is filling the room. This was my favorite song to play. I didn’t even know I still knew the notes. They bounce around and they’re so clear. I can remember playing this in the park. I would always get huge tips, especially because I was really young. I never really took lessons, I would just teach myself after school every day, listening to CDs and watching other trumpeters online.
I finish the song, and when I do, I realize the only window in the room is open. I rush over to close it, I was always so nervous playing in front of people. It was easier in the park, because I knew most of those people really well. When I get to the window, I realize it was already too late.
There’s a guy standing there in the school uniform. His hair a deep shade of brown and his eyes are a rather crimson looking color, which is quite odd if you ask me. Not that some Haldrins I’ve seen are a bit weirder.
My appearance in the window cause him to jump, “Oh, I’m sorry if I wasn’t supposed to listen, but I heard you playing and I’ve never heard playing like that before.”
“You go to a music school, aren’t you bound to hear someone better than me who has never taken a music class or lesson?” He takes a step closer to the window; he seems like one of those really shy guys that acts like children. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is.
“You’ve really never had a lesson and you can play like that?! But you seem to have so much love for the instrument, even if it isn’t yours.” I look at the wolf on the bell again.
“It’s actually mine, from a long time. See this wolf here? I drew that when I was around five.” He comes closer to observe it. He looks so fascinated by it. I get an evil aurora about him though.
“Wow. I wish I could hear you play again. No trumpeters at this school play with such love for music. Most of them were forced here by their families, or just came here to goof off.” I look at the longing in his eyes. He really does want me to play him another song. Kind of creepy.
“I will if you play with me.” This brightens his mood right away. He hands me his music. I walk over place them on the piano, then walk over and close the window to avoid anymore surprise audiences. When I turn around, there he sits, on the black bench belonging to the piano, out of breath and ready to play. I can’t believe he climbed through the window.
“So who are you anyway?” He asks between breaths.
“Just some guy who fell asleep on the school grounds and is now being forced to compete in a contest against two of the students here, and if we win, they’ll let us leave freely, and if they win, we have to be their butlers for a month.”
“We?”
“Yeah, my friend is in the practice room across from me. We both have to play, he plays violin.”
“Well you’ll need an accompanist in the contest won’t you?” I think about it, and they never mentioned it. I shrug, I’m not even sure I’ve ever had one. “Well I’ll be your if you need one. It sounds better with one anyway.”
“Good to know.” I say as I sit on the bench next to him. “You got the music for Jupiter?”
“Yes in fact, I do.”
“Well lucky me.” I stand up, and warm up some more while he finds his music.
“Don’t you need your music?” He asks as he gets situated. I look over at him from the corner of my eye.
“I don’t have any, I have it all memorized.” His mouth drops open. I don’t see what the big deal is It isn’t all that hard to memorize the notes. “Ready?”
“Hm.” He nods, and we start playing. I know what he means now, it does sound better with an accompanist. It sounds fuller somehow. I can tell he loves playing her piano as much as me with my trumpet. He plays with such enthusiasm, and passion. Unlike all the stuck up snobs that go here. I could be wrong though and this could just be some kind of act.
When we finish, it’s just silence, but he breaks it, “You’re amazing! What school did you go to?”
“Just a normal school, they didn’t teach music there, but I loved it anyway. I always went to the music shop after school and the owner, his name was Arthur but I called him Art, he was like a father to me. More of a father than my real one. He taught me everything I know about music, he would even take me to far away festivals just to see famous musicians. My parents hated that I played music and that I hung around Art, they saw no use in it. So once Art died, being he was an aged man, my parents took away the trumpet he gave and me told me they threw it away, but it seems they sold it to your school instead.”
“I’m sorry.” That’s all he says? That’s all he can think of to say. I mean, I didn’t expect to tell some random stranger my life story, but it doesn’t mean he can’t say something different. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. If it wasn’t for that happening, I wouldn’t be who I was today, and I might know that people I know today. Sure i could be happier, but I’m happy now, and that’s all that matters. “Just forget all that. want to practice one more time?”
“Sure.” I say, at least it’s a chance to get my mind off of things. After we play it once more. He looks up at me with a mischievous smile.
“This was all an act as you suspected my brother.” I look down at him. I’m not shocked or anything, I knew something was up. “I’m not a student here, I don’t even like music. It is a waste of time like your parents said. I’m just really here to eliminate you two, and I brought help of course. Of course, he’s already with Kadaj I believe.” At first it puzzles me as to who this guy is, but then it hits me. It’s Akaito, he’s the only one who would try to get rid of us. I drop my trumpet and rush out into the hall and into Kadaj’s room. I have to make sure he stays alive and unharmed. Without him, I have no one else to help me save Skylar.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I need Kadaj.