Fairy Metal Thunder (Songs of Magic, #1) (17 page)

Jason set his guitar case on a bench and
joined Erin at one side of the bear habitat.

“Do we talk, or what?” Erin asked Tadd.

“Yeah, sure. Like I said, friendly.”

“What do we talk about?” Jason asked.

“Doesn’t matter. It’ll be music playing over
it. Just pretend to talk.”

“Okay.” Erin shrugged.

They walked slowly in front of the bears.
Jason did an exaggerated pretense of talking and waving his hands
around, and Erin laughed and copied him, making fake silent
dialogue back. They walked past the bear pond, to the end of the
enclosure.

“This is boring,” Tadd said. “Let’s go see
what the tigers are doing.”

They walked over to the glass wall of the
sandstone tiger habitat. The tigers were sleeping on the rocks,
looking even lazier than the bears.

“Cats are the same everywhere,” Erin
said.

“Okay,” Tadd said. “Now act like you’re in
love.”

“What?” Jason asked.

“I have to show you in love so we can show
you broken up later,” Tadd said.

“Which song is this for?” Erin asked.

“Haven’t decided yet.”

Erin looked at Jason. “If you don’t want to,
maybe Zach’s awake by now, and I could call—”

“I’ll do it,” Jason said. “Love and tigers.
Got it.”

While Tadd filmed them, Erin looked up into
Jason’s eyes, and Jason couldn’t look away from her. She stepped
closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. Jason hugged her,
feeling awkward and dangerously excited at the same time. She
leaned her head against his chest and actually sighed a little, and
this made him relax and hug her close to him.

“Jason, you look off at the exciting,
ferocious tigers,” Tadd said. “Like you have something else on your
mind. Like there’s a tiger in you that wants to get out.”

“Um, okay.” Jason looked at the closest
tiger, sprawled on its back on a boulder with its paws in the air.
The tiger opened one eye, looked Jason over, then closed its eye
again, completely not interested.

“Just hold that pose for a minute…” Tadd
said, backing away.

Jason could have held it for hours.

“Good enough,” Tadd said. “If only we could
make these animals do something.”

“Maybe they’ll like some music.” Erin took
out her harmonica.

“Try it,” Tadd said. He looked at Jason. “You
really got those from elves, huh?”

“Fairies,” Jason said. “How did you
know?”

“Mick told me about it before the party.”

“You mean Mitch?” Jason asked. “And you
believed him?”

“No, I thought he was a total psycho, until I
saw what the instruments could do. Then magic suddenly became the
logical explanation.”

Erin played an upbeat song on the harmonica.
The tigers opened their eyes and lifted their heads. The closest
one rolled over onto its feet and perched on top of the boulder,
cocking its head as it listened.

“That’s actually working!” Tadd said, raising
the camera toward the tigers.

“Jason, grab your guitar,” Erin said, and
then she resumed playing.

Jason brought out the guitar and strummed
along with her.

The two tigers jumped down to the ground and
approached the clear wall as if entranced. They walked as close as
they could, until their faces nuzzled the glass.

Jason kicked up the tempo. One of the tigers
turned and gave the other a light swat. The second tiger jumped,
then pounced, but the first tiger dodged. They scrambled after each
other like playful kittens, leaping onto the boulders and then
knocking each other off.

“Perfect!” Tadd said. “Now put your
instruments down and pretend you’re fighting.”

“Like with fists?” Erin asked. She punched
Jason in the arm.

“No, like an argument.”

Jason put his guitar aside and walked up to
Erin. She ran her mouth as if she were yelling at him, and then
started poking him with her finger, as if accusing him of
something.

Jason moved his mouth, pretending to yell
back, and pointed back at her. Erin moved in closer, poking him
more, staring him in the eyes with a look of mock anger on her
face. Jason tried to look even angrier, and open his mouth even
wider, as if he were yelling louder.

Erin stepped on his foot and stuck out her
tongue at him, and then they both started laughing.

“No laughing!” Tadd said.

“No smiling!” Katie added. “You’re ‘pose to
be mad.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Erin said. She made a snarling
expression and pretended to yell at Jason again, and Jason jutted
out his lower teeth and narrowed his eyes while he pretended to
yell back. Erin put her hands on her cheeks and pulled down the
skin on her face so her eyes were completely white, then she stuck
her tongue out again, and Jason and Katie both laughed.

“Forget it, that’s good enough.” Tadd said.
“Now the break up. Erin, turn your back on him and walk toward the
camera. Create some distance. Look angry. Good. Now, Jason, watch
after her sadly…good enough…and slowly turn back and face the
tigers. Cross your arms. Perfect…” Tadd lowered the camera and
looked around. “What else can we do while we’re here? The
cougars?”

“Hey, Tadd,” Jason said. “Why don’t you go
film Katie running around the playground or something?”

“A solitary child, on a swing,” Tadd said.
“That’s deep, Jason. Good thinking.” He tapped his head, then
pointed at Jason.

“I want to do the slide!” Katie ran up the
hill. “Show me on the slide.”

“She’s an improviser,” Tadd said. “That’s
good. Yeah, childhood memories…nostalgia…loss…” He followed
Katie away up the path.

Jason and Erin looked at each other.

“So…” Jason said. “I think he’ll make some
good videos. You?”

“He’s nuts. Why did we pick him again?”

“He has a good camera,” Jason said, and Erin
laughed.

There was a little silence between them. Erin
watched the tigers, who slowed down now, without the music to
inspire them.

“It’s pretty hot,” Jason said.

“Yeah.”

“Want to go to the cave?”

“Okay! That sounds really good right
now.”

They walked down toward the woodland area
beyond the bear habitat and into the mouth of a wide, cool cave
with deep shadows. There was standing water all over the floor, so
they followed the stepping stones all the way to the back, where a
narrow shaft of sunlight fell from a rocky chimney overhead.

“This might be my favorite place in the whole
town,” Erin said.

“Me, too. You know, the Leinenkugel brewery
used to store their beer down here. Like a refrigerator.”

“Yeah, everybody knows that,” Erin said. “But
I heard it wasn’t really true.”

“Maybe it’s just one of those things
everybody says.”

“Just one of those things.” Erin looked up at
the light and closed her eyes. Her face looked golden.

“Erin,” Jason said. He hesitated, then pushed
on. “So, is Zach moving out of town. Like ever?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. He graduated. Is he just going
to stick around and hang out with high school kids forever?”

Erin laughed. “He’s waiting for me to
graduate. Then he says we’ll get a place in the Cities, or maybe
even Chicago.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

“I kind of want to go to Madison for
college.” She shrugged. “I’ll figure it out. There’s time.”

Jason looked away for a minute, and then he
worked up the nerve to say what he was thinking.

“I was thinking we could get dinner
together,” he said.

“Today?”

“Tonight. Or tomorrow night. Or…Over at
Duncan Creek? What do you think?”

“Ooh, that’s too pricey,” Erin said.

“It’s okay. Cashiers at Buddy McSlawburger’s
make the big bank. Actually, we’re not even cashiers, we’re
‘Customer Happiness Engineers.’”

Erin laughed, then gave him a long look.
“Duncan Creek? You’re asking me on a date, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Or I could take you for fried cheese
curds at the Fill-Inn Station, but I thought this would be
nicer.”

She laughed again, blushing crimson, which
actually made his heart feel warmer inside his shirt.

“So, you’re saying yes,” Jason said.

“Jason! I have a boyfriend. I can’t go on
dates with other guys. What would Zach think?”

Jason couldn’t imagine caring about anything
in world less than he cared about Zach’s opinion.

“You’ve been dating him since you were a
freshman,” Jason said. “Nobody else ever gets a chance.”

“Right, cause so many guys are lining up at
my door.”

“I’m trying to,” he said.

She smiled again. “Jason, I can’t. I don’t
want to be one of those girls who cheats on their boyfriends, you
know?”

“Right,” Jason said.

They both looked around the cave for a
minute, avoiding each other’s eyes. As her rejection sunk in, Jason
had a strange feeling, like someone had pounded his insides with a
large hammer. He didn’t want her to see how miserable he’d just
become.

“So, I guess we should get back?” Jason
asked. “They’re probably done by now.”

They followed the stepping stones out into
sunlight, and then they joined up with Tadd and Katie. Tadd was now
taking video of Katie doing a monkey-style dance in front of the
capuchins. He lowered the camera when Jason and Erin
approached.

“I wasn’t done yet!” Katie shouted.

“Where have you two been?” Tadd asked. He
raised the camera and peered at them through it. “Off in the woods
together? Spill, we need it for the behind-the-scenes
documentary.”

“I should probably go,” Erin said. “I need to
get home.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jason said.

“Cool, cool.” Tadd turned off the camera.
“Think I got plenty of stuff here. Should texture up the vids.”

“Thanks, Tadd,” Jason said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Erin added. She gave Jason a
quick hug. “Bye, Jason. Bye, Tadd. Bye, Katie.”

“Bye, Jason’s girlfriend!” Katie sang out,
looking back from the monkeys.

“Relax, Katie,” Jason said. “She’s definitely
not my girlfriend.”

Erin looked back at him, and Jason thought
her eyes might have looked just a little sad. Then she walked out
of sight along the path, heading for the bike racks at the front of
the park.

“Come on, Katie, let’s go,” Jason said.

“Can we go to The Creamery?” Katie asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” she pouted.

Jason thought about it. He certainly didn’t
need to save his money, since he wouldn’t be taking Erin to
dinner.

“You know, ice cream might be a good idea,”
he said.

“Yay!” Katie hurried up the path. Jason
trudged after her.

“Yo, Jayce!” Tadd called after him. Jason
turned back, and Tadd squinted one eye, made a gun with his
fingers, and fired off a shot. “Nice shooting you.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jason said. “Everybody’s
shooting me today.”

He followed after Katie, who was already way
ahead, running through the arcing streams of water at the fountain,
which was only as deep as a puddle, past other kids who were
splashing each other.

He watched Erin ride out of sight, and then
he ran to catch up with Katie.

When he got home, Jason spent most of the
evening in his room, listening to music on his headphones, but
nothing sounded good to him. He felt stupid, and hurt, and stupid
for letting himself get hurt.

Much later, close to midnight, he was awoken
by a scratching sound under his bed. He leaned over, lifted the
comforter, and looked underneath.

It was Grizlemor, arranging a small,
straw-stuffed pillowcase and a rough burlap blanket in the space
below the bed. There was also a rickety three-legged table with a
wind-up alarm clock, and a lamp where a firefly orbited above tiny
leaves and flowers.

“What are you doing?” Jason whispered.

“Just arranging my new place,” Grizlemor
replied. “What do you think? Not much of a view, but it’s
roomy.”

“Your new…What? You can’t live under my
bed! And why would you want to?”

“Well, young sir, I can’t live at home any
more, and it’s all on account of you. So, by any measure of
justice, it’s your job to provide suitable lodging during my
displacement.”

“Why can’t you go home?”

“Queensguard.” Grizlemor lay on one elbow on
his blanket. “They’re searching Goblin Row. I came home to find
them ransacking my apartment pit. Had to run before they spotted
me. I can only hope they didn’t find my stash-hole.”

“Why were they doing that?”

“Because of you!” Grizlemor snapped. “The
Queensguard’s mad as hornets about finding those stolen
instruments. Magic leaking into the human world, and all of that.
It violates the Supreme Law.”

“What, the Constitution?”

“Not
human
law. Are you dense? The
Supreme Law. The great covenant among the Folk, when we left
man-world after the Iron Wars.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Human and Folk—that’s us, goblins and
fairies and elves and such—had a terrible war long ago. Your side
won. So when we left your world, the Supreme Law was established by
leaders of each kind of Folk. Rule one: Draw no attention from
man-world. That means keeping all magic over on our side, hidden
from your kind. Of course, rule two is that Folk shall not use iron
against other Folk, yet there’s the Queensguard, threatening
everyone with their iron swords.”

“Oh. But you didn’t break the law, I
did.”

“As if it matters!” Grizlemor’s green face
looked agitated. “I led a man-whelp down to Faerie. It no longer
matters whether the instruments are recovered—the Queen will punish
me. Perhaps she’ll throw me in the Labyrinth to be torn apart by
beasts.” He shuddered.

“You don’t have anywhere else to go?”

“Don’t even try to run me off,” Grizlemor
said. “It’s too late for me to make amends, so now I have to make
sure you don’t get caught. It’ll be my hide tacked to the palace
wall if they find you.”