Fairy Metal Thunder (Songs of Magic, #1) (8 page)

“But we can still play together,” Jason
said.

“I don’t think that’s very realistic, with
everybody moving away.”

“I mean you and me. We could still hang out
and play. Maybe get another band going. We’re both still stuck at
this school another year, right?”

“True. That could be fun.”

Jason wanted to keep talking to her—about
anything, really—but he wasn’t sure what to say. She still tied his
tongue in knots. He noticed he was crumpling and uncrumpling the
paper graduation program in his hand, and he made himself stop.

“There’s something I haven’t told anybody,”
Jason said. “I thought it could make a big difference for the
band…but then I thought it was kind of a stupid idea.”

“What is it?” Erin asked.

“That’s pretty hard to explain. If you can
come by my house, I’ll show you.”

“Tell me what it is.”

“Yeah, it’s not going to make any sense if I
just tell you. Want to come by Monday? My parents will be gone, so
it’ll just be me and Katie.”

“And then you can show me this amazing thing
that you can’t possibly give me a clue about?”

“Yep.”

Erin smiled and looked at him for a long
moment. “Okay, Jason Becker. I’ll come to your house on
Monday.”

Jason wondered if she thought he was just
inviting her over to try and make out with her. He didn’t want to
give her the wrong idea…but then again, she’d already agreed. He
felt scared and elated at the same time.

Then the principal began to speak, and Erin
turned to watch. Jason looked at the side of her face for a few
seconds more, and then he started to watch the graduation
ceremony.

By Monday morning, he was a nervous wreck. As
soon as his parents left, he was in his room, trying on different
shirts, checking his hair.

“Whatcha doing?” Katie wandered in and
plopped on his bed. She was holding an orange plush Tyrannosaurus
Rex.

“Nothing, Katie.”

“Want to play dinosaurs?”

“I’m busy.”

“You said you weren’t doing anything!”

“I’m having a friend come over for a
while.”

“Mom and Dad say you’re not allowed,” Katie
said. “I’m s’posed to call them if you go anywhere. Or if somebody
comes over.”

“They’ve got you spying for them, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Please don’t tell, Katie.”

“Who’s coming over?”

“My friend, Erin.”

“Boy Aaron or girl Erin?”

“Girl Erin.”

“Oooh…Is she your girlfriend?”

“No, Katie. And she’s probably not even
coming.”

“You said she was! Make up your mind.”

“I mean, she probably forgot, or changed her
mind,” Jason said. It was hard for him to believe that Erin
Kavanagh was actually coming to hang out with him. He’d never spent
any time with her besides band practice and failed auditions.

“Why would she forget?” Katie asked.

“Because she doesn’t care that much about me.
She has a boyfriend.”

“Is he coming, too?”

“He better not be!” Jason was suddenly
worried at the idea that Erin would bring Zach and he’d be stuck
watching the two of them together the whole time.

Jason took out his cologne, which he’d never
taken out of the box since his aunt sent it to him for Christmas.
It smelled a little bit like leather and wood, nothing too froofy.
He slapped it all over his face with both hands, since he’d once
seen a character in a movie apply it that way.

“Why you wearing perfume?” Katie asked.

“It’s called ‘cologne’ when a boy wears
it.”

“Why you wearing boy perfume?”

“I’m just trying it out.”

“Are you in love with Erin?”

“Katie, just give me a break!” Jason shouted.
“Stop being a little pest!”

Katie’s face crumpled and turned red, and she
looked like she was about to cry.

“Play stupid dinosaurs by yourself!” she
shouted back. She threw the stuffed T. Rex on his floor and stomped
out of the room.

“Katie, sorry, I didn’t mean to yell,” Jason
said, remembering that he needed Katie to keep quiet and not tell
their parents about Erin visiting. He followed Katie to her room.
After much begging and apologizing, he agreed to make up for
yelling by playing Mario Kart on the Wii with her.

The video game actually calmed him down by
giving him something to concentrate on, besides the question of
whether Erin was actually coming, and the question of whether he’d
be able to talk like a somewhat intelligent human being when she
was around.

Jason was completely absorbed in being Yoshi,
driving his go-kart on the beach, when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Katie dropped her
steering-wheel controller, letting Toad crash into a rocky cliff.
She ran out of the living room.

“Wait, Katie!” Jason chased after her. She
was already opening the front door.

Erin stood outside the storm door. She waved
when she saw Jason, and his heart skipped a beat or three.

Katie pushed open the storm door.

“Are you Erin?” Katie asked.

“I am. Who are you?” Erin smiled.

“That’s Katie, my sister.” Jason reached over
Katie’s head and held the door open while Erin stepped inside. Erin
hugged an arm around his waist.

“Are you in love with my brother?” Katie
asked.

“Katie, don’t you want to go play video
games? Or watch TV?” Jason asked.

“No, I want to see what you guys are doing,”
Katie said.

“Katie, we need to talk alone for a minute,”
Jason said.

“Then I’ll tell Mom you had a
girl
come over!”

Jason sighed. Katie really had him trapped on
that one.

“Okay, Katie,” Jason said. “But you can’t
tell Mom and Dad what I’m about to show you.”

“Is it a secret?” Katie whispered, with her
hands over her mouth.

“Yep, it’s a big secret.”

“I like secrets,” Erin said. She winked, and
Jason thought he might melt.

“It’s out in the garage.” Jason led them down
the steps to the living room, and from there into the garage.

“Are we going to play?” Erin took out her
harmonica.

“Maybe.” Jason knelt by his dad’s old
Corvette and slid out a cardboard box covered with a drop cloth.
He’d moved the instruments into it when they shrank to toy
size.

Now he removed the drop cloth. Erin and Katie
leaned forward to look at the little instruments, all of them
carved with fairy runes: the lute with the amethysts in the
soundboard, the reed pipes, the silver harp, the drum.

“Oooh, pretty!” Katie said.

“What are these for?” Erin asked.

Jason took a deep breath. “Okay. So the other
night, this…goblin sneaks into my house.”

“Goblin?” Erin raised an eyebrow.

“It’s true!” Katie said. “He was a ugly green
monster!”

“Oh…a
goblin
,” Erin said, as if this
were just a game for Katie’s benefit, and she was playing along. “I
bet that
was
scary.”

“But Jason runned him off!” Katie added.

“Yeah…” Jason actually felt a little
relieved Katie was here to back up his story. “So I chased the
goblin over to Mrs. Dullahan’s house. You know Mrs. Dullahan?”

“I know of her,” Erin said. “With the creepy
house on the edge of town?”

“She’s a witch!” Katie said.

“So, I chase the goblin there, and then…I
follow him into the fairy world.”

“I like fairies!” Katie contributed.

“And I found these instruments,” Jason said.
“They’re magic.”

Erin looked from Jason to Katie, as if trying
to figure out the joke.

Jason picked up the lute. “The problem is,
they shrank when I brought them back. Just like the goblin—he was
smaller when he was here, but he was taller in the fairy world.
Still pretty short, though. Everyone over there was short, except
for the ogres.”

“Of course…the ogres.” Erin looked puzzled.
And a little worried. She crossed her arms tight and leaned back,
away from him.

“Yeah, I know it sounds crazy,” Jason said.
“But these things make amazing music. Just listen to this,
okay?”

Erin stared at him, frowning.

“This isn’t really funny, Jason,” she
said.

“You’ll see what I mean. Trust me.” Jason
touched his guitar pick to one string of the lute, took a deep
breath, then plucked it and let it hum. A deep, melancholy sound
filled the garage, and he suddenly felt very sad.

He plucked the next string, a higher note,
and now he felt wistful, nostalgic, thinking of the time his team
had won the county Little League championship. And his fifth
birthday party. And his Grandmother baking sugar cookies on
Christmas Eve.

Erin frowned and looked away. “That’s really
powerful,” she said, and she sounded a little sad, too.

He plucked the next string, and as it
vibrated its slightly higher tone, he felt lonely.

“I wish we had a dog,” Katie said. “I would
hug him all the time.”

The fourth string cheered everybody up. He
was glad to be here, with Erin and even his pesky little sister.
The girls smiled a little.

The fifth string made everyone laugh and
brought fresh, happy energy into the room. The sixth put a huge,
blissful smile on everyone’s face.

“I like that one best,” Katie said.

“It’s like each one makes you feel something
different,” Erin said. “Three kinds of sadness, three kinds of
happiness.”

“And when you play them all together…”
Jason strummed the pick across all six strings.

Erin closed her eyes as the music passed
through her. “Oh…
wow
. That’s really beautiful.”

“Play it some more, Jason!” Katie demanded.
“I want more!”

“That’s what we like to hear from the
audience,” Erin said. She smiled at Jason.

“Want to try a whole song?” Jason asked.

“Sure.” Erin took out her harmonica.

“You should try this.” Jason handed her the
matchbook-sized set of reed pipes. “You play it like a
harmonica.”

“Pan pipes,” Erin said. “That’s neat. But
they’re too small to play.” Erin held them to her lips. “I’d just
blow all the pipes at once.” She set it aside and put her harmonica
to her lips. “I’ll stick with old reliable Monica here.”

“What should we play?” Jason set the small
lute face-up on his lap.

“I’d really like to hear how ‘Remember’
sounds on that lute,” Erin said. “Think you can handle it?”

“I think so.” Jason began playing Erin’s song
‘Remember’ on the lute strings. He used the same hand positions and
strings he would have used if he were playing his guitar. The music
came out deep, rich and heartbreaking. The lute grew warm in his
hands.

Erin followed along with her harmonica for a
few bars, then she sang:

Remember the day when you were young,

Remember the time when you believed,

Remember the world where you were loved,

Remember the years when you felt free…

The guitar squirmed like a live animal in
Jason’s hands. The bent neck straightened out, and the whole lute
swelled larger.

“Whoa, what’s happening?” Jason asked. “Are
you seeing this?”

“That’s not possible, is it?” Erin poked at
the lute. “It looks like it’s
alive
or something.”

“It’s magic!” Katie said.

“Let’s keep playing,” Erin said. “I want to
see what happens.”

They played all the way through ‘Remember,’
while the lute grew and shifted in his hands. The enchanted
instrument brought an incredible power to the song, and all three
of them were in tears by the time Erin sang the last verse:

Remember the promise you never kept,

Nothing you said was ever true.

I know you’ve forgotten all about me,

But I’ll never forget about you.

Jason couldn’t stop crying. It felt like the
song had ripped him open. Katie was blubbering loudly, while Erin
held her hands over her face and shuddered.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Jason whispered. He patted
Katie’s head with one hand. “Erin? That was really good. You write
amazing songs.”

Erin kept sobbing into her hands.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked.

Erin slowly lowered her hands, revealing a
face that was red and streaked with tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t
mean to cry.”

“Everybody is,” Jason said.

“You know why I was such a spaz about that
necklace?” Erin asked. “That was the last birthday present my dad
gave me. When I was nine. He left like a month later. Now it’s a
five-dollar bill in my birthday card, if he remembers at all. And
he usually doesn’t.”

“I’m sorry.” Jason took her hand. “Is that
what the song is about? Your parents’ divorce?”

“It’s stupid.” Erin pulled her hand away from
him and pushed blond and green hair back from her face. “Stupid
song.”

“It’s not,” Jason said.

“Can you play something happy now?” Katie
asked.

Erin laughed and wiped her eyes. “That’s a
good idea, Katie. Let’s play my happiest song.”

“‘Stolen Rhino’?” Jason asked.

Erin smiled and blew a few jazzy, upbeat
sounds on her harmonica.

“Wait,” Jason said. He picked up the little
pan pipes and held them out to her. “Play this.”

“It’s too little.”

“It might not stay that way.” Jason thumped
the instrument in his lap, and Erin gaped.

The lute had transformed into a guitar. Not
only was it full-sized, but it fit perfectly in Jason’s arms, as if
it had been custom-built for him. The fairy runes were carved all
over the guitar, giving it a strange, engraved texture under his
fingers. The little amethysts were still embedded here and there in
the soundboard, but they hadn’t changed size at all, so they looked
tiny.

“That’s amazing,” Erin said. She took the
little pan pipes from his hand and studied them. “Where did you get
these instruments, again?”