Unsung Requiem: The Ghost Bird Series: #13

by C. L. Stone

  George swerved where he stood and turned toward the door. “There’s nowhere far enough for me.” His footsteps echoed as he left the parlor and crossed the house to continue up the stairs.

  A thickness lingered in the air, catching in Victor’s lungs. The darkness around them. The unhappy marriage. His mother and the almost manic way she strived to build up their reputation, something his father couldn’t handle and drank to escape. The way this family wasn’t a family at all. Just an illusion to maintain a legacy that had little purpose beyond whatever his mother envisioned.

  If only Victor could have warned Mitch, and if only he could have spared him from himself.

  Money didn’t guarantee happiness or any sort of serenity. It couldn’t help you escape who you really are, or at least, who you start pretending to be.

  This whole house was full of people pretending.

  Pesante

  (Heavy, ponderous)

  Sang

  Nathan and I were left alone with Mrs. Morgan as Victor and Mr. Perkins stepped out of the office.

  My lungs burned. Fear tripped down my spine. I was afraid I’d faint right here in front of her.

  Her blazing eyes. So much like Victor’s and yet so different. A cold fire. Hateful.

  “You’ll tell him to come back,” Mrs. Morgan said in a dark tone the moment it was likely Victor was out of range. “Tell him it’s for his own good.”

  “He can go where he wants,” Nathan said.

  “It hasn’t been a week,” she said. “What do you think will happen if he spends more time away? His father claims it’ll do him some good, but I don’t want to risk his future any more.” She looked squarely at me.

  I tried not to flinch, and only succeeded because I was frozen to the spot with fear.

  Without hesitation though, Nathan repeated, with as serious a tone as I’d ever heard. “He can go where he wants.”

  Mrs. Morgan shook her head and waved a single finger in the air. “I’ve never met such selfish children…”

  Nathan looked like he’d say more, but I put a hand on his arm.

  We weren’t going to win her over.

  I wasn’t totally sure she was wrong about everything. Victor seemed very upset about trying to decide if he should stay with us or return to his mother. In a way, she was right. His face was so well known, being seen together might risk many things: my chances at being a ghost bird, his ability to play the concerts for charities that he liked to do, our chances at being in the Academy as full members at all.

  Nathan was right, too, it was his choice. But I wasn’t so sure what he would choose. And he should have that choice. Coming with us meant staying in the shadows.

  Like I had been forced to do by my parents. Victor should be able to choose which life he wanted.

  And even if he chose us… how could we ever make it work? How many times would he get caught like this and they take it to his parents? I was surprised he had gone so far in the Academy and not been caught.

  Even Volto knew where he lived and invaded his home so easily. He had taken pictures of myself and him. It’s a wonder he didn’t manipulate Victor’s parents often as well like this, to try to sue for money.

  Mrs. Morgan, perhaps realizing she wasn’t going to get much else out of us, turned quickly to the door of the office and left it open, with us still inside. Not a word more.

  I finally breathed, but still felt the weight of being in this house, feeling unwanted.

  “There has to be a way,” Nathan whispered, and I wasn’t sure if he spoke to me or himself.

  And as if knowing what we were thinking, Mr. Buble’s voice popped into my ear, like before when he encouraged me with what to say.

  “There’s always a way.”

  That gave me some hope.

  ♥♥♥

  We waited on the back porch. It wasn’t long before Victor returned to us, looking equally as defeated.

  “I’m guessing it’s over?” Nathan asked.

  Victor shook his head glumly. “Mitch is over. But…” He moved his lips, wanting to say more, but never really finished. We knew the problem. He had to figure out what to do.

  Victor started to walk to the car, but before he could go further, Nathan surprisingly reached out for his elbow and held off going any further. “One second. Someone needs a hug.”

  Victor rolled his eyes and shook his head, although with a half grin on his face. “I don’t…”

  “Luke’s not here to do it, and I know he’s normally the hugger, but I’ll fill in.” Nathan reached out to Victor and with his broad arms, wrapped them around Victor, pinning his arms against his sides. The bear hug tightened and Victor expelled a breath and coughed.

  “Okay, oka-a-ay,” he whined, flapping a loose pat against Nathan, as little as he could move under the pressure of Nathan squeezing him.

  Nathan released him and then looked to me. “Your turn.”

  I was softer.

  Victor wrapped his arms around me in return and gently kissed my cheek. “Let’s get out of here.”

  We were in Dr. Green’s sedan in moments. I got into the back seat again and gazed out the window at the estate.

  Victor told Mr. Buble we’d see him soon, and turned his phone off, taking the earpiece out of his ear. “Guess we don’t need this still going.”

  We took our earpieces out and stored them in the glovebox.

  Nathan turned the key.

  The engine to Dr. Green’s car wouldn’t turn.

  Nathan tried again, and again. Nothing.

  Victor rolled his head back, closing his eyes. “No. Not now.”

  “Battery dead?” Nathan asked, checking the dash. “I’d guess at least.”

  “We need to go,” Victor said. “We don’t have time for this.”

  Nathan planted a palm on the wheel and turned it. “I can’t make it go, Victor,” he said. “We just need to go get a battery. Or something.”

  “There should be a charger,” Victor said. “In the trunk.”

  I remained sitting and rolled my head back, gazing absently at the ceiling. While normally I’d want to help, I had a sinking feeling of déjà vu. Second car in two days I was in and it broke down.

  Nathan grabbed a battery charger and opened the front hood. From where I was, I couldn’t see what was happening.

  When several long minutes passed without seeing them, I got out of the car to check on them.

  Victor was looking on his phone at a repair guide. “Yeah, it’s saying this charger should have a green line that blinks.”

  “What does red mean?” Nathan asked. He had a black box in his hand, and two cables with clamps, one red and one black. He snapped a clamp in Victor’s direction. “Tell me it means it just needs warming up.”

  “Means it’s dead,” Victor said. “Needs charging.”

  Nathan blew a perplexed raspberry. “Kota’s usually on top of this.”

  “It’s Dr. Green’s car, and he’s been busy.”

  “So we have to plug this in? How long will that take?”

  “I’ll check the garage,” Victor said. “There might be another one. Wait here.”

  It took several minutes, and a security guard who came out because he was curious, to determine it was not in need of charging because the car battery was, indeed, very dead.

  The security man, a tall, broad Hispanic man, fiddled with the battery, pulling it out of where it had been positioned. “These batteries don’t last too long in the South. It says five-year warranty, but in the heat of the summer down here, it really means it’ll last three years.”

  “Thanks, Jason,” Victor said. “I guess we’ll have to leave it here for a little bit and get another one brought over.” Victor snapped a picture of the actual battery to get the information of what sort it was while Jason held it. He took it from Jason and continued, “Tell the others I said hi.”

  Jason waved to us and walked away, s
aying something into a cell phone as he left. I assumed it was to the others on the security team.

  Nathan leaned against the side of the car. “Who do we call?”

  “We don’t really have time for this,” Victor said, setting the battery down beside the car and closing the hood of the sedan. He gazed up at the house.

  “Can’t North come and fix it?” I asked.

  “He’s busy,” Victor said without looking back at me. “And we can do it, it’s just we need a car to go do it. But also we need to just get out of here and come back for it later.” He headed toward the house. “Stay here, let me ask.”

  Nathan made a face, squinting off into the direction of the house as the sun came out from behind a cloud. “He’s going to go ask his mom, isn’t he?”

  Heat ran through my body, a blush from head to toe.

  Victor already asking for another favor.

  ♥♥♥

  Victor quickly returned, keys in hand.

  Although he seemed displeased.

  “You alright?” Nathan asked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” He motioned to the garage again. “But we have to take the stupid V28.”

  The bright yellow car had only two seats. And since no one wanted to stay behind and risk another encounter with Mrs. Morgan, Nathan drove, and I was on the floor of the car at Victor’s feet, with half my torso and head in his lap. We had to. I was smallest and we couldn’t drive around with it obvious I was in Victor’s lap.

  “Kota will yell at us,” I murmured.

  “We won’t tell,” Victor said, patting my head. He ran his fingers through my hair, tucking loose curls behind my ears.

  “Say what you want about your parents,” Nathan said, and he shifted gears, taking it a little faster as he got onto the highway, “but this car… is kinda cool.”

  “Don’t get too used to it,” Victor said. “I already traded a favor with her to just borrow it now.”

  “What’s that?” Nathan asked.

  “Just promised to contribute to concerts while I’m figuring things out. If they’ll have me back.”

  That didn’t seem too bad, at least for now. But wouldn’t that perpetuate the issue he was having?

  “How far do we have to go?” I asked. I had my head twisted so I faced Nathan’s hand shifting the stick. It was a little too uncomfortable.

  The other alternative to face, in the position I was in, was unthinkable at the moment.

  “Maybe just to the Taylor house?” Nathan asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

  “Can’t stop,” Victor said. “We have to go all the way to Summerville. The meet-up is tonight and we all need to be there. …But maybe we stop at the diner and walk the rest of the way.”

  I sucked in a breath, gently resting my head against Victor’s thigh, and just tried to not think too much.

  Now we were down three cars: Victor’s, Dr. Green’s, and Kota’s. I was having bad luck with cars.

  Affrettando

  (Hurrying, pressing onwards)

  Sang

  We parked the V28 at the diner, although by the time I managed to wedge myself out and walk off, it had garnered a lot of attention. Customers coming in and out paused to look at the sports car, and a few took pictures, with some standing in front of it and smiling.

  “We can’t keep this car,” Victor moaned on our way to the path in the woods behind the diner and get to Kota’s house. “Anywhere we go, it’ll be like this.”

  “I think your car is more famous than you are,” Nathan said with a chuckle.

  I grinned at Nathan’s joke.

  Once we got to the gate behind Nathan’s house, we paused, looking at it.

  Nathan grimaced. “Well, guess we can’t just cut through like we used to.”

  “These walking trails aren’t going to be as kept up if we’re in a different house,” I said.

  “It’s really weird,” Victor said.

  We all stood there silently a little longer, as the realization of what had transpired and the future we would be facing sunk in.

  I’d already moved once in the year, down here to South Carolina, with my family. Since then, everything had upended itself. They were now going through the same thing. Their whole lives were changing.

  Like me, they wanted their lives to change, but having it change, and so suddenly, it was jarring.

  “We won’t need to cut through woods once we’re in a new place,” I said, trying to be helpful.

  “You know what will be great?” Victor said, turning away from the fence line. “Not having to drive all the way to different cities around here just to get to each other.”

  Nathan smirked. “I thought you were going to say no surprise visits by parents.”

  “And how impossible will it be for Volto to mess with us if we’re together in one house?” I asked.

  “And if a car breaks down,” Nathan followed us, as we took a different way around, a little longer, to get to Kota’s, “it’s not so bad. Someone else is there. All the cars are there.”

  We tried going over more good things, and maybe we needed to do that more often. It did help me feel better.

  At Kota’s house, we were greeted by Gabriel and Luke. No one else was around. Max padded along near us as we entered the house, vying for attention from anyone who would pet him by nuzzling his nose into knees and legs.

  “Where is everyone?” Victor asked as we collectively climbed the back stairs of Kota’s house to get to Kota’s bedroom. The dog followed along.

  “We’re off duty… but also on duty tonight,” Gabriel said. He wore only jeans, as if he’d been getting ready but came down to greet us.

  “Yeah,” Luke said. His long blond hair was wet and combed down and hanging around his face. He had on pajama pants and a white T-shirt. “We’re under orders to take you two out.” He waggled a finger toward Victor and me. “You two got the luck of the draw.”

  “What about me?” Nathan asked. “I don’t get to go?”

  “We only have four tickets,” Gabriel said.

  Nathan harrumphed and rolled his eyes. He reached to put Max on the head. “Looks like it’s just you and me, buddy. They’re leaving us behind.”

  “North will be here soon,” Gabriel said and retreated to the bathroom. “Give me a second. I’m getting ready.” He winked at me. “You’re next.” He closed the door.

  Gabriel and Luke had a mischievous plan, and it involved me getting dressed in the most punk outfit that Gabriel had ever put together for me.

  I stood in the middle of Kota’s bedroom, on the blue carpet, eyeballing the wallpaper. Victor monitored while Gabriel put the finishing touches on me.

  “I don’t know,” Victor said, sitting on Kota’s bed, leaning back on his elbows but looking over at us. “It’s not really… her.”

  “Of course it’s her,” Gabriel said. He put a leather bracelet on each of my wrists. “What are you talking about?”

  There wasn’t a mirror that I could see from where I was, but as it stood, I was wearing all black. Black skirt, black T-shirt, black long socks and black boots. He let me use the hairclip, just because it was black.

  I even wore a black collar.

  Gabriel picked up a second collar, also black, and put it around his neck. He wore jeans and a T-shirt, all black as well.

  Victor had dug up a dark gray cotton button-down shirt from the closet, and only barely gave in to wearing his usual black pants when he couldn’t find anything else black he could fit into comfortably and Gabriel insisted.

  Victor raked his fingers through his hair, combing the locks back. “Maybe I’ve seen North wear all black for too long. It feels like… she’s pretending to be North or something. I don’t know how to describe it.”

  “North didn’t invent black,” Gabriel said and then grinned. “Besides, this is a trend right now.”

  Victor raised his eyebrow. “Where exactly is wearing
all black a trend?”

  “South Korea. And it’s more complicated than that.” Gabriel stepped back from me and twirled his finger. “Do a quick spin for me. Just want to make sure…”

  I did, and while the skirt poofed out a bit when I turned, it didn’t fly up too far to reveal anything. Underneath, I was wearing very short shorts, just in case.

  He presented a thumbs up to me. “Perfect. Fucking perfect.” He squinted at me. “Except for that.”

  He pointed right at my neck.

  Was there still a bruise? I quickly touched the spot, embarrassed.

  Gabriel smirked. “Kota… I mean Victor… sorry. Someone broke the rules. Ground them.”

  Victor eased over, and I took a step back, shaking my head. “Don’t,” I said, covering my neck.

  “Yeah, don’t,” Luke said.

  “There’s no rule about hickies,” Victor said gently. He reached for my hand, removing it. “Don’t worry.”

  Gabriel’s mouth opened, jaw going slack. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Although we should be more mindful,” Victor said. “You know, for Mr. Buble perhaps.”

  I sighed.

  Gabriel groaned. “I bet it was fucking Silas.”

  My cheeks reddened.

  Gabriel bobbed his head. “I knew it. Knows it’ll get under my skin…”

  “Where are we going, anyway?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  “The concert that starts at eight.” Gabriel started putting another set of clothes out. “It’ll be over by ten. We should be on the lookout while inside. After that, we’ve got guard duty for North while he makes the trade for the missing trunk.” He looked over his shoulder at Victor. “And it’s a punk band. So we need black.”

  “How very practical, then,” Victor said, with a small smirk. “So the concert is really just a pre-requisite for the handoff?”

  “I mean, it was your birthday gift, so you automatically get to go. They just happened to pick it, right?” He slapped Victor on the back once as he passed him to fetch another item. “So happy birthday. Maybe we can get the band to sing you a birthday song.”

  Near the bed, Kota’s computer chair had been pulled away from the desk. Gabriel laid clothing out on it he pulled from a suitcase he’d rolled in earlier. He knelt down and looked in at his collection, shifting through it. “This would be a lot easier if we had that house. All this carrying stuff I don’t need because I don’t know…”