by E. D. Baker
The band went through their play list until it was almost suppertime. When Skippy said that his lips were too sore to play his pan pipes anymore, everyone agreed that rehearsal was over. Cory was covering her drums when Daisy came to see her. “I love your new song,” Daisy told her. “How long did it take you to write it?”
“I’ve been working on it off and on for a while,” said Cory. “I’m glad you like it. Tell me, what happened with you and Jonas McDonald? You said you thought he was nice.”
“He was very nice, but when he kissed me, I knew he wasn’t the one. There wasn’t any spark between us. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do,” said Cory. She definitely felt more than a spark when Blue kissed her. “Do you feel anything when you kiss Ptolomy?”
“No, not really. I mean, I thought I did at first, but then I realized that it was his lip ring digging into my lip,” Daisy told her. “It doesn’t matter, though. I already broke up with him.”
“That was fast,” Cory said.
Daisy shrugged. “Why drag it out when you know a guy isn’t right for you? Someday I’ll meet my true love.”
“I’m sure you will,” said Cory, hoping it would happen soon.
When Cory finally went outside, Macks was there, lying on the ground beside Lucille. Cory had to nudge him awake. He sat up, groggy, but he grinned when he saw Cory. “Twark and Skweely told me you came up with a great song. I can’t wait to hear it.”
“You’ve been out here that long? They left hours ago. You should have come inside to wait.”
“I was fine,” Macks said as he brushed a fallen leaf off Lucille’s seat.
“Well, did you ask Estel to marry you? Did she say yes?” Cory asked him.
Macks grinned until his smile almost reached his ears. “I did and she did! I’m getting married!”
“Congratulations!” Cory cried. “That’s wonderful news!”
“I know,” said Macks. “I’ll have to go tell my parents. My mother is crazy about Estel.” He was helping Cory onto the solar cycle when he remembered to ask, “Am I going to hear that song tomorrow at the Battle of the Bands?”
“You will,” Cory told him. “Everyone told me they want it on our list. Just be prepared to cry.”
“I never cry,” said Macks.
“We’ll see about that,” Cory murmured as she took her seat on the cycle.
They had scarcely started for home when Cory had a vision. Once again it showed two people she didn’t know. Normally she would have planned to go to her office to try to find their pictures that night, but she needed to get some sleep before the Battle of the Bands. With all that she had going on, she wasn’t sure when she’d get the chance to work on matches. Maybe after Micah and Quince’s wedding, which was the day after the Battle of the Bands. It wasn’t as if she’d forget what the people in her vision looked like. If she didn’t make the match right away, she’d keep seeing the vision until she’d handled it.
The sun was setting when they arrived at the house, and Blue’s cycle was already parked in the drive. Macks was still turning off his cycle as Laudine Kundry stepped into the front yard. When Macks saw her, he went inside, leaving Cory and Laudine to have a private conversation.
“How do you always seem to know when I get home?” Cory asked her.
“Magic,” said Laudine. “Although sometimes I just look out my window. I wanted to tell you that I located Darkin Flay. He’s a salesman working for a company that sells magic ingredients to witches. He goes from trade show to trade show. The next trade show in New Town will be next week. We can go together if you’d like.”
“I would like that,” said Cory. “A trade show for witches should be a lot of fun.”
“Or very dangerous,” said Laudine. “It depends on who shows up. I need to go. My supper is getting cold.”
Cory was headed into the house when she heard a faint sound behind her. Thinking that Laudine had remembered something else and was coming back to see her again, she turned around, but there was no sign of her neighbor. A moment later, Weegie came running out of the underbrush.
“Did you see him?” the woodchuck asked her. “The man who’s been lurking around the yard was just here. I bit his leg, which tasted really bad.”
Cory shook her head. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Well, he was weird. And the weirdest thing about him was that when I bit him, he didn’t even seem to feel it.”
CHAPTER
7
The Battle of the Bands was held beside Turquoise Lake, the same place where Cory and Blue had gone to see the nymphs perform Swan Lake and Rina had caused an accident. It was the largest park in the area and ideal for the expected crowd. When the members of Zephyr arrived, a huge crowd had already assembled. There were three platforms set up in front of the lake; Cory could see her drums set up on the center stage.
When Cory reached the stage with Blue and Macks, Olot came over to see them. “Twark, Skweely, and I got here a couple of hours ago. Jack Horner had the bands pull straws to see where to set up. I got the middle-size straw, so we got the second stage. I supervised setup, but Twark and Skweely are going to work out just fine as roadies. They did a good job and didn’t need much direction.”
“What do you know about the other bands?” asked Blue.
Olot turned to point at the first stage, where three ogres and two ogresses were dressed in old-fashioned hides. “That group is called Boulder of Ages. They dress like ogres used to, but they play heavy rock.”
“I know the big ogre with the tuft of hair,” said Blue. “That’s Sidnee. We were in band together in Junior Fey School. He’s a great guy.”
Olot turned to face the other way. “The fairies and elves climbing on the third stage make up the band ‘2 by 2.’ There are two sets of fairy twins and two sets of elf twins in the group. They play folk music.”
“Shouldn’t they be called 2 by 2 by 2 by 2 since there are four sets of twins?” Macks said with a laugh.
“Yeah, really!” Cheeble said as he came up to listen to Olot. “Did Jack tell you about the rules?”
Olot nodded. “We’ll be playing three songs. Each band will play one, then it’s the next band’s turn. If there’s a tie, the two tied bands will play one more song each.”
The other members of Zephyr had gathered around. “What songs are we going to play?” Daisy asked.
“I thought we’d start with ‘Morning Mist,’ then ‘Lily Rose’ and ‘June Bug Jamboree.’ If there’s a tie, we should play ‘Summer Heat,’ ” said Olot.
“Oh, no,” said Daisy. “We should play ‘Lily Rose’ last. It’s so beautiful and I think we should end with that.”
“I agree,” Chancy declared. “I still cry when I think about that song. Put it at the end.”
“You mean the third song?” said Olot. “Why do you want everyone to cry at the end?”
“Not the third song. The tie-breaker song. Even if there isn’t a tie, you should play it after everyone else has finished,” one of Skippy’s girlfriends said. “It will make them remember it even more, and it’s so beautiful.”
“Is that what everyone wants?” asked Olot. When no one disagreed, he nodded. “Then ‘Lily Rose’ will be our tiebreaker, even if we don’t need one.”
“I believe it’s time to warm up,” said Perky. “Everyone else is getting started.”
Blue and Macks left the stage while Cory hurried to her drums. Picking up her sticks, she did a warm-up exercise until Jack Horner climbed onto the first stage. The noise didn’t die down until he held a horn to his lips and said, “Quiet, please!” The horn amplified his voice so that it was even louder than the ogres in the audience and everyone could hear him.
“I have got to get one of those horns,” Cory heard Cheeble mutter.
“Welcome to the Battle of the Bands!” Jack Horner announced. “We have three bands with us today. Boulder of Ages,” he said, pointing at the ogre band. “Zephyr, and 2 by 2!” He pointed to t
he others in turn.
The noise was deafening as the audience screamed and shouted, and the ogres in the crowd roared.
“The rules of the Battle are as follows,” Jack said when the noise had died down again. “Each band will play three songs. The audience will judge the bands’ performances and show how much they liked them with their applause. The band with the most applause will win. If there is a tie, the tied bands will play one more song. The winning band will receive the title of Best Band, a gift card for Jack Horner’s restaurants for each band member, and a recording contract with Abracadabra Music. And now, let’s all listen to Boulder of Ages play their first song, ‘The Boulder I Get, The More I Love You’!”
The audience applauded again as the band began to play, but the music quickly drowned out everything else. The ogres’ song started out loud and got louder. Instead of traditional instruments, they banged rocks together, pulled the tails of cats so they’d screech, broke boards over one another’s heads, and screamed the words to the song, most of which Cory couldn’t make out. They were so loud that Cory felt sorry for the people directly in front of the stage.
After watching the band in disbelief for most of the song, Cory turned to look out over the audience. The ogres among the crowd were going crazy, but most of the other beings there had their fingers in their ears. When the song ended, they actually looked relieved.
Jack Horner jumped onto Zephyr’s stage and held up his hand. As the audience grew quiet, he said, “And now we’re going to hear Zephyr playing …”—he turned to Olot, who whispered in his ear. “ ‘Morning Mist’!” Jack repeated through the horn.
“Boo! Boo!” cried some fairies in the audience, but the cheering soon drowned them out. Cory noticed that a few fairies were giving her dirty looks. Apparently, some of the guild members who were still mad at her had come to the concert. It bothered her until she started to lay down the beat for the song, and then she forgot all about them.
Although “Morning Mist” was a quiet song, it soon drew everyone in. The spirits of the fey are in tune with nature, and they felt it as they heard the sounds of a day just beginning. When the song was over, even the fairies looked contented. The applause was just as loud as it had been after Boulder of Ages played.
When Cory put down her drumsticks, Jack Horner was already standing on 2 by 2’s stage. “And now, 2 by 2 playing ‘C U 2morrow.’ ”
Cory watched, interested, as the fairies and elves began to play. She counted two sets of pan pipes, one set of wind chimes, one long, curled horn, a tiny hand drum, a fiddle, and two members who did nothing but sing. The music was soft and sweet, but didn’t carry well enough for her to make out the words.
Although the fairies and elves in the audience seemed to enjoy 2 by 2’s music, the ogres quickly got bored and started talking to one another. A fight broke out when some elves tried to shush their noisier neighbors. When a fairy punched an ogre in the nose, the ogre picked up the fairy and hurled him toward the lake. The fairy would have ended up in the water if he hadn’t turned small and sprouted wings. Two FLEA officers forced their way through the crowd to break up the fight that was starting to spread. People hardly noticed when 2 by 2 finished their song. Only the fairies and elves who weren’t fighting applauded.
When Boulder of Ages started their next song, “You’re the Pebble in My Shoe,” Cory thought it sounded just like their first. As far as she could tell, the only difference was that they had howling wolves instead of screeching cats. The ogres in the audience seemed to like it just as much.
“June Bug Jamboree” got the audience involved the way it always did. Ogres swatted at the june bugs that weren’t really there, while the rest of the audience either acted like they saw the bugs, or ducked to avoid the ogres’ meaty hands. Cory no longer saw any fairies glaring at her.
When 2 by 2 played their second song, “2 Late 4 Love,” the fairies and elves tried to listen, but the ogres started shouting until no one could hear the band at all.
“Get ’em off the stage!” shouted one ogre.
“They stink!” screamed another.
Cory wasn’t sure when the band’s song ended.
The only instruments that Boulder of Ages used in their third song, “Stone Dust,” were rocks. They smashed rocks with other rocks, pounded rocks with rocks, and slammed rocks onto the wooden stage, splintering the floor. Cory thought they sounded like workers in a quarry, but the ogres in the audience seemed to love it. When one of the band members fell into the hole he’d made in the stage, Cory thought they might stop playing. They didn’t, though, and the ogre climbed out and started throwing rocks at his bandmates. The ogres in the audience went insane.
It was Zephyr’s turn to play next. They started playing “Summer Heat” and the audience became quiet, acting as if they actually felt the heat of the sun, the dry grass beneath their feet, and the cool water of the stream. As the song ended, there was a loud sigh as if from every throat. Suddenly, the crowd went wild, from the most delicate fairy to the toughest ogre and everyone in between.
Cory glanced at her bandmates and saw the pleased looks on their faces. We’ve got this, she thought.
And then it was time for 2 by 2’s third song. It was called “2 Day + 2 Night = 4 Ever.” The band members looked nervous when they started to play. As soon as the ogres began to shout, the twins all grabbed their instruments and left the stage.
Jack jumped onto the abandoned stage and held the horn to his lips. “I guess that leaves us with two choices for Best Band. Let’s hear it for Boulder of Ages!”
The ogres clapped, cheered, and roared, but nobody else did.
“Now tell me what you think of Zephyr!” shouted Jack.
Everyone cheered and clapped, including the members of Boulder of Ages. The ogres roared even louder than before.
“I think we have our winner!” cried Jack. “I now proclaim that the title of Best Band goes to Zephyr!”
Cory and all her bandmates grinned. She spotted Blue in the audience and saw that his smile was even broader than her own.
The crowd was screaming when Olot took the horn from Jack. As soon as Olot started talking, the audience became silent. “My band and I would like to play one more song, if that’s all right with you.”
The crowd screamed until Olot held up his hand. “The name of the song is ‘Lily Rose’ and it was written by Cory Feathering.”
Handing the horn to Jack, Olot picked up his lute and waited for Cory to start. By the time the rest of the band joined in, she was already lost in the music. People in the audience began to cry after the first few stanzas. Within minutes, tears glistened in everyone’s eyes. When the song was over, Cory finally looked up. She felt awful at first; fairies, ogres, elves, satyrs, nymphs, humans, and every other kind of being that was there was crying. Tears flowed, people wailed or sobbed. But it wasn’t until they turned to one another and began crying in each other’s arms that Cory knew what was really happening. They weren’t just feeling sad, they were feeling the loss of a great love, the way Lily Rose did in the song.
Cory turned to her friends in the band who were crying just as much as the people in the audience. “Should we play a happier song now?” she asked.
“No,” said Cheeble, who was standing closest to her. “Let’s leave it with that.” Taking a handkerchief out of his pocket, he blew his nose, then gave her a watery smile. “That song was perfect.”
When the cheering started, Cory thought she might go deaf. People cheered even as they wiped tears from their eyes. Ogres and fairies who had been fighting only a short time before were standing there with their arms around each other, and they were all cheering for her song.
Cory had never felt so proud.
After Jack presented Olot with a plaque for Best Band and gave him the gift cards and the information for Abracadabra Music, the crowd cheered again. When it was finally time to go, and the crowd was leaving, Blue joined Cory on the stage. Twark and Skweely were both red-eyed
when they started to pack up the instruments.
“That was fantastic!” Blue said as he picked up Cory and spun her around. “You have an amazing talent!”
She laughed and kissed him back when he kissed her. “I guess the song struck a note with a lot of people,” she said when he set her down.
“With everyone!” said Blue. “I even saw the FLEA officers crying. I didn’t know that some of them had tear ducts.”
Cory glanced at the members of the audience who were trailing behind. She saw ogres talking to fairies, she saw FLEA officers wiping their eyes, and she saw Macks and Estel in a passionate embrace.
“When we get married, you aren’t going to want a traditional ogre wedding, are you?” she asked Blue.
“No,” he said. “My parents didn’t even have a traditional ogre wedding.”
“Good,” said Cory, relieved.
Cory felt as if she were floating for the rest of the day. Creampuff prepared a big celebratory supper, and her grandfather toasted her with apple wine. “To my granddaughter, who has more talents than I ever imagined!” he said.
“Thank you, Grandfather,” Cory told him. “I wasn’t the only one who played, though. Everyone in Zephyr deserves the credit.”
“Yes, but it was your song that everyone is still talking about,” said Blue. “It was amazing.”
“You’re both biased,” Cory said with a laugh.
“Of course, but it’s also true,” Blue replied.
After a long and stressful day, Cory went to bed still excited and unsure if she’d be able to go to sleep. She was lying in bed, reading a book she’d borrowed from her grandfather, when she heard scratching on her balcony door. Jumping out of bed, she opened the door and let Shimmer into the room. The little dragon flew onto the bed and curled up in the middle, then promptly fell asleep. Cory had to push Shimmer to one side to make room for herself. Climbing back into bed, she read another chapter and was about to turn out the light when she heard another sound outside. Shimmer must have heard it, too, because she got up suddenly and flew to the door, crying until Cory opened it.
