Prelude (The Rhapsody Quartet)

by A. M. Hodgson

  “Stacie,” he said with a nod. “Thanks for picking Sarah up.”

  “No problem,” she said, giving me a sly glance. I turned crimson, and Score smiled lopsidedly beside me.

  He turned back to me. “I’ll see you soon.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. A lump formed in my throat as I bounded down the steps of the porch. I didn’t want Marin to get close enough to start really visiting.

  I grabbed her arm, tugging her over to the snappy car. She slid inside, raising her brows. She grinned, “So?”

  I sighed, leaning into the window. I watched as Score reentered his house, the door swinging shut behind him. “What’s there to say?” I asked, leaning back into my seat.

  She let out a frustrated squeal as she shifted gears. “You have to do better than that! Glenn will expect us to have the same stories, you know.”

  I considered it, tapping my chin with my fingertips. I bit my lip. “We just talked.”

  Marin rolled her eyes, “Okay, Miss Boring-Boots. It seemed to go decently, at least, right? I mean, he said he’d see you soon?”

  I nodded, “Yeah. In a couple days.”

  “Well, that’s a good sign!” she said enthusiastically. “Did you at least kiss?”

  I blushed, “No!”

  She laughed at my reaction. “That’s a shame. I guess we’ll just say…” She shrugged, mulling it over. “… That we took a walk on the beach and got dessert.” She tilted her head, “For the record, this week I’m seeing James Finnegan.”

  “Oh,” I said, surprised. “You seemed to be hitting it off at Will’s party.”

  She nodded. “Well, he’ll do for now. Anyway, I told him that if it came up, it was a double date with you and Will.”

  “Thanks, Marin,” I said gratefully.

  “No problem,” she said with a shrug. She pulled into the driveway, and we headed up the stairs.

  Glenn was seated in the corner, his arms folded across his chest, staring out the window.

  “Hey!” I greeted him.

  He turned to me. “You have a good time, then?”

  I shrugged, staring at the floor. I wished I could tell them both about Score, that I could admit I’d found another siren, that I could let them know why I was so anxious to see him again— but I’d promised.

  Marin grabbed my arm in her hands, tugging me towards the bed. “Yeah, she did. We both did.”

  “Hmph. Good. I’m glad you have it out of your system,” he said with a sigh.

  “She’s seeing him again in a couple days,” Marin added.

  His head snapped up at that. “Really?! But—” He took a breath, “It must have gone pretty well, then.”

  I shrugged again, feeling my face flush. It wasn’t what they thought— Score had only pretended to date me long enough that he could reveal himself. We weren’t really romantic together. But if the price of seeing Score again was to pretend we were a couple… it was worth it.

  “What will you be doing then?”

  Marin’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t want to ask about tonight, first?”

  Glenn shook his head, his mouth a thin line. “No. I already escaped watching it, I don’t need an immature blow by blow of the gory details.” He shuddered, “I only want to know about next time, because it’ll be my turn to chaperon. So what’s it going to be? Long chit-chats by a fire? Another walk on the beach during sunset?” He snorted, rolling his eyes, “Or are you just going to be sucking down a milkshake with two straws?”

  “You don’t have to be an ass about it,” Marin said crossly. “Just because Sarah’s having a good time—”

  “She’s toying with some human for kicks! It’s cruel,” he said, leaning forward. “Good time or no, I don’t like it when—” He stopped talking, shaking his head.

  “What do you care about humans?” Marin asked him, frowning sharply. It made her forehead crease up severely, and she suddenly looked much older.

  “Nothing,” Glenn muttered. “Forget I said anything.”

  I felt a twinge of guilt, wishing I could come clean. If Glenn knew Score wasn’t human, this wouldn’t feel so dirty to him. Even if Marin couldn’t see his point of view, I certainly could.

  I fell back on the bed, grabbing the thin book Aldan had given me. I almost did have it memorized at this point, though a couple of things still weren’t clear— mostly terminology.

  “Tomorrow I need to go to Aldan’s to trade this out,” I told Glenn.

  His eyes flickered over to the book, and he nodded. “Yeah, it’s about time.”

  I stared at the elf. He looked thin, worn down, stressed. We hadn’t really done anything together aside from the basics of my life. I felt a little guilty about that— his life wasn’t really his own. It didn’t seem fair. “Maybe after,” I said quickly, “we can do something together. Something fun.”

  His brow raised, and he gave me a quizzical look as if I’d just proposed we fly to the moon. I didn’t think it was that outlandish of a suggestion. “Such as?” he asked, baffled.

  I shrugged, “I don’t know, Glenn. But you look like… you need a break.”

  His eyes widened up even more. Glenn’s features were still bemused. He shook his head, “I assure you, Sarah, I am more than capable of—”

  I interrupted him, “I know you’re capable, Glenn. You’re amazing, in fact. But…” I shrugged, “call it a personal favor?”

  He stared at the floor, a very odd expression on his face. I’d never seen the look before, on him or anyone else. Finally, he sucked in a breath and said, “O… okay.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The next day as I returned the book to Aldan, he snapped, “Did you memorize it?”

  “The important parts,” I responded carefully. I wasn’t about to memorize the word problems about Morgan the witch and Merlin the wizard.

  Aldan squinted at me. “Humph,” he grumbled, rubbing his forehead. “Any questions?”

  I nodded. “I don’t understand the references to this Realm— or the Overworld? I didn’t know what it was talking about.”

  He sighed loudly, exasperated, and shook his head. “You’re the stunningly mundane example of a homosapien, yet I’d hoped to study a seirēn.”

  I stared at him blankly.

  “You. Act. Like,” he enunciated slowly, pausing after each word, “A. Human.”

  I frowned and folded my arms over my chest. It was hardly my fault that I’d been raised human, but Aldan made me feel like my gaps in education were due to my own limitations.

  He hobbled around, digging through his stacks of books. Eventually, he found the prize he was searching for. “Aha! Here it is,” he said, retrieving an enormous book. I was relieved at the size. Maybe Aldan was willing to try to teach me.

  He dropped it into my arms. I groaned, my hands falling as though he’d placed an anvil in them. It weighed a ton.

  I flipped through it, pleased to see that it was about that Realm place. An unfamiliar map greeted my eyes. The borders were labeled with names that were completely foreign to me— Arathal, The Borderlands, Shivering Forest, Fjords of Esther, Sea of Phantoms…

  I tilted my head to Aldan. “Where is this? I’ve never seen it on any world map—”

  He shook his head, snapping his huge bound tome shut with a loud thud. It startled me, making me jump. He heaved it onto his desk and sighed. “It would not be on any Overworld maps, because it is not in the Overworld, you daft girl!”

  I scowled at him. I hated how stupid Aldan made me feel. I rapped my fingers on the book cover. “Then where is it?” I asked again.

  “It’s the Realm! The place where magic is born, where it originates. All the magic starts there and trickles out to the rest of the planes. Very complicated. Its relationship to the Overworld is like a shadow, or a mirror’s reflection, though neither looks like the other.”

  I furrowed my brows, confused. It didn’t make sense. How could they be a mirror image if they didn’t look alike? “But, sir—” I started
to say. He cut me off.

  “The world where you grew up is called the Overworld. The Realm is its match, that’s all you really need to know.” He pulled off his glasses, holding them up to one of the blinding balls of light and scrubbing at them furiously. “You have, in fact, been to the Realm before.”

  “I have?” I asked, surprised. It was news to me.

  “You attended a council meeting, correct? It was even an emergency meeting assembled for your sake! So yes, of course you have been within the borders! Honestly, girl, it’s like the concept of romantic geography is completely foreign to you!” he said, exasperated.

  I bit my cheek. That’s because it was completely foreign to me. “So this book will…?”

  “Assist you in understanding the scale and scope of the world around you. Give you some remedial idea of the magical environment, which should help you understand basic limitations.”

  “Do you think I’ll ever really visit the Realm?”

  He shrugged. “I am not gifted in the arts of divination, but it is honestly unlikely. You are amalgam, and therefore belong within the Overworld. There are few enough true amalgam races that desire to dwell within the Realm. Things are usually safer in the human world.”

  “So… here?” I asked.

  He slammed a fist into the table. “No, no, no! This space, my library, is a keeper-den. It is outside of both Realm and Overworld. You are trying my patience, young lady!”

  I frowned, closing the heavy book and hugging it to my chest. Aldan clearly desired solitude today. I nodded curtly and said, “Thank you for the book. I will study and return it when I’m finished.”

  “Take your time,” he muttered. He waved me out without bothering to look up. He hauled his chained tome, opened it, and began scratching out new words into the pages.

  I sighed, blinking into the harsh blackness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  An Outing

  When I emerged from the blinding light, I leaned against the stone of Aldan’s door, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

  “What did he give you this time?” Glenn asked quietly, “Not more children’s fare?”

  I held up the enormous book, and felt, more than saw, him take the heavy weight from my arms.

  “Geography of the Realm?” he asked, surprised. “I must admit I’m shocked he thinks it’d be valuable for you to know.”

  I shrugged, blinking, hoping my eyes would start interpreting the world around me again.

  “I think it’s more for terminology’s sake,” I admitted. “He was trying to explain the difference between the… Realm? And the Overworld, but…”

  Glenn chuckled. The weight settled back into my arms. “I wouldn’t concern yourself too much with it.”

  Finally, I could dimly make out my surroundings.

  I rolled my shoulders, nodding down the street. “Do you mind if I drop off this door stop before we go?”

  Glenn raised a brow. “Of course, Sarah,” he said politely. He bounced along at my side, his head tilting as he looked at me. “What exactly are we doing?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t know. I’d never had any aptitude or experience hanging out with friends. But if anyone deserved to have some fun, it was Glenn. One way or another, he’d enjoy himself.

  I dumped the book unceremoniously onto the mattress, abandoning my bag next to it. It was probably harder on the atlas than Aldan would’ve liked, but I didn’t care.

  Glenn stood stiffly at the door, his hands clasped together in front of himself. “Where are we heading?”

  “Towards town,” I answered, deciding in the moment.

  He nodded, “Alright.” He sounded uncomfortable, but I assumed it was because he wasn’t sure what to think of me. If he’d had a real holiday, he’d probably choose to be as far from me as possible. I could only do my best.

  As we walked out the door and down the street, I turned to him. “You must have days off from the Guard?”

  He nodded. “Yes. We have personal time once a week.” He kept his eyes fixed forward as he spoke.

  “What did you do then?”

  “Sometimes I’d read scrolls. Sometimes I’d train.”

  “But you must get lots of training during your active duties, right?”

  He shrugged, “I suppose I do. Most of that training is sparring with the other elves, though.”

  “What about leisure? What do you do for fun?” I pressed.

  His brows raised in confusion. He continued to stare forward. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

  We were nearing the high school and elementary school. I grinned as I saw the playground. “It’s been forever since I was on a swing set!” I said, pointing at it. When I was a little girl, I used to love it, pumping my legs all alone in the school yard.

  He glanced at it. “Hmm. Yes, it’s been a long time for me, as well.”

  I tried to picture Glenn swinging, and failed. “You have swing sets in— wherever you’re from?”

  Glenn laughed, “You’ll see it in that ridiculous book Aldan gave you to study. I’m from the great elvish forest of Kaeylon. And no, we don’t have swings there.” He sighed wistfully. “It would be disrespectful to the trees to have such things tied to them, and metal sets like this—” He shook his head, “highly unnatural.”

  I peered at him curiously. “So where did you play on one?”

  “Up here, the Overworld,” he answered, gracefully stepping over a fallen tree branch. “My mother took me when I was much younger, a child.”

  I wondered what Glenn’s childhood was like, growing up as an elf. I smiled, grabbing for his hand, tugging on him. “Let’s go on one now!” I urged.

  He stared at me like I was three tenors shy of a choir. “Why?”

  I laughed. “Because it’s fun!”

  I ran with him, tugging his wrist, pulling him to the sets. Swiping my hand out, I pushed away the layer of condensation. I sat down, nodding to the seat beside me.

  He shook his head, but a smile crossed his lips. I backed up, pulling my legs out in front of me, sailing through the air.

  “You’re strange.”

  “Come on!” I chirped, nodding to the other seat again.

  Glenn looked awkward, tilting the plastic to dump the water from it. He sat down, rocking back and forth just a little, his hands in his lap.

  I laughed. “You can do better than that!”

  “I don’t know if I even remember how,” he said. “I was perhaps a child of three the last time I was on one.”

  I jumped from the seat, feeling like I was soaring— though I was probably only leaping a couple feet. I stumbled forward, darting around behind him, grinning. “Okay, hold the chains,” I commanded.

  He sighed, but dutifully clasped them loosely with his tan hands. I grabbed just below his grip, and pulled him back several feet before letting him go. I pushed his shoulders as he swung up to me, increasing his momentum.

  “What’s the point of this, Sarah?”

  “To feel like you’re flying.”

  “Why not just fly?”

  I laughed. “Maybe it’s a human thing.”

  “You’re not human, Sarah.” I stopped pushing him, the swing slowing down. He twisted sharply, the chains tangling, so he was facing me. “You’ve never been human.”

  I’d never thought of that before. It’d felt like I was simply turning into a siren, out of my control, that before I was sixteen I was human. There were people, and there were extras— something else, something worse than human. It always felt like it was an unlucky twist of fate that led to my transformation. But he was right… there wasn’t any place where I’d ever belonged. Except, maybe, with Score.

  My lip trembled, thinking about it.

  Glenn sighed. “Sarah, I’m sorry. I don’t… I don’t know what I said wrong.”

  I shook my head, “Nothing, Glenn.”

  His hands gripped mine, his eyes filled with conviction. “I am sorry. And if it’s about that boy— I didn’t
mean it like that—”

  I laughed. “It’s not about Will! I just… you’re right, I didn’t realize I’d never been human.”

  He stood up. “Come on, then. I’ll push you.”

  I smiled, sinking into the swing and twisting it forward again. He pushed me up, higher and higher and higher before we tired of the distraction. After a few minutes, I slowed to a stop, dragging my feet in the muddy pit below.

  “What now?” he asked.

  I raised a brow. “I’d have thought you’d be anxious to get back to your routine.”

  He glanced at the ground, “I—”

  I laughed. “I’m just teasing!” I stood up, gripping his hand in mine. I led us towards town. “You look like the kind of guy who’s probably never had a slice of cheese cake.”

  “What?!” he asked incredulously.

  I grinned. “Well… have you?”

  He raised a brow. “People make cake out of cheese?”

  I giggled. He didn’t know what he was missing. We made our way into town. I pulled us into one of the small restaurants on Main Street and slid into a booth.

  Glenn sat awkwardly across from me. Both of his hands were clasped loosely, but he had to lean forward to make room for his bow and quiver.

  “I’ve never actually seen you eat.” I realized. I wondered if this was even appropriate.

  He smiled lopsidedly. “It’s usually unnecessary for me to eat more than once a day. I have rations, and the house resupplies me when I ask.”

  “Oh.” It had never even occurred to me that the mermaids supplied Glenn with whatever he needed. I leaned forward, curiosity burning at me. The elf seemed like he was in a good mood today. Maybe I could get some of my questions answered. “Do you sleep, either?”

  Glenn shook his head. “Almost never. I meditate. I draw energy from the life around me.”

  A waitress strode to our table, and I smiled. “We need two slices of cheesecake, and a couple glasses of water.”

  She nodded, getting the glazed-over dreamy look on her face that everyone did when I spoke with them. I wondered how Score controlled it. The kids at his party all looked like they were within their own mental faculties around him, and he was so seamless at school. He didn’t stick out at all— aside from how beautiful he was.