23. The music of a heart

I could hear the waves going to and fro, the seagulls shrieking as they alighted on the sand, the distant trees rustling in the wind.

I opened my eyes and gazed at the horizon.

The Blazing Sea. I had seen it so many times at the lighthouse, back when I was a kid, but it still felt as beautiful as ever.

“Know what?” I said quietly. “My mom told me once: nobody owns anything in this world. Money, territories, people… You can use them, change them, love or hate them, but there’s one thing you can’t do, and that’s keeping them forever.” I smiled. “She also says that the ocean reminds her of the greatness of this world, not because it’s big, but because it’s made of lots and lots of drops of water. Dad summarized by saying that small things are the cutest… Not sure what he meant!” I laughed. “But isn’t that true? We, people, tend to always see the big picture, the main reasons for an action, the most important dates of history… Some categorize things, and we end up following that way of thinking, just learning the same things, seeing the same things… In the end, you see the ocean, but you don’t see the drop of water in front of you…”

I heard a squeaking scream in the distance. A golden dolphin had jumped. I saw it dive back into the waters in awe.

“Wow! I didn’t know there were dolphins around here!”

I scanned the empty, windy beach, then laid my chin back on the palm of my hand. After a while, I broke the silence again.

“That’s it. That’s the problem. If people tell you something is amazing, you will consider the fact it might be amazing, but if something amazing happens unexpectedly, you might not even see it. It’s, like, being amazed by seeing a dolphin jump but not by seeing an undead cat jump down a wall. What do you think, Rainbows?”

I looked at the cat, lying by my side. She drew a semi-circle with her tail, sweeping the sand. Was she aware I had just called her an amazing kitty? My smile turned into a chuckle.

“Holy Gods. What am I even saying? Hey, Rainbows, are you hungry? I’ve brought you a lot of meat. That bag is full of it. We can’t let you starve, you know. Look at that… Do you want this chunk? Of course you do! Can you grab it? Wow! You jumped well, Rainbows! Just like that dolphin just now! Eat slowly, don’t choke on it. Not that you can choke anyway…”

I observed Rainbows as she gluttonously gulped down the meat. My cellphone buzzed. I had recharged it this morning when I had dropped by Ray’s home to take care of the cat. Azritz had been sending me messages about my telekinesis, giving me endless warnings against overusing my powers and the like. My big sis had been working on the field for over two years now and had already told me about difficult cases of power-holders losing control and causing a ruckus in the middle of the street. Some people had to deal with weird powers that were more like curses. I had a classmate like that, back in middle school, who couldn’t use her own eyes and had no choice but to see everything through the eyes of the nearest person by her side. Some would think she was lucky not to be simply blind, but when you’re walking on a crowded street and you’re seeing random perspectives all the time… that would drive anyone crazy.

For some people, powers were an ordeal. According to Azritz and to what I had learned at school, they had appeared two thousand years ago, when those giant Crystals had fallen from the sky and turned the Earth into a land filled with something the humans back then called “magic”.

My cellphone buzzed again. Oh, right… I took a look. It was Zeeta. We had been exchanging messages this morning:

‘Zeeta, 11:01: No one’s at home?’

‘Armen, 11:08: Ray is at his dad’s. He might sleep for some days after what happened. I’m at the South Dunes in South End. I took Rainbows with me.’

‘Zeeta, 11:10: South End? What for?’

‘Armen, 11:11: Just taking a walk.’

That had been two hours ago. Now, Zeeta had just messaged me:

‘Zeeta, 13:12: If you keep feeding Rainbows like that, she will get fat.’

‘Zeeta, 13:13: Yo.’

“Yo.”

I let out a shriek on hearing his voice just behind me.

“Zeeta! You nearly gave me a heart attack. See? See? It stopped beating!”

Zeeta snorted with laughter.

“Stop joking around.” He crouched. “Heya, Rainbows. Heya, Armen.”

“… Don’t pat my head like I’m a kitty!”

“Hee… What are you doing in this godforsaken place?”

I smiled, glad to see him.

“I just saw a golden dolphin.”

“Seriously?! But they’re, like, super rare!”

“Heh… Looks like luck is on my side today. Wait… What are you carrying on your back?”

“Ah, that.” Zeeta showed it to me. The black case had the shape of a small guitar… “I thought I would wait until Christmas but… traditions are a pain, so, there, it’s a present for you.”

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I stared at him in astonishment.

“You’re kidding me…”

“Open it!”

My hands quivered a bit as I zipped the case open. A brand new violin was laying inside. My eyes were filled with tears.

“You’re kidding me! I don’t even have anything for you! Zeeta!”

I looked at him with tearing eyes.

“Quit making that face. And you called me a crybaby the other day… Aren’t you gonna thank me?”

“Thank you, Zeeta!”

“Oi, you don’t need to bow, that’s too much! … I knew you’d like it,” Zeeta said cheerfully.

“I love it! The scroll is beautiful! The soundboard is shining!”

“… Stop admiring it and play something.”

“Yes!”

I took the bow and played some notes randomly. It was well-tuned. I played a simple melody under Rainbows’ wary eyes.

“How nostalgic!” Zeeta grinned as I stopped.

“You didn’t bring your guitar?”

“Thought it was too much to carry it along with the violin.”

“Ah, right…” I staggered.

“Armen! Are you all right?”

“Ah, it looks like I’m low on deathforce.”

Zeeta frowned.

“What happened last night, really?”

Zeeta had obviously given me the violin ahead of time because he knew I wasn’t feeling well. How, though? Was he an esper?

“Well,” I said. “To keep it short, Erma is the youngest daughter of the Black-Hearts’ leader, the red-haired medusa is her big sis, and she wanted to keep Erma, or rather Linah Sunclaw, away from lowlifes like us, so she nearly strangled Ray to death.”

“… I always suspected Erma to hide something big, but that’s… quite a surprise.” He paused. “I wonder, did Ginger know about this all along?” I raised an eyebrow. The Cheetahs’ boss did pamper her a lot but… was that the reason? Zeeta shook his head. “Maybe not. Well, and what then? Ray’s power awakened and beat Erma and her sis in one swoop?”

My face darkened.

“It seems that Ray doesn’t have control over his power. Arkill told me that he experienced a quirk when he was at a party organized by Nyomin Heroes. He was just a kid back then, and he was scarred, so much he didn’t get over it after so many years. He’s terrified of his own power.”

There was a silence only broken by Rainbow’s continuous chewing. Zeeta sat down on the sand.

“I see. Did you hear of the Champion Institute? I heard it’s a place ruled by the Nyomins for people who can’t control their powers and are a potential threat to our society. Ray was lucky not to have been sent there.”

I shuddered. Champion Institute? I had never heard of it.

“His dad wouldn’t allow that.”

“Yeah. You’re right. Wait, but… how is it that Ray was going at Hero parties when he was a kid?”

“Her mom’s a Hero.”

“Eeeeh?!”

“Please don’t talk to Ray about her if you don’t want to hit a really sore spot. I don’t know what’s going on between those two but… let’s not worry about it. I mean, we’re not supposed to meddle in a family matter, are we?”

“Ah…” Zeeta sighed. “You’re right. Still, the Lord Necromancer, with a Hero?” He laughed. “Isn’t that funny?”

“It’s not, shut up, I shouldn’t have told you.”

“Oh, come on, Straw Head! I’m working for the Beholder, remember? I’m the best at keeping secrets. Nick always says ‘think of information as your own hands: give it away to the wrong person and it will kill you’.”

“Well, I trust you, Zeeta.”

He smiled, gazed at the ocean for a moment, then asked:

“Did the Lord Necromancer say something to you last night? Like, he got mad at you because Ray nearly died?”

I winced. He had hit the bullseye. I followed the flight of a seagull struggling in the wind, then said:

“He told me to disappear.”

“… That’s all? Straw Head, if that necromancer doesn’t want you to see Ray again, you can just ignore him. He won’t do anything to you as long as Ray has your back.”

Since Zeeta didn’t know about the necro-bond, he couldn’t understand the deep meaning of the word “disappear”. He couldn’t imagine that such a simple word could turn into an unavoidable command for an undead. Still, I didn’t want him to know: it would only make him angry and wouldn’t solve anything.

“Come on, cheer up!” Zeeta said. “Play something lively, like ‘O Bee, one, two, ten’.”

That was one of the last songs of one of our favorite bands. I was about to play when the violin suddenly fell on my lap. My hand couldn’t grab it well.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, that…” I smiled, embarrassed. “Sorry, it seems that I’m really low on deathforce. It had never happened to me before… To this extent…”

“Huh? But don’t you start breathing hard when you’re lacking lifeforce?” Zeeta asked worriedly.

Right. Why was I not breathing? After some seconds, the answer came easily: I’d been ordered to disappear, hence my body had decided to fast to starvation. I hadn’t eaten anything since last night, and most of my deathforce had turned into useless tears.

That wasn’t good. I didn’t want to die. Yeah, right, to “disappear” didn’t necessarily mean to die!

My body was losing its balance. I forced myself to put the violin back in its case before I collapsed on the sand.

“The hell? Straw Head! Straw Head, hey, don’t die on me!”

“Sorry… I forgot to eat,” I panted.

“Is that even something you can forget when you’re starving?” Zeeta cried out. He was panicking. “Hey, Straw Head, can you eat my lifeforce? It’s possible, isn’t it? If the lifeforce I breathe out is not enough… should I do a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or something? Hey, Straw Head, tell me what to do, don’t close your eyes!”

I smiled, breathing hard. His wasted lifeforce wasn’t nearly enough.

“A mouth-to-mouth won’t be necessary, Zeeta… As long as I touch you, I can do it… Is it really okay if I eat your lifeforce?”

“Of course!”

“Then…” I raised my hand with difficulty and laid it on his cheek. “Thanks for the food.”

I started to absorb Zeeta’s lifeforce. He cleared his throat.

“I feel like a roasted chicken on a plate.”

“Heh. Sorry for that.”

My body was recovering bit by bit. I had been wondering what it would feel like to be out of energy… I hadn’t expected I would experience it so soon. But the most disturbing thing was that I had almost fallen unconscious without notice.

“Say… Is it tasty?”

His question made me smile.

“It tastes damn good.”

Zeeta’s face turned red.

“… Is that so?”

I withdrew my hand and sat up, grinning.

“Thank you for your hard work. Did you feel anything?”

“Not really. Did you have enough?”

“Enough to get by for some hours.”

There was an awkward silence. Zeeta was about to talk when my cellphone buzzed. I took a look. It was a direct call, and the number was private. Could it be… Erma?

As soon as I thought of that possibility, I took the call and cried out:

“Erma?”

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I blinked as the artificial voice repeated its message.

“What? But, ma’am, I closed the only bank account I had at your company back in summer—”

“Seriously?!” Zeeta grabbed the cellphone from my hands and hung up, snorting. “Don’t fall for those petty tricks.”

“No way, it was a scam?!”

“Pretty obvious.”

As someone who had lived his childhood at a lighthouse, I always had a hard time understanding the way of modern life.

“Rainbows!” Zeeta then whistled. “Did you eat everything?!”

The cat was licking its lips, her belly bloated. The bag of meat was empty.

“She’s a healthy undead, isn’t she?” I chuckled.

“Huh… We should go back. It’s freezing out here. How about I go get my guitar and we play something at Loki’s place? He told me he wants to meet you. Also, it’s pretty close to the Lord Necromancer’s place, so—”

“Go get your guitar and let’s meet at Ray’s place,” I cut him off. “I… really don’t feel like going to see the Lord right now or even get close to his mansion. Maybe tomorrow…”

I actually wanted to go there, to see how Ray was doing… but would I be able to? I was pretty sure I wouldn’t. Zeeta gave me a funny look, then stood up.

“Okay. Let’s go revive our Cheetah Duo!”

As soon as I heard the name, I smiled happily.

“Yeah!”