Chapter 1 Part 2: Introductions

Chapter 1: Introductions

The two of them ate their meal in silence with all sound coming from other patrons or the music playing in the background. Sarah noticed Olivia looked less stressed again and considered that to be a good sign. She couldn’t tell if she was always like this a part of her personality or if she was so jumpy because this was all so new to her. Either way Sarah felt like she were walking on eggshells.

After they finished their meal Sarah and Olivia took a cab to a karaoke bar she visited once before called PlugIt. The rooms were soundproof and private. The floors and walls were covered in an ugly red that served to hide stains more than anything else.

Inside the room Sarah removed her violin and had Olivia do the same. From her pocket Sarah also pulled out a necklace made of a black lace and a blue gem that glowed faintly in the dim light. She put the necklace on and turned to Olivia “Alright Olivia, it’s time for me to put on a show for you. What I want you to do is to play something relatively simple on the violin. As you can probably tell I’ve never touched a violin before today. This necklace does two things. Play anything you want. I’ll watch you closely and then I will play the exact same thing. We’ll do that a couple times and then you’ll see the second thing this necklace does”.

Olivia complied and started with Küchler op 15 Concertino. Sarah watched intently from the position of the instrument under Olivia’s chin to how her arm swayed holding the violin. She watched Olivia’s fingers tap and dance and saw every strum of the bow across of the violin’s strings. Sarah was memorized by the intricate weaves of motion before her and didn’t hear any bit of the song Olivia was playing for her. She only noticed the song was over when the violin was at Olivia’s side and she stood staring at her.

Sarah met Olivia’s eyes briefly before taking the same position Olivia was in when she started. With a burst Sarah felt her fingers dance in alignment with the images flashing her mind. Like a marionette Sarah’s body followed the commands of something other than herself. Similar to when she was watching Olivia play she couldn’t hear the music. She felt a warmth trickle up from her lower back into the nape of her neck as her rhythmic trance came to an end along with the song.

“Oh shit,” Olivia replied when Sarah finished her emulation. “That’s from the necklace?”

“It absolutely it! You want to try something more difficult?”

This time Olivia played something far more difficult: Paganini’s Caprice No. 4 in c minor. Again Sarah cast out the world and focused solely on Olivia, her form, the placement and pressure of her fingers on both wood and string, the tilt of the violin against the strum of the bow, and so much more. She took it all in at the cost of her other senses and when it was her turn she returned the fervor of the song with equal measure to that which Olivia gave. Midway through though Sarah found herself in a sweat almost losing control of the instrument in her grasp. She felt the pressure of time passing as her body struggled to keep up with the movements she was emulating in her mind. By the end of the song her fingers ached from the pressure of the strings and if the lights were on she wouldn’t be surprised to see them red and bruised at the tips. However, the magic held true and kept her in form.

Olivia stood impressed at what she saw and asked a few questions as Sarah recuperated and grabbed a tall glass of water. She wanted to know how it worked and more importantly if she could try it. Sarah didn’t answer the first question because she didn’t know enough to do so but she answered resolutely that the latter was out of the question. “I can’t really answer why because I don’t know too much about it, but trust me when I say that if I let you use this necklace before you cast your first spell you will hate me forever. Henry will go in more detail later. He can answer any questions you might have.”

After finishing her water Sarah insisted they play one more song, but his time she wanted it to be something Olivia struggled with. This time Sarah was going to show Olivia what could be done using magic. She was going to give Olivia the needed spark to resist the exhaustion and pressure that came with learning magic. Without something tangible to grasp onto very few people could probably push past the frustrations that came with the field.

For the final time Olivia picked up for violin and began this time playing the first song she introduced to her violin. She got to the point she struggled and pushed through letting the notes fall flat and waiver where they did. When Sarah took her turn she hit every note perfectly. Her performance was what Olivia came to expect at this point – until she came to the first note Olivia struggled with. What Sarah was now playing was something unique. She was no longer emulating what Olivia did instead it sounded like she was transitioning to the notes of the previous songs at first before becoming wholly unique.

Sarah was sweating as her muscles cried falling on deaf ears. Sarah found herself in a void burning as she recalled everything she knew about music simultaneously called forth by the enchantment of the necklace. She was absorbed unable to hear, taste, or smell. Her vision filtered everything out except the instrument in her grasp and the limbs wooing the violin. The only purpose time had at this point was to count the length of the notes, a weight was felt in Sarah’s chest and she knew that if didn’t think about breathing it would no longer happen by itself.

Everything that made up Sarah as a person was focused now on what was in her hands. When Sarah came to the note Olivia struggled with she shifted and transitioned the song into notes she was already familiar with as she struggled with the necklace trying to keep everything tangible and coherent. Once the spell was unable to emulate the performance of someone else it shifted into its second functionality and forced its user to create and play a song in real time. It pulled every memory and bit of understanding Sarah possessed about music and forced her to construct and play.

Her left hand was in pain with the webbing between her fingers stretched repeatedly past their limits. The tips of her fingers burned with each touch without the calluses present to protect them. Sarah didn’t know how long she played for it could have been five minutes or five hours, but when she finished Olivia simply stared at her with water at the corner of her eyes. Sarah put the instrument down and felt it slippery. The initially thought it was sweat until she saw the red plastering the strings. At some point during the song she split two of her fingers and the blood dripped haphazardly.

It took Sarah a minute to regain her hearing, but when she stood back up from placing her instrument back into it’s case she found herself being sung with praises by Olivia. Sarah gave her warmest smile despite her pain and hugged Olivia before the two of them made their way out and toward their Master Henry’s abode.

Sarah watched Olivia’s expression as they crossed the perimeter onto the property as the dimensions shifted and expanded once they past the gated fence protecting the property. The white beetle pulled up as far as it could to the mansion as it followed the driveway around a stone fountain carved with a baby angel blowing a horn and seven dragons swirling around it.

They thanked the driver and Sarah led Olivia through the property to the meeting room where everyone would be waiting for them to arrive. Until now the day was nice. Olivia was fun to be around and even though her hand was still aching it was fun playing the violin. But the tension rose in her chest as she remembered that David would also be present. With every step she wished she could reverse time and replay everything up till this point again.

Olivia noticed something was wrong and asked if Sarah was alright to which she said yes it’s just that there was someone here she really didn’t want to see. Sarah pushed through telling herself she would simply go into the room, ignore him, and leave when everything was done.

She paused a moment before the large ash colored doors that led to the meeting room before pushing them both open with vigor. She had a clear view of the entire room and everyone in it and felt the tension loosen and relief flush through her as David was not present.