Chapter 1 Part 1: Introductions

Chapter 1: Introductions

It was the final week of Fall and a crowd had gathered in Andrews café. Twenty people are more than enough to fill any establishment with life but the atmosphere here was hollow, and something was missing. The occupants stared at their screens and a few couples were bantering about gossip they heard the other day. The room and the people were about as anyone would expect given the world as it is.

Sarah was familiar with this café and sat gleaming with excitement as the people around her meandered about the social intricacies of their morning routine. She could hear one of the couples talk about how a film she remembered watching as a child was getting a sequel. Adjacent to her table was a man in a group of four. The man was overheard making an effort to restart a conversation that came to a natural lull by talking about something he saw on his phone. He spoke with a hurried excitement about how the CIA developed some gun to trick autopsies so the cause of death was always the result of a heart attack by using shellfish. Whatever conversation followed from that had nothing to do with the CIA, or heart attacks, or shellfish.

As the conversations in the café rose and fell in volume and shifted in their cadence. Sarah drank her coffee hoping to keep herself awake and energized through what she was sure to be another challenging day. As seconds turned to minutes and the hands on the clock continued their march Sarah focused on the notes she had been meticulously cultivating. One hour, that is what she allowed herself everyday. One hour to sit and rest in the world she found so familiar and everyday she could feel her emotions slowly churn from a comfortable peace into an earnestness to begin her work.

Before the hour was up a friendly sight caught her eye as her old friend Rose could be heard trying to get her attention. “No way, hey there!” her voice cut through the café’s ambience with ease and with it came a smile that brought warm memories. With a few pastries in hand Rose asked if she could take a seat and with Sarah’s affirmation did so with glee. “Girl, what have you been up to? I haven’t talked to you in ages!”

Sarah’s first impulse was to apologize. It’s true that over the last few weeks she had been neglecting her friends and family, but Rose was just so open and curious Sarah couldn’t help but tease her “I know right? I can’t believe you haven’t reached out to me before now. We use to see each other all the time, but sure as day you stopped texting me. Now all I see is the occasional like on my phone at one of my posts. I’m hurt, but you know I think one of those bagels might help.”

Rose saw the wolfish look on her friends face along with the coy smile she had firmly planted. “Uh no” Rose retorted as she pulled her purchase a few inches closer to herself. With an exaggerated bite of her bagel and a tilt of her head Rose followed up her declaration by letting her friend know the café was over there if she wanted a taste so badly.

The coffee was still warm in its cup as Sarah took a final sip finishing the drink. With the hour coming to a close this was the first time she didn’t want to immediately delve into the mysteries that came with her new line of work. With a weak sigh she relented to those feelings letting them guide when her day would start instead of the clock. Rose took a second, more modest, bite of her pastry and after a moment she followed up her previous statement with “But seriously, what I was saying before, I haven’t seen anything from you in weeks. It’s like you just gave up your phone and went underground. What’s going on?”

A few moments passed as Sarah contemplated how to explain the changes that Rose was pointing out. She could feel time moving and she wished she hadn’t finished her coffee already. Taking a few more sips of it could have given her an excuse for not answering immediately. After a moment of thinking she gathered her thoughts and explained that a few weeks ago she ended up getting a new job and since then has been training nonstop. Sarah explained in general terms that in her new line of work she investigates history, objects, and sometimes people and that in a couple hours she was actually going to be meeting up with a new employee and getting to know her a little bit. Although that just means that she’d be having more work to do instead of less.

Rose really was an open book for as soon as Sarah finished her sentence her face showed nothing but awe “ holy shit, so what you've done is basically become a private investigator like from one of those shows.”  

“Pretty much”, Sarah affirmed. With that the conversation came into the first of three silences. This one was soft – the kind where the ambience in the room takes hold and everyone can sit in its presence without judgement. Though it didn’t last long for Rose began pelting Sarah with follow up questions which were deflected under the pretense of confidentiality. With that the second silence took hold – though the nature of this silence came with a demand that Sarah was responsible for paying. As payment, Sarah started asking questions of her own. She regaled Rose with twice the interest that Rose showed her. From the ensuing interrogation Sarah learned that Rose was doing well, that she is working in cyber security, and that she starting seeing someone, but who that was Rose wouldn’t say. It seemed like it was new and Rose didn’t want to jinx herself – being superstitious as she was.

As the conversation dipped into its third and final silence both parties knew their time was coming to a close because this silence carried with it the familiar call of finality. With friendly smiles and a warm embrace they both departed their own way. Rose headed off to work while Sarah started making her way to where her master told her to go. An unsightly term, but one the old man insisted on using “tradition” Henry would say. “You may not like the term but it's important to uphold the customs that our practice uses as its foundation.”

Sarah stood on the sidewalk finishing the last bit of salted chips as she waited for Olivia to arrive. The weather was chilly today and thinking that she would be spending most of the day inside she dressed light. However, after strutting around for more than thirty minutes the chill was seeping through her jacket making her wish she dressed a bit heavier now.

She was told well in advance that she was the first of several people who would be coming under Henry’s wing. Among the five people joining Henry said that she displayed the greatest potential out of the lot so she was taken on earlier than the rest. Olivia was the only other girl joining so while the others were being inducted she would be serving as Olivia’s greeting party. This also served another purpose as she was already familiar with one of them and the farther she was away from him the better. He was a creep with an unwanted infatuation for her that never left since high school.

David was his name and Sarah remembered how weird and awkward he always was. There was a time she thought he was nice. He always wore a smile for reasons only known to him and sounded happy. Perhaps that was a warning in itself. For no reason during senior year he started harassing her to the point she felt that she might need to pull in the adults to deal with him. Then there were the messages he sent after high school all of them a few years apart. She read them all and they were all apologies of some sort. Each time she blocked him and each time she hoped he’d forget and just move on. The mere thought of David exhausted her and the further away she was from him the better.

Her mood was on the cusp of souring when the all too familiar white love bug pulled up to the curb driven by Henry’s residential chauffeur. A woman made her way out of the car thanking the driver for the ride. She had long straight black hair which needed readjustment when she closed the door and stood upright on the sidewalk. Flinging her hair behind her shoulders Sarah could see her round face and bright brown eyes.

“You must be Olivia.” Sarah said stretching out her hand to shake and a smile on her face.

“And you’re Sarah?” Olivia asked as looked Sarah up and down noticing her pale complexion, red hair, and light attire. She must be frigid Olivia thought but Sarah hid it well if she were. Olivia took her offer and gripped Sarah’s hand. When she did Sarah move a little to the side and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder confirming that Olivia’s assumption was right and that she was looking forward to getting to know her.

Olivia’s jacket was rougher than the fabric made it out to be. Sarah removed her hand and led the way with Olivia tailing at her side. The store was close but Sarah didn’t want to travel in silence and given how she just met Olivia she figured that was true for both of them. Before the weight of an awkward silence took hold Sarah nudged Olivia and told her that she already knew a few details about her like how she was from the west and that she made a living playing music.

Olivia’s body tightened and her eyes widened a little. Sarah pivoted saying that was all she knew about her. She waited a spell until Olivia relaxed again and inquired into how the north was treating her and also about how she made a living.

All Olivia had to say about the west was that it was nice and warmer than New York right now but when she started speaking about her music she didn’t stop. Olivia’s demeanor shifted from one that was rigid to gesticulating with exaggerated movements as she recalled an amusing story of how one of her band mates right off the stage during a performance.

Olivia lived music. As a profession she was playing violin in an orchestra which took up most of her time. She had a few friends and spent most of her time with being one of two singer sin their band, and on occasion she would record a playlist and sell it online to the small following she had. Olivia was so engrossed in her story that she didn’t realize where she was when they stopped. When she finally realized they were no longer moving she looked around and saw herself surrounded by various musical instruments ranging from pianos, to cellos, to violins and guitars.

Getting close Sarah nudged Olivia and said in a hushed voice and a wink “I see you’ve noticed we’ve arrived”. Sarah pulled out a credit card in one hand and flashed it as if to boast “so it’s entirely the case that Henry has more money than god and gave me this card to show you a good time. I know you probably already have everything you could possibly need for music already considering your job but trust me when you say that you’re going to want a few to spare when you start. So why don’t we get you a spare to be proud of eh?”

Once again Olivia began to feel uncomfortable before Sarah changed tactics and started asking her about what distinguishes a good violin from a bad one and what the differences are between the different brands if there are any at all.

Olivia spoke slower than before and her gestures diminished as she answered Sarah’s questions. “The quality of a violin is determined mostly by two factors the materials used and the craftsmanship behind it. If you do it right you can have an instrument that can be played for centuries. Usually you want the ribs and neck to be made of Maple wood while you might want the fingerboard and chin rest to be made of ebony. When they’re put together well they resonate wonderfully.

“Craftmanship is a whole other beast though because not only is the shape important but so is how it’s put together. I prefer the handmade pieces but you can find some manufactured that are really good. It’s when they’re put together that determines whether they’ll be good or not. There are so many minor touches that are needed after the violin is put together to make it sound whole. If you don’t have those touches put in it just sounds like something is missing. This is where most beginner violins fall which is generally anything under three maybe four hundred dollars.

“As far as brands go. I think so long as they follow the basics and put in the needed touches there isn’t much of a difference. I just want something that sounds nice for a few years maybe a couple decades. I don’t need anything that will last for centuries although I will admit most of my instruments will.”

As Olivia spoke Sarah narrowed down the violins offered based on price and wood. In all she was down to less than half of all the offered stock. Sarah was going to buy a violin and while it would be easy to just go with the most expensive item that didn’t guarantee the best quality. When Olivia finished Sarah asked what she thought of the rest of the violins and which one she thought was the best but at this Olivia seemed to shut down not wanting to offer an opinion.

Sarah pulled aside a man who was a foot shorter than her and asked about the different violins they had here. The wood that was used in their construction as well as the different sound each one carried. The employee walked through each one and in the end Sarah found herself holding a violin of the more expensive variety. She couldn’t tell the difference between this one and the others but it was lighter than she expected and smooth.

At the man’s suggestion she held the instrument in position and ran the bow across the strings much to the chagrin of everyone close by as the strings screamed under her guidance. Sarah handed the pieces over to Olivia and pleaded that she try it and tell say what she thought. After a few failed attempts at refusing she took both instrument and bow from Sarah and set them in position. Olivia took a few small breaths before having bow meet violin. When the two met they sung.

The instrument was held firm by Olivia as her fingers danced along the strings of the instrument. While Sarah and the employee heard as a beautiful song play out before them Olivia only heard it as a backdrop to her own thoughts. She played the song she was learning while still under the employment of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Olivia didn’t hear the song as a song, the way it was meant to be heard, what she heard were the individual notes and the lengths the were meant to sing. It’s only when she went back to listen to the recordings did she actually hear the beauty.

Olivia let her fingers dance until she came to a part of the song she had yet to fully master and let the bow slow to a rest. She handed the instrument back to Sarah who was jumping up and down giving a quite applause. “I think it’s pretty good.” Olivia said.

With the instrument in hand Sarah turned to the employee and said she would like to purchase two along with a good case for both of them. With everything together the total purchase came out a little under two thousand dollars.

The walk was quite after that as they made their way to a fast food restaurant close by. It wasn’t until they got their food and Sarah was watering at the mouth to take a bite of her fried chicken that Olivia spoke up about what was bothering her. “This can’t be alright. I haven’t even met Henry yet and we’ve spent over a thousand dollars on something I don’t even need. This isn’t a good look for me.”

“Hold up,” Sarah exclaimed “I’m in charge here. Anything I decide to purchase or do is the same as if Henry was doing it. So if that’s what’s been bothering you trust me you can relax. Us buying these instruments isn’t arbitrary. It’s for a show after lunch.”

Olivia was about to take a bite of her food to distract herself with when Sarah finished her sentence and sent her into a small panic. “I’m sorry who are we putting on a show for?”

“We aren’t.” Sarah clarified, “I am, and I’m putting it on for you”.

Olivia did her best to delicately tell Sarah that she already heard her play and that was plenty for one day. Putting on a show for her wasn’t necessary. However, Sarah rebuffed saying the instruments were to act as a conduit for what she was going to perform.

“Oh, I understand now.” Olivia said shyly. She took a few bites of her meal before continuing again “So you already know how to use magic?”

“Not much, but I can do this” Sarah said as she connected her thumb and index finger over the table. She closed her eyes and whispered something Olivia couldn’t hear and on the table, in the center of the circle Sarah formed with her hand, the light concentrated itself into a dot as if she were holding a magnifying glass. “The first spell I cast was with light which basically means that I’ll have an easier time learning magic dealing with light, heat, and fire starting out. That’s also why we bought you a spare instrument. Since music is such an important part of your life you’ll probably start out with something sound related and you don’t want to use your own instruments when practicing magic. Trust me.”