“What happened to her?” I whispered.
“You ain’t getting the details from me,” Ivy said, and he threw his hands up. “Just know, it’s fucked up. Opal shouldn’t be here. And if the person who put her here hadn’t already faced justice, my first act after getting out of prison would be to make them pay. But they already got their penance, so, that’s that. Just don’t go poking your nose in. Otherwise, you’re gonna find out some stuff you’d wish you hadn’t.”
Ivy sauntered off. What he’d said about Opal left a bad feeling in my gut. Whatever she’d been through, it was bad.
But I didn’t want to make her more upset by prying, so I let it go. It wasn’t my job to know what happened to her, only my job to be there for her.
I tapped my chin with one finger. Ez wasn’t working in the mines, so I bet Charlie wasn’t, either. I never got to spend time with him anymore since he’d started fighting.
I whistled for Oberi. “Come on, boy. We’re gonna go find Charlie.”
Oberi barked, then romped after me. We began searching the prison, but as we passed the main foyer, Professor Warbright stopped me. “Miss Mitoh, may I have a word with you, please?”
Professor Warbright was a warlock teacher whom we’d saved last semester from getting beat up by a couple of thugs. I hadn’t spoken to him since, but he seemed a little more confident since that day.
“What is it, Professor?” I asked, certain I’d gotten in trouble for one thing or another.
“I heard you and Mister Wahkin are musically inclined,” Warbright said. “Mister Taylor let me know the two of you favor music during his Miriamic Magic class.”
Of course Marcus did. He babbled when he got nervous.
“We’ve messed around on the organ in the chapel a few times,” I confessed.
“Yes, well, I felt like I needed to repay you all after what you did for me last semester,” Professor Warbright said. “I was a music instructor at Miriam College many years ago, before I unfortunately lost my position. But I have convinced the Warden to let me operate a trial music program here at the Institute. I managed to cobble together a few old instruments in an abandoned classroom off the chapel. It’s not much, but it’s a start. I hope to start giving music classes next semester. I already told Mister Wahkin about it. He’s there now, actually, if you’d like to see it.”
A smile brightened on my face. “That’s wonderful, Professor Warbright. Of course I would.”
I hurried off. As I reached the chapel, beautiful piano music began drifting over the area. I pushed open the door to the classroom it was coming from, and the notes swelled around me. The classroom was small, but it was filled with all kinds of instruments— a little aged, but still able to make gorgeous sound. Charlie sat at a dusty old grand piano with aged wood, chipped black paint and a bent lid.
The sound lifted me up as the familiar sound of “Me & Mrs. Jones” echoed around the room. Charlie sang the first few lines, and I swear, my knees buckled.Oh my ancestors. Charlie’s singing voice was going to make me come. I wanted to melt at the sound of it right then and there. His hair fell into his eyes as he played, and the way his hands moved over the keys made my heart swell. There was not a damn thing more sexy on this planet than Charlie playing the piano.
Oberi barked. I slid on the seat next to Charlie, and he smiled. “I was hoping you’d show up.”
“This is such a beautiful piano.” I dared to stroke the keys. That Charlie could make incredible music come out of such an old and beat-up instrument seemed magical. What it looked like didn’t matter. What the piano could create made it beautiful.
Oberi stood up on his hind legs, then began mashing the piano keys with his paws. It made several loud, unpleasant noises.
“Oberi, stop. You’re going to break it,” Charlie scolded.
Oberi huffed, then changed into the Fire unicorn. She tapped her horn on the keys one by one delicately, as if to say,Is this better, prissy ass?
Charlie shook his head, and Oberi stomped off. She became distracted by sampling all the different instruments. She banged on a drum and threw a harmonica across the room when she couldn’t blow on it correctly. Charlie continued playing, even with the noise in the background.
“I don’t think anyone’s touched this thing in years,” I said. It needed to be tuned, but it still gave a resonant sound. “Probably because it didn’t look the best.”
“Yeah, well, looked like nobody took the time to see if it could play,” Charlie said. “Turns out, it sings just fine.”
“I always thought people judged with their eyes.”
“Looks don’t matter much to me.” Charlie shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what something looks like. What matters is what she’s capable of.”
“You think you can play me just like this old piano, huh?” My voice was teasing, but underneath that was something deeper and aching.
“You’re not just a pretty face— hell, I wouldn’t know one way or the other if you’re beautiful or not. But I know you’re the sexiest girl in this prison.”
“How so?”
“By the way you speak. The most beautiful girls always have the prettiest voices, and yours is the sweetest I’ve heard yet.”
