The Glow of the Music Chapter One

The lights rose into the sky as lanterns left people’s fingertips. The smell of lilac became a cloying scent as the life in the shadows took form and stepped up to my side.

An icy pale grey black veined hand took my hand and without ever looking up I knew that it was my time. My heartbeat slowly but my breath seemed to still as my struggle hold back from spinning around.

“Can you answer a question if I don’t have a question?” The quietness in my voice surprised me as did the swell of tears that pricked to my eyes.

Looking up I was met by the woman who wore a dress of black feathers that fell to her feet and trailed behind her turning to smoke and shadows the further away from her it was. Around her neck was a small silver chain that gripped her neck with an aggressive feel to it. The black veins that crawled up her neck, shoulders, arms, and face showing the intimidating nature that was her appearance. Her pure black eyes couldn’t show the same depth of sadness and pain that was echoing in mine but when I looked at her I could see her pain as clear as if she had spoken it.

She opened her mouth then closed seeming unable to speak to me.

“When I was a kid my mom used to tell me all about the City of Music. That it was better than the compound.” The glow of the lights from the streets below and from the boats sitting at the docks made the sitting look like a beating heart of warmth. The rhythm and sounds of the people singing in the streets drifted like the wind all around the buildings. “I grew up under closed gates and inhumane soldiers. All she wanted was for me to survive but not because she loved me...because I was her family, her blood, and you look after your blood.”

Looking at Morganna I could see the tense strain that was on her jaw making her veins bulge und her skin. “I grew up in this city, I bet you were disappointed.”

“If I wasn’t who I was I would probably be quite thrilled with the city but I don’t in.” She let go of my hand to turn me around and grip my shoulders. Black tears trailed down her skin and stained her skin.

Pain dug into my skin and reached into my bones. My heart burned and contracted and my muscles spasmed. My knees hit the ground and her hands moved to my head. I felt my blood run down the sides of my face from my ears and over my lips from my nose.

She leaned down as my body laid down on the ground. Her lips pressed against mine and the contrast of her icy temperature to my skin didn’t seem as bad anymore.