With her father's memory failing and her mother gone, Soraya Thenayu enrolls in distant Darkwood Academy and immediately becomes enemies with the richest kid at school. Between hiding her father's gift of illegally harvested magic, befriending socia...
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You can do this.
Jacquelle glanced at Rhys, his red eyes glowing from the sunlight reflecting off the Valtic Ocean. He tilted his body forward and bobbed his head.
She understood his signal. It was time to begin their duet.
Jacquelle shifted her bow strokes from long and elegant notes to a quick, bouncing melody. Her fingers flew across the neck of her cello, hitting each string with perfect accuracy.
Listen to his tempo, follow the teacher's baton.
Her blue eyes flicked towards the violalin players. Ujuu and Moiya sat side by side in the middle of their section. Although both of her friends were now better musicians thanks to their constant fusing for the past few months, they insisted on sounding mediocre to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. Jacquelle's vision moved and hovered on the empty seat behind Rhys, and her heart sank.
Soraya's in trouble, I just know it! Stupid, flippin Alizon!
The song emanating from her cello grew more and more intense as she poured all her anger into her playing. Jacquelle was tempted to rush, but held back.
Soraya should be here playing at the concert with us! This isn't fair! How dare that dumb Mage take her away from me!
Jacquelle switched her attention between Rhys and her instrument. It was the most difficult part of the song, yet her focus was divided. She wanted to throw her cello down and rush back to save Soraya, but she had to finish their musical piece.
Her fingers, dripping with sweat from the sun's scorching heat, slipped slightly, turning a note sour. The blond's skin prickled, dread building up within her stomach. She avoided looking at her mother's expressionless stare from the audience.
No one will remember that, not unless I draw too much attention to it.
Jacquelle clenched her teeth together and pressed on, refusing to allow one single mistake to destroy their duet. After a few more minutes of playing her hauntingly beautiful melody with Rhys' sweet and sorrowful song, they finally descended and rejoined the rest of the orchestra.
The blond's body relaxed once she slipped back into the easier rhythm the rest of her section was playing, and she glanced at the audience.
Zaruna gazed in adoration at Ujuu while sitting between her parents and Mr. and Mrs. Leyo. On the Rosinkin girl's lap was Yabo, munching on a boiled egg.
Jacquelle dared to steal a glance at her mother and noticed she was sneering at Myrl Leyo, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
Mother... why are you so awful?
The blond couldn't believe they were at the final stanzas of their song. She played the last few melodies with ease and held out the last note before the surrounding audience erupted into a roaring applause that complimented the crashing waves along Matumi beach's coast.
