Blind & Broken

Chapter Sixteen

My legs are folded under me as I sit on the floor of what I assume to be Cameron's room. I guess we could be in a visiting parlor or the foyer or even a music room. Okay, I don't know where we are.

When I acknowledged my like for music, he'd grabbed me by the hand and pulled me off the barstool and through the palace. We climbed stairs and turned direction so many times I had begun to get dizzy. And now here we are: I'm on the floor and he's across from me somewhere, his fingers strumming a guitar and his lips forming the words to an old song.

He can sing, I'll give him that. And play quite well. Okay the truth is, it sounded absolutely beautiful, but I didn't want that fact to go to his head. Every guy I've known, you give him a compliment and it's like his head grows three sizes. Better play it safe than sorry with Cameron.

However, I can't help nodding my head along to the song by the time he strums the last chord. "How'd that sound?" He asks. "And be honest! Not like I'm seeking a career in music or anything, I just like the feedback."

I smile softly and tilt my head in thought. Going back to the advice I gave myself just minutes ago, I can't build his ego too much, but I can't say it was bad either.

"What, that bad? Agh, I knew it."

I shake my head, "no it wasn't bad! I promise it wasn't bad."

He chuckles, "okay, good to know. Thanks for listening, Indie."

"Of course! I enjoyed it." That was the truth. I did really enjoy myself this morning with him. He seemed to bring me out of my shell, got me to talk more. Kind of like how Flicker used to, but this was different. It felt like it could go deeper than that. My heart skips a beat as a thought crosses my mind. Could this be my second chance?

"Do you play anything?" His voice snaps me back. "The music room here has pretty much anything you can think of." So we are in the music room.

"Play anything?" I scoff. "Hard to play when you can't see what your hands are doing."

"Hey I was just asking! Besides I've heard of blind musicians who were incredible!"

I sigh, opening my mouth to say something when I'm cut off by a new voice. "Hey there you are!" This voice is deep, like Cameron's, but it's rougher. It sounds like it belongs to a person who doesn't give a crap about anything.

"Austin, what do you need?"

The newcomer taps on the wall. "Upper-Enforcer meeting in His Majesty's office. We're waiting for you."

Cameron grumbles something under his breath, but I hear him stand and place the guitar on the floor in between us. "Sorry, Indie, it sounds like I have to go. I had fun talking to you and if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask me." He squeezes my shoulder as he passes and my heart does this weird flutter thing.

I turn my head in the direction he went and hear one of them slap the other's back. "Don't touch me," Austin growls. "But you care to tell me what's with the girl?"

This time Cameron growls. "None of your business. Don't you have your own girl?"

"I have a mate. She just never seems to see me when we pass at school. I don't know how to get any closer to her."

Cameron laughs humorlessly, his voice farther away and fading. "Isn't she Kate's best friend?"

"Shut up."

Their voices fade completely and that's when I realize I'm now left here alone in a section of the castle I have no idea how to get out of.

Turning my head back around I remember the guitar he'd placed in front of me. I shouldn't have scoffed at the idea of playing, because the truth was, my dad taught me to play when I was ten, three years before he died. He would sit me down and hand me the instrument, placing my fingers where they need to be and letting me feel the surrounding strings to learn the chord. It took a lot of effort, and patience on both our ends, but it paid off because by the time I was twelve, we would sit on the back porch of the pack house after the rest of the pack was inside and sing old songs together. We sang the old stuff because the new ones are "trash" as he'd say.

I reach out until I feel the stem of the instrument and I bring it to my lap. Picturing my dad guiding my hand, I arrange my fingers to the C chord. Then switch to G and then to A and then F. The basics, the chords that can be played for all the good songs, as we'd say. When really, it's just because they were the easy songs.

I strum my hands down the strings, starting slow before picking up and gaining a rhythm. I smile, imagining Dad sitting here next to me, dramatically singing the lyrics to make me endlessly laugh.

My fingers continue to move, my left hand switching between the chords and my right brushing the strings. I'm lost in my mind, loving the nostalgic feeling the instrument brings me.

Dad was always closer with me than Ivory. Mom was sort of distant from both of us, I guess. But if she had to choose one twin over the other, I know she'd pick Ivy. Ivy was the successful twin in pretty much anything. She was the one we figured would be mated to a wolf of higher rank. I was a "daddy's girl" because I was softer, sweeter, kinder — as he would put it. I didn't care to chase certain ambitions growing up, mostly because I knew it was pointless, but he saw past that. He taught me little things — like guitar — because I just wanted to have fun growing up, and love my life as best as I could. I didn't let it matter who I was going to be matched with by the Moon Goddess. Mom focused on Ivory's path to greatness or whatever they were after.

After Dad died, Mom shut herself out of both her daughters' lives. She didn't care what happened to me, and she barely noticed what Ivy was up to anymore. Depression hit and she swallowed herself into it. I'm surprised she hasn't placed herself at the front of every dispute just to end her suffering. I don't see her actually killing herself, but I could see her giving up sooner or later.

A tear escapes down my cheek and I bring the song to a close, setting down the guitar. Suddenly I'm glad Cameron had to leave before I had a chance to play for him. He would've asked too many questions, and I'm not sure I want to tell him about my parents.

I don't know where the guitar goes, so I hope leaving it on the floor will do. I sigh heavily and push myself to my feet before turning around. Hopefully I can get myself back to my room in one piece.