Enharmonic

Chapter 1:1

It started with a boy. It always started with a boy, Ella Lydian reflected to herself. In fact she should avoid the group of them as a whole in the future. She sprinted for all her life's worth through the alley, dodging crates and jumping over discarded furniture, "I'm telling you, it wasn't me!" She shouted back over her shoulder.

Boxes jumped from their piles and bits of trash fluttered from the ground behind her as her invisible pursuer swept past.

"Listen! We can be reasonable about this!" She stumbled over a broken chair leg, "I don't know what his name is, but I swear I'll find him! We can find them!"

An unseen force slammed her into the wall of the alley, "No more excusessss."

Ella kicked wildly, but until her attacker revealed herself, it was useless. She didn't even know if Talia had soft flesh to kick.

"My children are dead!" Talia punctuated the word by slamming Ella against the rough brick, "And soon you will be too!"

Ella blinked the lights from her eyes, "We don't know that for sure! Besides can't you always just lay another-" Wrong!

A dissonant scream reverberated through Ella's brain, scrambling her Music. Claws sprouted painfully from her fingers and retracted. Leaves and litter flapped weakly on the ground for several feet around her. One leaf curled up on itself and a wisp of smoke rose lazily through the air.

"Ha I knew it!" Talia's hoarse whisper hissed triumphantly, "It had to have been you."

Ella's Notes bounced pitifully around her brain in a jangling mess. She couldn't believe it. One minor second and she was undone. It was all because of that thief. Everyone blamed Harmonies for everything. Maybe they deserved it, but this time. This time it had just been a regular human.

Of course there was no way Talia would believe that.

Right, Lydian. She said to herself, wincing at the pain in her head. You don't even need anything diminished here. Just a minor interval. She seized a two random Notes and launched them at Talia as hard as she could. Talia shrieked and for a moment, Ella saw two glittering eyes, the color of grass in the summer. Minor third!

She thrust two fingers into them as hard as she could. Talia screamed again and released Ella, who promptly sprinted away.

Two minutes later, Ella collapsed, heaving, inside of a decrepit old factory. She crawled under a dusty desk and listened to the clanking and whining of the machines. Talia couldn't follow her in here. Not invisible at least. There was too much going on and too many people walking around.

A furry head appeared from over the top of the desk, "Hiya Ella! Who's got your panties in a twist today?"