Chapter 1 Will
And so I stood in the middle of the road, my cloak flashing red and gold in the glint of the flickering street lights. I looked up at the moonless sky and shook my head slightly, drawing out a pitch black flute from the depths of my cloak. Drumming my fingers on the black wood, I frowned.
“This town is going to have a problem.”
Chapter 2 Victoria
“…Hope to God Gretchen doesn’t bother us with one of her ‘friendly visits’ today. We’ve got enough work to do without the councilors and the mayor breathing down our necks all day.” Natalie quipped.
“Hmm.” I said halfheartedly, lurching forwards in my old SUV as the light turned green.
“Hey, Tori! Are you paying attention?” Natalie asked, this time sounding annoyed.
I smiled, brushing brown strands of hair out of my face. “First off, it’s Victoria, not Tori. Second, I know Gretchen will bother us. It’s in her blood to do so.” Gretchen was a bully. She was insolent and rude and unreasonably obsessed with the latest boy band. A lying, deceiving cheat who tried to ‘get popular’, which was foreign language to me and Natalie. But I guess she does have her reasons. My gaze was wrenched back to the road as I caught a glimpse of red and gold- cursing quietly under my breath; I veered the car to the left, pulling to the side of the road as I tried to dodge the guy in the weird cloak crossing the road. Stunned, I let the engine idle as I opened the door and stumbled out of the car.
“Hey!” I called out to the guy who had returned to the safety of the sidewalk, “Hey, are you okay?”
He looked at me rather strangely. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I gaped. “I was trying to dodge you and… I did, but, uh-”
He laughed airily. “No, its fine.” He brushed his shoulder length brown hair away from his eyes, which I noticed, were a sparkling, vivid blue.
My brow creased. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. We’re cool.” He grinned.
“Good.”
We paused, and an awkward silence passed between us. He cleared his throat. “Um.”
“Yeah, so…nice weather.” I smiled sheepishly.
“Yes, quite…” he looked up at the sky for inspiration. “cloudy.” It was true. Today was an overcast, cloudy day with rare moments of sunlight and warmth.
“It’s not always so cloudy in Brentwood.” I said. As an afterthought, I added, “I’m Victoria, by the way. I haven’t seen you around Brentwood before. Are you new?”
His lips twisted upwards in a strange sort of half smile, and I saw the glint of white teeth. “Nope. I’m just traveling. I’m Will.” He glanced around. “Sure is clean here, though.”
“Victoria! We’re going to be-” Natalie burst out of the car and stopped abruptly as she laid eyes on Will. Mouth gaping, she passed her hand over her hair in an effort to tame it and closed her mouth. She blushed scarlet. “Hi. I’m Natalie, Victoria’s friend. Nice- nice to meet you.”
I had to fight not to roll my eyes. Overdoing it much? I saw Will’s lips twitch trying to fight off a smile. “I’m Will. Nice to meet you.” He said, spinning a black wooden flute between his fingers. It looked like he had produced it from nowhere, but I knew he had it in his pocket or something. Just my short attention span doing all the work today.
“Hey! That’s a cool instrument! Do you know how to play? Where’d you get it? ” Natalie asked eagerly. Will tossed the flute into the air and caught it again in one hand. “Oh, this old thing? Picked it up from my granddad. He traveled too.” Will laughed a low, melodic sound.
“Can you play something?” Natalie asked fervently.
Will grimaced. “Actually, that wouldn’t be such a great idea-”
“But-”
I glanced at my watch and saw, with alarm, that we were running late. I grabbed Natalie’s arm and dragged her towards the car. “Come on, Nat! We’re going to be late! And you know the councilors are going to flip out big time at us.” I threw a glance over my shoulder at Will. “Bye, see you around-”
“Wait! Can I get a ride?” he called.
Natalie couldn’t have been happier. “Yeah! That’s a great idea! Isn’t it, Victoria?” Natalie grinned. Will’s eyes met my own and he asked silently. I nodded my assent. We strapped ourselves in. “Where to?” I asked.
“Town hall. I want to see where my next concert will be.” Then, upon saying that, he smiled a rather strange smile, as if he had seen the future and was satisfied with what he had seen. I pushed it out of my mind and drove to town hall like that, the chauffeur, the musician and the love-struck girl with the radio cranked high to a jazz playing station (by the musician’s request)- as unlikely a party as you’ve ever seen.
Will was just finishing scribbling down music notes as I pulled into the parking lot. I admired the freshly trimmed hedges and the shining cobblestone street leading up the polished doors of the hall. Brentwood was old and small, but its inhabitants made an effort to keep the town spotless-and it was our pride and joy. We often joked that Brentwood was the cleanest town in the northern hemisphere.
“Victoria! Natalie! You are all very nearly late.”
I turned off the engine and looked around at mayor Wulf. He was short and squat, with a gut that jutted out and watery blue eyes, so unlike Will’s. Mayor Wulf was very nearly bald, and the few hairs he had were spread flat across his scalp, the shiny surface blinding everyone who dared look directly at it. I cringed inwardly. It was nearly the feast of the summer solstice, where the citizens of Brentwood ate supper out on the streets as a tribute to our cleanliness. My mother, my two brothers and Natalie’s family helped prepare the feasts. The mayor and councilors Roth, Steneken, Wilkes and Herman were all maddeningly picky about exactly what food they ingested. And though Mayor Wulf didn’t look the part, he was the pickiest of them all. Somehow, my mother managed to have the patience and the brains to have their likes and dislikes branded into her memory.
The doors of town hall swung outwards and my two brothers, Richard and Wyatt walked out of the building. They were exact twins. ‘Hey, Victoria, we thought that-” Richard said.
“-You weren’t going to show.” Wyatt said.
Then they noticed Will.
“Hey! I’ve never seen you before-”
“Are you new? So what’s your name?-”
“-Help us cook the food, I’m Wyatt and that’s Richard-”
They tripped over each other, trying to bombard Will with enough questions to break his eardrums. That is, until my mom came and saved Will. “Boys! Stop trying to kill the boy’s ears, that’s enough now.” My mom grabbed Wyatt and Richard by their arms and dragged them into the hall, their protests subsiding as the doors swung shut. “Um… that’s my family.” I said. Will laughed and followed me inside with Natalie dogging his heels. Will sat down in the plush chairs that were stationed outside the kitchen, where my family worked. Despite their foolish behavior, Wyatt and Richard were the best cooks in the family. My mother told me my father had been the most brilliant until he had passed away. I was pretty sure cooking ran in the family.
“Hey, Will, can you go into the pantry and see if there are any more bags of sugar left? I don’t want to be caught by surprise when-” I started.
That’s when I heard my mother scream.
