Ari and Zac

Chapter 34: Ugliest Sound I Ever Heard

Chapter 34: Ugliest Sound I Ever Heard

Zac stared at the two open videos, displayed on the iScroll side-by-side.

On the left, Ari belted out her song, and the view counter climbed up into the millions.

On the right...

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the live surveillance footage from the house. He needed to get a clearer look at Ari's face. Maybe she hadn't seen the video yet. Maybe he could still do some damage control, or at least prepare her for the shock. Zac understood enough about her to know that she would be upset. More than upset. He didn't even want to think about how she would react. She was mute because she couldn't bear the thought of other people hearing her voice—and now she had the whole world listening.

Her worst fear had come to pass... And it was all his fault.

Zac's stomach twisted in a tight ball. How could he have let this happen? "Shit, shit, shit," he chanted under his breath, too softly for Cyrus to hear, as he squinted down at the live feed.

Ari's face remained concealed by her hair, but she turned now. Zac could see her eyes at last. She had one hand pressed over her mouth, like she was trying to keep herself from throwing up. Her eyes looked round with panic. In her other hand, she clutched her phone—or not her phone, Zac realized. She'd broken hers. She must've borrowed Lucy's. Where the hell was her sister, anyway?

Ari stumbled toward the back of the room, out of camera range. Zac looked up at his cousin, watching over his shoulder. "Do we have footage from the kitchen?"

Cyrus ignored the question. He snatched the scroll away. "Give it to me! Maybe Grandfather left some clue where he was going."

But Zac wasn't listening. He didn't care anymore about locating the old man. Grandfather couldn't fix this. He was the one who made this mess to begin with—the one who posted the video without permission.

Zac let go of the iScroll and took out his own phone instead. He needed to check on Ari. He couldn't stop seeing that haunted look on her face, in the fleeting moments before she stepped out of camera range.

At least the Counter-Disruption didn't have her. Zac tried to take some comfort from that fact. It was so strange, the way those men all turned around and trooped out of the house en masse, almost as suddenly as they arrived. What was up with that? They'd left all of the Disruption members there unharmed—including Ari.

But Ari wouldn't feel unharmed, Zac knew. And it wasn't the goons from SirenSong who'd done the damage.

He had to go back. He had to make sure she was OK. Zac darted out of the pickup truck. His cousin called something after him, but Cy's words died in the wind. Zac paid no attention. He headed back the way he had come, firing off a text message to Lucy's number as he went.

Zac: Ari! Are you OK? I'm coming back!

Zac hit Send and stared at the screen as he ran through the back alley behind the house. No answer. Not that he was surprised. He felt the seconds tick by like drumbeats, echoing the rapid thrum of his heart inside his chest.

Finally, he made it to the back door, and he nearly ripped it off its hinges. He flew inside and looked around the room, but he didn't see any sign of her.

Not in the kitchen.

Not in the bathroom.

Not in the living room.

He spotted Ari's sister lingering near the front door with a small clump of other people. Lucy was staring at the phone of one of the Disruption sound techs. Zac could hear the faint sound of Ari's singing, coming from the phone. The video had just reached its end and looped back to the beginning. Lucy made no move to tear herself away. Her mouth hung slightly open, with a look of glassy-eyed bewilderment as the song restarted.

Zac lunged in her direction. "Lucy! Where's Ari?"

"What?" She looked up slowly, and her eyes regained their focus as they came to rest on his face. "She—I—I don't know. She was here a moment ago. Oh my God, Zac. Did you see the video?"

Zac didn't answer. "Never mind. Does she have your phone?"

"What?"

"Your phone, Lucy! Does Ari have it?"

"My what?" Lucy patted at the pocket of her jeans, her forehead crinkling. "Where's my phone?"

Wake up! Zac fought the urge to grab Lucy by the shoulders and shake her out of her stupor. How could she be so out of it? She of all people should know what the video would do to Ari. His jaw clenched as he turned away, making one last frantic scan the room.

Ari still hadn't responded to his message. Maybe she went back to her house? He would look for her there. Breathless, he turned to exit the front door, when his phone pinged at last.

"Thank God." Zac ripped the phone out of his pocket, and saw a new text in answer to the one he'd sent. His eyes sought desperately for Ari's words, but she hadn't said anything... Just a YouTube link.

Did someone repost Ari's video on YouTube? Zac clicked the link, but it wasn't what he expected. His eyes were greeted by a different sight, all too familiar. An old music video.

The Sky Under the Sea.

A wave of nausea rolled through him. He knew what he was looking at, and he didn't want to think about what it meant. Zac had shared this song with her—his old favorite from Pierce the Veil—all part of her so-called "musical education."

She'd told him that she hated it. When was that? This morning? It felt like a lifetime ago. So much had happened since. The video. The kiss. The storm. The Disruption meeting tonight... But this morning had started out with text messages, talking about music.

"The ugliest sound I ever heard in my life." That's what she'd called this song. Now she threw it back in his face like a slap.

Zac hit Play and the sound washed over him, drowning out the music that played in an endless loop from other phones. The angry cries of the electric guitars overshadowed the soft beauty of Ari's voice. Zac felt his insides turn to lead as he listened to the lead singer, screaming the turbulent lyrics of the chorus into a microphone.

Why had she sent this? To show him she was angry? Or was there more to it than that? Zac toggled back to their texted conversation from this morning, skimming over the messages, and he let out a choked gasp as he re-read his own words.

Zac: That stuff you told me the other night seemed pretty deep.

Ari: What stuff?

Zac: About the water? Walking out into the water in the middle of the night?

Ari: Yeah, well I'd probably be institutionalized if anyone found out I did that.

Zac: "A million kisses underwater as we walk into the ocean waves..."

He squeezed his eyes shut as he recalled the line from this song that he'd quoted to her. He didn't want to read any further. He didn't want to remember the worst part—the words he'd said next, and the abrupt way Ari had brought the conversation to a close.

But he couldn't block out the painful wail of the music in his ears, or the memory of the words he'd just seen on his screen:

Ari: What are you saying exactly?

Zac: I just thought you might identify with it.

Ari: If you're having suicidal thoughts, you should talk to someone.

That's why she'd sent him this. Suicidal thoughts. Her long-held fantasy, cloaked in the language of fairytales, but all too real tonight. Wanting to disappear into the water. Never come back...

"Oh no," he whispered. "Ari... No, no, no."

The song was nearly over, but Zac didn't wait to hear the final coda: that eerie fading gurgle, as the melody gave way to silence. He took off out the front door of the house. He nearly doubled over to keep his footing as the furious headwinds pummeled him, and he raced in the direction of the sea.