Breaking the Spell: A Diamond Castle Fanfiction

Chapter 3: The Twins

After Ian and Jeremy were finished their latest gig, they noticed an unfamiliar face in the tavern they were playing in. The young girl was sitting with Alexa and Liana, clapping and smiling along with everyone else. She was quite pretty, they had to admit.

When Alexa and Liana saw Ian and Jeremy walking over to their table, they gestured to the two remaining chairs at their table. The twins sat down, and Alexa introduced their friend. "Lyra, this is Ian and Jeremy. Guys, this is Lyra. She's the muses' new apprentice."

"An honour," Ian said to Lyra, flashing her a somewhat flirtatious smile. Alexa noticed this and tried not to roll her eyes, partially from amusement, and partially from jealousy, though the latter was unbeknownst even to her at that time. Lyra, however, chose not to flirt back, and simply replied, "Hi. It's nice to meet you guys."

"You too," Jeremy said. "Do you come here often?"

"Not really, no," Lyra said honestly. "I moved here not long before becoming an apprentice."

"Interesting," remarked Jeremy. "Play any instruments?"

"Piano."

"You should perform something," Ian piped up.

"What?" Lyra was a bit startled. "No."

"Why not?" asked Jeremy. "I'm willing to bet you're quite gifted when it comes to music."

"Well, of course, she's an apprentice," Liana added. "I agree, Lyra, you should go for it."

"Don't I have to be hired by Edgar?"

"Well, yeah," Jeremy replied. "You don't have to do it today. Maybe you could speak to him about a gig at some point?"

"I'll think about it," Lyra finally agreed.

"I think our break's over, Jeremy," Ian tapped on Jeremy's shoulder and pointed at Edgar, who was trying to get their attention. "Right, we'll see you girls later."

"Bye," Alexa waved, smiling at Ian.

"Bye, Liana," Jeremy called over his shoulder as he walked back to the stage. When they started playing, Alexa and Liana immediately realized the song they were playing was the one they'd played for the girls the first time they had met a few months back. Lyra had no idea what they were laughing at, so they explained it to her. Since the twins had been interrupted when they were playing this song for the girls the first time (A woman poured water on Jeremy's head, thinking he was Ian), this was the first time Liana and Alexa got to hear the entire thing.

"I find it funny how they left their little side comments in, as if they were part of the song," Liana pointed out.

"Well, the one about nothing rhyming with orange makes sense," said Alexa. "I think they kind of had to leave that in."

"Probably," Lyra said. "To be fair, it is a good song."

"Yeah, even if it is mostly about them," said Liana.

"Oh, give it a rest; they complimented us too," pointed out Alexa, laughing.

"True, I have to give them that."

Lyra continued to watch the twin boys play, occasionally getting lost in thought about things. As the five of them were leaving, she found herself feeling as if she was missing something in her life, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She continued to ponder it as she made her way back to the Diamond Castle.

Meanwhile, at the castle, Melody and Phaedra had begun to notice that Lyra's gaze always seemed to be fixated on Lydia, and they couldn't help but wonder what was going on in that head of hers. One day, while they were playing, Lyra had seemed a bit distant and kept glancing frequently at the statue of the former muse. Dori seemed to be the only one out of the three of them who failed to notice such things.

"Phaedra," Melody said, approaching Phaedra. "I was just wondering...have you noticed how often Lyra seems to gaze at Lydia? I mean...she seems to get extremely lost in thought when she looks at her."

"Yes, I have noticed," replied Phaedra, nodding. "I don't think Dori has, but I'm sure it's nothing. Probably just curiosity."

"But she knows everything that happened already..." Melody trailed off, deciding to drop the subject for now, as Lyra had just entered the room. "We'll talk about this later."

"Hi," Lyra greeted them. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," said Melody quickly, returning to her flute as Dori walked in and sat down. Phaedra picked up her lute and sat down as well, and Lyra headed in the direction of her bedroom, feeling the need to rest for a little bit. She gazed out her window, wondering what the future held in store for her, whether not the spell that Lydia was under was even breakable, and if the Muses would ever forgive her if she somehow found a way to break it and free Lydia. Something inside Lyra desperately wanted the spell to be broken...but why?

Lyra was a bit confused now. She knew that to even attempt to break the spell was wrong, that she wouldn't be forgiven--at least not easily--if she succeeded. But she also felt something else. Something she hadn't felt in a long time. So long that she almost didn't recognize it. She felt like she was missing something, and part of her thought she figured out what it was. But Lyra chose to deny these feelings, to not admit them even to herself. Just try to put this out of your mind, she told herself. Thinking about this for so long eventually caused her to become drained, sleepy. She drifted off to sleep, overcome with the sudden drowsiness and her head aching slightly. Even if it was wrong...she'd made a promise to Lydia, even if the woman didn't know it, and she wanted to keep it. Somehow.