The Songs in Our Hearts Book One: Reaching Out

Chapter Nine: The Storm (Part One)

When the rain started coming down, Coda and his friends began hurrying back to his house to check on Harmonia— except for Apollo, who had to join the rest of Drumline to setup the barrier for the storm. Time had gotten away from the sixteen-year-old, and he was sure his dad would be quite upset over this. The sun had set a long time ago, and the only light came from the few streetlamps in the district.

"Oh man, my dad's gonna kill me!" Coda groaned in defeat, knowing that he should have been more aware of the decreasing temperature. The boy threw his hood over his head to try to keep himself from getting too wet since it was bad enough that he was not home yet.

Octavius gave him a reassuring nudge. "Hey, these things happen," he told the violinist.

"At least Harmonia went home," Giga chimed in.

"Hope she wasn't too upset," Siciliana pouted, still feeling guilty for scaring Coda's sister.

"Is your sister the grudge type?" Giga asked, leaning forward to look at Coda.

Coda frowned as he thought back to when it was just the two of them and answered, "I don't think so."

When they arrived at Coda's place, the curly-haired boy could see that the lights were on downstairs. Dad should've finished making dinner by now, Coda thought to himself as he opened the door. Waiting for his friends to make their way inside, he shuddered as a strong wind blew some rain in his direction. Giga was right about how lucky Harmonia was to have gone home early.

"Sorry I'm late, Dad," Coda sheepishly called to the man as he stepped inside. Andante was on one of the couches reading a book.

"That's fine," his dad sighed, closing the book he was reading. Turning to Coda and his friends, Andante continued, "You and Harmonia must have been having a lot of fun with your friends; I understand if you lost track of time." Coda felt his heart drop upon hearing his dad's words.

"Harmonia left early..." he whispered to his dad. Andante's almond-colored eyes darted back and forth behind his glasses as they tried to find Harmonia in Coda's group, and they widened as Andante realized that she wasn't there. "Harmonia left— I thought she came here!" Coda stuttered, panicking.

"Well, where could she have gone?" Siciliana asked. Coda stood there, trying to think of where Harmonia went.

"The cliff!" Coda exclaimed in realization.

"Are you sure she didn't go to the Electronic District?" Andante asked, getting up from the couch.

"Ni ran in this direction," Coda explained, turning to leave the house. "We have to tell Drumline to delay putting up the barrier!" As he turned the door knob, his dad and his friends followed Coda out of the house. The rain was starting to come down harder than before, and it began to turn the dirt paths into mud. Drumline always set up the barrier from the center of the Pop District and out, meaning that they had to run a long distance to get there.

After a while, the muddied paths turned to asphalt signaling that the group had made it to the next district. Lightning flashed in the dark clouds as the group made their way to the center. Coda immediately saw Apollo standing to the side of the other percussionists.

"Apollo!" the boy called above the clamor. Apollo turned to face the group and immediately realized something was wrong.

"You guys look pale," Apollo pointed out when Coda and the others reached him. "What's goin' on?"

"Harmonia's on the cliff," Siciliana explained, causing Apollo's expression to grow dark.

Octavius stepped forward and told the percussionist, "We need you to tell the others to wait until Coda gets back with Harmonia." Apollo looked distressed when he heard this.

"You're crazy, man!" he exclaimed. "I care about Harmonia too, but how am I 'spose to convince the rest of 'em?"

"Please, Apollo," Coda pleaded, grabbing the other boy's hand. "It'll be quick." Apollo's gaze looked back to the rest of Drumline and made its way back to Coda.

"Fine, but I can only get ya a max of ten minutes— no promises," he resolved, pulling his hand out of Coda's grasp and walking back to the others. "If you're not back after ten minutes, we gotta put up the barrier."

"Yeah, yeah— got it," Coda turned to run back into the direction of the forest.

"Coda," he heard his dad call. Coda came to a halt and looked back at the man. "Keep yourselves safe up there."

"Right." With that, Coda began running back to the forest. Mud splashed beneath his feet as he made it back into the Orchestra District in record time. The rain fell even harder now, meaning the storm would be getting even worse in the near future. Coda pushed that thought aside and entered the forest.