Equilibrium

Chapter 38: Luka's POV

We arrived at the parking lot behind what looked like the music shop we were supposed to be headed to. Not gonna lie, I was kinda excited. I love music so much, but of course I haven't been able to listen to any recently, what with questing and all.
What a phat ass rip for me.
Jackie popped some ambrosia into her mouth to numb the pain in her ankle and we slid off Harper's back, making our way to the front entrance of the store. It was normal looking with guitars in the windows and drum sets, keyboards and various other musical instruments displayed everywhere. The door jangled a sweet little tune when we walked in, and I smiled to myself, already at home. I love the little things.
Jackie sighed, "Alright Luka, this seems to be more up your alley. Tell me where the relic is so I can snatch it and save us both!"
I smirked, "With that ankle you aren't doing shit, babes."
She blushed, either because she knew I was right and was embarrassed, or because I called her babes. Whichever one, I was satisfied because the whole flustered look on her was really cute. That's right, I'm not even gonna hide it anymore. I'd finally started coming to terms with myself. Maybe liking Jackie wasn't as terrible as I initially had thought it would be. This girl and I argued, sure, but I couldn't ignore the fact that when we were happy, laughing and smiling together, and saving each other's lives, of course, I genuinely enjoyed being around her. I wasn't exactly sure what to do with this new revelation. Our relationship/friendship was already messy and uncertain and undefined, but I was finally able to admit to myself that hey, maybe catching feelings wasn't the worst thing that could happen.
Jackie shook her head, "Whatever." she walked off to the side, running her hands across the xylophones and music books, humming a tune off key. I surveyed the shop, trying to look for any obvious signs of danger or a place where the relic could be hidden.
Nothing really stood out to me. The vintage records on the walls gleamed in the artificial light. There were a few people milling about, fooling around with the instruments and flipping through the sheet music. I grabbed Jackie's hand and dragged her to the front desk with me. Most probably the person in charge of the store was the bad guy, if there was any, so if we killed him we could find the relic and leave without too much hassle (hopefully).
I rang the little bell at the front desk, waiting for someone to come up, and within a moment or two a man in a Beatles shirt came waddling up to the desk. He looked middle aged, and was clearly balding. He had a droopy face and had a tag on his shirt that read "Bret."
The only thing that really stood out as unusual were his eyes. They were a deep green, like a forest with no end to it.
He sighed without looking up, "What can I help you with today?" He droned. I kept one hand on my bow and the other on my quiver. "We were wondering if you knew anything about a relic? Apollo's relic."
Now you may be thinking, way to go Luka. You just gave up your cover and now he could kill you! But if you think about it, isn't it better to just get the whole thing over with? And kill him straight up? Cause I do.
He finally looked up at me and Jackie. "Oh thank the gods," He muttered, "It's about time you two showed up, I'm done guarding the stupid thing. Come with me."
What?
He was helping us? Well now I'm confused.
"Shit shit shit," Jackie started muttering under her breath, "This is a trap."
I looked at her, and then turned to where Bret had stopped in the doorway leading to what must have been the storage area, beckoning for us to hurry up.
I grabbed her wrist, squeezing it, "We can do this Jack Jack." She frowned, uncertain, but allowed me to tug her forwards.
We stepped behind the desk, following Bret through the door.
"Luka Del Rosso and Jaquelin Elway, I've been waiting for you two for years." He said, opening another door that led into a smaller, more secure room.
The only thing inside the room was a medium sized glass case laying on the concrete floor. Inside was a glowing golden lyre with pretty stones lining the sides.
Bingo.
The relic.
Bret looked at me and shook his head expectantly, "Well, start singing then!"
Singing?
Jackie squinted at his nametag, I guess she hadn't caught his name straight away because it took her a moment before she said, "Bret, can you please give us reason to believe that this isn't a trap?" Her hand was resting above her shotgun, and it was obvious that she was uneasy about the whole ordeal.
He crossed his arms, looking highly irritated, "I guess I should explain. About ten years ago I got a package in the mail from someone anonymous. It was a pretty big package, and it ended up containing this case with the lyre and a letter. The letter explained to me about all the relics and how two demigods would come to retrieve it. It explained how I'm a mortal, so pretty much just telling me I'm a human, like I didn't already know,  and how some of us are able to see through what's called the mist." He said that part with even more irritation than before. "I was supposed to guard it until you came. And now you're here, so Jaquelin, dear, why don't you get your boyfriend to sing a little tune so the case opens up and you can get this thing off my hands?"
So... he wasn't a bad guy? Do we trust him? Let's just play along, because at this point, that's the best we've got. Jackie shook her head.
"One, he's not my boyfriend," She muttered quickly, stealing a glance at me. Was she blushing? Jackie coughed and then continued, "And two, is there anything special he has to sing?"
That's right Jaquelin, get straight to the point.
Bret looked at me again with those deep, unsettling eyes.
"Just grab a guitar from outside and sing. I want this thing out of here in an hour because I am DONE with people or monsters or whatever coming to me again and again asking for the bloody instrument."
And with that, Bret stormed out of the room and disappeared.
"Poor Bret," I said walking out of the room to grab a guitar. Jackie followed me.
"What are you going to sing?" She asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
I didn't know. I hadn't actually sang anything in quite awhile. It just reminded me too much of mom and I hated that.
"Uhh... I don't know. I'll just wing it." I said, picking up an acoustic guitar that was leaning on a box of theory books in the storage room. I started tuning it, humming along to try and make sure it was being done properly.
"I think you should sing some Taylor Swift, she's got some serious bops," Jackie said looking at me slyly.
I chuckled, strumming the guitar a bit.
At this point I decided that I'd better just full send everything, so without thinking any more about it, I started to sing. I didn't even know what I sang, the words just flowed through my mouth as if they'd been there all along, but whatever it was, Jackie's mouth dropped open. My voice rang through the room, and honestly,  it felt really good.
It was surreal. I had missed this so damn much.
Before I could even finish the song, the door to the case that held the lyre swung open. I quickly stopped singing and grabbed it, "Come on Jackie, let's get the hell out of here. For all we know Bret could still be a lying piece of shit."
She didn't move.
"Jackie, come on!" I exclaimed. Was she ok? After a moment she finally spoke.
"That was beautiful, Luka." She murmured softly.
I blushed a little. I guess this is the first time she's heard my music. I didn't realize. She grabbed my hand. "That didn't sound a lot like Taylor Swift to me, though."
I laughed, "Nah, that was an original."
Then she kissed me.  A long, hard kiss.
When she pulled away I was slightly dizzy, but... Happy? Yeah, happy. "Let's get out of here," I said breathlessly. She nodded, grabbing the lyre from my hands and limping as fast as she could out of the back room. When we got to the front desk, Bret merely nodded at us before continuing with whatever the hell he was doing.
And then we were out of there. That was so easy, thank the gods. No monsters and no internal dilemas.
Good.
But you know I spoke too soon, something was bound to happen, it's a given. When we reached Harper, who was sitting in somebody's front yard, next to the music shop. The sky had grown dark, and little stars were poking through the dark clouds. Jackie stuffed the relic in her bag. It must have been some kind of enchanted backpack with no bottom because all the relics were in there and it didn't seem to be getting any fuller. She stopped for a minute, deep in thought. Really deep in thought.
Just as I was about to get on Harper's back, she stopped me, pulling my arm so I was standing right in front of her, face to face.
Jackie looked me straight in the eyes.
"Luka." Uh oh, what was this about?
"Yes Jackie? Is everything ok?"
She peered at me with an expression that I couldn't read.
"Can I ask you a question?" She asked, looking at me with little puppy dog eyes. Damn, I hope this isn't bad.
"Yeah sure," I said, trying not to look too suspicious. I wonder what I did this time. "It's just about something Bret said back at the store, I'm just confused about it, and then we ki..." Her voice trailed off.
I racked my brains, trying to think of anything Bret might have said back at the store that could be getting me into a bit of a pickle.
Think dumb dumb, think.
She finally looked up and sighed, and the question that left her lips made my heart skip a beat.
Oh gods, what had I gotten myself into?