Chapter 5: the armonica
"Lee-lee!" Grell came running over. "I heard what happened, it's absolutely awful. Whoa… your death scythe's awesome! Not as good as my chainsaw of course, but it suits you nicely…" Grell kept babbling for about half an hour before I could calm him down enough to tell him everything that had happened.
"Well, I'm glad you made it. Go with the rest of your group. We'll talk later." Grell said. "I have to go do some work."
"Work? Is it trying to get some pictures of that demon?" I asked.
"Yes. Don't tell anyone. I'll even let you look at the pictures."
"Sure…" I laughed. I quickly ran over to join my group. My death scythe shrunk into a bracelet with a skull charm on it. I put it on. I ran over to join my group where William and the rest of the managerial class were standing.
"You will be put into pairs with one of the people from the managerial class. They will be your instructors on how to use your death scythe and they will train you on how to become a grim reaper. You are required to come on schedule on the days that you and your trainer will meet in the arena. Isaac, you will be training with senior Whitewood, Connor, you will be training with senior Evans, Ronald, you will be training with senior Black, Leah, you will be training with me."
You've got to be kidding me? Gah… this will be a nightmare! I resisted the strong urge to make something fly at William. Why wouldn't he leave me alone? Why couldn't I be partnered with someone else? Argh! It seemed like he didn't want to let me out of his sight just so that he would annoy me on purpose. I was so angry I didn't pay attention to the rest of his speech. Who cared what he had to say anyway. Finally, he finished and everyone was allowed to go home.
"Miss Hayes" I stiffened.
"Yes"
"One of the managers would like to see you in the library." William said as he walked past me. "I do believe it would be wise not to keep him waiting. He's in that room."
I walked soundlessly to the door and tapped on it.
"Come in!" The voice called. I opened the door. A strange sound greeted me. It sounded like glasses filled with water. The girl looked up from the strange instrument she was playing. A girl? In the managerial class?
"You'll have to forgive me." She said as she got up. "I love the Armonica so much I have to practice it all the time."
"The armonica…?" I asked, looking at the strange instrument. Somehow it looked familiar to me.
"Yes… I've been playing it ever since I was little. They say it has the voice of the angels. I disagree. I believe it has a voice prettier than the angels. Please have a seat, Leah." I sat.
"The reason I wanted to you… I hear you displayed some amazing telekinetic abilities today."
"Yeah…"
"How long have you been able to practice telekinesis?"
"I was born with that ability. I've always been able to do it. Is my telekinesis dangerous?" I asked nervously, afraid she'd say I was unable to continue my grim reaper studies.
"No, not at all. I believe it's a great asset to us. We just need to be sure that you can control your powers so as not to cause any problems when you go to the human world. I need to go over a few things with you before you become a grim reaper. You absolutely cannot use telekinesis to reap someone's soul. You can only use it to defend yourself of some other member. I want you to remember that. With added power comes added responsibility. You should be able to manage what others cannot. Do you understand?"
"I do…"
She looked like she was about to say something else, but someone stuck their head through the door.
"Miss Black, you need to come to the office right away!"
"I'll be right there!" She said. "Leah, can you want there for a minute? You can look at the armonica if you want as long as you don't break anything." She said as she dashed out the door.
I took a seat by the armonica. I tried doing what she did, but it sounded like a cat dying. I realized I wasn't pressing the pedal that made the armonica turn. I began pressing it. I noticed the bowl of water and dipped my fingers into it. I played a single childhood song hat I knew. I had played the piano so it wasn't so hard for me to understand what went where. It was much slower than the song actually was, because I couldn't play quickly on an instrument like this, and because the lingering echo made it so that if I played a note that didn't sound well with the first one, the entire piece would sound off. To me it sounded depressing and lonely.
It has the voice of the angels… I heard her talk again. It did have the voice of the angels. I kept playing. I didn't want to stop. I heard footsteps and out of the corner of my eye, I saw William stop. I realized I didn't shut the door and everyone could hear the sound. Too late now.
A memory flashed into my head. My mom had played this instrument. It had gone out of fashion roughly about a hundred years ago, but she had still loved playing it. I had wanted to learn how to play, but the armonica that had been in our house had gotten smashed to bits. No spell could repair it, sadly. Apparently it was a brand new invention in the human world, the human inventor being Benjamin Franklin. I couldn't remember which grim reaper had actually made the armonica, but it had existed for roughly one hundred and fifty years now in our world. I ran to shut the door before he could turn and see that it was me playing. I wouldn't touch the armonica again. It scared the crap out of me. Why did I want to play it so much? Talk about a cursed instrument… I slipped out the door and out of sight, not knowing that it would soon cost me for playing it, in a very bad way.