The Devil's Trill Sonata by Matthew J. Metzger

Author:Matthew J. Metzger
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2014-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

“Knock-knock!”

Jayden looked up from his essay. Ella was standing in his open doorway in a classic black dress, offering a little smile, one hand still raised to knock again.

“You’re working too hard,” she said.

Easter was early this year, so the exams were nearly over and the semester drawing to a close, but Jayden had too much to do. His own exams fell in early April, and then there were coursework deadlines looming in May, along with the start of the final semester. He didn’t have time to go away early, much as he wanted to. Much as he wanted to go to Southampton and shake Darren until he was…

Until he was normal again. Because he was being quiet now, and not nearly as aggressive when Ella interrupted them, and Jayden didn’t like that. A quiet Darren—properly quiet, not even the quietly sarcastic version—was only good if he was asleep. Otherwise…

He shook it off. “I have to,” he said to Ella. “I have a load of work due and I haven’t finished. And the stuff I’ve finished isn’t good enough, and…”

“And doing it stressed isn’t going to help,” Ella said evenly. “Come with me.”

“Why?”

“Because you need to unwind,” she said, floating across the room and slipping a scrap of paper into his textbook before closing it. “Just an hour, I promise. Just an hour to relax and unwind a little bit, and then I’ll let you come back and finish your work.”

Jayden sighed, massaging his temples with one hand. She had a point, really, he couldn’t work well when he felt so wrung-out, and he was tired, to the point where nothing was getting done, and…

“Okay. One hour,” he said and put down his pen.

“Good,” she said and hugged him briefly. “Come with me, then?”

“Where?”

“The classical orchestra are practising,” she said. “I, um,” she pinked, “I had a little bit of a, um…well, kind of date thing with one of the cellists and he invited me to go and watch them practice. Want to come?”

“Well, not if you’re going to be all over this…”

“No, no.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, my God, the date was awful, but I like classical music and I thought I might go and watch them anyway, see if they’re any good. And I remembered Darren’s a musician, isn’t he? So maybe you can tell me if they’re any good.”

“I don’t know much about music,” Jayden confessed, shrugging out of his hoodie. Ella eyed it distastefully, and he pulled on a nicer jacket. “I mean, I know if a violinist is okay, but that’s about it. He never played much classical piano for me.”

“It’s a shame he had to stop,” she said mildly. Jayden was relieved; he’d had enough of why your boyfriend isn’t really quite perfect enough, and wasn’t in the mood for diplomacy. He was under too much pressure already for that. “Do you think he’ll ever play again?”

“No.” They fell into step as they left the wing and crossed the courtyard. It was finally beginning to warm from the savage winter.

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