She lifted her hands again, but the notes weren’t there. She couldn’t hear them through the static in her mind. The only thing her fingertips could feel was the message scratched beneath the piano.
Keira tried to start the Brahms piece, but she couldn’t feel the shape of it in her hands. She couldn’t remember which keys to hit. A ribbon of panic traced the shape of her spine. The awful memory of her inability to play when she’d first met Walker rose in her mind’s eye. Clearing her throat, Keira bent awkwardly to sift through her music basket.
“It’s been a while,” she said by way of apology. “I think I need to find the music.”
“Oh.” Her mother’s surprise made Keira wince. “Well, you can play whatever you were playing for Walker, if it’s easier.”
The horror of the suggestion shot through Keira, speeding up her hands as she riffled through the pages. She didn’t mind playing her own music for Walker. It had been exhilarating, drawing them closer in a way she could never have imagined. There was no way she could play something she’d composed in front of her mom. It was way too intimate.
She found the Brahms in the bottom of the basket and straightened, holding it in her hands like a shield.
“No, it’s fine. I’ve got the music right here.” She showed her mom. “I should play it. Obviously, I’ve let it go too long.” Keira spread the pages open on the piano.
“Okay, then,” her mom said. “I’d better get back to dinner. Thanks, honey.”
Keira nodded vaguely, squinting at the notes. Her fingers jumped in recognition and her shoulders dropped as she began to play. The music was still there. She’d only needed a reminder.
The soothing notes floated through the living room, filling the space. Her own thoughts settled under the weight of the music.
Somehow, Darkside had repaired itself. That had to be a good sign—one less thing the Reformers could blame her for, if she and Walker got caught. And there was a chance they’d get caught, because she was determined to find her uncle Pike.
She shivered. She really had to stop thinking of him as “Uncle” Pike. He was the Darkling who’d fathered her and he’d been the head of the breeding program. If there was anyone, anywhere, with a way to keep the Reformers from exterminating her, it would be him.
But first, they had to figure out exactly where he was.
If he was even still alive.
Keira glanced over at Walker. He was watching her play but his gaze was empty, utterly lost in thought. He must be trying to piece things together too. She turned back to the music before she lost the thread of the melody.
She followed the song through to the end, letting the notes replace the words floating through her head. When she took her hands off the keys and slid her foot off the pedal, her mother reappeared in the doorway.
“That was absolutely beautiful. Come on, you two, dinner’s ready.” She turned back to the kitchen, tossing a dishcloth over her shoulder.
Keira lingered on the bench for a moment, savoring the emptiness of her thoughts. She could already feel the worries and what-ifs tapping at the edges of her awareness.
Walker’s hands slid onto her shoulders, his thumbs tracing the sweep of her neck. His voice was quiet as a cat. “Come on. We’ll eat, and then we’ll figure this out. First things first, right?”
Keira nodded. First things first.
Quarter note. Half note. Rest.
She stood up and followed Walker into the kitchen. She was willing to sit at the table and make nice, but she had no idea how she was going to force herself to eat when her stomach was snarled into such a hopeless knot. If her mother knew something about Pike and Darkside, she had to find out what. And if her mother didn’t know anything about Pike and Darkside, Keira had to keep from making her suspicious.
It was a very fine line, and Keira wasn’t looking forward to walking it.
? ? ?
In the kitchen, the sight of the Hall leaning toward the healed bit of Darkside slid in and out of Keira’s vision. It was nearly impossible to push it away completely, when the barrier in the kitchen was still so thin. Her head throbbed from watching both worlds at once, but she curled her hand around the cold edges of her fork and kept looking. She wanted to know what was happening in Darkside too desperately to quit. She could see robed figures in the woods, pointing at the newly healed rip and shaking their heads. The whole scene hummed with curiosity, the resonance of the impossible. At least the Darklings didn’t seem to be looking for Keira.
She managed to choke down a few bites of pasta, then pushed the rest around her plate. She thought about Pike—where he was and how they were going to find him in the immensity of Darkside, with only a few vague clues to go on. She tried to keep her thoughts hidden, but she wasn’t the only one at the table keeping secrets.