When the sun
Can See.
Cause the sun, cause the sun,
Is in love
With Me.”
My solo followed this verse, the perfect time to reappear. This trick, combined with my masterful musical prowess, gained a flurry of applause from the growing crowd. Sharp and I danced in a circle around the fountain. Much to our delighted surprise, a pair of City Warriors with similar percussive armor began to dance and play to the same tempo.
Piranha's voice was less like honey and more like a roaring river, but no less captivating. They joined Willow at the top of the fountain and sang the next low and jaunty verse of the song:
“See the moon, in the sky,
With her pale pink
Cheeks
O’er the grass green horizon,
Her eye line
Creeps
Oh the moon with her lies.
But they must be
True
Cause the moon, cause the moon,
Is in love with
You.”
The crowd sang along to the popular tune in chaotic yet riveting unison. When the song finished, Summit Town broke into applause, but the four of us had already blended into the crowd and made a surreptitious exit.
“Did you see the look on their faces?” Pir squealed as soon as we left the town square. “It was like they’d never seen Lucent before!”
Sharp twirled her swords in smooth, practiced circles. “Those City guys were total pros. They knew all the notes and everything!”
While the three of us babbled about our performance, Willow led us back to the inn, a serene smile on his face.
“Tell me, Willow,” I asked when I caught up with him. “What do you want to accomplish with these performances?”
His eyes twinkled. Sometimes he was immature and reckless, yet there was something old about him too, as if he had access to some wisdom from an ancient time. The light around him grew, his soul leaking into the real dimension.
“Joy and pain exist in equal measure,” he said, voice distant. “Both are in a constant moving balance. I reject this idea, and I will proceed to crush the pain and fill the world with overwhelming joy.”
Sharp held her hand up to hide an obvious smile. She was at odds with him most times, but deep down I knew she found him endearing.
“Maybe you can’t experience joy without pain,” she suggested.
“Maybe you can.” He shrugged, and the conversation was over, the last of the sun sinking below the sky.
Chapter Five
Glow
The next morning, Cherry served us a complimentary breakfast of sizzling sausage, fat fluffy pancakes, and cold fresh fruit. Our performance had charmed her more than expected.
Sharp was even more of a giant in the short dining room chairs, her polished armor gleaming as the sunrise peered in through the window. A few boys stared at her from across the room, but she didn’t notice.
“I’ve got to hand it to you Willow,” she praised, raising a cup of coffee in a toast, “you’ve really outdone yourself this time.”
“All in a day’s work.” He blew a kiss at the boys, who turned red and quickly looked away.
I watched this interaction like a daydream, imagining the lights behind the surface. Observant Piranha could sense my mind was elsewhere, so they forced their face into my line of sight and asked, “Something on your mind, Wild Boy?”
I sighed. My friends didn’t know about what I could see, and now was the time to confess. Sharp wasn’t surprised, having heard this from her father, but the others looked comically offended. Piranha’s catlike pupils were wide and alert.
Willow leaned closer, hair flopping. “You can see my what? My soul? You can see inside me?”
I took a timid sip of my bitter-mud coffee. “That’s why I didn’t tell you before. It's…creepy.”
