Songbird - The Awakening Ch. 03

"Mass, smass," Lucky laughed. "Nothing a bit of magic can't fix!"

Cheeri elbowed me. "What do you think, Song? What is Alpha's metatype?"

I blinked, surprised to be so suddenly addressed. "How should I know?"

Lucky looked at me mischievously. "You're on her team. You'd have a better idea than any of us."

I looked at Alpha, and thought about how charismatic she was. That was an elf thing. On the other hand, she seemed to prefer human forms most of the time. She almost never went dwarf, and I was pretty sure she didn't have thermographic vision. That meant dwarf was likely out. "She's not a dwarf," I offered.

Cheeri grinned. "You sure?"

"Of course she's not sure," Alpha put in. "I'm a woman of mystery." She shrugged. "Or sometimes a man of mystery. Whatever."

Everyone laughed. "So, what's your story, Songbird?" Lucky asked. "How did you end up running in the shadows?"

Alpha leaned into Tiger's embrace and laughed. "She pissed off the wrong people. Just like you, Lucky. What did that wageslave call you, again? Right before he hit the alarm?"

Lucky laughed, and launched into the story of the fiasco that had landed him in the gutter. "I should have died," he concluded. He winked. "But I didn't. And I decided that, since I was officially a dead man, I might as well use the fact. So I started a whole new career, and it's been great." He grinned. "Next round is on me!"

The table cheered. No one seemed to have noticed Alpha's adroit topic change.

Not long after that, the bar's owner booted up the karaoke machine. Jazz was the first on stage. She sang badly, as usual, but no one seemed to care. Then Lucky egged Tiger into singing a duet with him. When Lucky made his choice on the screen, grinning wickedly, Tiger nearly walked off the stage.

It was a love duet. Lucky sang the girl's part, and Tiger, a surprisingly deep baritone, sang the guy's. It wasn't that bad, I thought, grinning. The two came back to their seats. "Next time we do that," Tiger growled. "At least choose something gay. I felt so stupid calling you my cherry blossom."

Lucky laughed. "So, Songbird, are you actually a good singer?"

I blushed. "I'm not bad."

Lucky thrust his finger into my chest. "Prove it!"

I winced. "I don't think I-"

Alpha pulled me to my feet. "She's amazing, guys. You've got to hear!"

Urged onto the stage, I stood before the karaoke machine. "Umm..." I stared, bewildered, at my huge number of choices.

Alpha slid briefly onto the stage. "Try this one." She picked a song for me. Fortunately, it was one I knew.

The music started. I took a deep breath, and sang.

The bar went silent.

I fought not to let my voice wobble. Everyone was staring at me. Lucky and Tiger looked poleaxed. Shark was smiling from ear to ear, eyes closed. Cheeri looked awed. Alpha grinned smugly. Even Jazz was enjoying the music, nodding along and smiling wryly.

And everyone else... Up until now, I hadn't realized how full the bar was. And it got fuller, I noted, as several spirits materialized, including Paw and Ember. I gripped the mic with white knuckles. I could feel my knees shaking. But I never missed a single note.

Suddenly, a robed form materialize in mid air. It reached out with a skeletal hand, and a female voice murmured. "So beautiful..."

Someone pointed at it. "That's a shadow spirit!" Someone else screamed. Another drew a gun and aimed it at the spirit, who abruptly vanished back into the astral. My song trailed off, as, shocked, I stared at where the thing had been. What the frag?