Read Silent Song (Ghostly Rhapsody) for Free Online Page B

and light won’t be a problem. I don’t know about the AC, but I hope the school has hired out more wattage than that.”
    Lena turned to Mr. Hedford. “Could you please check it out with administration, Professor? I’d hate it if suddenly the set up were to combust in the middle of the performance.”
    “It would not combust, Miss Brighton. It’d merely cease to function, which is an equally undesirable reaction. I shall confirm the… what did you say, Mr. Brannagh? Wattage?”
    He nodded and the professor left.
    Lena sighed and turned around, waiting. “Keith, where are the mics anyway? I can’t see them.”
    I couldn’t, either. He’d done a good job of hiding them, even while I had been surreptitiously watching his every move.
    He stood up, left the guitar on the table in the control pit and jumped up onto the stage to show her. Part of me was about to die of unjustified jealousy when I saw him walking toward her. For a split second, I thought I had imagined the nasty twist of Lena’s lips as he approached her. I told myself that it was just my inner, greedy self screaming bloody murder.
    But then I saw Jack moving and I knew, with sick certainty, that it wasn’t my imagination.
    “Hey!”
    Everyone turned to look at me, and then a hideous noise like that of dying kittens exploded and left me with my mouth hanging open in public.
    Keith turned back to the pit in a flash and his already pale skin went a shade paler. Jack smirked at him, not looking at the guitar on the floor.
    “Sorry,” he said, not meaning it at all. “I hadn’t seen it.”
    Lena snickered, “Those words are familiar… ah, of course! That’s what you said when your clumsy self dropped a lot of greasy, inedible food on Anna after hitting her head with your tray, isn’t it?”
    Keith stood there, his fists clenched so tight that he shook… and said nothing. I turned on Anna, genuine hurt breaking past my uncaring pretense for a moment.
    “Anna? This was your idea?” I couldn’t believe it. It had been almost a month ago. It hadn’t even been his fault to begin with!
    She shook her head, and while she didn’t look thrilled, she didn’t look apologetic either.
    “Alice, cool down. It isn’t your guitar,” Ray said, grinning in a way that made me think he had known from the beginning.
    And then I remembered how Lena had stayed back to talk to him that first day, how she had looked so smug afterwards when she had suggested the professor to ask Keith to be part of the project.
    The bastard. He hadn’t just known; he had planned it!
    Ray smirked at my open-mouthed glare and tucked Anna under his arm, ready to go. She said nothing and I stood there, dumbstruck, as Lena and Jack sauntered away from the stage to join their accomplice.
    “Don’t worry,” Lena called over her shoulder. “We’ll get someone else to play your song.”
    They left. Dave stayed a moment longer, but he didn’t try to pick up the guitar, nor did he share my mute indignation.
    “You coming, Alice?” he asked.
    I nodded, but didn’t budge.
    “You go ahead first.”
    And then it was Keith and me. Professor Hedford never returned, and for a moment, I wondered whether he was in the know, part of the conspiracy, or just had been sidetracked by Lena.
    “I’m sorry,” I said when we were alone.
    Keith no longer stood immobile, out of place in the Victorian drawing room. He’d jumped back into the pit, unplugged the guitar, and proceeded to examine it without acknowledging my presence.
    “Is it broken?” I tried again.
    He looked at me then. His eyes, vibrant blue, were empty and hard. “What do you care?”
    The calm in his deep voice cut worse than a slap would have. And what could I say to defend myself?
    “I don’t think that was right. What they did.”
    “I didn’t see you stopping them, either.”
    “You’re not being fair. I did call out when I saw what Jack was about to do.”
    He shrugged, dismissing me just like that, and turned back