Cory had to skip breakfast in order to get to band practice on time the next morning, and was still yawning when she climbed onto Macks’s solar cycle, Lucille. “Creampuff sent this for you,” Macks said, handing Cory a bag.
Cory peeked into the bag and took out a blueberry muffin. “Wonderful!” she said. “I’ll have to thank her. Would you like some?”
When she offered the ogre the bag, he grinned and took one. “I got up extra early to eat breakfast, but I can always eat more of Creampuff’s cooking. That putti sure can bake!”
It wasn’t easy riding on the motorcycle and eating, but Cory managed. As they rode through the still-dark town, then up the mountain to Olot’s cave, she started thinking about the song she’d been working on. She wondered if she should share it with her bandmates during rehearsal or wait for another day.
They had almost reached Olot’s cave when she thought to ask Macks, “Are you going home again after you drop me off?”
“Not today,” said Macks. “After you told me about the rehearsal, I offered to take Estel on a picnic. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to propose. I figured we’d waited long enough.”
“That’s wonderful!” Cory told him. “Did you get her a ring?”
“Ogres don’t wear rings,” said Macks. “We get tattoos when we get married. It’s part of the wedding ceremony. So is getting drunk and smashing things. I’d invite you, but I don’t think you’d like it.”
“I appreciate that,” said Cory. “And you’re right. That’s one special occasion that I’d prefer to skip.”
The sun was just coming up when Cory got off the solar cycle and got a good look at Macks’s face. Grog had broken Macks’s nose in the fight. It was swollen and he had two black eyes. He was also missing a front tooth. “Oh, Macks!” exclaimed Cory. “Does it hurt?”
“Naw, I hardly feel it,” he said, but he winced when he touched his nose. “Estel says it makes me more handsome. She says she doesn’t want me to get it fixed. It will always remind her how much I love her if I don’t get it straightened.”
“I’m glad you’re marrying her,” said Cory. “You two belong together.”
“Are you saying that as a friend or as Cupid?” Macks asked.
“Both,” Cory told him.
Macks grinned. “Then I know I’m doing the right thing! How long have you known?”
“Since yesterday,” said Cory. “I had a vision of you and Estel during the party.”
“I’ve been such a lunkhead,” Macks said. “I should have proposed long before this!”
The door to the cave opened and Chancy looked out. “Oh, good! You’re here. You’re the last one to arrive.”
“I have to go,” Cory told Macks. “I don’t know what time we’ll be finished.”
“No hurry,” said Macks. “I’ll be back by late afternoon. If you’re not ready, I’ll take a nap out here under the trees.”
Everyone was tuning up when Cory followed Chancy into the cave. Olot’s wife was already developing a baby bump and couldn’t have looked happier. She pointed to a table where she’d set out doughnuts and pieces of fruit, but Cory wasn’t hungry. Hurrying to her drum set, Cory started her warm-up exercises.
The band started with an old song, “Shooting Stars,” then moved on to “The Last Flight of Silver Streak.” They were partway through the song when a gong sounded and Chancy got up to answer the door.
“I just had that gong installed,” said Olot. “I might have to change it before the baby is born, though. Chancy says the gong is too loud.”
“She’s right,” said Cheeble. “My mother had fourteen kids. You don’t want to wake a sleeping baby if you can avoid it.”
When Chancy came back into the room, she had two ogres with her.
“Everyone, I want you to meet Twark and Skweely,” said Olot. “I talked to them at Cory’s party yesterday when I saw what a great job they did cleaning up the broken furniture. I offered them jobs and they accepted. They’re going to help us haul our instruments around.”
“New roadies!” cried Cheeble. “Great!”
“Do we really need two?” Skippy asked.
Olot nodded. “It will get us set up a lot faster if we have two. Chancy can’t lift heavy things anymore and I have to handle the administrative end when we go places, so I can’t do it, either. We’ve been getting a lot more requests since we played at those ogre parties and we keep getting more every day. Everyone, take a break. I want to show Twark and Skweely what they’ll need to do.”
While the other members of Zephyr went to the table to get food, Cory took the song she’d written out of her pocket. She hadn’t had a chance to try the song on her drums because she kept her instruments at Olot’s cave. Using a light touch, she beat out the rhythm of the song, going over the more difficult parts a couple of times. When she’d finished playing it all the way through twice, she looked up and saw that everyone was watching her.
“What was that?” asked Daisy.
Cory shrugged. “Just something I’ve been working on. It’s not finished yet. I mean, it is, but I want to polish it a bit.”
“It sounded great to me!” said Perky.
“Me, too,” Cheeble announced. “Can we try it?”
“It really isn’t ready yet,” protested Cory.
“I liked it!” Twark said. “But it sounds kind of sad.”
“It is sad,” Cory told them. “Zephyr plays so many upbeat songs that I thought I’d write something really different.”
“Let’s see what we can do with it,” said Olot. “Cory, can you teach it to us?”
“I guess,” she replied. “It’s called ‘Lily Rose’ and is about a fairy who lost her love in the Troll Wars. It starts like this.”
“Do you mind if we hang around and listen?” asked Skweely.
“Go right ahead,” said Olot.
The two ogres sat on the couch with Chancy while Cory sang the song through. She sang it again a second and third time until everyone had gotten it. When they knew the words, they picked up their instruments, taking their cues from Cory. They practiced the song until they all thought they had it, then played it one more time. As the last notes faded away, Cory heard loud sobbing. Twark and Skweely were both crying. Chancy was weeping into one of the pillows from the couch. Tears streamed down the faces of Skippy’s two girlfriends.
“That was so sad!” cried Skweely. “I loved it!”
“I did, too!” blubbered Twark. “And I never like sad songs!”
“It was b … b … beautiful!” Chancy wailed.
“Wow!” said Cory. “I didn’t know it would have such a big effect!” She turned to talk to her friends and saw that they were crying as well.
“I think we should take a break for lunch,” Olot said, sniffling.
Chancy was still dabbing at her eyes, so Cory got up to help Olot. She followed him into the kitchen carrying the empty platters from the table. “That was some song you wrote,” said Olot. “Ogres don’t usually cry. In fact, I think that’s the first time I’ve cried since I was a kid.”
“I’m sorry,” said Cory. “Maybe we shouldn’t play it in public.”
“Are you kidding! It was great!” Olot told her. “I can’t wait to play it again. Chancy tells me that everyone needs a good cry now and then.”
“After lunch, why don’t we play a happy song,” Cory suggested.
Olot nodded. “Like ‘June Bug Jamboree.’ ”
By the time they carried out the sandwiches that Chancy had made earlier, everyone was looking more cheerful. “Skweely and I should go,” said Twark.
“Wouldn’t you like to eat first?” asked Chancy. “I made plenty of sandwiches.”
“If you insist,” Skweely said, going to the front of the line.
During lunch, all anyone could talk about was Cory’s new song. Apparently, Cory was the only one who hadn’t cried. When lunch was over, Olot asked the band members what they wanted to play next and everyone agreed that “June Bug Jamboree” was the best song to play after “Lily Rose.” Twark and Skweely stayed until midafternoon.
The band went through their play list until it was almost suppertime. When Skippy said that his lips were too sore to play his pan pipes anymore, everyone agreed that rehearsal was over. Cory was covering her drums when Daisy came to see her. “I love your new song,” Daisy told her. “How long did it take you to write it?”
“I’ve been working on it off and on for a while,” said Cory. “I’m glad you like it. Tell me, what happened with you and Jonas McDonald? You said you thought he was nice.”
“He was very nice, but when he kissed me, I knew he wasn’t the one. There wasn’t any spark between us. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do,” said Cory. She definitely felt more than a spark when Blue kissed her. “Do you feel anything when you kiss Ptolomy?”
“No, not really. I mean, I thought I did at first, but then I realized that it was his lip ring digging into my lip,” Daisy told her. “It doesn’t matter, though. I already broke up with him.”
“That was fast,” Cory said.
Daisy shrugged. “Why drag it out when you know a guy isn’t right for you? Someday I’ll meet my true love.”
“I’m sure you will,” said Cory, hoping it would happen soon.
When Cory finally went outside, Macks was there, lying on the ground beside Lucille. Cory had to nudge him awake. He sat up, groggy, but he grinned when he saw Cory. “Twark and Skweely told me you came up with a great song. I can’t wait to hear it.”
“You’ve been out here that long? They left hours ago. You should have come inside to wait.”
“I was fine,” Macks said as he brushed a fallen leaf off Lucille’s seat.
“Well, did you ask Estel to marry you? Did she say yes?” Cory asked him.
Macks grinned until his smile almost reached his ears. “I did and she did! I’m getting married!”
“Congratulations!” Cory cried. “That’s wonderful news!”
“I know,” said Macks. “I’ll have to go tell my parents. My mother is crazy about Estel.” He was helping Cory onto the solar cycle when he remembered to ask, “Am I going to hear that song tomorrow at the Battle of the Bands?”
“You will,” Cory told him. “Everyone told me they want it on our list. Just be prepared to cry.”
“I never cry,” said Macks.
“We’ll see about that,” Cory murmured as she took her seat on the cycle.
They had scarcely started for home when Cory had a vision. Once again it showed two people she didn’t know. Normally she would have planned to go to her office to try to find their pictures that night, but she needed to get some sleep before the Battle of the Bands. With all that she had going on, she wasn’t sure when she’d get the chance to work on matches. Maybe after Micah and Quince’s wedding, which was the day after the Battle of the Bands. It wasn’t as if she’d forget what the people in her vision looked like. If she didn’t make the match right away, she’d keep seeing the vision until she’d handled it.
The sun was setting when they arrived at the house, and Blue’s cycle was already parked in the drive. Macks was still turning off his cycle as Laudine Kundry stepped into the front yard. When Macks saw her, he went inside, leaving Cory and Laudine to have a private conversation.
“How do you always seem to know when I get home?” Cory asked her.
“Magic,” said Laudine. “Although sometimes I just look out my window. I wanted to tell you that I located Darkin Flay. He’s a salesman working for a company that sells magic ingredients to witches. He goes from trade show to trade show. The next trade show in New Town will be next week. We can go together if you’d like.”
“I would like that,” said Cory. “A trade show for witches should be a lot of fun.”
“Or very dangerous,” said Laudine. “It depends on who shows up. I need to go. My supper is getting cold.”
Cory was headed into the house when she heard a faint sound behind her. Thinking that Laudine had remembered something else and was coming back to see her again, she turned around, but there was no sign of her neighbor. A moment later, Weegie came running out of the underbrush.
“Did you see him?” the woodchuck asked her. “The man who’s been lurking around the yard was just here. I bit his leg, which tasted really bad.”
Cory shook her head. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Well, he was weird. And the weirdest thing about him was that when I bit him, he didn’t even seem to feel it.”