Page 17 of The Music Demon

Lyric nodded. “Better get started then.”

“Just out of curiosity. What would happen if I broke one of the rules?”

Lyric looked appropriately solemn. “There’s only one rule youcouldbreak. If you take the deal and choose to migrate to 1967, you can’t come back to this time and you can’t extend your life beyond 1997. That leaves song stealing, something I simply wouldn’t tolerate. Like many things in life, I have two sides. You’re engaged with the friendly, helpful make-a-wish side right now. You don’t want to meet the other side.”

Gray nodded. “Noted.”

“Have a good night,” Lyric said as he took Shy by the hand and led her toward the copse of mesquite trees. It was a moonless night and would be black as pitch to all but demon eyes.

“I managed to piece together what you’re doin’. I think,” she began. “You’re plannin’ to take that boy back in time, are ye no’?”

“If he decides to go.”

“Do you do this kind of thing often?”

Lyric chuckled. “No.”

“Have ye done this kind of thing before?”

“I have. From time to time.”

“Funny.”

“Why do you ask?”

She took in a deep breath. “He seems like a decent sort. Cares about his sister. I’d hate to see things go badly for him is all.”

“Things go badly for humans, Shivaun. It’s part of the gig. They’re more subject to the whims of wyrd than we are. It’s pointless to lament their fates.”

With an eyebrow raised, she said, “Really? Then please explain why you’re turnin’ things upside down to resituate a boy who’s more suited to another time?”

Lyric wasn’t used to being called out on thoughtless pronouncements and was taken by surprise. On examination he realized that, yes, he was being hypocritical.

“I’m not being hypocritical,” he said. “I’m being selfish. As a music lover I want to see what he’d contribute to the genre if given a chance.”

“Hmmm,” she mused, intimating that she didn’t buy that for a millisecond.

Eager to change the subject, he said, “You never answered my question about work.”

“Turned out I was no’ needed so much.”

“Well then, we have a date to resume. Where would you like to go?”

“You’re the organizer. Surprise me.”

He took her hand in his. For a split second she wondered why a music demon would have calluses, but the question left her mind when she was whisked into the passes.

CHAPTER THREERunning with the Devil

When the couple emerged, they were standing on a crystal outcropping at the mouth of a cave framed by ferns and philodendra the size of cars. The rocks beneath their feet looked like technicolor geodes. The sea below was azure, twinkling with lights from a source that was unearthly. The water reflected fast-moving pink clouds that swirled and danced in a blue-gray sky. It was a snapshot from a psychedelic dream.

“This is…” Shivaun was stymied as to what to say next. The sight was disconcertingly alien and unspeakably beautiful at the same time. So much so that she was at a loss for words. “I love a demon who gives me what I ask for. I give you credit for surprising me. What is this place?”

She’d just verbally punctuated that question and registered Lyric’s amusement when she heard a noise from behind. It resembled the sound an airplane-sized goose might make, if there was such a thing. As she was turning to see what it was, a dozen other ‘goose’ voices of varying volume and pitch joined the first.

The scene that had been at her back was just as beautiful as the twinkling sea, but entirely different in character. A vast plateau of lime-green grass sat off to one side of the hill that sheltered the crystal cave. Bits of gleaming white quartz in the shape of stalagmites dotted the field in random size with no deliberate spacing. Each of these emitted a supernatural light pulse like the twinkle of the ocean waters.

Shivaun couldn’t have imagined the sight that greeted her in a hundred years. Ten little dragons making a bee line for Lyric, trotting as fast as their legs would carry them, waving wings but not leaving the ground. They were a riot of color, shiny scales in shades blue, purple, green, pink and gold.