Read Online FascinatingRhythm by Lynne Connolly - Free Book Online Page B

will get the opportunity? It’s nothing to
do with me being deaf.”
    Emmelie looked around as if noticing the crowd for the first
time. Since people surrounded them on either side and behind, not to mention
the heaving mosh pit below them, that was some feat. Oh look, where did all
these people come from? her look seemed to say. She glanced back at Sabina,
eyes chips of ice. “You had the opportunity, so you took it?”
    Sabina deliberately kept her hands steady and efficient, as
Emmelie’s signing became more agitated. “I’m under no illusions, I know he’ll
leave.” But this time, he’d promised to keep in touch, although right now she
didn’t know if that would help or hinder her. Constant reminders that he was
somewhere else in the world might not help. Especially when he found someone
else, even if it was a groupie. Hunter wasn’t a monk, and she couldn’t expect
it of him. Maybe she should go off and find someone for herself. Someone not
quite so—thrilling, but with more staying power.
    Emmelie kept talking until the lights went down and the ones
on the stage gave off a soft, amber glow. Shadowy figures walked across to
their stations and picked up their instruments and just—began. One startling,
audience-quieting guitar chord from mouthwateringly gorgeous Jace Beauchenne,
dark and glowering. She watched his hands, clever hands, move over his guitar.
He didn’t play like other guitarists—he hit the cords, struck them as if he
were trying to kill them.
    Next to her, Emmelie started texting. Sabina wanted to
snatch the phone from her hands, but instead she did her best to ignore the
distraction.
    An earth tremor vibrated under her feet. Light flashed over
Hunter, his hair loose, hanging forward, gripping the drumsticks as if they
were extensions of his hands, surgically grafted there. A plethora of
instruments surrounded him. Less a drummer, more a percussionist. She knew he’d
had some classical training at school before he’d taken the path of the rock
artist. That had to factor in to his performance. It must be so loud, because
sound filtered through to her. The band wore earpieces, like large hearing
aids. Except for Hunter. She looked closely, but nothing.
    The drums cutting in to vie with Jace’s savage chords formed
the cue for the others. Donovan Harvey, the bassist, began a complex pattern on
the four strings of his bass guitar and Zazz, an acoustic guitar slung over his
shoulder like a troubadour’s, held the mic close and began to sing. His cropped
hair, dyed electric blue tonight, although she knew he changed the color
frequently, contrasted with the drab, beatnik-black of his clothes. V, the only
female member of Murder City Ravens and its saxophonist, breathed a note.
Beautiful, dressed in an ethereal silver sheath, her golden hair swinging down
to her waist, she began quietly. Sabina saw the way she settled into a rhythm
of her own.
    She wanted to hear what they were playing. Enough sounds
filtered through to make her want more, not enough to give her a melody. A
yearning she thought she’d left behind years ago surged through her. She rarely
felt like that about anything, firmly putting her hearing into her past life
and coping with what she had now. The notion came as new and different, because
she hadn’t thought about it in so long.
    A light illuminated Riku, wearing a guitar but operating a
keyboard.
    Wow. Even Emmelie glanced up when he appeared in full light
and didn’t immediately look down again.
    From reading about the band, Sabina knew that Riku liked
visual kei, the Japanese way of dressing like a rock star. His face was heavily
made-up, with a pale, almost white base, cyclamen-pink blusher, and a black
line painted above, a dash from his nose to the side of his face, underlining
his eyes rather than outlining them.
    Sabina turned her attention to the huge screen at the side
of the stage. Smaller screens were set above the band, showing each member, but
the huge screen