Author’s Note: So, this is a bit out of context, but since I was posting a piece to Kabobbles Sing Along today, I figured I should go ahead with this scene, as it was the most recent, and the prompt from Liana Mir of Beacan + Leah + Favorite Songs got me this to make a bit more progress on this story.
“I think we can find one.”
“Find one what?” Beacan asked, looking up from his can of carrots. He seemed happy enough in them, happy enough to annoy Quinn, and Leah would have said that Quinn was hungover if there had been any alcohol in the store they’d raided. He was grumpy, his eyes red when he opened them, which wasn’t often this morning.
“A library. Quinn suggested we find one last night,” Laria said, picking up a can of green beans and shrugging before she reached for the can opener. Quinn’s head jerked up, and he frowned, swallowing a bit as he watched her open the can.
“You remember last night?”
“I remember discussing libraries. I don’t remember much else,” Laria answered, looking over at him. “What? Did you get me to do something embarrassing? If you did, you had better not tell them. That’s not fair.”
He hesitated, and then he shook his head. “No, it wasn’t anything like that. You just muttered in your sleep a bit. That’s all.”
“Did she say anything about walking on roses? She did that with me once,” Beacan said, and Laria threw a green bean at him, then another. He laughed, throwing a carrot back at her. Quinn rolled his eyes at all of them before walking to the door.
“Wait a minute. We haven’t finished breakfast yet.”
“Advanced scouting, I guess,” he said, pushing open the door, and Leah sighed. She didn’t know what was with him this morning—it wasn’t a hangover, but she still couldn’t explain why he was being a bit more of a jerk and more standoffish than usual.
“What happened last night?”
Laria looked down at her can, apparently having lost her appetite. “I don’t know. I must have done something that upset him, but I don’t remember. I was so tired and he said something about a library, and I think I must have passed out on him after that, so maybe that’s it? I can’t give you more than that, Beacan. I just don’t know.”
“You don’t think it’s that bad, do you?”
“No, he’d be worse if it was,” Beacan said, and Laria tried to nod. She set her can down and started for the door. “Hey! That’s wasting food, you know.”
“It’s not going to go that bad, and I can eat it after we find Quinn again. I just don’t want him wandering around on his own.”
Leah shrugged, following after the others. She always did. She’d rather not be left behind, not when Quinn and Candelaria were her anchors, her safety blankets, and Beacan was great, he really was, but she still wanted to be with everyone, not just him.
Beacan groaned. “Is it just me, or is this place creepier today? It wasn’t so bad at first, but without people, now on our second day here… It’s really creepy, isn’t it?”
Leah reached over to hit him before rubbing her arms, needing to be rid of the chill that came over her with his words. She didn’t like this much, and she didn’t want to be afraid all over again. Laria glared at Beacan, and he winced in apology, but it wasn’t like his words were going away or anything. They wouldn’t. They didn’t. Leah could still hear them echoing a bit, and she was now creeped out.
She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself with a song her mom used to sing to her long before things got real bad. She hadn’t realized she’d started humming and even gone to singing until someone came up behind her.
“Nice choice, Daydreamer,” Quinn said. “You know that’s only the most repeated and stupidest song in history, right?”
“It is not.”
“I think the most repeated song is actually by the Beatles,” Beacan said. “All teenybopper and boyband stuff aside, I think they have had one of the most lasting impacts on music ever.”
“And it is not a stupid song,” Candelaria said, her glare shifting to Quinn this time.
“It’s always been my favorite,” Leah admitted, and Beacan took her hand. “I always wanted that land over the rainbow. Mom did, too. No more troubles, no more clouds, no more tears. You can’t tell me that it’s wrong to hope for that, Quinn. I don’t care how much bad you’ve seen. Blue birds find it, and I’ll find it someday, too.”
“I doubt it’s here,” he told her, his voice quieter than usual. He reached over and tapped her nose. “I suppose it could have been worse, though. You could have been singing ‘twinkle, twinkle little star’ or something.”
“No, we should sing something else from Oz,” Candelaria said, getting a smile from Leah since there was only one song in Oz that she didn’t like—the king of the forest one. “Why don’t you try ‘if I only had a—”
“I have a brain, thank you. And I never lost my nerve.”
“Yeah, but none of us missed how you skipped saying you had a heart.”