Sonata’s stomach growled. This time, it didn’t leave her confused. After all, it had been one week since the destruction of her pendant and the appearance of previously unknown sensations such as hunger and thirst. She had gotten used to them.
Thus she knew this sound from her tummy meant she had to go and eat something. Water wasn’t a concern, since the park was equipped with a drinking fountain, but food was more difficult to obtain. Not that it would discourage her from trying, of course. She wanted to make Adagio proud. So until Adagio came back, she would find food by herself.
Sonata climbed down the tree she had been perched in, which she had dubbed the “Watching Tree”, and skipped to the open area of the park. As it was Saturday, the park had more visitors than during the previous days. Several of them appeared to be carrying food. She had to find a way to acquire some of it.
In the past, even though she didn’t know hunger, she would regularly get food cravings. All she had to do then was sing a short melody. Anyone who listened to her beautiful voice would become eager to share their meal or anything else with her.
But that didn’t work anymore. She had tried, on Thursday. The only outcome had been people walking away from her, covering their ears.
Paradoxically, the very first time she had sung without her pendant, it had resulted in the audience actually giving her food. Well, more throwing than giving, but she wished she could replicate that nonetheless. At the time, without thinking much, she had run away from the projectiles, not wanting to get hurt. Now that she was hungry, she would be grateful if people threw food at her again.
Why didn’t it work again on Thursday? Was it because she had used a different song? Or because there hadn’t been many people around? After all, she had been singing in front of a large audience the first time. Since the park was crowded now, it was worth a second shot. It could work this time! She ran to the large fountain near the center of the park and jumped on an empty bench.
After taking a deep breath, she sang as loudly as she could.
“We will be adored
Tell us that you want us…”
Should she have replaced “we” with “I”? Did it matter? She didn’t know, so she kept singing.
She could tell her performance was terribly off-key, and it made her chest tighten. Her singing voice used to be a part of herself, the only thing she had retained from her true identity. She had half a mind to stop and run away to hide, but she continued.
“Nothing can stop –”
“Shut up!”
Sonata interrupted her singing when an empty bottle of water hit her torso. But she didn’t need water! She needed food! She sighed. It hadn’t worked.
She jumped down. She had to find another idea. She was definitely not as good as Adagio when it came to forming plans, but she wasn’t going to give up.
She could always ask people for food. She had tried that on the previous day, and indeed, she had received some bread and cookies from generous visitors, even though it hadn’t been much. However, most people had refused to give her anything. After mulling over it all day, she had come to the conclusion that taking without asking would be more effective.
Smiling, she ran through the field behind the fountain, to the playground across it. Swings, slides, jungle gym and more. Sonata had originally come there to find a target, but the play equipment grabbed her attention. Getting food was not particularly urgent, after all; so she decided to have some fun.
After going down the slide a dozen times, she remembered her objective and focused again. She scouted the area. On the edge of the playground, a little girl sat on a bench, eating a sandwich. Why not steal it? That would be as easy as taking candy from a baby! Which she had never tried, actually, but she was sure it was very easy.
Sonata approached the bench while pretending not to look at it and whistling innocently. She was trying to whistle the tune of “Under Our Spell”, but it came out off-key again. No matter. The child didn’t suspect a thing.
When she was close enough, Sonata snatched the precious sandwich.
“Hey!” was all the girl said, too slow to react. Success!
Sonata opened her mouth wide. Just as she was about to take a bite, a voice called out, “Why are you taking my daughter’s sandwich?”
Sonata looked around. A woman walked to her, shooting her a death glare. Sonata gulped. She realized that, instead of just standing there, she should have run away with her prize and eaten it elsewhere. Live and learn. Forcing a smile, she handed the sandwich to the woman, then fled.
She rushed behind a tree and hid, her back against the trunk. She cast a glance behind; the mother wasn’t coming after her. Good. No time to rest; she had to try something else.
But before resuming her quest, she went to the Watching Tree and climbed up it again. Sitting on a large branch, she had a good view of several streets and buildings beyond the park’s fence, notably her former home and the street leading to it. She watched for a moment, hoping to spot Adagio.
Adagio didn’t know that the Dazzlings had been kicked out of the apartment. The landlord had come on Wednesday, claiming they couldn’t stay any longer. Sonata had tried singing to change his mind, like they would always do in the past. Of course, it hadn’t worked.
Adagio didn’t know that, so when she came back, she would try to go back home. She would go through that street, then Sonata would be able to see her, go and meet her, and explain what had happened. Otherwise Adagio would just be confused and wonder about her companions’ whereabouts. Granted, being as clever as she was, she may guess that Sonata temporarily set home in the park, but better safe than sorry.
Sonata waited for some time, but Adagio didn’t appear. Her stomach growled again. She climbed down the tree, intending to resume watching later.
Avoiding the playground for now, she wandered in the opposite direction, towards the pond, thinking of a way to get food. If only Adagio was there… what would she do?
As she strolled around the water, she noticed a girl who stood on the edge of the pond, feeding pieces of lettuce to ducks and other birds. She looked vaguely familiar, but Sonata focused on the food. She ran to the girl, which made the birds flew away in all directions – but this time, she didn’t scare them on purpose.
“No, wait! Come back!” the girl said with a soft voice.
Sonata pointed at the bag the girl held, which contained the vegetables. “Hey, can I have some of that?”
The girl stepped back while hiding her face behind her hair. “Oh, I’m sorry, but it’s for the birds…” Her eyes grew wide. “Oh no! You’re one of the sirens!” She covered her mouth with her hand.
“Huh?” Sonata blinked. How did that girl know she was a siren?
She suddenly recognized her, from the Battle of the Bands. She was one of the Rainbooms! Sonata clenched her fists and stomped the ground. “You’re the one who attacked me with magic butterflies!”
The girl whimpered and recoiled again.
Sonata clearly remembered the swarm of purple butterfly-shaped projectiles appearing from the girl’s tambourine, forming a laser heading straight towards her and smashing into her chest. “It hurt, you know!”
The girl’s yellow cheeks turned orange. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. It’s just that, um, well, it was a little bit your fault for trying to brainwash the students and make them fight against each other…”
Sonata pouted. “Not my fault if hate tastes so good!”
“And it kind of looked like you were attacking me and my friends…”
“You started it!”
For a few seconds, none of them said anything, with only the quacks of ducks breaking the silence.
The girl eventually said, “Um, if you don’t mind me asking… Why do you want lettuce?”
“’Cause I’m hungry, duh!”
“Well, if you really want it, I suppose you can take a little…” She extended her bag. “You look like you need it more than they do.”
“Woohoo!” Sonata took a handful of chopped lettuce and shoved it in her mouth, chewing hastily. Success!
Alas, it turned out lettuce didn’t taste that good. Sonata still forced herself to swallow everything, not wanting to waste food. When she had finished eating, against her expectations, the girl was still standing there, staring at her.
“What?”
“Oh, I was just wondering… where are your friends? You seem to be all alone…” The girl looked away. “But, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Sonata scratched her head. “You mean Adagio? She left a few days ago. I’m waiting for her to come back with food and a super plan to get our powers back or something.”
“Oh my… you want to get your powers back?”
“Of course! They make getting food much easier!”
Silence fell again. The girl was shivering and seemed to have turned paler. After a moment she asked, “And the other one… Aria, right? Did she go with Adagio?”
Sonata frowned. She had avoided thinking about Aria. The last time she saw her… it was last Sunday…
Aria slung her hastily filled backpack over her shoulders. “I’m out of here,” she said, a hand holding the cheek where Sonata had punched her.
She stomped out of the apartment without looking back, and slammed the door behind her.
“Aria’s gone. I don’t want to see her again anyway.”
“Oh… I see…” The girl looked at the ground.
Sonata then remembered that she was angry at the girl for the butterfly beam attack. She dashed towards her, roaring like a lion – that was how Sonata scared waterfowl when she was bored. Squealing, the girl fled like a duck and disappeared behind trees. Good riddance.
Sonata still had to find food, tasty if possible. She walked away from the pond to resume her search.
A little farther, a family was picnicking on the lawn. It would be hard to take anything without being noticed, but maybe they would be charitable.
“You want something?” the father asked when she approached.
“Can I have some food? Ooh, chips!”
She reached out for a small bag of potato chips, but the man grabbed it away. “What are you doing? It’s not yours.”
“Please?” Sonata tried to look sad. The man just shook his head. She had to find another way. “I know! I’ll sing for you if you give me the chips!”
“No, I don’t think –”
Without listening to his reply, Sonata sang. Only then did she remember the little detail of her not being able to sing properly anymore. In retrospect, she felt silly for forgetting about it.
“Stop! Stop singing and leave us alone, or I call the police! Get lost!” the man shouted, his face all red and distorted with rage.
Sonata ran away, trembling. She went back to the Watching Tree. Sitting on the branch, she tried to calm down while observing the street.
Why had that man gotten so angry? All she wanted was just a bunch of potato slices! Fine, she didn’t need them anyway. She had pretty much spent all of Tuesday eating chips in front of the television while waiting for Adagio.
Still, the man’s reaction was disturbing. She had never seen someone so angry since… Aria, last Sunday.
Why did Aria lose her temper like that? How could she say such mean things about Adagio? Sonata didn’t understand, but she didn’t regret her reaction then. She knew it was despicable to say that kind of things about a fellow siren, and cowardly to do so when said siren wasn’t present.
Aria’s reasoning didn’t even make sense. She was sleeping! How could she know that Adagio didn’t give an explanation?
She shook her head, not wanting to think about it any longer.
Time passed. No sign of Adagio.
However, she saw a man, who was carrying a stack of pizza boxes, walk along the fence. Her mouth watered. Now that was tastier than lettuce! Her stomach was still mostly empty; she couldn’t miss this opportunity. She climbed down the tree, left the park and ran to the man.
“Hey, can I have a pizza?”
He stopped, looked at her and blinked. “Huh? Why don’t you go and buy one?”
“I mean, can I have one of yours?”
“Of course not. They’re for me and my pals.” He resumed walking.
Once again, asking had proven to be futile. Thankfully, Sonata had a backup plan. She darted back to the man and kicked his leg, tripping him up. He fell forward, dropping the boxes. Sonata caught the topmost one before it hit the ground. Squeezing the box against her chest, she immediately turned around and ran away, ignoring the man’s shouts.
She rushed back to the park, sprinted through a group of trees and jumped behind some bushes. She lay down on her stomach, still pressing the warm box. She was now hidden from view. Heart pounding, she waited. She could hear the singing of the birds, and indistinct voices in the distance, but nothing that sounded like a troubled man looking for a pizza thief.
Slowly raising her head over the bushes, she scanned the area. No one was coming after her. She sat on the ground and opened the box.
Success! The pizza was hers. She couldn’t identify all the toppings, but it smelled delicious. And it was pre-sliced! She grabbed a slice and took a bite. It tasted as good as it smelled.
After devouring two slices, Sonata closed the box and went back to the Watching Tree once more.
Securing the box under her left arm, she attempted to climb. She found it difficult to haul herself with only one arm, and almost fell down a couple times, but she refused to give up, and eventually reached her branch. She sat on it, placed the box on her lap, and watched the street.
Time passed.
Adagio didn’t come.
If she didn’t come this day, she would come on the next one. Sonata was sure of it. It had been one week, after all. It couldn’t possibly take her much longer. One week since the last time she had seen Adagio, on Saturday night…
The Dazzlings ran away from the stage, putting as much distance as possible between the angry audience and themselves until they reached their home. As they climbed the stairs to their apartment, Adagio leading the way, Sonata spoke up.
“My pendant broke!”
“Yeah, we’ve noticed,” Aria snapped. “Our magic is gone. You have a backup plan, Adagio?”
Adagio unlocked and opened the door. “Come in.”
No one said anything else until the three of them were inside and Adagio had closed the door.
“So?” Aria asked.
Sonata’s eyes became wet. “What are we going to do now, Adagio?”
“Let’s just go to bed. We’ll discuss this tomorrow.”
Aria slammed the sofa. “Are you kidding?”
Adagio looked at her with an emotionless face. “We should take the time to calm down and think this through. A good night’s sleep is what we need right now.” She turned towards Sonata and smiled. “Don’t cry. We’ll find a solution.”
Sonata wiped her eyes and nodded. “Yes. I trust you. You’ll come up with a super clever plan.”
Aria humphed and retreated to her bedroom. Sonata walked to her own room. “Good night, Adagio.”
Sonata grabbed another slice of pizza. So the discussion Adagio had promised never happened, but she knew Adagio would have a good justification once she came back.
Sonata couldn’t help smiling at the thought. Soon she would be reunited with Adagio, and never have to worry about hunger again.