The Taint of Wolves

Five months

Chapter Six: Five months.

My fingers drifted along the ivory keys and I imagined music in my mind, spilling out in a symphony of notes and color. 

 The pianist had left her notes on the stand as usual and I knew she would be shouted at for it when she returned. Mrs. Murphn was a strict theatre director and she had to be. This slice of heaven was an architectural masterpiece that had been built in the times of kings and queens - in the age where Lycans were no more than savages, roaming untamed throughout the vast countryside.

I wished that I could have caught a glimpse of the performances they had played here through the centuries, but this slice of beauty was enough to content me now.

I pressed down on a note, listening to it ring up through the great theatre. Up to the marble stone balconies where only the richest could afford to sit and watch the theatre. It faded as it reached the grand domed ceiling where the paint had peeled in years of neglect and disarray. When the theatre had been bought, extensive renovations had been done but nothing could replace the ceiling's artistry; painted by a man long dead and yet, everyone still wanted a piece of him in this world.

"Meg!"

I jolted at the pitched voice. "Yes?"

Lux Armstine planted her hands on her hips, coming to a stop on one of the many stairs leading down to the grand stage. "We're paid to clean, Meg. Not stand around and dream."

"Sorry, Lux." I stepped away from the grand piano and hitched my supply bag over my shoulder. "It's just so pretty."

Lux smiled at me, rolling her eyes. "You think everything is beautiful, Meg."

"Because most things are."

"And yet you say that with no emotion. No passion." Lux waited until I joined her so that we could walk together back up to the foyer. "As if it's a fact."

"It is."

"Maybe I am a little jaded then," Lux shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't believe that," I told her lightly. If there was anyone who I could at least stand to be around, it was Lux. Maybe it was because she didn't ask questions or judge or watch me. She just rattled off about her day and always shared her pack of peppermints with me. It was enough to make me bear the scent of her blond-dyed hair. This month, the ends were dyed a bright and brilliant pink.

"You'd be the first." We stepped out into the empty foyer. A night of music, food and wine had already passed and the last stragglers were now stepping out into the night, safe under the lamp-light. A cold wind passed them, sweeping into the grand foyer and tossing the tickets that the patrons had so carelessly dropped.

"It's going to be a late one tonight," Lux popped a peppermint in her mouth.

I cursed. She was always right about those kinds of things. Despite the prestige of the theatre, people still treated it like a dumping ground. There would be popcorn on the floors and wrapped jammed between seats.

"Ugh," the doors to the bathroom was thrown open and I tensed at the sudden noise, whipping around to face another one of the cleaners. Rachel marched out, slinging a black bag into her trolley. "Why do people insist on bringing their children? They don't appreciate the music or the acting and just moan and cry and leave nappies the size of my head in the bathroom."

"You know you aren't supposed to clean the bathrooms before everyone is gone, Rachel." Lux sighed. "If Miss Murphn finds out about this..."

"And whose going to tell her, huh?" Rachel demanded. "You? Or you?"