are the best, Anna,” Terrence said.
“Oh, now you're just being silly,” she replied.
“So you guys, like, share everything?” Callista asked.
“Yeah, do you?” Fred asked. By the expression on his and his brother's faces, it was obvious they were thinking of something other than song-writing duties.
Callista elbowed Fred hard in the ribs. “You perverts.”
“Um,” they said, blushing slightly.
“I wouldn't say we share everything. But if we don't work as a team, we aren't going to make it in this business,” Nora answered. “And if we aren't friends, we'd throttle each other before we ever got to a show.”
Callista finally laughed.
Maryann kind of jumped and the color drained from her face. Then she shook her head. The other three band members noticed, but didn't say anything.
“Well, if you're all done eating,” Callista said, “do you want to go to the stages and check out your competition?”
“I didn't think this was a competition,” Leah replied mildly.
“Of course it is,” Terrence said suddenly. “All these bands want to make it big and if they do, there's less chance you will.”
“Well, that may be true, I guess,” Maryann said, “but I don't think treating them like enemies or something is helpful.”
“Sure it is,” Fred replied. “You scout them out, find out what their strengths and weaknesses are, and maybe even try to steal their fans away during the show. Whatever it takes.”
“Um, well, we're really not that ruthless,” Leah said.
“If we're good enough, and lucky enough, we'll make it,” Nora added. “Fighting with other bands doesn't serve any purpose. It doesn't make us better, and it doesn't make us luckier.”
The young men sort of shrugged. “Hey, okay, whatever works for you, I guess,” Terrence said. “Anyway, I'm done here so let's do something else.”
They all stood up when Isabella pulled her ringing phone out of her purse. “I've got reception? I can't believe that,” she said, and answered it. She spoke in short, clipped sentences and hung up after only a couple of minutes. “So that was the festival manager. We need to go talk to the Bedlam Stage manager.”
“Seriously?” Leah sighed. “Just like last year.”
“We'd better all go,” Maryann said to the twins. “Last year they kept changing up our time and stage and at this rate we'll get over there and the manager will tell us we're on next.”
“I love this place!” Callista said.
“Maybe we'll meet up later?” Fred asked hopefully.
“Sure,” Maryann said. “There are only three stages and we'll be at one of them.”
The band left the food court and hurried through the crowd as best they could.
“So, they're trouble,” Leah remarked. “That Callista chica was really getting on my nerves. Who cares who's the best singer or drummer or whatever?”
“Obviously she cares,” Nora replied dryly. “Hey, Maryann, why did you jump when Callista laughed?”
“I jumped? Oh, yeah. I don't know. It just startled me, that's all. It just set me on edge for some reason.”
“You aren't going to give your number to those twins, are you?”
“No,” Maryann said stiffly. “If I was, I would have done it.”
“Oh. I just assumed you forgot,” Nora said, just slightly contrite.
“I don't mind the guys, but their sister was annoying me too. What was her deal trying to stir up trouble like that?”
“Some people like that kind of thing,” Isabella answered. “You don't mind the guys? They were acting like this was some kind of war or something.”
The redhead shrugged. “Some people just view things more aggressively. But why do you think I didn't offer my number? This business is hard enough without acting like everyone's our enemy. I mean, I know Mr. Rafel represents the Widgets too, but I'm not going to spy on their shows or stalk their site or anything like that.”
“They're all trouble,” Nora said. “I kind of hope we don't run into them again.”
They got to the Bedlam Stage and sure enough, their show time had been re-scheduled and to the much earlier time of 8:00 PM on the Anarchy Stage. The stage manager did apologize for the inconvenience.
“Can't anything happen the way it's planned here?” Nora sighed.
“You said you wouldn't complain the whole time,” Maryann reminded her.
“It's not that bad,” Isabella said. “But I don't have a single bar of reception right now, so maybe we'd better just hang around this area of the festival.”
“Can't we just check in every hour instead?” Leah asked. “I'd rather go see some of the other shows. Frankly, some of these guys just aren't very good and I don't want to have to listen to that kind of junk all day.”
“Yeah, sure, that sounds like a plan.”
And that's what they did. They watched some of the performance art, which was at times funny, melodramatic, or just plain weird. They checked back in with the stage manager every hour, and as the time approached to play, they headed back to their RV to change into their actual stage costumes. When they got to the RV, they noticed there were in fact more black birds perched on top of their camper than on the other campers in the area.
“You know, it's not actually less creepy to have more birds hanging around,” Leah said.
The wind shifted so abruptly that Isabella nearly passed out and the other three shivered in the early evening heat.
“What was that?” Maryann exclaimed.
“I-I don't know,” Isabella said.
“It has started,” croaked one of the ravens.
“That bird talked!” Leah said.
“You should follow,” said the other.
“I really don't think we should,” Leah countered.
“No, something's really wrong,” Isabella said. “The music just stopped.”
In fact, an eerie silence had descended over the whole festival. They heard no music and the din of voices that served as background noise the entire day had also ceased.
“But this isn't smart,” Nora said. “We don't know what their agenda is.”
“We observe and moderate, and clean up the mess,” answered the first raven.
“Mess? The battlefield,” Maryann whispered. “Like my dream. Okay, we're going to follow you.”
The birds inclined their heads and flapped off at a slow pace, heading to the geographic center of the festival. Everyone they passed was unmoving and facing the center.
“They're under some kind of spell,” Maryann said.
“Or it's the worst flash mob ever,” Leah replied.
Maryann rolled her eyes. “Isabella, can you give us spirit sight?”
“I don't know if that will help, but sure,” she answered, and they paused a moment. The ravens perched on the heads of two people who did not move. She quickly cast her spell and the ravens immediately flew off again. “Those birds are too clever,” she muttered to the others. “They knew when I finished the spell.”
“They can talk. How come that surprises you?” Leah returned.
When they reached the center, they realized the crowd had been divided in half, and the halves were facing each other, as though waiting for a signal. With the aid of Isabella's spell they could see everyone was glowing faintly with an ethereal light, but they didn't know what it meant. The ravens landed in a clear spot.
“What is going on?” Maryann asked them.
“This is the battle,” said the first one. “The stars are aligned and the forces of good and evil will once again fight for a human soul.”
“Oh, so like some great battle of the millennium thing?”
“No,” said the second raven. “You humans have quite a fetish for round numbers, but the cycle of the universe does not depend on your accounting system. The last battle was approximately eight hundred and seventy-three years ago.”
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“But a thousand has a better ring to it,” Leah said.
“Ladies!” Nora snapped. “We're getting distracted. There's going to be a fight for a human soul?”
“Yes,” answered the first raven.
“What's wrong with everyone?” Nora asked.
“There have never been people here for the battle before,” answered the first raven.
“Normally the armies would take their own forms and battle,” said the second.
“But since there are people here, they're going to fight it out through them,” said a voice that was not either raven. It was Callista, and she and her brothers pushed through the opposing crowd.
“Wait, you're not under the spell?” Maryann asked, confused.
“Well, clearly not,” Callista answered. “And neither are you. Let's just say we know some stuff about weird stuff, and I'm guessing at least one of you four do to.”
“What kind of fight is this going to be?” Isabella asked.
“Typically it has been to the death, although 'death' doesn't mean the same to such forces as it does to humans,” answered the first raven.
“Wait, wait, so these people are going to start fighting each other and trying to kill each other?” Nora said, appalled.
“Yeah,” Terrence said.
“There's going to be blood and guts everywhere,” added Fred.
“What? You're excited about ten-thousand people slaughtering each other in the desert?” Nora snapped. “How do you know they won't kill you in the process?”
“They don't even see us,” Callista said nonchalantly. “We're protected. I told you, I know stuff about weird stuff. So we just get to sit back and watch the carnage, or we make things even bloodier.”
“You're sick!” Maryann shouted.
“Oh, don't be so