Free Fairy Metal Thunder (Songs of Magic, #1) by JL Bryan Page B

Katie. Let’s play my happiest song.”
    “‘Stolen Rhino’?” Jason asked.
    Erin smiled and blew a few jazzy, upbeat
sounds on her harmonica.
    “Wait,” Jason said. He picked up the little
pan pipes and held them out to her. “Play this.”
    “It’s too little.”
    “It might not stay that way.” Jason thumped
the instrument in his lap, and Erin gaped.
    The lute had transformed into a guitar. Not
only was it full-sized, but it fit perfectly in Jason’s arms, as if
it had been custom-built for him. The fairy runes were carved all
over the guitar, giving it a strange, engraved texture under his
fingers. The little amethysts were still embedded here and there in
the soundboard, but they hadn’t changed size at all, so they looked
tiny.
    “That’s amazing,” Erin said. She took the
little pan pipes from his hand and studied them. “Where did you get
these instruments, again?”
    “It’s just what I said,” Jason told her.
“There’s a door to the fairy world in Mrs. Dullahan’s yard. That’s
where I found them.”
    “I want to go to the fairy world!” Katie
said.
    “It’s very dangerous over there,” Jason said.
“And crazy. I’m not going back.”
    “But I want to,” she complained.
    “You really don’t,” Jason said. Now he felt
like an idiot for talking about fairies in front of his little
sister—of course she’d be interested. “They aren’t nice fairies
like in stories. They carry big swords and they walk around
threatening everyone. They’re nasty, scary fairies. You have to
stay away, Katie.”
    “Scary fairies?” Katie pouted. Her eyes were
still puffy from crying.
    “Scary fairies,” Jason repeated, nodding.
    Erin held the tiny pipes to her lips and
blew. The sound was haunting, and a cool breeze seemed to pass
through the garage, though the doors to the outside were
closed.
    The pipes swelled in her hands as if she were
blowing up a row of balloons. Then the instrument was large enough
for her to play each pipe individually. As with the
lute-turned-guitar, each pipe gave a different sound and inspired a
different, overpowering emotion. As Erin blew on the pipes, Jason
felt like his brain was working faster, generating lots of ideas.
He was getting excited.
    “Are you ready to play yet?” Katie asked.
    “I’m ready,” Erin said, giving Jason a smile.
She blew some bright notes through the more cheerful-toned pipes.
“I’m not too sure how to play this thing.”
    “Just treat it like it’s your harmonica,”
Jason said. “I think it adapts to you.”
    “Cool!” Erin played more notes, and the pan
pipes wiggled to fit better into her fingers. Erin laughed. “It
tickles.”
    Jason began playing “Stolen Rhino” on his
guitar. It was a fast, peppy, simple song.
    Erin accompanied him on the pipes. The guitar
vibrated in his hands, tuning into the pipe sound and harmonizing
with it. Hot wind tousled his hair, but he couldn’t tell where it
was coming from.
    Erin lowered the pipes and sang:
     
    You took me for a date at the zoo
    Said my love left something to prove
    So I did all I knew to do
    I stole a fat rhinoceros for you!
     
    Stolen rhino, in my car
    Stolen rhino, now love me more
    Stolen rhino, I did it for you
    Stolen rhino, don’t make me steal two!
     
    Katie was laughing her head off. Erin played
a musical interlude. The pan pipes shifted and molted in her
fingers, and finally settled into the shape of a wooden harmonica
carved with fairy runes.
    After the fun song, the whole room seemed to
glow, as if everyone and everything were infused with a warm,
golden light.
    “I love that song!” Katie shouted. “Play it
again now!”
    Jason and Erin’s eyes met, and they both
burst into uncontrollable giggles, and then full-blown hysterical
laughter, as if they’d both had nitrous oxide at the dentist’s
office. It was a few minutes before they could calm down enough to
talk again.
    “Wow,” Erin said. She looked at her new
harmonica, Jason’s guitar,