Chapter Six

I was just sitting quietly with a smile on my face as I watch the three guys talk to each other.

Brio took a glance at me and sighed. He stood from his seat and sat with me instead.

"Brio." I said, looking at him.

Out of all the Songs I met, Brio was the one who seemed naturally friendly that I kinda felt comfortable with him.

"Well, why just stay quiet here? Join us so we could all get to know each other well, okay?" He said, smiling at me and I nodded my head to him.

The other two stopped talking and looked at me.

"Yeah, Medley. So how's yesterday meeting with the king?" asked Apollo.

Looking at them, I remembered what the king said, that the Songs were out of tune now. They needed me, the Summoned Major to help them find their Melodies. But how should I do that? How can I help them? I don't know how to use the power of tuner, the king didn't tell me about it. The king only told me to tame the 11 Songs but that seems foggy, I didn't know how and where to start. I hope the king could give me the answers today.

I told Apollo that it went well, but still some of my questions left unanswered. He told me not to worry and my questions will be answered in the right time.

I felt someone's eyes on me and I turned to find Reed looking at me. Reed had a boyish face, unlike Apollo and Brio who had manly features.

Reed furrowed his eyebrows at me then smiled as if he found something amusing. I looked at him questioningly and he leaned on the couch.

"Well, well. This new Major key is kind of pretty, don't you think?" He said the chuckled when Apollo and Brio gave him a look.

Apollo shot me an apologetic smile and Brio looked at me, laughing weakly.

"I'm sorry 'bout that, young lady. This guy just have a big mouth. He always say anything he wants without thinking."

My face was flushing as I tried to give them a small smile. What girl who wouldn't get fluttered if a handsome guy, especially a Song gave her a complement? I always know my life as a Key wouldn't be this easy when you have these beautiful creatures around you.

A door opened and Banjo emerged. The light from the chandelier glinted on his glasses as he pushed it up. He looked at us and we fell into silence. Here comes the Hate Prince.

"Get ready in about ten minutes and head over to the throne room." He stopped as his eyes scanned us and sighed disappointingly. "And please get the others." After the door closed after him, I glanced at the guys with me.

Reed stood up and looked at us. "So you heard the Hate Prince. Let's go and get the others. We don't wanna be late at the meeting." He said in a singsong voice and we followed after him as he entered the second door which lead to the hallway.

The hallway was long and lined with luxurious chandelier hanging above. There were about twelve rooms and there were numbers on the doors. Apollo told me that here was where the Keys and Songs stay.

"Alright, Medley. Please do help us get the others. You see those numbers? That tell us our numbers. Since you already knew ours, it would be easy for you knock on the right door." Brio said to me, pointing at the doors.

"Alright, let's go. We don't wanna be late at the meeting." Reed repeated and we went separately as we head towards different doors.

I stopped in front of a door that had a 9 on it. I took a deep breath before knocking twice on the door. I waited for a couple of minutes before knocking again. I furrowed my eyebrows then pressed my ear against the door after hesitating for a minute. It's quite. Is there no one inside? Maybe he's still asleep. I knocked again, this time louder.

"Um, hello?" I shouted but still silence was the only response I got.

"That won't do." I jumped at the sudden voice behind me and I stepped on my own feet. Before I hit the ground, strong arms caught me.

"Careful." His voice was quite and I could feel his breath on my ear.

I quickly rose from his arms and looked at him as I kept a distance. The guy in front of me was surprisingly handsome. He had curly light brown hair and a lazy brown eyes that stared at me. He wore no expression on his face but he didn't give off a cold or intimidating presence like Banjo.

My fear subsided and I began to relax with his presence. I noticed he was holding a book in his hand and I caught a glimpse of the cover. The title was Percy Jackson.

"Oh, you're Jazz?" I exclaimed, surprised. I remember his sleeping figure on the couch yesterday but hadn't seen his face.

Looking at him now, he seemed to be a quiet and bored guy who read a lot. I remembered also how much he sleep.

His face didn't change and remained uninterested. "Oh, you know me." he said in a lazy voice and he sighed.

"Anyways, you don't have to waste your time knocking on this door."

He tapped the book he was holding against the door.

I looked at him, frowning. "So there's no one inside?"

"No. You see, this room belongs to the Ninth Song. And he's sick." As he said the last word, he averted his eyes from me.

The Ninth Song was sick? But why did I feel like something wasn't right as he said he was sick? I stared at the door for a minute and I turned to find Jazz watching me.

"Why are you just standing there? We have to get to the throne room now." Jazz said and walked past me. "You'll know it soon." He added.

I sighed and gave the room number 9 one last look before following him.

The other songs went first and I found out from Reed that it took me long knocking on that door that they already called everyone. Jazz told them what happened and Brio apologized to me quickly. It turned out he forgot to mention about Alto, the Ninth Song.

Apollo, Brio, Reed, Jazz and me headed together towards the throne room and I could see the others walking ahead of us.

As soon as we entered the familiar throne room, I could feel their eyes on me but I kept mine at the King. I gulped as the King ushered me forward and introduced me to the Songs. I could feel my face flushing and I looked at Apollo and Brio. They gave me encouraging smile and I relaxed a little.

"I would like to introduce to you the new summoned Major Key, Medley Donahue. Please take care of her." the King bellowed.

I smiled at them and inhaled as I scanned my eyes to the Songs in front of me. There were four new faces. One of them was smaller and younger. He looked like a shy thirteen year old kid. I was shocked at how young he was, yet he's one of the Songs. He had light blond hair and his eyes were green. He found me staring at him and his face flushed.

"I'm Canon. The eleventh Song. Peace Prince." He said in a trembling voice and I smiled warmly at him.

The guy next to him looked like around my age. He had long dark hair and appeared to be calm. He sighed before introducing himself.

"Harp. The Seventh Song and the Dream Prince."

The one next to him was taller and older. His light brown hair was long and tied in a ponytail. A grin was plastered on his face as he gazed at me and I quickly looked away. His gaze made me uncomfortable, my instinct told me to stay away from that guy. He didn't attempt to introduce himself so I examined the last guy instead.

The last guy seemed aloof. He was standing a bit far from the others. His dark hair was falling to his eyes as he stared at the floor. He looked up at me and his mouth widened slightly.

"My name's Tempo. The Third Song. I'm the Fear Prince."

I stole a glance at Banjo, he was standing with Jazz. His eyes fixated on the king and I sighed. Why do I get the feeling that this guy hated me?

Jazz was looking at me. He had his usual bored face.

"I'm the Eight Song, by the way. The Hope Prince."

When I looked at Apollo, he was wearing his gentle smile and I felt myself blushed. I returned his smile and I turned to find Reed waving at me lightly. He's smiling widely and I saw Brio shook his head at his informal behaviour.

They didn't need to introduce themselves since I already know them.

I frowned as soon as I realized there weren't eleven songs when I counted. There were nine Songs here now and another one was sick. That made it a total of ten songs. Where's the other one?

The king noticed the expression on my face and answered my unvoiced question.

"As you can see, Medley, there are only nine Songs here. The one I sent over abroad and he won't be back in a month. And the other one isn't feeling well."

I see, so the other one was on abroad. So the Ninth Song was really sick. But there's something not really right.

The king watched me and smiled. "I can see questions in your eyes, but you will have to meet the Ninth Song first before I tell you further details on him."

He scanned his eyes at us before speaking again. "I know you are all confused about this sudden turn of events. But since we can't let our country fall into ruins, we have to do something right away. The two previous Keys disappeared and we haven't heard of them ever since. We just have to assume they're gone already."

My eyes widened and I faced the king. So the two missing keys were never found but they summoned a new key still? But the rule of the kingdom wouldn't work like that. What does the king had on his mind?

I gathered courage and confronted the king. "I'm sorry, my King. But I was summoned without any news about the missing Keys? It might be possible that they are still alive somewhere. What will happen if they are found?"

"A consequence, of course."

I looked at where that voice belonged and I found the grinning face of the guy in ponytail. "Pardon me for not introducing myself, milady. I'm Rhapsody, but just call me Rhap. I'm the tenth song. The Desire Prince."

My eyes scanned everyone and it seemed that they weren't surprised by the news. But they looked sullen, they weren't happy about the news also.

"What do you mean by consequence?" I asked Rhap.

"Well, it's not supposed to allow twice summoning, where you summon a replacement if a specific leader is still alive, right? So that could fall into invalid summoning. The punishment for an invalid summoning will bear by the one who is newly Summoned. And that would be you. The consequence is death. So make a prayer that those two missing keys are already dead." Rhap grinned and his eyes never took off me.

"Shut your freakin' mouth, Tenth." Banjo growled, his face flushing in anger as he glared at Rhap.

"Oh, someone's grumpy. I forgot the ex boyfriend is here." Rhap teased, his sharp eyes glaring at Banjo.

"This is ridiculous." Banjo exclaimed angrily before he turned on his heels and walked out from the throne room.

I took a glance at the king but he's rather calm at everything.

I suddenly remembered Banjo's hostility towards me. Rhap mentioned that the previous Major Key was Banjo's ex-girlfriend. So that's why he wasn't happy about my presence. It made sense.

The meeting continued despite what happened. The king told me that the only goal for now was to tune the songs to put the stability and peace back to Cradle.

He also told me about the rings that the Songs were wearing. The sterling silver jade ring were what known as the instruments of the songs. It's important for them to have it to be able to make their melodies work. And the king also mentioned that the ring holds their lives.

I took a deep breath as I let everything sink in. I couldn't believe it, I was really summoned as a Major Key and my goal was to tune the 11 Songs of Sky Castle.

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