First Song

- Casey -

I couldn’t get over how hot this girl was. I’d suffered from insomnia for quite a while, and she was definitely not helping.

Then she sent me another photo, smiling cutely at the camera. She even had a squirrel sitting on her shoulder, looking like some kind of fantasy pirate captain.

I couldn’t help but laugh at what had happened with the squirrel. When she’d asked me for a name for her, I thought it was some kind of personality test or something. I gave her the first name that came to mind – Sabina Wilson, the character from that movie.

She’d taken the name as a serious suggestion and used it on an actual pet fucking squirrel. This girl was insanely cute and Sabina was adorable. I told her as much in a few more messages.

Rfe123: Not as cute as you

My eyes widened. Holy shit, was she flirting back? I’d been doing some light flirting with her all night, but she’d never really seemed to reciprocate until now.

I waited to see whether she was going to back down or apologize or something, but no. The message just sat there.

To test the waters, I gave her a smiley face in reply.

‘Ask her where she is,’ Hunter instructed into my mind.

“That fucking creepy, dude. She’s going to think I’m a stalker,” I said in a whisper.

‘We must find her. She is unstable and I do not trust in Muse’s ability to keep her under control,’ they replied.

Reluctantly, I sent a message asking where she was. It took a little while, and I’d started to worry that I’d pushed too hard, but she eventually answered. That was weird – I thought she’d be a bit more hesitant than that to divulge personal information to strangers.

We kept on talking for the rest of the night, and into the early hours of the morning. I really did need some sleep though, so we ended our chat session with promises to talk later. The moment I put my cell down, I wanted to pick it up again. It took all of my willpower not to keep messaging her.

In the morning, Hunter wouldn’t shut up about finding Erin and Muse. They were normally insistent on the things that they wanted, but this was a whole other level.

“What’s the rush? Why not wait a few days?” I’d asked them as I packed away some things into my luggage bag.

‘She is dangerous, and Muse is incapable of reining her in. I do not know what she is doing but we must find them immediately,’ they insisted. Honestly, they’re such a pain in the ass sometimes.

“Are you sure you aren’t just really eager to catch up with Muse?” I teased.

Silence. Whoa, okay. I see what’s going on here.

I still had several months before my classes began at college, so I figured that a little trip couldn’t hurt too much. There was also the little fact that I really wanted to meet this girl in real life. She seemed fun. Did I mention the flirting?

The moment I stepped outside, I put on my shades. I’d noticed how a lot of people would look at my eyes whenever I was in public, so this was a necessity. Unwanted attention was not good.

Breakfast was a pretzel and some coffee that I picked up on the way to the Hauptbahnhof – the main rail station. It was quite a heavy breakfast compared to what I usually ate, but I figured it was probably going to be a long day.

I’d already ordered my tickets for pick up when I got to the station, making boarding the train to Brussels in Belgium no problem at all. Oh, how I loved the open borders inside the EU.

German trains are actually pretty clean and well-kept. I found an empty seat quite easily, setting down my luggage and backpack on the one next to me.

All the station names were announced in German, but I had no trouble understanding the computerized voice. Generally, train rides here were friendly to non-natives like me.

There weren’t that many people on the train this early on a Sunday. I had to change once, onto a different train, but after that I got to spend my time daydreaming in peace across the border to Belgium.

I switched at Brussels central station, and easily found my way to where I needed to be.

The hassle didn’t start until I arrived at the Eurostar terminal. I must have had a flag against my passport or something. After I scanned myself through using the machine, one of the border guards approached me. I sighed – time for some more of those ‘extra checks’.

God damnit. Didn’t these guys get bored of those? I was led aside to another room, where my belongings were searched, the standard questions asked, and my bag swabbed for traces of both explosives and drugs.

Guess what. I’m still not a terrorist or a drug mule.

After that, some suits entered the room and things became more serious. My stomach felt like I’d just swallowed a whole bucket of ice. They spoke with some strange European accent, but their English was pretty good. I guess even the European countries had their own spooks.

I was instructed to take a seat at a table in the corner. I hadn’t been arrested yet, so I figured that this wasn’t as serious as it could be.

First, they started to ask me more intrusive questions than I’d had from the guard. They seemed to be especially interested in one of the videos of me that had been circulating the net recently. That is, the one with me getting assaulted.

I denied knowing anything about it. Who the fuck even films themselves assaulting a woman? A shiver ran down my spine, but I kept my composure.

The smaller of the two – both of them were men – pulled out a tablet. He held it up to me and tapped the screen. The clip of my own assault began, the two men watching for my reaction.

“Whoa, who is she? She looks really badass,” I faux gushed, watching myself as I handled those thugs that had tried to snatch me. “It looks like some kind of art project that some guys at college would have made.”

The inquisition came at me from all different angles, but I stuck to that story. It was just CGI and I knew nothing more.

The suits didn’t look overly convinced, but they shrugged their shoulders. The smaller one of the two took the tablet again, and flicked it over to another snippet. This time it was of me rescuing those girls from the child traffickers.

You know, I actually didn’t think there was much here. Sure, it was me but the camera was too far away to really identify me. That could have been virtually anyone.

“Thank god someone saved them,” was all I said, giving the suits a grim smile. “Though I thought I heard the Police found them in a raid?”

They sighed to each other. I could tell that they had been hoping for more from me. They showed me one final video. This one was Erin, though no one even knew who she was, let alone that this was her.

“Whoa. That’s the one from the news,” I said, leaning in to get a better look. I guess it was time for me to go on the offensive.

“Are you guys just really interested in art projects? I’m sorry, but I’m studying architecture. If you need some help, I might know some guys though.”

They looked at each other for a moment, and the small dude folded their arms. The other sat down on the chair next to me, looking me in the eyes. “So what reason do you have for travelling today?” they asked.

“Dude, I’m just sightseeing!” I said, incredulous. “I’ve already missed my train because of this horseshit. Charge me with something or let me go.”

---

It took far too long to get out of that room, and yes, I had missed the train I’d been booked on. I had to get my ticket moved to the next available crossing. The way I’d been treated wasn’t really overly heavy handed, but they sure didn’t care about wasting my time.

If I were being honest, I wasn’t even sure how I was going to find Erin once I arrived at her hometown. But that was something for future Casey to worry about. Just like training.

I knew that if I’d voiced that out loud that Hunter would have been sputtering at me for wasting our time.

Erin had sent me a message while I was being questioned, and I was sorely tempted to reply, but I couldn’t think of what I’d say to her. I hadn’t asked if it was okay to visit, Hunter had just told me that it was important that we do.

That stalker I had worried she thought I was? Yeah. Turns out she wouldn’t be wrong to think that, after all.

“I’m blaming all this on you,” I whispered to Hunter, quietly.

Once I was actually boarded onto the train I felt myself relax significantly. This was the one that left Brussels, went underneath the English Channel, and arrived in London a few hours later.

I stored my luggage and my backpack in the overhead storage rail thing, and settled back down in my seat.

Still feeling pretty beat, I tried to sleep. Some kid had decided to make a sport out of kicking the back of my seat, though. I peeked back between the seats and gave them a glare – they stopped. The adult in the seat next to them was asleep. God. Damn. Shitty. Parents.

So, imagine that you’re on a plane, just without the unending, crippling fear that you could die at any moment. That’s what it felt like to be on the Eurostar.

After what felt like an eternity in the blackness beneath the English Channel, we emerged to a sky that had turned a deep blue. It had already been pretty late, getting into evening, when we’d entered the tunnel and it was the same when we arrived on the other side. Time Zones are weird. If anyone wanted proof of the world being a sphere? Time Zones.

“How will we even find her?” I whispered, being careful not to sound like a loon to the woman sitting next to me.

‘Finding things is what I do. It’s why I am called what I am,’ Hunter grumbled.

Well, I guess they get to prove it. No pressure or anything. It’s only your entire name and reputation at stake.

Everyone disembarked the train when we arrived in London a while later. I fought my way through the crowds to find where my next train journey began. Despite it being such a short trip by American standards, I was getting super tired. I was starting to think that we might have to find a hotel for the night at this rate.

I used my cell to find the correct underground station, and we rode it for several stops to Paddington. Wasn’t that some kind of kid’s show way back?

I stretched out across two seats for what I hoped was the final leg of my journey. Trains were dumb and I hated them all.

It was impossible to get much sleep on them, and you had to always worry about missing your stop if you did. The trains in England were also much less well maintained than those I’d left behind in Germany. There was even gum stuck to the seat next to me. What kind of monster does that?

“I’m going to sleep for a week after this,” I grumbled at Hunter. A pretty girl across the aisle looked at me like I was insane, but I gave her a smile anyway. There’s no reason to be rude to strangers.

When I finally arrived at Erin’s hometown, I took a moment to stand on the platform and consider everything still ahead of me. We still had no idea where she was, and I didn’t even know if my legs could carry me that far. With luggage in hand and my backpack over my shoulder, it just all felt like this was going to be too much for me today. I needed to sleep.

The light was fading now, and it was getting really late. Summer days here felt like they went on forever.

“I’m gonna text her,” I announced, reaching for my phone.

‘There’s no need. I can feel Muse,’ Hunter whispered into my mind.

“Yeah, but shouldn’t we warn her that we’re coming?” I asked.

‘We’re almost there. It would be a shame to ruin the surprise,’ was their reply to me.

Wait, Hunter wanted us to surprise them? Why?

With Hunter guiding me, I hauled my things along street after street. I had been wondering just exactly how close we were for the last ten minutes. Should I just call a cab or something? Did they even have cabs?

“So how can you detect Muse? Can’t she just do the same to you? Won’t she see us coming anyway?” I asked. My fingers were going numb from the vibrations as my bag rolled along the ground.

‘Perhaps. She feels distracted, however. If we don’t do anything remarkably stupid, she shouldn’t expect us,’ Hunter answered.

Distracted? What would distract one of these alien things that much?

We’d been walking another twenty minutes when Hunter spoke into my head again. I’d been feeling like I just wanted to drop down into a heap and fall asleep by that point.

‘It is here,’ they said.

I looked at the house that we were outside, but all the lights were off inside. Still, I pointed.

“This one?”

‘To the right,’ Hunter corrected.

“That one?” I asked, pointing somewhere two doors down. I was doing it on purpose.

‘No, to the left,’ Hunter answered, getting a little more frustrated.

I cackled softly and looked at Erin’s house. My playfulness subsided as I stood there, watching the building for a while. My nerves were really starting to hit me and I looked down at the sidewalk.

‘You may want to message her now,’ Hunter suggested.

I’d get right on that. Just give me, like, a few minutes to compose myself.

---

- Erin -

Look out my window? What did she mean?

Hesitant, I did as asked and scanned our dimly lit back garden. I didn’t see anything immediately obvious. My window was open a little, so I tried leaning out even more. Nothing.

I texted her back, confused.

Me: What am I looking for?

There was a pause and my heart felt like it was beating a hole through my chest. Another message popped up and I checked the screen again.

SeaKo34: Wait are you at the back or front?

Me: The back

SeaKo34: Alright shit come to the door

An excited giggle rose up in my chest and I felt like my heart had skipped a beat. I reached for the skirt that Sarah had loaned me for the day, slipping into it. So, dressed in a baggy t-shirt and a cute, ankle-length skirt, I rushed downstairs to open the door. I didn’t care that I was mismatched.

‘Did Hunter drag her all the way here?’ Muse asked me, sounding shocked. It was pretty rare for Muse to be surprised by anything.

Dad was actually still in the living room watching TV when I passed, but I completely ignored him for now.

I threw myself at the front door and yanked it open.

There she was, standing on the pavement, looking completely exhausted and dead on her feet. She had a suitcase next to her and her rucksack slung over a shoulder. Her face was illuminated by the screen of her phone, but she looked up at me after a fluttering heartbeat.

It took all of my self-control not to throw myself at her. Instead I took a few steps onto the brick path that led through our front lawn – and immediately gritted my teeth. I had only just realised that I was barefoot.

“Hey,” she said, with that slight American twang. Even in the low light, the gold in her eyes still stood out against her lightly tanned skin.

“Hey,” I replied back, breaking into a smile. “How did you get here?”

---

“Come inside?” I asked her, gesturing towards the door. I could see that she was tired and my parents were usually accommodating to guests.

“Sure,” she accepted, beaming me a smile and pulling her suitcase behind her. She stalked behind me as we moved towards the door.

“Thanks. Sorry for – you know – not warning you I was coming. Hunter was adamant I didn’t,” she said to me, her cheeks turning bright red. She was just as cute in person.

I didn’t trust myself to answer her at the moment, so I just gave her a reassuring grin.

My heart was racing a million miles an hour as we stepped into the hall, and I closed the door behind us.

“Wait here a sec,” I told her, turning shy as our eyes met.

I stepped into the living room to find my Dad half-asleep in front of some movie he had been watching. He woke up as I entered, looking at me in confusion for half a second.

“Erin?” he asked, turning to see Casey by the front door.

“Hey Dad. Is it okay if Casey stays the night? She’s come a long way and really needs somewhere to sleep,” I requested. I gave him my biggest puppy dog eyes.

He nodded to me, then looked to Casey and gave her one of his Dad nods, too. “Mmm. Yes. I’ll make sure your mother knows.”

“Pleased to meet you, sir,” Casey drawled at him, giving him a wide smile. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

Dad looked at me awkwardly, and I laughed. I don’t think he’d been called ‘sir’ in his own home before.

I reached down to take her suitcase from her. It’d been a long day for her – I could tell – and I wanted to help. Our fingers brushed as I reached for the handle.

We both gasped at the same time, feeling some form of energy transfer. We caught each other's gaze, staring into golden eyes. We could feel some kind of sensation, and it was flowing from me into Casey. It was over in an instant, but it had felt… strange. What was that?

‘It was… nothing Erin,’ Muse said, sounding flustered. ‘Just Hunter and I greeting one another.’