The traffic slowed as they neared Eureka, coming to a complete stop a minute later.
"I didn't think a place as small as Eureka had rush-hour traffic like this," Harmony muttered as she stared at the cars and semi-trucks parked around them on the four-lane divided highway.
"It's a weekend, so this wouldn't be rush-hour traffic anyway," her mother pointed out. "Maybe there was a wreck or there is construction."
Harmony's phone began buzzing. She pulled it out of the door pocket and unlocked it. "There's an Amber Alert. Maybe that's why the traffic is backed up. Maybe they're searching vehicles."
"An Amber Alert?" Aurora repeated questioningly.
Harmony grimaced as she responded. "It means someone has been kidnapped. Law enforcement sends an alert out to all cell phones in the area in hopes that people will keep an eye out for the missing person and call the police."
"What does she look like?" Rhapsody asked intently. There was no sign of a smile on her delicate features. Her expression reminded Harmony of the previous night, when she had beat the crap out of David.
"She's twelve, has shoulder-length brown hair, braces, and brown eyes," Harmony read the description. "Her name is Leslie."
Rhapsody remained silent as Harmony stared at the picture posted. "It says she was last seen walking downtown with her older sister, who is also missing." She passed her phone back and let them see the picture.
The traffic began to inch forward as they waited. The mood in the car had grown somber as they slowly moved forward. Her mother glanced in the rearview mirror with a questioning look in her eyes. Aria turned to see what she was looking at, but her nieces and Rhapsody were just staring ahead.
"Do you mind if we make a detour to the beach while we are here?" Rhapsody asked them, her face still as close to grim as Harmony had seen it.
"Not at all," her mother replied quickly, her eyes flashing up to the rearview mirror and back to the road quickly. Harmony frowned as she stared at her mother. Why had she looked relieved?
It took another ten minutes before they passed the roadblock, where uniformed police officers were quickly searching each car before letting them proceed. The policeman had asked them where they were going and where they were from before letting them leave. I hope they catch the bastard and shoot his balls off.
"Can we turn here?" Rhapsody asked as they neared an exit.
Harmony's mother nodded and took the exit, frequently looking back at Rhapsody expectantly. Harmony glanced back at Rhapsody curiously as she continued telling Harmony's mother which roads to turn on for the next ten minutes. Harmony had opened her mouth to ask how Rhapsody was so familiar with the city several times, but the words died on her lips when she saw the look of grim focus on Rhapsody's face.
"Stop!" Rhapsody called out sharply, staring at an old modular home with a fenced in property. Harmony's mother immediately stopped the vehicle.
"What's the matter?" Harmony asked in alarm.
"I just saw the girl in that picture in that house," Rhapsody answered as she unbuckled her seat belt. "Call the police. Stay in the car."
She opened the door to leave but stopped as Harmony called out to her.
"Rhapsody, just wait for the police," she begged her desperately.
"It could be too late by then," Rhapsody replied grimly, closing the door behind her.
"She'll be okay," Aurora told Harmony confidently as her mother called the police. "You remember what she did to my dad last night."
Harmony watched Rhapsody scale and jump the fence in less than a second. She began running toward the house, and she was fast. She didn't even slow down when she reached the front door. She slammed into it with her shoulder, and it burst in like it was made of kindling. Harmony felt like her heart was in her mouth as she watched her disappear into the house.
"911, what is your emergency?" the dispatcher asked brusquely.
"We just saw a girl that was in an amber alert inside of a house down by the beach," her mother told the dispatcher, quickly giving her the address. "Can you please send some officers over here? And some ambulances."
"Is somebody hurt?" the dispatcher asked quickly.
"If not yet, then soon," her mother replied grimly.
There were several gunshots from inside the house. Harmony felt like her stomach was going to burst through her chest as she debated getting out and running to Rhapsody's aid. She didn't want to become a liability, which she knew was all she would be in a fight.
There was more gunfire, this time sounding like a machine gun. The house suddenly lit up incandescently, making the noon-day sunlight seem dim in comparison.
"What the hell was that?" Harmony cried out in fear.
"She's fine, Aunt Harmony," Serenity told her reassuringly. "It's the other people who you should worry about."
"Is that gunfire?" the dispatcher asked urgently.
"Yes," her mother replied tersely.
"Are you in a safe location?" the dispatcher asked concernedly. "The police are on on their way. Move your vehicle away from the residence."
"Yes ma'am," Harmony's mother put the car back in drive and moved a few thousand feet down the road.
"I'm going back for her," Harmony declared in a quavering voice.
"No, Harmony!" her mother snapped, her eyes hard. "You stay here. Rhapsody can handle herself."
"Ma'am is there somebody else trying to enter the residence?" the dispatcher asked tensely.
"Yes, she's already gone inside to free the girls," her mother replied with a sigh. "That's why I requested the ambulances."
"Ma'am, I can't emphasize enough how important it is that you leave this to law enforcement," the dispatcher stressed in an urgent voice. "You'll be putting the victims in danger and making it harder for law enforcement to determine friend and foe."
"I understand your concern," her mother replied in a placating voice. "However, there were concerns that law enforcement wouldn't arrive in time. The only people still moving will be friendlies when they arrive."
The sounds of sirens quickly grew louder as several police cars raced up to the residence. The police exited their cars and stood behind their vehicles, guns trained on the residence. One of the policemen began speaking through his PA.
"This is the Police!" the voice blared loudly. "Come out with your hands behind your head and lay face down on the ground."
More police cars began showing up as they waited. Several ambulances parked further down the road, well clear of where any gunfire might take place. The police broadcast their message for the inhabitants to come out of the house several more times over the next ten minutes. An armored SWAT van rolled up and crashed through the fence. It drove right up to the house and parked by the front door. The SWAT team fired several tear gas cannisters through the windows. As tear gas poured out of the open door, the team began charging through the door with weapons trained in front of them.
Harmony flinched as the door to the car opened and Rhapsody climbed in. Where had she come from? Harmony had been watching the house the entire time, and there had been no sign of anyone leaving the house.
"Are they… okay?" Harmony's mother asked, trepidation in her voice.
"They're fine," Rhapsody assured her with a sad smile. "They were a little roughed up, but I took care of them. There were fifteen in total. They were using this as a staging site, where they shipped them off to other facilities for processing and behavioral training."
Harmony was staring at Rhapsody with tears of relief in her eyes. She longed to hold the small woman in her arms and never let her go. Rhapsody's lips turned up at the corners when she looked back at Harmony, her expression conveying a sense of reassurance and comfort.
"What about the ones responsible for abducting them?" Harmony's mother asked, her mouth twisted with distaste.
"I hope they make better choices in their next lives," Rhapsody replied solemnly.
Harmony's mother grunted in satisfaction.
"Ma'am am I to understand that your companion has left the residence?" the dispatcher's voice asked crisply.
They all looked at her mom's phone in consternation as they realized the dispatcher had stayed on the line with them.
"No, I'm no longer in the residence, Teresa," Rhapsody answered the dispatcher. "Thank you for sending the police to help."
Rhapsody nodded at Harmony's mother, and she ended the call.
"Shall we continue to the beach?" Rhapsody asked brightly. "I think the waves on my feet would feel marvelous right now."
"That sounds pretty marvelous to me," Harmony's mother smiled her agreement as she put the car back in gear and drove away.
As Rhapsody sat back in between Serenity and Aurora, she was given some awkward seat hugs as the two of them tried to hug her around their seatbelts. She laughed and affectionately patted their heads before pulling her seatbelt on.
Harmony took a deep, shuddering breath. She closed her eyes as she let her breath out and a few tears leaked down her cheeks. She had felt confident that Rhapsody could handle any threat thrown at her, but when she had heard so much gunfire, she couldn't stop a small part of her mind from gibbering in terror. Now that she had found such a special person in her life, the thought of losing her filled Harmony with soul-eating dread.
It only took ten minutes to arrive at the beach. Harmony had spent most of it trying to dry her eyes and pull herself together. Her mother and nieces had never doubted Rhapsody for a second. She wished she could turn off the part of herself that turned her into anxious nervous Nelly. Much of the four years she had spent taking care of her Grandma Dotty had consisted of frequent waves of anxiety as she worried about her nieces being left in the hands of their horrible father and frequently depressed mother. When she hadn't been worrying about her nieces, she had been worrying about her grandmother's failing health. The more she had gotten to know her grandmother, the more attached she had become. It had been a rough year, losing her grandmother and sister in quick succession.
They pulled into a park next to a large amphitheater that had access to the beach. Harmony got out of the car and stretched, letting out her bestial scream before she remembered she wasn't in the privacy of her home. Several other tourists spun around to stare at her in startlement. She covered her eyes with her hand as she groaned with embarrassment. Rhapsody walked up next to her with an amused smile curving her expressive lips.
"We should warn your nieces to be careful out here," Rhapsody told her with an expression of faux concern. "It sounds like there might be a wild beast on the loose."
Harmony shook her head ruefully, though she couldn't help smiling. Being this close to Rhapsody after being separated in the car for the last hour had buoyed her spirits immensely.
Her nieces raced past them and ran onto the boardwalk that led to the amphitheater. She looked down at Rhapsody with a challenging grin.
"Race ya," she offered, grin widening when Rhapsody nodded eagerly. Too late, she remembered how fast she had just seen Rhapsody run when she stormed the human trafficking house. They were both running, Harmony at her top speed, when Rhapsody suddenly poured on the speed and left her in the dust. Harmony stared in disbelief as she witnessed what must have been a record sprint. She remembered how light Rhapsody was when she had been in her arms. Could being that light add that much of a speed advantage? Apparently so.
It didn't take her very long to reach the amphitheater where her nieces and Rhapsody were waiting. The little siren wasn't even breathing hard when Harmony reached her. There were a few other people admiring the view and posing for pictures. Harmony realized she hadn't taken any pictures of her nieces since they had moved in with her. When they were younger, she had taken pictures religiously. She had wanted to have a lot of photographic evidence of the silly things they did so that she could show it to their future romantic interests. As she thought of those pictures, a brilliant idea occurred to her. She had thousands of pictures and videos in her iCloud drive with them and their mother. It was time to put together a slideshow and relive some of those wonderful memories with her nieces. It would be fun to show Rhapsody too.
"Who's up for some frolicking in the waves?" Rhapsody asked with an impish smile.
"It's so cold at this time of year though!" Harmony objected plaintively.
"We don't have to go swimming in it," Rhapsody assured her with a playful smile. "We can just get our legs wet."
"Okay, I'm game," Harmony grinned, feeling a warm fuzzy in her abdomen as she stared at Rhapsody's playful smile.
They quickly made their way down to the beach and stepped into the shallow waves. Harmony had remembered correctly; it was definitely still cold. She squealed as the first wave washed over her knees. She ran back to the shore as another wave threatened to go even higher. Rhapsody was smiling warmly as she watched Harmony from a few feet closer to shore. Harmony froze as she saw the beautiful sight of her crimson-haired goddess, up to her knees in the ocean. Her hair was blowing to the side of her head in the stiff breeze, rippling like a banner. Rhapsody moved toward her, that warm smile never leaving her face. She reached out and took Harmony's hand and pulled her downward until she could put her mouth near Harmony's ear.
"Breathe," Rhapsody instructed with a teasing smile.
Harmony let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She laughed at herself, shaking her head ruefully.
"I have something for you," Rhapsody told her with a secretive smile.
Harmony looked her up and down curiously. "What?"
Rhapsody grinned, then launched herself up and wrapped her arms and legs around Harmony. Harmony gasped in surprise, quickly catching her balance. She could feel Rhapsody's wet legs and feet on her bare back. Her heart thundered as she stared at the beautiful face just inches away from her, full red lips smiling at her provocatively. She felt heat rush through her body as Rhapsody's body molded itself against her own, her perfect breasts squeezed against her own breasts. Rhapsody leaned her head forward and put her lips to Harmony's ears.
"Breathe, Harmony," Rhapsody whispered huskily. She ran both hands up the base of Harmony's neck through her hair until her fingers were pressing against the scalp at the back of her head. She began softly massaging Harmony's head, receiving an immediate moan of pleasure. She bit her bottom lip as her face flushed in embarrassment.
"Nobody can hear you over the sound of the waves," Rhapsody told her in the same husky whisper. "Now moan for me, or I won't think you like it."
Harmony thought her body would combust from the heat flushing her system. She gasped at the intensity of the sudden surge of longing that assailed her body. Another moan escaped her mouth without permission as she felt the hands of a goddess expertly kneading her scalp. She closed her eyes as the waves of pleasure washed through her body in harmony with the waves at her feet. Tingles radiated down her spine and up her scalp as Rhapsody explored her head with sensuous fingers. It felt so intimate that she nearly opened her eyes to make sure nobody was watching. There was something about the motion and intensity of the other woman's hands that turned it into an erotic experience. Every minute or so she would feel Rhapsody's lips brushing her ear like a feather and instructing her to breathe. After five minutes of bliss, the reminders became unnecessary as Harmony's breaths came in short, excited gasps. What was this goddess doing to her? Was it really possible to bring someone so much pleasure just from kneading their head? She decided it was, if that person was Rhapsody.
Their moment of intimacy ended abruptly when a freak wave crashed into her and knocked her over. She tried to spin to land on her back and break Rhapsody's fall, but the waves mercilessly pushed her down on top of the other woman.
Rhapsody's legs released their hold on her waist as they fell, and the two of them plunged into ocean. Harmony struggled to get to her feet, grabbing at Rhapsody to pull her back up.
"I'm so sorry--" she broke off as she heard Rhapsody giggling with delight. The laughter was so infectious that Harmony found herself laughing with the other woman. She looked down at her soaking Levi shorts and tank top. Her long blonde hair was completely saturated. She was already shivering from the cold as she began to slog her way up the beach, Rhapsody's hand in hers. She noticed Rhapsody's hair barely looked wet at all.
So not fair! Harmony thought bitterly. Her hair is waterproof!
As they reached the sandy beach, Harmony turned to face Rhapsody, teeth chattering. She froze as she viewed the other woman. Rhapsody's shirt was plastered to her chest, leaving nothing to the imagination of what lay beneath. Rhapsody stepped up closer to Harmony and looked her up and down, her gaze pausing on Harmony's chest. Her lips spread into a slow, sensuous smile as she looked back up at Harmony.
"Breathe, Harmony," Rhapsody ordered, an appreciative smile on her lips as she stared at Harmony's chest.
"It's getting a bit nipply out here, isn't it," her mother noted dryly as she joined them.
Harmony creased her brows as she looked at her mother uncomprehendingly. "Nipply? You mean nippy?"
"Nope," her mother shook her head once, a mischievous smile on her face. "I meant what I said."
Realization dawned, and Harmony looked down at her chest. With a cry of chagrin, she quickly folded her arms over her chest as her face flushed a deep crimson. Rhapsody made no move to cover herself.
"There's nothing wrong with being female," Rhapsody informed her dryly, her lips forming an amused half-smile. "Guys go around topless all of the time, and nobody complains about their nipples showing."
"I do," Harmony disagreed through chattering teeth, earning a laugh from the other two women.
"Have you had your fill of the ocean yet?" Harmony's mother asked Rhapsody, her lips still twitching.
"I do believe I have," Rhapsody admitted with an appreciative smile at Harmony. "We better get this popsicle back to the car before she catches hypothermia."
"Aren't you cold?" Harmony asked in amazement. The small woman showed no indication that she was cold in the least.
"It's one of those homeschooled tricks we learn," Rhapsody told her with a playful smile. "We just ignore the cold."
"That's not how biology works," Harmony objected as she began walking back to the car with the two of them. "If your organs drop below a certain temperature, your body makes you shiver to warm them up."
"Exactly," Rhapsody smirked up at her from where she walked next to her. "I just told my organs not to drop below a certain temperature. Problem solved."
"Do you have frequent conversations with your organs?" Harmony asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Only when I want to have an intelligent conversation," Rhapsody answered with an impish grin.
Aurora and Serenity saw them leaving from further down the beach and raced toward them, grins of delight on their faces.
"Those two are too damn cute," Harmony murmured through her chattering teeth, an affectionate smile on her face. "I still can't believe they got so big so fast."
"Their lives certainly improved when they came to live with you," her mother noted with a mixture of sadness and pride. "I used to never see them smile or laugh."
Harmony felt a stab of guilt at having abandoned them for the last four years of their lives. Hearing how miserable they had been made it clear that she should have found a better way to split her time between Grandma Dotty and her nieces.
"I heard a saying once that stuck with me," Rhapsody commented thoughtfully. "The greatest art requires both darkness and light to create depth."
Harmony glanced at the other woman suspiciously. Is she reading my thoughts again?
She knew Rhapsody wasn't, but sometimes it sure felt like she was. Reading thoughts was a fictional ability, and Harmony had a solid grasp on what was fictional and what was real.
Harmony's mother looked over at Rhapsody and then over to Harmony. "Don't go blaming yourself for David being a miserable bastard. Don't get hung up on the past and second guess everything you've done in life. Just take what you've learned and move forward."
Harmony smiled as she shivered. "You're sounding pretty wise, Mom. Maybe you should start your own book of quotes."
Her mother rolled her eyes and smacked her shoulder. "I was having a serious mom moment there, and you spoiled it."
Aurora and Serenity caught up to them and started giggling when they saw the two soaking wet women.
"Did you two go swimming on purpose?" Serenity asked doubtfully, eyeing the two of them with a mixture of amusement and sympathy.
"There was this freak wave that came out of nowhere and knocked us into the water," Harmony chattered bitterly. "I think we pissed off Poseidon or something."
Her nieces both looked at Rhapsody expectantly.
"Maybe Poseidon just wanted to see you in a wet shirt," Rhapsody suggested with a wink.
Aurora, Serenity, and her mother laughed way harder than the comment justified. Harmony frowned at them as she tried to think of an inside joke that could justify their mirth.
Rhapsody received more than a few stares as they walked back to the car, making no attempt to hide her more salient points from observation. Harmony probably did more staring than all of the other people combined. The way Rhapsody's shirt molded itself to her form was a special kind of torture. Rhapsody would stop every twenty feet and remind her to breathe. She tried to just stop peeking, but her treacherous eyes always found a reason to look over at Rhapsody, which sent her into a tailspin as her overactive imagination began imagining scenarios where she did more than just look at her very pointed proclamation of womanhood.
"There's an ice cream shop over there if you all want to get a treat," Rhapsody pointed at a small building a thousand feet down the boardwalk.
"No thanks," Harmony declined firmly through her chattering teeth. "I'm going to the car to get warm."
"I can take the girls to get some ice cream while you two get warmed up," Harmony's mother offered, winking at Rhapsody.
"Yes!" Serenity and Aurora exclaimed at the same time.
"Real ice cream too!" Serenity smiled beatifically. "Not rice cream."
Harmony's mother handed her the keys, giving her an amused smile before splitting away from her and Rhapsody.
"That was a great idea, Rhapsody," Harmony congratulated the other woman gratefully. "Those two love going out for ice cream."
"It might not have been entirely altruistic," Rhapsody murmured with a small smile.
Harmony looked at her questioningly. Her eyes were inevitably drawn lower, and all other thoughts scattered from her head. How could she be so perfect?
"Breathe," Rhapsody whispered with a slow smile.
Harmony sucked in a breath, feeling a sudden twinge of fear that she might just be defective. She hadn't felt like she had a hard life, despite what her mother suggested. So where had this breathing complex come from? She didn't remember having it before meeting Rhapsody, but her mother made it sound like an issue she had experienced before, when she was overwhelmed.
She unlocked the car and reached for the driver side door, but Rhapsody's hand gently closed on her wrist and pulled her hand away from the door. Instead, she opened the back door and gestured for Harmony to get in the back bench seat.
"We need to turn the heat on though," Harmony objected weakly.
"I'll turn the heat on," Rhapsody assured her with a playful smile. "Move along."
Harmony let herself be pushed into the back seat, her heart pounding as her imagination ran wild. She had just sat down on the bench, shivering from more than the cold, when Rhapsody straddled her, knees on the bench on either side of Harmony. She looked into Harmony's panicked eyes and her lips curved into an alluring smile. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Harmony. Harmony gasped as she felt the hard nipples she had been daydreaming about push into her own. She let out an involuntary moan of longing as the sensitive region was firmly squished against her tightly. All thoughts of the cold vanished as heat flooded her body. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn their clothes were actually steaming.
"Breathe," Rhapsody instructed her softly, her lips brushing her ear in a familiar manner. Harmony gasped a breath, which pushed her chest out and intensified the already erotic sensation. She shivered as the intense sensations swept through her body like electricity. Was this what everyone experienced with intimacy? She felt something building down below as her short gasps rubbed her sensitive erogenous regions against Rhapsody's at increasing frequency.
"We can't have that yet," Rhapsody whispered with a smile filled with the promise of fulfillment. She leaned back, ending the growing pressure that threatened to push Harmony over the edge. "You really are sensitive, aren't you?"
Harmony let out an explosive breath, her eyes wide with arousal as she fought to pull herself back from the brink. "You're a shameless tease," she accused, as she slowly regained control of her lust. It was difficult, with the gorgeous goddess still straddling her and wearing a smile that promised future delights beyond her imagining.
"Look on the bright side," Rhapsody looked her up and down. "You're all dry now."
Harmony blinked, looking down at herself in shock. She really was dry. Had they really generated that much heat? Was that even possible? Well, clearly it was possible, or they wouldn't be dry. Rhapsody smirked down at her, trying to break the rules of non-fiction with her seeming-telepathic ability. She slowly slid backward off Harmony, the action so sensual that she required another reminder to breathe.
"I think I hear the others coming back," Rhapsody noted with a wink. "Thanks for drying me off, Harmony."
Harmony looked out the windows for her nieces and mother but gasped when she saw the windows covered in steam. "Was that from us?"
"Do you really have to ask?" Rhapsody giggled, her lips forming a wicked smile.
The side door opened, and Serenity peered in with her hands covering most of her eyes. "Is it safe to come in?"
"Yes, it's safe to come in, you goose," Harmony sighed in exasperation.
"It just seems to be a bit... steamy in there," Serenity pointed out, still peeking through a tiny crack in her fingers.
Harmony tried to think of a clever retort, but what could she say? She settled for a look of refinement and dignity. "Yes, it's safe to come in, Serenity. I was just getting dry.
"Is that a new colloquialism for one of your books?" Serenity asked archly. "Getting dry?"
"Since when do you know what colloquialism means?" Harmony demanded with an aggrieved expression. "I'm gone for a few years and you're suddenly Miss Smarty Pants."
"You know I'm eleven, right?" Serenity asked patiently.
"I didn't know what colloquialism meant when I was eleven," Harmony declared defensively. "Hell, I know adults who don't know what that means."
"Name one," Serenity challenged, her eyebrow shooting up.
Harmony stared at her, speechless for the nth time that day. She finally stood up with a huff and began moving for the door. "Michael Porter."
"And who is Michael Porter?" Serenity asked doubtfully.
"Just some guy that doesn't know what colloquialism means," Harmony muttered as she pushed past Serenity.
"Is this Michael Porter a real person, or a character from one of your books?" Serenity asked pointedly.
Harmony didn't deign to answer, walking around the car and entering the front passenger door. Aurora and her mother had been waiting a dozen yards away, waiting for the all-clear from Serentiy. They strolled back over when they saw her exiting the car and moving to the front. Harmony absently brushed a lock of hair behind one ear, then gasped as she realized her hair was just as dry as her clothes.
"What's the matter?" her mother asked curiously from where she had just entered the driver side.
"My hair's dry," Harmony murmured, staring down at her long hair in bemusement. "My hair takes forever to dry."
"Well, we were gone for quite a while," her mother noted with an amused smile. "And the place sure does look steamy. I'm assuming you did something to generate a lot of heat to get those clothes so dry."
Harmony's face burned as her mother stared at her with a knowing expression.
"We were just snuggling," she insisted defensively.
"Of course," her mother responded agreeably. She started the car and began backing out of the space. "We had a different name for it in my day."
Harmony buried her face in her hands and moaned despairingly. "Not you too."
Her mother drove them back up into town in blessed silence, aside from the whispering in the back where her nieces and Rhapsody sat. The whispers were occasionally interspersed with giggles, and she would have sworn she heard her name at least once.
She felt her personality reassert itself as they arrived at the Music Mart. Harmony struggled to repress a grin as she waited for Rhapsody to exit. This was her chance to give something back to the angel that had entered her life and changed everything for the better. She worried the small women would refuse the gifts, or think she was trying to pay her for spending time with her nieces. She just needed to stop overthinking it.
Rhapsody exited the car with a dancer's grace and joined her with an unreadable expression. Harmony immediately began second-guessing herself. What if she already had all of these things? Or what if she didn't have anywhere to put them? As her thoughts began a downward spiral, Rhapsody took her hand and began pulling her toward the store.
All thoughts of self-doubt vanished as warmth flooded her body, starting from the hand being held by Rhapsody. The woman's small hand felt so reassuring and pleasant that she forgot to worry about what people would think of her holding someone else's hand. She had always been so self-conscious at the thought of holding another person's hand in public that she had worried it would be one more thing to make a possible partner avoid her.
The store was small, but dense with instruments. There were electric guitars hanging from hooks and percussive instruments tucked into whatever space they would fit. It only took her a few minutes of browsing with Rhapsody at her side to find what she was looking for. She had seen it in the online catalog and prayed that it wouldn't get purchased before they arrived. It was a Gibson ES-335 semi-acoustic guitar. She grinned when she found it and quickly flagged an employee down to unlock it for a test drive. She snorted with amusement when they required a damage deposit before being allowed to play it. If she hadn't planned to buy it, she probably would have walked away. After charging five hundred dollars to her card, the employee unlocked it and handed it to her carefully. She handed it straight over to Rhapsody, an expectant grin on her face.
"I can't wait to see what she plays this time!" Aurora declared excitedly to Serenity and Harmony's mother.
"I seem to recall that you play every instrument," Harmony watched her eagerly, excited to hear one of her beautiful songs again.
Rhapsody laughed her golden laugh as she watched Harmony fondly. She sat down on a stool and rested the cutout on her thigh. Harmony's breath caught as she began plucking a haunting melody, her fingers moving up and down the fretboard like they were frictionless. The sounds she produced were transcendent. Harmony had never tried any recreational drugs, but she remembered reading about the effects of Ecstasy and imagined this must be as close as a person could get to that feeling without drugs. She felt like her heart was filled with a glowing warmth that spread out into the rest of her body in waves. The musical goddess reached deep inside of her core and planted the seed of hope in the garden of her soul.
Harmony wiped tears from her cheeks as the beautiful woman finished her song. Rhapsody was watching her with an affectionate smile on her exquisite face. She couldn't believe something as simple as metal and wood could be made to sound so divine.
The two employees and a few customers stood close by, their eyes wide and shimmering with unshed tears. When Rhapsody stood up and handed the guitar back to Harmony, the spell was broken. Her impromptu audience clapped loudly, their faces bright with the hope her song had instilled.
"That was amazing," a middle-aged guy with a mullet enthused as he walked up to them, grinning manically. "Did you make that yourself?"
"Yeah, a while back," Rhapsody nodded, folding her arms self-consciously. "It sounded really good on that guitar."
"Damn, I'll say!" he exclaimed brightly. "Do you have any professionally recorded labels yet? I would absolutely buy anything you made."
"Not yet, she doesn't," Harmony answered with an indulgent smile. "But she will soon."
Rhapsody raised an eyebrow at her, one corner of her lips twitching.
"Okay, let's go bag this so we can get the rest of the stuff," Harmony said eagerly as she walked up to the employee that had unlocked the guitar for them.
Rhapsody received several additional compliments while Harmony paid for the guitar and a small amplifier. She grabbed a full-sized keyboard as well. She was happy her nieces had come in as well. She put them to work carrying some of the accessories.
As they were exiting the store, a tall, lithe man with dark hair and a face that would have been home in Rivendell entered. When he spotted Rhapsody, he blanched and bowed deeply. Rhapsody sighed plaintively, looking around anxiously. She seemed worried to be seen with such a weirdo.
"It's an honor, Divine One," the man spoke hoarsely. His hands were shaking as he remained bowed.
"I think you must have me mistaken for someone else, good sir," Rhapsody spoke in a tone cold enough that Harmony half expected frost to appear.
"Apologies, Div- Ma'am," the man stuttered, remaining in his bow.
"You're going to ruin your back if you stay bent over like that," Rhapsody noted critically. "I would suggest moving right along."
The man rose a few inches and went further into the shop, still partially bowed. There was a young couple near the door behind them that had observed the whole thing. They were watching Rhapsody curiously. The four of them continued to the car.
"There sure are a lot of weirdos around these days," Harmony muttered irritably. Having someone interrupt Operation Reciprocation and potentially sour it for Rhapsody made Harmony feel a little over-protective. The next lunatic to accost her fairy tale princess was going to get the sharp side of Harmony's tongue.
Rhapsody's lips turned up at the corners slightly and Harmony let out a relieved breath. Maybe her day hadn't been ruined after all.
"Okay, one more stop," Harmony announced as they loaded everything into the car. "I'm afraid we're going to be stuck going to Walmart. They don't have any computer stores in this town."
"It's all coming from the same place," her mother pointed out with a shrug.
"Yeah, but it's like going into a prison every time I have to go to a Walmart," Harmony sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "Except instead of people being locked up, they lock up all of the merchandise, so you have to track down a prison guard to secure the release of any goods."
"You're sure an odd duck," her mother declared with a shake of her head.
"Quack quack," Harmony quacked derisively.
They drove to Walmart without any further incidents. Harmony felt a pang of worry at the idea of leaving all of the musical instruments in the car. As much as she mocked Walmart for locking all of their merchandise up, they had good reason. Her mother noticed her worried expression and offered to stay in the car while they went inside.
Rhapsody fell in beside Harmony, the nieces following behind them. Harmony wondered if she could get away with holding Rhapsody's hand. Rhapsody had taken her hand before going into the music shop, but maybe she didn't want a super clingy person hanging on to her hand all of the time? She resolved to not be the clingy, needy person in a relationship. As the thought fired off in her head, she felt a thrill excitement and disbelief. The idea that she would ever be in a relationship with a real person still seemed too ludicrous to be real. Of course, she had no idea if Rhapsody considered her a relationship or a friend. It certainly felt like something more serious than a friend, but the beautiful woman was so gregarious that Harmony wasn't sure she wouldn't treat a regular friend with the same kind of intimacy.
Harmony felt a small hand take hers as they drew closer to the store entrance. She felt a silly grin on her face and had struggle to reign it in.
As soon as they entered the store, the weirdness began. One of the customers entering the store behind them gasped. Harmony turned to look at him curiously and found a twenty-something guy staring at Rhapsody with a look of recognition on his face. There was a woman with him that was staring at Rhapsody with look of concentration, as if she were trying to remember where she had seen her.
"Hey Aunt Harmony, it's one of your books!" Aurora exclaimed as they passed a book display case with Harmony's latest best-seller stacked up on it. "At least, it's got the same picture we helped you pick out for your book."
"What a waste of paper," Harmony declared in a disapproving voice. "Nobody reads paper books anymore."
"I didn't know your books were so popular," Aurora commented as she flipped through the book experimentally. "Why does this have someone else's name on it?"
"Because a smart author never writes under their real name," Harmony explained, tugging Aurora to get her moving again. "We write under Pen Names. And no, we don't still use pens."
"You might want to be more discreet," Rhapsody murmured quietly. "Unless you don't mind people knowing who you are."
Harmony felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she quickly looked around. The couple that had come in behind them were surreptitiously trying to take a video of them while trying to appear to be videoing each other.
"Come on, Aurora," Harmony ordered briskly, stepping up the pace.
"I want to get a copy of your book," Aurora announced brightly. "Can we get one on the way out?"
"Sure, Aurora," Harmony agreed with a forced smile.
"Aurora, don't talk about Aunt Harmony being the real author in public," Serenity told her quietly. "We don't want a bunch of psychos stalking her."
"Do you think they really heard Aurora and made the connection?" Harmony asked Rhapsody quietly.
Rhapsody nodded firmly.
"Well, I suppose they didn't hear anything but my first name," Harmony spoke confidently, trying to convince herself more than anything else. "There's got to be a million Harmony's around."
Rhapsody squeezed her hand reassuringly, causing a jolt of electricity to fire up her arm and right to her lips.
"What are you grinning about, Aunt Harmony?" Aurora asked suspiciously.
"I'm just excited to be here with all of you," Harmony shrugged, reeling in her grin something less obvious.
They reached the electronics section and Harmony quickly flagged down an employee to unlock a laptop for them. She purchased it swiftly and they headed toward the exit. Harmony noticed more people staring at Rhapsody in fascination as they walked. She could understand their interest; she was gorgeous. However, there seemed to be more than normal attraction. When they neared the exit, a couple of sixteen-year-old boys with a girl ran over to them, grinning excitedly.
"Can I get a selfie with you?" the first one, a dark-haired and long-limbed boy, asked excitedly.
"Why do you want a selfie with her?" Harmony asked suspiciously, her temper warming quickly as she prepared to defend Rhapsody from more weirdos.
"She's the one that took all of those child-trafficker scum down earlier today, right?" he asked with a bright smile. "That was freaking righteous the way you blasted them with some kind of light bomb. And that bastard that you beat down and dragged him out by his hair... that was badass. Are you really bulletproof?"
There were a few more people gathering around curiously, watching Rhapsody in awe.
"Listen, kids," Harmony spoke firmly, her voice curt. "I think you have us mixed up with somebody else. We need to be going, so if you'll excuse us."
"I think the cops are looking for you too, so you might want to apparate, or whatever it is you do to vanish," the boy warned them helpfully.
"Well... "Harmony murmured as she increased her pace. "We got everything we needed, so let's get the freak out of here and go back to the forest. I'm sorry about that video I gave the cops when you beat David down. I would never have given it to them if I realized they were so damn unprofessional. It sounds like one of the idiots uploaded it to YouTube."
"It's no trouble at all," Rhapsody assured her with a dimpled smile that froze Harmony's breath. "I'm more worried about all of the suitors you are about to have falling all over you now that your identity is out."
"I'm not that popular," Harmony objected with a frown. "I mean, you get some oddballs in cult followings, but they usually live in their parent's basement and won't be able to bug us out in our sanctuary."
"On the book that Aurora was holding," Rhapsody began, her lips pursed. "What does Number One Bestseller mean?"
"That's just nonsense," Harmony shrugged nonchalantly. "It just means it was a poor selling week for other books when mine happened to be a good selling week."
"Is Aunt Harmony famous?" Aurora asked Rhapsody with a mixture of disbelief and excitement.
"She's about to get extremely famous," Rhapsody answered cryptically. "Sorry about that, Harmony."
"Huh?" Harmony stared at Rhapsody uncomprehendingly.
"You'll see soon enough," Rhapsody sighed, looking at her sympathetically.
Harmony felt a sense of alarm at the look of sympathy Rhapsody was directing at her. What the hell was going on?
Her thoughts derailed as Rhapsody slid her arm around Harmony's waist and leaned into her as they walked. Her hand had gone up the back of her shirt and she was gently rubbing the muscles between her shoulder blades.
"Breathe," Rhapsody told her with an affectionate smile.
When they reached the car, her mom looked pale and shaken. As soon as they were in the car, she handed her phone to Harmony and quickly left the parking lot, looking around warily.
"What's going on, Mom?" Harmony asked quietly, not wanting to frighten the girls.
"Rhapsody is making headlines after your video found its way online, courtesy of the local cops, no doubt. The human trafficking house had a closed-circuit surveillance system that recorded Rhapsody's take-down of the bastards from earlier today. Apparently, the cops here aren't any better than the ones back at home, because someone uploaded it to YouTube. It shows her kicking ass like she did to David, but with twenty armed guys this time. It also showed that one of the girls was killed when Rhapsody arrived, but she was alive when the cops finally went in and found them. They also leaked the dispatch recording, so we can't really say we didn't know anything about what happened in the house after we made the 911 call. I'm starting to think there is an agenda or something."
"Well, we have one other problem too," Harmony told her mother with a grimace. She looked back to make sure Aurora and Serenity weren't paying attention. They were playing Would You Rather with Rhapsody, giggling hysterically at whatever she had chosen. "Aurora saw some of my books inside and asked me why I wrote under a different name. There was already a couple videoing us because of Rhapsody. So, my anonymity is a thing of the past."
Her mother suddenly started laughing, her eyes full of delight.
"What?" Harmony asked in surprise.
"It turns out the ones that think you are part of a magic secret society are probably going to think they were right, once they tie you to Rhapsody," her mother explained, her lips still quivering.
"Well, they're in for a big disappointment then," Harmony chuckled with a rueful shake of her head.
"Sure they are," her mother said with an indulgent smile. "Sure they are."