The Muse Gang

Chapter four

I frowned at the saxophone in my hand and the hot miss Jane before me expecting me to play it in music class. This was my part of some dumb test.

I had never held any instrument in my life, that is without using it to clean any part of my body.

Undoubtedly, I was taught. But as always, I did not learn. Oh I was so gonna fail this.

The test was now or never.

Plan.. plan... plan!

Jee... Nothing!

Miss Jane still had that dirty and impatient look she always gave me.

Avoiding it, I looked behind her.

And there was the devil.

I found that creature again who called himself my muse in my dreams. Well, that was how I saw it; a dream.

I shut my eyes and tore them open again. He, yes Marshall was still there giving me a smirk.

He left his position and came right beside me. Automatically, I looked around to analyze everybody. Did they see him.

They seemed not to because they just continued in whatever they were doing, including Miss Jane, looking impatiently at me.

Marshall spoke, "Should I be begging you to ask me for help?"

If he asked me that question expecting me to answer, then he was not thinking straight. Because if no one else really saw him as he claimed, then I'd be seen talking to myself like a piece of scum.

As if he read my mind, he stated, "Just muse about it, like up here in your head. As though you're speaking silently to yourself. That's how we will communicate in public. Just think of anything you would have said to me orally right now." I could not believe I was listening to a pigment of my own imagination. Like that was what he was right?

Still, I mused to him, "You again! What are you doing here? I thought you were a dream."

He spoke after a big sigh, "I thought we went through this last night."

"And I thought I was dreaming," I replied.

He frowned and retorted, "Of course not," he looked at the instrument in my hand, "seems like you need my help."

I laughed in my head, if that was possible. He asked me to muse after all, "How possibly can a specter of mine help me play a sax?"

"Just say please, "I heard him say.

I shrugged and mused a plea.

Suddenly, he vanished. Was that part of the help?

After looking at me for an annoyingly long time, Miss Jane spoke, "Okay Eddy, you know what. Go home and practise the sax for a week. You can come back for your test later."

She smiled warmly afterwards and patted my back, leading me out of the hall.

Truly, truly.

I had never been this confused in my life. Miss Jane, being nice to me. A test that was mandatory there and then for every other person became a week long test for me. What just happened? Did Marshall have anything to do with it? After I had left the hall, he appeared again, with a wicked smile.

He joined me as I returned to class and chanted, "Impressed, I know."

I continued my musing, "What did you do to her?"

He laughed and shrugged, "Something call initiation. Or should I say, mind control."

"And how do you do that?" I glowered with a strong determination not to lose my mind.

He waved his arm indifferently, "It's a muse thing. Humans won't understand."

I stood and looked at him, "So you are really here, really happening?"

He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, "About time you understood that. I've been trying to explain that for the past twelve hours."

I balanced the strap of my bag on my shoulder and said to him, "So how did you all come about? Are you from another universe or something? Because spirits like you only appear in movies. You are just fiction in folktales." He kept a thoughtful face, "Uhmm. If you can't see something, it doesn't mean it's not there, does it? We are not from another universe, we are dead humans."

I gawked at him and strode away.... Hmmm... But I doubt I was actually moving from the spot. As if something, as if he held me there with some kind of.... Dunno, maybe humans magnet, without hands.

He rasped again, "Don't walk out on me again, ever!"

Fear gripped me to the core. I mean what else?

My words now were mere stammers, "So, if someone dies, he becomes a muse for the living?"

Marshall snickered and waved his hand, "Puhleez... No. Only those who had this motive in life they could not complete. So they use their hosts in the afterlife to complete that for them. But now it is a little more than that." I did not seem to hear his last sentence. All in my mind was.. Edward! You were talking to some dead crappy human! WTF!

"So what is your motive," I inquired.

He answered with a sigh, "Has anyone ever told you that you ask a lot of questions?"

So... I was curious, wasn't I?

I pushed on though despite his last speech.

"So now, you are dead?"

"Yup. Real dead. And I am your guardian angel."

My what....?

I glanced at him, "Oh you are many things but... Angel?" I shook my head.

He laughed, "Hah! Glad I met you Eddy."

Really, Marshall was a great guy... Ghost.

But I doubt his sweetness could reach helping me with every single thing I needed without actually expecting something, "So why are you helping me? What do you stand to gain?"

"A lot of things," he replied, "we'll talk later. Aardvark is coming."

I laughed. I surely believed him now. He was my muse.

I mean like he knew so much about my life without any information from anyone. Soon enough, he vanished.

I smiled, still wondering of the lot of things he spoke of.

***

Victor was a very desperate dog. Although this time, he was not with his clan. He came alone.

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Walking up to my new friends and I, he asked to speak with me in private.

I sighed, got up and walked five feet apart from my friends with him.

Hah! Five feet apart! No that movie is epic.

I returned my attention to the blabbering Victor and tried to make sense of what he was saying.

Words, words... Yep! Got it!

"I do not know what has been happening to me lately. All I know is it's not me. I also know that the shit you have been cannot just change overnight."

He then pulled one stinky finger up to my face, "Watch it! Because I am always one step ahead of you, planning your ridicule."

A voice in my head suggested I stayed quiet on him. Marshall!

I just looked Victor straight in the eye with a nonchalant attitude. He made a move as though to hit me. But he did not plan to. On the other hand, I did not fear. I just returned his glare and scoffed at his attempt to scare me as usual. He eyed me and walked away shortly.

The old Edward would have been scared. But I had a protector now. There was no way I was falling at his feet again.

***

I was at home again. Fuck!

Sitting on a chair in front of my table. I braced my elbows upon it and leaned back on it with chips flying one by one into my mouth.

Well, not really. It was my muse again making that happen. It was so nice when you did not give any effort but you still got what you wanted.

Marshall was before me, laying on my bed and talking to me.

Marshall went on, "I told you at school of things I stand to gain from you if I became your muse."

I chewed and blurted, "Mm, yeah, tell me about it."

"Well, there's four of us. The fierce one is me, the rest have their own crazy nature. We came together, in search of hosts to claim. The rest found theirs earlier and... Well it was just me. That was until I met you."

I grinned, "Now what's the benefit?"

He seemed to think until he had one deep breath, "We need to complete that incomplete task I spoke of and also..." He seemed to hesitate and glance at me, "we have a little problem that we cannot solve without a human body. Infact in case you do not know, you are a bigger help to us than we are to you. And again we cannot last long without a host."

I stopped chewing then and looked up at him sadly, "That's so sad."

He frowned and snarled, "Yuk! Stop that! Girls do that shit."

After a small tip of snicker, he continued, "And yeah, we have these bad guys who have something we need back. However we are permeable to what we need to get. So we need flesh to control as we go to take it back."

I released a woah, "So you can actually go into humans and control them?"

"Yep," he nodded enthusiastically, "to do anything you want."

I snickered. If I had such power, I would have gone away with a lot of thingummy.

Just then, Sophie turned the knob and stepped into my room. I was trying to remember when she last did that.

Marshall gawked at her. And she, well she clearly did not see him.

She glared at me and hissed, "Hey. Momma's calling you."

Immediately, she left and Marshall bit a laugh, "Who's the devil?"

"My sister," I sighed, "Sorry gotta go. Momma needs me, maybe to take out the trash."

Marshall studied me for a while and looked down at his feet, "Your life really needs repairs dude."

I shrugged and left for the living room where everyone was. Mom was having a pedicure done as I approached her.

Immediately, she began, "I've realized you have improved in everything. I got calls from several teachers today, they could not stop praising you.... sorry your new grades. I'm impressed. What in neptunes happened?" I eyed her angrily.

What did she mean by they could not stop praising my grades? Like I deserved something too. Maybe if only the praise was given to me.... "Sweetie," she called.

I ignored the joke in her tone and replied, "Nothing. Just talked to myself."

She nodded approvingly, "That's good. Now the main reason I called you. Your dad and I would be off for our twenty third wedding anniversary on a vacation to New York. For a week. Till we're back, Alfred's in charge. Understood?" I frowned. Alfred, in charge. That's literal damnation.

Or... Maybe not. I had Marshall now.

I smiled at momma, "Yeah I do, no problem."

Mom narrowed her eyes at me, "You seem confused."

"Uhmmm no," I stammered, "I was just doing some calculations. I'm good."

Momma nodded, "That's good. One more thing. If I happen to get any funny news when we're back," she smirked and looked down at her pedicure, "talking is not my kind of thing."

Yup, my perfect family!

Mom was as strict as that worst teacher everyone had in their highschool.

Dad...

He did not give a shit about us. Just reading old papers as long as he gets to avoid us all day.

I returned upstairs to my room again.

Just then, Marshall appeared holding to flight tickets, "Your parents, going to New York, on an anniversary, for a week?! Dude, we can thank the stars. Like they could make love and fuck each other, they will not even know when the week will be over."

I frowned and pointed at the papers in his hand, "Return those, would you," now the frown deepened, "I thought you were a ghost. Shouldn't those tickets be passing through you or something?"

Marshall stared at me and laughed, "No silly. I can hold things. All kinda things. But the only thing I need flesh for is that idol we plan to find. That's the only thing in this world that we cannot handle. So we need flesh for that."

I leaned on my wall, "Yeah true. Tell me more about this.... Mission."

He smiled lightly, stared at the ground, then returned his gaze to me, "What if I show you?"

I stood upright now in caution, "No way! What if they come here and cannot find me. And yes, return those tickets."

He curved his lips into a parabola and let go of the tickets. They then vanished. I guess to my parents' cupboard.

Again, he slipped his hands into his pockets, "Do you not trust me?"

"What does trust have to do with my family coming up to my room and not finding me," I asked reasonably.

He smiled as usual, "What if... I brainwash them," he laughed at the shock in my face and continued, "Like make every memory of you in their minds go away. Make them forget they have a son named Edward. Maybe for the next five hours?" I laughed uncontrollably, "Sick! You muses are epic."

Marshall curtsied perfectly, "Well thank you."

He stood upright and clapped his hands, "Now let's hit the road."