Page 26 of Zombies, Satyrs and Vampires, Oh My!

ME: I’ll keep you posted on my idea. Let me know if you need me to talk to your lawyers again.

STEVEN: I know how to talk to people.

ME: I realize. But other people don’t seem to know how to talk to you. At least not respectfully.

STEVEN: Thanks.

ME: Vivian says hi.

STEVEN:

“How’s he doing with the lawsuit?” Vivian asks.

“He’s stressed and it’s clearly affecting his ability to produce.” I sigh, trailing my fingers over the keyboard, wishing I could give my brother a big ol’ bear hug, but knowing that he’d prefer a text or two even if we were in the same city right now. “He hasn’t put out a new video in two weeks. Aside from doing a few mashups of early ones.”

“I hate that he’s having to deal with this. It’s completely frivolous,” Vivian says.

Atticus comes into the room carrying canned sodas for me and Viv. “What’s frivolous?” he asks.

“Harry’s brother’s lawsuit,” Viv says.

“Why don’t I know about this?” he asks, taking a seat next to Viv. Immediately he puts a hand on her thigh. If he’s within reach of her, he’s touching her. Like she’s his lifeline.

Watching them together, seeing the way he looks at her, always stirs a pang of yearning within me. I want what they have. I want to be that for someone.

I wave my hand in Viv’s direction. “You’ll do a better job of giving him an overview. With me, I’ll get lost in the minutia.”

“Basically, this has-been pop star is suing Steven for copyright infringement because of some chords in a song he had out like nearly two decades ago.”

“So old,” Atticus says with a roll of his bright green eyes.

Viv giggles and elbows him. “Not all of us age as well as you.”

He kisses her forehead, then turns to face me. “How can I help, Harry?”

And that right there? The way he jumps in to help automatically, because what’s important to Viv is important to him, even if he only learned about it ten seconds ago? That’s the stuff of fantasies.

I just wish I had a something I needed help with. Instead, I shrug and try to make a joke. “Unless you can somehow make this one previous professor of mine appear so I can speak to him in person, I don’t think anything.”

“What professor?” Atticus reaches over and grabs his own laptop.

Wait. What?

Can Atticus actually help? I guess it can’t hurt.

“He was my music theory professor. Just brilliant and I think he could help. He knows more about this kind of thing than anyone. And if he could help me understand music theory, then he’d be the perfect expert to help explain it to the jury.”

“But?” Atticus asks.

“He’s a complete recluse. Like no one knows where he lives. He responds to emails. Sends in his video lectures, but the lectures are only ever of his hands on the piano or his notes.”

“Give me his name and I’ll see if I can do any deeper digging.”

I rattle off the name just as my laptop chimes, letting me know my chat request has been approved.

“Oh! He’s online!” I type out my greeting, thanking him for accepting the chat.

“If he’s online right now, I can probably track his location,” Atticus says already tapping away on his own computer.