Sing For Me: A Ransom Family Novel Read online

  Sing For Me

  A Ransom Family Novel

  Rachel Schurig

  Contents

  Copyright

  Prologue

  1. Will

  2. Will

  3. Eva

  4. Will

  5. Eva

  6. Will

  7. Eva

  8. Eva

  9. Eva

  10. Will

  11. Will

  12. Eva

  13. Will

  14. Eva

  15. Eva

  16. Will

  17. Will

  18. Will

  19. Eva

  20. Eva

  21. Will

  22. Will

  23. Eva

  24. Eva

  25. Eva

  26. Will

  27. Eva

  28. Will

  29. Eva

  30. Will

  31. Will

  32. Eva

  Epilogue

  Also by Rachel Schurig

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2020 Rachel Schurig

  All rights reserved.

  Ebook Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Cover design by Paper and Sage Book Cover Designs

  To find out more about her books, visit Rachel at rachelschurig.com

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  Prologue

  It’s so loud backstage that I’m pretty sure the walls are shaking. Over the pounding noise of the band’s instruments, I can hear the sold-out crowd screaming and cheering. All around us, roadies, venue staff, and random people I don’t recognize rush through the halls.

  It would be easy to get lost in a madhouse like this.

  “Will! Rose! Wait up!”

  Next to me, my cousin Rose huffs loudly enough for me to hear even over all the noise. She flips her long blonde braid over her shoulder as she turns her head. “Hurry up, River. You said if we let you come you wouldn’t slow us down.”

  I turn back to locate Rose’s brother. His white blond hair, the same color as Rose’s, makes it easy to spot him, even as short as he is. River’s not that much younger than us—he turned eight a few days ago. But I’m just coming off a growth spurt, and Rose recently turned ten, which is really old. Next to us, Riv still looks like a little kid.

  And if I let him get lost in all this craziness, our parents will kill me. Sure, Rose is the oldest, so you’d think they’d blame her, but I know that’s not how it would go. Rose is everyone’s favorite and she never gets blamed for anything. Besides, everyone will know that this spying mission was my idea.

  Not wanting to get grounded for the rest of the tour, I turn back and grab River’s arm. “Such a baby,” Rose grumbles next to me.

  River’s face is red, the way it gets before he cries, so I ruffle a hand through his hair and grin down at him. “Stick with us, okay? We don’t want to get in trouble.”

  “Speaking of trouble,” Rose says darkly, peering down the way we just came. “Someone’s going to notice us if we don’t get moving.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  I lead my cousins down the twisting, crowded hallways of the stadium. It’s like a maze back here and I’m not exactly sure where the stage is. I figure if I follow the noise we’ll get there eventually.

  We make another turn and all three of us freeze at the same time. Standing just a few feet away, talking to a roadie, is our Uncle Levi. Great.

  We must be lucky, because he seems pretty preoccupied with his conversation. But I know he could look up at any minute and then we’ll be busted.

  “Run for it!” I hiss, spinning on my heel. My cousins follow suit, Rose keeping a firm hand on River’s elbow this time as we take off down the hallway.

  “Will?” Uncle Levi calls from behind us, sounding confused.

  “Faster!”

  Our sneakers pound on the concrete floors as we run down a long, crowded hallway. Being smaller than everyone else comes in handy for once—we can dart around the roadies and the venue staff. “Hey,” a man carrying a heavy looking amp shouts as River jumps right in front of him, making him stumble. A security guard makes a grab for me as we pass but I manage to pull my arm back at the last minute.

  “We’re with the band!” I shout over my shoulder, and River gives a snort of laughter.

  “Down here,” Rose cries, turning down another hallway. I manage a glance over my shoulder as I follow her. Our uncle is standing way down the hallway, his hands on his hips. But he grins at me when he sees me looking, shaking his head, and I know he’s not really mad. I grin back before I take the turn, running fast behind Rose and River.

  “Shh,” Rose says suddenly, pulling up short. I skid to a stop behind her, out of breath, and look around.

  “Excellent,” I say, clapping her on the back. Rose has somehow managed to lead us directly into the dark wings around the stage.

  “You think Uncle Levi is gonna tell Mommy?” River whispers to Rose.

  “Probably,” she says flippantly, like she’s too grown up to care about getting in trouble.

  I catch the worried gleam in River’s eye. “Let’s hide,” I suggest, leading them over to one of the empty equipment crates. I push River in front of me, wedging us both behind the crate. Rose sighs behind me but follows us. With a little wiggling, we manage to squeeze into a pocket between the crates. From here we’re hidden from the rest of the wings.

  We also can’t see anything.

  “Shoot,” River mutters. “Why’d we go through all that trouble sneaking out of the bus if we can’t even see?”

  I risk sticking my head up long enough to take stock of our area. There’s another crate right in front of us, and beyond that I have a perfect view of the stage.

  The noise actually hurts my ears this close to the speakers and the massive, screaming crowd. It’s so noisy it’s hard to even think.

  “Let’s just go back,” Rose mutters.

  “Nah,” I say, making up my mind in an instant. This is probably the kind of thing my mom always gets mad at me for. Impulsive, she calls me. I’m not totally positive what that word means, but one time I heard my dad laughing with her after they’d yelled at me for getting caught sneaking into one of the hotel pools on the last tour. “Kid acts first and thinks later,” my dad had said.

  “Sounds like someone else I know,” Mom said, laughing with him.

  I’m pretty sure that’s what impulsive means—acting first and thinking later. And mom would definitely get real mad at me if she could see what I’m about to do.

  I grip the edge of the crate and give it a huge push. It’s heavy, but luckily it has wheels, and I manage to move it a couple inches.

  “What are you doing?” Rose hisses.

  “Giving us a way to see.” I push on the crate again, with my shoulder this time. It moves a little more.

  “Awesome!” River calls softly. “I can see Daddy’s piano!”

  “A couple more feet,” Rose tells me, crawling over to where I’m still pushing on the crate. She adds her shoulder to the side and we both give a good
hard push—sending the crate sliding quickly forward, way faster than before. “The wheel must have been stuck!” Rose whisper-yells.

  We both watch in silent terror as the crate keeps on rolling until it’s right on the stage. In the middle of Ransom’s sold-out show.

  “Get down!” I whisper, pulling on Rose’s arm. We crawl across the dirty floor before throwing ourselves behind River’s crate. “Did anyone see us?” I pant.

  “Uncle Lennon looked over here,” River whispers back. “But I don’t think he saw you.”

  Peering over the crate, I can see my dad standing just a few feet away. He’s in the middle of a guitar solo, not paying any attention to what’s going on backstage, and I let out a relieved sigh. Across the stage, Uncle Lennon keeps looking over at the crate, probably wondering where the heck it came from. Then a roadie darts out to pull it back into the wings and I let out a relieved breath. We got away with it.

  Rose slaps a hand over her mouth, giggling. I grin at her. Sometimes it’s fun to almost get caught.

  “Ooh, I love this song,” Rose says happily, settling in next to me. The three of us rest our chins on the top of the crate, careful to keep our heads low. It doesn’t matter—from here we can see just about everything. Our dads playing their instruments. Uncle Lennon with his bass guitar. The flashing lights reflecting on the stage. And the huge crowd filling up the stadium, yelling and cheering for Ransom.

  “This is so much better than the box,” I say, excited. For most of the shows, that’s where we sit, in the fancy boxes up at the top of the stadium with our moms and all of our cousins. There’s more room up there for the babies to play and for all of us to spread out—we have a super big family. And there’s usually a waiter who will bring me as much root beer as I can sneak without my mom noticing.

  But the boxes are really far from the stage. Nothing like this little hideout in the wings. I’m close enough to see my dad’s fingers on the strings of his guitar.

  “It’s definitely louder,” Rose says, rubbing her ears. “Now I know why mom always makes me wear those headphones when we come close to the stage during a show.”

  “Louder is what makes it cool,” I say, eyes glued to my dad’s guitar. “Rock music is supposed to be loud.”

  “Can you see Uncle Reed?” Rose asks, twisting her body around to see the back of the stage.

  “Nah, can’t see him from here.” But the pounding of his drums means he’s out there with his brothers.

  “Someday, I’m gonna be out there, too,” I mutter, mostly to myself. I have it all planned out. When I get older, I’m going to be a guitar player, just like my dad. I already know a bunch of my chords, which Grandpa says is really good for my age. By the time I’m a grown up, I know I’m going to be just as good as my uncles. Then they’ll have to let me in the band.

  “Not me,” Rose says, shaking her head. “I would hate to have all those people looking at me.”

  “How many people are there?” River asks, craning his neck to see the crowd. “A hundred?”

  Rose snorts. “No way, Riv. This stadium seats twenty thousand people.”

  River’s eyes go wide, like he can’t even imagine a number that big. I kind of feel the same way. I have no idea how many people that is, all I know is that it’s a lot.

  Because Ransom is the best band in the entire world and so, so many people want to come see them play live.

  “I wish we were on the other side of the stage,” River says. “We can’t see Daddy’s face!”

  Across the stage, my Uncle Daltrey is pounding on his piano keys while he sings, his back to us.

  “It’s good we can’t see his face,” Rose mutters. “You’d probably wave at him or something and then we’d be caught.”

  “I would not!” River cries, way too loud. I slap a hand over his mouth.

  “Just because it’s loud out there doesn’t mean the roadies can’t hear us,” I tell him.

  “The roadies, huh?” a grown-up voice behind us says, and we all freeze. “I think you kids have bigger things to worry about.”

  Heart sinking, I turn to see my older brother, Wyatt, standing behind us. His arms are crossed over his chest and he’s got a serious look on his face. But when I look at his eyes, I can tell that he’s not really mad. In fact, I think he might be trying not to laugh.

  “We just wanted to see the show,” I tell him.

  He glances down at his watch. “Pretty sure it’s a school night, kids. Which means you aren’t supposed to be anywhere near the show.”

  Rose sticks a finger into her mouth, pretending to make herself throw up. “I hate school.”

  “It’s so, so super boring, Wyatt,” River agrees.

  Wyatt rolls his eyes. “I used to have school on the bus, too,” he reminds us. Wyatt is way old, like almost a grown-up. My mom had him a long time before she met my dad, so he was already almost ten when I was born. When he wants to tease me, he reminds me that he was the one who got to name me when I was a baby, and if I’m not careful, he might change it to something really awful. Like Barney.

  But Wyatt doesn’t tease too much. He’s a really cool big brother.

  Hopefully that means he’s not going to get us in trouble. “Are you gonna tell Mom?”

  “You should have thought of Mom before,” he says, his voice suddenly a little sharp. “She doesn’t need to be chasing you down, Will.”

  I hang my head, feeling a rush of guilt in my belly. My mom is really, really pregnant with our baby sister right now, and she gets out of breath and uncomfortable when she has to walk a long way. I picture her following us through all those winding hallways we just ran through and feel awful.

  “Is she looking for me?”

  “Nah, I don’t think she noticed yet.” He looks between the three of us. “But I do need to text your moms and let them know where you are.”

  “Wyatt!” Rose cries, reaching for his hand.

  “Sorry, Rosie,” he says, pulling out his phone. “If they see your bunks are empty, they’ll worry.”

  She scowls at him as he types into his phone. “This tour was more fun when you were still away at college.”

  He laughs, tugging at the end of her braid. “When I’m at college, you’re the oldest,” he reminds her. “Maybe you should start acting more responsible.”

  “Responsible sounds like another word for boring,” she says, and Wyatt laughs some more before he pockets his phone.

  “Climb on out of there,” he says, holding out his hand to give us a boost. He eyes the crate. “Let me guess, the runaway crate was you guys?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say, climbing out of our hiding spot. Wyatt slings an arm around my neck, pulling me close and messing up my hair. I squirm and try to punch him, but I’m just messing around. I never really get mad about Wyatt teasing me. Rose was wrong—I like tour much better when he’s here. My brother goes to a fancy college where he practices piano all day, and I miss him a lot.

  “Why don’t you guys come with me,” he says, letting me go to help Rose climb over the crate.

  “Are you taking us to get in trouble?” River asks glumly.

  “Nah.” Wyatt leans close to him. “I’ll tell you a secret—I used to sneak back stage when I was little too.”

  “You did?” River asks, eyes wide, like he can’t believe a grown-up ever messed around like we do.

  “Sure,” Wyatt says. “These are the best seats in the house.” He grins. “Well, almost.” He herds us away from the crates but we’re going the wrong way. Instead of heading back to the hallway, he seems to be leading us to—

  “Wyatt, this is the stage,” Rose squeaks.

  “I know.” There’s laughter in his voice. “Check it out.”

  We all look up to see that the song is over. Instead of moving right into the next one, the grown-ups on the stage are all relaxed. And they’re looking right at us.

  “Oh, shoot,” River says, defeated.

  “Do
n’t worry,” Wyatt says, pulling us out onto the stage.

  “Oh no, oh no,” Rose is muttering next to me, staring at the still-screaming crowd. Across the stage, Uncle Daltrey holds out his arms. He’s smiling. I let out a relieved sigh. Maybe they won’t be too mad.

  River takes off immediately, beaming as he runs to his dad. The crowd goes even crazier when Uncle Daltrey pulls him up into his arms. He whispers something in his ear and River shyly waves at the fans. They erupt in another wave of cheers.

  “Come on, Rose,” Wyatt calls over all the noise. He takes her hand, leading her across the stage to the piano. Before they get there, big arms appear in my vision, wrapping around me. My dad.

  “You’re trouble, kid,” he says, but he’s grinning down at me. I grin right back, knowing he’s not mad. He gestures to one of the roadies before stepping up to his microphone.

  “So, my son Wyatt was going to join us on piano for the next few songs,” he shouts to the fans, who scream right back. “But it looks like he brought a couple stowaways.”

  Way out in the crowd I can see two of the huge screens that show what’s going on to the fans who are too far away from the stage to see much. Right now, the screens are showing River and Rose. My cousin slaps her hands over her eyes and Uncle Daltrey laughs. He gets both of them sitting in front of the piano, handing them tambourines.

  A roadie runs out on stage, carrying another guitar and three pairs of the big headphones our moms make us wear to protect our ears at concerts. On the screen, my face appears. My mouth hurts, I’m smiling so big.