“C’mon, you’ve got to come,” Halima begged, twisting her long ebony hair into a makeshift bun and securing it with a skewered pencil. “Eleanor’s coming and Peter’s out of town. What’s your excuse?”

“I have papers to grade,” June said firmly, and reshelved the dusty box of archived files with an emphatic thump.

“But The Crows only play opera once a year. Seriously, you can’t miss Murder at the Opera night. It’ll be like nothing you’ve heard before.”

“Opera.” Skepticism hung heavy in the restricted section as June studied the university archivist. “Opera. At a bar.”

“Lead singer’s a trained operatic singer,” Halima answered promptly. “The band does things with electric violin and bagpipes to give it this techno-Celtic vibe…it’s haunting. Sounds more like mystical wailing than opera, I promise. If you don’t like it, drinks are on me.”

“Opera,” June repeated. She shook her head, curious in spite of her trepidation.

***

This week’s prompt was from nother Mike, about crows singing opera. Quoth the husband: “You don’t have to take it so literally!” But I kind of like the idea of a busking group of crows, especially if they’re there to attract a crowd so they can pickpocket shiny things…another time!

My prompt went to Leigh – check it (and more!) out over at MOTE!

PS – Have you picked up Wyrd Warfare yet? Or if you haven’t checked out Fantastic Schools War, it’s now available in paperback. Cheers, and happy reading! Or if you’re just here for the MOTE prompts, happy writing!