Soul Song ~ Book One

Chapter Twenty-Eight

AN: While I wrote Dania's transformation scene at the end of this chapter, I played this song on a loop. I think it fits. :)

"Dania!" Lucas' voice halted the progress Dania and Mirabella were making through the castle. "What are you doing up? Are you alright?"

Pausing before turning to her husband, Dania regarded him with a cool demeanor before answering. "I am fine, husband."

"The baby," he started, placing his palms on Dania's swollen belly. "Is it alright? Do you feel him?"

"I am going out, Lucas. I don't want to be disturbed." Dania took a step back and Lucas allowed his hands to fall. "I expect we will be out all day."

"We?" Lucas noticed Mirabella for the first time, standing just behind Dania. "Oh, yes, I allowed this Chosen to be with you...to help you. I..."

"Enough, Lucas. I know what you've done and have not done." Spinning on her heel, Dania left Lucas staring wide eyed at her back, with Mirabella following close behind.

"Please, be careful with yourself...and the baby," Lucas called after them. In response, Dania waved him away, much like she did at the lottery. With a short stop at the kitchen to collect some food, they made their way out of the castle to the edge of the forest. While Dania was around the same height as Mirabella, her new-found speed was making it difficult for Mirabella to keep up. Each one of Dania's steps required three from Mirabella.

A couple of miles into the forest found them in a clearing deemed safe for them to speak freely. Mirabella sat to catch her breath, marveling at the transformation in Dania. Where she had been dark and her eyes lifeless inside the mountain-castle, she was bright and smiling in the sunlight. The only drawback being that her skin was now the translucent of a Changed One. Mirabella's appreciative smile only faltered a moment as Dania's skull showed through her skin as she danced in and out of sunlight. Dania wasn't thinking about how she looked at the moment, Mirabella decided she shouldn't either.

The look of pure ecstasy on Dania's face suddenly disappeared, replaced with dark confusion.

"What?" Mirabella asked. "What is it?"

Dania paused as though listening. "Do you hear it?" Turning, she looked as though she were trying to track the sound. "The song, it's so sad..."

Mirabella stopped breathing and listened. All she heard was the wind rustling in the trees, insects moving in the soil. Stretching her Magiks as far as she dared, she still heard nothing amiss. Shaking her head in bewilderment, she returned her focus to Dania.

"How can you not hear that?" Dania brought her hands to her chest. "My heart feels as though it will shatter!" Tears welled up in her eyes as she sagged to the ground. Confused, Mirabella jumped up and cradled Dania as she sobbed. Extending her Magiks into Dania, Mirabella searched for something, anything, that would cause this reaction. All she found was the emptiness associated with a Changed One. Then it struck her. The emptiness.

"Of course," Mirabella muttered.

Dania lifted her head, searching Mirabella for answers. Before answering, Mirabella closed her eyes and searched on a different plane. One usually reserved for when Healers mourned for the dead. The same plane on which she spoke to her own mother as a child. There...just off at the edge...she found it. Pulsing a gentle Magik toward it, she called to it. In answer, the mourning song only Dania had heard, was audible to Mirabella as well. Tugging with Magiks, Mirabella pulled until the being creating the song came to light. Dania gasped when the task was successful.