When The Heart Sings

Chapter 8

Serena's POV:

I paced around the tiny room and tried the doorknob a few times before finally giving up. I flopped down on the bed and lay on my back while gazing absently at the ceiling. I had never gotten along well with boredom. It tended to drive me crazy. The silence made any song or rhythm in my head much louder with no distractions. My mind turned to my odd and very limited musical magic.

In magic, the more specific you were, the less likely whatever you were trying would work. The more general themes were much more likely to work, although sometimes the results were rather unexpected. One time I had hummed a protection song when a man had been following me through the park, and a flock of pigeons flew over him at the same moment that they happened to come down with a severe case of diarrhea.

Most people thought nothing of another person humming or singing. Anyone listening to me would probably think I was bored or just trying to comfort myself. Some people sang for no reason at all. I didn't see any harm in trying since chances of them connecting my music to any potentially odd events were slim to none.

I evaluated our situation. I was trapped here against my will and lacked the strength to get out. Darien was also being held hostage – again. It sounded like they had managed to contain him here for years, so even his great strength was insufficient to escape this place. We both needed to get out and this place was almost certainly crawling with all sorts of security. In short, we needed help.

'Help' was about as general as you could get. I sat up and leaned against the wall as I pulled my knees against my chest. Those watching me would likely think I was trying to comfort myself. It started out as a low hum while the details of our situation rolled around my mind. I felt the song catch and my magic rise.

I wasn't sure how fast or effective this song would be. This wasn't a busy park with numerous people coming and going. Often I had no idea when my more general songs actually worked, unless it was something like the purification song. Like a song stuck in your head, most tunes never truly ended until you completely forgot about it or they wrapped up on their own. Especially the more powerful ones.

My hum moved into a soft whistling as the notes rose and fell. I let the song direct itself as I simply kept my mind on the fact that Darien and I needed help to get out of here alive.

Songs really did come to life. Before I knew it, my whistling had gotten louder and modulated into soft singing. Although calling it singing was misleading. There were no words, only the sound of various notes as they wove their pattern.

I missed Darien. My heart pined for the man that I had only briefly met. I could just barely feel the magnet-like pull that had drawn me to him earlier. The pull seemed to grow stronger in one direction as the song continued. I looked towards the wall absently, but it was just a wall.

I resisted the urge to pace as the pull and longing increased even more. Pacing wouldn't get me out of here. In fact, I didn't know of anything that would. It would take a small miracle to pull this one off.

Sweet notes left my lips as they grew louder in the wordless song. The joy of singing was shadowed, I had finally found something that I loved just as much as singing and he was absent. It was not fair. My heart longed for his touch with its odd sparks and heat. I missed the comfort that his mere presence gave.

My song became more complex and my magic was fully roused at this point. This task could very well be more than my magic was capable of in a place ruled by greed and power. Was there no one here with a heart? No one who would protect the innocent? The sheer scope of the problem was like an insurmountable wall that made my head hurt.

I had never sang a song that had become this complex. I kept pouring my heart into my song and it kept trying to find a solution. In the past, mere hums usually gave me help within a minute or two and now I was in a full-blown song that had been going on for almost ten minutes.

The magic was like light running through my veins and it was strong enough that I was surprised it wasn't visible. My ears felt almost like they were ringing and my head ached, but not nearly as much as my heart hurt from Darien's absence.

The song built and added yet another complex chord to the song. Something deep down told me that a song of this strength and complexity wasn't something that should ever be voiced. I ignored the internal warning. I needed help. Darien needed help. We needed to get out of here. I continued to sing whatever the song dictated, fueling it with my magic and energy.

I rubbed my hand over my heart, it was hurting worse now. I just wanted to find Darien and get out of here. The magnet-like pull was even stronger, but it was useless. I had no way to get to him on my own. Sure, I could probably undo any lock in this place, but I was defenseless and I knew it. My self-defense trainers all knew it. Darien knew it.

The magic grew stronger and the song seemed to build to a peak, although I had no idea what the result was going to be. A final stretched out note left my lips and dropped to a mere whisper as the song wrapped itself up on its own accord. My ears were ringing and my head pounded in an unpleasant fashion. My heart ached from the strong emotions and magic that had run through me.

The song and the magic faded until I could sense no trace of either of them. I was really exhausted now, songs also took energy from me, but I had never been more than mildly tired from singing before. I looked around, but the song didn't seem to have done anything that I could see.

My shoulders sagged in disappointment, although I hadn't expected my song to work in this place. I lay back on the bed tiredly and closed my eyes as sleep pulled me away.

My dreams made no sense. The same thing appeared over and over again. An image of a heart appeared first and then a shield with an emblem of two crossed swords moved in to guard it. They faded out and Darien's face came into view. I kept calling out and trying to reach him, but he seemed so far away. It looked like he was trying to reach out to me too.

I woke suddenly in a cold sweat before taking a deep breath and trying to relax. I pulled the blanket over me as I curled up and drifted off to a dreamless sleep once more.