Daughter of the Song

by Eliza Tilton

“Arabella!”

  I waved the roses at her. “I’ll only be a second!”

  She went to say something, but an older couple started speaking with her, giving me a moment of freedom.

  My heart beat loud in my ears. “Leo!”

  He stopped. His mother, sister, and him all turned around.

  Suddenly, I questioned my hasty decision to chase after Leo.

  He said something to his mother and then kissed her cheek. His sister glared at me with red eyes before his mother took his sister’s arm and led her away.

  Leo plodded to me, hands stuffed in his pockets, shoulders sagged. With each step, my heart pattered. When we were finally only a few feet away from each other, all thoughts disappeared from my mind.

  “Hello, Arabella.” His voice was soft, and while he looked at me, he wasn’t seeing me. Almost as if he watched something behind me.

  “How are you?”

  “I’ve been better.” He kicked at the ground with his boot.

  I had to say something, anything. “I brought these for you and your family.”

  Our fingers grazed as he took the roses from my hand. His touch sent a streak of boldness through me, and suddenly I didn’t care about etiquette.

  I stepped closer. “Why didn’t you come?”

  My throat was raw from singing and crying. I wanted him to reach out and tell me he’d tried but that once he’d seen my father, he ran.

  “I don’t . . . I don’t think it’s right for us to see each other.”

  Anger and hurt fueled my next words. “No, you don’t want that. I know you don’t.”

  He glanced around, probably checking to see if we were being watched, but everyone else was consumed with mourning. “It’s better this way.”

  I couldn’t breathe. My chest heaved with pain so overbearing I thought I’d drown. “How can you say that? After everything.”

  His jaw twitched, the only sign showing me he didn’t want this. “I know it don’t make sense, but you’re better off without me in your life, and if I stayed . . . it would just make it harder.”

  A tremble rippled through me. “So that’s it? You can just walk away as if you don’t care?”

  “I do care. That’s the problem.”

  “Whatever it is, we can figure it out. Together.” I took his hand and held it in mine. “You’re upset, and rightly so. We can figure this out once you’re done grieving.”

  “Done?” He ripped his hand out of mine, and his face twisted into disgust. “You don’t ever stop grieving. Do you think my momma, who’s with child, will ever stop mourning her husband?”

  “Oh, no. I didn’t realize.” I covered my mouth with my hands.

  “Of course not, and now it’s my responsibility to take care of her. I can’t . . . I can’t do anything else.” His eyes brimmed with tears as mine began to fall.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” I turned around, covering my mouth, ashamed at my behavior. His poor mother.

  “Arabella . . . wait.”

  If I looked at him, I wouldn’t be able to stand.

  “That song . . . It was beautiful. I hope one day you get to live your dream and sing in the theater. You were meant to do it.”

  Sobs burst out of my chest. “I don’t want this to end.”

  Even though Leo and I had been through some horrid events, there were moments of beauty. Stolen moments I would never have again.

  “I don’t want to either,” he whispered. “But it has to.”

  Chapter 15

  Arabella

  The rain finally stopped, though the haze of it lay over Port Tablo like a blanket of doom. Today, we were visiting some of the families and delivering boxes with various breads, biscuits, and candies. Father and Edgard were talking to the owner of the general store while I waited by the door. I held the wicker basket containing all the boxes tied with purple ribbons.

  Thinking on the people we would see today, I wondered if we’d be giving one of these gifts to Leo’s family.

  Our last moment was a tearful goodbye. I didn’t know who to blame for this terrible twist of fate. Did I blame the earth for not being strong enough to hold the mines together? Did I blame the mine owner for making the men work that day? Did I blame myself for chasing after Leo when he’d asked me not to?

  Who was responsible for all this death and misery? I squeezed the handle almost to the point of breaking as my chest filled with emotion I couldn’t bear anymore. I’d never asked for Leo. I would’ve been fine without him, and now I couldn’t breathe when I thought of him. This ache only intensified by all the lives lost around me.

  “Ready to go?” Father fixed his hat, and the sunlight hit his blue eyes.

  I nodded, unable to find my voice. They all knew something bothered me, but only Nan heard my cries, and only because she’d promised to not tell a soul.

  The three of us walked along the street to a house near the harbor. Father stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door. A woman holding a sleeping baby answered, her red eyes showcasing her grieving state. Our gazes met, and the torment in her heart reached to mine.

  I couldn’t bear it.

  None of it.

  While Father introduced himself, I tugged on Edgard’s sleeve. He raised an eyebrow and took a step back out of earshot.

  “What’s the matter? Are you okay?” he asked.

  “No, I want to go home.”

  Compassion plastered his freckled face. “Bell, helping these people might ease the pain. All of us feel terrible about what happened.”

  “I can’t.” My voice squeaked as panic rushed in.

  “Okay. Give me a minute to talk to Father.” Edgard took the basket from me.

  Needing a moment to breathe, I moved away from the house, but not too far. The home was close enough to see the sea where the waves crashed against the shore. Glancing at Edgard, who politely waited for the woman to stop talking before interrupting, I decided to go off to the side of the house where I could view the scenery better.

  A giant sailboat headed out to sea. Its white sails billowed with the breeze. I closed my eyes to forget the horrors and emotion coursing through my mind. Salty air filled my nose, refreshing me. Before we moved here, I had never seen an ocean or felt the sand between my toes. The sand was less than fifty feet from where I stood.

  I slipped off my shoes and took my skirt in hand. The ground crunched under my feet. The wind blew my cotton dress behind me. White sand replaced dirt and I dug in, watching the waves reach up and touch the sun.

  There were many people grieving. I should have been thankful my loved ones were alive and well, but the horrors of the mines and lives lost tore at my insides.

  Oh, Lord, what has become of my life? Will none of us be happy?

  Wind enveloped me. A kiss from the heavens, warm and embracing. I let the day wash over me in a blanket of serenity.

  It will pass.

  It always passes.

  A scream woke me from my thoughts. I glanced around, wondering if I had imagined the sound. Another shout followed. I peered past the house to the street. People were running in different directions, filling the street with chaos as they bumped and shoved into one another as if fleeing an approaching disaster.

  Edgard!

  I ran back to the house, gathering my dress in my hands to run faster. When I reached the yard, I found people fighting each other. What’s going on?

  Two men wrestled in front of me; one had blood splattered on his tattered clothes and patches of hair missing. The man he fought screamed and used every limb to push the attacker away. It wasn’t until the bloodied one looked at me that I screamed in horror.

  The left side of his face had a gaping hole revealing right to the bone.

  “Arabella!” Edgard shouted my name, gun in hand. He and Father were acros
s the street.

  “Edgard!” I zigzagged between the mob trying to reach my family when a stranger fell on the ground, punching a man. No, not a man. Something else.

  I froze as I watched the decrepit human squirm on the ground until the general store owner ordered me to run.

  There were too many people blocking my path to my father. His gaze met mine but then quickly turned as the earth shook beneath our feet. I followed the noise to a mob running in our direction. They were all men, dusted and bloodied and covered in wounds too grievous for them to be alive. One had a hatchet stuck in his head, and another was missing his left arm and both ears.

  I stepped back, shaking and horrified. “How can this be real?”

  “Go to the Harbormaster!” Father shouted from across the street. “Lock the door, and don’t come out! I will come for you!”

  “No!” Edgard shouted and tried to run, but Father yanked my brother’s shirt and pulled him back.

  My father would never leave me, but the distance was too far, the dead too many. If Father and Edgard tried to rush to me, they’d be caught in the center. Edgard screamed and thrashed as Father dragged him away and into an alley.

  I turned and ran to the Harbormaster. My feet burned as they slapped across the ground. I held my dress, thankful it was light enough to run in. Screams echoed around me, but I had to ignore it all and focus on the wooden building by the water. My chest heaved. My dress stuck to my sweaty back.

  When I reached the front door, I crashed against it. “Hello? Anyone in there?” I banged. “Hello?”

  I sneaked a glance behind me and saw a man shuffling toward the way I’d come. Not knowing if he was alive or dead, I ran around the Harbormaster’s place. There was nothing but docks and boats. I’m safer inside. I climbed onto a barrel below a window. Smashing the glass with my elbow, I broke into the building.

  Groans and shuffling came from the wooden dock.

  I pushed the rest of the glass out of the way, cutting my skin and dress. When I made a big enough hole, I jumped through the window and landed with a thud on the floor. Dizziness clouded my vision, but I rushed to my feet and searched for a place to hide. Windows were everywhere, including the office.

  A scraping raked alongside the outside wall. I held my breath, listening to where the sound went. It stopped then started again, followed by a moan.

  In the back, I saw a door. I ran to it and then ripped it open. Brooms, a bucket, cloth, and soap toppled on top of me. I threw the cleaning supplies out, except the broom which I took with me into the closet.

  Once inside, I shut the door and turned the knob . . . No lock?

  I put my back against the closet wall and slid to the ground in a heap of sweat and tears, clutching the broom. Whoever stalked the room, I prayed they didn’t find me.

  A bang and loud thud sounded in the room. Crunching glass made me grip the broom tighter. I waited for the horror, my heart running fast and loud. I’m breathing too loud, but I refused to let go of the broom to cover my mouth.

  Blood trickled from my knuckles, coating the wooden handle. My elbow throbbed. My heart beat louder than it should, surely announcing my presence to what lurked creature hunted me.

  Something bumped into the bucket I’d left on the floor. The doorknob wiggled then stopped. It wiggled again, louder.

  I held my breath, fearing the worst.

  The doorknob stopped moving. I counted to ten before releasing my breath.

  A force broke through the closet door, shattered pieces of wood flew at me, and I screamed. A man with gaping holes in his face and flesh hanging off his limbs clawed over me. I used the broom to keep the distance, shoving it back and forth while kicking my legs.

  “Help!” I cried, desperate for anyone to rescue me.

  The monster snapped his decayed mouth in my direction, roaring and thrashing like a rabid dog. It clawed at my dress, shredding the fabric with its sinewy hands. My head slammed against the wall as I tried to get away from the monster, panic sending my thoughts into a whirlwind of chaos.

  The night of the kidnapping rushed back, and in the loudest key I could hit, I shrieked out a high note in hopes it would scare the monster away. My chest burst open with a warm, tingling sensation that flooded the room. My body vibrated with a strange humming as if I were a tuning fork and the world my instrument.

  The vibrato pushed the beast back out of the closet. I couldn’t hold this note forever, but when I switched my pitch, the drooling monster stood still, swaying back and forth. I slowly rose and tried to shimmy around it, but the thing hissed and blocked the exit, though the monster no longer attacked.

  I’d be stuck in this closet until someone found me.

  Dust motes tickled my throat and I coughed, stopping the song. The beast lunged forward, and I immediately returned to singing, shoving the broom in its chest.

  I didn’t know how long I could sing, but if I wanted to survive this, I couldn’t stop.

  Chapter 16

  Leo

  The crow picked at the dead rabbit lying on the ground, my new companion since I performed the resurrection spell. From this view on the hill, just outside the harbor, the zombies I’d unleashed crashed into the port—a price I had to pay to bring my father back.

  Twenty or so undead ravenous creatures scurried around the main street. Creating this maelstrom is not what I’d wanted, not for my home, and not for her.

  Screams followed the wind, a haunting cacophony of death that would plague my mind for years. I closed my eyes to mind-link to the zombies below.

  Hunger.

  Anger.

  Chaos.

  Shifty wanted twelve souls. I’d told the zombies who to go for, not the women or children, but the crooks and no good thieves. My muscles clenched. It wasn’t right I had to pick who lived or died. Watching my home fall made me question everything, but it was too late to go back. I had to see this through.

  The connection to the undead filled my head with an unpleasant itch, an itch I couldn’t scratch. Red blurred images of the townsfolk, fighting and clawing their way to freedom, flickered through my mind. Men I’d known my whole life attacked the undead, and there was little I could do to stop the zombies from defending themselves. There were too many to control. A sour taste burst into my mouth, so acrid I choked.

  The crow cawed, jarring me from the jumble of images I didn’t want to see. My stomach churned and I leaned over, vomiting, again. When I connected to the creatures, rot and decay filled my nose until I broke the link and purged myself of it all.

  What have I done?

  I tugged the sides of my hair.

  I’m sorry, Pa. I just couldn’t let you die.

  What was done was done, and that was it. It may not have been what Pa wanted, but I couldn’t go back. The faster I got Shifty his damn souls, the faster I could put this mess behind me.

  I took the spyglass out of my pocket and surveyed the port.

  Those zombies were running, attacking, causing all sorts of chaos. Dead horses still attached to carriages littered the dirt, torn apart from the things I created. Beasts I wasn’t powerful enough to control. I didn’t want to watch a man be ripped apart, even if he had been a known thief. Turning my view, I checked the main street.

  No.

  I jumped to my feet and squinted, hoping the flash of auburn I saw didn’t belong to Arabella.

  The girl ran around a house, her long hair lapping behind. I twisted the side of the spyglass to zoom in closer. She turned to glance back at the creatures.

  Damn it.

  Wind blew my cowl around me and I sprinted down the hill, my crow flying high in the sky. My head ached from the initial casting and trying to control too many undead. Shifty gave me some old tale, saying if I did this spell, I’d be powerful enough to gain wealth and anything else my family needed, and if I added more
souls to our initial agreement, I’d be unstoppable.

  I didn’t trust anything that demon said, especially since I knew what he really wanted: to be free of the mines, and he needed a human vessel to do that.

  Raising the dead was my first mistake.

  Arabella wouldn’t be my second.

  “Find her,” I ordered the crow. He cawed and flew ahead, faster than I could run.

  With my focus on her, the magical strings linking me to the creatures wavered, and a hunger flowed through the threads. A hunger that would be uncontrollable if I didn’t regain control. My hold on them was already slipping.

  But I couldn’t do both.

  When I hit the port, the screams meshed with groans and wails until neither could be deciphered. I glanced around, searching for the house I’d seen her run behind. All these white-and-blue houses had the same damn fence, and I didn’t see anything different through the spyglass.

  The huge crow flew to me. I held out my arm for him to land on; he was the only good thing that had come out of this unholy deal. I placed my hand on his head and closed my eyes.

  When I opened them, I saw through him.

  He flew away and headed toward the water to the harbormaster’s office, near a broken window, and hovered just outside. I severed the connection and ran, slipping on the grass and stumbling my way to the building on the docks. Blood dripped from the broken glass around the window. I jumped onto a barrel to see inside.

  An undead stood in front of a closet, swaying back and forth. I couldn’t see Arabella, and the panic of losing her coursed through me in a fury of movement. I vaulted through the window in a matter of seconds and landed on the floor. I picked up a jagged piece of glass, sprinted to the dead, and slammed the weapon into the back of its skull.

  The zombie stopped moving and fell forward.

  Right on top of Arabella.

  “Leo!”

  I yanked the creature off her and threw it aside. She sat on the floor with a broom. Blood coated the handle, her arms, and her hands.

  She leapt up and into my arms.