Ch. 2

The Eaten Soul

Angel had sat in her throne for only a few seconds when she sensed something was wrong. She looked around the room, skipping over the girl that lay on the floor. Angel gave up and walked toward Hannah.

"Now that that's over with , I can..." She stopped a few feet away from Hannah, and noticed her chest, slowly rising, then falling again.

"Impossible!" Angel ran over to Hannah, and kneeled by her side.

"You should've died like the others! No one can live through the pain!"

Hannah looked over at Angel with her left eye. Angel froze, her hair flew up in a tiny gust, and was flattened again. Within the one second they met eyes, Angel seen Hannah's childhood. Angel turned away, feeling the suffering she had forced upon the child.

Hannah closed her eye to preserve the last of her energy. Angel looked back at her limp body. "This life was never to be for you, my dear. It was for me."

As Hannah lay motionless, Angel, opened Hannah's mouth and climbed in.

Hannah's eye shot open. She tried to scream in pain, but nothing would come out. Hannah covered her face with her cold hands. She could feel her skin, forming into a gel. It hardened as soon as her mouth, nose, and ears had reshaped themselves into her normal face. Her hair had grown immensely within the sixty seconds.

Everything had become normal again, except for her right eye. Instead of a beaming blue one, a soft ember eye took it's place. Nothing was out of place.

She sat up, with no pain shooting down her back. After a few moments to catch her breath from excitement, she stood, keeping her balance.

"Well, this will have to do then, won't it?" Angel said with Hannah's voice. She looked down at her feet and saw stubs as legs.

"Why'd I have to be short?"

As Hannah was about to leave the castle, the human servant, Edswigin, opened the huge oak doors.

"Milady, your father has told me to tell you... wait... your not Princess Angel...guar..." Before her could finish his sentence, Edswigin was murdered with magic.

' Poor little Edswigin, always getting in my way.'

Hannah scurried past the oak doors into the great fields of the Earth.

"Now, to find Howl and his family."

Hannah walked for hours and hours, trudging in the swamps and running through the rain. By the time she reached the lands of the Waste, it was time for lunch.

Hannah's feet were sore and tired, and her stomach growled for nourishment. As she plucked a stray blade of grass, gathered up a pile of moss, and squeezed the pulp from a dandelion, she muttered to herself,"I hope this works, I hope this works, I hope this works..."

She placed the things she picked on a small stone. Hannah arched her back and crouched to her knees. As she rose slowly, she lifted her arms in the process. Hannah went back to the beginning stage and repeated the spell three times. Once she was finished, she looked closely at the items laying still on the rock.

"I knew it wouldn't work!" Hannah exclaimed, sitting on the large rock next to it. She gazed at the mountains, fantasizing ponies prancing, princesses being rescued by their princes, unicorns grazing in the fields. Then, everything became a blur. Black erased everything and Hannah was falling, falling, falling. Whispers were all around her. Soft at first, but growing louder as she continued to fall. Everything stopped as Hannah opened her eyes and realized she was dreaming.

She looked next to her and saw a pile of steaming food. Hannah rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming this either. Realizing it was real, she picked up the plate and crammed as much food as she could in her mouth.

Avoiding the mountains as best she could, Hannah kept her eyes on the swaying grass.

A black spot in the middle of the grass was growing bigger and bigger. Hannah looked up and saw a black spot in the cloudless sky getting bigger and bigger.

She scrambled off the rock to get out of the way of the frightening shadow. Screaming her head off while running, Howl arrived, just in time.

A/N: This chapter wasn't as bad as the first one was it? I hope so. To clear something up: When Angel's hair flew up in a tiny gust, watch Spirited Away when Chihiro is receiving the money from the "stink spirit". If you have any questions, just ask. I'm not a teacher that will rip your throat out when you ask a "stupid question". (i hate it when they do that, ya know?)