The next day was a Saturday, and Deidra's Granmama wanted to spend more time with her great-grandson, so it gave Deidra the day off. So, that day, Deidra had a girly day with Kate.
"Try this one on. Caleb will go nuts of you wear it." Kate urged her.
Deidra rolled her eyes. This was the eighth time that she had said this today. "Ugh, I knew that I shouldn't have come on this time today," she fake-sighed. Kate threw the dress that she had picked out at Deidra.
"Try. It. On." She said, playfully jabbing the younger girl, punctuating every word.
The girl rolled her eyes at Kate, and took the dress with her into the dressing room. They were trying on dresses for the upcoming Fall Festival. The dress, even though Deidra's appearance to Kate seemed like a constant mood, she loved the dress. It was white, and had a little twist in the fabric at the bottom of the v-neck. It just covered the shoulders, but it had a plunging back which ended at the small of the back. Deidra had pulled the dress over her body, and the silky cotton-y material clung to her curves in all the right places.
"Come on, Dee. Show me." Kate called from the walkway outside the small room.
So, she smoothed the dress, and opened the door. Kate's mouth dropped when she saw Deidra in the dress. "Oh, my God. Caleb is one lucky man." She said in awe.
The girl in the dress suddenly blushed. "You think?" she giggled.
"Are you kidding? Now go and get back into your clothes and pay for it before I do." Kate replied, giving Deidra a shove in the direction of the changing room.
That night, Kree was back at his home with his mother. For some reason, when Deidra was climbing the stairs to put him to bed, she felt something bubbling up inside her. It was like musical talent was about to burst out of her. It was odd, not because she wasn't a singer, that she was, but she didn't have the feeling that she did right now.
Deidra had now come to her bedroom, where Kree's bassinet was sitting, across the room from her own bed. She laid the infant in his bed, and sat in the armchair next to her bed and began to sing his lullaby.
"Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul's
The little old bird woman comes.
In her own special way to the people she calls,
'Come, buy my bags full of crumbs.
Come feed the little birds, show them you care
And you'll be glad if you do.
Their young ones are hungry,
Their nests are so bare;
All it takes is tuppence from you.'
Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.
'Feed the birds,' that's what she cries,
While overhead, her birds fill the skies.
All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares.
Although you can't see it, you know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares.
Though her words are simple and few,
Listen, listen, she's calling to you:
'Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.'"
As Deidra finished singing, and was watching Kree sleep, a hand grabbed Deidra's throat roughly, and squeezed it.
"Lovely song. You ready to give that power to me yet?" a familiar male voice said.
Deidra let her power consume her eyes and turn them black, and replied angrily, "Hell no, Chase."
Chase swiftly let go of her throat, and leant over Kree's bassinet, and looked into it smugly, and then glanced back at Deidra. "Sure about that?" he snarled, his hand itching to grab the baby boy.
"Yes." Her eyes reverted back to their usual hazel-grey in fear. As scared as Deidra was for Kree's safety, she knew that even if he got her power, he would kill both her and Kree to make sure that they wouldn't talk.
The man leaning over the bassinet pulled Deidra out of the chair as easily as picking up a doll, and threw her against the wall, and pinned her with his powers. Chase narrowed his eyes at her in a glare. "Sing for me." He growled.
"What, do you get off on it or something?" she asked, hoping that Caleb would sense the surge of Chase's power before he forced her to will her power on to him.
"Do it!" he yelled.
She closed her eyes and began to sing the powerful song that she used to enroll in the Chesterfield local Art School.
"You have brought me
to that moment
where words run dry,
to that moment
where speech
disappears
into silence,
silence . . ."
Deidra's eyes returned to black, but continued to sing,
"I have come here,
hardly knowing
the reason why . . .
In my mind,
I've already
imagined our
bodies entwining
defenseless and silent -
and now I am
here with you:
no second thoughts,
I've decided,
decided . . ."
She throws off the force that he has pinning her to the wall, and begins to walk towards him, and Chase is still smirking.
"Past the point
of no return -
no going back now:
our passion-play
has now, at last,
begun . . .
Past all thought
of right or wrong -
one final question:
how long should we
two wait, before
we're one . . .?"
Deidra's powers begin to surface more, and she throws Chase into the wall of books behind him. He returns to his feet quickly, and sends a return fire to her. It rebounds and blasts him back into the bookcase.
"When will the blood
begin to race
the sleeping bud
burst into bloom?
When will the flames,
at last, consume
us . . .?"
Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler have found the spare key from outside and are now in the house. They hear the singing and crashing from upstairs and rush up the stairs.
"Past the point
of no return
the final threshold -
the bridge
is crossed, so stand
and watch it burn . . .
We've passed the point
of no return . . ."
The boys finally burst into the room, and see Deidra towering over Chase, who is lying on the floor, bruised and beaten. Chase looked up and her, growled "I'll be back for you.", and disappeared from sight.
Deidra looked back at the boys, but her eyes remained black. She returned the room back to its original state, and then looked at Caleb again. He had an odd look on his face. Almost admiring, but it also looked like he was a bit apprehensive. A loud cry from the bassinet pierced the odd silence. Deidra glanced back at Kree's bassinet, and returned her eyes to their original colour, and crossed the room to pick him up. She whispered quiet shushing noises to him, and looked back at the boys who stood near the door.
"What?"
"Wow. You're like, really powerful." Reid said in awe.
"Um, excuse me, but didn't you read the passage in that book about me or not?" Deidra asked, ten minutes later, after she had gotten Kree back to sleep, and was sitting downstairs in the kitchen. Each of the boys had a coffee in their hands, as did Deidra.
"Well, yeah, but..." Reid trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
"That was awesome. You totally kicked Chase's ass!" Pogue said, after taking a sip of his coffee. Deidra laughed lightly.
"But if what the Book said was true, he's going to be after you a whole lot more. I'm only saying this because I want what's best for you okay?" Caleb saw his friends looking at him weirdly. "Oh, come on, haven't you guys read the Book at all lately? 'He who hears the Daughter sing will covet her power forever.'"
"Oh, crap." Tyler replied to what Caleb had said.
"Yeah, pretty much." Deidra commented drily. Suddenly a scary thought came through her mind. "Caleb, what if he tries to get to me through Kree. I can't just leave him with Granmama anymore, she's not as young as she used to be, and not as powerful. He could kill her and get to Kree easily. Oh, God. What if he kills Granmama?" she said, rambling as all of the thoughts ran through her head.
Caleb grabbed Deidra's free hand and gently traced little patterns on it. "Just slow down okay, just wait a minute. We can talk to the Provost and see if you can have Kree in your classes." he said, trying to calm her down.
"Caleb, that's really sweet, but what are we going to say 'oh, hi Provost, can we have a five-month old sit in on all Deidra's classes?' 'why? because Chase, who's supposed to be dead wants her powers and she reckons he will go through her son to get them'? He'll throw us in a loony bin." Deidra said, laughing.
"She's got a point." Pogue added.
"We'll definitely go in a loony bin." Reid added, too.
"What about you see if you can get out of your classes until we know the threat is gone." Tyler suggested.
Deidra thought about this for a moment. "You know, that sounds like a good idea. I can stay with Granmama and keep Kree with me at all times." She replied.
"Then it's agreed." Caleb said, to finalise the movement.