CHAPTER 1

1916 A.D. The Early Years

MAGGIE WAS A solitary child who never dwelled on her loneliness. It was the way of the Healer, even before they ever understood their destiny. From the moment she had been whisked away to her new life, she had been warned that with her gift came great burdens. Loneliness was the least of them.

Her early years were memorable. A child never forgets the sadness of neglect or feeling unloved. Had she simply been ordinary, her life would probably have ended tragically. Instead, her uniqueness gave her the opportunity to experience a life few could ever imagine.

Maggie was a born healer. Her parents discovered her gift when she turned five. The family pet, a small aging terrier named Alice, had been mauled by a neighbor's dog. Alice was dying. Unsympathetic, Maggie's dad grew irritated at his daughter's distress.

"It's just a dog, for Christ's sake," he snapped, ignoring the tears flowing down his daughter's cheeks. "And stop that damn crying." Grabbing a shovel, he began digging a hole.

"Daddy, please," Maggie begged, clutching the limp body in her arms.

"Please, what? It's dead, or soon will be. Be thankful I'm burying her instead of throwing her in the garbage."

Sniffling, Maggie wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"I can make her better, daddy. Pleeease, I can make her better."

"Sure you can. You'd better do it quick, because when I'm finished with this hole, I'll be making her better permanently." Maynerd continued digging. "And I said stop crying. You're driving me nuts."

The sobbing stopped and was immediately replaced by an almost inaudible humming. Maynerd glanced at his daughter and shook his head.

Stupid kid! All this over a mutt.

Throwing the shovel on the ground, he reached for the dog and then hesitated. Nestled in Maggie's arms, Alice stared back at him, her upper lip curled as a warning.

"What the —" Pulling the dog from Maggie, he held Alice up and examined her. "What did you do?"

"I made her better, daddy, like I said."

"Made her... How?"

"I hummed to her. It always makes her feel better. Are you mad?"

Maynerd smiled and handed Alice back to Maggie.

"No. No, not at all. You did fine. Real fine. Let's go find mommy. She's going to be very happy to see Alice is okay."

And we're going to be rich. 

*  *  *

Huddled around an old kitchen table, Maggie's parents planned their future. For years, they had made a fairly decent living conning people. Soon that life would be behind them, thanks to their daughter.

"We'll make a killing," Maynerd said, pouring another glass of wine for himself. "I always knew that girl was special."

"Yeah right, Manny. That's why you kept wanting to pawn her off on my grandparents," Candice replied as she picked up her husband's wine glass and downed the contents. "Well, you got me to thank for keeping her with us. A mother knows what's best for her kid."

Maynerd snorted and grabbed his glass back.

"You keep drinking like that and your liver's gonna crap out on you. As for your motherly instincts, we both know there ain't a maternal bone in your body. Not that I blame you. Maggie has always been a difficult child. Who'd have guessed all that caterwaulin' would make us rich."

"She's singin', you idiot," Candice said. "That's how she makes them better. I should have seen what was goin' on a long time ago. She ain't been sick since the day she was born."

"Maybe if you crawled out of your bottle now and then you'd have seen this sooner. Then we wouldn't be living in this dump."

"Fuck you! You got no room to talk. How come you didn't notice anything before now?"

"Alright, alright," Manny conceded. "No use us fighting over something we can't change. Tomorrow we're gonna show the world what she can do. People will pay a fortune to get healed. Hell, I bet we even get a Pulitzer Prize or something."

Candice snorted.

"That's for journalists, you idiot."

While they continued celebrating their good fortune, neither knew Maggie's future would not be determined by their greed but rather by the love of two strangers who had been monitoring the child for almost a year. That night, Marina and Doreen spirited her far away and into another life. Maggie was given a new name: Chantelle. Singer! It suited her. Raised by her new, loving moms, she never once thought about her biological parents — even after a hundred and sixty-one years.