Page 111 of Darkness

The elder launched himself, clasping Morrisey’s head between his hands. Agony shot through his mind, similar to the night in the alley. Oh, gods. Was this asshole trying to possess him?

“Don’t fight,” the man said, tones far more soothing than the situation warranted. “You must trust me, cousin.”

Cousin. Like Krista. Morrisey let go.

Thoughts and images raced through his mind too fast for him to lock on to an individual occurrence. People, places, faces his mind said were his parents. Above all, he felt an overwhelming desire to lead, to protect, to continue his species.

Farren’s face appeared in his thoughts. The images he saw resembled faces superimposed over human faces. Here, though, they didn’t seem evil; they were just people going about their daily lives.

The chaos calmed with the image of Farren, then stopped. Morrisey panted for breath. What a hell of a thing.

“There.” The elder slowly released Morrisey. “I’ve done all I can do.” He took the seat vacated by Krista.

No others remained.

“You must go. while I’m still here to seal the rift behind you. Remember, you carry the hopes of our entire civilization with you.” He gave a bittersweet smile. “I’m glad I met you before the end, cousin. You remind me of Agnetis. You’ll be good for Aluxi.”

Pressure surrounded Morrisey, squeezing the air from his lungs. The entire world shook, then went dark.

Morrisey came to himself lying on the basement floor. Pain shot through his head, excruciating. He clutched his skull. Still, the pain spiked. Screams came from upstairs.

Farren! He must find Farren.

Chapter Thirty-six

Leary burst into Farren’s office. “What the fuck is happening?”

No way could Farren answer. Agony skewered his skull. He sprawled on the floor. Still, he screamed, curling into a ball. How could anyone hurt so much and live? Every nerve ending burned.

Suddenly, the pain stopped as quickly as it started. Farren lay on the drab gray carpet, gasping, a concerned Leary staring down at him. His muscles spasmed. What the ever-loving fuck?

Through pained breaths, Farren got out, “I… I’m fine. Go check on Arianna.” He closed his eyes, tracking Leary’s footsteps down the hall. At least Arianna no longer screamed. Farren would go check on her—after he rested. He panted, exhaustion pulling him down. Every part of him hurt. What caused that? Was it simply him and Arianna, others in the building, or all travelers?

Leary didn’t seem affected, but even a tornado would swirl around Leary, too afraid to come close.

Farren’s desk phone rang. He pulled himself up, reaching blindly for the speaker button. “Austen.”

“Are you all right?” Sykes asked, sounding somewhat winded.

“I’m fine. Leary is looking after Arianna. I take it you felt it, too?”

“Yeah, and Waverly. Whatever it was only affected us travelers. We’re fine now. Any idea what happened?”

“No,” Farren replied, though a sneaky suspicion said he did. “It’s like when part of our realm vanished, though nothing so severe.” He’d thought at the time he’d felt his family and lover dying.

“I felt something similar before several times, but like you, never bad enough to put me on the floor.” Sykes switched the phone to speaker, letting Farren hear Waverly’s moans.

"Hang in there, Wave," Sykes crooned, voice receding from the phone. “You’ll be okay in a minute or two.”

Farren spoke louder so Waverly and Sykes could both hear. “I haven’t felt anything like this since arriving in the human world.” Powers willing, he’d never experience anything so agonizing again.

“Me either.”

Leary appeared in the doorway, leading a shaken Arianna. “I think…” she began, stopping to pull in a strangled breath. “I think our realm just fell.” A sob tore from her throat. She clung to a startled Leary.

While Leary squirmed a bit in her grasp, he didn’t let go. Not that letting go would help when she’d latched on tighter than an octopus.

“Did you hear?” Farren said into the phone.

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