Page 62 of Darkness

Damn it! What was Morrisey expected to do with his time? He could only spend so much time jacking off.

He slipped the devices back into the false lining of his suitcase and, in bored desperation, checked the books Arianna had left on the nightstand. What did M/M stand for?

What did she mean by leaving a box of tissues and a sticky note that said, “Enjoy!”

One thing to be said about travelers: they were weird as all fuck.

Chapter Twenty-one

Morrisey floated in nothingness, distant lights winking in and out. He felt more than saw the presence next to him. “Where are we?”

Farren answered softly, his voice carrying a musical quality Morrisey had heard before. “In the places between places. Between realms.”

“What are the lights? Why are some going out?”

“Those are the realms.” Farren sounded sad now. “The ones going out have ceased to exist.”

What? So many? Another light faded to nothingness. Holy shit! “They’re all dying?”

“In this place, time is irrelevant. Some have died, some are dying, some are yet to die. But see the new bright lights? Some are also being born.”

Recognition slammed into Morrisey with shocking force. The musical tones. Where he’d heard them before. Farren had spoken to the paramedic in this way. Not English words. The language of Domus. Yet Morrisey understood. “Why are we here?”

“I’m looking for something.”

“Your lost family? But why am I here?”

Farren faced Morrisey, not in human form, but as pure white light. Beautiful, alien, but still Farren. “Because you’re the one I’m looking for.”

Morrisey’s mind kept drifting back to last night’s dream. Was sleeping under the same roof as Farren causing more dreams about him?

“Morrisey?” Farren waved a hand before Morrisey's face.

Morrisey jumped. “Sorry. My mind wandered. What were you saying?” He stepped onto the elevator with Farren, then rode the God-knew-how-many-floors to the building’s lobby.

“I said, I’m one of three from Domus who works on the task force.”

“Some humans call it Hell.” Morrisey did, too, occasionally.

“So I’ve heard. Anyway, Sykes is our IT guru, and Waverly investigates suspected traveler crimes.”

They paused the conversation as the elevator doors opened, resuming in the parking lot.

Morrisey recalled having met the two briefly. Like with Farren, Morrisey didn’t see superimposed faces over the ones the other two agents wore. One wore a female's physical form and had tracked her host’s killers. Both were Magestra. “You appear younger than them, but they defer to you.”

“I outrank them both in Domus and Terra.” Farren unlocked the doors to his assigned car with the click of a fob. “I found them dealing out vigilante justice to errant travelers. Like me, they stumbled through the barrier between worlds against their will.”

Why did Farren look away for the last part, climbing into the vehicle and not meeting Morrisey’s gaze? Morrisey swung the door open and settled himself into a passenger seat he didn’t have to scrape food wrappers off to uncover.

Sykes and Waverly might be from Farren’s home realm, but neither appeared in his dreams. Morrisey changed the subject while buckling in. “The whole falling through the barrier thing happened a lot, I’m thinking.”

Farren slowly drove the car out of the parking lot, waving to the gate guard in passing. “It happens more now. Or maybe people don’t hide so well. Maybe technology makes it harder to hide.” Farren shrugged, one hand gripping the steering wheel. He seemed preoccupied, not looking directly at Morrisey. Had he shared the same dreams?

How the hell could someone say, “You were in my dreams last night. Was I in yours?” and not get pulled into Human Resources for a lecture on what not to say to coworkers?

They idled in traffic, waiting for the light to turn. Morrisey kept to a less intimate conversation. “So, the legends about angel and demon sightings are real?”

“Some probably are. Then again, some people from Terra have found themselves in Domus. A few even came back with unbelievable tales.”

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