Page 7 of Morning's Light

Please let the car start, she silently prayed. Come on, Baby.

That’s when she heard whispers on the wind. They started low, like gnats buzzing around her head. Aisanna wiggled her jaw to pop her ears. When that didn’t work, she tenderly worked a finger into the depths of her ear canal to clear it of any waxy buildup.

The whispers continued like a breath, or a forgotten song. She couldn’t make out the words. Was hardly aware of them. Yet something in the air felt charged. She swatted around her head to dispel the buzz. Her fingers grasped the keys at last and she hastily opened the driver’s side door, barricading herself inside the vehicle. The engine roared to life. Thank goodness.

The murmurs grew in cadence until their volume blotted out the world. Aisanna ducked, holding her ears with a cry. She slammed on the brakes although the car remained in park.

“What the hell is going on?” she yelled, trying to hear her own voice.

The world stopped. Time came to a standstill; air froze in a cloud above her face. The last few weeks, what with her sister, the mess with the wild magic, the supernatural stalker, and trying to get back to a new normal, Aisanna felt like she had been holding her breath, without knowing why she was doing it. Like she was waiting for her reality to fade around her. A daydream.

Calm never lasted forever.

Now she understood. Really understood. It was time to start taking things seriously. Unfortunately, the realization kicked in when it was too late to react.

Her body didn’t belong to her anymore. She urged her hands to grasp the wheel, to shift into drive and get away from whatever presence weighed on her soul. She urged her vocal cords to scream. The moment stretched on. The windshield stirred as though it were a blanket shaking itself out, and then went still.

Her attention flicked down to the seat when she felt it move beneath her. For an instant, reality slipped, went askew. Righted itself within seconds. She saw the error as clearly as she saw the shadowy figure crouched on top of her hood. One who hadn’t been there before and shouldn’t have been there at all. She couldn’t make out its face and her brain struggled to make sense of the scene. Then her blood became ice in her veins.

The car was silent. The connection between her mind and body had been severed. Was the figure controlling her? Everything was wrong.

The shadow was the only thing in the world still able to move, cocking its ephemeral head to the side. Aisanna’s heart began to pound against her ribs.

Something was very, very wrong.

Fear surged through her with nowhere to go. No outlet for the adrenaline boiling her from the inside out. There was something odd about the shadow. Something fluid and otherworldly. If the thing had been human once…it wasn’t now.

The One Who Walks in Darkness was back.

Time crawled. Silence stretched. She couldn’t turn her head, her eyes focused on the darkness. Dust and dirt flew up outside in a cyclone around the car, and the shadow bent sideways. Fear was a crashing wave, coming in surges. Light burst behind her eyes and the world rumbled like something was trying to break through. She knew something bad was happening. Just wasn’t clear on what.

How could she have been so stupid as to think her problems were over? That they’d defeated the swell of rogue magic coming for them before the eclipse? It was here, in front of her. Here, and grotesquely out of place. Slowly, the shadow’s fist came through the windshield, forcing through the elements and pushing the thick air out of the way to reach Aisanna. The glass broke and snapped. The mechanisms of the car were crushed. Destroyed. Yet she remained, the emotional damage done.

Darkness knew this would hurt more.

She wished she could turn her head, or call someone to come help her. Her mind rushed for a spell. An angry piece of something to break her out of the stupor and rip Darkness to pieces.

Bells began to pound in her ears. The sound came faster and faster. When she prepared to give in to panic, it was done. A tremendous burst of reality that returned the car to normal. Without warning, the shadow vanished. She crumpled forward the instant the thing disappeared, her arms, back, and legs cramped and devoid of strength.

Aisanna drew in a huge breath in a mix of relief and agony while the wind outside flailed leaves and debris from the ground. She focused on the movement. Struggled to draw air into her lungs. Tears stung and she would have given anything to rewind, to tell herself not to be so damn complacent. She should have taken precautions.

Darkness wasn’t done with them. Sure, nothing terrible had happened. This time.

Next time she wouldn’t be so lucky.

**

Elon stayed later than usual, trying to finish a few miscellaneous items on his checklist. He had no place better to be and really didn’t mind putting in the extra hours. Anything he could do to ease the boss’s workload. Johan called him pussy-whipped without the benefit of ever having the first part.

So be it.

When he glanced up from the computer, night had settled over the city. Stars winked to life in a cold, heartless sky, and his stomach growled a warning. A hungry protestation telling him in no uncertain terms that he’d missed dinner.

He rubbed a hand over his abdomen to settle it. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d gotten lost in his head and forgotten to feed the beast. Surely it wouldn’t be the last. He reached into a back pocket to pull out a candy bar, ripping through the wrapper and tearing half off in a large bite. Sugar slapped his taste buds, the taste so delicious he wanted to cry.

Never underestimate the power of a good piece of chocolate.

He quietly set the storefront to rights, munching away, and shrugged his arms into the warm fleece coat hanging near the back door. Through the dim light, he could see Aisanna’s car still parked across the way. Headlight beams cut through the empty lot and fell on a nearby dumpster.

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