Page 3 of In the Dark

CHAPTER 2

A screech rose in her throat and she slammed her closed fist against the wall, unnatural strength causing the sheetrock to crack and shatter. Fury had her hair rising in a static-y halo around her head. The picture frames on the walls shook and threatened to fall.

No one got the better of her. Not anymore. Her new magic saw to it, much more than her own meager powers ever had. Earth magic? She scoffed. Being an earth elemental was nothing compared to what she could do now. The man who’d penetrated her dream—if it was a dream—should know better. If he had the means to get in, he had the means to see her for who she was, what she was.

Her magic wasn’t enough, she decided on the spot. Any would-be attacker would see her as weak unless they could see her as someone on their level. Or someone capable of going one better.

No one would flinch if a barrage of flowers batted at them, or tree roots lifted to slap at them. Earth magic was good for healing, and once upon a time she’d been one of the best. Of course, that was a whole other chapter of her life. And she was ready to close the book on those chapters permanently.

Whatever or whoever that had been, they were likely long gone. Karsia tugged the collar of her jacket up to her ears and walked out of the room. Determined to remain unaffected.

Winter in Miami felt like summer in Chicago. The heat weighed her down and dampened her exposed skin. Oh, she missed her home. She thought she missed it, anyway. Part of her knew it was right to feel remorse. To feel homesick for the place she’d lived her entire life. It was becoming more and more difficult to manifest those feelings without conscious effort.

She’d have to start fresh again after this. Find another place to hide her darkness until she could think of a way to combat it. So far in her quest, she’d failed miserably.

It made her think there were worse things than death. Being stuck with a dark passenger inside her sapping her humanity, for instance, with her alliances torn between the good she knew was correct and the immorality her very soul urged her toward.

Just one example.

Karsia stopped and drew the night air into her lungs. A glance down at her wrist showed her there was no remaining mark from where the man had grabbed her. The stranger. She took a moment to think about him. He’d been oddly familiar, unnatural and intriguing. It was a new angle to think about. There was someone out there with the power to control her subconscious.

Who was he? Where was he?

She marched down the street and considered. He shouldn’t have been able to get the jump on her. She was the living embodiment of chaos. He’d called her a child of the dark. Almost like he’d known her. Come find me, the stranger had said.

Assuming she listened to the freak—which she was in no way about to do—how would she even know where to begin?

Karsia thought about her life six months ago, her time divided into two distinctive periods: before and after. Before, she’d had a plan to compete with their enemy and triumph. She was sure of herself, with a clear end goal in sight and little doubt about their ability to come out the victor.

Now she knew she needed to find her way out of the darkness and back into the light. Knew it, yes. Believed it? Those were two different horses. Part of her didn’t want to let go of the power she now held. That part enjoyed what she wielded and the being she’d become. She spent every day at war with herself. Considering she hadn’t killed anyone yet, Karsia felt she was doing a bang-up job.

That’s when she remembered the web page. The knowledge inside of her came together like the snap of a puzzle piece. A light bulb flicking on to brighten a room. The teacher at a college in Wisconsin, who worked in the Mythology department—she’d found him while helping her sisters research possible meanings for the Cyrillic script tattooed on her sister Aisanna’s arm. On the Internet, she’d come across a scholarly paper from a professor of philology who’d found some kind of stone tablet written in multiple languages and detailing a cataclysmic even at the end of the Dark Ages. His words had struck a chord with her, although the others hadn’t seemed impressed.

Finding this professor seemed like a good starting point. There was something about his writing, the way she’d recognized the passion between the lines. The man knew his legends, knew his history, and perhaps he would know more that could help her.

“Perfect,” she said out loud.

There were no better options jumping out at her. And having a destination in mind was preferable to running. If this professor was the genius several blogs professed him to be, he might be able to scrounge up a lead on her mysterious attacker.

Wishful thinking.

Karsia stopped and leaned against the metal bars in front of an electronics store, iron and steel protecting the expensive wares inside from thieves. Around her, life carried on. In the wee hours of the morning, people still filled the streets. Cars honked and voices shouted, with everyone vying to be heard.

Pursuing the professor gave her a perfect opening to start over yet again. It meant another city, another trip to a different place, where this time she may not be able to control herself. It was easier in places like Miami where there were too many people per square foot. A cup running over kind of thing. She could lose herself in varied distractions and indulge in the decadent taste of sin on her tongue.

But Wisconsin? Who knew what she would be walking into this time?

Taking care to block herself from prying eyes, Karsia delved into the depths of her bra and pulled out a wad of money. She hastily scanned the bills, counting. Yes, it would be enough to get her a car. A junker in good enough shape to get her where she needed to go. The last car she’d purchased from a roadside dump took her as far as the Everglades. She’d left it there, pushing it into the muck and completing the rest of the journey on foot.

Karsia carried no license and no forms of identification, which made renting a vehicle or stepping foot in an airport impossible. She needed to stay under the radar and away from the prying eyes of the Claddium.

The Claddium, she thought with a groan. The magical goons charged with policing the witch and wizard community. Keeping them safe. What a joke. She’d always thought they were the ones who went bump in the night. The ones who needed to be feared above anything else. She’d been wrong. Now she knew what real darkness looked like.

Still, she didn’t need any unwanted attention. Their goons were everywhere, and sure to be watching for her.

She grumbled and made her way down the sidewalk, with the rustle of palm trees echoing after her. Each passing day brought her closer to the eclipse and the vernal equinox. Closer to the end.

I dreamed of you, he’d told her.

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