Page 64 of Visions of Darkness

Because a girl stood just inside the room.

Frozen.

Eyes the same color as mine stared back.

Jet-black hair and pale-white skin, and a face forever imprinted in my dreams.

“Aria.”

Chapter Sixteen

Aria

Shock pinned me to the spot as I stared at the man who had to be an apparition.

An appearance of the impossible.

A dream that had come to life, manifested before my eyes.

Ragged breaths heaved from my lungs, my mind at war with disbelief and a crushing hope that I was terrified to put my faith in.

Time stopped as we stood there ... just ... looking at each other, and I had to wonder if I’d succumbed.

If this was eternity.

If the man who’d wrapped his hands around my throat with the wicked gleam in his eyes had actually snuffed out my life and my spirit was now instead convincing me of an alternate reality.

Of this.

The cognizant piece of me understood my heart still beat, and I hadn’t been able to keep my hands on the vile, depraved monster long enough to bind the darkness I could feel seeping from his soul.

But I’d drawn blood. I’d known it. Had felt his hatred burn so hot as he’d stumbled back, crashing into the wall and sending a tray scattering across the floor as he spat his toxic vitriol like barbs that couldn’t catch.

Now a dull hum buzzed in my ears, my feet heavy and my knees weak, as I looked at the man who seemed to be caught in the same moment as I.

One second set to “pause,” where only he and I existed.

Muted light from the hall spilled over him. His hair was a shock of white. Face hewn in severe cuts and harsh angles.

But it was the pale-gray eyes I’d only dreamed of seeing in this realm that made me feel as if I were looking at my truth for the first time.

A deep, toiling sea.

Fathomless.

Boundless.

“Pax?” His name whispered from my mouth in a tumble of confusion. As soon as the sound hit the air, time sped up again, whipping back to the here and now.

Shouts echoed down the hall. A desperate intensity vibrated the atmosphere and spun it into mayhem.

“I told you, on your knees. Now. Don’t make me fire this thing.”

Jenny had scrambled upright on her bed, and she clutched her blanket to her chest as if it were a shield. Terror coated her being, her eyes wide in the darkness that covered the room in a cloak of shock.

“Aria, what’s happening? Oh God, what’s happening?” Panic wisped from her words, and she gaped at Pax, shocked to find the man from my drawing standing in our doorway.

“It’s okay, Jenny. Don’t be afraid,” I told her—because somehow, I wasn’t. “Remember that you’re good and amazing and you’re going to be okay.”

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