Page 13 of Veil of Death and Shadow

She sighed, her expression flattening into something more serious. Something that looked almost like fear. It was just a flash, then gone.

Sora had long mastered the ability to mask anything resembling vulnerability, no matter how disheveled she might look. Where we came from, vulnerability would be used against you. “Something big happened, the day you stood me up.”

“I did not stand you up,” I argued. “Not my fault I was knocked out.”

She shrugged, the corner of her lips tugging into a smirk. “Impact over intent.”

I shot her a look, silently demanding something less vague. Jokes aside, fear gathered tight and coiled in the base of my spine, waiting for the shoe to drop.

“I don’t know, Mars. I don’t want to say you slept through the apocalypse, but I think you sort of did.” She ran a hand through her hair, her fingers picking through some of the knots as she fought to find words. “Or maybe not the apocalypse, but some kind of war or attack or . . . something. Something big. Movie-franchise-finale kind of big. The news stations haven’t exactly been providing much information, and the government—as usual—isn’t really offering any insight or clarity into the matter. And the little bits of information I’ve been able to track down seem to contradict each other. They’ve put shelter-in-place orders out, told people to hunker down and wait, but they’re not saying much. Honestly, it feels almost liketheydon’t even know what’s going on.”

The lights flickered again, the hiccupping shadows adding more weight to her words.

She glanced up at the light fixture above us, the shadows it cast dancing ominously over her features. “That’s been happening a lot. Electricity everywhere has been fucked. An electromagnetic pulse or something, maybe. I don’t know. People are reporting some weird things.”

“Weird things like what?”

She didn’t speak for a long moment, and I got the sense that she was dreading having to put words to whatever she was about to say, like that might make it more real—like once it was said, it couldn’t be unsaid.

After a deep, slow inhale, the words tumbled out of her, as if of their own accord, all in one breath. “At first, I thought maybe it was just some electrical storm or maybe a weird data breach. Like a nerdy anarchist group trying to take out Big Tech, you know? Cell service has been absolute shit, too, completely unreliable. So, I guess I’m not actually mad Frank didn’t call. It probably wouldn’t have even gone through. Lord knows I’ve probably rung your number a thousand times in the last twenty-four hours alone. People have been complaining about cars randomly not starting, or sometimes even driving themselves—like there’s some kind of weird power surge going on or something. I don’t even know if power surge is the right term for it, to be honest.”

She paused; her breath shaky as she absently peeled at the edge of the counter where the worn plastic overlay was starting to curl. “But then, even stranger shit started to happen. Things no simple power surge or cyber-attack could explain.” She bit her lip, then glanced at me, uncharacteristically hesitant as she searched for her next words, these ones pouring out more like molasses than sand. “I’ve looked on a few message boards during the brief glimpses of internet I’ve been able to access—and people are reporting some seriously fucked up shit, Mars. Unexplainable shit. I didn’t believe it at first, until I saw some of it firsthand.”

“Sora, specifics. It’s okay, I’ll believe you, whatever it is. Just spill, okay? What did you see?” I held my breath as I waited for her to spell it out, my skin tingling like it sensed what was coming before I did.

“This is going to sound like I’m fucking with you, but I swear that I’m not.” She pressed her lips together into a tight line, like she was trying to swallow back the words, until they refused to be restrained a moment longer. “I saw a man transform yesterday, right in the middle of the street.”

“Transform?”

“One minute he was your average Seattle hipster twenty-something, then his bones started cracking,” she glanced at me, her voice quiet and flat. “Mars, he turned into a wolf. Literally.”

Silence engulfed us, broken only by the crow’s beak as it clacked against the now-empty glass jar.

“You saw a werewolf. Cute.” I grinned, expecting her to break into a laugh.

She didn’t.

“I’m not fucking with you.” There was a raw edge to her voice now, and I felt her desperate plea for me to believe her.

Whatever happened, she believed it. She actually believed she saw a werewolf.

I knew how powerful that kind of conviction in something could be, especially when you were alone in that truth—sometimes it was more real than anything else.

Intentionally or not, I’d left her alone in that belief, in that fear. For days.

“And that’s not all,” she continued, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly when I didn’t challenge or laugh at her. “People are reporting all kinds of things—supernatural things. Buildings randomly expelling people, folks suddenly appearing and disappearing into thin air, like a damn fantasy portal has swallowed them up and spit them out or something—or like they’re some sort of video game spawn. I don’t know, it’s—” She exhaled through her teeth, and I felt her fear sharpen in that breath. “I know it sounds like I’m on a bad acid trip or something. Trust me, I wish I was, but I’m not. You know me.I’ve never believed in this kind of shit. I’m usually the one trying to convinceyouthat curses and what-not aren’t real, you know? But I’m telling you, either something supernatural is happening, or the whole world’s on one powerful ass acid trip with me. I mean,” she waved her hand frantically between us, “hello, you passed out for three days in a forest, right? What happened to you? You just woke up and that’s it? And now you have a zombie bird stalking you? That’s extremely weird and not normal, Mars. Something seriously fucked up is going on.”

I nodded; my throat suddenly dry again.

She wasn’t wrong.

“Look,” she said, “all I’m saying is you’re not the only one experiencing weird, unexplainable shit. Objectively weird is unfolding everywhere, and no one is giving us any answers.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry.”

She stared down at our hands, brows furrowed. It was rare for me to be physically affectionate. To initiate touch. Her eyes met mine, dark and shining. “Why are you sorry? I’m not saying any of this is your fault.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you. That you’ve been processing whatever’s going on without me. This sounds,” I shook my head, “fucking terrifying, and I’m sorry you were alone with it.”

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