Page 59 of Safe in Shadow
“Grace.”
“I don’t care! I’m not losing you. I love you, and you were in that fucking prison for so long. You deserve a chance to be free! I—I—Hey.” Grace grabbed his hand and held it in a desperate grasp, shocked to find it getting firmer and firmer instead of fading away.
Nyx looked down at their clasped hands.
“This is wrong.”
Grace pulled the car over and did a U-turn before parking halfway off the deserted road. In the distance, they watched the top of the restored mansion turn to a solid wall of orange flame before collapsing into the lower level. She let go of Nyx’s hand long enough to cover her mouth with both hands and swallow a scream of agony and frustration.
My dream. Hours and hours of work. Grants. Hopes.
And Nyx’s portal.
She swallowed and turned to look at him, waiting for him to vanish.
And instead... He sat beside her, currently solid, mouth open, chalky gray features twisted in horror. “Oh, my love. I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “All of your efforts...”
“Nyx. Nyx, the house is burning. The portal under the bed—that whole room is already gone? Why is it burning so fast?”
“Old wood and new chemicals?” he suggested.
“That’s probably true.” Grace eased her car out of park, then almost screamed when two fire engines came tearing past her. Once they sped past, she gently moved onto the road, heading back to the house. “Have to talk to the police.”
“The woods are burning quickly. I wonder if he made it—Grace! Look out!” Nyx grabbed her arm as a figure limped into the road, directly into the path of her car.
Grace swerved and tried to avoid the man, but her right front fender connected with his legs, and then there was a sickening crunch as the tire rolled over them.
While she sat there, stunned and horrified, Nyx fumbled with the door handle and then gave up, shooting through the window in wisps of smoke.
NYX STOOD OVER THEStranger. With the sky a hazy orange from the nearby conflagration, he could actually see him clearly for the first time.
Average. Unremarkable. Well, except for the fact that he was covered in burns, soot, and howling in pain.
Nyx looked back at the house. Back through the windshield at Grace’s shocked face.
“You have blood on your hands,” Nyx stated to the writhing mass on the ground. Some of his skin had bubbled up and torn away, leaving raw, red muscles and yellow-y bones visible on one side of his face.
The Stranger made angry, wet noises. They probably would have made more sense if his face had been properly constructed, or if Nyx had cared to listen.
“Time is funny for me—it doesn’t behave properly. Moves in circles sometimes, lines in others, and is always fragmenting and doubling back. I don’t know if you’ve buried a dozen bags in the woods, or more. I know you tried to add my Grace to your collection. I know that if I let you go, you’ll add someone else. And so, if my Grace will allow me—I will do one more thing before I exit. Even if it sends me to the flames, I don’t think I care anymore. It couldn’t hurt worse than leaving her so soon,” hewhispered that last bit, but Grace sprang from the car like he’d shouted it.
“Should I call the ambulance?” she asked, keeping her distance.
“Only once I’m done. Turn away, love.”
“I—No. I don’t think I will.” She held her chin up in defiance. “I want to see you for every last second I can.” Her eyes left his and moved back to the house. The storm was moving past, distant, growling thunder trailing out with soft rain left in its wake. Orange flames still leapt and smoldered. The air was filled with sirens, other fire companies sending trucks from all directions by the sounds of it.
Hilltop House was burning even as hoses sprayed across it.
Nyx wondered if something had broken in the old place when the portal burned. If there was hellfire loose on the grounds.
Nyx shrugged, turned away, and smiled at Grace. “I want every last second with you, too. This’ll be quick.”
The Stranger tried to sit up.
Nyx didn’t let him. He had no power to touch things ordinarily, unless it was something of his. Grace had become his. Grace’s car. Grace’s belongings and their home together.
A happy, wishful thought darted through his brain as he curled himself into a solid band of shadow standing out from the smoke blowing across the road.
