Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 17

I was in a great mood after talking to Claire for nearly an hour and a half. I lay back down in bed after hanging up and felt energized. A pump of motivation to do something- anything except stay in my room like I usually would. I wore my jeans, a plaid shirt and my sneakers and left the attic. I could have climbed a mountain but I wandering around town was probably the better option.

I took my bag and box of shadows just in case I feel like getting more shadows. I couldn't make rabbits with them anymore but I could probably find something to do with them. My phone buzzed when I was halfway down the stairs. I took my phone out and glanced at the screen.

"What?" I yelped. It was an email from Gregor. I pressed the notification without thinking and his email flitted onto the screen.

Hey Tristan,

How are you? Did you get back to your place alright? :)

I wanted to email you earlier but my parents took all away all my internet privileges and said I was grounded until school starts next month :( I'm hoping they calm down or forget about my punishment before then so we can meet again. Last time I was grounded they completely forgot after two weeks and actually asked me why I was in the house all the time -_-

I had to borrow Percy's phone to send this email which involved a LOT of grovelling and giving her my violin. I can't play it anymore so it'll be a waste if I keep it but it felt awful giving it away OTL

I don't know what to do now that I can't play music (I tried to play but it sounded like death). It would be frustrating to start learning violin from the beginning so I'm thinking about learning a new instrument, but something different from violin like French horn. Have you tried making one of your shadow rabbits? It sucks that the fairies specifically picked things that effect our magic casting. I really wanted to mix my music and my magic but I'll probably give it up and learn more straight forward emotional magic.

I miss you :(

I laughed staring at the sad face in his email, because I could picture him pouting as he typed it. A bubbly feeling filled my fingers and I typed a reply. I was smiling so much my face hurt.

Hi Gregor,

I'm good, spent the whole morning being a watching Youtube but I'm going out to loiter around town for a bit. How are you holding up? I'd be dying of boredom if I was you.

Haha yeah, hopefully you are pardoned soon or your parents can forget about it again lol like maybe next week ...or tomorrow

And I did try paper folding and it sucked. I couldn't even fold a paper in half properly. I feel like shit but I'm going to try and learn again. I don't want to give it up or give up my magic. And why French horn? It looks really cumbersome (and yes I did have to Google what a French horn looks like because I don't know anything about instruments) but hey, it'll probably make a pretty good makeshift weapon if there is a zombie apocalypse.

I miss you too.

I read over the email to make sure there weren't any glaring spelling mistakes. I stared at the 'I miss you too' at the end. There was a jitteriness inside, a nervous thrill building in me the more I thought about Gregor and us. It hadn't even been a day since I'd seen him but I did miss him. It felt like there was a Gregor shaped hole in my world when he wasn't around.

I pressed send before I over analyzed my email. I walked through town my mind felt lighter but my chest feeling empty. As I walked through the cobbled streets, glancing into the shops a disorienting feeling settled around me. It was like I was lucid dreaming but that was probably nothing. I might have still been tired from yesterday but it's not the first time I've felt weird like this.