Hunting Darkness

Chapter 2

When we arrive at the new house, Yuma explains to me that this is where his "grandmother" lives.

"What is a 'grandmother' ?" I ask.

"Well, she's a mom's mom," he explains.

I nod, but I still do not get it. Maybe it is just me.

9 comes out of the Key. "12, my sister has predicted how long we'll be staying, but not the complete time. Do you want to know?"

"Yes," I tell her.

"She said a few weeks, maybe more. We could be wrong."

"Okay. Thank you."

9 enters the Key again with a curt nod.

I follow Yuma as he enters the small wooden house. I look around and see the kitchen close to the living room. Somewhere in between the two, a table and a few chairs are set neatly. A young adult sits at the couch with a device I cannot identify.

She looks up and smiles. "Hey, Yuma. How've you been?"

Yuma beams as he walks over to the girl. "Never better!" He frowns. "Although, there have been some problems where I've been living with Mom and Dad."

The red-haired girl stop working. She sits at the edge of her seat. "Like what?" she asks, clearly interested.

"Yuma," I whisper to where she cannot hear. "Who is she?"

"That's my sister, Akari," he answers.

Akari's eyes settle on mine, and I flinch back away from Yuma as she eyes me with suspicion. This makes me uncomfortable.

"Yuma, who's she?" she asks.

" 'She' ?" I narrow my eyes. "I am not female, if you must know, human child!"

"Akari," Yuma says hurriedly, "this is Astral. He's been helping me with trying to figure out the problems." He then whispers into her ear, though I can still hear what he is saying, "Don't give him a hard time. He's already got a lot of problems, and he just recovered from something severe."

"I see," she muses. "So not your extra-terrestrial girlfriend."

"Akari! Quit with the female comments!" Yuma exclaims as his face flushes red.

"What is a girlfriend?" I ask. 

Akari face-palms. "Wow. He helps solve things when he doesn't even know the basic things."

"Akari, just stop with the whole boyfriend girlfriend thing because he doesn't even know what that is, and I intend to keep it that way!" Yuma scolds.

While they keep talking, 20 appears out of the Key, invisible to human sight.

"His energy is stronger now," she reports, and I do not have to ask her who she means.

"Then he is near?" I ask, and she nods. "I see."

"Anyways, I'm going to unpack," Yuma says. "Oh, by the way, where's Grandma?"

"She's out right now. Maybe she'll be back later," Akari answers, going back to her work.

"Alright!" Yuma goes to what must be his room.

"Feels good to be back here," he comments as he sets his stuff down. "I haven't been here in a long time."

20 and I look around. "Do you sense anything?" I ask her in my native language.

"No. The energy is gone," she responds in the same language. "Although, who knows if he's hiding around here somewhere. I only sensed him earlier because he was careless."

I sigh. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Hey, let's go visit Cat and see how she's doing," Yuma suggests.

"You two go ahead," 20 says, a touch of nervousness in her voice. "I do not do well with humans as most of our people are." With that, she disappears into the Emperor's Key. 

Yuma dashes out of the room, and I follow as quickly as I can.

"Hey, Yuma!" Akari shouts after us. "Where are you going?!"

"Visiting a friend!" he answers as he rockets outside.

I lead Yuma to Cathy by following her life energy. It takes a while, but we eventually arrive to a huge, black/turquoise mansion with cat statues at the stairs.

Yuma gapes at it. "Wow..."

I study the building with great interest. "How did she afford this house?" I mutter to myself.

"Beats me," Yuma answers. "You sure this is the right place?"

I nod. "Following human trails is not a problem, Yuma. I am certain this is it."

We ebter the house, and we are met with more feline statues and a sort of dark room. This reminds me of the first time I met Black Mist, and I shiver.

"Yuma! Astral!" Cathy shouts from upstairs.

"Hey, Cat!" Yuma calls.

She races down to meet us, and she tackles Yuma, knowing very well that I do not like being jumped by a hyper human. It triggers my reflexes, and I do not feel comfortable with being tackled.

"Um, Cat? Can you let go?" Yuma chokes, trying to escape the girl's clutches.

"Hello, Cathy," I say with a slight wave.

Cathy lets go of Yuma. "Can you believe Papa had this all along? It's incredible!"

Yuma whistles. "It sure is a huge place."

A small cat with white fur pads up to us. It mews softly. In its mind, it says, "You look almost like the one Bella described to us." He is clearly addressing me.

"One of you has met him?" I ask him mentally.

He sits in front of me and stares up with big, blue eyes. "Yeah. She described him as a bastard."

"So he is," I reply.

Chilling laughter fills the area. I freeze, and the cat freezes too. The laughter continues, echoing in the large space. My heartbeat quickens. It's him. Black Mist. My eyes dart around, and I find him perched on the rail of the second floor staircase.

"You know, it's funny," he says with an amused grin. "We always seem to meet up in dark and chilling places."