Shards of Black Glass (Zak's POV)

A Visitor Comes

Golden Corral is where we spend breakfast this time. Saira brings three plates of food to the table, and eats all of them. She even goes back for desert.

The other guys are placing bets on whether she'll get a fifth plate. When she doesn't, and simply sits with her bowl of chocolate ice cream, Aaron and Billy shake hands under the table.

Saira finally asks, "What? Am I not allowed to eat?" The others guys respond, but I feel a dark mood envelope me. Everything is tinged black, even my green salad.

"We didn't expect someone as skinny as you to eat so much," my mouth says, not abiding my brain's command to be silent.

A heartbeat later, when I look up, my three friends are looking at me while Saira is ducking under the table.

"What?" I snap, irritated. "Am I mot allowed to be truthful?" Aaron glances at Saira, who reappears after her dive, then back at me, and says, "No, you are. Just not this early in the morning."

I can see Billy and Jay hiding smiles, but Saira is watching me, concern and darkness in her eyes. I huff and look out the window, ending the conversation.

We all pile into the van after breakfast. When we get to the hotel and grab our keys, I see the brown-haired receptionist smile at Saira, his eyes tracking her every move. I glare at him, then hide a smile as Saira gives him a go-to-hell look and marches off.

We ride the elevators upward. Aaron and I are in the same room, like normal, and Saira is in the room next to us, all alone. Aaron points out this fact, and Saira and I roll our eyes simultaneously.

"Remember, Saira. We meet up to review evidence at noon," my mouth says. Saira nods and heads into her room, closing the door behind her.

Aaron and I go into our room. I fall onto one of the beds as Aaron flops onto the other amd turns on the TV. Why, I don't know. Normally, Aaron is the one to fall asleep and I'm the one staying up. But not this time. As soon as my head hits the pillows, I'm out.

Strange nightmares enter my blissful black dreams. I don't know why these images are flashing through my head, for I've never imagined these things, much less seen them in real life.

A girl lies in my arms, red soaking through a hole in her chest. Just as quickly, though, the dream changes.

A boy lays before me, a bullet lodged in his head. He stares straight at me with dark gray eyes, and whispers, "If you had only agreed," as blood bubbles up from his lips.

The image changes again. Now, I'm next to a lake with a broken dock. A white wolf paces before me. Suddenly, though, it stops. It continues to stare at me with eerie emerald eyes.

Finally, it says, "You are not Saira. Though you must be the one Lila talked about a decade ago." I open my mouth to speak, but the wolf shakes her huge head. "You need not say anything, Zachary Bagans. You are not the one I want."

The wolf and lake disappears, replaced with a burning house. I choke on smoke, amd fall to my knees. A girl stands before me, her eyes the same color as the smoke.

"Be careful, Zachary Bagans. Darkness lies at her heart, just as it did all these years ago," the girl whispers, kneeling to meet my eyes. I look up at her, and see bits of jade green in her dark irises.

"Her family burned, just as you will," the girl with Saira's eyes whispers, grinning as a searing pain erupts across my back.

I start awake, grasping at the sheets. Aaron glances at me, concern and worry flashing through him. I ignore him, and walk into the bathroom, intent on taking a shower to wash my strange dreams away.