Little Spark

55 - From a Little Spark

Oskur's lair is a doorless, windowless, wooden vault located who knows where. I'm sure he sent me to the scene of that accident in attempt to wreck me even more—no pun intended—but he certainly wouldn't have sent me here. Which means I came here on my own.

I must've... shifted?

Once I get over the shock, I run my fingertips over the marks behind my ear, remembering the way they throbbed just before I ended up in this room and thinking about my newfound ability to see in the dark. Mauro must've unknowingly given me some of his abilities when he marked me.

I suddenly feel euphoric, powerful, invincible. I close my eyes, and see myself rising, growing, getting stronger, more powerful. People adore me; everyone is at my beck and call, and they'll all do exactly what I tell them to. If I want it, I can have it, and I find that what I want more than anything is power.

I feel a slight tug just behind my navel, almost like a weakened version of the feeling I get just before blazing, and I hear a little voice in my head that is certainly not my own: Bliss, snap out of it. You have a mission to accomplish.

For a moment, see the silhouetted face of a woman, but then it disappears.

A mission... Yes. In my mind I can see a light above me—but it's very far away and I have to fight to reach it. The thrill and the pleasure of the darkness caress my legs and heels, and I want to dive deeper into it, but I know I have to get back to that light. I push and I push, and I finally break the surface.

The reality of the room settles into me, and I know what I need to do.

********************

I close my eyes and imagine the interior of my closet. For a moment, I feel the pull of the darkness on my mind—the euphoria and the power—but then I smell my clean clothes.

I turn the knob and step into my room, still a little dizzy from the pull of darkness. It takes me a couple of minutes to remember what I'm doing again, but as I see some of the things I'm familiar with—a plastic teacup and saucer of Ruby's, my clock, the Virginia Beach picture—I see Oskur's vault in my head again.

When my mind completely clears of what I'll call Shadow-Ooze, which feels really good when you're in it, but leaves this weird residue on your mind that's very difficult to shake off, a number of things crystalize for me: for one, Mauro didn't accidently give me some of his powers; he must've infused me with a Pitch. My assumption is that he was trying to make it harder for me to resist darkness; I really don't think he would've done it if he realized some of the Shadow abilities would come with it.

For another, there is truly no coexistence of darkness and light; if and when I choose to use a Shadow ability like shifting—which is the only one I really would use—I will be giving myself over to darkness for who knows how long. And I have a feeling that the more I use it, the harder it will be to come back to light....

However, in spite of the risk, I can say for a fact that I'll be using it at least two more times today.

I go in to the hall to call Apollo's cell.

"Hello?"

"Pol, it's Bliss. Are you still coming by?"

"About to pull into your driveway. Is everything alright?"

"No. But it will be. I'll see you soon."

I go back into my room and try to collect my thoughts before he arrives. I'm hoping that if I have a plan in mind going into this whole thing, the pull won't be as intense.

Apollo can't get into the vault, but I can. I can't start a fire, but Apollo can. I'll have to tell him what to do before we shift because who knows how long it'll take me to get it together once we're there. And hopefully it doesn't take too long because I'll have to shift us back out so we don't burn to death.