"Where'd you go, Little Star?"
I opened my eyes and saw the blackness in Deryk's eyes as he watched me. Reconnecting with reality burnt an imprint upon my soul. The light had faded from my skin and the rain had left my hair, growing restrictive in a mass of soggy tangles. I knew I could move, but first I needed to get my bearings. Somehow, I knew the light from the lamp would still protect me.
"How?" I murmured and found my voice clear, strong. Painless. "How are you Deryk? How can you go in the light during the day, but not now?" Was that why he hadn't come in when we brought my mother to the hospital?
He stood, turning his back to me while walking away, gesturing with both hands. "Ahh. Well, you see, unlike angels, mortals don't need to be asked before Darkness can possess their shell. But this boy? He begged for it."
He turned, his eyes darkening with glee. It was like the happier he was, the murkier they became. I felt my stomach roll as I turned onto my side, never taking my eyes off Deryk. Slow, steady movements made while he was occupied with gloating were my only chance to surprise my way out of here.
"He wanted popularity and friends and enough coordination on the field to make him a star. I simply... facilitated his achievements." He clapped his hands together and then spread them wide. "Unfortunately, I can't go into that light whilst I need to be so close to the surface of my shell in preparation to take over yours."
"I'll kill myself if it means keeping you from me," I growled. "What did you do with him?"
"Deryk?" he turned back and looked down. Then he shrugged and winked at me. "Oh, he's here. Just, well, he's sleeping right now. But I'm not a tyrant. I let him have his moments, like receiving praise from his teammates after I've won them their games or making out with your friend." He sighed. "I don't understand the last one, but whatever. He enjoys her body enough not to fight for control, and that makes our little union easy to maintain. So, while your friend was a nuisance, she at least filled a purpose, and all was not a complete waste."
"You're sick." I practiced moving my fingers with ease.
He pointed to his chest as though surprised, his eyebrows scaling his forehead as he mouthed, "Me?" His laugh was raised from Hell. "I'm Darkness! What more do you expect?"
"You don't have to lack class to be evil."
"I take it you're beginning to feel better? Oh well, I guess I'll need some help then."
He nodded behind me and I could feel the air get thicker, the light from the lamp growing less illuminating. Sucking in a deep breath, I glanced over my shoulder and felt my stomach roll as a shadow emerged to block the way behind me, blocking everything. I couldn't smell anything, like I was stuck in a void. Somehow, the lack of being able to sense the hot springs made the darkness—both literal and... whatever Deryk claimed to be—even more sinister. More real.
The only way to leave would be through the maze or roses. Neither guaranteed I'd find freedom, even if I managed not to get lost or pricked to death by thorns. But both options were better than staying here, playing the waiting game until sunrise.
"How about you make it two-on-two instead?" Mike asked as he rounded the corner from the parking lot and jumped the four-foot stone fence like it was a four-inch hurdle.
Talk about timing.
Deryk shrunk from Mike's golden glow, already at full shine. Finally, I realized the glory of his beauty, and I immediately wanted to step into his light. It would be an intimate experience, I knew. Like trading souls. David said he would come. He'd just said to hold on until he could arrive, and now Mike was here. My heart flipped with possibilities.
Once the Darkness was gone... Oh, my wow, Suzie was going to be crushed.
Would she speak to me again if I destroyed the boy she loved?
The glee of Mike's arrival vanished as the thought settled into my conscious.
The last time circumstances out of my control occurred came to mind. The hatred I felt just before Mr. Tinsley had killed me with his letter opener to the base of my neck was the only time that I'd felt like this, and my rage wanted out—I wanted to let it free. My body shook with not allowing it free. Who knew what it could do? Could I hurt Mike?
The ground trembled beneath my body, mimicking its tremors. The lampshade swung against its post like chimes in the wind with rain as its instrumental back-up. Ting! Ping! Ting-ping! Ting-ting-ting... ping. The rhythm beat steady in my head.
"Alyssa, stop," Mike warned, and I felt a momentarily lull in my war.
I shifted to lift myself up—there was no pain, only strength. It wasn't physical, and I couldn't explain it, but it felt as though I was timeless—alive and changed. I flexed my fingers, smiling as kinetic energy shot up my arms, and a moment of calm settled over me.
But I looked up and saw Deryk open his mouth to talk, felt the presence of the shadow at my back. The anger, coupled with more power than my body could handle, returned. Too much. It needed to be freed.
I couldn't prevent what happened next, just as I could never forget it.
If ever I wanted a reminder of the weird in my life, this is what I would recall: I slammed my hand flat against the ground and the earth cracked, booming like a giant stomping his foot during a tantrum. The glass beads at my wrist smashed, flying in every direction, and nicked my wrist, drawing beads of blood. In slow motion, I watched a sole survivor roll away and felt my muscles freeze. The connection to David was gone. My anger turned to despair, and I watched with my mouth hanging as the crack in the ground sketched a jagged line to the light post. It travelled vertically, ascending higher and higher until the pole split into two. The wind sighed.
The poles crashed down in a separating V and the light smashed into thousands of shards to join the remnants of my bracelet.
"I told you to stop!" Mike screamed.
How was I supposed to know what would happen? Why didn't he just glow?
Without light, Darkness had power. All protection was gone. The hovering shadow and Deryk leapt at me before I had time to draw a breath, my despair for the bracelet morphing into fear. Mike intercepted Deryk on his trajectory towards me. Even if Deryk wasn't there to distract him, Mike was too far from the shadow to succeed in keeping the shadow from reaching me. Only I could help me.
Rolling to my side as fast as I could, I picked up one half of the fallen branch and threw it to soar into the shadow with a scream. It sailed through the darkness and landed somewhere I couldn't see with a hollow thud.
My mouth dropped, and I paused.
It didn't do anything? How could I fight? The shadow pulsated outward, like it was laughing, and snapped me out of my shock. Taking a deep breath, I darted my eyes to it, hesitating, and then turned, running as quick as possible and prayed for the ability to escape.
I plunged into the entrance of the maze and snagged my shoulder on a shrub. It wasn't my smartest move, but I had nowhere else to go. The shadow blocked me in back and to the right, while Mike and Deryk blocked my way forward. The moment I started to worry Darkness was enticed by blood, a silver light shone through my scrape and it was sealed. Looking down, the cut made by my bracelet was gone.
Another memory flashed to life, making me stumble.
The sound of bones cracking paraded into my mind.
I looked up and watched the sign falling from Tucker's exterior to flatten me like a rolling pin on dough. Blinking, the starless sky returned, but I still felt the pain, the warmth, and... the healing. I had cured my injuries then as I had just now. If I hadn't, I doubt I would have lived through it.
"Yoouu caan't beaatt mmeee," the shadow sang from behind, and I pushed myself faster, forcing myself to keep my eyes forward and my body moving through the pain until the memory settled back into its place in the past.
It is so dark in here!
My breath snagged at a dead end, and I was forced to head back and take the path on my right. My fear was almost tangible, replacing the fresh hot springs that I could finally feel again with a sour bitterness on my tongue. One wrong turn and it would be over. My mother and I could share a room in the whack-shack they were transferring her to because, as much as I wanted to fight, I didn't know how when the all-consuming shadow couldn't be affected by physical attacks.
Three pathways—I went straight.
Two choices and I turned left, only to have to backtrack again to choose right.
My heart raced, and I was sure the mistake would cost me. But the shadow still wasn't here, and I pushed through the exertion and my body's need for oxygen. If I stopped, I was gone.
"I can feel your mother inside of me. She keeps asking you what is happening. What did you do? Oh! She's so scared and alone!" The shadow laughed and the sound seemed to be coming from all around. "I own her now. She is a part of Darkness. Soon, she won't be able to fight. She will cease to exist for you."
My thoughts of escape hit a brick wall. I wanted to keep running—the path ahead of me was clear—but I couldn't force my feet to move.
Panting, I finally managed to move enough to turn without lifting my feet and waited. A minute passed, and the shadow blew through the shrubs. I flinched back, though my feet remained rooted. Opening my eyes, I saw where it entered. The spot was marked as though scorched black, and then slowly began to decay, the affects spreading. The entire maze would die within minutes.
Another death on my hands—would I ever be able to wash the blood away?
"You are making this too easy and killing all of the fun."
"What do you want from me?" I asked, lifting my head to raise my chin. "What do you need to leave my mother alone?"
The shadow bubbled with laughter, forming pockets of air in the thick goo-like exterior of its chosen form. I turned off my thoughts and emotions; it would hinder me in what I was determined to do: help my mother become whole any way possible. Counting to ten, I pushed the fear I felt for the shadow away and concentrated on an image of my mother my mind had conjured. The faith David told me to trust wasn't enough—it was too intangible. The need to save my mother would get me through. Fear wasn't an option. There was just resolve and love, the desire to set things right and fix my mistake.
"I'd heard you were a martyr."
"No, I'm not, but she's only hurt because you couldn't have me," I said between clenched teeth. "Tell me what it will take for you to separate from her. How can I give her back to my father?"
"I want you."
I swallowed. "And if I let you have what you want, you will leave her alone?"
Clenching my jaw, I held tighter to the picture of my mother so that I wouldn't lose what drove me to make this deal, to stop and face Darkness. If I said yes and chose to let the shadow have me, I would need everything in my arsenal to find a way to kill my own soul.
The shadow slid forward with a hiss in the air. Patches of grey in the black distended until a face—David's—formed, nearly close enough to bump against my nose. I didn't blink under its scrutiny, though nothing had ever sickened me more than seeing David's face portrayed in such an evil form. My stomach rolled, and I swallowed hard, licking my lips to try and hide my absolute repulsion. Standing my ground, I swallowed the rising bile as its smell, like rotten eggs mixed with manure, made me want to gag.
"You will let me have you?"
The shrubs, approaching the stage of collapsing, whispered in the breeze, and fireflies of light flew over the branches. Gabe, Mike, and Raffy soared over, shiny and beautiful, to each land on one knee. Behind them, a golden tattoo of near-transparent wings upon air folded, and then faded with a final spark of light. They rose as one, my army of heroes.
The joy of their presence changed nothing.
"You will release her?" Forcing my eyes away from their appearance, I looked back to the shadow, keeping my tone flat. If I focused on this, I could pretend like it was still just me and the shadow. The protests rising from Mike, Gabe, and Raffy were merely tricks of the wind.
"Don't!" Mike warned, and I couldn't help but watch from the corner of my eyes.
He and Gabe looked like someone had gutted them only to put them back together and do it again. Raffy—fun, comedic Raffy—stared in disbelief, and somehow, his reaction cut into my resolve the deepest. But still, it wasn't enough.
"You have no idea what this means," Gabe choked. "Don't."
I looked at the shadow but couldn't remove them from my periphery vision—they were too bright to ignore. I just have to ignore them enough to fix this. My mother shouldn't have to pay for my existence.
"If you accept me, I will let your mother go," the shadow declared, loud and clear.
"Don't!"
"Stop! Aly, you have no idea..."
"I accept you," I said, just as decided as its offer had been, and nodded. "Now, please, let my mother go." I nodded again as though that would further cement my decision and thunder clapped with the shadow's victory while lightning danced in the sky like a sparkle within an eye.
The shadow turned its grey features to Mike, Gabe, and Raffy, and smirked. "It is done."
Rain cried with light's defeat and, while I felt a moment of relief just knowing that my mother would be freed, my body became hollow of sensation. I looked back to Mike, Gabe, and Raffy, finally appreciating the light they possessed, and the desire they seemed to hold to protect me. The shadow crept forward, and I turned my head back.
From a foot away, the shadow lunged. I opened my mouth to scream, but then choked. Tears slid down my cheeks, my mouth forced to remain open, and my throat burned. I couldn't breathe or see or think. It was like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool without having taken a fortifying breath first, choking as water filled my lungs, encasing me away from all sound as the chlorine burned until it hurt too much to open my eyes.
One last wide-eyed plea to Mike, Gabe, and Raffy.
Blink.
The world faded.
Accepting the shadow caged me in blackness, darker even than what I'd experienced during my transition between life and death.