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“Ye-”
“Wait…his spine?!” I yell, I immediately look down when Dana stirs. “His spine?!” I whisper yell.
Aavin opens his mouth and closes it, looking to see if I’ll interrupt him again. “Yes. One of the old owners. Also, yes his spine.” He talks about it like it is a normal occurrence.
“Wow, that gives a whole new meaning of ‘I’ll rip out your spine and shit down your neck’.”
“That is foul. Why would someone shit down their neck?” Aavin looks thoroughly disgusted.
“It’s just a saying, a gross saying but a saying nonetheless.” I look down at Dana. Her neck looks incredibly uncomfortable.
“You should take her to bed. So she doesn't get a neck cramp and you look like shit. You should sleep as well.”
I scoff, “Thanks for that. I should get her to bed though.” I start to shuffle her around.
“Good, cause I don’t want to have to invade your body again to get her to bed, You sleep like a fucking rock. Oblivious to the world around you.” I stop and sit back. I look at him, mouth falling open.
“I thought she hallucinated, taking herself to bed the other night or dreamt that I did. She said thank you for-” I shake my headband then gape at him. “What the fuck dude! Invade my body? What the hell do you mean?”
“Magic.” He said, letting his magic surround him. Like that is supposed to explain everything. I raise my eyebrows, telling him to continue. “I hadn’t invaded a body in a while. It seemed like some good practice. I would also like to say you would not wake up to anything. I wasn’t kidding about the rock thing.” I glower at him. “Anyway, I just used my magic to reach into your body; moved your muscles around. It’s the main part of my magic. Being able to manipulate people. I really only use that part of my magic to search minds, which is monotonous. A lot of memories are the same. Washing dishes, driving to work and so on. I have to file through all of those to find what I want. It gets really tedious really fast. You provided some muscle work. Thank you.” He inclines his head to me.
“Well, I’m glad you got to flex a muscle in my body.” I say sarcastically. “Why didn’t you just take her?” He shrugs, that’s it, shrugs like he didn’t just admit to stealing my body. “I don't even know what else to say to that. How about next time, you don’t?” I shake my head and scrub my free hand up and down my face. “I’m gonna go to bed and hopefully not dream of body snatchers. Are you staying the night? Or are you going to go back to your world?”
“I will stay for a little longer, make sure everything is safe. Dana saying shadows and ghosts are following her concerns me. Nothing should be haunting her or following her from my world. I will stay for a while to keep an ear and eye out. I will be back tomorrow to investigate as well. She is not known by anyone in my world except by me and her father Kanes.” I nod to him and start to get up. “I mean it Noah, I’m not here to whisk her away. I may be an asshole but I draw the line at hurting her.” I nod at him, picking up Dana and heading to the stairs.
When I get to her room I look around for shadows. When I see nothing, I lay her in bed and close the curtains on the windows. I walk back over and take off her shoes and socks. Then wiggle her pants off her. She wakes up and helps me take off her pants the rest of the way. She gets up to crawl under the blankets. Then snuggles down deep. Promptly falling back to sleep. I love this woman. I chuck my clothes off and lay them on the chair. I get in bed and pull her to me. Practically fusing us together.
Chapter 13
Aavin
I watch Noah take Dana up to bed. I rub my hands along the chairs arms for a moment. Just staring at nothing, lost in thought. I shake my head and I get up to wander the living room for a moment. I stop to look at Naomi’s urn. Such a strange custom to burn the body. I knew of the burying which I find worse than the burning. This world is so populated they may have to start burying bodies on top of bodies. Maybe that’s why they have taken to being burned instead. When Shades die our magic returns to the ether and our bodies basically disintegrate. We turn to dust and follow the winds.
I sit back in the chair and stare into the fire. I have many questions that I need to ask her about. Firstly, the shadows and then there are the ghosts. She’s always been able to see them and they usually left her alone except for a few that I know of over the years. Now, the ghosts are trying to kill her? Take her?
It's a strange ability to see the dead. Maybe something to do with her mixed heritage? I wonder if she could see ghosts in our realm? I mean we have the Umbras but everyone can see them. Well, all us shades can. Maybe a human could not see the Umbras? Our whole philosophy about them is that they are souls who are damned to pay their penance in the shadow realm. I shake my head. ‘Shadow realm’, I’ve heard it so much that even I’m calling my world that instead of Aelore. Though most of the other worlds call us ‘The Shadow Realm’. I guess it makes sense; we have ‘shadows’ billowing around us and then there are the Umbras, who are just floating balls of magic and soul. Those are the only shadowy things in our world though. Aelore is a bright, vibrant place. Meadows for miles, flowers of every color. Trees hundreds of feet tall and so big around you could carve entire homes into the trunks.
It’s a funny coincidence that Naomi loved daisies. We have a little white flower as well that looks just like Earths but the pollen center is a vibrant blue. The petals are an iridescent white. They are very common but like Naomi said they are a simple beauty. My mother also used to keep a small vase of them by the front door. Sometimes on the dining table too. I would pick her small bouquets of them when I was just a young boy.
I think about my life, about my mother and father. They were soul bonded and when my mother died my father followed shortly after. They were old, older than most parents with kids my age. They struggled for ages to have a child, then I came along. They were the best parents and I had a close relationship with both of them.
I’m not sure how much time passes before I start hearing a whisper. I go absolutely still and crane my head to the side. Holding my breath, I reach my magic out. Searching for intruders. I get up and start going up the stairs. The whispers quiet down. It sounds like they are all talking over one another.
I haven’t been up here but there aren't many doors to choose from. I open the first door I come to on the right. The door creaks slightly. I look around and find nothing but office space. I back out and close the door again. I proceed down the hall. There is a door to the left and as soon as I try to open it, it’s locked. I press my ear up against the door, listening for anything. I hear Dana scream and I start pushing the handle down to open it. Locked.
“What the fuck!” I hear Noah yell. I try the handle again, then throw my shoulder into it. It doesn’t budge. I send my magic in the key hole and under the door trying to find out what is in there with them.
“Noah, this door is locked!” I yell. I hear feet pounding across the floor. Then someone pounds on the door.
“Fucking gods! I’m so tired of this shit!” Screamed Dana. I work my magic harder on the door.
“Back up! I’m going to throw my magic into the door!” I hear Noah say “shit” and some shuffling. Assuming that they are out of the way I throw my magic at the door. I try again and again. The door is not budging. I can hear Dana groaning in pain and Noah is trying to console her. I can hear the panic in his voice though. I can also hear absolute chaos on the other side of the door. So many people talking at once.
“Too loud.” She moans. “Shut up! Leave me the fuck alone!” Dana starts yelling.
I summon my shadow ax and hack at the door. Finally, something is working. I hack at the door handle and around it. The door tilts open a little bit and I throw it the rest of the way open. I search for a light along the door. I flipped the light on and stomped into the room. I see shadows and flickering ghosts. The ghosts and shadows are fighting each other. It’s loud in here. It’s like having a whole battlefield of noise in one small room.
“Silence!” I yell. Cutting my hand through the air. Blasting them all with my magic. The ghosts seem to disappear immediately. The shadows linger. What are they waiting for? I keep my eye on them while I slowly walk backwards to Noah and Dana. I squat down near them. “I assume this,” I wave a hand at her shadow covered walls, “this is what you mean by shadows?” I ask quietly. The shadows are silent and still.
