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The room was cool and dark and my mind immediately felt calm. I didn’t need the light to find the bed. I walked blindly and immediately fell into the comfortable covers. Vulnerability wasn’t something that I gave in to easily, but in the dark room, cradled by fluffy blankets, I realized how much I’d missed having company. I missed having friends, and even though I’d never had many, and no matter how complicated the situation was, I wanted them to be my friends. There was something about abandonment that changed a person, and I was no exception. As I drifted to sleep, I wondered about how I got to where I am.
Dreams didn’t visit me, and besides the dull groans and screams of pain from the basement, the apartment was eerily silent. I woke up an hour later, or rather something woke me. It took a minute to adjust, for a while I thought I was still sleeping because the darkness was so complete that I couldn’t see through it. My eyes didn’t adjust and when my skin started to crawl and goosebumps rose on my skin, I couldn’t help but think that this darkness was different. It was a blanket that covered me completely and I was frozen. The only part I could move were my eyes, but that didn’t help because I couldn’t see anything. The calm was gone and panic clawed at my throat. Below, I could hear claws clicking on concrete—it wasn’t dawn yet. I listened harder and held my breath, something felt wrong. I heard Emily shift on the couch, and I tried to call out but my voice stuck on my lips. I stopped trying and listened again. There was a quiet rattling in the bedroom. It sounded like the raspy breathing after a cold. Ice swept through my veins—someone or something was in here with me. I looked around as much as I could and there were no auras, just a pulsing black blanket.
I’d experienced sleep paralysis once or twice before; being psychic meant that the veil was almost nonexistent. When something wanted to reach out, I was the easiest target. This was like sleep paralysis, but it was the first time that fear consumed me. Usually whatever tried to communicate wasn’t pure evil.
Time slowed to a near stop and I focused on moving—first a finger and then a few more until my wrist was free. Then I moved on to my toes and my feet. Movement slowly returned and all the while the raspy breathing continued. Come on, come on, come on. I could lift an arm and then the other. I kept the movements subtle, I didn’t want to attract attention even though it felt like whatever this was, was watching me.
Emily coughed in the lounge and the darkness shifted, dark curiosity coursed through the air—long with familiarity. This being had been around Emily before, it knew her. Now, it was like it didn’t realize she was in the other room.
As soon as it was distracted, the paralysis disappeared with a pop. I could breath and calm the beating in my ears. The darkness started to move to the door and an image of Emily suffocating flitted through my mind. I jumped up without hesitation and trusting my memory of where the door was, I bolted to it. Hands clasped my shoulders—not hands exactly, more like claws—and pain seared through me. I ignored it and yanked the door open. It took a lot of effort, whatever this was tried to stop me.
“Emily! Wake up!” I yelled. I could see her on the couch. She groaned and shifted again but didn’t wake. The darkness around me chuckled and the claws sank in deeper, the hair on my neck stood straight. I couldn’t describe the laugh, the closest I could get was evil, and it filled the room like sticky tar. I winced. “Emily!” I screamed, not caring who else heard.
* * *
Emily
“Emily!” A panicky voice pierced through the deep sleep fogging my mind. I sat straight on the couch and tried to shake off the remnants of sleep. “Emily!” My head whipped to the sound and the air left my lungs.
Ember was standing there, her hands braced on the doorframe, and that was all I could see of her. A cloud of pitch black pulsed around her and her head was yanked back, as if the cloud had a hold of her hair. Her knuckles were white, her arms strained against whatever was trying to pull her back into the room. Her fingers started slipping. What the hell is that?
I shivered, all warmth had disappeared from the apartment. I could hear Cassian and Griffin growling and snapping in the basement down below. I jumped over the edge of the couch and slipped on the floor.
“Stop! It wants you too!” Ember ground out, still straining against the thing holding her. I paused and ran through options in my mind. Light, it was the only thing stronger than the dark, the only thing that could chase it away.
I flicked my wrist and flames licked my arms. Please don’t burn the apartment down… I pointed at the inky blackness and willed the flames to burn through it. The ball of fire tore through the cloud and it screeched. It still held her but it recoiled where the flame hit it. I blanched when a line of blood appeared on her cheek and then her arm. Ember winced but didn’t cry out. I couldn’t throw more without hitting her in the process, so I forced my flame to cover me completely. It was the first time I’d managed to do it, and I expected my clothes to burn away but they didn’t. Thank goodness…
Walking to Ember felt like it took forever, focusing on not burning the floor as I walked took most of my concentration. The thing flinched when I got closer. Ember turned her head away from the heat and sweat coated her brow. I had no idea what I was doing but I placed my hand on the black spot on Ember’s shoulder. It screeched again and disappeared. Ember was able to kneel as it lost its grip on her. I wrapped my arms into the blackness, giving it a flaming hug. I could feel the cold through the heat, the void empty of everything except hatred and evil. It shrieked and pulsed a few times before disappearing completely. I stared at the space, unable to speak or move.
“Emily, you can turn the heat off now…” Ember said quietly. She still knelt on the floor, her arms over her head.
“Oh shit, sorry!” I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured the flames receding. I thanked my flame and it curled up again, completely dimmed. A headache immediately took its place and my hand flew to my head.
I put a hand out to Ember and pulled her up. Her skin was damp and sticky but she was okay. Relief flooded through me, I didn’t know her and she annoyed me when she hit on Griffin and Cassian, but the fear in her eyes was so pure that I’d never let her suffer through whatever was happening.
She dusted off her jeans. “That’s a neat trick. Thank you for saving my ass.”
“What the hell was that?” I asked as Ember pulled two bottles of water out of the fridge. She emptied hers in one gulp before clambering onto the kitchen counter. I grabbed the bandages and stood in front of her.
Ember shook slightly. She kept her face calm, but I could see that she was rattled. Damn, I was rattled. “No idea. I would have asked, but it didn’t seem too friendly.” She shrugged.
I giggled. “Seems like it just wanted a hug.”
Blood trickled down her cheek and arm and I got to work at cleaning the cuts. They were deep but wouldn’t need stitches. She flinched when I dabbed a damp cloth over her cheek but didn’t pull away. “Does it feel like there’s any poison or anything in here?”
Ember shook her head. “I don’t think so. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
I wrapped her arm in silence and stuck two bandages on her cheek. It was strange that so many bad things seemed to be happening in succession. If Samara was behind it all, it meant that she knew where we were and how to get to us—which was bad news. We had nothing on her. She had so much more. But how?
