The shadows in the corners start to swell.
“That’s what we’ve done to her?” The words tear out of Sai.
Julien’s eyes are closed, scrunched shut, as he downs his drink.
I attempt to remain composed, but the darkness… it latches onto that singular image. The harsh lines of her beautiful face emphasised by shadows, the glow which lit her skin diminished, her light—gone.
The darkness flares to life.
Go to her. Go. Help her.
I can’t. I’m not in control.I can’t.
I clench my knuckles beneath the table, focus on the sensation, count my racing heartbeats.
“She’s sick,” Kane murmurs, transfixed by his thoughts, completely unaware of how much that brief memory has affected us. “I didn’t teach her how to control it. She doesn’t know shecan. It’s infecting her. Killing her. I’m killing her.”
“Barrier, Zeek.”Sai doesn’t look up as he forces the words out.“Now.”
No! Go to her. Go. We can help her. You know we can. Go. Be with her.
I’m standing.
They all track my movements as the shadows sweep outwards, towards me. The second they touch me I’ll be gone and—
Julien is there, standing before me, blocking the shadow. “Ezekial, seek control.” There’s hardly a speck of red in his gaze now, the darkness has all but suffocated him.
He’s barely hanging on.
“You’re not in control,” he says, voice deeper. “We’re not in control. We need you here. We need you.”
He reaches for me but I step back.
Butsheneeds you.
Julien doesn’t try to touch me again. Instead, he speaks only to me,“Your brother needs you.”
My brother.
I glance down at the man beside me. His shoulders are hunched, he leans over the table in defeat, his hair carelessly falling.
He looks so young like this—like when we were boys. Boys who didn’t truly understand the cruelty of the world, not until our father thrust it upon us.
I was the lucky one, that’s what I’d always believed. I’d enjoyed most of my childhood, living in a world of light, safety and love. I only experienced a snippet of what our father was capable of, but Kane—he had endured it all his life.
Kane was always told he was a creature of pure darkness. Crafted in the calamity, moulded from obsidian fires. He believed it too. Maybe he still did. But when I looked at my brother, I saw a boy who had to become a man too soon. A boy who sacrificed his life for others. A boy who mourned the loss of a sister he hardly knew. A boy who saved us all.
A boy who killed his own father.
He isn’t just my brother. He’s my hero. And right now, heneedsme.
A barrier immediately forms around the house and the vacuum it creates is instant. The shadows scurry backwards, metallic flickers biting them away, the air becoming lighter.
“Tell us what we need to do, brother,” I say, re-taking my seat as though the darkness hadn’t almost taken us all, as though I hadn’t nearly flitted to her. “What do we do? How do we help her?”
“I have to be near her. The closer proximity will help.” He rakes a hand through his hair, glancing off to the sliver of shadow that remains. “But she won’t even look at me…”
“I’m guessing you didn’t try your line then, mate?” Sai’s trying to distract him, trying to make him look up. His markings are steady, matching the rhythm of Kane’s pulse—the same trick he always uses when one of us is close to slipping.
