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The rest of his body followed. What had been an indistinct column of darkness stretched and narrowed, his shoulders settling into recognizably human proportions. The lower half split with agonizing slowness, shadow peeling away from shadow until two long legs stood where there had only been a single mass before. No color or texture broke the endless black that formed them, yet they appeared solid enough to support his weight.

When the shifting finally ceased, the creature before me had become unmistakably humanoid. He still consisted entirely of shadow, with every inch of him absorbing the surrounding light, but he looked like a man shaped from darkness rather than a demon. A very tall, very naked man. No genitals, but naked nonetheless.

“Better?” he asked.

“Less scary,” I admitted. Not unscary, but it was definitely an improvement.

Silence fell between us as I tried to decide what the hell I was supposed to do next. This was a lot to process, even by the standards of the past few days.

I glanced toward the door and considered making a run for it. But then what? Scream that a talking shadow creature had materialized in my room? There was no way the psychiatrist would sign off on me leaving after hearing that. At best, they’d force me to stay a few more days. At worst, they’d have me sectioned.

“You don’t need to fear me,” he said. “I will not harm you.”

“No?”

He shook his head, wisps of shadow trailing after the movement. “You’re safe with me.”

“Then what do you want?”

“To talk to you. To spend time with you. To know you.”

“To know me?” I repeated, disconcerted by how intimate the words sounded. “What does that even mean?”

He fell silent, apparently unable to explain—or perhaps unwilling to. Although his new face was capable of expression, its blackness made those expressions almost impossible to read. Even so, I had the distinct impression he was frowning.

“You were in Laura’s room,” I said. “How come you never spoke to her?”

“I didn’t want to speak to her.”

“But you watched her?”

“I did.”

“Why? Did you want to scare her?”

“No.”

“But you didn’t stop watching her once you knew she was scared?”

“No.”

“Why? You say you don’t want to scare people, but you keep watching them after they’re terrified. How does that make any sense?”

“I don’t know.”

The confusion in his voice sounded genuine, although the way his voice curled around my nerve endings remained deeply unsettling for reasons that had less and less to do with fear.

“What are you?”

“A shadow person.”

“I don’t know what that means. You had horns and a tail. Are you a demon?”

“I’m just me.”

“And you live here?”

He nodded.