Songs of the Wicked

Chapter Two

     The door to the apartment slammed behind me, water dripping from from my hair and shirt onto the tile. I shook my hands, sending water flying into the apartment as I tried to dry my hands. The last few nights had been spent trying to figure out how I had been able to teleport myself from one place to another almost seven miles away. This was the third time I had to walk all the back to my apartment after teleporting myself across town. At least this time it had been somewhere in the city. The time before that had been halfway across the country. Rain slammed against the windows in the living room, the thunder rolling through the clouds overhead. My shoes squeaked against the stairs as I trotted up them toward my room. A trail of wet clothes fell behind me, leading up the stairs and into the room. Once all the wet clothes were off my body, I wrapped myself in a soft sweater and a pair of dry jeans. As I changed, the dim light from the bedside lamp caught the gold of my arm band. I turned my wrist a few times, watching the light catch the high points of each intricate knot and ending on the soft fox faces at each end of the bracelet. The scare on my upper arm burned as I traced the bracket with my eyes. I shook my wrist to turn the foxes away from me and pulled my sleeve down to cover the bracelet. A heavy sigh left my lips as I pulled my wet hair up and out of my face. 

     I plopped down on the foot of the bed, flipping the TV on across the room. Images flashed across the screen, the sounds slurring together in a messy, impossible jumble. Most of the channels played non-sense shows but nothing appealed to me or caught my eye. Through the scroll, a brief flash of an image caught my attention. I flipped back a few channels to a local news station where the I thought I'd seen the images. On the screen was an image of a fiery blaze erupting in the the sky. My fingers froze on the remote as I watched the screen in confusion. 

     "-ere hasn't been any word on what caused the explosion or whether there were any casualties. The area where the explosion took place is located far out in the Mojave Desert in Nevada and this footage was sent in to us from passing traffic on the freeway. The local law enforcement officers have yet to respond to any of our requests for comment," the local news anchor said, his face grim. There was a slight pause between stories before the camera angle switched and the anchor took a deep breath, "The Ghost of Manhattan struck another bank last night, this time striking the Chase Bank on Water Street down in the Financial District. This is the fourth time that the Ghost has hit a Chase Bank branch and the 54th bank or credit union that has been attributed to the Ghost. It is still not sure how the Ghost is breaching the security of these facilities and we've just obtained exclusive video of the Ghost that may shed some light on how he is gaining entry into these facilities," the image switched from the anchor's face to security footage from the lobby of the bank. The lights were flipping on one by one. I could see the light flipping onto me every time I ran down the lobby with the police close behind. Every part of me was clothed in dark fabric, making me look indistinguishable. Darkness and shadows swirled around the space not light by the light but I was unable to pull them down to myself into the lights. I watched as the police closed in on me, closer and closer until it seemed almost impossible that they wouldn't catch me. My breathe paused in my chest as I watched as I jumped up on the counter and launched myself the large window. Even now watching it back, I half expected to watch myself crash through the window and fall to the street below. The darkness thickened around me, swirling down through the air and circling my body. It completely surrounded my body but didn't make me invisible like the shadows usually did. Darkness swirled around me faster and faster almost like there was a breeze around only me. In front of my eyes, I watched as my image disappeared from the screen. As soon as I'd disappeared, the shadows that had been surrounding me exploded out. The darkness shattered the overhead lights and knocked the closest officers of their feet. The image froze for a moment before flipping back to the anchor. I reached for the remote, tabbing back twice and pausing the playback where I'd managed to disappear. I leaned forward, elbows on my knees and studying the screen. That was a new addition to the skill that I still didn't know how to control. 

     After a long moment of staring at the screen, I finally turned it off and tossed the remote further back on the bed. I pushed myself up from my knees, staring around the room for a second. A quick stride across the floor put me in my closet. My raincoat was hanging carefully on a hook just inside the closet. I laced my arms through it, leaving the closet dark behind me. The light over the bedroom followed suit, until I stood in almost complete darkness. My hood covered my head and I closed my eyes. It was hard to figure out how I had gotten it to work the first time, but I tried to clear my mind as much as I could. The only thing that I knew for certain was that it took more energy to pull these shadows down than usual. A heavy sigh left my lips and I closed my eyes to focus more pulling the darkness down. I felt the shadows around me as they began to circle, sending tingling vibrations up my arms and down to my toes. It was everywhere in my body and I tried to think of a specific place that I wanted to land. Somewhere I knew it would be dark around this time. Something easy and not to crowded. Maybe the park again. I tried to place that image in my mind of the place that I'd landed earlier. The same vibrations seemed to sync up and intensify. 

     The temperature changed and the air felt heavier. I peaked through my eyes but was met with only darkness. A few blinks and I was able to see more clearly where I was standing. It looked like a tunnel but for what or where, I had no way of telling. I looked around my feet, noticing the train tracks by my feet. The tracks ran in front of me off until I couldn't see them ahead of me. Water dripped somewhere near me. Rats scurried around around my feet. A loud horn blared behind me, almost sending me flying out of my skin. I spun around, coming face-to-face with the headlights of the A train coming around the corner like a bullet from a gun. A gasp tore out of my throat before I could stop it. Panic rocketed through my body, jarring me into movement. Out of instinct, I hopped over the electrical component of the tracks and up between two pillars. The train flew by me, creating a wind tunnel around me. My hair whipped around my face, the train sucking the air out from around me and making it hard to breathe. I closed my eyes, pressing my palms into the concrete behind me, heaving. 

     Fresh air filled my lungs, cold water slicing into my skin almost instantly. My eyes shot open and I had to keep the gasp from coming out of my mouth and inhaling water into my lungs. I kicked my legs furiously, hoping helplessly that I was going in the direction of the surface. It felt like hours that I was flailing, trying to reach the surface, desperate to take a gasp of air. Finally, the cold of the night air and the torrent of rain against my face ran across my face. A hoarse gasp tore out of my throat as I tried like a gapping fish to suck in as much oxygen as I could. I ran my hands across my face to clear the water from my eyes before going back to treading water. Frantically I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. The city rested off to my right, Union City to my left. I spun around clumsily, finding Liberty Island behind me. 

     The Hudson River? I landed myself in the Hudson River? The water spilled out around me in inky black nothingness. Even my vision couldn't see anything but the buildings around me. I let out an aggravated scream, slamming my arms into the water. Water sprayed around me, mixing with the rain and falling around me. My shoes were waterlogged and made it almost impossible to kick. The toe of my boot kicked the heel of the other, sending the boot sinking to the bottom of the Hudson. The other boot followed quickly, making it a hundred times easier to kick. I let out an exhausted sigh as I started the incredibly long swim over to the New York Harbor.