What Lurks In The Shadows

A New Developememt

My heart suddenly speeds to hummingbird speed, and my breathing becomes shallow. Out of the corner of my eye I see Jay frozen with fear. I hear something in the back of my mind, muffled at first but grows clearer with each second. Zarra! Zarra snap out of it! Get out of there!

Lylac's voice snaps me out of my stupor, and I grab Jay's hand and run like my life depends on it, which it probably does. It feels like moving through a wall of quicksand, but Jay comes back to his senses and we drag each other along. My breath is trying to crawl out of my lungs, abandoning me to die. My vision is rimmed with red and I feel like I'm going to retch. We stumble blindly through the forest, tripping over branches, rocks, and who knows what else for what seems like forever until we suddenly burst out of the forest. My breath suddenly returns in a cold shock, I cough and sputter, before collapsing to the ground. I lay there panting and heaving for a few minutes before remembering Jay's presence.

He is passed out on the ground beside me, and I groan. In his defense, being bulkier he did exert several times the effort. Brushing aside the previous situation to deal with the one at hand, I pick up a nearby stick and poke him with it a few times.

"Jay? Wake up, we made it!" As I expect, he doesn't do anything, so I fish out his keys and walk to find his car. Fear starts creeping in again, but I force myself to swallow it down and focus. No. I can't think about that right now. I need to focus on Jay. I reach the car soon after and drive it back to where he is. With some difficulty, I manage to drag him in the vehicle and prop him up on the passenger seat.

After driving in silence for about thirty minutes, alone with my thoughts, Jay starts shifting before fluttering his eyelids open. Out of the corner of my eye I notice that he looks terrified and confused for a few seconds. Evidently not knowing where he is, before coming into himself.

"Hey." He says, blinking a few times. "What..... I had the strangest dream. We were looking for Lylac at the lake and we found her purse and..." He cuts off, seeing the look on my face. "No. It wasn't a dream, was it?"

I shake my head, having a pained face. "No. I wish it was, but unfortunately that all actually happened." I can allow myself to think about it now that Jay is here. "On the bright side, we made it out safely and we have our first clue." I suddenly panic for a second, thinking that I left the purse behind, but I find it on the compartment between the two front seats.

"Well, I want to know what happened back there. Were those... the shadows? But I thought we could only see them in our dreams..." He trails off.

"I have no idea. I'm not sure I want to know. They seem to be getting stronger... unfortunately it looks as if we're going to have to look into this."

"I can help with that." A new voice perks up from the back seat. I swerve and slam on the brakes, cursing. A familiar face peers at me through the front mirror, a look on her face that screams 'I told you so'.

"Amy!" I take a deep breath. "You really need to stop doing that. Seriously."

She shrugs, obviously unconcerned. "Sorry. Anyways, you didn't listen to me. You're right, they are getting stronger. The shadows are... well, the dead who weren't at peace, and were not strong enough to break the influence of the other shadows." I stop the car and turn to look at her.

"Lylac is one of the strongest people I know. There is no way she totally gave into... into one of those things." Suddenly a memory popped into my head. "She spoke to me in there, she called my name. She is the only reason I'm here. We can get her back, right?" Amy sighs.

"Well..."

"Well? What?"

Her eyes darken, a weary look passing over her face, and she hugs her stuffed duck closer to her chest. "Nothing. It's nothing. No, no there isn't."

"You're lying to me."

I can see her weighing whether to tell me or not. Finally she makes up her mind. "It's almost impossible. It's really dangerous. But yes, there is a way."

"If Lylac is really as strong as you say, then it is possible she could have forced herself into a coma-like state before the shadows got her. And if this is the case, then she is perfectly aware of what is going on around her- And she is wherever the shadows are. She just can't really do anything about it. She can't go anywhere, or visit your dreams, or anything like that. I'm not quite sure how she managed to speak to you."

Jay pipes up then. "Maybe it's some sort of twin superpower." He turns white, then mumbles. "Sorry, that wasn't funny. Ignore me."

"No! That is possible. There is one way we can find out for sure. We have to visit the Patrem Sapientem."

"The who what now?"

"Questions, questions. We don't have much time. She won't stay like that forever."

"How much more time do we have?" I ask.

"Well, that's a question you'll have to save. I'm taking you to the Patrem Sapientem. Right now." She disappeared, and so did the world around me.