Almost Human

Chapter 3

     The door swung open, and before I could say a word, Killian's hand darted out into the air in front of him.

     "Oh, no you don't!" he snapped, and then closed his hand around a tiny ball of bright white light as it tried to make its way through the doorway. Immediately, Killian's hand began to shake and shiver as he struggled to contain the glowing orb inside of it. Whatever this thing was, it was stronger than it looked.

     It's fighting him. Whatever that thing is, it's actually trying to fight him.

     On the other side of the doorway, several other balls of light bobbed in the air, nervously flitting from one side of the door frame to the next. However, unlike the one trapped in Killian's hand, none of them dared to try to come through.

     Killian growled, and then wrapped his free hand around his fist for support.

     "You know better than to try that, you pixie devil!" he said, just as his body doubled over and his fist slammed itself against the side of the open doorway. The light ball let out a muffled scream.

     My eyes widened. Did he just say pixie?

     Finally, the ball of light in Killian's hand stilled, and he was able to regain his composure. He shook his head disapprovingly, and then took a step into the world on the other side of the doorway. In one quick motion, he tossed the ball of light into the air with the others. The light ball shuttered once, took a single lap around Killian's head, and then started to giggle. The other pixie's quickly followed suit, laughing and spinning wildly in the air as if Killian had just told them the funniest of jokes.

     "You know better than that, Keera," Killian scolded. However, even I could hear the smile in his voice. "Why are you trying to cause trouble?"

     The pack of pixies stilled in the air and began to whisper amongst themselves. After a few moments, one of them (Keera, I assumed), broke free from the pack and ventured closer. Then, just before she reached Killian's face, she released a series of piercing screeches that could best be described as resembling the cries of a baby pterodactyl. I clapped my hands over my ears, and the pixie tribe burst into another fit of laughter.

     I didn't speak pixie, but I had a feeling that Killian had just been insulted.

     As I suspected, Killian's pleasant demeanor was gone.

     "I'm too tired for all this nonsense, Keera," he said, his voice low and careful.

     Keera cried out again, and the pixies began to slowly circle Killian like buzzards. Even though their wings appeared to be a rippling blur, their movements had slowed enough to where I could just make out their tiny human-like bodies. They were like a group of human-hummingbird hybrids and Killian was their nectar.

     Killian took another step into the world beyond the door, and that's when the air around us began to change. Where it had been slightly cool before, the air was now thick and humid. In the distance, lightning cracked and lit up the sky, allowing me a small glimpse into the world on the other side of the doorway; a world that appeared to be dominated by moonlight, twisted trees, and creatures that should only exist in fairytales and nightmares.

     Suddenly, I was terrified.

     "Killian..." I began, but was quickly silenced by the sound of one of the pixies shrieking.

     "Be quiet, Rowan," he growled, not bothering to look back at me.

     Then, as if someone had flipped a switch inside of him, Killian's skin began to glow. A small halo of soft light encircled his head, and his suntanned skin appeared to be lit from the inside, almost like the light from the sun had been captured just beneath the surface and was being held there for safekeeping.