Eternal Magic Book 1: The Man Of Shadows

I Have a Conversation With Some Bushes

I woke in the middle of the night for reasons I couldn't explain. Something just felt wrong.

I did a quick scan of my room. The alarm clock sitting atop the nightstand displayed the time 3:41 in digital red letters. A hastily hung poster above the dresser had clearly lost some of its sticky-tak and was hanging crooked, threatening to fall and knock over a picture of my parents. The otherwise barren walls had recently been painted a dull white, which I still hadn't gotten used to. But all of that was normal. Nothing seemed different or out-of-the-ordinary.

Then I heard it. Usually, when I woke up, I would hear the birds singing. But not then. Not that early in the morning. Instead, the familiar chirping was replaced by a continuous scratching.

I cautiously crept to the window, opened it, and stuck my head out. Staring back at me were two imploring yellow eyes that seemed to be glowing in the dark.

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The cat wasn't much. A slick feline about the size of a young beagle, it didn't strike me as intimidating. Around its neck hung a worn out collar and name tag I couldn't read. Although I was not superstitious, my parents were extremely so. I was suddenly relieved that they were such heavy sleepers, because if they had seen this black cat, they would have gone nuts.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that the cat's eyes were glowing. That struck me as odd. And a bit unnerving. After all it was kind of hard to have a staring contest with a cat when it didn't blink and had glowing yellow orbs placed loosely in its eye sockets.

The cat inclined its head as if greeting me like an old friend. For a split-second, I caught the name tag at the perfect angle and could just barely make out the letters printed neatly on the front: Cypress. Why the cat was named after a tree was beyond me. Before I could think too much of it, Cypress turned around and started stalking towards the front yard. About three yards away, he turned back around and hissed at me. I suddenly realized he wanted me to follow him.

Not entirely sure what I was doing, I crawled out the window, carefully shutting it behind me, and followed the cat down the street.

For what Cypress lacked in size, he made up for in speed. I ran track in school so I had no trouble keeping up, but it would have been very difficult for anyone else. In no time, we were running through downtown Dayton. We passed RiverScape MetroPark, the Victoria Theatre, PNC Bank, and Key Ads Inc. Meanwhile, Cypress made no effort to slow down or check if I was keeping up. In fact, it seemed that the farther we ran, the faster he went. I lost him several times but always managed to find him again.

Finally, I turned the corner by Crowne Plaza Hotel and saw the cat walking swiftly through the doors to the Dayton Convention Center. Reluctantly, I sprinted after it.

As soon as you walked through the doors, it was hard not to be awed. The huge three-story building had balconies everywhere, escalators, endless benches, even a koi pond. But the lights were on. They shouldn't have been on at four in the morning. I looked up and saw about a dozen people standing by the balcony on the third floor.

My heart stopped for three whole seconds. I held my breath because the people weren't people at all. They looked like your typical American citizens of Ohio, but that image was quickly shattered. Their heads seemed to be changing. I realized they were drifting through the solid form and gas form. They were becoming shadows, and then coming back to flesh. Their faces were black. And I mean black. As dark as Cypress' fur.

Worst of all, they were looking right at me. But they didn't have eyes so they couldn't actually see me. I sprinted over to the front desk and hid behind it. The shadow-people were still looking at the main doors.