A Revolution In Shadow And Blood

I Get Attacked by an Army of Ghosts

"You look like death."

I raise my eyebrows at Conner as I sit down at our regular table, and he winces, "Sorry."

I shrug, too tired to care. "It's fine."

"So, why do you look like you didn't sleep at all?" Luke asks on the other side of the table with one of his arms wrapped around Guanyin. I can see one of his hands playing with the ends of her hair.

"I didn't sleep well." I deflect a few more of their questions, and the conversation continues on from the subject. The three of them discuss their plans today; it's Saturday, which means that all of the students get the day off.

"You want to walk around town with us?" Guanyin asks me.

"Sure," I look around for a moment, noticing that someone is missing, "Where is Jessica?"

"She dropped by a few minutes before you got here to tell us she's going out with some friends of hers," Guanyin says as she stands up. I stand with the others, and we walk out of the building together. Guanyin and I follow Luke and Conner down the sidewalk, and I tuck my hands in the pockets of my jeans.

"What made you decide to switch schools?" Guanyin asks me as we walk.

I tilt my head up at the sky, enjoying the clear blue color. "I guess I just got curious. Regular school wasn't cutting it for me anymore."

She looks skeptical. "What about your parents? What did they think about the switch?"

"They were against it at first, but they got it pretty quickly." I shrug. "What about you? Have you always gone to Enterprise?"

She nods, laughing a little. "Yeah. Actually, it was on one of Enterprise's field trips that I met Luke."

"Really?" I ask, "How did that happen?"

"We were at the beach, and he crashed into me while he was playing volleyball. Tripped right over me while I was laying on my towel. It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but we made it work out," Guanyin says, a dreamy look on her face, "What about you? Any significant other in the picture?"

The knot in my chest tightens, and I almost trip when the sudden pain hits me. "There used to be, for a while. But not anymore."

"What happened?" Guanyin asks, "If you don't mind sharing?"

I hesitate, because how can I explain the moment that destroyed my only chance at being happy? Maybe that sounds a little dramatic, but at the time it definitely felt like it. I settle with saying, "We didn't work out. I had issues-he had issues, type thing. It was doomed to end from the start, and just ended badly in the process."

The pain intensifies at the admission; this is the first time I've ever talked about it since it happened. Even my parents never knew. I stumble, and my eyebrows clash together. What's happening? It's never been this bad before, not since the beginning at least. The knot is supposed to get better, not worse, so what's wrong? Then I notice the lack of clouds in the sky, and the ever present sun. I'm an idiot. Being exposed to excessive sunlight two days in a row is not a good thing for me.

The group has stopped with me, and because he happens to be closest, Conner catches me before I fall.

"What's wrong?" Guanyin asks first.

Conner's hands on my arms cause the dull pain to intensify in my chest. That, combined with the burning all over my exposed skin makes me want to scream 'pick a problem' to the sky. Instead, I tell her, "I've been exposed to the sun for too long. I need to get somewhere dark."

"Where? It's midday, there's no shade anywhere," Luke responds, looking around, "Everywhere has windows."

"The basement at school. It's not that far," Conner jumps in, looking back toward Enterprise. "I can take her."

"Do you need any help?" Luke asks him.

"No, I've got her. Go ahead, we'll see you back at Enterprise." Conner doesn't let them respond, and I'm too out of it to protest as he pulls my arm over his shoulder and walks as fast as he can toward the building with me stumbling over my feet.

My eyes stayed glued to the ground so I don't see the path we take, but I know the moment we reach the door to the basement. When Conner pulls it open, I can feel the darkness calling me. Plus, it has that underground feel to it. We descend a long flight of stairs before Conner stops and lets go so I can lean against a wall. I can't see him through the thick shadows, but my night vision is starting to kick in. I slide down the wall, enjoying the blissful relief of no light. The tension returns in a flash when I hear a shuffling sound coming from the other side of the thin wall. My eyes dart to Conner's in the dark, and I whisper, "Who else is down here?"

"Oh, I think that's Jake Jessie. His power drove him insane, so the school keeps him here. Plus, a normal psychological hospital wouldn't be able to take care of him," Conner responds, and I watch in horror as his eyes turn to the dark like he's looking for Jake.

"He's insane?" I whisper, a bolt of fear shaking my voice.

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

As quickly as I can with my shaking fingers, I pull my phone out of my back pocket and shove it into his hands. "Call the contact 'Emergency Only' and tell him 'Code Black'. Tell him where we are too, then hang up. Nothing else, got it?"

"Ok," Conner says hesitantly, "Why?"

"Dark Spirits are attracted to the mentally damaged."

Even in the dark, I can see his eyes widen as he finally understands the gravity of the situation. Not a moment later, they notice me. One slams into my back and I fall forward, crashing into Conner. I get up as quickly as I can, blindly swinging an arm and I manage to destroy two of them as I desperately scream, "Call him!"

I don't hesitate, exhaustion from before the furthest thing from my mind. If I can't get away, or he can't get here fast enough, I'm dead. I run toward the stairs and shift as I go. My eyes and fingernails turn black, my hair turns smoky, and a shadowy cloak-slash-coat draps itself over my body. When I reach the top of the stairs, I throw my body weight into the door, causing it to slam against the wall. I charge into the hallway, knocking two people over as I go. Students stare at me as I sprint down the hallway in an attempt at putting as much distance between me and those Spirits as I can. As much as I hate all of them seeing me like this, seeing this dark part of me, I can't afford to shift back and lose some of my power. Just as I'm about to turn a corner, one of the faster Spirits slams into me, sending me flying into a wall of lockers. I fall to the ground, and instinctively roll just as a black fist slams into the floor where my face was a second ago. I grab the leg next to my head, and it explodes into shards, leaving me with a painful, glowing, blue crack in my hand. I can hear a student scream as he gets a glimpse of the spirit as it dies.

I jump to my feet and start running again, dodging the gray, red-eyed Spirits as I run. After what seems like forever, I reach the doors that lead to the outside. Just as freedom in the form of the front doors is in my sight, another one slams into me from behind, and I go flying through the doors, before rolling in the dirt several feet from the main building of Enterprise. I stand up once again, and wipe blood from my mouth; I've got nowhere to run. I face hundreds of Spirits as they surround me. Conner and Jessica, along with the rest of the student body come running out of the building. All they can see is me turning in circles, bloody and bruised, trying to keep my eyes on all of the invisible Spirits at once.

"What's-" a student starts, but I don't hear the rest.

The Spirits charge, and I fight for my life.