Lux In Tenebris

Chapter 1: Anabiel

The rain falls evenly upon the rough pavement of LA, its pattern frequently interrupted by rushed footsteps. The sun peeks out from behind the dark clouds every once in a while, but proves to be no distraction to the hurrying Anabiel below. Her backpack rhythmically dances to her pace, her shoulders being hammered upon each time, but her gaze remains on her destination: a small office building across the street.

As she is about to enter the opening onto the main sidewalk, a distinct conversation catches her ear, causing her to slow down.

"Aral. We found her." A gruff voice states, accompanied by the exchange of papers. "She was in Europe, but we don't know how long she'll stay there."

A deeper, but a bit more hushed voice responds with what sounds like the return of the files. "Capture her then bring her to me. Don't speak to me until then."

Aral. The familiar name echoes in her head, probing at every memory she felt like she had seen or at least heard it. The sound of distant stomps takes her out of her small moment, and she takes that time to quietly sneak away from the scene, just as the two men are taking their leaves separately.

//

The bell situated above the front door rings as Anabiel enters the building, her body wrapped by the warmer air coming from the heater. She drops two envelopes on the desk of a man, the only other person in the premise.

"Your father called." He begins, which earns a tired sigh from Anabiel. The man twirls his seat and stands, towering over the girl in front of him. "Said you weren't home when he arrived last night and when he woke up this morning. He wonders if you ever came home at all."

Anabiel grabs a water from her pack and takes sip before responding. "What'd you tell him?"

"I told him you were studying—which is basically the only other thing you do nowadays, aside from making this city your b----." His face remains neutral, his movements slow and careful. "What were you really out doing?"

"Making some late deliveries." Noticing a twitch in his expression, one that depicted worry, she quickly follows her statement up with an explanation. "I forgot I had a few more packages to deliver and I really needed some fresh air. No biggie."

The shrug that Anabiel allows to escape eases the man enough to give his attention to the envelopes she had placed on his desk.

"Biel, I gave you this job to hone your skills and make sure you'd get some extra cash on the side." He hands her an envelope labeled Ana and resumes to his point. "Not to escape your father."

"It's not my fault that his office hours conflict with mine." She pockets her payment and lets a smirk take over her lips upon hearing the remark leave her mouth, ignoring the man's worried stare. He pauses before letting out a surrendered sigh.

Anabiel breaks the silence by glancing at the clock and proceeding to head out the door. "School's in an hour, I better run. See you later, Uncle Quinn."

The echo of the door's bell keeps Quinn company in the silence of the empty room, his eyes searching for a distraction amongst the messy piles of unsent packages scattered around.

//

RING! A loud, shrieking noise fills the campus just as Ana jumps over the back fence. She darts past the wide outdoor hallways until she spots a door numbered 19, slightly opened for her to enter.

The students hardly hear her as she slips inside, their minds focused on reading and discussing the paragraphs on the whiteboard with the words "FINAL NOTES" above it. She winds through the desks and to her seat, behind the only kid who had noticed her tardiness. He stares at her with gentle resentment, but rapidly turns to his own work upon hearing the teacher speak.

"That's it, guys." The teacher begins clearing off the board, quicker than anyone could write anymore last-minute notes. "Hope you all copied that."

The entire room doesn't respond but Ana could feel the air grow cold. A couple of her classmates desperately look at their half-filled paper, as if waiting for the rest of the notes to appear magically. The teacher smirks and adjusts his glasses.

"Since we've got two hours to burn, how about an hour to study those notes, and then the test? Alright with you guys?"

The class responds with an odd combination of "Yes, Mr. Hand" and "Whatever." For a moment, he shoots Anabiel a look of disappointment, before nodding at his students and returning his attention to the stack of papers on his desk.

Anabiel takes a few minutes to swiftly glance through the notes she compiled last night before giving her work a seal of approval. Her arms cross over her papers, to make sure nobody steals them, as her head involuntarily sets itself on top. The few hours of sleep she took last night is finally taking its toll and she nods off to sleep, despite the protests inside of her.

//

A young man with blonde hair stood shakily outside of a road-worn trailer. He appeared to be debating with himself whether to knock or walk away, but he just stood there the entire time Anabiel watched him. Why she was watching him, Anabiel didn't have a clue, but this man most likely sensed her presence because he suddenly whirled to check the space behind him. He didn't see her, of course.

That was when she was able to take a good look at the boy: he looked about nineteen or twenty, stubs of hair riddled around his jaws and chin, and his eyes were the color of storm clouds over a clear sea. His body was built like a working man's, but she doubted he had worked a day in his life, judging from the condition of his hands and clothes. An aura of guilt, and perhaps caged anger, clung around him like a fog.

As the man turns to knock on the door, it unexpectedly opens to his and Ana's surprise, his body turning a clear, ghostly shade of gray in reaction. A woman with dark hair emerges, not noticing the translucent man beside the door, carrying boxes of paper next to a pile of ashes. Anabiel felt a tugging inside her that told her she knew this woman from somewhere, but as she watched her start a fire and burn the box, she came up with nothing.

"What the hell?" A growl demands from her left. Ana had been too busy watching the woman that she forgot about the only other person in her dream: the man.

"Who the hell are you?" The mystery man glared at her, his body like a mist as he marched toward her. She had no time to stand in awe of the half man, half wind entity before her, his features seemingly deciding between solid and gas, since the man's eyes were definitely depicting a storm. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The thumping of her heartbeat filled her ears, blocking out the man's threats and questions, as her mind raced with escape plans. Before she could panic anymore, her vision blackens.

//

Ana's eyes flutter open, her vision greeted by a dark classroom. Sunlight streams through shutters of the windows, but the lights on the roof appear to have been damaged. The floor holds pieces of glass where the bulbs had blown up and the students look up in fearful curiosity.

Her irises adjust to the inconsistent pattern of lights and she begins creating a mental report of the slightly dark environment—until her eyes meet two big, brown orbs. The boy who sits in front of her gazes through the windows of her soul, as if searching for something. He doesn't follow the rest of his classmates, looking up at the ceiling for the cause of the exploding bulb. They sit there in a silently challenged staring contest for a few minutes before a voice over the intercom announces for all classes to meet in the cafeteria.

Quiet cheers and nervous laughs gather as the class leaves the room and heads for the mess hall. Anabiel loses sight of her classmate, but something told her that he knows exactly what caused the blackout. He had been staring right at it.