Dark Shadow (Book 1 in DARKNESS DUOLOGY)

Thirty: Iota

Vicky trudged ahead of me to catch up to Emory, stopping him from running past the campsite. She shouted for the boy to slow down, and that he missed the turn.

Emory halted, his dark haired head looking over his shoulder with wide, surprised eyes and blinked at Vicky a few times before laughing to himself and running back to her.

I, on the other hand, was walking slowly towards them.

My mind was still trying to wind around an eight year old boy—a Quail Wolf, at that—had murdered his parents. He wasn’t even of age yet and the Darkness had already trickled into his system.

Emory killed his family… and yet, when I look at him right now—seeing him with Vicky’s hand in his as he ran around her laughing at her claiming she was getting dizzy—I couldn’t connect how the Darkness hadn’t taken over him completely.

With him having a taste of killing, shouldn’t he be consumed by the dark? Did the fact he is a kid have something to do with it?

My gaze focused on the ground, watching my bare feet make their way up the dirt road as I thought about Vicky’s assumption that Emory and I were exceptions to the Quail Wolf theory… or legend… or whatever it is we are.

It was still hard to believe that there was more than one Quail Wolf in this century since I was told that there was only one every few. It made me wonder how many other Quail wolves were maybe out there. Or if it was just Emory and me.

“Gianna!”

I broke out of my reverie, blinking a few times as I lifted my head to Emory running towards me. He still wore his bright smile and stopped in front of me with his head tilting to the side.

“Come on, you slowpoke! If we hurry, we can still catch a warm breakfast!”

He grabbed hold of my hand and tugged me along past Vicky who gave me a small nod. I raised a brow at her before looking down at a chattering Emory. He was explaining what was possibly for breakfast and how Iota always gave him the first piece of bacon.

Emory grinned, “You can have it though since you’re our guest! It’ll be like a welcome present!”

I smiled a little, following him into the campsite and passing the tents I’d stolen from a few hours before. I glanced at the couple that had been sleeping naked—now fully dressed—but were scowling into their bags and asking one another if they’d seen such and such missing items.

Turning away with a tight grip of the bag on my shoulder, I saw the back of someone bending over. Smoke was rising in front of them from the makeshift fire.

“Iota!” Emory called, drawing the person’s attention away from what they were doing to look over their shoulder.

The woman stared before she smiled and stood up. She was quite tall for a female—what was it with all these tall people around me?

Emory loosened his grip on me and ran over to the woman. She held out her arms, laughing with him when he wrapped his arms around her hips and snuggled into her.

Iota placed a hand on his head, caressing it as she was inaudibly speaking to him. He looked up, nodding then pulled away to say loud enough for me to hear, “Iota! You’ll never guess who we found!”

His dark eyes turned to me, lifting a finger in my direction and told Iota how he and Vicky found another special person like Emory. Just like Vicky’s reaction earlier, Iota looked up at me in surprise. She didn’t, however, give me the same suspicious look as Vicky had. Instead she placed a warm smile on her face and waited for me to approach.