Rekindle the Darkness

1.1

The realisation causes a gasp to leave my lips and Marcus and Eli turn to look at me as my head swims with possibilities.

If Xavier's body was no longer there, that must have meant that someone had taken it away. Someone knew I had escaped yet there had been no one after me yet.

I snap out of my daze to find that we had already reached the house and I barely brace myself as the door opens and Freya attacks me into a bone-crushing hug.

"I was so worried! I heard from Marcus that you were missing, I'm just glad you're okay- Where's Christopher?"

A tense silence fills the air as I glance at Marcus then Eli's face, both which mirror my own, black and emotionless. Freya places both her hands on her hips and pursed her lips as she catches this exchanging of looks and she opens her mouth to say something.

"Princess said that Kit was gooone." Archie whizzes into the room with his toy truck, suspending it as if it were flying. His eyes are locked on the red and yellow plastic and he dips his truck on the word gone, causing him to enunciate the word.

Then, as if his purpose was served, he runs out the room, leaving the four of us to dwell in complete silence for a minute or so longer, although it seemed like an eternity.

I try to silence a yawn but Eli immediately picks up on it and decides to throw me under the bus as Freya conveniently asks; "When did you last sleep properly?"

And so, five long, tedious minutes are spent telling both Marcus and Freya on how I had abandoned him after promising that I wouldn't leave without him, yadda yadda yadda.

"I was only trying to keep him safe," I explain, a whiny tone leaving me as the exhaustion breaks down my barriers.

"I'm sure you were," Freya nods, before looking at the doorway that Archie had emerged from, "but, I think you should rest now."

I decide it's better to just agree then argue with them, partially because I was finding it difficult to stay standing on my feet. Freya leads me to a room and I don't remember anything from the moment that my body hits the soft, memory-foam mattress.

"Christopher!" I squeal as I catch sight of my present from under the tree moving. It's not difficult to guess which one is from him to me, as he's gone all out, as usual, with a beautifully wrapped box, silver in colour with a beautiful black bow that complimented the box nicely.

"Yess?" He pops his head around the door, catching me looking at the moving box.

"The box is moving." I deadpan him, pointing to it.

From inside, some shuffling can be heard.

"It's probably the tarantula- I mean puppy." He shrugs and I glare at him.

"If there's a god-to-honest SPIDER in there, I swear to it that you'll be its first meal, Christopher," I scramble away from the box a little.

"Don't be silly," he says, coming into the room and picking up the box carefully, "tarantulas don't eat people."

He starts to bring it over to me and I immediately jump to my feet.

"Open it." He grins and I glare at him. "And I promise it's not a tarantula."

I take the box hesitantly and look down at it when I hear whining coming from inside.

"You didn't." I gasp, immediately coming to the realisation of what was in the box.

"Merry Christmas, Princess." He kisses my forehead.

A German Shepherd peeks out at me from under the flap of the box, one eye blue and one eye brown. I take him out of the box, holding the small bundle of fluff that brings me such happiness and excitement already.

"He's like a junior version of you," I chuckle, mesmerised by the small pup.

"What're you going to name him?" Kit asks, nuzzling up to me.

I think for a minute before looking at him and then the puppy.

"Junior."

---

It took me an entire week to regain all my strength and I currently sit at the island countertop, eating a piece of toast. Marcus wades in, yawning as he makes a straight beeline over to the fridge to grab the orange juice. Eli had taken a fully rested, therefore overly hyper active Archie to the park and Freya had taken off to do the weekly shopping a short while before them and had refused to my suggestions to accompany her.

I start to ask Marcus the plans for the day when I see him drink straight from the carton and I scream, causing him to jump and spill the content all down his shirt.

"What was that for?" He groans, looking down at his ruined top.

"Don't drink from the carton!" I tell him loudly and he huffs in response.

"Go get changed, we're going to meet Eli and Archie at the park." I make the plan, deciding that if Marcus were to choose, he wouldn't leave the house.

He heads out the room, grumbling under his breath about how he wouldn't need to change if I hadn't poured OJ down his front.

A whole ten minutes later and a lot of coaxing, Marcus and I are on our way to the park, when I start to feel a dizziness, followed by a clouding of vision. When it clears up, I see the park where we were headed to and I realise I am using shadow-sight.

I see the all too familiar little boy playing in the sandpit and an older one ordering ice cream from the little stand as per usual. What, however, seemed out of the ordinary were two redhead teenagers, a male and a female, more or less around my age, edging around the sandpit. Alarm bells start to ring as I see them confer something with one another before they part ways; the male going to Archie and the female to Eli.

The boy makes his way over to Eli who looks up at him and grins, his truck in one hand. The male crouches, his back to the shadow and whatever he told Archie in that moment caused the little one's expression to drop from sheer happiness to alarm and worry.

He drops his truck and the sound causes Eli to turn around, pausing his little flirting session with the other redhead, his expression a frown.

The next few seconds are unclear as a light beam hits the shadow I am seeing out of and every other in the park and I stumble back, Marcus catching my arm to keep me upright.

My eyes are wide and disbelieving as Marcus shakes me, trying to bring me back to my senses.

I splutter and gasp, trying to throw out the words as quickly as possible.

"Resplendent- They've taken Archie!"