Finding Darkness

Chapter 27

 When we land in front of my house, it's close to nine o'clock. I see all of my cats waiting at the door. "Bye guys," I say. "See you tomorrow...or maybe later."

"Alright!" Yuma calls as he and Astral leave.

I enter my house, and I'm greeted by more of my cats. Actually, they aren't really mine. I just consider them mine. They just seem to appear on my doorstep every time I go out. My mama complains about how they're always prowling around, but I know she enjoys their company too. My cats feed themselves, so food isn't really a problem for them. Papa lives somewhere else in this city with a huge mansion. I don't really think I believe him, but what the heck?

I wave to them and walk in the kitchen, where Mama's busy making dinner.

"Hi Mama," I greet her.

"Hi Cathy," she says hurriedly. "Where were you?"

"With my friends. Why?"

Mama brings the dinner of fish and rice to the dining table. "It's dangerous to be out there, Cathy. I don't want you to get hurt. I've been hearing rumors about what's been happening."

"I know it is, Mama, but Astral and Yuma will protect me. They promised they would."

"Who and who?" Mama asks.

This surprises me. "The guys who are like the detectives of this place. You've never heard of them?"

Mama shakes her head. "Never. I haven't heard anyone talking about them."

I plop down in front of my food. "Seriously? Everyone here knows about them!" I pick up my fork and shove a hunk of fish in my mouth.

"Really? You'll have to take me to see them some day." Mama picks up her fork and calmly starts eating.

I brighten up. "Why not today?"

Mama puts down her fork. "Cat, I highly doubt that their up at this hour." She says that as if she's known them her entire life.

I cross my arms, grinning. "They're not sleeping. They normally stay up, some times until midnight, pondering the information the get."

Mama laughs. "Alright, smart mouth. We'll visit for a short while after we eat."

"Okay!" I quickly eat the rest of my food, excited about visiting them again.

When we finish eating, I practically drag Mama outside. I show her the way to Yuma and Astral's house, and after a few distractions, we arrive.

"This is the place!" I purr excitedly as Mama knocks on the door. A few minutes later, Astral opens the door, his sky-blue face and mismatched eyes peering at us.

"Yes?" he asks, sounding kind of ill.

"Hey, Astral!" I shout. "Can we come in?"

Astral widens the door so we can enter. "Of course. Yuma and I need help anyways."

 I drag Mama in, and a surprised look crosses her face when she sees Astral in full length.

"What are you?" she asks in astonishment.

Astral ignores the question and instead calls Yuma. "Cathy has arrived! Get over here!" He turns to Mama and waves. "Hello. My name is Astral. Yuma will be down shortly. Have a seat while you wait." With that, he zips upstairs, apparently in a rush.

"Cathy," Mama says, "that...thing's...name is Astral, right?"

"Yeah," I answer. "He's the coolest guy I've ever met! Him and Yuma both!"

"What is he?" she asks.

I sigh. "He won't tell anyone. It must be a secret or something."

"Will this Yuma be the same as Astral?"

I giggle. "You'll just have to see for yourself."

Yuma rushes downstairs with Astral following behind. "Hey Cat. What're you doing here?" he asks.

I can tell Mama's relieved to see Yuma's a regular boy as I answer, "Yuma, Astral, this is my mama. This is her first time meeting you."

Astral smiles and runs his hand over the bandage covering his wound. "The circumstances at the moment are not good, so please excuse us if we seem in a rush."

"It's fine," Mama answers. "By the way, what's under that bandage? I might be able to help."

Astral hesitates, not wanting to answer the question. "It is...none of your concern. I can manage," he says with an awkward smile.

"Yeah," I agree. "You wouldn't want to see it anyways."

Astral, Yuma, and Mama talk about what's been going on lately. At some point, Astral drops out of the conversation because of a "headache," but Yuma and I know it's something else. Yuma eyes him with concern.

"Are you sure it's just a headache?" he asks. "You look worse than when you get migraines."

At that moment, Astral starts shaking. A look of terror crosses his face, and he shoots upstairs. He doesn't come back for a long time.

I break the silence by asking, "So, what do you guys need help on?"

"First, we need help on getting that spawn to shut up," Yuma answers. "Come on."

I pull Mama upstairs with us all the way upstairs. On the way to the lab, I peek in Astral's room, but he's not in there. I check all the other rooms, but they're all empty. Strange. I run to catch up with them because they've gotten ahead of me.

Yuma opens the door to the study and feels along the wall. He finds the password pad and enters a set of numbers. The wall that isn't a wall slides open to reveal the lab.

"Who built this?" Mama asks as we enter the room.

"Building this was Astral's idea, but I have no idea how he built it, and he won't tell me," Yuma answers.

"I see..."

We're interrupted by an ear-splitting shriek. We all cover our ears.

"See, this is why we need Astral here! He's the only one that can get this thing to shut up!" Yuma has to practically yell to be heard.

"I'll go look for him!" I shout. "He doesn't sleep from outbursts too long, does he?"

Yuma shakes his head. "He doesn't sleep too long, but the slumber is long all the same!"

"We should take this outside!" Mama yells. "Our eardrums are going to burst!"

With that, we all exit the room, and Yuma closes the lab. The silence is complete except for the muffled screeching of the spawn. Even through the walls, it insists on being heard.

A few minutes later, Astral comes in. He doesn't look like himself, though. By that, I do mean literally. The only reason I know he entered is because he bumped against the doorframe. He's hidden in the shadow of the wall, and I'd normally be able to see him. I have to squint just to make out where he hovers because his color has darkened from his normal sky-blue to black. His normally white right eye is black as well. I'd think he's Black Mist if his forehead markings hadn't stayed the same.

"A-Astral?" Yuma stammers.

Astral looks down at his hand dully. He grins, but it's not his normal, innocent grin. This one is pure evil.

"The darkness has arrived."