Finding Darkness

Chapter 28

"A-Astral, what happened?" Yuma asks in dismay.

Astral stares at Yuma, as if he's trying to comprehend that's he's even there. He stops grinning and focuses on Yuma. Then, after a few more minutes, he chuckles.

"The darkness has arrived to take what's most valuable," he purrs, his eyes narrowing. Astral then hears the high-pitched screaming from the lab, and he opens the door/wall out of curiosity. The sound becomes clearer, and he recoils at the shrieking.

A laugh is heard by the doorway. Mama falls to the floor. I desperately try to wake her up. "Mama? Mama, wake up!"

"I knocked her out for a reason, you know," a familiar voice says. "I can't have more humans know that I'm here."

We all turn to Black Mist. He smirks.

"It was unwise to bring the Little Screecher here. I made it especially for those sensitive to darkness," he purrs.

Astral turns to the new voice and studies him for a while. Some of his sanity must still be dominating because the moment he recognizes Black Mist, he lunges at him with a snarl. The moment he does though, he falls to his knees in pain.

Black Mist studies Astral. "I see...your evil is growing." He smirks.

Astral screams in pain, and his color starts to return to normal. A few minutes later, he starts calming down.

"Yuma...close..." Astral tries to say, but he can only get those words out.

Yuma understands, and he closes the lab door. The screeching gets muffled.

"Damn," Black Mist growls, completely vexed at the fact that Astral's recovering. "I had no idea that the Light Forces take such good care of their Agents."

Mama starts to wake up, so Black Mist starts to take his leave. "Be smarter next time you find something of mine!" he calls cheerily. "Yuma, you're gonna have to do more thinking, though! It seems like my evil's slowly eating away at Astral's sanity." With that, he disappears in a cloud of smoke.

"What happened, Cathy?" Mama asks.

"Um...nothing, Mama," I answer. "It's getting dark; let's go home."

"N...no," Astral says, having regained his voice. "It...it is dangerous...to...tonight."

"Astral's right," Yuma agrees. "Cat, come here, and I'll tell you why."

I follow Yuma to the far side of the room while Mama helps Astral regain balance. In this part of the room, we can't be heard.

"What is it?" I ask.

"You can't go out tonight," Yuma warns.

"What'll happen if we do?" I whisper.

"Astral can sense when Black Mist is angry. He told me that. Now is one of those times, I can tell. Who knows what he'll do when he's angry. That's why Astral doesn't want you to leave."

"Oh," I gasp.

We walk back to Mama and Astral. Astral's regained a little balance, and he's sort of hovering by Mama.

"Yuma, see that these two have a room for tonight. I will see what I can do about the Little Screecher," Astral says.

"Alright. Come on, guys." Yuma leads the way to the extra rooms upstairs.

"I can't believe how many crooks you have here," Mama says. "Thanks to your friend's warning, we'll be safe tonight."

So that's what Astral told her. It would be weird if he told her there's a maniac alien on the loose. It would also take a lot of explaining. Besides, if Yuma and I can't tell anyone, then I doubt that Astral can either.

"You can stay here tonight," Yuma says gesturing at a room with a bed big enough for two. Maybe bigger. It's not big, but it's not small either. More like cozy.

"Thanks Yuma!" I say gratefully.

"No problem," he says as he walks off to the study.

I close the door and climb into bed. Mama follows.

"Goodnight," I say.

"Goodnight, Cathy," she answers.