Rekindle the Darkness

3.0

[POINT OF VIEW: CHRISTOPHER MAKLEY]

To say I was confused was the understatement of the century.

When I knocked on the door, Archie was the one to open it. The little boy had definitely gotten taller since the last time I'd seen him and when he saw me, he screamed.

I took a step back, almost as startled as him.

"IT'S A GHOST!" The little boy screamed before slamming the door in my face.

I could hear his footsteps thundering on the floor as he ran up the stairs whilst my vision was filled with a wood brown from the paint on the door.

As I raised my fist to knock again, the door opened and I stood there with my fist outstretched as if I was going to punch somebody.

Great.

Freya opened the door and much to my relief and although she didn't scream something ineffable in my face, she held a look of suspicion.

"What're you doing here?" She asked, glancing around as if to see if anyone was there.

I blinked at her. "What do you mean, what am I doing here?"

Her face betrayed no emotion.

"Marcus told us you'd gone back to join the Resplendent."

My jaw dropped. "What do you mean I'd gone back to join the Resplendent?" I asked incredulously. I had not a clue what she was talking about.

Freya frowned. "Inside." She ordered, holding the door open at my obliviousness.

I followed her inside, my hands running through my hair as we headed into the kitchen and I sat on a stool, dropping my backpack down beside me.

Freya placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of me.

I took a sip, looking at her. "What is going on?"

"As I said, Marcus told us you'd gone back to join the Resplendent and that you never really cared about any of us, especially Nika."

I dropped the mug in shock, a shadow of mine shooting out and curling itself around it, preventing it from spilling and placing it on the countertop quietly.

"When was this?"

"He said it was the day after they returned home."

"I don't know when I said such a thing-"

"Are you accusing my son of LYING?"

"Freya, don't you UNDERSTAND? I would NEVER go back there, not after everything they've put you through, not after everything they've put HER through!" I breathed heavily, angry after my outburst.

Freya pursed her lips. "Then where did you go?"

"I left town." I motioned to the backpack laying beside me. "I had to clear my mind, I was afraid I'd messed up, I was afraid she wouldn't take me back."

Freya nodded wordlessly, seemingly convinced, but I carried on.

"I'm more Necro these days, Freya." I referred to the mug I'd dropped moments earlier and my shadow that had placed it down and not my beam. "Do you really think they'd take me back, even after all those I've killed, even after all those I've betrayed?"

Freya shook her head.

I was in tears by now.

"This is all one twisted game of chess, Freya, and she's not just my Princess; She's my Queen."

The air was thick. Freya was silent for a moment, pursing her lips.

We were interrupted by quiet sobbing coming from the doorway.

Archie appeared from his hidden place and gaze locked on him.
"What's wrong, Archie?" I asked, crouching down as he beckoned closer.

Freya seemed just as confused at her younger son's sobbing.

"K-kit," he hiccuped, "I saw Prin-Princess and I- I told her what I heard Marcus talking about-"

I frowned, failing to place what he was on about. Before I could ask, a cry broke out from elsewhere in the house and was traveling quickly towards me.

"CHRIS-TO-PHER," A voice bellowed, enunciating each syllable of my name. I stood straight in time to see Marcus lumber into the room, pointing an accusing finger at me, swaying on his feet as he did so.

In other circumstances, he would have seemed intoxicated with alcohol, but I could tell he was still getting used to being changed into a half-blood.

"WHAT- ARE YOU- DOING HERE?" He continued to yell and I had to try not to flinch at his volume; his words held no meaning, however, just seemed to lack in the volume control department.

He threw a shadow at me and I felt pitiful of him. I sidestepped even though the darkness did not even reach the island counter. The small action seemed to take a lot of out him and he held onto the doorway, his eyes and his mouth closed for a moment.

Only then did I take in his state. His eyes were shrunken and he had lost a LOT of weight since I'd last seen him. He seemed jittery, flinching at the quietest of noises as if he were to be attacked at any moment.

His body wasn't taking the infusion of the light too well.

Archie, who had been looking at his brother, diminishing the fact that he was no longer a threat, looked at me over his shoulder before readjusting his whole body to face me.

"Look." He beckoned for me to stretch out my hand and I did so. He placed his palm into mine and I jumped at the sudden interaction.

Nika's trace was BOLD. Wherever she had been, I could pinpoint her EXACT location. I had never seen traces as dark or as big as this.

I pulled away from Archie, wondering how I didn't notice her trace before. I always assumed that she was wearing her ring.

"She's learning to hide her trace," Archie mumbled solemnly. "She's killed too many." His hysteria had subsided and excluding the rare sniffle, there were no factors indicating that it was ever there in the first place.

"Darkness is empowering her." Freya cuts in, as she too feels the trace.

"Kit, I told Princess that you had gone back to join the Resplendent." Archie blurted out.

I inhaled sharply, his meaning behind the words clear as stone.

Nika thought I was back at the Warehouse.

She was walking straight into a trap.