Shadow Chronicles: Hunting for Darkness The Shadow's Whisper

Chapter Three

"You're welcome to stay here..I mean, I don't think my mom will mind." She said, gesturing him inside. "There's a spare bedroom" He grinned at her "Thanks love, I think I may like it 'ere if your mum will 'ave me." He said his accent coming through. "I'm sure she will" Zoe blushed, turning towards the kitchen, "hungry? Thirsty?" She asks, her back to him, hiding her slightly pink cheeks. "Food sounds lovely." "Awesome, whatcha want?" "Food." He dead panned, "Anything's fine." "Smartass" she muttered, "anything specific? Sweets? Candy? Sandwich? Mac n cheese?" She said, obviously to him, "Sandwich sounds good.."

She goes in and makes his sandwich, "Lemme guess, anything goes for it?" "Look, you're learning love." He quipped with a smile. "I'm a fast learner." She deadpanned. She finished his sandwich and handed him the plate with a bag of Doritos. "All done." She smiled. His eyes glowed, "Well aren't you a godsend." she blushed slightly, "Nah, I'm not." She flopped onto the couch, leaving room for him. "Now. About what happened out there....What exactly happened? I have a bow, You have that shadow-walking ability? What's going on?" She stopped her jabbering, drawing in a deep breath. He looked deep in thought and seemed as though he was about to say something profound instead she was met with a, "No Idea!"

"Well...um... We should probably figure that out before those Greek creatures come back..." "Yeah." She grabbed the remote and passed it to him. "Put on whatever you want" "Erm..." He said severely confused, "Alright then." He said pressing a random channel. "Don't watch much TV?" " 'avent exactly...'ad much in terms of 'ousehold items," "Oh..um...there's this good show on and maybe you'll like it?" "What?" "It's---"

Zoe's mother walked through the door and saw them on the couch. "Oh, I didn't realize you had company, Zoe?" Zoe stared at her mom for a long minute. "Mom, this is Cronan..He's gonna stay with us for a while." "Nice to meet you, Cronan...And Zo, you know I don't care but you should have still asked instead of telling me what's going to happen...Now, how did you two meet?"

Zoe glanced nervously at him. "U-Um. School. We were paired up on a project and when I was out for my walk this morning, I ran into him and we got to talking and yeah. Right, Cronan?" "Yeah, it was bloody brilliant ma'am." "Oh god, I'm not that old. It's Kelly. So, you kids have fun....behave... I'll be in the room if you two need anything" Her mom smiled and walked out. Cronan raised an eyebrow, "What did she mean?" "Hm? Which part? Being old or...?" "The behaving thing, I'm confused." "Oh...um.." I blushed, looking away slightly, "Nothing... nothing at all" "But I wanna know." He whined childishly. "She just meant to...be on good behavior....to..um...not trash the place?" She lied and unfortunately it came out as a question. "Even I can smell the bullshit from here." "She just meant our age....and hormones....." Zoe looked away once more, blushing furiously. "Oh, well then..erm" He stammered his eyes glowing.

"U-um.. d-did you know your eyes tend to glow?" She stuttered out, changing the topic. "They glow?" He asked his silver eyes illuminating the room slightly. She laugh "Yeah, see look." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the bathroom, not turning on the light and turned him to the mirror. "See?" His eyes widened as the glow intensified, "That...is so cool!" "They seem to glow brighter when you're excited...like right now. And become dull when...you're not the greatest, I noticed earlier..." "I'm like..a walking flashlight!" "It's interesting and weird. I like it." "Explain?" Zoe let out a quiet laugh under her breath. "Nope. Have fun staring at your reflection" She walked out of the bathroom and down the hall, flopping on the bed inside. "But I wanna know." He whined. "I dunno..maybe.." She called from her room not getting up. Cronan walked to her room and stood in the doorway, "You can come in. You don't have to stand there." She didn't even bother to look up. He entered and sat in the middle of the room, on the floor. Zoe rolled off her bed, falling on the floor and began laughing. "Totally meant to do that." Cronan snorted in amusement

"Now, back to earlier, your eyes. I like them. They're cool, ya'know? They're not like anything I've ever seen and that's what makes them so interesting. But I do also find it weird. Glowing eyes, shadow-walking, bows magically appearing, Greek monsters... It's all weird. But again, interesting. Like I said, I like it." She stopped, taking a deep breath. She glanced over at him, biting her lip slightly. "Yeah...weird yet interesting...." "I find it a tad odd...like this." he raised his left arm slightly as black wisps of darkness stretched out towards his hand almost yearning, "That's so cool!" He quietly gushed to himself his silver eyes glowing. Zoe stared intently at what he did with his arm. "It's official. I'm fascinated by you." She said bluntly. "Hm?" "You're fascinating." "How so love?" "Shadow walking, glowing eyes, British, that thing you just did...not to mention you're either stupidly brave or...i dunno." She rambled, hoping he wouldn't catch anything particular. "Wait..what were you referring to?" He asked his silver eyes glowing. "Hm?" "Nothing... felt like I heard something." He muttered before his left eye suddenly dulled to a pitch black, with what seemed to be a light silver flame flickering in place of his pupil as he hit the ground gripping his head in pain, as skeletal hands slowly rose from the ground surrounding his form, their fingers attempting to drag him into the darkness agonizingly slowly."Cronan?" Zoe reached for him, trying to move him away from the hands, He spoke with a voice not his own, it was darker raspier...older, ancient even and the raspy voice made her shiver severely, from the sheer power it radiated, "Look after my child will you...Sun spawn." The hands sunk back into the ground the darkness slowly dissolved as the constantly flickering silver flame outed itself, as his dark left eye lightened back to its original glowing silver.

Zoe was utterly confused, "Sun Spawn? Son?" She looked at Cronan, who was beginning to return to normal, "Cronan, what's going on?" She starts with, before going on to explain what happened to the confused boy. "And then your voice changed, became deeper and sounded older, and said, "Look after my child will you...Sun spawn,"...and what's with the skeleton hands?" She asked, her voice slightly shaking and sounding breathless. "I have absolutely no idea."

"It obviously has to do with greek mythology. Those..those creatures? Cyclops. Skeletal hands? Seems like Hades..wait...would that make you the son of Hades? I mean...It kind of makes sense, ya know?" She said, sounding distracted as she mulled things over, connecting the dots. "Hades....lord of the dead eh?,...sounds fun...hm...if we're going by greek standards....I'd say your Apollo's kid, being so fucking bright and all." That caused a laugh to erupt from her, "bright? Optimistic or intelligent?" "No, just bloody bright, like a light bulb that won't shut off." he questioned, unsure whether or not she should take it as a compliment or an insult. His silver eyes glowed, "It burns my retinas." "I'm still unsure if that's a compliment or insult. Or maybe a backhanded compliment?" "Both." He mused silver eyes shining with mirth and mischief. "Both?" "Both."

"Thanks?" She looked down thoughtfully, "So...Apollo's daughter and Hades' son?" "Only if this isn't just some drug-induced dream." He said shrugging.