Monster: Origins of Darkness #1 (On Hold)

Chapter 22 - Some Answers

Author's Note: Eyes are the windows to the soul. Keep that in mind. ;)

Chapter 22 - Some Answers

There was a rush of air through Mikayla’s ears and she shuddered violently. She pulled her jacket tightly around her, the leather groaning in protest. She shook her head at him, her gaze lowered, refusing to accept the words he just uttered. “You’re shitting me, right?”

“No, I’m afraid that you are, indeed, one of them.”

“But,” she hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip as his words continued to spiral in her head, “But that’s impossible! How can I be a Shadow Walker?”

“It’s not impossible at all.”

She didn’t like his tone. He was sympathetic, yes, but far too calm about it.

She had a hunch after speaking with that demon-woman, but she didn’t want to accept it until she had heard the truth from a more trustworthy source. Now that he had confirmed her gnawing suspicions, she wasn’t at all certain she could handle it.

The Shadow Walkers were evil—they had to be.

And she wanted no part of it.

She took a step back against the wind. “If I were one of them, I wouldn’t be able to enter a Christian home with hanging crucifixes on every fucking wall!”

“Perhaps,” he said slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. “But your gifts have been undeveloped as a result of living in Christian homes and from the charms placed in your mother’s home and grandmother’s home since your birth. Had your gifts been fully developed, you may not be able to pass through these homes. However, it is because of these things that you have been safe all of these years.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “How?”

“They act like a shield,” he stately simply as he began walking forward once more.

As he anticipated, she followed closely on his heels. He continued, “As you have already become aware of, the Shadow Walkers can read minds. Not all of them, but many of them can. If it were not for the shields in place, they would have found you long ago.”

She shuddered again as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket. And who knows what kind of evil they would have used me for…

He nodded his head, as if he too heard her thoughts.

“So, I am safe inside Christian homes, and here on the reserve, but out there…”

“Out there, they will find you.”

“In the desert, on the roads, at school—that type of thing, right?”

He nodded.

Shit. She always suspected that was the case. She knew that she was safe inside Christian homes, and this confirmed it. Her love for the desert, and now the starry night sky, would have to be off-limits while she lived in the Wrights’ house.

At least until she was out on her own—thus endangering the Wrights no more with her presence in their lives.

“And when you are outside of the reserve and your Christian home, you can manipulate your skills as well.”

Her thoughts were interrupted by the need to gawk at him. He turned back and studied her confused, yet worried, expression.

They were about to turn down the street he lived on, and more than anything now, he wanted to get her inside his house. He didn’t want to talk about such matters out in the open any more. It was too risky with the community being normal human beings, and he and Mikayla weren’t. Mikayla, in particular, might cause a bad stir in the people if they overheard their talk.