ENSHROUDING LIGHT

THE NIGHTMARE

CHAPTER 23

THE NIGHTMARE

'What are you doing?' Tom asked as he woke the next morning.

She tried to look at him and not his shade. Even the daylight flooding through the window couldn't outshine his brilliance. 'I thought I'd have a cuddle.'

'I mean what are you doing to your insides?'

'My insides?'

'Yes.' He pointed to her solar plexus. 'How are you doing that? I've never seen anything like it.'

'What do you mean?' She sat up and inspected herself.

'You're normally bright with a greenish kind of light, but your middle is missing. It's like you have nothing there. It's strange.'

She walked into Tom's en-suite and stood in front of the mirror. Her whole body, apart from the centre, was lit up with an incredibly bright shade, although slightly different than a Moderator's; hers had a green tinge. Wow, she really was the Designer. She wasn't sure how she felt about these changes; this new, internal knowing for what she was looking at. She may well still have been Nevaeh, but some subtle part of Omnipion had crept in.

Tom followed behind with David after him. 'Can you see your light, Mum?'

'Ye...yes.'

'What have you done with that middle bit then?'

'I don't know!'

'Oh.'

'I'm getting a shower!' She kissed his forehead and rushed out of his room.

She showered, stared at herself naked for around ten minutes, pulling at her skin, got dressed and went for breakfast. She sat at the table next to Jack, buttered her toast and was about to take a bite but, as she looked up, she stopped. Everyone was staring at her! Had she got two heads or something? Could they see something she hadn't found in the mirror?

'Well?' Harold said with a seedy grin, similar to Jack's the previous evening.

As she looked at him, her jaw dropped. Never before, apart from always wearing his hat indoors, had Harold stood out like he did right now. He sat as ordinary looking as everyone, yet his shade was nearly as bright as Mark and Adaeze's.

'We don't kiss and tell! Do we, Nevaeh?' Mark said.

So that's why they were staring. 'Err...no.' She bit into her toast but began to cough.

'That's mean!' Harold said with a scowl. Even though he sounded disappointed, his light was bedazzling. Did this mean he was joking. Would his shade have deepened if not?

Mark gave her a knowing smile.

'Tart!' Mad-Doris yelled.

George's shade darkened as he scowled at her. Her suspicions were right! Had she gained some inner wisdom as well as an open core?

Nevaeh looked back at Mad-Doris and blinked. Had her eyes gone out of focus? She blinked again. Mad-Doris was the only person at the table who had no hue to her at all. Looking at her was exactly like looking at her before. She looked ordinary, which naturally meant she was completely strange!

Nevaeh turned to Mark. 'Why has she not...?' She stopped herself as everyone turned to look at her. Great. She and Mark had become some kind of captivating soap opera.

She waited until after breakfast, as the kids walked into the classroom for their lesson, and caught Mark in the hallway.

'Mad-Doris has no shade! What's the score?' She jerked her thumb to the living room where Mad-Doris had scurried off to.