Beyond the Iris

A Ghost in the Dark

Everyone was sleeping when the girl came. The girl with glowing eyes and a mark across her forehead.

I sat up in bed, shocked to see her suddenly appear. Trevor, next to me, mumbled something about avocados and wrapped his arm around my back. Annabeth was sleeping downstairs with Jasmine and Xioro. Isabella and Chase were sleeping in the Calming Tree, because it seemed to keep their erratic powers under control.

The girl in front of me, the girl who had randomly appeared, had hair of such a light color it shone like moonlight. She couldn't have been more than five, and baby fat puffed out her cheeks and body. I could tell that she was scarred: scarred horribly, visibly, with a terrible design that was a warning and a promise.

"You can't see me, can you?" she asked, in a soft voice that raked at my heart. I had spoken in such a voice, as if it hurt to breathe, many times after my parents' experiments. I shook my head, and the girl sighed.

"Then you cannot help." My heart teared itself in pieces, hearing this small child's soft voice, feeling this girl's lightning pain as if it were my own. "Wait," I whispered, frantic and afraid that the girl would leave. I could sense her power pulsating, her eyes glowing, waiting for my words.

"What's your name?" I asked, climbing out of bed. Trevor muttered something else and rolled over, covering his head with his arms. I was in a simple t-shirt and shorts, like the girl before me. She watched me for a few heartbeats before saying, "The scientists called me Arla."

I nodded, and walked over to the girl, who only watched me. I crouched in front of her, and placed my hand on her forehead. Arla's body shuddered as my fingertips traced the design etched into the soft skin of her forehead: a capital W, with a leaf as the middle tine. I shuddered myself, and pulled my hand back.

Arla watched me for a heartbeat, then asked, "Who are you?" I smiled, trying to ease the girl's fear, and said, "I'm Karlee. I'm like you. Trevor is sleeping right now, but he's like us. There are five more downstairs with eyes like ours."

The girl nodded, then said, "I can teleport. I heard talk in the labs about a girl who could read minds. Is that you?" I nodded as well, smiling. Arla smiled, then hugged me, wrapping her thin arms around my neck.

"I heard your voice, Karlee. In my head. Earlier today. I was scared, so I teleported. The scientists yelled at me to come back; I'm wasn't able to leave the compound, you see. But when I heard your voice, my power grew, and I was able to leave. I teleported here, to your room, just by thinking about finding the person the voice belonged to." I nodded, trying not to imagine what the scientists did to this young girl. I could remember all too clearly the experiments my parents ran on me when I was her age. A new theory was forming in my mind, a horrible hypothesis that's connected to the symbol on Arla's forehead.

"Do you need food, Arla? Or sleep?" I asked, but the girl in front of me shook her head. "I feel sick," she said, pressing her forehead. The girl yelped, and I grabbed her wrist to pull her hand from her forehead. I could smell the blood; she probably broke through stitches or something.

"Don't touch it," I said. Arla stared at me, then said, "You're afraid. You know what it means, and you're afraid." I sighed, and nodded, thinking that this five-year-old is too smart for her own good. I stood, and ran my fingers through my hair, making it stand up in wild tangles. Arla watched me, her eyes the color of midnight.

I shook my head, trying to organize my thoughts. Trevor muttered something, and I looked over at him. His wings were spilling from his shoulders, the feathers ruffled and the colors turned black in the darkness of night.

I turned back to Arla, and said, "I'll talk to everyone in the morning. Meanwhile, we both need sleep. You can go downstairs and sleep with everyone else, or you can sleep up here with Trevor and me." The girl nodded, then padded towards the door. At it, she glanced back, locking her strange, midnight blue pupils with my sightless eyes.