Eighteen

Prologue

      The ground groans and shakes. The walls creak and groan and somewhere in the distance screams echo, bouncing off the walls that threaten to buckle under the weight of a building too old to put up with so much abuse. Shattered glass twinkles softly over the groans and screams as it falls down.

      He scrambles across the ground, hands and knees scraping across sharp glass and equally sharp stones. He feels none of it, sees none of it. He doesn't notice the slight trail of blood-red blood he leaves behind, nor does he hear the screams or groans or even the twinkling of glass too weak to handle the shuttering and shaking of the walls.

      He can't notice it. Not when all his attention is elsewhere, because, amidst all the screaming and destruction she stands. Back straight, shoulder squared, she stays on her feet despite each hard shake and rolling quiver that has sent lesser men to their knees. She moves with each roll, lets it wash over her and through her and manages to come out standing every time.

      "No, no, no, no," she whispers as she surveys the damage around her. Never once stumbling she turns, taking in the shattered glass and rolling stones of buildings too weak to withstand the assault. She doesn't even flinch when the latest building comes down in a cloud of dust and shattering glass.

      "This is wrong. This is all wrong."

      Nor does she pay much mind to the shard of debris that manages to nick her. It catches her across the cheek as it flies by, leaving a shallow would and a slight bubble of blood on her otherwise unblemished face. There's no dirt, no dust. The skin of her face is as clean and pale as the rest of her even as the dust settles around her.

      "What did you do?"

      Her voice cuts across the noise. Sharp and strong, it draws his gaze to her eyes. They're blue, light and eerie and oh so bright. Like two pools of crystal clear water glittering in the sun and they lock on him instantly.

      Despite the rumble and dust that covers him from head to toe, she makes him out. She spots him just as easily as if he wasn't covered in the dirt and dust that sits heavily on his skin and turns him the same color as his surroundings.

      "What did you do, Daniel?"