Tenebrous ↠ Volturi Kings {1} ✓

023

"Holy shit!" Afton exclaimed, jaw dropping. "That is the most impressive thing I've ever seen! And done by a human, no less!"

I grinned, unseen, enjoying Afton's shock and the twins' clear confusion. I walked around, eventually standing next to Afton to wait for Demetri. "She really can disappear," Alec commented.

"I'm still right here, you know," I said, dropping the shadows in order to be heard.

To Afton's credit, he did not jump nearly as much as Demetri had the first time I did it. "That's an impressive trick. We can't see, hear, or smell you at all."

"If you knew where I was, you would be able to pull me out, though," I said.

Demetri looked suddenly concerned. "Really? I had assumed you were intangible as well."

"No. Physically, I'm still present. If you could pinpoint my location, you could grab me and since I can only hide myself it would immediately pull me out of the shadows," I explained.

"Interesting," he mused. "Can you be heard talking while hidden?"

"Not at all, I'm completely hidden. Can't be seen, heard, or smelled at all. I'd have to interact with the environment in some way or another in order to be noticed, though sometimes I can be found through sheer luck," I told him. "Should I go back to hiding again?"

"Please," Demetri said. "I do think I see what Aro meant when he said your mind was murky, but I'm not sure I could track you by it. Right now we're in a controlled environment, and I know you're somewhere close by. Put you anywhere in the world and there's no way I'd be able to find you."

"Keep practicing," I encouraged, the shadows closing around me once more.

"That's cool as hell," Afton said. "So, theoretically, if I were to find you, I could pull you out of the shadows?"

"That is what she said, Afton," Jane sniffed.

"I bet I could do it."

"Hundred bucks says you can't," Demetri said, brow furrowed with concentration.

"You've got a bet. I'll even give you a head start, Rowan," Afton said, smirking.

"I don't think she's going to answer you," Demetri said. "Show him how it's done, Queen Rowan."

I popped out of the shadows by Demetri's shoulder just long enough to tell him, "Just Rowan," before disappearing once more.

Watching Afton try to find me was entertaining. Even though he couldn't hear, smell, or see me, he consistently attempted to do all three. Jane and Alec watched in clear amusement as his attempts to find me failed miserably.

After ten minutes of this, most of which I spent trailing behind Afton, Demetri cursed, causing me to jump and Afton to pause in his search. "What?"

"Well, let's just say that our queen is very good at hiding herself," Demetri said, running a hand through his hair. "I have a vague idea of where she is, which is somewhere over there-" at this he pointed about four feet to my left, "but I can't get any more precise than that, and it's only because I know she's in this room that can I narrow it down that far. Even trying to find her within the castle would be impossible. Yes, her mind is more murky than anything, but it still has no real signature, which is what I need to be able to track anyone."

Afton, after failing at finding me once more, cursed. "I'll get you that hundred later, Demetri."

"Ha," I sang, finally able to step back out of the shadows. "You know I followed you around most of the time, Afton?"