Page 1 of The Light Within

one

Julien

The shadows danced between the gnarled trees, twisting and writhing like living smoke. Julien’s heart pounded as he crouched low, his eyes fixed on the elusive creature that darted just out of reach. The shadow cat, a being of pure darkness, moved with unnatural grace, leaving wisps of inky blackness in its wake.

The others were just behind Julien; he could hear the soft crunch of twigs under Cinn’s boots, the whisper of fabric as Elliot adjusted his rucksack, and the hitch in Darcy’s breathing as she struggled to keep up.

Slinking ahead, the cat snaked amongst the foliage, weaving this way and that, its ethereal form slipping in and out of sight.

They were so close.

So close, yet, so far.

Yes, the cat they were hunting was a nightmare.

A literal monster, yes—eyeless, constructed of shadows, and capable of ghastly hissing sounds that would scare any child straight under the covers.

A monster that was supposedly his sister.

As creepy as it was, the true source of their current terror was letting the slippery creature out of their sight for the tenth—scrap that,hundredth—time.

The four of them had been at it for almost sixteen hours now, after Darcy sounded the alarm at the crack of dawn, spotting the fiend napping on the bench in her garden. By the time Julien and Cinn arrived,she was crawling through her flowerbeds, head half in a bush, alternating between soothing, encouraging sounds, and curse words.

An empty cat carrier rested near her. Its metal door creaked in the wind, mocking her efforts. Though, did Darcy really believe it could contain a cat made of shadows?

When Elliot arrived a full thirty minutes later—which was admittedly, by Elliot’s standards, fairly on time—he found all three of them covered in dirt and bramble scratches. Elliot plucked a leaf from Darcy’s hair, her auburn locks the very definition of a bird’s nest. He set his face into a determined line. “We’re not letting it get away from us this time.”

So began their day of cat hunting, as the shadow demon led them on a wild goose chase through the rural outskirts of Talwacht. This involved a long wade through mud up to their knees, a quick dip into a stream, and a desperate trip to an out-of-town supermarket for various demon-cat-catching supplies. Mainly snacks.

They crested the hill that enclosed the valley the Aurelia Arcanum Institute of Esoteric Sciences sat in, and Julien’s feet ached in protest of the many miles they’d walked. Yet the sight of the campus ignited a spark of excitement—if the cat was drawn towards Auri, surely that was a good sign that it was indeed some sort of reincarnation of his dead sister?

Half walking, half sliding down the muddy valley that offered no footpath, they eventually made it to the bottom, to follow the creature through the car park, several courtyards, and then to the glittering glasshouse that was the Solstice Atrium’s exterior.

“Act natural,” hissed Darcy as a large throng of people passed them.

“What, and pray nobody else wonders what the fuck a cat made of literal shadow is doing, taking a casual stroll through Auri?” Julien hissed back.

“Shut up, both of you!” Cinn pointed to where the cat was rounding a corner. Cinn’s face was set in such a line of determination that Julien’smouth twitched into a smile, and he resisted an urge to press a kiss into the deep crevice across his forehead.

Thankfully, their prey seemed to prefer the paths less travelled, weaving between thickets of trees and the back ends of buildings, away from prying eyes. As one, with footsteps as feather-light as the branches littering the ground would allow, they followed their mark’s path, trailing after shadowy swishes of tail as they slowly increased their pace to close the gap. The cat was lightning fast—every time they caught a flash of darkness, they’d fall deathly silent and creep towards it, cat carrier at the ready. And every time, the creature disappeared, seemingly melting into the actual shadows of shrubbery.

As the sun set, so did their patience.

Especially Darcy’s.

“For the last time, Elliot, it’s not an actual cat. It doesn’t matter which brand of cat food you try to throw at it!”

Yes.

Animal hunting was decidedly a career that none of them should ever consider.

“This would have all been over hours ago if you’d just let me channel,” muttered Elliot, scraping a patch of dried mud from the olive skin of his cheek. “I could have blasted her into that carrier within seconds.”

“No!” Cinn all but shouted. “What if it hurts her, or like, sends her back into the shadow realm or something?”

“Dude, can we please not callither? We’ve got no proof it’s actually Béatrice!”

Julien’s jaw clenched. All Elliot had done that day was air his complaints and doubts. Though Julien wasn’t yet entirely convinced his dead sister had returned to them as a thing made of shadows, he was at least giving it the benefit of the doubt.

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