Page 228 of Shadowman
Bright white flashes outside the window, thunder rumbling with it, like the roar of a thousand lions. It rattles the walls.
I despise not knowing what Trevel’s doing, and if he’s okay. I’m antsy about it, feeling like a piece of me is missing and I don’t know where it is. It’s ludicrous… But apparently, we’ve become sort of codependent ourselves.
Jesus, how and when the hell did that happen??
Most of all, in the back of my mind, I trulyhatehow he jumped at the chance to take Lemuel. To be alone with him…
“I’m getting really worried.” Darcey squirms beneath me.
I roll off of him with a sigh, getting up and sauntering over to the window. “That was sorta the point…”
“Byron, I know you’re worried about Trevel,” he says, ignoring the glare I shoot his way. “They’re both out there in the storm—”
“Trevel knows what he’s doing,” I mutter, gulping down my uncertainty as I watch the trees thrashing.
“I saw your face…” he hums, and I peer in his direction once more. “When he kissed you. There’s no hiding that look. I’ve worn it myself, way too many times.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I argue, and it feels defensive. Heat is rushing up my neck.
“It doesn’t all have to be a fight, Byron,” he rasps. “Resigning yourself to the fucked-up reality is freeing. Believe me…”
I’m gawking at him, lips parted. This little shit is making sense, and it’s making me want to beat his ass even more.
Because he has a point. Maybe accepting what Trevelisto me instead of focusing on what heisn’twill help us… become somethingreal.
A bolt of lightning interrupts my thoughts, so bright it flashes white into the room. There’s an immediateboomlouder than any thunder I’ve ever heard; a crackling rumble, like a rift in the sky.
Gazing out the window, I take a step forward. But a crash has me stumbling back. A great thunderingblastso significant it shakes the foundation beneath us. The walls rattle, things tipping over. A painting actually falls, smashing on the floor.
Okay, that’s not thunder… It felt like a missile launched right outside.
“What the fuck was that?!” Darcey gasps.
“I don’t know.” I’m not trying to seem affected, but my heart is racing wildly in my chest, adrenaline quaking my extremities.
“Did something blow up? Like a… transformer, or…?” Darcey keeps asking questions, as if I’m not stuck in this room with him, working with all the same information he is.
My gaze is stuck out the window as I approach it hesitantly, looking around for any sign of what might’ve happened. But all I can see are trees.
“It wasn’t loud enough to have happened here,” I mumble, mostly to myself. “It was… farther away…”
Maybe… from the prison.
“I gotta get out of here.” Darcey is yanking at his restraints, really spazzing out, rocking back and forth like a nutcase. “Lem could be hurt. I have to go find him!”
“You’re not going anywhere,” I hiss. “Calm the hell down.”
“I can’t,” he huffs, out of breath from wiggling around to no avail. “He’s out there. Something is happening… I can’t just fuckingsit here!”
“Well, that’s not your call, now is it?” I fold my arms over my chest.
He stares up at me helplessly. It gives me some minute satisfaction that’s not really placating me right now.
Shouting from outside distracts me, but I still can’t fuckingseeanything through the damn window.
This room has a shit view, man. It’s not high enough.
I bet if I went upstairs, I could see everything…
