Page 1 of Light and Shadow
Chapter One
Harper
I’ve been driving around for two weeks with an expired driver’s license. I’d like to say it’s unlike me to let things go, but that would be a big fat lie. I’m the queen of procrastination.
It’s not entirely my fault. The thought of sitting in a New Jersey Driver’s Motor Vehicle office like one of a hundred head of cattle being shoved from one queue to another forced me into my illegal driving. Yup, I just blamed bureaucracy for my bad behavior, and I’d do it again.
After over an hour of being shuffled through lines, having my picture taken, and a thorough examination of every document since my birth that proves who I am, I’m waiting in a gallery of small chairs that must have been some kind of torture device in another life.
The guy behind me had tuna fish for lunch.
The woman next to me fixes her boobs every five seconds by reaching into her low-cut, yellow blouse and manually pulling them up and in. She smells of stale cigarette smoke and cheap perfume. Fixing her lipstick for the third time in the half hour I’ve been sitting here, she gives me a wink.
There’s a woman with three kids, all in varying states of come apart.
I don’t blame them. I want to melt down too. Honestly, I feel for the woman. Imagining having three kids under the age of ten is like imagining my life as anything but an utter mess.
A black screen with red digital numbers hangs on the wall above the six openings where the clerks’ desks are situated. The current number is 162, and the middle light in the one is out, making it look like a vertical dash. My ticket is 175. I tuck it into my pocket.
I’m going to die here. Right here in this giant, gray-walled room in a horrible chair with the smell of canned tuna fish as my last memory. This is hell.
“163,” the bald clerk with round, blue-tinted, wire-framed glasses drones as if we’re inconveniencing him.
The mother of three jumps up, dragging the smallest of the kids with her to the window. While the child whines, she hands the clerk her paperwork.
I’m a little jealous of that kid and the other two running around the tall table where people are filling out mounds of red-tape-related forms.
The room gets completely silent like places do before a rock star belts out the first note of his biggest hit.
The kids are frozen in place.
The boob lady has one hand in her blouse and her face is twisted in a bright-red-lipped scowl.
I stand and turn slowly and find every person in this hellhole statue-like. Even the tuna guy stopped stinking.
“What the fuck is happening?” I step around the boob lady and the teenage boy sitting next to her, tuck my paperwork into my oversize purse, and step into the aisle. “Hellooo… What the fuck is wrong with everyone?”
From my right comes a whooshing sound, and the papers from the forms table fly in every direction. A pinpoint of light appears in the middle of the cinder-block wall. It widens until swirls appear and the wind pulls at my hair.
My heart is pounding so hard I’m close to hyperventilating. “I’m dead. I died in the fucking DMV. That’s not fucking fair.”
A hazy figure appears in the swirling light, then grows bigger, taking on the outline of a man.
I swear to god, Thor jumps down from the opening to the painted-gray concrete floor of the most boring place on Earth. Thor! Blond hair like sunshine, bright blue eyes, a sharp angular jaw, and shoulders as wide as the Jefferson Memorial bridge. Pointed ears poke through his gorgeous long locks. A sheathed sword is attached to his belt. A sword! No beard, but otherwise…
He winces, then his gaze intensifies, and he pulls his lips into a tight line. He shakes his head as if to clear it. When he spots me, he narrows those piercing eyes. “Harper Craig, you must come with me,” he says with a heavy brogue.
Legs shaking and heart in my throat, I make a mad dash for the door. I don’t care if heisThor, I’m not being killed by him or some swirling light thing. Though, I’m probably already dead.
I keep running. Outside, everyone is frozen. Maybe I’m going to hell. I mean, I’ve never given the prospect much thought, but I’ve been a nice person. I should at least get a chance for heaven or whatever.
I jump into my Toyota Corolla and drop my purse on the passenger seat. The car has seen better days, but it’s reliable, and I’m too lazy to shop for a new car. Nothing happens when I turn the key. I mean, not even a click.
Thor opens the passenger door. “It won’t work. We’re outside of time. I’ve got to take you through the gate before it closes, Harper.”
I wrap my hand around the tire iron I keep on the floor, pull it out, and jab at him. “You’re not taking me anywhere. How do you know my name?”
My ears burn with a loud shriek.
