Page 87 of In Between Darkness
I nod my head.
“Let’s start with mine. I know you have the Gift of foreshadowing somewhere in there.” He points to my chest, and I stare at him in confusion. “It’s why I couldn’t predict your moves that first night. Foreshadowing is harder to use on other foreshadowers.”
I think back to that night, the first time our paths tangled into one another. “But we won’t work on that now. I would prefer you to have a few less broken bones for that training.”
A chuckle escapes his lips, and I sarcastically give him a ‘Ha Ha’ in response.
He laughs and then turns serious, lifting his hands into the air. He stills for a moment and clicks his fingers. Ten shadow hawks take flight around the room. My eyes struggle to keep up with the speed of their flying, and I can’t help but lose my balance a little. I take a breath and regain my posture. “Try to conjure your own.” He clicks his fingers and they disappear.
“Are you crazy? I wouldn’t even know where to start!” I reply in disbelief. My lungs ache with every word, and I breathe deeper to try to numb the pain.
“Just relax.” He walks closer to me. “Shut your eyes.”
I do as he says. He grabs my hands and steadies them, rotating my wrists upwards again. My skin quivers at his touch. His hands are calloused and rough, but that just makes me crave his skin more.
“I need you to breathe with me.”
He takes a deep breath in and exhales, lifting my hands and placing them on his chest so I can feel every breath. I sync my breathing to match his, the rising and lowering of his chest, the faint feeling of his heart thumping through his hard exterior. My heart skips a beat as his eyes devour mine. “Now you are in the rhythm of my body; my breaths are your breaths.” He continues without breaking eye contact. “Imagine we are one with each other.”
I nod my head as he backs away from me. I can’t imagine anyone else I would rather be one with.
“We are no longer touching, but we are still connected.”
I can feel his energy, my breath still in pace with his.
“Mirror me, Asha. Try to stay connected to me.”
He opens his palm and harnesses a small shadow. It looks similar to my portal, but it is more transparent and moves like water. I place my hand out and do my best to copy him. I stare at the wall of shadows, trying to channel his energy. My headache returns as I strain to source the depths of the power.
“Remember, Asha, this power draws from the Moon.”
He walks over to his window and pulls a handle downwards, adjusting the blinds to show a big, bright, silver moon. “Everything you need is right there.” He points at it and walks back towards me, re-equipping himself with the shadow orb. He returns to stand in front of me, and I feel a tingle run downmy spine. Funny, that’s exactly what Mr Herringford said about drawing light from the sun.
I gaze at the moon through the cracks in the blinds and find myself utterly lost in its beauty. I’ve spent so long looking up at the stars that I never quite realised the brilliance of the moon. The strength and power radiating from it are immense. The pure white rays pour into the room, filling me up from head to toe. I think I’m ready. I turn back to Ryder, watching him closely. His stance, his face, even his eyes, and I map out his breathing again. I feel different, but I don’t know how to explain it. My eyes shut, and I attempt to block out the pain still eating at my body. The image of the moon is still ripe in my mind. I turn my palm over. A coolness travels over it like it has been dragged into the shade, making me shudder. My eyes force open, and my jaw drops in disbelief as I watch a shadow, just like Ryder’s, floating fiercely on my palm. I’m doing it. I’m really doing it.
Dimples appear on Ryder’s face as he smiles proudly at me. “See? I knew you could do it!”
“I-I can’t believe it,” I say, dumbfounded by the shadow rippling in my hand. I take a deep breath and reflect on all the stories I’ve been told about the Moonkind and their merciless Gifts… And now I am conjuring one of them. I take a shaky breath and fixate on the shadow’s movements. Reality hits me with a bang. I am both Sun and Moon. I called Ryder dangerous, but let’s face it, I am too. I force down a gulp as I slowly come to the realisation that for every Gift I possess etched in sunlight, another darker Gift lurks in the shadows waiting to attack. I am the one they warned me about.
Ryder snaps me out of my thoughts and reassuringly smiles in my direction.
“Let me show you something.”
He walks over to me and holds the back of my hand as if he is cupping my shadow as well. Leaning in, he presses his foreheadagainst mine; another shadow appears and ripples next to mine like a flame. Ryder’s shadow. The shadows seem to repel each other like oil and water, never quite touching, which kind of makes them look like they are dancing.
“No two shadows are the same. They won’t mix no matter how hard you try.”
He smiles at them as they flicker and change around each other, never making contact. I can’t help but watch their sombre dance. They move just as the moon and sun share the sky; so close but never quite together. Separated by their own orbits. I can’t stop myself from smiling, not at the shadows, but at Ryder’s pure fascination with them.
“Thank you for saving me,” I whisper, still mesmerised by the dance routine the shadows are putting on. Ryder’s eyes sparkle as he nods in response.
“Anytime.” He smirks, and we stare in comfortable silence with warm smiles on our faces until the sun begins to rise, time to go.
Chapter Thirty-Four
My ribcage feels bruised, and I can taste iron in my mouth. The sand feels soft against my cheek, and for a moment, I forget that my opponent is gaining on me. Trina and her anger issues are huffing like a dragon in the sandpit. She is twice as fast as I am, and I heard that her girlfriend recently broke up with her, so she has a lot of pent-up rage inside her, and it’s all being directed my way.
She managed to land a lucky punch on my jaw, plummeting me into the sand. Ryder would be kissing his teeth in frustration right now. He has been training me every night for the past three and a half weeks, and I am still struggling to foreshadow. I mean, it’s all well and good understanding how to mirror and anticipate moves in theory, but when you’re in the middle of getting the shit kicked out of you, it’s hard to think of your own moves, let alone someone else’s.
