Children of the Mirror
...11th Part: Dark...
"I'll stay here," I told him. I really had no desire to go back in there – unless he didn't come back out, which then I would have to go get him again.
He got off the bike and handed me his backpack. I caught the grin on his face. "I'll be back in ten minutes, at most," he said. "You can time me if you wish."
"Maybe I will," I retorted, and watched as he sprinted up to the house as if he couldn't get there soon enough.
He was back in five minutes. I hadn't expected that.
I couldn't get away fast enough. He got back on behind me and as soon as I felt his fingers touch my back, we were off and speeding.
"I got his wallet," he shouted to me over the wind, meaning whatever man's corpse accompanied his mother's.
"Has he got any credit cards?" I wondered.
"Yes, but we shouldn't use them. If someone finds the body they might be able to track us down."
"Oh."
He patted my shoulder and laughed briefly. "But money shouldn't be a problem for you," he pointed out, "'Phantom Thief'."
"You wouldn't think so," I muttered.
. . .
I didn't know how long we'd been traveling or where we were, but it the night was gone and dawn had passed. It might have been about noon, or not quite. But whatever the case, I was tired.
I pulled into the parking lot of a hotel. We were in a big city somewhere, but it wasn't one I recognized or knew much about. I realized just how small my world had been before.
"I need to stop for a while," I announced. "Maybe we can get a room."
Krad followed me wordlessly into the hotel. We got a room for the day and as soon as we got into it, I dropped my backpack on the floor and crashed on one of the beds. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.
. . .
I never got answers from Krad. There was only fighting and the blind determination to kill me.
"What did I ever do to you, huh!?"I shouted, dodging another golden blast and flinging my own weird violet magic back at him.
No answer.
The scene switched on me and I found myself crashing backward through a high window somewhere. Krad was coming at me with some weird sword that my mind was trying to tell me was an artwork... or a person. I don't know. I didn't understand it.
"What the hell is going on!?" I shouted to whoever or whatever would decide to give me an explanation.
The sword jabbed into my shoulder and I screamed from the sudden pain. I hit the ground and Krad was kneeling over me, driving the thing deeper. I couldn't focus on what he was saying, but he had that grin on his face again. It looked like he was enjoying my pain – enthusiastically so.
I was getting angry. There was no real reason for any of this was there? Was he trying to kill me or what!? And why?
I needed to get him off of me, first of all.
And suddenly, my ears focused on what he was saying, and the words rang through my head louder than they should have, even if Krad would have been shouting at me – which he wasn't.
"Those of us who don't have our own forms... nothing we hope for... nothing we wish for... will ever be granted to us!"
. . .
When I woke up again, Krad was the one sleeping. Rubbing my arm – I had slept on it wrong – I looked at the clock and discovered that it was about four o'clock in the afternoon.
I don't think I'd ever seen Krad's face so peaceful before. It certainly differed from the strange look I got from him in my dream. And even when Krad was still that quiet loner reading Shakespeare, his face was never really that calm. There was always some sense of resentment in the expression. You had to really look to notice some days, but it was there.
"Krad?" I got up and went over to shake his shoulder lightly. "Krad, get up. We should probably get going again."
Krad's eyes opened slowly and he frowned at me, breaking the smooth lack of expression he'd had previously.
"Come on," I insisted, throwing my arms out to the sides theatrically and grinning up at the ceiling. "The world awaits, my friend!"
I never expected to hear it again, but Krad began to laugh.