Page 131 of Walking in Darkness

It felt as if my spirit was being crushed by it. Flattened and mangled by the ugly, unbearable weight. Though something within me flailed to break out from under it, urging me toward the destination where we were being called.

I glanced down at my phone, warring before I tapped out another message to my mom. I’d texted her that morning to make sure they were fine and encouraged her to stay inside for the day without giving any real details.

She’d promised they would.

But I still couldn’t settle.

Me:Is everyone inside and safe?

It took a second for a return message to blip through.

Mom:Yeah, we’re all here. Locked inside. Except for your father. I did text him and asked him to lay low as well.

I could feel her love for him amid the wounds my father had carved deep inside her.

Me:That’s good. I’m glad you did. Is it ...

I hesitated before I finished the thought.

Me:Do things feel normal there?

Mom:I wouldn’t call it normal. We turned on the news. A ton of tragic things are happening. I mean, there always seem to be a ton of horrible things happening. But this is entirely different.

A moment passed before another text came through. I didn’t need to hear her voice to feel her terror.

Mom:What is going on, Aria?

Pax peered my way, his concern patent as I wavered with what to give my mother. I didn’t want to freak her out or scare her unnecessarily. But this was too urgent to tiptoe around. I glanced at him, my chest compressing in the love that I had for them all.

With this hope I couldn’t let go of, no matter how much it felt as if we were traveling toward destruction.

I turned back to my phone, fingers trembling as I gave the only answer I could.

Me:This battle we’ve been fighting has become something greater than any of us have ever known. We are trying to stop it, but I have no idea what is going to happen today. So please be careful. Stay inside for as long as possible. And know how much I love you and I’m fighting for you. For all of you.

A car suddenly whizzed by at high speed on my side, even faster than we were traveling, snapping up my attention.

A blip of black that flew past in a blink.

A few minutes later there was another.

Then another, and another.

It felt as if they were coming out of the nothingness that surrounded us.

I exhaled a shaky breath, and Pax shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Agitation eating him alive as he was forced into waiting.

“Do you think we’re going the right way?” Dani asked into the tension as she gaped out the windshield, hands tight on the steering wheel, which I was sure was slicked with sweat.

The question was choppy and didn’t need an answer, but Timothy rumbled, “Don’t think we could even force ourselves to go anywhere else.”

The sky toiled above, roiling over a lake that appeared to the left of the freeway. The water, which should have glistened, was covered in a dingy bleakness. A few spots of colored lights flashed in the distance, no question ambulances and police cars responding to pleas for help.

Because I could feel it—the cold slick that slipped over the surface of my skin.

The evil of Faydor.

“It’s close,” Pax grunted from beside me.