She Irish'ed up a couple of coffees and gave him the highlights. Dreams and shadows and the void on stage. She ended by recounting the vision on their encounter in the alley.

"So you just keep having prophetic dreams every night?" he asked.

"I mean, not always. Not unless something's really bad and fairly close."

"Huh?"

"I only really get a peg on stuff that happens in my immediate area - like the city I live in, or if I'm going somewhere where something will happen when I'm present."

He hadn't changed out of his clothes from the show. His vest was still unbuttoned, and his shirt untucked and unbuttoned at the neck. It made him look younger than his confident presence on stage.

"And something's going to happened to me?"

She rubbed her mug's handle. "You or you-adjacent. Maybe someone in the band has some bad juju that they need to work out."

He hunched over his mug and stared at the contents. "But like, this is crazy."

She sighed. "I know, and if I need to get you more proof I will try to figure out a way. But it's like..." She trailed off.

"Invisible, yeah." He laughed nervously. "So do I have any of those shadows on me?"

“The shadows won't necessarily cling to you, only if they're feeling defensive or something. Normally, the just look like animal silhouettes, cats, dogs, foxes, et cetera, and follow you around. Sometimes they may wander, a lot of them are very curious, but they will come back, usually. There's no one else here for them to investigate, and you didn't bring any in with you, so I'd say no. But just to be sure." She walked over to the stairs. "HERE SHADOW, HERE BOY! OR GIRL! OR HOWEVER YOU SELF-IDENTIFY! HERE SHADOW!"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

He laughed, genuinely this time. "So you're sure?"

"There's two possibilities. One is that someone near and important to you is being affected or...it's inside of you."

His eyes went wide.

"I can check though! It's not at all common, and normally I can see a sign - it looks like black smoke in the eye. I don't see any in your eyes, but I can check further if you're comfortable with it."

"What...what do you have to do?"

Her eyes darted away again. "If they're inside, they'd hide near your heart, so I need to listen to it. I just need to put my hand on your chest and I'll be able to tell."

She heard him take a deep breath. "Easy enough. Okay, do it."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "I really can't tell if you believe me, or if you're just hoping it's a weird sex thing."

He smiled. "There are benefits for either one being true."

"Oh hush," she chided, standing up and crossing the distance between them. He sat up straight and watched her curiously. She held a hand out and looked at him again. He nodded. She placed her hand on his chest. He could feel the rise and fall of his breath. She synced her breath with his. Her gaze was focused loosely on the back of her hand. Their breaths became deeper, and she could start to feel the beating of his heart, a bit quick. She took a deep breath and sunk in to the beat, it slowing and becoming more steady. She could hear the beat in her ears. The beat slowly receded, until she heard... nothing. No scratching, no tapping, no scurrying, no slithering. Nothing. As the nothing became deafening in her ears, her eyes darted up and locked with Ian's. Brown. Soft, liquid, chocolate, brown.

"Shit!" He jumped. "Fuck, your eyes!"

She pulled back. "What?"

"Your eyes, they're gold! Like gold smoke. what the hell?"

"Huh?"

"You don't know?!"

She snapped. "I don't exactly have a fucking mirror when I do this shit."

Abashed, he said, "Sorry. Yeah. But clearly not a weird sex thing." He stared in to his coffee.

She took a deep breath. Why was she being so defensive? "Good. And you're clean, by the way. Sorry for scaring you."

They sat in silence for a beat, and then he asked, "Now what?"

"I guess I've got to tag around with you for awhile. See whose in your life, friends, dates, coworkers, and see if I can peg who has the baggage."

He nodded. "Well I don't work 'til the day after tomorrow, and the band's not meeting for awhile. Eric's going to Vegas to hang out with his brother - he's stationed there with the Air Force."

"I work tomorrow anyway. But, if you come to the gas station on Vinter any time after 3, we can talk about the people in your life. I need the rundown before I run in to these people."

"Don't you need to, like, work at work?"

She grinned. "Have you ever been to a gas station?"