6

You would never guess it, but it’s true that anything can get boring with enough exposure and time. Sometimes, I would even find myself getting bored of my bow when I’ve been practicing for too long. The challenge, the quiet, the feeling of improving, all could be smothered by the dull ache of repetition eventually.

I never thought I could get bored of hurtling through the air, though.

After about ten or so minutes of bouncing from building to building, over the heads of an entire city too preoccupied to even look up, the whipping wind became familiar enough that it didn’t even sting. I still held a death grip on the woman carrying me, but I was able to take in at least some of the sights this fresh vantage point had to offer. I could see streets choked with cars and pedestrians alike, a thin layer of gleaming fog hanging low to the ground wherever the sun touched. Besides that, the city was completely unremarkable. I only wished I wasn’t seeing it at such high speeds.

My… Kidnapper? Chaperone? She hadn’t said much after our initial exchange. Lucky for me, we hadn’t encountered any more of those smoke monsters, so there was no need to test my aerodynamics again on our way to wherever we were going. She finally spoke up just to say, “We’re almost there.”

We’d entered a residential area, with streets packed with row houses built centuries ago and maintained to this day. Judging by the smell of low tide that wafted in the air, we were very close to the old harbor. My companion had slowed her pace, leisurely clearing the sometimes street-wide gaps between roofs one at a time, instead of skipping entire houses all together.

Eventually, my eyes caught on to where she was headed.

A single triple-decker house stood at the corner of an intersection, sporting the same architectural motifs of the area: bay windows, a porch on each story that faced toward the water, and wood paneling painted a brilliant white. By all accounts it was nothing more than the typical vantage point for three upper-middle class families to snub the rest of the city simultaneously.

At least, it would’ve been, were it not for the massive dome covering it.

The closer we got, the more I could make out its form. It wasn’t a perfect hemisphere, but more like the top of an egg, covering the entire building, without extending into any of the neighboring yards, or onto the sidewalk. It was nearly transparent, were it not for the edges, which appeared as that same golden color that kept popping up everywhere. Across the surface, ribbons of iridescence swirled and danced erratically, like the film of a bubble. A part of me could tell that it was nowhere near as fragile as one, though.

As soon as we landed on the roof of the domed house’s southern neighbor, Ariel killed her momentum and slowed to a walk, before stopping herself just before the edge. “Here we are,” she said, standing at the edge of the three meter gap separating the two roofs, “Home sweet home.”

Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I realized my embarrassment was finally catching up to me. I let go of the grip I had on Ariel’s shoulders. “Now that we’re here, could you let go of me?”

She chuckled, and her voice took on that mocking tone again. “Aw, is someone shy?”

“Someone’s legs are falling asleep.” I could feel the beginning of pins and needles in the tips of my toes.

She sighed, twisted to the side, and set me down feet first right next to her. My legs wobbled for a couple of seconds, readjusting to my body weight, before I could finally stand straight once again. I took a couple paces back, making distance from the unguarded edge. Ariel looked over her shoulder at me. “Stretch 'em’ a bit, and then we’ll get you inside. We might still have to wait a bit for the others to get back.”

As my mind finally got a break from mortal peril, my critical thinking started to kick back on. Questions flooded every inch of my brain, forcing out all other thoughts, demanding immediate attention. Sifting through the pile, I found the one that seemed most appropriate for the situation. “Just checking but, you can see that, right?” I pointed at the dome around the building in front of us.

“Hm? Yeah, of course I can.”

“So you’re…like me?”

“Guess you could say that.” She laughed under her breath. “Though with how new you are, I think it’s more accurate to say you’re,” she pointed a finger at me, “Like me.” As she jabbed her thumb back at herself.

This woman is exasperating. “Look, I have an absolute mountain of questions, and I expect all of them to get answered. I feel like that’s the least I’m owed after you kidnapped me.”

She turned to face me and cocked an eyebrow. “Is it really kidnapping if it’s to keep you safe?”

“Yes!”

She groaned and turned her head upward in annoyance. “Fine, but I’m not as smart as Cassidy, so don’t expect perfect answers.” She crossed her arms and let her face drop into a more serious expression. “So, where do you want me to sta–”

Her expression suddenly shifted, like something else had caught her attention. She looked back over the edge. “Hold that thought.”

I couldn't contain the annoyance anymore, and my Aura responded, flaring into a slightly erratic wave pattern. “No, I will not!” I started walking closer to her. “I’ve been ‘Holding that thought’ for weeks now and–”

“Shhh.” She extended a single pointer finger to cover my lips. I was so stunned by the sheer audacity that I ended up doing exactly what she wanted, even after I swatted her hand away. I saw her tap a finger to her opposite ear twice, before saying to nobody, “‘Yello?”

An earpiece? I hadn’t even noticed it.

She continued her one-sided conversation. “...Yeah we just got here…Oh sweet, great timing!” I noticed a black SUV turn the corner at the intersection just ahead, and immediately pull into the driveway of the domed building. “...Of course he’s with me…Well I’m trying, but he’s being a little bitch about it” Says the literal kidnapper. “...Just give me a sec, I can handle him…Yep, see ya soon…Bye.” She tapped her ear once and turned back to me. “Okay, time to go.” She reached for my shoulder, I pulled away.

“Respectfully, fuck that noise.” I backed farther away.

She creased her eyebrows. “Really? We’re right here and you want to back out?”

Incredulity seeped into my tone. “I’m sorry, but what made you think I want anything to do with that?” I pointed at the dome. “Or, this?” I waved my arm in the air, swirling the gold mist from my Aura.

“The fact you have questions you want answered, maybe?”

“Yeah! So I can sate my curiosity and go back to school!” The waves in my Aura became more pronounced. I forced myself to calm down and even out my voice. “Listen, unless I get some kind of explanation as to what the hell is going on, I’m walking away.”

Ariel scoffed a bit and placed a hand on her hip. “First of all, you couldn’t outrun me, no matter how hard you tried,” she swept and hand across, gesturing to the roof below our feet “And second of all, not like there’s anywhere for you to walk away to.” Her smugness was getting on my last nerve. “That is, unless you can survive a fall from three stories?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I kept fierce eye contact as I shuffled closer to the street-side edge of the roof. “I can, it might just break a leg and hurt for a while.” The closer I got the more I saw her composure drop. It was weirdly satisfying. I stopped just as I reached the brink. “So unless you want to see me try, start talking.” I hovered a foot over the edge.

“Okay, okay!” Her hands shot out in placation, and I planted both feet back on the roof. She chuckled nervously to herself. “Well, you’re definitely unhinged enough to be one of us.” The needles of panic in her Aura faded back into a neutral flow as Ariel took a breath. “I’ll give you the short and simple, just get off the ledge.”

I took a few steps back toward the center of the roof, and she started explaining.

“The nitty gritty is that there’s a war going on. One that you knew nothing about, didn’t sign up for, and are nonetheless deeply involved with now, out of no fault of your own. There’s no take backs, no do-overs, no walking away. You aren’t normal anymore, and you never will be again.

“Hell, the fact that you survived as long as you did on your own with no guidance is a miracle. Judging by the way the others told me you reacted, that must’ve been your first time seeing a Daemon, right?”

I nodded.

Ariel pinched the bridge of her nose, shook her head, then continued. “Look, I won’t force you into anything,” She paused, “Well, anything further, but I can promise you, if you don’t stick with us and learn what you are and what you can do, you will be hunted down and suffer a fate worse than death within the month.” She held out a hand. “Just let me take you to the others before you decide, please? They’re better at this than me.” Her expression softened for the first time since I’d met her. Her smile was subtle, lifting the corners of her mouth in a way that communicated true sincerity. It also emphasized the band of freckles that ran across her nose from cheek to cheek. Why am I noticing that?!

I walked over and took her hand. The least I could do was not let this dumbass be the sole representative of her group. “I hope these ‘others’ you keep talking about are more civil than you.”

I felt Ariel’s grip move from my hand to my forearm. Mistakes were made.

I was dragged off the roof in an instant as Ariel’s Aura began to coalesce around her whole body once more, forming that same phantasmal shell around her legs this time. In mid-air, she pulled me into position on her back, and landed feet first, absorbing the impact, and setting me down safely. My breathing was ragged from the shock.

We landed just outside the dome, shimmering and shifting in the waning daylight overhead. I looked up, and saw her walk directly through it with no issue. Where she passed, the barrier’s edge bunched up to accommodate her, creating a golden outline of her silhouette as she entered. She turned back to me as she walked toward the front door. “Come on in!”

I gently, oh so carefully stuck the palm of my left hand out towards the dome, all while getting a strong feeling of déjà vu. As soon as my hand met the surface, the static sensation of my Aura tripled, and I recoiled from surprise.

Ariel, still watching me, chimed in, “Yeah, it’s gonna feel weird the first time, but you get used to it. Just jump through!”

I took her advice. Positioning myself and counting myself down, I hopped through the barrier and landed on the other side. All at once, my body quaked as the most unpleasant shiver in my life sprinted down my spine. I could only imagine it was what cartoon characters who had a ghost phase through them felt like.

I recovered just in time to see Ariel covering her mouth with one hand as she opened the door with the other.

I don’t think I like her that much.

Still, I followed close behind.

✦

Walking up the main staircase, we passed by the first two doors on our way up to the third floor. Out of curiosity I asked, “Have you ever met your downstairs neighbors?”

“Oh, we don’t have any.”

She said it so nonchalantly I thought I’d misheard. “Wait, do you mean no neighbors at the moment, or no neighbors, period.”

“The second one. We own the whole building.”

What?! They have powers, and they’re rich?! I couldn’t say I wasn’t intrigued at the very least. Still, what would they be like?

I’d have my answers soon. Ariel reached the top of the stairs, the door to the third floor apartment sitting directly to her left. She placed her hand to the knob, turned to me, and said, “Fair warning, Orion and Henry might ambush you a little.”

“Ambush? What does that mean?”

Without responding, Ariel turned the knob and pushed the door open. “I’ve got the newbie!” She called as she stepped inside.

I stepped past the threshold and examined the space. The apartment itself was fairly large, with a living room area, next to a kitchen and dining space separated by a pony wall and single panel cafe door. The living room had a comfortable looking couch, with a flatscreen TV in front on a wooden stand, and a glass coffee table in between. Glass sliding doors at the end of the dining room led out onto the porch. From the glimpse I could get of the back, it looked like there were two bedrooms and one bathroom.

Two men stood in the kitchen, one at the stove and one setting the table, both of whom looked directly at me as soon as Ariel called inside. It took me a bit to recognize them as the two men I picked out in the group of three from back at the range. The man with the beard was cooking, while the bespectacled one was placing silverware. I stood in limbo for a moment as their eyes bored into my soul.

Glasses guy spoke first, in a heavy irish accent that threw me entirely off guard, “Oh good Lord, It’s so great to finally meetcha lad!” He rushed himself through the cafe door, setting it wobbling on its hinges, and closed the distance instantly. Before I knew what was happening he was already shaking my hand between both of his. “The name’s Orion, lad, mind if I ask yours?”

My brain was still playing catch-up. “Uh…Aiden. MacRae.”

Orion’s golden eyes gained an even more noticeable twinkle. “Oh ho ho ho! So you’ve got a touch of Éire in you as well? I’ve a feeling we’ll get along just fine!”

Right behind Orion, the other man had left his post at the stove, and began chiding him. “Would you give the boy some space? He just got dragged halfway across the city to a pack of strangers!” His German accent was just as pronounced as Orion’s Irish one. He placed a hand on Orion’s shoulder and pulled him away. “So sorry for my husband, he’s just been eager to meet you ever since your display at the range. My name is Henry, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

I thought I recognized that voice. “You’re the one who yelled for me to run back there.”

He smiled slightly through the bush of his beard. “Ja. You were frozen up bad. First time seeing a Daemon?”

I nodded. “I’ve had these…powers, for two weeks now, and that was the first time I’d ever seen one of those things.”

Both of them looked shocked. Orion yelled “Two weeks!? Christ alive, and you never even saw one? You’re either lucky or lying.”

Another voice I hadn’t heard yet piped up from the corner. “Not really, when you consider where he was.”

Over in the bay window, adjacent to the door, an entire corner of the apartment was dedicated to what looked like an incredibly advanced PC setup, with multiple monitors laid out on a single desk, and a veritable yarn ball of cables tangled up in the window seat. Sitting in the chair at the desk was the olive-skinned girl with blonde hair, who continued, “College campuses have high population density, with young adults constantly walking outside from class to class, feeling a high amount of stress, excitement, and or sadness consistently. The Lumen density in the surrounding area must be higher than average.” She didn’t look away from her monitors for even a second while saying that.

There’s that word again. I called over, “Excuse me uh, Cassidy?”

“That’s me.”

“You mentioned something called Lumen. Is that what this is?” I held my exposed hand into the sunlight coming from a window. None of which, I noticed, had curtains.

Cassidy looked over from where she sat for a brief moment and said, “Yes.”

So helpful.

Ariel finally spoke up from her spot on the couch, “I need your help convincing him to stay with us and answering his questions. You all still know a lot more about this gig than me.”

Henry chimed in. “Well, dinner will be ready soon. We can discuss over a meal.”

Orion looked back towards an analogue clock, and his face dropped. “Shite! It’s gonna be dark soon. Aiden, I hate to impose on you lad, but we can’t in good conscience let you leave here at night. You can have the couch for the time being. If we haven’t convinced you by morning, we can drive you back to Sheffield ourselves. Sound fair?”

“Sure.” I was still disoriented by the sheer amount of things happening at once. But I’ll be damned if I pass up a free meal and a place to crash. At the very least, I’d finally get some insight into what, exactly, I had become.