Daeva: Black Diamond Chrysalis - Danielle Bolger (essential reading txt) 📗

police report. "So we can expect it might already be stronger than the last time we faced it."

Very slowly Lara nodded, then she turned with glistening eyes back towards us. "Hey, girls, I just wanted to say that, I know everything will turn out just fine. Even if it doesn't today in the end it will."

"Quit sounding like Pearl." Rebecca reprimanded evenly.

Lara smiled wanly. "Well, she was my friend so it's only natural that she rubbed off on me. Maybe, coming to this point, I can possess the same optimism that she had. Maybe, her disappearance won't be in vain, you know?" With eyes twinkling her voice broke.

I wanted to say something, it was going to follow the lines that everything was going to turn out okay however I couldn't bring myself to lie.

But then Rebecca did it instead. Walking up to the girl she grasped a hand and even smiled. "It's not over yet."

Lara weakly smiled in response. "That's true, we still have this victory to achieve."

These girls, I thought for not the first time during the past few days, they really are the good ones. I may not like them but they're honest, they're real and they're fighting for everything.

Then emerald eyes fixated on me with silence.

"C'mon," Lara ushered. "We can't waste any more time. People's auras are being drained as we speak."

"Then we gotta go and help them!" I cried passionately.

Rebecca's harsh green eyes never left me. "We're getting to them right now."

"Yes," Lara murmured, "there is no more time for prattling, all that's left to us now is... salvation."

She ran off instantly once she finished and with a reluctant break to her green-eyed gaze Rebecca followed suit. Then it was just me in the rear flashing what felt like unwanted steps behind the daevas.

It took less than a minute to reach the golf course, then half a second to witness our first phantom, but this wasn't the asura we had our directives honed in on, this appeared to be a strange accessory to the monster that laid deeper within.

"Bethanie," Lara ordered, "get that one and follow us inside. Once there you know the plan."

"Right." I agreed as I diverged from the girls and used my flash-step so I stood right in front of the dark humanoid. The daevas were gone in seconds.

"So," I began to the shade, "creature from, Noein, is it? And was it, Noe, that Dorothy called you? I gotta say, it's a cute nickname."

The dark figure gave no indication that it understood it was being addressed.

"But you're not unintelligent, are you?" I mused. "You know what you're doing, you know that you're thieves that have come into our world to steal our souls, but you don't have any remorse for that, do you? No, I shouldn't think so when you don't feel anything at all.

"You know," I added after a thoughtful moment, "I've been wondering it for a while. Well, since the moment I laid on eyes on such a pathetic creature as you and that's what really lies inside you. You're dark, sure, and you're see-through, my how creepy that is!" I almost laughed. "But you exist even though the laws of physics state that you shouldn't. Hey, I know that I'm no saint bookworm but after my quick revise with Lara I learnt that you are way more wrong than I ever realised. You don't have a soul so what on earth is it that makes you work?"

The shade took a couple of slow steps towards me, darkness unshifting but despite that I received the sense it wanted to say something to defend itself.

"I'm sorry." I responded with an seven foot blade materialising within my hands. "I didn't quite catch that."

Ten feet away the shade stopped and stood perfectly still.

"See, I knew you lot weren't dumb. Well..." I attenuated my words. "Not stupid, but that doesn't change the fact that you're evil and that it's up to me to put you down so, here goes."

With a roar I slung in front. The thing moved away and drifted back further towards the trees.

Pulling my claymore over my shoulder I murmured, "Oh, I don't think you're getting away so easily."

Smiling I sprinted off my feet towards the direction it left in. The place was mostly open ground but trees were planted around its perimeter, the one that I was nestled so closely against. The sun was shining overhead providing much better weather than the previous day but with a lowered angle ample darkness was permitted. Many shadows were created by the flanking tress and their figures stretched far across the grass. Into one of these I lowered my blade and cut the darkness. The shade shattered into broken crystal before clearing the way for emerald grass beneath it.

With one problem solved I turned and ran across the fairway. I was faster now, my passage unhindered by the forest's chaotic brush, as well as an improved aura pulling capability. Maybe I was getting good at it, I thought as light blazed against short cut grass. Maybe with every shade vanquish I didn't just alleviate my dark flowers but allowed my aura to shine brighter. So with power granted then maybe destruction wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Chapter 28

 

Abigail

 

"Come on, Eric! You have to keep up!" I called as I ran down the street excitedly.

"Hey! Quit running ahead!" The boy complained as he jostled behind me. "I am carrying two backpacks! And yours is massively heavy by the way. What do you have in there, bricks? Is that how you girls protect yourself when you walk home after school, just drop your bags on any attackers?"

Giggling I slowed so that he could catch up. "No bricks, just a few tubes of paint and things."

Eric performed what appeared to be an exhausting bicep curl. "A few? And what's a few in Abigail world?"

"Um..." I murmured as I counted. "Cool and warm primary colours, a couple of tubes of whites and blacks, then I have some super pretty secondary colours and of course shiny metallic ones - you can't create gold and silver by mixing colours! Then there's clear paints with sparkles, paint retarder, paint accelerator, then I need stripper to clean my brushes..."

"You take all that to school each day!?" Eric cried incredulous.

"Well not each day, I only started painting my major today, silly! Normally it's just my art book and pencils, as well as my other class things, so it's super light! That's why I told you I was getting picked up today, I'm not super strong so I can barely manage to lug it around just between classes!"

"I'm not surprised you have trouble with it." Eric groaned. "It's making even my arm ache."

"Oh no!" I exclaimed. "Was that too much of an ask having you carry it all this way? I'm sorry, I made you go on this big long winded walk that's not even close to our homes!"

Eric shrugged. "It's fine, really, I am pretty tough after all, just don't expect me to run carrying all this, especially when we're going so far uphill."

"You really are the best boyfriend ever! And we're almost there, promise!"

The boy smiled. "You've been saying that since we left school but amazingly I believe you, since it's pretty obvious where we're heading now."

"No!" I cried. "You're not allowed to know, it's a surprise!"

"Skyward Mountain lookout isn't much of a surprise when you start running out of mountain to climb, you know."

"Humph. That's why I can't wait to get my driver's licence, then I'll be able to take you hostage in my little hatchback, make you close your eyes and then do my unveiling, surprise intact!"

"A hatchback, hey?" The boy repeated with amusement. "That's so a car you'd have too."

"Huh? And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well they're so small and... don't have very much power..."

"Excuse me? You calling me little and weak!?"

There was a cheeky twinkle to his eyes. "Definitely, but they're also incredibly cute!"

I pushed the boy away where he little more than staggered, his smirk however never unsettled. I guessed I had to give it to him, though I was technically a daeva but because my erosreaver hadn't been drawn yet I was no more powerful than human-Abigail.

"You're so mean to me." I grumbled in response.

"Really?" Eric questioned as he rose my heavy backpack up with one strained hand. "And just a moment ago you were calling me the perfect boyfriend."

"Well like the weather," I muttered, "that obviously varies."

"The only thing that changes like the weather," Eric quipped, "is your mood. Mostly sunny with intermittent showers, but... Abigail, is it sunny now? You look okay but you were so upset in class today. You know, if you're still upset you don't have to cover it up with a smile, not in front of me. You can tell me, everything. I wanna hear everything you have to say, no matter how much rain is involved."

"Hm..." I murmured as my eyes followed the path underneath our feet. "I don't know. My weather is pretty crazy, scary too. I know that it's global warming type of weather that I'm experiencing but I just keep looking to clear skies and sunshine. I guess I just keep thinking that so long as I look away then maybe the sky won't really fall."

Then I felt Eric's free hand curl itself warmly around my own. "It's not falling now. It's perfect, but especially when you view it from there."

The boy pointed across to a lookout where beyond the sky stretched through darkening blues and evening tones. It spanned down far, exposing land of the distant city and the proud structures it erected. The mountain's uneven surface fell lower still before it all came back around to the simple mary-jane shoes on my feet and a comforting hand in mine.

"Come on." Eric ushered as he led me onto the raised lookout platform and grasping the railing led me to follow his gaze. "So, was this your masterful plan? Lead me to this dazzling place so that you could seduce me?"

"Eric..." My voice turned small. "You know that I'm not ready for that yet. I... I need a bit of time..."

"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put pressure on you like that and I feel the same way as you do. We're young and we're... in love, right?"

Looking up into his eyes I responded quickly, "We are in love! I love you!"

His eyes twinkled happily. "Good, so let's just enjoy being together now. We got all the time in the world before we do anything else."

I smiled at him for a very long moment before exclaiming, "Oh!" Then I rounded across to Eric's other side and fumbled into the bag he still held. I rustled through the chaos inside for a bit before locating my art diary and retrieving it with a, "A-huh!" I pulled it free, tossed between its pages and then passed it across.

Eric finally let go of both my bag and his. "Hm? You've done another drawing you want me to see and this one's in colour it's...." His breath faded away as he took hold of my most precious book. "Wow..." he ended up saying.

Over a water-coloured page his eyes fell as they