Rise of the Night Witch

Chapter 3.9 - Drama

Recap: Last time, Marissa and Darcy had an argument with Nathan in the warehouse which ended in them being spotted by a civilian militia.

The cold air dried us the moment we reached the woods. Unfortunately, our wrinkled robes were still wet enough that Darcy and I collected autumn leaves like they were mosquitoes on a flytrap. Nathan's coat wasn't as sticky, but in exchange, he still had his scarf sticking to his face like a sponge.

A shroud of glamour concealed us from the vengeful mob only a few dozen yards away. Nathan was a tall man. Tall enough to stroke the branches with every step he made. He had no idea how much Darcy and I struggled to keep up with his wide stride to stay under his glamour.

I barely had the energy left to stand. My breath ached and my vision faded as I watched Darcy take a seat on a small tree stump. The small willows around the stump looked so gnarly and sinister that they might have qualified for the Erlking's daughters. With the wind whispering through their leaves, one always had the paranoid feeling of being followed.

"You girls have some terrible stamina," Nathan said.

"This is all your fault!" Darcy said.

"Of course it is," he said. "Everything is always my fault."

"Don't you feel the slightest bit of shame?" Darcy asked. "We could have escaped earlier without your distraction!"

"I know," Nathan said and turned around. "And the old men and women of the Council will punish you, won't they? They'll be angry and there'll be saber-rattling with their enemies."

"Are you enjoying this?" Darcy asked.

Nathan adjusted his glasses. "No. But I don't like closing my eyes before the inevitable. The Veil is not made to last forever. Those silly Cold War will games end and only the strongest will survive. When the time comes, we need to know where we stand. Destiny has it that we'll find each other again. Until then, think wisely about which side you choose. Goodbye."

He walked away.

I can't tell how long it took him to leave since my night vision potion wore off. Instead of blurred cat colors, I saw nothing until Darcy shot her flashlight into my face.

"And this is your fault, too!" she said.

"Mine?"

"Yes." Droplets of tears and sweat dripped down Darcy's chin and her breath fastened. "What did you do? Why did the monster get into our world?"

Her anger surprised me. "I-I was running an experiment," I said.

"Experiment? You did this for an experiment?"

"Yes," I said. "I can show you my results."

"No, thanks! Why don't you blow up your house first to reproduce them?"

"Darcy, I'm not lying. I recorded what happened."

I tried to show her my phone with the demon's aether signature recordings. I tried to tell her I wanted to find out the Erlking's killing methods.

Yet, my fingers froze. No words formed in my open mouth. A rasping voice left my throat when a piercing, choking noose of aether clouded my mind and speech.

"You want to rat me out?" the seductively calm voice of my new familiar asked. "I gave you power over the Veil, protected you from the consequences of your broken oath, and this is your gratitude? Don't be a fool! Look at what happened to Mrs. Turner when she tried telling the police about the book! Of course, if you want to be a killjoy, there's always the possibility that you give me just one more name-"