Lily of the Shadows

Chapter 4

Location-Earth

Manx awoke from yet another nightmare, only to see that the sun was already rising on this strange foreign world, meaning that she only had a few hours or less before Vaskin and Khashmyr woke up. She sat up in the darkness, straightened out the covers, and then decided it would not be worth it to go back to sleep like she had planned. She climbed out of the bed, planting her feet on the floor, and looked around the mostly empty room. She didn't bother turning on a light, because after all, she didn't need it. She could easily see in the darkness, giving her an extreme night time advantage over any adversary. She decided to get dressed and ready for the day in the quiet darkness, choosing to wear a dark grey sweater and a black skirt that came down to her knees. She then searched the closet for shoes and finally settled on a pair of gold colored heeled tall boots. She then remembered the amulet, and saw it sitting there on the dresser. She didn't really want to wear the thing and walk about in this world in the guise of a human, but she knew it was crucial to the mission that they keep a low profile. Manx sighed and put the glowing red jewel around her neck and felt the icy coldness of the amulet hiding her true form.

Manx crept down the stairs, not turning on a single light. She made her way to the kitchen where she looked around at all the strange things. She decided to leave the kitchen and sit down quietly in the living room. Manx quietly opened a window and looked at the lights of all the other houses glinting in the darkness like the eyes of a thousand hungry monsters, and she quickly closed the window in surprise. She decided to sit on the couch and just enjoy the present stillness before the sun rose and the strange world was awake with activity. She was startled when a light clicked on, but she instinctively didn't make a single sound. Vaskin wasn't nearly as quiet when he yelped in surprise.

"Ah! Manx...? I didn't see you there." Vaskin said in surprise.

"You think?" Manx sarcastically snapped, a little upset that he had broken the wonderful silence of the morning so early.

"I'm sorry I didn't know you were here..." Vaskin said in embarrassment.

Manx softened a bit and said, "It's nothing. I was just..."

"Yeah...I know. So, um...you hungry?" Vaskin said, trying to make conversation.

"Not yet." Manx replied, hoping that maybe, just maybe, that he would come closer.

"Oh. Well...um, okay. Are you thirsty?" Vaskin said nervously, not exactly knowing what to say and cringing in the fear that he might say something stupid. Manx stood up and said, "I can get my own water if I want to."

"That's nice...I mean, you can take care of yourself..." Vaskin said.

"Mmmhmm. Yeah, of course I can." Manx replied in annoyance.

"So...um...how did you like the park yesterday?" Vaskin asked.

At the mention of the park, she slapped him hard across the face in anger that he had dared to mention the park.

"What was that for?" Vaskin yelped. Manx turned her back to him with her arms crossed and said, "Figure it out, genius!"

"I...I'm sorry! I didn't know!..." Vaskin said, trying to console her.

"Of course you didn't know! You're so selfish and so in tune to everything else that you don't understand anything! And you will never understand me because here I am, right in front of you, and you talk about breakfast and water? Wake up, stupid!" Manx snapped.

"Well, what do you want me to talk about? It's not like it's easy for me to know what to say around you that won't upset you or tick you off!" Vaskin pleaded.