Element
Of Dark
Chapter Ten
AJ sat on the floor between his two friends. Dream sat nearby,
watching....watching. Thoughts circled in AJ’s mind but all were fuzzy and
unclear. He didn’t know what to make of the situation. When they had got to
the bus all Dream had instructed was to place Brian near Nick. It made no sense
to AJ. Then to top matter off worse, Kevin had received a call from the
Littrell’s. They had somehow heard about the press conference already and
demanded, kindly though, to speak to their son. Leighanne was given the
unfortunate task of explaining the situation to them at which they were not too
thrilled. Nick stirred slightly. AJ bent over him, shaking him gingerly.
"Kaos." No effect. "Yo Kaos." Nick groaned as he
blinked sleepily up at his friend. A smile lit AJ’s face. "How ya
feeling?"
"Not good," Nick mumbled groggily. "How’s Bri?"
"He hasn’t woken up yet."
"Oh." Nick carefully pulled himself upright. AJ held out his
hand to steady him.
"Take it slow," he cautioned. Nick smiled wanly.
"Don’t worry ‘bout me." He attempted to stand but found his
legs couldn’t support his weight. He eased himself to his knees and crawled
sluggishly over to where Brian lay sleeping. AJ began to protest but found no
words to say. Nick pulled his elbows up onto the hard metal bed and clasped
Brian’s motionless hand in his own.
"Frick," he called into Brian’s ear. Brian’s eyes remained
shut and Nick raised his palm where the black mark lay and gently pressed it to
the pale blue mark just above Brian’s left eye. A shock ran throughout the air
and my head lolled sideways. My vision was blurry at first but slowly my eyes
focused on Nick’s haggard face.
"N...Ni," my voice escaped through parched lips and Dream
immediately held a cup of water to my mouth. I sipped and felt a stinging
sensation where the cool liquid ran down the abrasions in my throat.
"We made it Frick. We really made it." I nodded. I was happier
than I had been in days.
"But it’s not over," Dream’s voice pierced my heart.
"W..what?" Nick looked at her disbelieving. "What do you
mean?"
"The Darkness’ hunger was not fulfilled." We stared in
silence and she sighed. "Look," she pointed to the marks on our skin,
the blue on mine and the black on Nicky’s. "See those? They’re sort of
a warning symbol. They’ll glow brighter when The Darkness' feast
approaches"
"Do you really think it’ll come back?" AJ questioned warily.
She gazed at him solemnly.
"When the desire returns."
"No, no more pain. I can’t take it anymore. So sick, so
sick," Nick slammed his fist against the rusted floor as his body swayed
back and forth. Dream bent down and stroked his cheek fondly.
"No more pain. I promise. Here," she slipped her hand into
Nick’s and a wonderful light surrounded the two. When she removed her hand
Nick’s face was bright and energetic, the way I had always thought of it. The
black mark had disappeared as though it had never existed. She then approached
me and took my hand in hers. When the light fell upon us I felt a sense of
purity. All traces of pain had completely diminished and the blue mark was no
more. She smiled and placed my hand back down on the bed.
"Thank you..." Nick was overwhelmed with his happiness. He
stood up and grabbed my arm roughly. "C’mon Bri!" I laughed as I
threw the covers back.
"Looks like someone wants a rematch," I said, my eyes
twinkling. Nick’s face radiated with excitement. "How bout it?"
"You’re on." He went to deliver a punch but Dream stepped
between us.
"Ahem."
"Yes?" We both spoke at once, batting our eyes innocently. She
laughed and shook her head.
"Don’t kill yourselves, ok?"
"Okay mommy," Nick joked and she gave him a playful slap across
the cheek.
"I’m serious."
"All right. All right. We promise," I reassured her. Nick
raised his left hand and placed his right over his heart.
"Scout’s honor." I heard a deep laugh come from the doorway
and looked up to see Kevin chuckling.
"Since when were you a scout?" Nick waved his hand
dissmissively.
"Details details," he chided. Kevin’s face turned solemn.
"I was really worried about you two." There was a pause and all
at once we embraced tightly, glad to have things back together.