Kathea

5. Harley

They trailed the shadow all the way through to the forest. When it became too dark for Iliana to see, Kathea lit up a fireball on the palm of her hand.

"I never realized that your pupils turn vertical in the dark", Iliana pointed out.

"I've read in a textbook once, that animals with a vertical pupil are nocturnal", replied Kathea.

"I'm not sure what 'nocturnal' means, but your eyes are normal during the day"

"There he is!", she pointed out. "Daemon!", she called out.

He was sitting on a rock; both of his arms are fixated on his elbows, supporting his head. He raised his head to meet them, the light of the fireball hitting his face; which made the rage inside him manifest in the shadows that now began to spiral around them. Kathea felt the eerie presence of his hell fallen ability, and decided to suffocate her ember.

"Daemon, what happened?", asked Kathea.

"I... It went out of hand", he took a deep breath. "She wanted to get rid of you Kathea, and when she boasted on how she broke you... I lost it. I couldn't control my shadows anymore. They could have all died where it not for a breeze that stifled out the candle. I could have died, suffocated by my own shadows".

"It's alright Daemon, Kathea used to fill our room with water whenever she dreamt about being out in the sea again. That's how I found out she has abilities. And you know what, I wasn't afraid of her at all. She soon learned how to control it, and so can you", Iliana spoke out her heart to him. She was grateful, because he saved her best friend.

"Thanks Iliana, I never thought of it that way. But that doesn't change the fact that I am a monster", he muttered.

"Daemon I think we all know who the real monster is. Annie, a fragile human, was more of a monster than the  both of us. I could have easily crushed her; I could have easily burned her. But I didn't hurt her in any way", went on Kathea. From the way Daemon was standing, he looked like he was about to run away and never come back.

"But I did. Thanks to my non-monstrous ability, Annie is now the human equivalent of a rock. Literally", he lit up a match and formed a portal, "I need some fresh air", was the last thing he said before he dove into his shadow.

"I can't believe he just left", protested Iliana.

"Fresh air! Yeah right, it's like we were all in a closet or something".

"I think he wanted some peace of mind".

Two days later, no matter how Kathea said she could walk on her own, Iliana locked her up in the room and left. She knew her friend was in pain.

 She had the little bird in a small bag, atop a couple of books about birds. She set the bird on the ground and watched it pick on earthworms.

A bit of warmth filled her body, the same feeling when Kathea uses her ability. But this was a little bit different. She turned around to see bushes filled with flowers she had never seen before. Or at least they weren't there when she went in the forest. There she found a little girl,   touching broken branches, and turning them into small bushes. There was something sad about those flowers. They were pretty, but dark. They were facing the ground, and not fully bloomed.

This child had an impressive hair length. And its color was brick red. 

"I've never seen such sorrowful flowers young lady", the child turned its head to face Iliana; and Iliana was blown away. This child had a quite exquisite set of eye color. The right eye was maroon, and the left was olive green. "You are new here right?"