Finding Darkness

Chapter 18

I stare horrified by the black wound. It doesn't even look like how it did when I first saw it. Back then, it was just a simple, straight line from clavicle to bottom of rib cage. Now, I don't even think I have the nerve to describe it.

"Oh, Astral," I whisper. "No wonder you kept it hidden." I quickly and carefully take a sample from the black blood from his wound and cover it up again with a clean bandage. "Don't worry. I'll figure this out." I quickly leave the room with my small sample. I walk in the direction of the study.

Before I can open the door, a knock on the door makes me stop. I sigh in irritation. Can't whoever it is just leave me be? Placing the fragile glass vial carefully in my pocket, I reluctantly go downstairs. I open the door and find Cathy there.

"Hey, Cat," I greet. "How's it going?"

"Fine," she says. "Can I come in?"

I step away from the doorway so she can enter. "What is it? Did you figure something out?"

"I think so." Cat walks in and sits in a chair on one side of the perfectly symmetrical living room. Astral's crazy about symmetry for some reason. "I remember the day before this case, the one with the mutilated body. I think Astral heard or sensed something because he turned without warning. When he turned, I quickly looked in that direction. You'll never guess what I saw."

I sit across from her. "What was it?"

She explains what she saw, or what small glimpse she saw. What's surprising is that what she saw looked almost exactly like Astral, except it was black.

"By the way, where's Astral? I thought this might interest him," she asks.

"He's had another outburst. This one's worse though." I take out the vial of blood. "This came from his wound. I was going to test it for any signs that might help me figure out what's wrong with him."

"Can I see the wound?" Cat stands up abruptly.

"Um, sure, I guess." I lead her to Astral's room. "Gotta warn you though, it's not pretty."

"Alright."

When we enter the room, Astral's sleeping soundly. Well, looks like the outburst has passed. That;s good. I remove the cloth, and Cathy stares speechless at the wound. I carefully cover it again. Astral flinches and lets out a small gasp at the contact.

"Well, now you've seen it." We exit the room, Cat still shocked. I lead her to the study. "It didn't look like that before, you know. At first, it was just a straight line. I don't know what happened." I enter what I remember must be the code, and the wall that isn't a wall slides open to reveal the lab. I walk in with the blood and Cat in tow.

"What is this place," she asks, never having been in here before.

"Our lab. Making this was Astral's idea." I place the vial on the first table I see an go to gather the equipment. After a long time of struggling, I eventually almost drop them. They just levitate inches from the ground. I turn to see Astral at the doorway. He looks tired, but calm now.

"You cannot carry all that by yourself. They would break, and then where would we be? Allow me to assist." Astral smiles (I don't think it's a real one though), apparently not angry that I snuck into the room while he was unconscious and took some blood.

I smile back. "Alright."

Cat helps us with the testing as best as she can. For the next few minutes, we're focusing on the experiment, not paying attention to the outside world. Astral tells up to perform the test differently, though, because this is alien blood. It's not the same as ours. This takes a few hours.

When we're done, Astral looks at the results. He doesn't look happy though. Heck, it's rare that he even smiles for real! He whispers something, but I can't understand him. By his expression though, I can tell he probably cursed.

"So, what's the result?" I ask even though I can tell it's not good.

"The...the blood is..." Astral begins, unable to finish his sentence.

I stand beside him and read. "Is poisoned..." I continue, too shocked to read the last part because the "poison" isn't like any I've ever seen.

Astral inhales before reading, "With evil and madness."