Argent Eye II

8

I didn't dream that night, which was a relief, however I did wake up to a very cold room. It was summer, but my windows had frosted over.

Oops.

It didn't take long for everything to warm up, though- by the time I ate breakfast, everything was back to normal.

I'd left the house and was just walking out of the housing complex when I heard a voice behind me.

"Hey, Millie, wait up!"

I turned to see Jake coming, who then began walking with me.

"I need to pop into uni for a bit." He said. "Do some printing."

"Oh, okay." I said.

We were just walking along the pavement, not far from the university, when I felt something strange make its way up my spine. Like a mild jolt of electricity. I started to fill with worry, just as a black Range Rover sped out of the junction in front of us.

The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. The window rolled down, and out poked something resembling a crossbow, before a sleek, black, shiny thing started slicing through the air.

Instinctively, I reached out, just at the right time. My fingers wrapped around the thing that had been fired, catching it millimetres before it would have gone straight through Jake.

I looked back at the car, heard someone shout something resembling "oh shit, she's one of 'em!", before it sped off again. I didn't see any faces.

"Fuck!" Jake exclaimed, his hands having gone into the air, preparing for some kind of impact that never came.

I was also just as shocked, and looked at the thing that had nearly pierced through Jake's ribs. It was undeniable as to what it was- Black Prometheum. It glowed blue under my touch, like it usually should, but something was off about it. It was an arrow, a little like Stella's, but it didn't have the pretty runes decorating it. It was just black, and the glow seemed to come more from my hands than the metal itself.

I was about to take a closer look when it seemed to dissolve into dust and vanish.

"Oh my god." Jake was saying, trying to catch his breath.

I looked up at him. "Are you okay?" I checked him over for any other wounds, but he was okay. Physically, anyway.

"What just happened?" He asked.

"I don't know." I said. "They... that was Black Prometheum."

Jake looked at me. "But..."

"It's not the usual Black Prometheum, and they definitely weren't Dreamwalkers." I said, just to assure him that it wasn't an initiation thing like I'd had, where I'd been stabbed. This was different. Wrong.

Jake looked just as confused as I felt, so I reached out to Ronan. No time to text.

Within moments, Ronan had appeared round the corner out of sight, and came running over.

"What's up? Is everything okay?" Ronan asked, looking between Jake and I.

I shook my head, and pulled both Jake and Ronan away from the crowds of people. Apparently nobody had seen what had just happened, or if they did, then they didn't want anything to do with it. We entered the university grounds, and I explained to Ronan what just happened.

__________

"Are you absolutely sure?" Ronan asked. "Like, it was Black Prometheum?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but not like mine. It felt... strange."

Jake was standing there, having calmed down a little but still a little pale. "Are you okay, Jake?" I asked. "Do you want Ronan to drop you back home?"

Jake blinked a couple of times, and shook his head. "No, I think I'm good. I just... I guess I should be thanking you, right?" He chuckled. "You caught that thing."

I waved a hand. "It was nothing." I said.

"I think I'm going to head into uni." Jake said. "Keep me updated, okay?"

I nodded. "Of course. But you as well- just call if you need anything."

"Will do, Mills. See you later."

I waved, as Jake walked towards the library.

"I think we need to tell David about this." Ronan said. "He might know something."

"Yeah." I agreed. "Although I need to go to my lecture. You go tell David, and I'll see both of you after?"

"Okay, yeah."

And with that, he vanished.

__________

I sat impatiently in my lecture, the clock seeming to go slower than usual. Kate was also acting like her usual self again, so whatever was going on with her before, she'd clearly gotten over it. That, or she was getting good at hiding it. Peter babbled on about stuff, not making eye contact with me once.

Still, as soon as the lecture ended, I got up quick and told Kate I had to go see David again. She didn't question it- I guess it had become the norm last year for me to see David every two seconds.

When I arrived at David's office, I could hear him and Ronan were already deep into the conversation. I walked in and took a seat quietly, waiting for Ronan to finish whatever he was saying.

"So, yeah." Ronan finished. "Shit's going down."

I assumed that Ronan had told David everything. "What do we do now?" I asked.

"You do absolutely nothing." Ronan said. "There's nothing you can do at the moment. We need more information, so I'm going to go and ask around a bit."

"Oh." I said, not liking that I wouldn't be doing anything but at the same time a little bit relieved that I wasn't going to be doing anything. Did that make sense?

"Any luck with the metal shenanigans?" Ronan asked.

I sunk a bit lower into my chair.

"You haven't practiced, have you?" He said, but not angrily.

"No." I said quietly. "I'm worried about what might happen."

Ronan pursed his lips together. "You know what I'm gonna say, right?"

I just looked at him, and nodded. He was going to tell me that by not trying and not practicing, the problem wasn't going to just go away. I needed to practice and keep at it until I overcame whatever this was. Don't get me wrong, David's words helped me understand things yesterday. They made sense. But that didn't make the situation any better. It didn't really make me want to keep at it.

"Well, I guess there is something you can do whilst I'm asking around." Ronan said.

I perked up, because for a moment I didn't realise he was talking about the metal situation. But then I realised that's exactly what he was talking about. "Oh." I said.

"I best be off." Ronan said. "Call me if you need anything."

And with that, he vanished.

"He really doesn't stick around for long, does he?" David chuckled.

I smiled. "Nah."

"Is your friend okay?" He asked. "Jake, is it?"

"Mmh, he was a little shaken up." I said. "He didn't really wanna stick around after it happened- hopefully he'll be okay when I get home."

"Ronan doesn't think he was targeted." David said. "And by what you told Ronan, they didn't know you were gonna be able to catch it. I think it was random."

I nodded. "Yeah, hopefully that means they'll stay away."

"Hopefully." David agreed.

"Anyway, I best go see if he's okay." I said. "See you later."

"Bye, Millie." David said, and I left.

__________