Shadows

Five - Broken Glass

Leo and Kiki both wrap one of my arms around their shoulders and half-drag-half-carry me down the hallway and up the stairs. As we reach the top of the staircase, I start to find my feet and can carry some of my own weight again. James gives us a worried look as he opens the front door for us.

'I should've warned you, I'm sorry,' he says as he stumbles after us down the front steps.

'Back to your post,' Leo barks at him.

He hesitates only a moment before running back up the steps to guard the entrance. Leo and Kiki lead me around the side of the building and lower me onto a bench in the shadows. Kiki lets go of me straight away and moves to stand in the sunlight. Leo kneels in front of me and holds my face in his warm hands.

I can feel the pads of his thumbs moving over my cheekbones and a dry heat radiates around me. I look over at Kiki. Her shoulders are glittering in the sunlight. I gasp as I realise it's ice that covers her, shining as it melts.

'What happened?' I look at Leo again.

'The sudden exposure to intense lights caused a bad reaction with your shadows,' he says.

I raise an eyebrow at him. All the cold has left me now, I can feel the warm black shadows sliding over my skin. Leo lets go of my face and sighs.

'You really don't know anything?' he asks.

I shake my head and he looks over his shoulder at Kiki. The now-melted water is sliding down her right arm and over her hand in one long trickle to land and soak into the ground.

'Her parents kept it from her,' she says, walking over to join me on the bench.

Leo shifts so he's sitting instead of kneeling in front of us.

'May even hid your necklace from you,' she says to me.

I unconsciously reach for the charm around my neck. The little moon is warm in my fingers.

'You're brother told me where it was,' she adds, 'so I could help you find it.'

'My brother? He knows about this?'

'May forced him not to tell you. He's spent the last couple of years trying to get you here. I don't know how, but he finally did it.'

My head is spinning again.

'You need to tell me everything,' I say.

'We will,' Leo says, 'but right now you need to rest. We don't know how much damage was caused by the lights.'

'I'll take her back to the dorm,' Kiki says to him.

'Good. Let her sleep for a bit. I'll come around later tonight and help explain. It'll be easier at night, in the dark.'

Kiki nods and helps me to my feet. Leo melts into the shadows again and Kiki and I head to the dorm. She opens the door for me and I shuffle over to my bed. A wave of fatigue rushes over me and I lie down. I can feel Kiki taking my shoes off for me as I drift off to sleep.

A soft whispering has me opening my eyes. The lights are off but a warm, yellow glow fills the room. I sit up slowly and look around. On the windowsills, the bedside tables, and the cupboard shelves are a few dozen candles. Each is one of seven colours and each is carved with the same markings that decorate the walls of the Hang-Outs' hallways. I realise they are all the charms that the gifters wear.

Leo and Kiki sit on the floor in the middle of the room in a circle of six candles with a seventh between them in the centre. Both smile when they notice me sitting up and Kiki waves for me to join them.