Dark Hour

Part 6

I looked out at the frothy water reflecting the sunset sky and then back at Apollo.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked through motionless lips.

He looked at me with a sad smile. "To bring you comfort and to remind you that you, and your beautiful eyes, are going to be okay."

I looked at him in bewilderment. "What did you just say?" I was completely stunned by what he'd just said. I shook my head and ignored his goofy grin. A few minutes passed and I looked from the dazzling water and back to Apollo.

"Why do you want me to feel those things?" I asked straight forwardly, wondering if he was going to get up and do a weird dance or something.

Apollo smiled faintly. "Because what I'm going to tell you will counter a reaction that this beauty doesn't deserve."

I nodded back vacantly. "What did you want to tell me?"

Apollo took a deep breath, something he'd never done before.

"Well, have you ever wondered about the paranormal?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"They exist, I am one, my sister is one." He looked at me with shining eyes. "You are one."

I jolted with surprise. "What?"

Apollo straightened. "You are a generation of paranormal called 'the Marked'. You are marked by the shadows yet you are a servant of the light. This means you can control either one. Your parents were an unusual couple. Your mother was a skin shifter and your father was Marked. Which means that both paranormal generations run in your veins."

I felt tears stream down my face and I looked at the blurry figure I took as Apollo.

"What are you?"

"I am one of the Marked, except that I have more shadow than light in me." Apollo replied.

I stared at him with scepticism, all those good thoughts had been put on hold.

"Why?" I said, motionless.

Apollo slumped and closed his eyes. "I am one of three. My sister and I were the only two to make it. My brother did not." My eyes popped in shock, he looked at me painfully. "Because I was the eldest, I absorbed his power and became more potent in the shadow side of things."

"How did he die?" I whispered, heartbroken.

"Because I was too strong and he was already weak with too much shadow, he died and it was passed onto me." Apollo said simply.

I scooted right up next to him and hugged Apollo's waist, he stiffened for a moment and then relaxed a few seconds later. He rested his cheek against my head and inhaled softly, I self consciously remembered that my shampoo made my hair smell like lavender. Sensing his warm arms cover my cold ones, it made me feel more conscious of how I looked, I wondered if he could hear my heartbeat thrumming against my rib cage. I let myself be enveloped by the sound around me and I tried to hear Apollo's heartbeat; there was no sound, not even a faint pulse when I touched his wrist.

Before I could point out that he had no pulse, Apollo stood up and gently pried my arms from his waist. As he looked away I blushed when I realised that where my arms had been placed seemed a bit too far over the boundaries line.

"Come with me." Apollo held out his hand.

I took it and brushed my pants off, when I'd finished, I looked up and nearly fell into the water behind me, Apollo was kind of crossing over my boundaries as he placed a periwinkle blue flower in my hair. I stood still, my feet planted to the ground for a moment, I fingered the flower as I watched Apollo stroll down a pebbled path for around five seconds before he turned around and saw me staring.

I blushed and ran to his side, a petal fluttered to the ground in my wake. I slipped my hand in his as we walked through a canopy of silver and gold leafed trees.

"Here is acceptable." Apollo muttered to me.

We stopped and Apollo watched me for a moment before declaring that he would show me how to do basic shadow and light stunts. I eyed him from a distance before shuffling forward in curiosity.

"The first of light and shadow work is to clear your mind, get rid of any distracting emotions, such as; jealousy, anger, fear, love." He paused while I silently felt my heart skip two beats at his last word. "These emotions are simultaneously important and intrusive to a peaceful state of mind." He stated.

I nodded, not quite sure what he meant by such emotions being distracting, but still willing to listen to Apollo's stunt lesson. No matter how demanding it sounded.

"You have to clear your mind and focus on your core energy, feel its pulse and grasp it. Then once you have it in your hand, let it be expressed through motion." Apollo crouched and shut his eyes, his left hand cutting his face in half as I looked at him directly. Then, a ring of white appeared on the navy blue dirt around Apollo as he swept his hand in a circle around him. Light poured out of the perfectly round crack in the ground. Apollo opened his eyes and a column of light erupted from the glowing crevice around him.

It took four, five seconds for Apollo's light column to die down to a faded black ring in the ground.

"That was called the White Telamon. Okay, now you try." He pulled me into the space next to where his performance had taken place.

I tried several times so that when I finally got the light thingie right, it was about six o'clock at night. I wasn't afraid of the dark so this didn't bother me, I looked over at Apollo and figured that he wasn't scared either. I had come up with a theory, we all started in darkness, we will finish in darkness, so there's no need to be afraid of it if it plays such a vital role in our lives.

A hand waved in my face and I blinked a few times before gathering back my senses. I saw Apollo in a mediative stance, his legs spread apart, and his hands straight, his right hand above his head and his left hand resting a couple of inches below his chin, Apollo's eyes were shut too. He stood like this for a few moments before moving his hands simultaneously in a clockwise direction (from his perspective) and tiny wisps of light shimmered in a luminescent dance. The small, flickering tendrils grew double its size every time Apollo's wrists crossed over to complete the circle.

Soon, Apollo had three strands of light, the size of my forearm, circling around him a unison. They looked like swarms of fireflies, the light winking and flashing. Once I'd gotten my fill of wonder, Apollo swept the ground and the thick strands raced off shimmering like the waterfall in daylight.

I couldn't see for a couple of seconds but when I could, I gasped in shock, Apollo was presenting a silver chain with a small garnet stone enveloped in the same material as the pictures on the glass roof.

"It's beautiful." I murmured, pushing my mousy hair out of the way and clasped it around my neck. The small pendant hung in the hollow of my throat. I blushed and looked back up at Apollo.

"Thank you."

He smiled. "You're welcome."

I took his hand hesitantly and he lead us both back to the balcony.