Darkness's Arc

Chapter 2 of 10

Darkness doesn't go home. She goes where Nyx will be tonight — the place written in the alibi, the place someone wanted her to be seen. If they prepared the cover story three days in advance, they also prepared the trap. And Nyx is walking straight into it. The alley between the old buildings is too clean. No trash piled in corners, no broken bottles scattered across the stones. Someone swept it recently, made it safe-looking, made it inviting. At the far end, a shadow rabbit limps in small circles, one leg dragging. Its form flickers like a candle in wind. Darkness knows what injured shadow creatures mean to Nyx — she stops for them, always has, can't help herself. This one was placed here on purpose. Darkness moves to the mouth of the alley and stops. Across the street, a light glows in the top window of a narrow office building. The silhouette behind the glass doesn't move. Whoever is up there is watching the alley, waiting for Nyx to walk in and bend down to help the injured thing. Darkness calculates the distance, the sight lines, the time it would take to cross. She could get to the building, but not before Nyx arrives. She has to choose — chase the hunter or save the bait. She steps into the alley and scoops up the shadow rabbit before it can draw Nyx any deeper. The creature dissolves in her hands, its purpose served. The light in the window goes dark. Darkness saved Nyx from the trap, but now the hunter knows she's here too. The next one won't be this obvious.