I was getting worse. By the next morning the black had completely covered my chest and was spiraling down my left arm. I hadn't moved from the couch, and when Jordan came out of his room in for a granola bar and an orange, he stopped and looked at me first. His face went white and his shoulders sagged. He made his way over to me slowly, falling to his knees beside the couch. I'd told him about my conversation with Alvera, and he'd refused to make eye contact with me since.

"I'm so sorry," that was another thing, he continued to apologize for everything that had happened to me, even though I never thought it was his fault.

"Hey," I said to him, my voice weak, as I placed a hand on his shoulder, drawing out the tension with prolonged eye contact, "I think the Guggle moved back into the fridge."

Jordan let out an exasperated laugh and dropped his head to his chest before picking it up and looking at me again, "This is serious," he said, but he was smiling.

I laughed and scratched my head, "Yeah, so am I."

The look of guilty joy was wiped off of his face, "No."

I nodded and he groaned, standing up and making his way over to the fridge. As he opened it purple webbing stretched away from the interior. Jordan stared at the nest with an increasing level of anger before slamming the door shut and yelling,

"Fuck this!"

"Jordan," I croaked, "why can't that woman take some other kid's soul? Why does it have to be yours?"

He shook his head, sitting down at the table, "It's complicated, resurrecting someone. Unless she can get the original soul back, she'd have to take a soul that is the same age as the one she lost. Alvera doesn't want people to go through what she went through." he let out a gasp that was close to a sob.

I wanted to get up, to go over to him and hug him, but I had lost the ability to fully move my arms and back, I wasn't going anywhere. I could tell from the couch, however, that Jordan was fighting the urge to say something. His head fell to the table with a sob and he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "I have to" before pulling himself up and out of the chair. He shuffled over to me and leaned down to give me one of those I'm-lying-down-why-are-you-doing-this hugs. There was a look of concern on his face as he pulled away.

"You're cold," he said, and pulled off his Star Wars sweatshirt, "here, put this on."

He had to help me, what with my limited mobility, and by the time I finally put it on I was blushing. One part because it hurt, two parts because I was wearing Jordan's sweatshirt, and it had that lysol disinfectant "fresh linen" smell for some reason. He stared at me for a second.

"You look good in that," he said, which somehow managed to make me blush harder and look down. I mumbled a 'thanks', but he never answered. He was walking to the door, and ignored all of my pleas to know where he was going. His hand faltered as it reached for the doorknob, but he overcame the fear and left anyway.

The moment the door closed things in the house started happening. There was a clatter and the fridge door opened, the Guggle came screaming out and made its way to the back of the house. The Wolpertinger did the same, though it stayed in the sanctuary of the walls. The electricity started to go haywire, light bulbs flashing uncontrollably, the TV turning on and off at random, before everything went out simultaneously. It was at that moment that I realized how dark it was outside. I squinted at the clock on the wall adjacent to me. It was nearly five, the sun would be rising soon. It made me wonder why Jordan was up so early, unless he wanted to leave without me knowing.

I got a panicky feeling in my stomach. I tried to pick myself up, only to fall. I knew that I would never catch up to him, so I figured I'd call the police, but my phone was in my room. I began to push myself along the floor with my feet and my nearly paralyzed arms. It was strenuous and painful, not to mention entirely too slow. It took me five minutes to make it the five feet from the front of the couch to the hall. I had to stop, to catch my breath, and from where I was I could see the Lonedark, hiding in the corner of the now-empty room. It chuckled,

My, my, my, this is a strange turn of events. Burn face finally won. Do you know, girl, where that boy is going.

I shook my head. I needed the information, but I was afraid to actually speak to the Lonedark.

Deep into the woods, where the Elf Queen waits for him. All she needed was for him to give up his soul, and now, with your help, she has succeeded.

I shook my head violently, forgetting my self-made pact to not speak to it, "No, I never did anything!"

That, my dear, is not entirely true, and I think you know it. Tendrils of shadow began to expand across the floor to me, please, let me help you.

The Lonedark was sent back into the corner by a sudden blast of light, coming from the bathroom. I looked and, as soon as my eyes were adjusted, saw the Kirin step out of the mirror and into the bathroom. It was magnificent, much taller than a normal horse and covered in scales of every imaginable color, and not one of them seemed to be the same. Its mane and tail were composed of white and blue flames. Behind the Kirin, the Wolpertinger, Guggle, and Raiju were watching intently, and I had the feeling that they told it about Jordan.

The Kirin trotted to me and knelt down in a gesture that I took to mean I needed to mount it. I did, but it took forever and clearly annoyed the Kirin, it was patient, and waited until I had a secure hold on it. The flames, I realized, were not hot, but managed to restore some of the heat I'd lost.

The Kirin stood, and took off, galloping through the wall and into the woods. I, daresay, nearly had a heart attack at the suddenness of running through a wall and realizing we weren't going to just run into it.

The sun had barely risen, and the light was just at that point where everything looks like a poorly rendered video game. As we ran through the woods, I began to see things in the trees around us, moving closer and somehow running at the same speed we were. An arrow flew from the right and hit the Kirin in the head, but it splintered. Ahead of us something made an unearthly howling noise. I looked and saw one of the zombie-like things from the Wal-mart a couple days prior. It raised a sword, but the Kirin didn't falter. It ran faster, even, and stamped the zombie into the ground, where it turned into some sort of foul-smelling goop. There were more of them, of course, but they all suffered the same fate.

It was not long before I could hear voices. I raised my head and saw Jordan and Alvera discussing something. He turned and saw the Kirin, saw me. First, there was a look of surprise, but it was replaced by a look peace, peace and sorrow, as a small glowing light was extracted from his chest.

Jordan fell, and in that moment the Kirin disappeared, sending me flying and landing a few inches from Jordan. There were already tears in my eyes as I pulled myself forward to him. His face, that had been filled with blood only moments before, was pale and cold. His eyes, still open, were devoid of essense of any kind. There was no life in him, what I was holding was simply the shell of someone I'd known.

"He was brave," Alvera said from above me, "Sacrificing himself for you. I must apologize, child for everything I have done to you, and to him. As payment, I will give you anything you want that is within my power."

The sun had risen, just a little more, and streaks of pink were starting to paint the sky. I looked at the woods, oddly quiet and calm. I knew that all of the creatures I had grown to love were gone, that as soon as Jordan had died they'd all left. I could ask for that, I supposed, to attract those things like he did.

"I-" I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat was still too tight and I had to pause before going on, "I don't want to remember this, any of this."

The Queen nodded and made her way over to me. She rested her hand on my head, "If you ever need to remember, go back to Veles."

***

I wake up on my couch. There are light bulb shards everywhere, I guess there was some sort of power surge. The TV's on, playing Spongebob for some reason. Odd, I hate Spongebob. I go to the fridge and pull it open, only to discover that some sort of animal made a nest in it while I wasn't looking. I grumble a string of expletives and turn around to see a pink fluffy diary sitting on the table. I don't own one of those, and I never have.

Odd.

Well, I guess I'm done! I do plan on writing another story set in the same town, but I guess we'll see. If you spot any grammar or spelling mistakes let me know!