Shadow Hunter

My fingers drummed against cracked leather as I stared at the bolted door, willing it to open.  The boys should have been back by now. Not just hours ago, a day and a half ago. I closed my eyes, squeezing them against my rising panic. Daylight was fading fast, and with it, my hope of their safe return.  I shook my head, trying to dislodge the worry as I looked back at my twin, her body still except for the occasion twitching of her fingers. We'd been identical once, right down to the freckle behind our right knee and it was strange, almost surreal looking at her, knowing she should be what I saw when I looked in a mirror.My sweet sister cried when she’d seen what I'd done to myself. She'd tried reasoning, pleading, everything she could think of to make me change it all back, but I'd liked tinting every hair on my body black and I'd liked the feel of my short pony tail tickling the edge of my shoulders.For the f

My shoulder burned, blinding me to everything but the pain, throbbing beneath a bandage wound way too tight. I forced open my gritty eyes, my fingers trailing the thin gauze and flinched. I was surrounded by rock, white rock that seemed to radiate a soft blue glow. The entire room was made of it, the ceiling, the walls, all of it, pressing down on me, suffocating me.I turned my head and stared at the swept ground, my quickening breaths easing as I caught sight of two bedrolls, their blankets clean but slept in. A pile of clothes by the far wall was the only sign of colour and even that was mostly black and denim, punctured by a scattering  of Lill's pink and green singlets.Lillith. A pained grunt escaped me as I rolled onto my good side and forced myself up. The heavy curtain covering my only escape parted the moment I'd made a sound and Aaron strode in, his face furious."What are you doing?""Finding Lilli

 Aaron was a voice of influence down here and nothing short of a celebrity, which was the reason behind this stupid party. Dave had received a similar welcome to his cousin and since everyone could see his infatuation with Lills, she too had been cautiously accepted. It was me that they had a problem with, and it wasn't just the dirty looks or the twitching fingers wishing they could skin me alive that gave it away. It was Aaron's obvious avoidance and the frustration that radiated from him every time he looked in my direction. I was pretty sure the only reason I was even at this infuriating waste of time was because of Lills. And Burney.I could accept the Scorchers general dislike of me. They needed someone other than their beloved Aaron to blame for putting their home at risk of exposure, and him slapping me with a permanent babysitter had done nothing to soothe their nerves over the situation. What I couldn't understand was

His eyes flew open, but he didn't say anything.I took that as a sign to go ahead and unfold the edge of the damp cloth, dabbing at the blood on his split lip."He hit hard, huh?."He nodded, still silent as he watched me find another clean spot on the hand towel."You're lucky he missed your nose. I would've needed more than this to clean that up."He ran his tongue over his swollen lip as he watched me inspect the damage to his shoulder. I winced. The wrist sized welt was purple, verging on black with its budding bruise. "This whole not yelling at me thing is a little unnerving," I whispered, folding up the cloth and putting it back on his shoulder. I stood in front of him a minute longer then sat beside him, giving up on talking. "What are you doing here?" He finally asked, his voice thick from his fat lip."Lills said I needed to apologise to you.""For what?"I waved a hand

"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?" I flinched, the shouts filtering in from the hall hurting my already pounding head."It was Stan who said to do it!""And if Stan told you to put a gun to her head and fill it with led, would you do that too?""I was making sure I took her weight, but she caught me off guard!""It's Fayle!" Aaron roared, as if that were explanation enough. "Would you two shut up?" I groaned. It felt like every word they said was a kick to the side of my head.Aaron bridged the remaining distance between us and came to a squat beside me. "How's your ribs?""Fine.""Your shoulder?""Still burnt.""Your head?""Better if you'd lower your damn voice."He shook his head. "There'll be no more practices with Stan. Got it?""What! No. Stan said -""I don't care what Stan said, I'm telling you no and never again!""Don