Chapter 3

Rumors spread quickly through Hupperis High School. I found this out when I was practically attacked by most of the girls in every single one of my classes. Drawing was the only class they could actually bother me with questions. The art teacher, Mrs. Rabrole, had set us to drawing some vases, and I was trapped underneath curious and demanding gazes. Everyone was pretty much listening to what I had to say.

“Tell us what happened,” someone asked, her chin in her hand.

“A guy held a gun to my head,” I answered curtly.

“No, I mean, tell us what happened with the Black Knight!”

Most of the people around the room who weren’t absorbed in their artwork nodded furiously.

“Well, um,” I began, feeling awkward now that everyone’s eyes were on me. “He saved me.”

“And?” someone prompted.

“And I didn’t get shot . . .”

“What did he say to you?”

“He asked if I was all right. Isn’t that the normal question everyone asks?”

“That’s all?” a girl beside me said, full of disbelief. “You didn’t even get his, like, autograph or something?”

“I didn’t have a pen or paper.”

Snickers came from a table in the corner. Apparently Drake and some other people thought that was funny.

“Oh my god, did he kiss you?” Several girls exclaimed, and Mrs. Rabrole had to shout to calm them down.

“Uh, no,” I answered, fiddling with my pencil and wanting so badly to change the subject.

“Were you scared?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Well, duh, Mindy,” someone muttered. “If someone was holding a gun to your head, wouldn’t you be terrified?”

“But then the Black Knight would come and save the day!” Mindy said, face turning to the ceiling as if it were the sky. “Like he always does!”

“Well, the man wasn’t going to shoot me anyways,” I whispered to myself, but they all seemed to have heard.

“How do you know?” Mindy inquired curiously.

“He said he needed money because his wife is sick.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room looked at me oddly. I blinked, then grew uncomfortable.

“And you believe him?” Mrs. Rabrole asked with disbelief. Surprisingly, she had been listening to the entire conversation.

“Yes.”

Another moment of silence.

And then . . .

“Anyway, how is the Black Knight like up close?” another girl asked eagerly.

Everything I had just said was forgotten.

“Come on,” Karely – the friend I knew the longest since I had moved – said, slightly annoyed. “Stop bothering her with all these questions.”

But they couldn’t settle without any more information.

Deciding to take advantage of Karely’s interruption, I concluded the conversation with, “Look, I’m just grateful the Black Knight came on time. And you all shouldn’t keep asking me questions because I’m pretty sure I won’t be meeting him again.”

With that, they all returned to their class assignment and carried the topic even further in their own little conversations. I sighed and smiled at Karely, sending many thanks.

I stopped at my locker after class, but before I could shut it and leave, Drake came to stand next to me.

“Your boyfriend stayed at the stand while you were being attacked,” he said, his face assuming a concerned frown. “You could have gotten hurt, and he didn’t even come to see if you were all right. I think you should dump him.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Whatever. The Black Knight came and rescued me anyway.” I put up my hands in the air and lacking enthusiasm said, “Hooray.”

I started walking, and he came beside me. “You don’t sound too grateful,” he chuckled.

“You have no idea how grateful I am,” I said. “It’s just . . . It’s hard to believe something like that actually happened to me.”

“Many things happen in Hupperis.”

I snorted.

“But seriously,” I said. “It gets you thinking about life . . . “

“What matters is that you’re safe,” he said, smiling. “Marien was very worried about you, you know. We heard someone was being held hostage, and when we found out it was you, she flipped out.”

“Oh . . .”

“Yeah, so don’t go running off alone now,” he smirked. “Brian ran off into the crowd when we heard. We couldn’t stop him. We only saw him again after the guy was arrested. He seemed pretty glad to know you were all right. We all were.”

I blinked at him in surprise. “Oh.” Had Brian meant to interfere with my being-hostage situation?

“Anyway, I’ll see you later,” he said with a grin. “Don’t forget to dump that boyfriend of yours.”

“Yeah,” I answered, but I was too focused on my thoughts of Brian to hear his last words.

So had Brian come to save me? To be honest, he was one of the last people I would expect to come rescue me if I was being held at gunpoint. Or did he just want to see what was happening and was actually more entertained than concerned?

School ended normally, besides enduring all the questions about my encounter with the city hero. Life in Hupperis could not possibly get even worse. At least, that’s what I hoped.

When we got home, Saria asked Marien if she could drop her off at the Hupperis Library. But over hearing her, Carlotte refused to let any of them leave the house.

“It’s dangerous out there!” she cried, shaking her head, relentless. “After what happened to your sister on Saturday? Absolutely not. You are not going anywhere without me or your father.”

“Well then come with us, mom,” Saria pleaded. “My English class is reading a book that I need to check out from the library because they don’t have any more at the school. My book report is due on Friday!”

I was sitting on the couch watching some random crime show as they argued.

“Then we will leave after dinner,” Carlotte said. “The library closes at nine, so we’ll have plenty of time.”

With that firmly stated, she left the room. When the only sound was the music coming from the tv, Saria and Marien both glanced at me on the couch. I looked up at them.

“What?” I muttered. “It’s not my fault she’s gone all paranoid.”

George had left with someone from work whom he had recently befriended. They and several other coworkers went bowling after dinner. Carlotte forced me and Marien to go with her and Saria to the library, fearing that if we stayed, someone could break into the house. We ended up leaving at seven, just when the sun began to set.

The Hupperis library was huge and located directly across the street from the park, but it had no parking lot. Marien parked several streets down.

We stood at the corner, waiting for the walk light signal. But as we waited, I noticed something odd about the building on the opposite corner of the street. Its windows gave an inaccurate reflection of me. But . . . it wasn’t even me.

The image was blurred, though the reflections of everything and everyone else were true. Then how come mine was so different?

I squinted, wondering if someone was standing behind the window where my reflection would normally be. But before I assumed that to be the reason, I shifted my body to allow another person room to pass on the sidewalk. At that moment, my reflection turned and I instantly recognized the person in it.

It was Dusk!

I almost forgot the light was still red when I stepped off the curb. I caught myself just in time as a minivan drove by. Though, when I looked at the window, Dusk was gone, and it was me.

It’d been a few days since I had last seen her.

The light finally turned green, and Marien called my name. They were already halfway across the street. I caught up with them, wondering to myself if I had been seeing things. Normally Dusk appeared only if I had dreamt of her. But this time was different.

I followed my sisters and Carlotte up the library’s broad steps to the rotating doors. They passed through, but before I could, something – a strong feeling – kept me from going in.

I pulled back and just barely stopped from colliding with another person.

Automatically, I turned to face the park across the street. And then I saw her. There. A small figure following the path deeper into the park. Dusk paused and glanced once over her shoulder in my direction, then turned and continued walking.

She wanted me to follow her.

I hesitated. I couldn’t just leave my family and wander off into the park at night!

But she was fading fast, and if I didn’t go after her, I wouldn’t know where to follow her. She wanted to lead me somewhere, show me something. It could be a clue to her past.

Hoping I wouldn’t think twice, I ran down the steps and across the street, not bothering to wait for the green light. I was surely going to get in trouble for this.

Before long, I was running after Dusk in the forested section of the park, losing sight of the streets and the buildings. The light poles cast a dim gold light along the path. Eventually, I saw her glimmering form take a new path just ahead. I stopped running, catching my breath.

Though, as I took a step forward, I heard the soft sound of rushing wind behind me. I turned my head, peering into the darkness. Someone was standing behind a tree about fifty yards away from me, and there were wings protruding from their back.

I caught my breath, unable to move.

What was he doing here?

Don’t let him follow you.

I blinked, shock racing through my veins. Where had that voice come from?

Hurry. You must follow me.

I blinked again. Dusk? Did that voice belong to Dusk? Was she really talking to me? In my head?

I quickened my pace and saw Dusk at the end of the path. I looked ahead. She had led me to the park’s market area with the food stands and stores. It was the same place where I had been on Saturday, but this time it was vacant and lit by dim lanterns. There was the Ice Cold food stand, closed and locked. It was quiet, except for the chirping from night insects and the water trickling in the fountain in the center.

Dusk came to a stop directly in front of the fountain. She then turned to me, waiting.

Here.

But as I approached her, she slowly faded away.

“Wait!” I called, but she said no more and did not return. I waited, then sighed. I stood in the spot she had been in seconds before, staring at the fountain’s statue of an angel. “Well,” I muttered. “What am I supposed to do now?”

There was no reply, no more of her voice inside my head. There was nothing else for me to do but just stand there, waiting for something. What exactly was I waiting for? Why had she brought me here?

I glanced behind me. There were no signs of the Black Knight. But who knew? He was dressed entirely in black and could right now be watching me from the shadows. What was he doing here anyway?

I faced the fountain again. And why did Dusk warn me not to let him follow?

Absent-mindedly, I let my eyes wander over the statue, noting that it wasn’t a regular angel wearing a long gown. There was a helmet on her head and a sheathed sword hanging from her waist.

Then I realized something for the first time about her hands. Her palms weren’t pressed together in a prayer, but rather they held a small object cupped between them. I leaned over the fountain’s ledge to get a closer view. The angel was as tall as any regular person but stood on a three-foot-tall column. Her hands held the object upward by her chest and obscured it from view. One would wonder what the sculptor’s reason was to hide a part of his statue.

But it looked like a ball, and it was perhaps as big as a man’s fist. I frowned questioningly. Why was an angel holding a ball?

I had forgotten I was still leaning over the ledge and nearly fell over. I pushed away, but not before I glanced at my reflection in the water.

And once again it wasn’t my own reflection I was looking at. It was Dusk again. She was in the same position as me, bent over the ledge and looking straight up at me.

I froze, expecting some sign from her or some answer to why I was here. But she remained silent.

When I thought this was getting nowhere, her image moved. She reached out towards me with an arm, and for a second she appeared as if she wanted me to pull her out of the water. I blinked, then without much thinking, reached out and touched her hand.

I let my fingers brush the cool water, merging my hand with her hand. But I didn’t expect the shock that sent violent tremors up my arm and down my body.

I abruptly jumped back, shivering from head to toe, but I wasn't cold. I collapsed next to the fountain, finding the air suddenly hard to breathe. I no longer had the energy to move, no longer the ability to think. It was as if I had lost control of my own body, and I was just laying there helpless. What was wrong with me?

I could not feel my limbs, and everything was getting dark. I wanted to call for help, but my mouth refused to open, my voice refused to come out. I felt very faint, and before I knew it, I was hurled into blackness.

Dusk

The night air had never felt better. The serene music of the night had never sounded better. And waking up to the world had never been better.

When was the last time I had felt this . . . real?

I opened my eyes to a dimly lit opening in some forest, an opening with a circular brick floor and a large, gurgling fountain. This place looked familiar . . .

Ah, yes. This was the place I had taken that girl.

What had happened a minute ago? All I could remember was swimming in a pool of blackness, until I saw a window of light. That girl was standing in the window of light. I had reached out, and I remembered her taking my hand.

I sat up and lifted both my arms, feeling their physical weight for the first time. I stared at them, awe-stricken, touched them and felt their realness. I touched my head, my face, my clothes, then my stomach.

I glanced down. There was no pain, no blood.

After several seconds of feeling my heart beat and examining the world around me, I smiled.

I was here. I was real.

A/N: Yup, Dusk is back. This message is for the people who read my first version of this story. :D

Please leave a review! It really motivates me!