Page 37 of Darkness Defined

“Yeah… it is.” He absently stared into the frozen cream, his next bite forgotten.

I nudged him. “So… what is your favorite, then?”

“Strawberry.” I laughed at the way he said it, like it was as much news to him as it was to me. He gave his own nervous chuckle and added, “I don’t even know the last time I had it.”

Rather than pursue what was obviously a painful topic for him, I shifted gears. “What do you know? You obviously have been studying demonology since before you got here.”

“I know we got here in fifteen minutes,” he said with a smile.

“No way.” I looked up at the clock. He was right, and that included our near-death episode at the main entrance. “Alright, so we’re fast.”

“There’s that. You already know about the strength.”

Yep, it had proved quite handy on Tuesday when I fought another rock demon. “Okay, that, explain that to me more.”

He cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“I get that there are levels and only a few of the highest left, but what does a power level really mean? How do they work?”

“You know, the lower the number, the stronger you are.” I nodded, taking another bite, and he continued. “It’s not just strength like being able to move heavy things, though, it’s strength like overall ability. Most of us can do the same things, but how strong we are determines how well and how effectively.”

“Can you get stronger?” It seemed like a logical question to me, but he made a weird face.

“To an extent. Eventually, though, you’ll max out no matter what you do. You might get better at doing what you already can, but you’ll never exceed it.”

“I’m not following.”

“Think of it like height. You can eat right and exercise all you like to get to your maximum height, but you’ll never be able to go past it.”

I gasped in exaggerated horror. “So, you’re telling me I’ll be short forever?”

He just stared at me a moment, then fell out laughing. His eyes squeezed shut as he laughed hard enough to make a few tears spill out.

“The secret is commitment… and platform shoes,” I added belatedly, which only made him laugh harder. I enjoyed having a friend. “Okay, okay, let’s see, what else?” I thought aloud as he sobered up. “What about that thing you can do?”

“What thing?”

“You know, the thing with the stuff.” I mimed controlling something in the air.

“It’s called shadowing. Well, technically, all of it is called that. It’s not hard. See this?” He held up a spoon. “This is one of the first things I learned to do. On purpose anyway,” he amended with a crooked smile. “Watch closely.” The spoon turned black, as did his eyes as he focused on it. “Just stay relaxed and don’t lose your concentration.” The spoon melted down into a ball. “Hold out your hand.”

“But I can’t do that.”

“I didn’t ask if you could. Now hold out your hand.” I did as he said and he dropped it onto my palm. “Keeping it in a different shape is called maintaining. Now technically, the spoon is just pure shadow right now with no defined shape beyond the one I’m giving it.” At his words, the spoon morphed into a square, a pyramid, and then another ball covered in spikes. “What does it feel like?”

It returned to the perfect sphere, and I wrapped my fingers around it. “It’s smooth, soft.” Was this what it felt like when it twined around Alex’s body?

“What else?”

“It feels a bit like holding fog, but like really thick fog, you know?” I looked up to see if that was the right answer. The sphere had spread out in my hand as if mimicking my description.

He smiled knowingly.

“What are you smirking about?”

“I’m not doing that. You are.” The sphere dropped through my hand to the table where it was once again an inky black ball. “You’re the only one standing in your way. Now turn it back.”

“I don’t know how.”