What Lay in the Dark

by Casey L. Nash

  ***

  I’d experienced my fair share of coincidences in the past couple of weeks: Egan showing up at the castle and then at the newspaper agency, and finding Egan in the middle of a hunt in a graveyard simply because I chose that day to take a longer walk. Still, I was completely unprepared for this.

  It was unbelievable that Kieran sent me to this place - the same castle where I met Egan. The fact that Mikayla and Samuel happened to be here too just made it worse.

  “Hey Ailia,” Mikayla said cheerfully. She was leaning against one of the ruined walls, grinning.

  “What are you guys doing here?” I asked, confused.

  “Currently? Waiting for you.” Mikayla answered.

  “Right. Samuel knew I was going to be here?”

  “Yep,” Samuel replied. “And Egan’s not going to be happy about it.”

  “Egan’s coming here too?”

  Mikayla nodded. “So why are you here?”

  “You don’t know?”

  Samuel shook his head, “It can’t really be controlled. I pick up on some things and the rest is still a mystery. I knew you’d be here today, but I didn’t know why.”

  “I’m working. Apparently this place is haunted.”

  Samuel nodded. “That’s why we’re here; need to find out if it’s worth worrying about.”

  “You want to know if it’s haunted by demons?”

  “We want to know if there’s anything here first,” Mikayla replied.

  “Trust me, there’s something here,” Egan interrupted.

  He appeared on the hillside with a backpack slung over his shoulder and a determined look in his eyes. He walked straight up to me, stopping only millimetres away. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “I’m working,” I replied, unable to look away.

  “You’re a journalist. Why would you be here?” he kept his voice low, and a chill ran through me.

  “Apparently this place is haunted. Kieran asked me to check it out.”

  “Do you know how many haunted castles there are in Scotland? Why write an article on one? And why this one?”

  “Bosses orders,” I replied.

  “Egan,” Mikayla sighed. “Leave her alone.”

  “I don’t want her involved in this Mikayla,” Egan raised his voice slightly, stepping away from me.

  “She already is. You can’t change that.”

  “She doesn’t need to be any more involved.”

  “Egan-” Mikayla was silenced by a loud bang coming from inside the castle. “Anyone else here?” Mikayla directed the question at Samuel.

  “Not that I know of.”

  Egan looked at me and sighed. “Come on, then.”

  Egan walked through to the middle of the castle. The walls were crumbling, and there was no roof. It was open to the sky. “Any idea where the noise came from?” he asked, swinging the bag off of his back and beginning to dig through it.

  Mikayla shook her head, “Sam?”

  Samuel shook his head in turn.

  Egan pulled out the strange looking electronic device he’d placed on the table this morning and handed it to Mikayla, who switched it on. Egan pulled out another device and then pulled the bag up and onto his back. My head suddenly started to throb. I put my hand on my forehead in an attempt to stop it.

  “You okay?” Egan looked at me, concerned.

  I nodded. “Headache.”

  Everyone’s eyes stayed on me. “What?” I asked.

  No one answered.

  Before I knew Egan pressed me to the wall as one of the stones from the castle flew by just behind his head. Mikayla stared at us, wide eyed. “I will never understand how he does that,” she muttered.

  “Are you alright?” Egan asked.

  I nodded. “Thanks.”

  “Welcome,” Egan replied. “Now what was that?”

  “That,” Samuel replied. “Was no ghost.”

  “Ow,” I moaned, my hand flying to my head again.

  Egan looked between me and Samuel. “We need to get her out of here.”

  “Egan, it’s her demon. She can’t escape it,” Samuel muttered.

  I looked up. My demon?

  I glanced between the three of them. I could feel the darkness beginning to surround me again, and I started to panic. “Ailia,” Egan spoke forcefully. “You can’t let this get to your head. Stay positive.”

  “What’s happening?” I asked.

  Egan slipped his bag off of his back and passed it to Mikayla, who started going through it and handing certain items to Samuel. “Your demon’s trying to scare you, Ailia. It’s attempting to get into your head. You can’t let it.”

  I nodded, the darkness was becoming thicker. It was broad daylight, but I felt like it should be night. “What do I do?”

  “Remember what you did at the graveyard? When you shielded us?”

  “I don’t know how I did it,” I confessed.

  “Try,” Egan encouraged. I nodded.

  “We can’t get rid of it until we find out who summoned it, can we?”

  “No, but you can fight it. Don’t let it get to you, and it will go away for a while.”

  “So I need to shield us from it?”

  “If you can.” Mikayla passed Egan something, which he took, barely looking away from me. “You need to make sure your thoughts stay positive. Think about the good things in your life.”

  I stayed silent. I thought about my past. There wasn’t really a lot of good in my life.

  “Don’t do that,” Egan told me.

  “Do what?”

  “Think about the bad things. Your past.”

  “How did you know I was thinking about that?” I asked quickly.

  “I can tell. Think about it Ailia, what is good?”

  I stared at him. Desperation seemed to swim in his eyes. “I don’t know,” I whispered.

  Egan sighed. Mikayla cried out behind him. I tried to see what was going on, but Egan blocked my view.

  “What do you feel, Ailia?”

  “Right now?”

  Egan nodded.

  “Cold.” I replied. “It’s dark.” I looked up at the sun. It was burning brightly. It was a rare thing to see the sun in Scotland.

  Egan looked back at the sun, and then grabbed my hand, “Come on,” he muttered softly. He pulled me out of the castle to the hillside. We were no longer in shadow.

  “What about now? Can you feel the sun?”

  I nodded.

  “That’s a form of light.”

  I smiled. Light to combat the darkness. Maybe that’s just what I needed. I stared at Egan, taking in his features once again. I slowly felt the darkness fade. “You know, when I first heard about demon hunting, I expected swords and weapons and stuff.”

  Egan laughed. “Weapons don’t do much. Demons aren’t exactly physical creatures.”

  “So how do you fight them then?”

  “That’s not really important,” he smiled.

  “I think it might be.” I winced as my head throbbed yet again. “Where is it?”

  “Gone,” it was Samuel who answered.

  “Just like that?” I asked.

  “All it was trying to do was scare you,” Egan explained. “It wouldn’t take much to get rid of it. It wasn’t really trying to do anything. You guys alright?” Egan looked over at Samuel, who was joined by Mikayla.

  “We’re fine,” she replied.

  Egan nodded. “Let’s get you out of here, alright?” He looked back at Samuel and Mikayla again. Mikayla nodded. “Do you need to get back to work?” Egan asked me.

  “Probably,” I sighed.

  “Well, come back to my house when you’ve finished,” Egan instructed. “You’re probably not going to want to be alone.”

  I nodded, and walked off.

  “Is she alright?” Mikayla asked, probably hoping I couldn’t hear.

  “Who knows?” Egan answered.

  “Egan,” Mikayla mutt
ered. “You did the right thing.”

  I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation.