Chapter 6: The Umbra King: Chapter 4

and Kordie waited for the guys outside of Wonder, and Rory tried to put the night before behind her.

Kordie’s hair was long and dark and fell in a sheet down her back. “Why did you change your hair?” Rory asked her.

Kordie ran a hand through her locks. “I’m changing it back tomorrow, but I wanted something sleek tonight.” She paused and added, “It’s dark maroon. You would love it.”

Rory nodded. “I could go for a darker color, but I don’t know if I trust you not to turn my hair pink.”

Kordie’s lips pinched together. “I promise I won’t. We could add dimension with grey highlights through the bottom of your hair,” she said, inspecting Rory with eager eyes. “It would look amazing, and you could see it exactly as others do.”

Rory released a heavy sigh. “Fine.”

She would never admit it, but seeing herself as others did, even if it was only her hair, was something she desperately wanted. She and Cora would lie awake and wonder what certain people looked like in color. Her heart stung at the memory.

Kordie’s eyes widened as she clapped excitedly. “We’re doing it this weekend before you have time to chicken out.”

“

,“ Rory grumbled again.

Kordie looked ecstatic as the guys approached, and Rory pushed her lightly.

“Ready to get fucked up?” Keith asked as he rubbed his hands together like an evil villain. “Dumey is driving us home.”

“I will leave you here if you call me that again,” the threatened, and opened the door for the others to walk through.

Keith smirked at the girls. “He would never.”

Wonder was dark with different colored essence lights flashing and twirling around the dance floor, and Rory wished she could see them in all their glory. The music was loud and people were already drunk as they writhed against each other to the beat of the music.

“It’s busy tonight,” Kordie shouted over the music. “You need to ask for every Friday off.”

“It’s when I make the most money,” Rory yelled back. “Come on, let’s get drinks.”

Dume parted the crowd as they walked and ordered water for himself, along with the others’ drinks.

Keith pointed to an empty corner booth in the back, and the other three followed him through the throng of people. After they sat down, Kordie stretched her tiny neck to survey the room. “There are a lot of cute guys here tonight.” She elbowed Rory in the side. “Maybe you’ll find a boyfriend.”

Rory made a show of gagging. “I’m never dating, especially not some asshole trying to pick up in a nightclub.”

Keith winked at a man across the room before turning back to her. “Dume and I aren’t assholes.”

“You’re an asshole, wolf,” she teased, and he waved her off.

“Rory is letting me color her hair,” Kordie announced, like she had the biggest news in the realm.

Dume and Keith whipped their heads in her direction. “She finally wore you down,” Dume said and turned back to Kordie. “Please turn her hair yellow.”

“I will murder you both,” Rory warned with the most threatening glare she could muster.

Her friends exploded with laughter at her serious expression. “Will you string us up like The Butcher?” Keith asked as he took a drink.

Rory’s stomach soured, and she fell quiet, grappling for something to say.

“I was kidding,” Keith said, setting his glass down. “I know it’s scary.”

She picked up her drink and tossed the rest back. “I’m going for another. Anyone need anything?”

Keith looked apologetic, but soon recovered by holding up his glass. “I’ll take one.”

After waiting forever at the bar, Rory turned and bumped into Dume. “Are you okay?” He could read her like a book, and for the first time in her life, she cursed their friendship.

“I’m fine,” she replied. “The Butcher is gross, right?” She fake laughed, cringing at the sound.

“I would never let anything happen to you, you know that,” he told her. “I would have to be dead before someone hurt you.”

A lump formed in Rory’s throat.

“I know. I’m just tired.”

He knew she was lying, but he let it go, anyway. “Let’s get back to Kordie and watch Keith try to get lucky with a poor, unsuspecting person.”

Rory laughed lightly. “I’ve heard he’s great in the sack; more like getting lucky.“ It was true, and Rory itched to test the theory, but she could tell there was something between him and Kordie. She would never overstep.

Dume’s lip curled. “Never say that to him. The last thing we need is his head getting any bigger.”

Rory’s laugh was genuine this time. “Lead the way.”

The next morning, Rory stretched and rolled out of bed, her mood tinged with a newfound determination.

After relieving herself and brushing her teeth, she trudged to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and was surprised to see a fresh pot already brewing.

“Good morning,” her mother called from the stove. Her shoulder length grey hair was brushed and fixed, and her makeup was done.

Rory’s heart pinched. Today must be a good day. Lenora only had one or two good days a month, and Rory always called in to work to spend as much time with her as possible. Lenora used to only have one or two bad days every few months, then every month, then every week, and now it was reversed.

“Good morning.” Rory crossed the kitchen and wrapped her hands around her mother for a hug. The comfort of Lenora’s bright red soul set Rory at ease. “What are you making?”

She held up a plate of fluffy pancakes. “Your favorite. Have a seat, dear. They’re almost ready.”

Rory poured them both a cup of coffee, added cream and sugar, and sat at the wooden table in their kitchen. Their apartment was too small for an actual dining room and instead had a small breakfast nook.

While her mother finished at the stove, Rory sent a quick text to her boss, letting him know she wouldn’t be in tonight, and another to her mother’s evening nurse. Often, Rory stayed with Lenora during the day and a nurse stayed in the evenings until her mother went to sleep.

“Fill me in on everything I’ve missed,” her mother insisted as she sat across from her. “Have any men caught your attention?” She waggled her eyebrows, and Rory snickered at her mother’s antics.

As a , Lenora was aware she missed time between her good days and always played catch up for the first part of the morning. It was both a blessing Rory didn’t have to pretend everything was fine, and a curse her mother knew she was trapped in a cage of her mind’s making.

“For the last time, I’m too busy for men.” Rory stuck a piece of pancake in her mouth and sighed. Her mother was a phenomenal cook.

“Not even a friend with goodies?” her mother asked, pouring syrup over her own pancakes.

Rory choked on her food and looked up. “It’s friends with benefits and no, for aether’s sake.“ She preferred one-night stands.

Her mother laughed, the sound like music to Rory’s ears. “Whatever you say, dear. How is work going?”

Rory’s head bobbed as she ate and answered the next question she knew was coming. “Good, and Dume is doing great. He’s still an enforcer, and Keith still drives him crazy.”

Her mother smiled. “I love that boy. Tell him to come by today, and I’ll make you two dinner.”

“Great idea,” Rory said, wiping her mouth. “I’ll text him now.” She fired off a text and sat her phone back down. “What do you want to do today?”

Her phone pinged with Dume’s response, and Rory read it aloud. “

“ Rory grinned. “He’s coming.”

Laughing, her mother took a drink of coffee and waved her hand. “I’ll cook that boy whatever he wants.” She pointed to Rory’s phone. “Did you get a new phone?”

Rory rubbed her stomach as she sat back. “The essence sensor on my old one shattered when I dropped it.”

Everything in Erdikoa was powered by the essence, the magical power that gave mystics their abilities, of the inmates in Vincula, or as some called it, the prison realm. When mystics entered Vincula, they lost their essence until their sentence was paid in full.

The technology in Erdikoa had sensors that absorbed the essence, giving them power. Rory didn’t know how it actually worked, and she didn’t particularly care.

“You break your phone more than you change your socks,” her mother tsked.

It was true. Usually, she dropped them during her kills, but her mother didn’t need to know that. “I’m a klutz.”

Her mother set down her coffee mug. “You’re . It is impossible for you to be clumsy.”

Rory stood and gathered their plates. “Do you want me to call Dad?”

Her mother and father, Patrick, divorced not long after her mother’s abilities manifested when Rory was ten. It took years for the visions to fully take over.

Her father wanted to stay, begging Lenora not to kick him out, but her mother insisted on the divorce. It killed him to leave, but he respected his wife’s wishes. When she was having a good day, he wanted to visit, but sometimes her mother didn’t want to see him. She said it was too hard.

“Not today,” her mother said in a strained voice.

Rory kissed the top of her head. “Okay, Mom. I love you.”

Fifteen minutes later, a knock sounded through the apartment three seconds before Dume threw open the front door with a wide smile. “Lenora!”

He ambled across the room and wrapped his arms around Lenora’s neck, making her laugh. “Hello, love. I’ve missed you,” she said, patting his arm as she pulled back.

Dume was a son to her, and he deserved to spend the good days with her as much as Rory did.

“I’ve missed you, too,” he replied, and pecked her cheek.

“I like your hair,” Rory said as she set everyone’s plates on the kitchen table. It was shorter than yesterday, Kordie’s doing, she assumed.

Dume took his seat at the table and ran a hand between his horns. “It was getting too long.”

Rory chuckled and stood to grab drinks from the fridge but froze when she saw her mother’s eyes glass over. “No,” she whispered as she hurried to the doorway between the living room and kitchen. She placed her hands on her mother’s shoulders. “Mom?”

Dume touched Rory’s shoulder lightly. He’d seen this happen before, and they both knew what it meant. The good day was over.

Lenora’s eyes went clear for an instant, and she locked her hands onto Rory’s upper arms. “Two were one, and one is yours.”

Rory’s eyes burned. “Mom, it’s okay. Let’s get you to bed.”

“No,” her mother insisted and snatched her hands away. “Listen to me Aurora, do not let him fool you; his darkness is poison. Only the golden child can save you.”

A tear slipped down Rory’s cheek as her mother’s eyes glassed over again. Dume pulled Rory back and led Lenora to her room at the end of the hall.

When he returned, Rory looked at him with tear-stained cheeks. “She didn’t even get the entire day. It’s getting worse.”

Dume guided Rory to a kitchen chair and laid a fork on her plate before taking his place across from her. “I know. Let’s finish these pancakes and watch a movie on the couch. Your choice.”

Rory was grateful for her friend, but her heart still sank. If her mother’s days were getting shorter, then pretty soon, they wouldn’t exist at all.