Eternal Shadows by Kate Martin

brown, and red brick smeared together into incomprehensible images. Did we look the same? If someone passed by would they see two dark blurs, or nothing at all? Rhys moved as though he disappeared from one spot and reappeared in another, but I knew we weren’t moving that fast. I’d have to ask. Later, when the wind we created stopped beating against my face in that pleasant way it did when you rode a rollercoaster.
    Finally, we slowed and the world reassembled itself. I looked up and realized we stood in front of my friend Sara’s house. All the lights were off, making me wonder what time it was. I had lost track. Days didn’t seem as long anymore, and I didn’t get tired nearly as often. I assumed it was just another perk of being undead.
    Rhys kept walking, but I stopped. Sara’s room was on the third floor, and her curtains were drawn all the way. She’d never done that before. I’d slept over there a million times and we always left the window open to let the moonlight in. Sara liked the night. She wanted to be an astronomer. I missed her terribly.
    “What’s the story?” I asked, calling out to get Rhys to stop.
    I heard him pause. “What do you mean?”
    “What do people think happened? Why is my father gone? Why haven’t I been in school? Do they think we’re dead?” Could I see Sara again?
    He appeared at my side again. “Your father was transferred. You remained behind to finish the school year, but have been sick this past week. You’ll return to school once you can do so without eradicating the entire student body.”
    Elation jumped through me. I never thought I’d be so excited to know I could go to school. “I get to go back? Really?”
    “The general doesn’t abide the uneducated.”
    “I can see my friends? I can act like everything is normal?”
    “For a time. Yes.”
    I couldn’t help it. I hugged him.
    Actually, it was more of a glomp. One of those broad-side attack-type hugs that have the potential to make the other person fall over. Of course, Rhys barely stumbled. He did seem surprised though.
    “Had I known you would react this way, I would have told you earlier,” he said, his hands tentatively resting on my sides.
    I released him, bouncing like an excited five year old. “You’re not teasing me, right?”
    “Why would I do that?”
    I shrugged, then turned back to stare at Sara’s curtains. I tried willing her to wake up and come to the window, but it didn’t work. I’d never had so much incentive to learn to control my dumb new hunger. I needed my friend. Even if I couldn’t tell her everything, I needed her presence.
    But I clearly wouldn’t have it that night. Rhys took my hand once more and pulled me back through space and time, away from my still-human friend.
    We came to a gradual stop. The houses warped back into their normal shapes. We were back on my street and my home loomed before me, more ominous than I would have thought possible. Light shone through every window, evidence of the life inside. While the rest of the world slept, my home continued on.
    “Why is everyone still up?” My voice hitched with the question. Every house was dark but mine.
    “We don’t need as much sleep as humans, and the older you get the less you need.” He finally let go of my wrist, and I felt the absence of his touch as acutely as the blatant difference between my home and the rest of the world. “You must have noticed you don’t get tired as often. You’ve been up for 26 hours already.”
    How nice of him to keep track. Or maybe creepy. “I did notice,” I said, surprised by the wavering in my voice. One light, that’s all I wanted. Just one light to go out.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.”
    “You’re a terrible liar.” He turned me by one shoulder until I faced him.
    “I’m actually a really good liar,” I said. “It’s gotten me into trouble as much as it’s gotten me out of it.” Just above his right eye was this little line. A crease that told