Vala Eminence by J. F. Jenkins Page B

he'd been sitting and left the Old Union. His good-deed was done for the time being.

Chapter Seven

    Soft singing filled Denver's ears, though he couldn't make out the words. In fact, they sounded like nothing more than gibberish to him. All the same, he wouldn't have the voice stop. It was the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.
    A woman was singing. When he opened his eyes, he could make out the outline of her body. The most he could tell was that she had dark hair. Her face was blank despite the pale coloring of her skin being present. He'd seen something like it in a horror movie once, and it had actually been bizarre enough to frighten him. When he looked at her, however, he felt nothing but joy inside of his heart.
    â€œMom,” he whispered.
    She spoke in more gibberish, but nodded.
    Smiling, he closed his eyes again, savoring the sound of the babbling she made as if it were coming from the voice of an angel. She was his angel, if nothing else.
    ****
    Denver fought hard to stay asleep and linger in the dream a little while longer. Remembering his dreams didn't happen often. For so long all he had were nightmares, and those were not something he wanted to hold onto in the waking world. Dreaming about his mother was another story entirely. He had to stay with her for as long as possible. Where else would he get to see her? He didn't even have a picture of his family, only faded memories which were slowly beginning to return to him.
    With a small groan, he forced himself to climb out of bed. The weekend had arrived, so at least he didn't have to go to any classes for the day. But, there were still things for him to do, all the same. Seeing Cheyenne was at the top of his list, but would have to wait until later in the day. It'd been three weeks since he'd last done his laundry, so he had to tackle that task too along with his homework. Ideally, he'd kill all three birds with one stone and invite Cheyenne over but the no girls in his room ban was still in place. Besides, he didn't want her to see his underwear in such disgusting circumstances.
    After a long, hot shower Denver put on his last clean outfit before getting to the mountain of clothing on his floor. He separated his clothing into three piles: colors, whites, favorites. The favorites would get done first. Just as he was about to pick up the mound of clothes, he heard the floor creak in the den. He faced the sound. His magical instincts must have been working because along with seeing his bedroom, he also saw the spiritual components of his dorm room. Most of it was neutral space. A few shadows hung around his windows. In the den he saw a flash of black blur past the door. Someone, or some thing was in his room.
    He clenched his fists, readying the only weapon he had at his disposal. Vala didn't allow for weapons of any kind to be kept in the student dormitories. Denver was lucky to have a butter knife in his kitchen. If he had aggressive magic, he didn't know how to use it yet. Unles s I use the stones Jewl gave me… He glanced back toward the nightstand by his bed. There might be something in there I can fight back with, if need be.
    Spinning on his heel, he ran back toward the bed just as the black shadow burst into his room. It knocked him to the ground before he could reach the nightstand. Landing hard on the floor, Denver narrowly missed hitting his head against the frame of his bed. The contact with the ground would have hurt a lot more if he hadn't had so many clothes lying around to cushion his fall. He grabbed a T-shirt and threw it into the face of the shadow. While it clawed the shirt off its face, he reached for the drawer on the nightstand.
    His fingers wrapped around the handle. The drawer flung open when the shadow creature pulled on his body. Drawer still in his hand, Denver used it to knock his attacker in the side of face. All of the contents inside of it spilled on the floor. With the shadow momentarily off him, Denver scrambled for a