Chapter 2 - The Parasite of DarknessThe silence was so abrupt that even the courtyard fountains seemed to go silent. Alexander let out a dry, disbelieving laugh.
âAnd what would you know about eyes, kid?â
Alma didn't flinch. âItâs not the eye. Itâs what lives inside.â
Julian reached his hand out into the void until he found the girlâs wrist. The moment he touched her, he shivered. For the first time in months, something disturbed the resigned calm with which he moved through the house.
âLet her speak,â he murmured.
Alexander felt a dark anger. It felt offensive that a girl from the street sounded more confident than the doctors he had paid fortunes to. Still, something in Julianâs expression stopped him for a few seconds. Alma leaned over the boy and rested her small fingers on his cheeks. Then, she carefully lifted one of his eyelids.
âDon't you dare touch him,â Alexander warned.
But the girl had already inserted her fingernail with chilling precision. Julian let out a stifled groanânot of pain, but of an ancient pressure that seemed to crack open behind his forehead. Alexander took a step forward, ready to tear her away, when Alma made a swift movement and withdrew her hand.
In her palm, something black was writhing. It wasn't a scab. It wasn't dirt. It wasn't blood.
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It was a tiny, shimmering, synthetic bio-device shaped like a dark shell that reflected light like oil on water. It was the size of a fingernail, but its edges were too perfect, almost geometric, as if it didn't entirely belong to the natural world. It was moving.
Alexander went white. âGuards!â
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