His Her

Chapter three

The morning air was damp and cool, pressing against her skin like a whisper. Zhanarah walked with her shoulders rounded, her hands buried deep in the pockets of her oversized hoodie. The sleeves hung past her fingers frayed at the edges, and the hood cast a shadow over her face. She had long ago learned

how to disappear into, how to shrink herself so that the world may pass her by.

The road to school wound past narrow streets lined with peeling paint and sagging fences. Ahead, the spires of St. Ignatius catholic school rose above roof tops like sentinels, their crosses cutting against the cloudy sky. A school paid for by the church, a school for families like hers_families that could not afford the glittering private academies with their bright uniforms and polished shoes

she dragged her feet, not out of laziness but dread. Nobody liked her there.They called her strange behind her back, whispered things about her grey shiny hair that caught light like a blade. Some said it was a curse, some called her a witch and others accused her parents of immorality for 'dyeing' her hair at such a young age. Either way, they stared

And stared.

As she walked, she felt it again_the familiar weight of being watched. Not the curious stares of the living but something deeper, colder. The hairs on her arms lifted beneath the hoodie. From the corner of her vision, shadows shifted though nothing moved. The shape of a claw curling back behind a wall. A dark form clinging to the trunk of a tree. She had been no stranger to shadows but this felt...her brain refused to find the right word_demons in the seams of the world, slick and patient, their teeth glinting as they smiled at her.

Her breath quickened. She tugged the hood further down, clutching the edges near her throat as if the fabric could shield her from whatever prowled the edges of reality. Her pace quickened, sneakers slapping the pavement

A hiss behind her. Another to her right. They were drawing closer and closer. She didn't dare look full-on but she caught glimpses anyway :wings like torn cloth, hands like bent nails, eye like pits. She wanted to run, but the road to school stretched long and exposed

Then like a second heartbeat in the air_she felt another presence.A different kind of cold. Cold and heavy, like the sky before a nasty rainfall. It moved with her, at first a flicker at her back, then a pulse beside her, then a wall between her and the dark things closing in.

The demons shrieked, a sound she felt more than heard, and then recoiled into the gutters and the trees. One lunged away, a smear of black claw, but something unseen struck it.Light_no, not light exactly, but a force exploded against the demon and sent it dissolving into smoke

Zhanarah stumbled to a stop gasping.The presence moved closer coalescing in front of her. Shadows bent away from it. The air trembled and where nothing had stood before, a man now stood.

He was impossibly tall,shoulders broad beneath raven black royal robes.His seemlessly long hair was black as spilled ink, his pale skin flawless as carved stoned. His eyes_she could not tell their colour;they shifted like the sky before a storm. He was beautiful in the way of old myths, a figure cut from some Greek temple and brought to life. Beautiful in a way that hurt to look at. His features sharp, symmetrical,carved like some forgotten greek god.

Hisses could still be heard in the distance. She didn't need a sooth sayer to tell her that it was his presence that held them back

Zhanarah stared, clutching her hood. She didn't know whether to run or to kneel. Around them, the street returned to silence. Cars passed, people walked, but no one else reacted. They couldn't see the demons, and they couldn't see him either. She knew what they thought of her already_mad, cursed, touched. Their disapproving glances cut at her like tiny blades as they passed, whispering to one another without moving their lips.

He tilted his head, a faint, unreadable smile ghosting across his face

"Always wear your anklet" he said, his voice low and rich, the kind that echoed through old castle walls

She stared at him, trembling. Her lips parted but no sound came out. Zhanarah swallowed hard. "Who are you? " she whispered

His eyes grew darker, a flicker of something not human glinting behind them

"What not who" he muttered disapprovingly

She felt cold air brush past her face and for a moment, the world was quiet again. Then, as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone. The air folded over itself and the space where he stood now emptied. Only the faint scent of smoke and something sweet_like rain on metal lingered.

Zhanarah blinked, her breath unsteady. In a distance the church bell rang_deep, tired, holy. She adjusted her hood, forcing her trembling hands into her pocket and kept walking. The closer she got to St. Ignatius, the more her stomach twisted. Another bell rang yet again as she reached it's gates reminding her of the evident fact that she was late. Students milled about in their dull clothes, laughter spilling into the air. She slipped past them quietly, her head down.

In class, she took her usual seat by the window. She could feel eyes flick towards her_some curious, some cruel. The teacher didn't look at her_never did, but when the sunlight caught her hair, the room seemed to go still for a second. Then came the whispers, soft but sharp enough to sting.

Zhanarah focused on her notebook, pretending to write. The tip of her pen trembled. She didn't cry_she never did_but the weight in her chest was heavy, like wet cloth.

* * * *

The rest of the school day moved in a blur. Voices droned, pens scratched, the bell rang and still Zhanarah felt as though she were moving under water. Everytime she glanced up someone_no something was looking

She pretended not to notice. She'd learned long ago that reacting only made things worse

When the final bell rang, she packed her books with mechanical precision. she never stayed_had no reason to. Students rushed past her, spilling into the hallways like water escaping a cracked dam. The sound of clatter faded as she stepped outside.