Broken

Running

I didn’t sleep.

I didn’t eat.

I stared at the book on my shelf for 6 hours straight.

At 2:13AM it bled again.

Thin white light. And a whisper: _“Ada…”_

Then the vision hit me like a slap.

*The vision:*

A boy on a bike. Black hoodie. Earphones in.

A car swerving. Tires screeching.

A name carved in light above his head: _TAYO_.

Tayo. My little brother.

I shot up. “No. No no.”

I grabbed my jacket, the book, and ran.

The streets in Abuja at 2AM are empty. Too empty.

I was halfway to Tayo’s hostel when the air went cold.

“Please,” I whispered. “Please let it be wrong this time.”

That’s when I heard it.

Footsteps. Not mine. Behind me.

And a shadow peeling off the wall, crawling along the ground toward me.

“Okay,” I said out loud, heart pounding. “Okay, run.”

I bolted.

The shadow moved faster.

I turned a corner and slammed straight into someone.

“Whoa—”

Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground.

He smelled like rain and something sharp, like ozone.

Black hoodie. Earphones still in one ear.

And eyes that were not normal. Gold. Glowing faintly.

“Are you trying to get killed?” he said, voice low, annoyed.

“Because you’re doing a great job.”

I stared. “Tayo?”

He frowned. “Do I look 16 to you?”

Right. Wrong boy.

Behind us, the shadow hissed and stretched up the wall.

I grabbed his arm. “We have to move. NOW.”

He looked past me, saw the shadow, and his whole face changed.

The annoyance was gone. Replaced with something cold.

“s**t,” he muttered. “It found you.”

“Found _me_?” I said, already pulling him down an alley. “What is that thing?!”

“A problem,” he said. Then he glanced at me, at the book clutched to my chest, and his gold eyes narrowed.

“Wait. Is that… The Book?”

“You know about this?”

“I know you shouldn’t be holding it.”

The shadow lunged.

He shoved me behind him and held out his hand.

Light, but gold this time, shot from his palm and hit the shadow. It screeched and recoiled.

He turned back to me, breathing hard.

“Name?”

“Ada,” I panted.

“Ada, I’m Kade. And if you want to live past tonight, you’re coming with me.”

I should’ve said no.

I should’ve run the other way.

But the book in my arms pulsed once. Warm.

Like it recognized him.

“Fine,” I said. “But if you’re lying to me, I swear—”

Kade cut me off with a half-smile.

“Noted. Now run, Ada.”

And we ran.

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