Original Link (now dead) - http://zone.msn.com/asheronscall/ASHEshadowwalk.asp
Shadow-Walk
A shriek tore Tohm from his slumber. Rolling off his cot, he sprang to his feet, eyes darting right and left, already on the move toward the sound. Again it came -- a girl's voice.
Groggily, Tohm spoke, "Sara?" as he stumbled toward his daughter's room. Behind him he could hear his wife, also up, close by.
The girl was curled against the wall, her eyes wide in terror, staring blankly at the shuttered window. She sucked in her breath to let loose another scream when Tohm's hands caught her arms. "Sara, sweetheart, what is it? What's wrong?"
Tears streaked the girl's face. "Daddy! It was him, it was Aetim! He was at my window!"
"Aetim?" his wife murmured behind him.
Stroking Sara's hair, Tohm said quietly, "Honey, Aetim's gone. You didn't see him."
"Yes!" the girl protested. "He was at my window! And his eyes! He had red eyes, and I could see through him, like in the ghost stories, right through him and he wanted me to come with him, but I said "no!" and slammed the shutters, but he wanted to get in and. . . " She trailed off in sobs.
"Tohm. . . could it have been Aetim?" the girl's mother asked anxiously as she soothed their daughter.
Tohm looked at the window, concern in his eyes. His nephew Aetim had wandered off from his brother's farm two months past. A lot of bad things could happen to a young boy, even this close to Cragstone. No place on this cursed world was safe, and Sara's description bothered him badly.
"Red eyes. You know what that means, Glora," he whispered.
His wife nodded as she cradled their daughter close, reassuring her that everything would be just fine, a difficult task considering her certainty that all was very wrong.
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