From Light to Dark by Irene L. Pynn Read Free Book Online

So strong. So overpowering.
    There was nothing to think about. Nothing to do but cause pain. Transfer this throbbing, burning, horror to someone else. Open the valve. Release the pressure. Balor bit. Atc struggled. It was over in a moment.
    Balor dropped Atc’s headless body to the floor. He chomped down, chewed, and swallowed. Give pain to release pain.
    And then….
    It was a miracle. All around him, bright light, as bright as any day in Light World, filled the room. The pain in his head eased. His anger fell away.
    He could see.
    Balor pulled off his dark-vision glasses and looked around. Caer’s house had a low ceiling through which grass and vines grew. The walls were made of clay, and hard-packed sand carpeted the floor. Smashed glass and broken wood lay all around the floor and on the bed.
    Balor walked into the front room, where he’d thrown the chair. The light followed him there. This room was grander than the bedroom but still would have been too small for a Light Person. In Light World, people liked wide open spaces. They lived on the tops of large stones with no roofs. Here, people lived in caves under trees.
    Several cabinets lined the walls. One of the doors stood open, and a can of food lay on the floor. Balor picked it up and read Tinghept Tuck In, Food For the Finicky Tinghept . Uninterested, he closed the cabinet door and set the can on the wooden counter next to the sink.
    He looked around the room. A stuffed bookshelf, a swollen couch. Tiny bugs crawled across the roots that ran like serpents through the foundations of the house.
    Nobody was here.
    No….
    Darkness flashed in Balor’s eyes. Someone was here. Light returned, and he stumbled backward into the kitchen counter. “Hello?”
    Silence.
    Balor blinked. For a second he couldn’t remember why he had jumped through the hole in the first place. He wished were back home.
    He shook his head, forcing himself to focus. He wouldn’t go back before he’d killed Eref. Not if it took him the rest of his life.
    He felt dizzier by the minute. It seemed the longer the light glowed from inside him, the weaker he felt. He leaned on the counter for support.
    Darkness flashed behind his eyes again, and he heard someone’s voice—a faraway memory. “ Come on, Balor! I’ve found something! ”
    His head burned. Then the light returned, and the room fell quiet again.
    “What’s happening to me?”
    His body shuddered under the effort to stay upright. The light grew stronger. It blazed all around him. Light from Light World. Light from home.
    The Dark World house faded from his eyes.
    “ Come on, Balor! I think I’ve found some of shade!” Eref waved Balor over to where he squatted in the sand, his small sneakers coated with red clay and dirt.
    “No way. Where?”
    “Right over here! Climb down a few feet. It’s just under this stone.”
    Balor peered over the rocky ledge. There it was. About the size of a fingernail, hidden under an overhanging rock, there was a dark space where the light didn’t shine. “Woah, a real shade! Have you touched it? Are you sure it’s safe?”
    “Of course it is. Come on. Give me your hand.” Eref reached up.
    He drew back. “I don’t know, Eref. In the Learning they say—”
    “Who cares what they say? It’s really awesome. Come on. Touch the shadow before the Governors send someone to shine it out.”
    “What does it feel like?”
    Eref smiled. It was the reassuring look that one friend can give another to instill confidence like magic. “Here, you tell me.”
    Sucking up all his courage, Balor stepped down and slid his hand under the rock, into the darkness of the shadow. “It’s so cold.”
    “I know. Isn’t it great?” Eref beamed.
    “I’ve never seen shade this close before.”
    “Balor, when we grow up, we won’t be like everyone else. We’ll find a shady place like this and we’ll build a house in it. We’ll be roommates! ”
    Light and darkness flashed in front of Balor’s eyes, and his