Hexus

>23< Shreds

[9:08PM, October 31, UTC +08:00]

“Agnes, what’s wrong?”

Agnes couldn’t answer the question, because she wasn’t exactly sure. Something had changed a few seconds ago. But it was more of a gut feeling than anything which she could give a reasonable explanation for.

“I’ll call you back.”

“Talk to me. What happened?”

She sighed. Joshua was never one to just let things go. She thought through her list of common excuses and picked the first one.

“It’s my Dad, I think he’s calling for me.”

“Okay babes. Love you.”

“Never call me ‘babes’ again. Ever.”

“Okay. Sorry. But I mean the second part though.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Won’t you say it back?”

“Bye, Josh.”

Agnes snickered as she ended the call. Joshua was almost too eager to please, and she used it to rattle his cage. She’d agreed to their relationship partly out of exasperation, but as it progressed, it really wasn’t bad. He was funny and interesting and just a little reckless, and he appeared to be mystified by her for some reason. Probably the magic thing. They’d abused it a few times, purely for fun, but he knew her boundaries. At least, she hoped he knew.

As the feelings of mischief and giddiness faded, she was left with a strange vacuous feeling, coupled with a haunting sense of isolation. Like she’d forgotten about something important. She scrambled up from bed and went down the hall to Augustus’ room. She knocked. No answer. She opened the door and looked in. Augustus’ bed was a mess, something she would have found unusual a year ago, but it seemed the transition towards teenage had brought out his inner slob. She walked towards the stairs to the living room, where she was hit with the acrid smell of an electrical fire. Linus and Esther had downcast eyes as they spoke to Mum, and from the few words she managed to pick up, it had something to do with the television.

“Mum,” she called, hoping to divert her attention “Have you seen Aug?”

Mum hissed and rubbed her temples.

“No, I haven’t. Isn’t he in his room?”

“Er…” Esther started, wringing her hands nervously. “He went out.”

“Out?!” Mum screamed “Who said he could go out? Where did he go?”

“He went with Nathan,” Linus flinched.

“On Halloween?!”

“Calm down Mum,” Agnes said.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! You have no idea what happens on nights like this. You think all that talk about evil rising is a joke?”

“Agnes, you should be able to find him,” Linus offered. “Just feel for his…core thing.”

She knew he meant the resonance wave, and shook her head as she felt for the link. She closed her eyes for barely a moment and opened them again.

“It’s…” She didn’t want to believe it, but she knew what she felt. “It’s not there.”

Mum frowned. “What do you mean it’s not there? You didn’t even check”.

“Mum, I can’t feel him at all.”

“That’s because you didn’t try to,” Mum said flatly. “For once, concentrate.”