Ether by Dana Michelle Belle

worry about missing homework assignments. I rest my head against my
locker, struggling for breath. “Thank you,” I whisper to Ephraim.
                If I hurry
I might be just in time to slide into class unnoticed so, naturally, I have to
try my locker combination about five times before it finally clicks open. When
I slide in beside Mandy she gives me a look that says at once, “Where
the hell have you been? And is everything alright?” in one quick expression. I
shake my head and mouth the word later at her.  
                I try to
concentrate in class but I was just not raised to expect near death experiences
on a daily basis. I am not supposed to live in a world with car crashes,
avalanches, stalkers and ethereal saviours. The more I try to wrap my head
around it, the less sense it makes. There are only two things I can really fix
on; Something is trying to kill me and Ephraim is keeping me alive. My pen
drifts away from note taking and writes in the margins, What was that back
there?
                The
answer appears beneath mine almost instantly, confirming that Ephraim is close,
even now. Numina.
                The word
sends a shiver through me. W hat are Numina?  I respond.
                This
time his answer is slower and I picture him considering his words. Evil, he
writes at last.
                No
kidding! I scratch underneath. But I think the effects of sarcasm are lost
on paper. He obviously isn’t going to give me a straight answer right now. It’s
probably too complicated for notes anyway. So I change tactics. What did you
do back there?
                Limited
alteration of the bounds of reality. In human form, most Numina are limited to
human perceptions. Dangerous but easily mislead.
                Mandy
cranes her neck, trying to see what I am writing so earnestly; not s urprising
since I never put that much energy into note taking. ‘Limited alteration of the
bounds of reality’? Why can’t Ephraim ever say something simple? I puzzle over
it a minute before I realize he means he used some kind of illusion. And the
rest of it? I reread it and reread it but it doesn’t make any more sense to me.
What the heck does ‘in human form’ mean? Do the Numina have a non-human form? I
shudder. Okay, so something not human is trying to kill me and Ephraim is protecting
me. Does that make things better or worse for me?
                Before I
can figure that one out, the bell goes off. As soon as I step into the hallway
I feel a change around me. Under the hustle of kids moving through the corridor
the air seems to crackle. I pause, scanning the crowded hallway, shifting my
gaze. Am I imagining things or is there a faint humming sound? It’s like
standing under high voltage electric wires. The hum changes to an ear splitting
whistle. I jam my hands against my ears, trying to block it out. Beside me,
Mandy scowls at me and threw her hands up dramatically. I can just make out her
voice as she exclaims, “Rude much!” and storms away.  Weird that she didn’t
react to the noise. The shriek becomes intolerable. I push through the hall,
trying to escape it, but if anything, the noise becomes louder and more painful
as I move. I am almost running now, not watching where I’m going, just driven
to escape the noise. Someone steps into my path and I jerk backwards, almost
colliding with a tall senior boy. He steps haughtily away from me, eyes dark
and empty.
                The more I
look at him the emptier he looks. His face is bleak, frozen, and unnatural. The
noise vibrates over his skin, making his features ripple before my eyes. I turn
down the first corridor I come to, anything to take me from his view. The
whistle fades behind me until I am standing in a normal, quiet hallway again.
Is this what it felt like to lose your mind? I want to call out to Ephraim so
badly. The hallway is emptying slowly as students