From Darkness It Comes

A Quick Trip To His Room

Lisa glares at him as Darrin shrugs uncomfortably and turns to run back down the path. Before he disappears around the corner he looks over his shoulder and yells, "I'll hurry." He did not like the look he got from Lisa, but it only caused him to run faster.

"Hey, Darrin!" A call came from over by the statue as he tore into the courtyard. He twisted to see who it was and tripped, tumbling into a bench and scraping up his thigh. Catching his footing he limped back onto the path and saw the call had come from Steve, another student he met in his first days here. Steve was laughing, but trying to keep his cool while doing it.

Wincing in pain slightly Darrin nods to him and says, "Hey. What's up?" After a short pause, in which he catches his bearings, he adds, "And make it fast, I'm in a hurry."

"No prob man," Steve says, still smiling. "I just wanted to know if you were comin' down to Starburst tonight. The last pre-class show, with performances by Yosh and DJ NoNothing."

"I don't know, Steve." He says getting slightly agitated. "But I don't have time to think about it right now." On that he start to run towards his dorm again, only with a slight limp.

"Well," Steve yells after him, "Think about it. It'll be a blast. I know..."

Darrin never heard the rest of what he said because he crashed through the doors into the building. Brushing past all the students milling around, several of them still reading the news of the day, he makes his way into the stairwell. Within moments he is unlocking his door and rifling through his desk.

Slowly he pulls out the ornate box containing the knife and a cold shudder ripples up and down his spine. Just to make sure it's still there he carefully opens the lid and sees the fancy dagger sitting in its place. Something about this whole thing makes his skin crawl, but he has to get it back to Mr. Stark and Lisa. He can't leave her alone with him much longer.

Closing the box he wraps it with an old shirt and stuffs it in his backpack, so nobody would see it or question what he was doing. As soon as it was zipped up he took off running out of his room again, even forgetting to lock the door. His leg was still sore, but he pushed through without much of a limp left.

He hits the bottom of the stairs at a run and tears out the door into the courtyard without slowing down. In no time at all he is back at the metal door, which stands closed now, and knocking quietly. "Open up, It's me." He says in a harsh whisper. "I have it. Let me in."

There is a loud clunk and a squeak, then the door slowly starts to pull open, revealing a flickering amber light from within. Mr. Stark appears in the growing gap and looks around before waving Darrin follow him in. Darrin steps inside and sees Lisa sitting uncomfortably on a metal drum. Her face is locked in a cold stare and Darrin gives her a weak smile that is interrupted by a loud clunk behind him as the door is shut.

"So," She says in a cold voice to match her expression. "Did you get the dagger of urinal or whatever it was?"

"Urnenthul." Mr. Stark rasps walking past them and grabbing the lantern. "But not here, follow me."

Lisa get up and moves close to Darrin, but without the playful nature of earlier. They keep a ways behind Mr. Stark as he walks down the long stone hallway into the hill. Quietly she whispers, "I hope this is important, this guy creeps me out."

Darrin just nods and says "Me too." as he slowly reaches out to grab her hand comfortingly. She grips him back and her face softens a little.

Moments later they pass through another door and into a small, spartanly furnished room. He places the lantern on the table and waves them to sit on the cot. Cautiously they sit as he slowly lowers himself into a chair. "Give it here boy." He says, reaching out towards Darrin.

Darrin takes out the box and unwraps it before placing it in Mr. Stark's hands. The old man takes it and carefully places the box on the table, but doesn't open it. After looking at it for a moment he raises his eyes to Darrin and says, "There are some things you need to know."