Exton

The gallery roof was quiet. The kids who watched from its vantage point faded into the shadows as soon as they caught an inkling of Tori's mood. The Crows perched on a wire, dark eyes blinking slowly. Tori drops down on edge of the roof, her visage locked in the image of a hissing viper. She stomps across the roof, hooves clicking up sparks. Crouching on the very edge of the roof, she stares out over the town's lights.

A hand gently lays on her thigh. Tori turns her head. Trusting eyes look into hers. The kid's head cocks. She blinks once.

"He loves you."
 
Tori nods. "I know." "It only hurts because he loves you." Tori nods again. Her scales seem to fade a little.

"Your street tough. Your one of us. He knows it. But you been shafted by those muckers. You got a cut deep in you that even he can't reach."

Her flesh softens, becoming more human, red scales on the top of her scalp rising and lengthening into spikes.

"He needs to do this. Just like you would if it was him."

Tori licks her lips, taking shallow breaths.

"Your not angry at him. You are angry that you are too scared to do it yourself. You feel like they took your guts, your strength. They did. But you got more inside. You got something they don't. You got love. You got hope." the girl pauses. "You got a warrior who loves you beyond life and death."

Tori closes her eyes. When she opens them, they are soft green, small flames flickering in their depths. An errent thought drifts by, what time is it?

"Momma Tori... go to him. He thinks you are angry with him. If you aren't you need to tell him before it is too late."

Tori pushes herself upwards, rising to her feet in a fluid movement. She looks at the little girl standing on the rooftop. "Who are you? You aren't one of my kids."

The girl smiles. Moonlight slips over the slight figure, bathing it in silver light. As a cloud drifts over the moon, she fades with the moonbeam.

A soft voice echoes in mind "No, I am not one of yours. But you are one of Mine."

Tori stares up at the moon as the cloud drifts away. Fully human in form, Tori spreads wide her reptilean wings and lifts into the the moon's light. Soon she is a dark spot lost in the night, winging her way to Tannr.


The Crows cock their heads. Long minutes after Tori took off, they stretch their wings and land on the rooftop itself. Their bodies shimmer and the Goth trio looks up at the moon. Others begin to filter from their hiding places among the shadows.

A whispered voice asks,"Who was that?"

Ebony featherlike hair swings as the trio shakes their heads. "Wish Miss Grace was here to tell us what she saw. She always saw what others didn't..."

A cloud drifts across the moon and darkness covers the group. When the moonlight again shines forth, the rooftop is empty, save for one small figure crouched on a ledge overlooking the street below.