The entire time I have known him, he never raised his voice to me, my Mom, little ones, even when he was in unbearable pain. He withstood all the ordeals and never took out his indignation on us. It seemed sometimes that nothing could upset him enough to make him lose his temper. I always loved him for his wisdom and kindness. I was sure that my mother was the happiest woman with such a man by her side. After all, he could be relied upon even being in a wheelchair.

"What are you going to do on your last free day before the start of the school year?" mother asked.

"How about going to the mall? Let's play on every slot-machines there, and then eat pizza till we're full," I said to the little ones.

"YES!!!!" children yelled and raced to get dressed in the hallway.

"And you should have some rest. We'll look after them," I told my mother. She stood up and hugged me.

"Thank you, dear!"

A few hours of uninterrupted sleep would do her good.

"I declare in good faith that this is the best Sunday in my life!" I barely uttered after the sixth slice of pizza. I was hungry like a beast. I had never eaten as much as today.

Children were so exhausted after the slot-machines that fell asleep, leaning on the dirty tables in the pizzeria. They looked like little angels. But for the rest of the time, these three were pure devils – always noisy and bringing a cataclysm of global scale.

"You're more relaxed today. Aren't you nervous anymore?"

"No, I'm 100% ready for the future. I had doubts yesterday, but not today. It's going to be an interesting year," even I myself could not determine exactly what I meant at this point – studying at Harvard or hunting demons.

I felt almost almighty today. I felt unprecedented energy in my body, as if I could literally move mountains. After all, I killed one of the most powerful and ancient demigods tonight. Now I possessed his abilities, and I could control them, but not otherwise. These abilities could help me finish my mission, and let me get back to my normal life. The only discomfort that still haunted me was the vision of souls.

I felt death again on the way downtown. This time it was painless and expected. Two elderly people died. They passed away peacefully in their sleep, as they’d always dreamed about. I saw them from the window of the car holding hands and rejoicing that they were together even after death. They did not care about the place, but about being together.

I smiled unwittingly. I wish I could love someone so much someday.

"Come to me!" Jackson embraced me and kissed the tip of my nose, bringing me back to reality. It was such a touching moment that I wanted to capture it in memory forever.

A light earthquake confused us both. Children woke up and rubbed their eyes sleepily.

"What's happening?"

Cups on the table were rattling, spoons were sliding to the edge.

"Earthquake?"

People around began to panic, which grew with every new push.

"Hurry up outside," Jackson grabbed the boys and ran to the exit, and I followed him, pulling Mary by the arm.

Children cried. Mary's hand shook, but she was keeping up with the pace.

Plaster was falling from the ceiling, metal supports were rattling indicating that they would soon bend or break from the pressure, and everyone inside would be buried under the debris. The ground was shaking so hard that I barely stood. I picked up Mary in my arms and rushed to catch up with Jackson, who I've lost out of my sight. Suddenly, part of the floor collapsed, and I lost the prop, but my ability did not let me fall. After flying a couple of inches into the pit, I used the Force and climbed backward like by the stairs. Mary was so scared that she buried her face in my shoulder, and did not see anything. She trembled with her whole body and screamed with every loud sound, clinging to me harder and harder.

Huge cracks on my way did not stop me, but sparks from torn wires were a much bigger problem. I saw the stairs ahead, but there was an abyss of thirty feet high and sixty feet long on the way. A leap would not help to cover this distance. Having looked around, I made sure no one was watching. I kicked off the floor and began to glide through the air, as if on the wet floor and reached the goal in a matter of seconds. It took us a couple of minutes to get outside.

Jackson was breaking through the rescuers line not far from the entrance. Having lost me out of his sight, he wanted to return to the collapsing building, but noticing me; he let out a sigh of relief and began to cry from happiness. We rushed to hug but suddenly everything froze. My chest was pierced by the infernal pain, again and again, bringing me to a frenzy. The souls of those who died under the mall wreckage appeared in front of me. They were confused, scared, and I could not say a word, because of the pain preceding their death.

All these people would not be able to get answers, but it was the least of their troubles. In the blink of an eye, black souls that had escaped from the river began to appear from cracks in the ground. There were so many of them that the sky turned black. Soaring up, they went down, snatched the souls of newly dead, and flew again laughing loudly.

"No!" I screamed, but they could not care less about me.

I could only throw fireballs, which appeared without much effort on my part. The fireballs could not harm the souls because they were incorporeal, and therefore my weapon flew through them.

I tried to grab souls by their hands to prevent snatching, but it did not work and I caught only air.

Once there were no souls left, black souls rushed onto me with wild cries. I set the protection of dark smoke but it did not stop them at all. My legs seemed to be rooted to the spot. I froze in anticipation of the collision.

At the last second, Eugene appeared from the portal, waving his sword from side to side.

"What should I do?" I shouted.

"Nothing! There's nothing you can do!"

Eugene repulsed the attacks of souls. They seemed to be afraid of the light of his sword. I was worried about those, who could attract the attention of these creatures. People stood still and were easy targets. Eugene alone could not save everyone from so many black souls. They transformed into their new shapes, which was a terrible but fascinating scene.

After a few moments, they stopped attacking and began to return to the crevice from which they emerged.

"Why did they leave?" I wondered.

"They took what they came for. In a few minutes, they'd take the new shape and become vulnerable, so they had to leave."

"Why do they need the souls of the dead?"

"They'll infect them. Only black souls can transform into demons, Nefarious and Murky Shadows. They're raising an army. The more souls they get, the bigger the army will have."

"I don't understand a single thing. I have so many questions…" my head was buzzing. The mall was not just shaking from the earthquake, but it was a planned attack with a specific purpose. These incorporeal creatures must be led by someone, or be highly intelligent to choose the biggest and most crowded mall in Boston.

"Listen, now is not the time. Let's talk tonight. Everything will be back to normal in a moment, and I need to get out of here. You can ask all your questions tonight, and now you should take care of all these people. We can't let anyone else die."

He disappeared into the portal and everything came to life. In the terrible hum and chaos, I heard a strange sound, I failed to determine. Jackson was talking nervously, and to stop him, I covered his mouth with my hand, and listened out again.