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So I'm back from camp, full of the love of Christ. Let's just say I needed this past week to grow closer to God and continue to grow closer.

So, now that SOF is done, I've started another story, but I want to work on it a little before I post about it. Buuuuuttttt....I guess a sneak peak won't hurt...

Prologue

The house stood alone, surrounded by a forest. It was old and falling apart, with some windows broken, and there an absence of a door. In the setting sun’s light the glass from the window cast spider web patterns on the rotting floor inside. The roof had small holes that lent the house a look that resembled an old, tattered sock.

            A figure flitted through the trees, appearing here and there but never still enough for recognition. A smaller shape bounded after it, lithe and agile. Stopping at the worn down house, the forest seemed to hold its breath as a man formed from the figure, a cat by his side.

            He picked his way carefully over the porch. It groaned under his weight, but whispered slightly when the cat padded across it. The pair maneuvered around inside the house until they reached what was a vague impersonation of a kitchen. There was no fridge or stove; only cupboards with their doors torn off violently and tossed onto the floor, a table that had seen better days, and broken chairs. Some chairs tilted to one side due to some legs missing.

            The cat leaped up onto the table soundlessly, and light from one of the many holes in the roofing illuminated its pelt. It was gray like the ashes one finds in a fireplace that has burned out. Meowing, it turned its eyes onto the man, alighting him with two small spheres of orange fire.

            The man did not reply to its query, striding around the table. He traced coffee stains that had been left so long ago. He, too, stepped into a brand of light. His coal black hair rippled in careless waves, and his eyes were equally dark. Skin as pale and as ghostly as webs stretched over this thin frame. A gaunt face contributed to his skeletal profile.

            Again, the cat mewed, this time with more emphasis. The man finally snapped out of his daze, and gave it his attention.

            “You sense it?” he asked. “Yes, so do I.”

            The cat swished its tail, scattering some rotten wood chips that have found their way onto the table.

            “But why hide it here? It doesn’t make sense.”

            Growling, the cat stalked across the surface of the table. Heat pulsed from its fur.

            “Calm down! We don’t want the house to go up in flames!” The man moved to lift the cat off the table, but it dodged him.

            “On second thought…” said the man slowly. He gave the kitchen a second glance. To those who wouldn’t know better it would be the loss of something worthless. To those who would…well…

            “Make it look like an accident,” he told the cat. If they activated the power inside the house, it would add to the power the house already had. That would draw unwanted attention, which was the last thing they needed.

            The cat purred.

            Later, when the fire fighters arrived, they stopped the old Zerlock house from setting the whole forest on fire. One fire fighter bent down, having seen something among the remains. He brushed the back of his hand to remove the copious amounts of ash.

            A small paw print was burned into a still-crackling plank of wood that had once belonged to a table, coffee rings just barely recognizable.