1

It was a dark and stormy night. Really, it was.

Lightning flashed violently across the pitch-black sky, echoed eerily by grumbling, drawn out peals of thunder. Rain poured from dark, heavy clouds, drenching the earth. Wind howled like a destitute wolf having just lost its only prey. It moaned miserably, shaking the boughs of great trees and sending leaves scattering wildly to the ground. The air was humid, further enhancing the severity of the storm.

Thousands of feet below the raging storm, located snugly in the center of a horse farm, was a house. Within that house, nearly oblivious to the ferocious elements of nature taking their toll outside, were two young ladies. They sat quietly in a comfortable living room, gazing in a somewhat tired fashion at the television screen. Yes, this is what one did after a hard day's work, and neither of them spoke as images of worlds that never were and creatures that never existed moved over the screen. The older of the two, Evelyn, sat on a recliner, green eyes gazing steadfastly at the television screen, brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and long legs curled up beneath her body. Her companion, Trinity, was stretched out on a large couch, arms folded across her chest, short black hair free and loose, and her blue eyes searching out and finding the details of the moving pictures on the screen.

A particularly loud crack of thunder sounded, shaking the house and making the lights flicker for only a few seconds before they went back to their previous brightness.

Both girls glanced up at the above lights, as though pondering when they would actually go out entirely.

"Think we should turn off the computers?" Trinity asked.

"That probably wouldn't be a bad idea," Evelyn nodded, getting up from her recliner and in no particular hurry to do so.

They made their way into a long hallway, Trinity approaching a stairway and jogging up to her computer, short black hair waving about her as she did so, and Evelyn walking into a room near the staircase, green eyes squinting as she stepped into the dark area and walked over to her computer.

Within a couple of minutes, both computers were turned off, and the two young women found themselves in the living room again.

"Boy, that storm snuck up fast," Evelyn yawned, pushing several strands of brown hair out of her face and settling herself in her recliner.

"It did. I don't think it's been this bad for a while," Trinity nodded, eyes glancing back to the television screen.

"I hope Miss Helen and Mr. Gary are having a good vacation in Florida. Maybe the weather isn't as bad there as it is here."

"Maybe."

The main actor on the television began to sing, voice deep and with a distinguished 80s rasp, and the girls sang along with him, though not with quite as strong of a rasp, nor as deep of a voice. The singer reached the heightening point of the song, and the girls were just raising their voices to match his when a drowning sound, come and gone faster than one could count, filled the air, and the song was abruptly cut off, as well as the rest of the home's electricity.

Trinity and Evelyn were left sitting in great darkness, and neither of them moved for several seconds.

"Well, it just had to happen at the best part in the movie," Trinity mentioned and Evelyn chuckled.

"Naturally. Now we'll have to deal with only having watched that part twenty times when we could have watched it twenty-one."

"Now comes the search for lights."

"Don't we have some flashlights in the kitchen?"

Neither of the girls could see anything as they got up from their comfortable positions and began to make their way blindly into the kitchen. One of them managed to find a small table in the process, and several seconds were filled with muttering and shuffling before both women made it safely (and a tad bit bruised) into the kitchen. Both began to search the cabinets for any sources of light, be they flashlights, matches or glow sticks.

"Ah ha!" Trinity exclaimed triumphantly. "Found one!"

A small light flooded the room, shining bravely into the darkness from a small flashlight.

"Great!" Evelyn said, rummaging through another drawer. "Maybe there are some matches somewhere for the candles in here and in the hallway."

She closed the drawer and then opened another one, fingers moving through a small pile of tools. They brushed against something flat and small, and she pulled the article out, a small book of matches.

"Here we go."

In a vain attempt, she tried to light the matches, but her attempt was unsuccessful, and she sighed with frustration.

"Matches don't like me," she said simply, handing the matches to Trinity.

Trinity didn't have too much of a problem getting the matches to light and lighting the candles in turn.

Several candles shone dimly in the kitchen, and several more glowed in the hallway when Trinity and Evelyn returned to the living room. By now the storm was fully upon them. The thunder shook the house, and the wind howled hauntingly through the chimney, echoing eerily into the living room. Shadows danced against the walls, seeming to lurk in every corner and crawl up towards the ceiling.

The whole situation was creepy, and yet, somehow exciting. Trinity and Evelyn's imaginations began to wander, turning the shadows into fairies and elves or allowing themselves to believe that they were in some enchanted cave or, more likely, in an oubliette, put away where no one could ever remember them and they could never get out.

"This is kind of cool," Evelyn said, glancing at the dancing shadows and the small flames that the candles emitted. "There's a furious storm outside, all the power is out, and it's almost completely dark in here."

"Gives you plenty of room for creative thinking," Trinity nodded. "One of those shadows almost looks like a large owl, expanding its wings in the candlelight."

"It does," Evelyn said, gazing at the wall Trinity was gesturing to.

This particular wall was almost entirely out of the light of the candles, but on it was stretched an immense shadow, seeming to loom towards the girls. It did look very much like a great owl, its wings outstretched and its talons extended before him.

A frightening gust of wind, sounding like the call of a Great-horned owl, rushed through the chimney, causing both young women to turn their heads and gaze at the fireplace.

Trinity saw something move out of the corner of her eye, and she turned her head abruptly, gazing at the shadow of the owl. The wings seemed suddenly to move, flapping once, as though the great bird of prey was soaring effortlessly through the air.

"Hey Evelyn," Trinity said quietly, chills running through her as her imagination began to play all sorts of tricks on her. "I think the owl just moved."

"I don't think so, Trinity," Evelyn said lightly. "It's just a shadow."

"No, really. I'm serious about this one. It moved."

Evelyn turned her head and gazed at the owl.

"It's not moving," she said easily.

The flame in the candle nearest the owl flickered, and once again, the wings seemed to flap.

"That's just weird," Evelyn said, standing up and moving towards the shadow.

She stepped into the dim lighting of the candle, and the owl disappeared, though in a very odd way. While one would have expected it to simply vanish from Evelyn's body blocking the light, it didn't. Instead, it flew, flew towards the wall of the hallway and only then did it disappear.

"This is really, really strange," Evelyn said, eyes wide.

"Where did it go?" Trinity asked, coming to stand at her friend's side.

"Into the hallway."

"Should we… should we follow it?"

"No way," Evelyn said, folding her arms over her chest. "That's just too weird, and who knows what's going on. Either we're both really tired, or maybe we've both had too much carbonated soda, but stuff like that doesn't just happen, and…"

A breeze floated swiftly through the hallway, making both Evelyn and Trinity's hair whip wildly about for less than five seconds. Once the breeze was gone, a peculiar, new feeling flooded towards the women. The air was crisp. It wasn't cold, nor was it windy, but there was a mysterious touch to it, making the hallway feel like a fresh spring morning with cool air and dewdrops sparkling on new roses.

The air had music to it, a strange, gentle touch of the sweetest musical notes joined together to form a gentle, beautiful symphony.

"Magic," Trinity said, and Evelyn grabbed her arm.

"Right. Some really strange, really creepy type of magic," Evelyn gulped.

There was a sound, like the sound of silk rustling ever so slightly in an ocean breeze, and the shadows in front of the girls moved.