The morning after the lonely night brought unusually wet weather to Paso Robles. The rain, at this time of year, was a blessing before the long dry season. Purple clouds gathered and swirled like dancers in a waltz, pouring gentle drops of rain. The dust and yellow pollen were washed off the red roofs, revealing their brighter colors.

  Ava walked down the main road through the city center, passing vineyards, hotels, and small shopping centers along the way. She wandered alone for hours, taking a loop before reaching the city and turning back home from the hillside. Her fear for the future grew inside her. She felt as though she was trapped between reality and an imagined world where Ghulls emerged from fires, and phantom lovers vanished into thin air, leaving only letters behind.

  She would’ve gone straight to the shrink’s office if it weren’t for the photos with Alessandro. Logan had seen them too. Ava felt a strange sense of relief; glad she wasn’t losing her mind. The Ghull, however, remained unclear. Why would Alessandro lie about the black smoke he had been suffering from? Could it be that he played along and then left the "crazy" girl as soon as possible? But he had seemed genuinely interested in hearing more about the Ghull. The confusion made Ava sick. Supernatural stuff happens so easily in the movies, she thought. When it happens in real life, we start questioning our sanity. Maybe I’ve been a special kind of crazy since birth. Just like my grandma.

  Ava returned home, torn between the real world and the strange, impossible events that seemed to haunt her. Soaked from head to toe, she felt as though she had swum in the lake with her clothes on. Despite the mild spring temperatures, the wetness left her shivering. She dried herself off and poured a glass of brandy, the familiar scent of smoke from nearby fireplaces drifting through the air. It was the perfect weather to sit by a fire and enjoy the coziness, but Ava was afraid to start one. She remembered the eyes of fire staring at her from the darkness. Deep down, she knew she had to see him again to understand what she had already started. He held the answers to what Alessandro was hiding.

  She placed the starter sticks beneath the larger logs and lit the fire. It quickly took hold, devouring the logs with an intense, hungry flame. Ava finished her brandy, then read Alessandro’s letter one last time. Without a word, she tossed it into the fire and watched it burn to ashes.

  “Ghull, will you come to me?” she whispered. She stared at the flames, waiting for the Ghull’s eyes to emerge from the fire. But before she could see him, she felt the warm, smoky tendrils brush her neck, wrapping around her like a comforting embrace. The sensation was oddly soothing, and once again, she had to fight the urge to close her eyes and surrender to the intoxicating pull of his intense darkness.

  Panic gripped Ava as she realized the day was slipping away, the sky now a heavy shroud of rainclouds. She wasn’t sure if the fire’s light could be of any help. She reached toward it, but it flickered too quickly, eluding her grasp. Her breath came in short gasps, and she felt the tightening in her chest, the panic beginning to suffocate her. Desperately, she tried to focus on the dim glow from the hallway lights, but their weak, diffuse glow only made her feel more disoriented. She turned toward the window, a wave of regret washing over her.

  In the distance, a flash of lightning split the sky. Without thinking, she reached out, as though to seize the bolt itself. In that moment, a brilliant light surged through her hand, blinding her. The room seemed to pulse with it, the sudden burst of energy overwhelming her senses.

  The Ghull was still nowhere to be seen. Ava focused on the remnants of lightning pulsing within her hand, trying to contain the raw power that buzzed under her skin. As she looked at her red, glowing hands, she could make out the faint outline of her bones and veins, glowing with the residual energy.

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  Then, from the darkness of the fireplace, a thicker black smoke began to unfurl. Slowly, it crept toward her, tendrils of darkness reaching out, swirling around her hands. More and more of it gathered, curling like an ancient, hungry presence. Ava, feeling the tension build, finally allowed the light to slip from her grasp.

  The particles of light mingled with the smoke, swirling together in a strange, harmonious dance. Despite the smoke thickening around her, Ava found herself able to breathe again, the suffocating pressure lifting, replaced by a strange sense of calm.

  “Don’t let it fade,” said the Ghull, his voice emerging from the fire like a whisper in the dark. “You can control the smoke and shape it. Focus on shaping the fumes.”

  Ava concentrated, her mind racing as she pulled the smoke into the center of the light. She focused, feeling its power ripple under her control. The warmth of the fire seemed to pulse in sync with her heartbeat. Then, with a slow exhale, she released it.

  “The smoke is powerful,” the Ghull continued, his form materializing from the shadows, his words hanging in the air like a spell. “It is a weapon and a shield. A door and a wall. And, my dear Ava… you hold the power to command it all.”

  “Why?” Ava’s voice trembled, the weight of her confusion pressing down on her. “Why do I have this power? What am I supposed to do with it?”

  “Patience,” the Ghull replied, his voice as soothing as it was ominous. “You will come to understand what you’ve learned. In time, it will make sense.”

  Ava’s eyes searched his form, desperate for answers. “Are you even real?” she asked, the question slipping from her lips like a plea. She walked closer to his form as if she wanted to touch him. His warmth and strange smokey smell welcomed her like a moth to fire.

  “I am allowed to be seen by only one,” the Ghull answered, his voice deepening with an ancient weight. “And that one is you.” He extended his hand toward her, the air between them thickening with power. “I will leave you a mark.”

  Without warning, his hand touched her skin, the heat of it searing through her as if it were molten fire. Ava gasped with a burning pain. The Ghull’s smoky essence curled around her arm, leaving behind a mark, an intricate tattoo of a smoky rose.

  “That’s beautiful,” Ava murmured, staring at the tattoo. The smoky rose seemed to pulse with an eerie life, as if smoking up from a chimney. “Why a rose?”

  “Roses will bloom in your garden of gloom,” the Ghull replied, his voice soft and cryptic.

  “Why did he leave?” she asked, her mind still trapped in the memory of Alessandro, wondering what it all meant. “De Rosa.”

  “Why do you stay?” came the Ghull’s response, his tone challenging.

  Ava hesitated, “I cured him,” she said, her voice faltering. “He doesn’t need me anymore.”

  “The dark fume is not a sickness,” the Ghull countered, almost in a defensive mode. “And your light is not a cure. I will see you again.”

  Before Ava could speak again, the Ghull vanished into the fire, leaving her with a storm of questions swirling in her mind. She stared at the tattoo on her forearm, half-expecting it to be gone, but it remained. The image was more like a swirl of fumes that vaguely resembled a rose. For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw the fumes shift, as if the tattoo were alive.

  Her heart raced as she took a photo of it and sent it to Logan.

  “What do you think?”

  I, the loyal Ghull of the Asaha, know about the energy of the universe,

  Balance of the universe, and the creatures of the universe.

  A creature above the creatures of the universe,

  Where there is an existence for dark, shall be an existence for light.

  I, the loyal Ghull of the Asaha, searched for the unknown,

  I searched within their hearts and the heart of my own,

  I searched all, found so much I don’t know,

  I found a light in her glow.