When Harmony reached the bottom of the staircase, she instantly knew that the sound was coming from the darkness in the opposite corner. She pointed her flashlight into it.

She blinked. She moved the flashlight around.

The light would illuminate the walls to the left of the corner and the right of the corner. It would illuminate the floor in front of it and the ceiling above it. But whenever it was pointed into the corner itself… nothing. The light was swallowed up, as if she was pointing it into the night sky.

She squinted, and slowly stepped forward.

“Harmony,” came a clear, deep voice from the corner.

Harmony let out a yell and jumped back to the stairs.

“Don’t be afraid,” the voice continued.

Harmony stopped halfway up the stairs, her body poised to run the rest of the way at the first sign of danger. “Who are you?” she asked.

The darkness paused. “That’s a difficult question to answer,” it finally replied. “I can’t say I’m quite sure myself. Do you know who YOU are?”

“I’m Harmony,” she replied, not moving.

“Yes,” the darkness agreed. “You’re the reason I’m here. But, I suppose, I’m also the reason YOU’RE here.”

Harmony stayed silent.

“You’re seeking truth,” the voice continued. “So am I. I’m hoping we can learn something together. I’m going to give you a gift. A layer of truth. I hope it helps.”

When the voice went silent, the room changed. The sense of the room was different. A shift in the air pressure, a change in the echoes. Harmony shone her light back into the corner. This time, the concrete corner was clearly there.

Harmony studied the corner a few moments more, then the rest of the basement. Finally, she hurried up the stairs, closing the door behind her. She turned to Lex, and froze.

“Lex?” she asked,

“What?” Lex responded.

Harmony stepped closer. What she saw was Lex, but not as Harmony had known him. He was covered in lines, like the metal framework under a bush sculpture. The lines glowed green, and tiny points of blue light ran rapidly along them like cars on a map.

“Lex?” Harmony asked again.

Lex finally looked at her. As he did, the points of light changed to a more chaotic array of reds and greens, and the pattern of the lines became more confusing.

“Are you okay?” Harmony asked.

The lines and lights shifted into a darker shade of purple. “Yeah?” Lex replied.

Harmony went and sat in a chair along an adjacent wall from the boy, not taking er eyes off Lex.

Lex looked down at himself. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“You look different!” Harmony replied. “Do you see those lights?”

Lex looked down again. He began to glow red, and the lights increased to an incredible pace as the burned brighter. He looked back at Harmony. “No?”

Harmony continued to stare. She thought back to the voice in the basement.

She had no idea what was going on. But she knew something was very, very different.