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<span class="mu-s">Sacramento first Peaceful City in California...</span>
Your heart soared for just a moment.
<span class="mu-i">Here Today, Recorded, there have been No unnatural deaths in Sacramento for this week. The Daily-Record Union takes it upon Themselves to declare this a sign of Peace and Prosperity to come, with Sacramento being the Most Peaceful City of this State...</span>
Your silence was briefly broken by a brief stretch from the other side of the room causing the creaky floor to make some noise. Glancing over: Mary was stretching herself... and falling back asleep. You returned your attention to the paper.
<span class="mu-i">...George Stoneman celebrates the Peace by promising action, restoration of city... railroads to be curtailed...</span>
Relief escaped your lips. Things really were peaceful over there, weren't they?
The rest of the paragraph covered some interviews with local townsfolk, proud of their city's Peaceful title, commenting on the ongoing return of one Collis Potter Huntington and the unusually cold summer. A smile crept across your face. At least one destination on your little road trip didn't involve someplace barely keeping itself together...
...
...the smile was a frown before you knew it.
You tiptoed over to Mary and lay the paper atop her, its secondary purpose shining through as the sheep slept with the paper on her wool, giving a glance to the small bud... still asleep next to its beloved berry... before returning to your trunk and proceeding to spend the next several hours waist-deep in naturalist nomenclature.
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Only when sunbeams struck the roof of your window did you think to turn away from the tale of Prometheus and Pandora.
There was nothing strange about the occurence. Not at first, anyways. They were just sunbeams. It was noon, you figured, so they should have been seeping through as usual.
But... these sunbeams weren't yellow. They weren't white, they weren't orange.
They were a strange, light purple.
Peeking out the window granted you the sight of a somewhat cloudy sky. Even more oddly, the clouds seemed to be slightly dark... yet the sun shone on as if there was no coming rain.
You felt your brain give out for a moment as you tried to comprehend what could cause this. After nearly a month of supernatural events happening to you nigh-nonstop... this was what was confusing you most. Surely these creatures didn't have power over <span class="mu-i">the sun itself.</span> They didn't have the capability to change the coloration of earth and her Heavenly neighbors... right?