Chapter 28 Good morning Meridian:
A gasp escaped Taranee as she looked tiredly at her friends. Cornelia and Will both yawned at the same time as she did while Irma was rubbing her eyes. Hay Lin looked as if she could fall asleep where she was standing, her eyes squinted with rims underneath them. Taranee wondered if the universe thought it to be funny to call them to work the day after the blue moon. She'd never thought she would regret following Will and Angelo this much. After they'd noticed that Irma had gone missing, they'd split up and Taranee had wasted her entire night trying to find the girl. Only when it was five o'clock did she give up and returned home.
Only to be woken up at ten, with Will calling them all that Blunk had come to her apartment with the message that Elyon was requesting them. And five hours of sleep wasn't enough. It was only a small consolation to find everyone drowsy, but it didn't reassure her. If they had to fight today, chances of losing were high.
Even so, it was not what was currently preoccupying Taranee's mind. The thought of her bed was extremely welcoming and she had to repress a new yawn when they arrived at the palace.
"Haven't slept a lot?"
Taranee blinked drowsily as she looked at Will, who grinned sleepily at her. She replied the grin and shook her head.
"Someone decided to disappear in the night." She muttered darkly while looking at Irma.
"You should have kept a better eye on me! You know how I get with a blue moon!" Irma retorted, the drowsiness not keeping her from her sharper replies.
"See Yannie? I'm not the only one who feels that way! It's never my fault!"
"Of course it isn't, but just to be sure that there are no lingering effects, I am still joining you. Besides, it's been a long time since I've been here and it's always nice to see my granddaughter at work."
Taranee smiled as Hay Lin grinned at her grandmother, before yawning loudly and engaging a new round of yawns from the group. Today was not going to be a very active one and once again, Taranee found herself wishing that they would not have to fight.
They entered the palace, a few guards nodding and grinning at them as they passed. Caleb came to greet them and raised an eyebrow at the additional amount of people.
"Good morning to you." He said, slightly sarcastic as Irma yawned loudly. "Rough night?"
At this Taranee, along with Irma, Cornelia and Hay Lin groaned loudly. Will, however, had a big smile on her face and merely shrugged.
"Babysitting Irma remains a chore." She explained.
Taranee rolled her eyes. Will was the one who had absolutely no right to complain. She must have had a fun night with Angelo, or else she wouldn't have been grinning at random intervals. Taranee repressed yet another yawn and watched how Caleb's eyes travelled from Irma, to Cassidy and Yan Lin. Apparently did Cassidy catch him looking and Taranee raised an eyebrow when she saw a blush forming on Caleb's cheeks and him turning away, while Cassidy giggled.
"Uhm... May I ask why Cassidy and Yan Lin are here?" He asked.
A new giggle came forth, this time being from Yan Lin and Taranee only briefly wondered what had happened between those three. Only now did she find no energy to interest her in it any longer and shook her head. It wouldn't be important anyway.
"Well, you called my date away, even before we could actually do something. So, I figured to finish the date here." Cassidy explained.
"And I'm here to keep an eye on her, in case of another blue moon 'attack'." Yan Lin added.
A new blush formed on Caleb's face, but he hid it with a cough and turned around.
"Well, the Queen has asked for the Guardians. So... I'll take you five along. Drake should be in the east wing the last time I saw him." He said before walking to the throne room.
Almost mechanically did Taranee follow him, along with the other girls. She saw Cassidy wave at them, before both she and Yan Lin took off to the east wing. They continued their way to the throne room and as they arrived. Elyon was talking with Raythor and Julian an only when the doors slammed did she look up. A smile took place for the worried features that had been clouding her face.
"Girls, thank you for coming." She said as she approached them, hugging each of them.
"Always Elle." Cornelia replied with a smile. "Why did you call for us?"
At this Elyon's face turned dark again and she shared a look with Raythor and Julian before looking back at them.
"There's been a couple of werewolf attacks during the last full moon. I was wondering if you could help with figuring out how they got into the villages."
"What?" Taranee said, the word having left her lips before Elyon was even finished.
"How's that possible?" Hay Lin asked.
"That should be impossible." Will said.
"That's what we thought, but apparently they found a way in anyway." Julian said.
"I want to ask you if you can check on a village south from here? Raythor and a few soldiers take a village to the east which has been attacked and Julian does the same to a village in the west. " Elyon said.
Taranee nodded, feeling more awake than she'd been all day. The news of werewolf attacks was already bad enough, but them being capable of getting through silver rings? That might be even worse. She looked and saw Will nod, before signalling them to get into action. She took off, following the rest to the village Elyon mentioned. She really hoped they would find the reason as to how the werewolves got in, because if it turned out that the silver rings were useless, than werewolves immediately became a bigger threat than that they already were.
...
Yan Lin shook her head as she sped along with Cassidy towards the east wing. For a short moment, she truly believed her old, young friend had forgotten the real reason for coming here. She was therefore pleasantly surprised when Cassidy suddenly took a sharp left turn into a corridor that was not leading to Drake.
"Okay, last time I sneaked around here, Julian hastily sent me away. So my bet is that Nissa is somewhere along this corridor."
Yan Lin raised an eyebrow, knowing by experience that Cassidy's intuition was not always the best thing to trust upon. Cassidy saw her expression and let an exasperated sigh.
"Seriously Yannie! I just know!"
"Just like you knew that you weren't going to do anything bad last night?"
Cassidy reddened a bit and looked away.
"I didn't do anything...Eventually."
Yan Lin shook her head with a small chuckle, still enjoying it to see Cassidy pout like a little girl.
"Okay, okay. You go to your man candy, I'll see if your intuition is right."
"Yannie!"
A laugh escaped Yan Lin as she walked away, waving friendly at Cassidy, who's head was slowly reddening, but who was grinning nonetheless. She saw the young girl take off towards the east wing, while Yan Lin finally turned her attention to the corridor. As she walked on, she noticed another corner in the corridor. She followed it, but halted when she indeed saw two guards posted outside a door. A soft chuckle escaped her lips. Cassidy had been right after all.
She looked the two men over, her eyes twinkling when an idea came to mind. She slowly pressed on and soon enough the guards took notice of her.
"Ma'am, sorry but this is a closed off corridor, I'm afraid you have to turn back." One of the guards informed her.
"Oh don't worry young man, I know." Yan Lin replied, simply walking on.
"Madam, I'm afraid I can't let you continue." The first guard said.
Yan Lin rose an eyebrow and looked at the guard, her head a bit askew.
"Oh? How strange. Queen Elyon told me I could just enter."
"Th-The Queen?" The guard echoed.
He looked back at his companion, who shrugged in reply but also looked a little lost. She smiled friendly at them and pressed on, her hand already on the knob of the door.
"Ma'am, the Queen did not inform us of..."
"Young man, do you honestly think the Queen has time for that? She's already busy with these werewolves. She ensured me I could continue as long as I told you she gave me the okay. But if you wish for me to leave and inform her that she has to drop all of her tasks to inform you of an old lady, I'll be on my way."
She let go of the door knob and took one step back, before the guard stopped her again. He was getting nervous, and his partner wasn't easing his confusion. He looked her up and down, before looking into the corridor, hoping to see Elyon appear.
"I... No, you won't have to. You may enter, but I warn you. Don't stay too long."
Yan Lin smiled at him, patting him on his arm. He opened the door with a key before taking his post again, his eyes watching her as she opened the door. She made sure to close it carefully behind her. The sound of the door being locked echoed through the room, but Yan Lin wasn't paying attention to it. Her eyes were drawn to the figure laying long out on the bed, blowing a feather into the air before letting it slowly descent again. The locking of the door seemed to have caught her attention as she turned her head, her emerald eyes dull. It was only when they fell upon Yan Lin that these eyes began to shine and a smile formed on her lips. She got up, her long black hair falling behind her and walked up to Yan Lin, who unconsciously took a step back. The woman stopped and placed her hands on her hips, looking her over.
"I never thought it to be possible, but you got smaller, Yannie."
"And you younger, Nerissa."
...
"I see you had more fun last night than the rest of us?"
A smile formed on Will's lips as she looked at Cornelia, who was now flying next to her. She saw the blonde grin as well and she rolled her eyes.
"Well, yeah. Angelo took me out to help me forget about Matt."
"Something tells me you forgot about him alright."
A snicker left Will's lips as the events of last night played again in her mind. She looked quickly at Taranee, hoping the girl wouldn't pick up her thoughts, but she was yawning again and Will sighed relieved. She'd rather not explain the full exploits of last night. Not that she didn't enjoy every second of it, but she felt that it was too soon to tell the others. Of all of them, Hay Lin would probably understand. The others, well, she didn't fancy to explain herself.
And didn't have to either. Angelo was just being the great guy he was and, perhaps, she'd fallen once again for him. That wasn't a bad thing, was it? And it's been months since she and Matt broke up, so the rumours of her going behind his back with Angelo already waned.
"What did you guys do?"
Will looked back at Cornelia, frowning a bit at the nosiness of the girl.
"Nothing. We just went to a movie and had dinner."
"Will, you can't tell me that's all. You were not wearing the expression of someone who'd done absolutely nothing on her date."
"It was no date!"
Cornelia looked at her, her expression telling her she had to do a lot more to convince her it hadn't been a date. Will turned her head away, blushing a bit and hating Cornelia for actually reading her expressions that well.
"... We...May have kissed."
She wasn't planning on telling anything else, but it was already enough. At first, glee shined through Cornelia's features, before some realization seemed to strike her and eye Will with some concern.
"What?"
"...It's not like I'm not happy for you." Cornelia started, but Will knew more was coming. "But, how will you tell Elyon?"
It took Will a moment to fully get what Cornelia was trying to say. She only then remembered how Elyon had been trying to gain Angelo's attention and Angelo's visits to Meridian and a groan left her lips. She'd known that Elyon seemed to fancy Angelo and had heard Angelo talk fondly of Elyon. Of course things had to get more complicated. She couldn't tell Elyon she had had sex with Angelo and she didn't really fancy on giving him up.
"Oh great." She said.
Nothing more was said and Will had to pull herself from her personal problems as they arrived at the town. They landed in front of the silver circle, where a group of people were standing. They saw them landing and quickly gathered around the Guardians.
"Guardians! You're here!" A man said. "You've come to help?"
Will nodded and took a step forward, trying to calm everyone down.
"Queen Elyon requested our help. Now, can someone tell us what exactly happened last full moon?"
The man who'd talked first, took the word. He was old and holding a staff to lean on. His grey eyes were big, encircled with wrinkles and looked sadly at them. Will could just feel the sadness coming from him.
"Over the past month, we've lived calmly. Always in our houses when night came. And the circle helped last full moon, so we thought we were save. But then, a week ago I believe, people were spotted around the village. Some villagers say they'd spotted a man with brown, shaggy hair and a beard, along with a woman with dirty blonde hair. The man was supporting himself with a cane. Other people were spotted as well, people we'd never seen. And then... Full moon came and people suddenly started to leave. In fact, they started to leave just before the moon would rise. Everyone who left had a blank stare upon their face.
The moment they left the circle... Werewolves attacked them."
The man ended, creating an ominous silence. People stared at the ground, obviously afraid of what happened. Will looked at the others and could see them thinking along the same lines she was doing. Ten to one mind suggestion had been used on these people, to serve as a meal for the Rogues.
"Do you reckon the guy with the cane is the same one Taranee nearly fried his legs off?" Irma said.
Taranee looked away, her cheeks reddening slightly while her eyes were closed. It was still something she didn't want to think about. Will pondered about what Irma had said. It was a possibility, but the description was too vague. Even so, that guy was a werewolf and it was very suspicious for werewolves to remain around a village unless they knew something like this would happen.
She nodded at the man, hoping to assure them that they would help, before turning to the girls.
"Cornelia, Taranee. Can you to check the village? See if there is anything strange about it or the circle." She said, getting nods from the two. "Irma and Hay Lin, you two scan the north side of the village. See if you can find any tracks. I'll take the south."
...
"Here you go, son."
Angelo smiled friendly at Mrs. Dunn, who provided him with a warm cup of tea. She'd welcomed him and immediately seated him in the living room. Uriah's dad was out, which was a good thing if Angelo had to believe Will. He was apparently very protective about his son and adopted son and had given Will quite a nasty feeling the first time they met. Uriah's mother, on the other hand, was a lot nicer. She'd told him she would call Uriah and Jeremy before setting him some tea.
And, just as he took the cup from her, Uriah and Jeremy arrived. Uriah nodded at him, never really the one to greet enthusiastically, but Jeremy yelled out his name and ran to hug him.
"Well, I see you boys have a lot to talk about. I'm out to get us some dinner. Angelo dear, would you like to eat with us?"
Angelo shook his head.
"No, thank you ma'am. I promised Will I'd be home for dinner."
"Alright. Though, you should have dinner with us sometime. And take the two girls along. It will be fun."
"Mom."
Mrs. Dunn smiled and petted Uriah's head.
"Well then, have fun you three!"
Angelo watched as she left, smiling at Uriah as the latter evaded his gaze. He even became a tint redder before he cleared his throat.
"So... As to what do we owe a visit of our alpha?" He said, finally looking at Angelo with a gaze that said that Angelo better not say a thing about his mother.
Angelo grinned and sat a little back, leaning in the chair as to get a good look of Uriah and Jeremy.
"Well, I'm just inquiring about last night. Any troubles?"
As he said so, Uriah reddened even more and once again evaded his gaze, while Jeremy held his head askew.
"Did something happen last night?" He asked innocently. "What did I miss? Uriah, you didn't do something fun while I was asleep, did you?"
Uriah reddened even more and Angelo grinned, sure to gain an interesting story from him. He knew that Jeremy would sleep through it, it was that or he would be hyperactive throughout the night. The blue moon only really influenced werewolves who were in their puberty and older. Which made it interesting that Uriah was blushing. Had he had some fun as well last night?
"If you tell me, I'll tell you what I did last night." He said, seeing Uriah look at him.
The ginger's face told Angelo he was doubting. Something had happened that he was proud off, but also seemed to wondering if it was a good thing to tell Angelo.
"Jeremy, go finish that level. We'll call you when it's important." Uriah said.
Jeremy started whining, like every kid would when they knew something good was coming. However, with one look from Uriah he stopped at ran out of the room, knowing better than to argue. Uriah then looked back at Angelo, sighing a bit.
"I went to a club." He finally said, causing Angelo to raise an eyebrow. "I saw Hay Lin."
Angelo's eyes widened.
"You didn't!" He said, grinning a bit as well.
He knew about Eric and was quite sure that, if Eric would find out that Uriah and Hay Lin kissed, Uriah's ass would be gunned down. But Uriah made a face as he shook his head.
"Hell no!" He said, almost as if he was insulted. "I didn't even touch her! She was way too busy dancing and kissing other people... Like Irma."
Angelo blinked a couple of times, unsure if he'd heard that right. He made a mental note to ask this to Hay Lin. He just hoped she wouldn't feel too guilty about kissing other people. Then again...It had been Hay Lin suggesting the three-way relationship with Will and Elyon...
And he wondered how Irma would react to it, now that she would remember what happened last night. She'd apparently tried to kiss Hay Lin before, but now they'd actually done so. He couldn't wait to tell Will.
"So you enjoyed the view?" He finally said.
Uriah grinned, his eyes glazing over with the memories of last night.
"You could say that. And I got to tease Lair afterwards."
"She must have liked that."
A very sly grin appeared on Uriah's lips and Angelo raised an eyebrow, sensing that this was what Uriah had been trying tell.
"Well... I would believe she did. I mean, she didn't complain after the kiss."
Angelo fell his mouth fall open, completely sure that Irma had probably tried to kill herself once she remembered that. A laugh escaped his throat and Uriah's face turned to a scowl while Angelo continued to laugh.
"I see you like this a little too much." He growled.
Angelo shook his head, laughing still and took a few seconds to control himself.
"Sorry. It's just. You two always argue and sneer at one another. It's just hilarious to think about Irma's reaction when she realizes what she's done." He clarified.
He saw how Uriah's features changed from annoyed to slightly proud, but something else seemed to linger in his eyes. As if a sort of disappointment shined through them. He blinked it away as he shook his head and leaned into the chair he'd chosen.
"But anyways. How about you?"
Angelo grinned, leaning leisurely in the couch before taking a sip from his tea.
"Oh. I took Will on a date." He said.
Uriah started to grin, but said nothing. He merely looked at him and waited. Angelo, feeling a sort of excitement bubbling up, started to grin even wider.
"More than a date, huh?" Uriah finally said.
"Oh yeah."
"You did...?"
"Oh. Yeah."
"Nice."
Angelo grinned goofily at Uriah, who nodded at him. A short silence fell, wherein the two just sat and grinned at each other. Angelo drank his tea and Uriah repositioned himself. He placed his arms on his knees and leaned a bit forward.
"So... Is it official? Cause I heard that Will seems to like that Lucas guy as well."
Angelo's face immediately darkened by the mention of Lucas. He had no hard proof yet, but he was almost sure that that was the guy who protected Will from Matt last moon. Which meant he was a Rogue and no way in hell that he would allow Will to get even near that Rogue again.
"Not yet. We still need to talk. She got called for Guardian stuff before we could actually talk this out."
"Ah."
"But now that you touched the subject, did you hear from your mom about what she, Dante and my uncle did last full moon?"
Uriah frowned, as if he was having trouble to remember what happened two days ago. His eyes lit up and nodded grimly.
"Yeah. They didn't find any of them, huh?"
"No and that worries me. Even their scents were no longer to be found."
"Maybe they took off in a car?"
Angelo creased his eyebrows. If they'd left by car, they should have been tracked by the grownups. Car tracks were easily seen in the snow, seeing as it hadn't been snowing since that day. So that was out of the question. But there was no other way for them to leave. He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"I don't know. But there is something I do know. I do not want them in our territory any longer."
"They are with more and by the looks of it, they also are more experienced." Uriah said. "Isn't it better if we just moved to a safer place?"
Uriah's voice died down as Angelo looked at him. He knew that moving was most certainly safer, but a part of him didn't want that. It would mean he would lose. And he loathed to think that Cailean would take his territory. That would truly be shameful.
"Heatherfield forest is ours, Uriah. And I will not allow a couple of exiles to take our ground. They should know we stand our ground. And if that calls for actual training, so be it."
Uriah nodded, his gaze casted downwards. Only now did Angelo realize that he'd gotten up and was staring the older boy down. Satisfied, he sat back down, trying to ignore the voice in his head telling him that moving was indeed safer. It was a coward's choice.
"Talking about that. I'd like to take Jeremy along tomorrow."
...
Irma looked aside, seeing Hay Lin paying more attention to the ground than to her. Granted, that was why they'd been sent out, but usually they would talk and joke a little. Now, ever since they flew away, it had been quiet. Not a word had been said and they hadn't even looked at each other.
A blush still crept over her cheeks as she remembered what had happened last night. Now, her kiss with Uriah was a far lesser concern. She'd actually kissed Hay Lin, twice. Her mind argued that it had been Hay Lin who started the kiss, but Irma allowed it. Meaning she was as guilty as charged. As if the blue moon before that wasn't awkward enough! Back then, Hay Lin couldn't look at her without a blush for a full month. What was she planning on doing now? Ignore her?
"Hey, Hay." She said slowly. "Everything okay."
"Yeah, sure. You?"
"...Fine, I guess."
Well, that helped, not. That was probably the most awkward conversation she'd had with Hay Lin since...Forever. A frustrated sigh left her and looked again at her friend, who was now looking at her instead of at the ground.
"Listen Irma. About last night. I learnt that alcohol is very bad. And...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, at all."
"No Hay, it's my fault too. I shouldn't have run off."
"Yeah... You gave Taranee and Cornelia quite a scare."
This caused a giggle from Irma, to which Hay Lin joined in. The two started laughing and ended with grinning at each other.
"So, it never happened?"
"We can't deny it didn't. But we can agree to never speak of it again."
Irma grinned.
"I like that." She said.
A short silence fell between them.
"Uhm, Hay."
"Yeah?"
"That other thing. From last night." Irma said.
"Yeeeees?"
"Could you...Not talk about that either?"
"Of you and Uriah? K-I-S-S-I-N-G?"
Irma reddened and glared at Hay Lin, who was grinning wildly at her.
"That yeah." She said sourly. "That never happened either, right?"
"You wish!"
Hay Lin shot forward, laughing loudly. Irma moaned and shot after her, yelling her name as she desperately tried to catch up with her. The race didn't take long as Taranee's voice suddenly rang through their heads, telling them to return to the village for they'd found something.
Irma glared at Hay Lin, who stuck her tongue out at her, taunting her. Irma replied with one well aimed water jet, catching her in the back and soaking her completely. Which, of course, caused a new race between the two, only this time towards the village.
...
Will had flown quite some time but hadn't spotted anything as of yet. She hoped Hay Lin and Irma had more luck or else they had to do the same thing, only going to the west and east. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to send Hay Lin to the east and Taranee to the west. Oh well, it was a little late to change tactics now and it wasn't like they had anything better to do.
She flew further, her mind slowly turning to her conversation with Cornelia. She'd forgotten completely about Elyon and shame filled her. Hadn't she tried to couple them too? And now she went and had sex with Angelo. It wasn't fully her fault, she argued mentally. The blue moon made her do stupid things. And besides, maybe Angelo didn't feel much for Elyon? No, if that were the case, he wouldn't have gone to visit her so often. Oh, this was awkward. Maybe she had to talk this over with Angelo, before facing Elyon about it. She just had to make sure Cornelia wouldn't say anything.
Nodding to herself, Will decided she could go back. There was nothing here and going any further would be pointless. Or so she thought until she saw someone below. She descended, finding that this person had stopped and was staring up. The closer she came to the ground, the more she couldn't believe her eyes. She landed in front of the person and guffawed at said person.
"Lara?"
Lara glared at her, crossing her arms and looking as if she could jump her at any moment. For a moment, Will was surprised that she could even recognize her, seeing that, until now, only people who saw them transform or who were told about their identity could recognize them. It was then that she remembered that Lara was like her.
"Why am I not surprised to see you here?"
Will took a step back. She couldn't think of a way for Lara to be here in Meridian. She couldn't be here, she had no fold stone. So why was she here? This couldn't be.
"And you're some kind of fairy too? Are you telling me you are also part dragon? Wouldn't be surprised either way."
No, this was definitely Lara. But how. No. More importantly, she was here after those attacks.
"You're a Rogue."
Lara slowly started clapping and Will couldn't help but just watched as she let her arms fall again.
"I thought you were quicker than that, miss Royalty." Lara sneered.
"How did you get here?"
Lara played with her hair. At a closer look, Will realized that Lara was looking filthier than she could remember. Her long hair had knots and there were smudges on her face.
She scoffed and turned her head away. Will felt annoyance rise within her and she felt how she lifted her lip. She decided to control it and gritted her teeth as the girl she used to deem as a friend was now acting like she was nothing.
"You are not the only one privileged to see new planets. But I guess you wanted to hog it all for your precious clan. Well too bad! We have rights to!"
"This is not a place meant for our kind! If anything, it's more dangerous here than on Earth."
Lara scoffed and turned back to her, her eyes now turned to the yellow werewolf colour.
"For you maybe! But it's paradise for us! No Hunters, no Clanners. No nothing! No one to oppose us except for some magical Queen. Well, she's not the only one with magic here!"
Will took a step forward, with Lara growling as she did.
"Don't you dare get close to Elyon."
"Or what?" Lara sneered. "I heard about your little run in with the Regent of Earth. You're nothing and above all, you're outnumbered. You can't scare me anymore."
She walked away and Will blinked at first, before she realized what was happening. She wanted to follow when suddenly, Taranee called, telling her to return to the village as they'd found something.
While she was distracted by the message, Lara had disappeared. The idea of her here, was worrying, but going to look for her and most likely walk into a group of Rogues, was a bad idea. She decided to do some more research back home and return to the village, hoping to at least get some good news.
...
Yan Lin still couldn't believe it. Here she was, sitting in a chair as Nerissa was sitting on the bed across of her. They hadn't said much after the initial greeting, except for Nerissa to invite her to sit down. Since then they'd been staring at each other. Yan Lin had been taking her in, seeing that she indeed looked around the end of her forty's and somehow less menacing than she'd been before. Nerissa had been looking at her and Yan Lin could see multiple emotions cross her face. Sometimes a glimmer of the old madness shined in her eyes, while other times curiousity or guilt would cloud her features.
"How did you get out?"
That question had been on her mind for quite some time, for only harmony would have helped Nerissa out of it. And Nerissa was bat shit crazy last time she'd seen her. Nerissa's eyes sparkled and a smile played on her lips, though it quickly fell again.
"Just like you did Yannie. How else?"
It wasn't much, but it did imply that Nerissa had found harmony. If that were true, then why did she still feel uneasy near her old friend?
"How's your granddaughter?"
"Fine, thank you."
"She could cry funnily, you know."
Yan Lin's face clouded, her eyes squinted as she watched how Nerissa laughed to herself, obviously enjoying the memory of her granddaughter crying. This, however, suddenly stopped and she could see how Nerissa's green eyes widened as if in shock.
"She's really fine, right?"
Yan Lin raised an eyebrow. This was strange. From insanity she turned to, what seemed to be, heartfelt concern. She nodded slowly and watched how now a look of relief settled upon Nerissa's visage. She sighed and let herself fall back on the bed.
"You know Yannie, I really regret what happened. Every. Single. Thing."
"Last time you told me that, we were trapped in a crystal and you still wanted to break out alone and control everything."
Instead of a chuckle like she expected, a very dreary sigh came from the bed.
"Wasn't that on a full moon night?"
Yan Lin raised her eyebrow once again. What a strange question to ask.
"What would that matter?"
Nerissa got up and looked at her, her eyes wide and full with both panic and awe.
"You have no idea how strong the moon is."
"You neither. Remember? The moon can only affect those she touched. And seeing you're not a Water Guardian or a werewolf..."
Now a chuckle came from Nerissa as she let her head lull backward while she shook her finger.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Shame on you Yannie! I thought you, of all people would remember. I thought you were the one who was concerned the most."
Yan Lin frowned, wondering what Nerissa was talking about. She watched as her old friend looked at her, her head a bit askew. She then chuckled again as she shook her head.
"Old age really does affect your memory, doesn't it?"
"What can I say? Following the flow of time like any normal human does that to me, I'm afraid."
Nerissa chuckled and for a moment, Yan Lin thought she saw her old friend again. Her green eyes sparkled with fun and mystery, like they used to, instead of the ambition that had been haunting those emerald eyes for years.
"Remember when you, Kadma, Halinor and Cassidy saved me from the moon?"
Yan Lin frowned at her, sure she was playing a joke. Only, when Nerissa started to whistle a tune, one she created after one moment in time. The moment that tune was created, everything went wrong. She'd called it the tune of the moon.
"Lunatone cave."
Nerissa stopped her whistle and grinned, wolfishly.
"Yes." She said. "The same cave the Guardians are looking for once again."
"They aren't looking..."
"Only because Cassidy stopped them. And I made Julian promise not to search for it. Even so, I fear that the seal will once again be undone."
Yan Lin remained silent. She wasn't surprised that Nerissa knew so much. If Julian indeed visited her often, he would most likely talk about it with her. She too was fearing that the seal was once again undone, for it would explain the large amount of werewolves in Meridian. Yet something didn't add up. To undo the seal, blood of the two royal houses is needed. And as far as she knew, only one of the royal houses had a Rogue. So the seal should still be there. But if that seal would indeed loosen...
"You know what will happen if that seal breaks, don't you?"
Yan Lin looked at Nerissa, who looked gloomily at her. There was no joy in the prospect it would give and as she looked, Nerissa answered her own question.
"War."
...
"There was a breach in the silver circle, big enough for a human to walk through without a problem. It's likely that werewolves who are descendants of Water Guardians entered through it to use their mind suggestion on certain people."
Elyon nodded, concerned as the girls had returned with the same report as Julian and Raythor had done. She'd already discussed possibilities, but just restoring the circles wouldn't do much good. It was obvious they could be destroyed.
"I think I'll be placing guards in the villages, and give them a silver armour for full moon nights. And I'll need a group to patrol and find these werewolves. They are too dangerous to be left alone." She said.
Raythor nodded, leaving to make preparations. A sigh left her as she smiled thankfully at the girls. She'd already noticed they'd been tired and she was happy they were still willing to answer her call. Granted, she'd been a bit disappointed that Angelo hadn't come along, but she figured he couldn't come always.
"Thank you girls. And sorry for the early call."
The girls grinned at her, making it clear they weren't bothered. Nevertheless, she couldn't just let them leave.
"As a thank you and apology for getting you so early here, how about lunch here? It's been a while since we've been together."
"Well, I never say no to food." Irma replied, causing the rest to laugh.
[A/N] End of the chapter. Sorry again for the wait, but I'm glad you guys are still sticking with me! See you next full moon!
And review of course!
