Chapter 5 is out, this is the chapter that finishes the fight with the Neo-Ghouls. Archer and Yancy academy is in chapter 6.
I'll post it in a week or two, sorry this chapter was longer than normal.
Translation for Dove's french is at the bottom.
And I would like to thank imaginexwriter9 for being a beta/editor for this story.
Chapter 5 - Fight Back.
The fastest way to the gym from the hallway was through the girl's locker rooms. Dove had decided to wait in there with the other door cracked open just enough for her to see into the gym. She was not sure how long she was alone, but it felt like an eternity. Luckily for her, she had enough time to calm down a little and think more clearly.
That didn't change the fact that it was so eerily quiet, the only thing to be heard was her erratic breathing.
'If this is what it's like when Luna sneaks out, I don't know how she does it. The silence is maddening.I just hope that the monsters weren't a constant occurrence.'
One night was bad enough!
But if these things were constantly running through the school halls waiting to attack a student?
Well if that's the case then surely, Dove's pappy wouldn't mind sending her to the Junior High in town.
He definitely wouldn't believe her about the monsters. But maybe there was a chance she could say the reason was because of Stacy and her two brainless minions?
'You know what…..that actually sounds tempting. Oh, wait.'
She almost forgot. Elementary school bullies.
'Yea no, never mind. That plan doesn't sound as tempting anymore.'
Of course, there were always the other boarding schools that Dove had discussed with her Pappy. There was one boarding school in upstate New York that had caught her attention, but she couldn't remember the name.
Fancy Academy? Nancy Academy?
It was something like that.
'But if I transferred schools then I would have to leave Luna.' Dove thought with a grimace. With Dove being an only child, Luna had become the closest thing she had to a sister and she didn't want to leave her.
'Oh, and I guess I would have to leave Dylan as well. That probably would make me sad too…Maybe. Ok, I'm kidding. I would miss them both.'
Her light-hearted musings were cut short suddenly when one of the doors to the gym slammed open.
Dove nearly jumped out of her skin in response. She tried to melt into the shadows and hide from whatever had just entered the other room, but was afraid her rapidly beating heart would give away her position.
However, when the new arrival spoke, her heart skipped a beat and she would have collapsed in relief if she could.
"Luna? Dove?"
The slightly squeaky and timid voice was unmistakable, but Dove cautiously waited until Dylan entered her field of view before revealing herself. Sure enough, her dark-haired friend appeared and ran to the middle of the gym, looking around frantically with what appeared to be a broom in his hands.
"Dil! Over here!" Dove hissed, keeping her voice just barely above a whisper. She had to crack the door open a bit more and repeat herself two more times before he looked her way.
It was easy to forget that he didn't have Luna's crazy good hearing.
"Dove!"
Dylan had the biggest lopsided grin on his face as he ran over to the blonde.
'That is the stupidest grin I've ever seen.' Dove deadpanned before thinking about her statement. 'Wait. Is 'stupidest' a word?'
Of course, Dove didn't doubt that if she said 'stupidest' around pappy that he would go on full-blown lecture mode. Sometimes having a college professor as your grandfather could be a bit annoying. Especially when he didn't even teach English and he would always be correcting the words Dove used.
"Why are you hiding in the girl's locker room?"
Dove narrowed her eyes at the slightly older boy in front of her.
"Because we're kind of being chased by creatures that look like they belong in one of the horror movies I watch."
Opening the door just enough, Dove grabbed Dylan's forearm and yanked him into the room with her.
"Now get in here!"
"Wha-! Dove! This is the girl's locker room."
"That doesn't matter in life or death situations!"
Dove leveled a glare at Dylan, who was currently regaining his balance.
"If we survive this and you end up sneaking into the girl's locker room for fun, I'll kill you before Luna has the chance."
Dylan crossed his arms in front of him and flinched back. Absent-mindedly, Dove noticed that he seemed uncomfortable.
"I don't want to be here now. What makes you think I would want to sneak in here."
Narrowing her eyes more, Dove leveled him with what Pappy called her 'analytical stare'.
Pappy said Dove had inherited it from her père's maman, but Dove had never met her so she wouldn't know what she looked like.
Supposedly Père also has the stare, but she never noticed it. Granted Dove's père was very rarely home, he teaches English abroad, traveling all over Europe and sketching famous historical buildings in his free time.
Her pappy kept the sketch père had drawn of the Greek Parthenon in his study.
As far as Dove knew, Père was currently in France.
"You spend too much time around Luna!" Dylan yelped while pointing an accusing finger at the blonde. "You have her 'I'm not sure if you're even lying, but I'll find out' stare."
'Huh?' Dove tilted her head to the side and looked at him in confusion. 'I'm pretty sure Luna picked up the stare from me, and what's with that stupid name? Wait, this isn't the time.'
Rolling her eyes Dove reached out to Dylan and grabbed the collar of his shirt, directing him into a crouch.
"We can talk about this later. You know, when we're not in danger. Now get down and watch my back, if there's any more of those things then there's a chance they can break down the door I locked in the back."
"R-right."
The two fell into silence after that, and Dove realized that this time it was longer than before.
'Where the hell is Luna?'
Why was she taking so long? Did the monster get her? Was she hurt?
Dovecould feel Dylan tensing up from beside her and she could only assume they were having the same thoughts.
'She went down the left hall. So if she went into the cafeteria she could get into the kitchen. I'm sure she could find a knife or something in there.'
But then her only exit would lead outside.
'Would she be able to get back inside?'
Luna could have gone into the shop classrooms, the tools were locked away but surely she could have broken the lock somehow.
But would she have had enough time?
That Dove wasn't so sure about.
"Putain de tout! This is so aggravating! Où diable était-elle?"
"Is that French?" Dylan asked incredulously.
'Did I say that out loud? I thought it was in my head. Was I saying that aloud when the monster was chasing me too?'
Dove was about to reply to Dylan when she saw the strangest sight she had seen in her entire life.
Luna had entered the gym.
Dove was gobsmacked. She was aghast. She was petrified, appalled, and astonished. But above all that...
She was delighted.
Luna hadn't used the main entrance as Dylan had.
"Did Luna just come out of the boy's locker room?"
Dove was barely holding in her laughter. Luna was never living this down.
"Wait what?
From the tone Dylan used when he answered, Dove could tell he was shocked as well.
Luna
There was only one way into the gym if I wanted to be fast, and while it sounded like I had a few minutes to spare, there was no guarantee that Dylan and Dove both escaped their 'Neo-Ghouls'.
I didn't want to risk finding out by seeing them being eaten alive.
Honestly, the term Neo- Ghoul was still very confusing to me. Sure, I knew what a ghoul was thanks to Dove, in modern fiction they were an undead monster (like a zombie) and in Arabian myth they dwelled in graveyards and consumed human flesh. But a Neo-Ghoul? From what Servius said and what I interpreted, they seemed to be a ghoul that incorporated all myths. Roman, Greek, Celtic, Norse, etc.
But I never heard of that monster in the Greek Mythology stories Mama, Uncle Atticus, and my grandma would tell me. Maybe the closest would be an empousa or lamia, or the tale of Phasma Philinnion (an unwed maiden who died prematurely, just to return as a ghost-inhabited corpse).
I decided to swallow my pride and embarrassment in order to avoid possibly seeing my dead friends, so I went through the boy's locker room to get to the gym.
And I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Throwing open the door to the gymnasium, I bolted out of the locker room at full speed. Of course, it was then that I realized I was all alone.
A feeling of dread filled my chest.
There's no way I was the first one here, right?
Right?
'Where are they?'
I was frantically searching the room, my heart pounding in my chest and my breathing erratic.
Calm down, they're here.
'Where?'
Can't you smell them?
I twitched in annoyance. This voice was making me sound like a dog or something. I mean, yeah, I could smell the decay of the creatures and they seemed to be over by the nurse's office.
But still. I wasn't a dog.
And I couldn't pinpoint the Neo-Ghouls exact location right now anyway. My nose was still clogged by the scent of sweat and BO from the locker room behind me.
Don't the boys use the showers after class and practice? They give us a 20-minute break after gym for a reason, after all.
Didn't the buffoons know that? Or did they just use the time goofing off?
Suddenly I felt blessed to have the three brothers that I have. Even if two were not by blood, and I wanted to kill Archer sometimes.
Oh wait, we're currently being hunted. Not the time to get distracted.
Back to finding Dylan and Dove.
"If you're done trying to make me panic, we don't have the time to hide." I called out in annoyance.
I heard the door to the girls' locker room slam open and turned my head to look. Sure enough, Dove walked out with a huge grin on her face.
'Why's she looking like the Cat that got the Canary?'
You did just come out of the boys' locker room.
"Well, well, well, I think I just saw the most amusing sight I've seen in my entire life."
A feeling of dread filled my gut.
"We don't have time for this." I said in one breath. "Where's Dylan? We have to go, more of those things are on the way."
The grin melted off Dove's face faster than you could say 'Clowns' and she paled just as much as if you were to force her to wear a skirt.
'And yet, the girl is perfectly fine with wearing a dress.'
"There's more?" She whispered in horror.
"Yeah." I nodded, moving my left hand in a 'hurry up' motion. "So we gotta hurry because I don't wanna die. Now, where's Dylan."
"Umm…" a hesitant and uncomfortable voice said from behind Dove. "I'm right here."
The feeling of panic I was feeling was squashed by a flicker of anger and irritation when I saw a hand raise up behind Dove and the sea-green-eyed boy walked out of the girls' locker room.
"That's the girls' locker room."
"Dove forced me to hide with her." Dylan had an uncomfortable look on his face and was fidgeting slightly. "In my defense, you just came from the boys' locker room."
The anger I was feeling disappeared. He was right, after all, it was hypocritical of me to yell at him. Plus we were being hunted right now.
I was about to open my mouth to apologize when I heard snarling. I turned my head slightly to the right, trying to pinpoint where they were.
They were getting closer. Just before the commons by the cafeteria.
"We gotta go, they're close."
Dylan tensed up and Dove's head snapped to me, the look of terror on her face making my chest ache.
Get to the back gym.
"How can you tell?" Dove whimpered.
"I'll tell you later. We need to move. Now." I urged, starting to run towards the back door.
There were two gyms in the school, kind of like how we had two pools. The reason for the two gyms was because we had four classes going at one time. I'm not entirely sure why there were two pools in the school, one certainly would have been enough, but I think it was either because one was competition and one was more recreational or because they separated the boys and girls when the gym class used the pool.
There was another reason for me heading to the back gym, and it wasn't just because the voice wanted me to.
Between the two gyms was a hallway. You go left and you're led to the outdoor fields. You go right and you're led to the back gym. But the hallway also housed the gym teachers' offices, the large sports equipment, and equipment closets.
Crashing into the door, I threw it open and held it while my two friends caught up to me.
"Come on, hurry!"
Dylan was dragging Dove along by her wrist, she wasn't as slow as before but she still seemed to be letting her fear cloud her mind.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Dylan barked.
As soon as Dove was fully past the doorway, I slammed the door closed.
"Help me move the football dummies." I called out to both of them.
Dylan nodded immediately and ran up to the three tackle dummies on…
'...what is that thing called anyway?'
It kind of looked like a sled.
'Is that what it's called? A dummy sled? Tackle sled?'
Not the time, Luna
Snapping out of my musings, I was about to go help Dylan when I saw Dove.
She wasn't doing much more than whimpering and muttering in French.
That's strange. Her battle reflexes aren't kicking in.
I scrunched my face in confusion.
'Her what now?' I asked the voice.
The voice went quiet again and I growled in frustration.
"Luna, I'm not strong enough to push this alone," Dylan called in a panic.
I gulped before taking a deep breath. 'How much time do we have?'
I was going to try and pinpoint the ghouls, but the voice interjected before I could.
No time, get Dove to help.
I turned to Dove, who was still standing as still as a statue and that really pissed me off. Not because I didn't understand, I myself had frozen earlier in the forest, but I was also scared right now and so was Dylan.
The way Dove was acting right now? Well, to be blunt, she was completely useless.
"Dee!" I barked, but didn't get a response."Dee, we need your help!" I said desperately.
This just pissed me off even more, Dove Derosiers was anything but useless and the only response I received from her at the moment was a whimper.
The girl I relied on the most right now, was standing off to the side, shaking like a leaf and whimpering. And she would never forgive me if I allowed her to keep acting like this.
I blinked once before setting my face in determination and doing the only thing I could think of at the moment. Stalking up to my roommate, I raised my right hand and slapped Dove across the face, her eyes widening after the fact.
"Luna, what the hell!?" She screamed with tears in her eyes.
"Slap me back later." I growled, I had to fight back some guilt, and pointed at Dylan and the three red dummies. "Help us move the football dummies."
She glared at me with a pout (a strange expression really), before rushing over to Dylan, with me at her heel. The three of us lined up at the closest dummy and started pushing so we could move the dummies in front of the door to block it.
After we blocked the door (a futile task probably), I ran towards the gym teachers' offices, staying clear of one office in particular.
I sometimes stayed late after class to help my gym teacher, Mrs. Hexel, put the equipment away, so I knew that each teacher had keys in their office.
But of course, all the doors so far were locked.
'If Hexel's door is locked, I may need to try Jacobs' office.'
Don't you dare! That guy's bad news.
'You think I don't know that!? Every time I catch the smallest scent of that thing, I get goosebumps and run in the opposite direction!'
The voice hummed in thought.
Good girl.
I growled in annoyance.
'DON'T TREAT ME LIKE A DOG, DAMNIT!'
Language
"Umm Luna?" Dylan's hesitant voice called from behind my right shoulder. "You good? You seem a little…." he trailed off.
"Pissed off? Crazy?" Dove supplied in a dry tone.
"I was gonna say growly, but….I guess pissed off works."
"I'm fine. It's just if Hexel's door doesn't work, we're going to need to try Jacobs' office."
Dove gagged in response while Dylan yelled in a hostile voice. "Not happening!"
Moving my head in a 'well there you go' type movement, I reached for the doorknob. With bated breath and a bite to the lower left side of my lip, I tried opening the door.
I sighed in relief when I heard the 'click' and the door opened. Turning back, I sent a quick smile to my friends before running into the room and grabbing the key to the storage closet off of the corkboard that it was kept on.
When I exited the room, I was about to say 'let's go' but I stopped and perked up slightly. I heard a door crash open, outside the gym.
'That was the door to pools'
Stop wasting time and get a move on!
I turned to my two friends, ignoring their confused and slightly concerned faces. "Storage closet, let's go."
Not wasting time to see their response, I ran towards the storage closet, and as quick as I could, I unlocked the door and threw it open.
"What are we doing here?" Dylan asked impatiently. "I thought we were trying to run away from those things?"
I looked around for something that could do some damage.
"Too fast. Won't outrun them." My responses were short and to the point. There wasn't time for a conversation.
I reached out towards the rack of baseball bats, planning on going for the one closest to me.
Not that one, five to the right.
'Why?'
Trust me.
Not questioning it, I picked up the bat that was towards the opposite end of the rack. I barely registered that this bat had a slight bronze tint to it, but it turned silver after I blinked, so I shrugged it off as my imagination.
"Dylan!" I called, throwing the bat behind me in hopes that he would catch it.
I didn't hear the 'cling' of the bat hitting the floor, so I assumed he caught it. Returning to my search of the closet, I ran my eyes over the equipment.
My eyes stopped at the fencing equipment on the right wall.
'Huh, I forgot our school has a fencing team."
Why isn't all of that in the team club room? Or locked away?
'Technically, it IS locked away. Any specific one I should grab?'
One in the middle.
'Roger Roger."
The voice sighed in exasperation.
Grabbing the specified rapier, I moved it around in my hand a few times. I had no idea for certain what I was looking for, but my years of stick fighting gave me a vague idea of how to test the weight.
"Dove, try this. Does the weight feel okay?"
My short roommate grabbed the rapier from my hand and copied my movements in a far more graceful, fluid, and what seemed to be experienced manner.
"It'll do."
As I turned around again I heard her mumble. "Not sure how useful it will be though."
I turned back to the items in the closet, I had a feeling we needed one more. I moved my hand to check my back pocket, nodding slightly when I felt the two screwdrivers from earlier were still there.
To the left.
I followed the voice's commands and came back to the baseball equipment.
Look above.
I glanced above the rack of baseball bats and boxes of gloves.
'I'm pretty sure THAT should be locked up.'
Technically it is.
Above the baseball equipment, (just like at the range uncle Atticus sometimes brings us to) was a hanging rack full of the Archery team's bows.
The wheels at the ends of the bow's frame and multiple cables next to the drawstring helped me identify the group of bows as compound bows.
Do you know which one to grab?
My eyes traced over each bow. It would be foolish for me to grab any of them, I didn't know the draw weight. The last time I went to a range, I could shoot with a 20 pound draw weight.
I brought my right thumb up and bit my nail, my eyes still racing over the bows. I'm pretty sure a 20-pound draw weight was about average for my age and weight group.
'How much did I weigh again?'
I believe your last doctor's appointment had you at 100 pounds.
I blinked.
'How do you know that?'
The voice remained quiet. I was about to ask again more forcefully, but the should of something hitting the barricaded doors down the hall drew my attention back to the task at hand.
"Luna!" Dove shouted in fear.
'Which bow?'
Far-right, next to the quiver.
My eyes followed the command and I saw a silver bow next to a quiver full of arrows.
The lack of wheels and multiple cables helped me identify it as not a compound bow. While at the same time, the fact that the limbs of the bow were curving away from the drawstring, helped me recognize it as a recurve bow.
"Luna, hurry!" Dylan hissed.
'You want me to go for the recurve!?' I thought incredulously. 'The recurve is harder to draw! It relies entirely on MY strength! I need to be closer to my target for a recurve! On top of that, the thing looks hella old!'
So you WERE paying attention to your mother's lessons.
I winced and blinked away the sting in my eyes.
Don't bring up the dead.
I feel like the voice would have responded to what I said, if not for another crash against the barricaded doors.
"Hurry!" Dove and Dylan shouted in unison.
Don't argue! Grab the recurve and quiver! Go!
Listening to the voice, I grabbed the old silver bow and the brown quiver that hung next to it. I vaguely wondered what material the quiver was made out of as I ran out of the room, throwing the quiver across my back.
"Let's move!"
We made it to the end of the hallway before I heard a 'crash'. When I turned to look, I saw the doors had opened just enough for one of the Neo-Ghouls to stick its head through the door.
With widened eyes, I turned and opened the door to the back gym.
"Come on!"
Dove
Luna opened the door and the three of them rushed in. Dove heard the door they barricaded forced open and some snarling from the creatures.
She was still upset that Luna slapped her, but Dove was also thankful. Thanks to the slap, she could now think somewhat more clearly. Of course, she was still scared of those creatures, but no longer was she letting that fear control her.
Dove had a secret, an embarrassing secret, she had a habit of daydreaming during the day. You're probably thinking 'Wow Dove, that's such an embarrassing secret', but it's not just daydreaming. It's what she daydreams about.
Often Dove found herself daydreaming of what-if scenarios. Like what if there was a zombie apocalypse, or what if aliens invaded the school. Kind of geeky, she was aware.
But she couldn't help it! No matter how hard she tried, her mind was drawn to these scenarios. It was always how can we escape? What strengths do my friends and I have that I can use to our advantage? Or what weaknesses do we have that we need to make up for?
Right now, however? Her main thought was:
What's our best chance of survival?
The answer was pretty easy. It was to fight back.
But how? What was our best course of action?
Dove glanced at the fencing sabre that Luna handed her before looking at the bat and broken mop or broom handle in Dylan's hands. An idea started forming and she looked back at Luna, seeing that she had an Archery bow in her right hand and a quiver on her back.
'If Dylan and I face those creatures head-on then…'
Her eyes widened slightly as the idea started to turn into a plan of action.
'C'était un plan fou. It may turn out to be impossible but…'
Dove snapped her head forward again and looked around the room. If she remembered correctly this gym was used for fencing competitions, so there should be a….
'Bingo.'
A set of green and brown telescopic or retractable bleachers were closed and pushed against the wall of the gym. In the closed form, they had the initials E.A.M.S.
The initials stood for: Edgewood Academy Middle School.
'Je doute que ce soit possible mais….'
"Luna!" Dove called behind her. "Can you climb up the railing of the bleachers?!"
"Already on it!" She called back.
Sure enough, a quick glance at the bleachers showed Luna was halfway up them.
'Putain de merde, how is she always where I need her?'
Dove found it was kind of unsettling, every time in gym class, if they were playing a sport and Luna and Dove were on the same team, Luna was always where Dove needed her. Or sometimes, if she wasn't, Luna was in a spot that could easily be adapted into Dove's plan. At the same time, if they were on opposite teams, she was her most difficult opponent.
It made for a lot of jokes from classmates, and even from some of the older students. The soccer and basketball teams have even tried to recruit the two of them for next year.
'Je dois admettre, out of all the times she has done this, this is the most useful.'
Turning her head to Dylan next, Dove called out. "Dylan! Throw that broom handle to the top of the bleachers!"
"I can try!" Dylan called as he turned around and jogged backwards. Holding the handle like a javelin, he threw it towards the bleachers but it hit the step below and fell.
Luna managed to just catch the handle by diving onto her stomach and grabbing it by the end.
Both sixth graders blinked twice blankly. Sure, Luna said she used to climb trees, hell, Dylan had even seen her climb several before, but Luna got to the middle of the bleachers a little too fast
'Comment est-elle arrivée si vite?'
Dove watched Luna as she pushed herself up and slid around onto her knees to face the door in one fluid motion, laying the handle next to her. Somewhat sloppily Luna grabbed an arrow out of the quiver and notched it, but she didn't draw the string back.
Watching the door like a hawk, she called out to the two younger sixth graders. "Get ready! They're by the offices!"
'How can she tell?'
Dove ran up next to Dylan and held the sabre in front of her. Half-heartedly, she realized that it was slightly heavier than a normal fencing sabre, the blade was a bit thicker too.
It was easy for her to tell as she had been fencing almost as long as she has been taking Hapkido. Ballet too….but she didn't like it. In fact, she vaguely remembered crying when her maman brought her to the first pre-ballet lesson.
'It's kind of funny.' Dove thought with a small wobbly smile. 'I couldn't have been older than two or three, I think it's probably my earliest memory. '
Though if she was being honest, the only reason she still took ballet was because her maman was quite adamant about Dove taking it when she was alive. She would say how she looked forward to Dove's recitals, and how seeing her dance would make her smile.
Dove could still remember the way maman's eyes lit up when she saw her after the recitals, and if Dove did really well she would have tears in the corner of her eyes. Maman would also have a huge grin on her face and speak really fast constantly switching between French and English. Sometimes, Dove swore she could smell the rose perfume maman would save for special events where she would need to dress up, like business parties or dinner with her boss.
'Or my recitals...she would always wear the rose perfume to my recitals…'
Vaguely Dove noticed a tear run down her cheek, but she didn't care. They say your life flashes before your eyes when you're dying, yet here she was alive and reminiscing about her late mother. Is this what happens when you're in danger of dying? Do you start thinking about your deceased loved ones?
"They're down the hall!" Luna called out to her friends. If the situation was different, Dove probably would have laughed humorlessly, those monsters sure picked the best time to arrive. Here she was growing numb and drowning in her memories and now she had to worry about getting attacked?
'When you're at risk of dying, do you get stuck thinking about the happiest moments you had with your maman, and start to loathe the fact that you never knew just how precious those moments were? Are you forced to think about the times you were brought to get ice cream after your sports or dance classes? Forced to remember the times you tried to cheer your mère up when she was sad by playing dress-up with her clothes and smearing her make-up all over your face? Forced to remember the time you nearly broke your arm because you tried walking in your mère's stiletto heels and how to cheer you up, she let you stay home and marathon every Disney princess film while eating ice cream sundaes and take out?'
"Tu me manques maman." Dove whispered hollowly, her grip on the sabre going slack.
'Are you forced to remember the day your pappy (who you just met maybe two years earlier) picked you up from school one day stone-faced and sad-eyed? Forced to remember walking through the front door, calling out happily for your mère and running around the house looking for her, just to have your pappy sit you down in the living room and say that she wasn't coming home from work? Forced to remember the hollow feeling in your stomach? Forced to remember the way you screamed and ran out of the living room, up the stairs, and bolted under the covers of maman's bed where you would run after a nightmare? Forced to remember how for days you wouldn't leave her bedroom, only leaving the covers to go in the en suite attached to her room.'
"They're outside!" It sounded like Luna was underwater.
'Are you forced to remember the way you cried when you realized you would never again go to the pond to feed the ducks, geese, and swans with maman laughing as you quacked at every bird, whether it was a duck or not.'
"J'aimerais pouvoir vous revoir."
The doors to the gym slammed open, and suddenly the hollow feeling Dove had was lit aflame.
'Sorry maman, but I won't be seeing you anytime soon.'
Replacing the numbness Dove was feeling was white hot fury, and as she saw one of the creatures run into the room? The fury traveled from the pit of her stomach and up her throat, releasing in a scream.
Luna
The Neo-Ghouls burst through the gym doors and from there, everything turned into a mess.
I shot an arrow, in hopes of helping at least one of my friends, but it was very wobbly and missed. Honestly, it was kind of embarrassing, it was almost like I never shot a bow before.
Which I suppose was fair, because it's been a few years. I guess either my muscle memory didn't develop enough or archery isn't like riding a bike.
Dove was frozen in place, and Dylan tried to swing the bat at a creature that lunged at them but missed.
Suddenly, however, Dove screamed and plunged the rapier I handed her in the left eye of the Neo-Ghoul that Dylan failed to hit.
The Ghoul disappeared in a shower of yellow and I stayed frozen to the spot I was crouched in.
The amount of pain in that scream made me choke on a sob. It hit too close to home and reminded me too much of the pain I felt when my mama died.
After screaming, Dove didn't spare a look at the pool of dust at her feet and left Dylan standing there gawking as she ran at the Neo-Ghouls, the rapier held tightly in her right hand.
I grabbed another arrow and notched it against the arrow rest on the bow, but I didn't draw the string back, I needed to aim first. If I aimed while the bow was drawn it would not only strain my muscles, but result in another sloppy shot, and I couldn't afford to miss.
You really were paying attention to your mother's lessons.
The voice repeated its earlier statement from the storage closet, but this time, I didn't respond. I needed to focus on my target and control my breathing.
And you listen to your uncle too? Is that 'I don't care' attitude a cover?
I would have ignored the voice again, but it kept bringing stuff up that it shouldn't know.
'How the hell do you know this stuff?'
Oh would you look at that? The voice reflected. It's time for me to go hunt for some dinner. Sorry pup, you're on your own.
Did the voice just call me pup? Like the wolf in the woods before?
'Focus, Luna. Monsters now, answers later.'
I sighed and raised my bow, still not drawing back the string yet.
Apparently not much time had passed since I got distracted. Dove was slashing at the ghoul that ran up to her, it seemed to be a bit erratic but each time the ghoul tried to get close to her, she stabbed the rapier forward to force the beast back.
There were about five ghouls that poured into the room, it would be easy for them to gang up on my friends. One had turned into that powder, so there were four left.
I still didn't like those odds.
"DYLAN FOLLOW HER!" I screamed.
The younger boy (by a day), ran after Dove and held his bat by his hip. When a ghoul ran towards him, he swung the bat up and hit it below the chin- knocking the monsters head back. Dylan followed up his hit on the ghouls chin with a downwards strike, knocking the monster to the floor. Another ghoul ran up to him, but he swung the bat across its face.
I saw the fourth ghoul run up to Dove, apparently deciding that she was the easiest prey. I moved my bow to aim my shot at the ghoul heading for her.
Just as the ghoul leapt off the ground heading for the short blonde, time seemed to slow. Suddenly, I wasn't in a gymnasium, perched on top of a pair of bleachers. I wasn't going to shoot a monster that was about to attack my friend.
Suddenly, I was standing in a forest in upstate New York. Fresh snow was covering the ground and the branches of the pine trees, and with every exhale I could see my breath. The air smelt like a mix of pine and roasted marshmallows. A campsite was set up about 10 feet behind me, with a fire roaring in the center. There was the sound of laughter and barking from where my brother was by the fire, under the watchful eye of my mother's best friend, who held the honorary title of 'aunt' and our two Siberian huskies.
An archery target was set up 5 yards away and I was holding a silver bow that was way too big for my much smaller hands.
A chuckle sounded from behind me and a pale, slender hand wrapped itself around mine at the grip of the bow.
"If you don't relax, the arrow won't land where you want it to, Little Moon."
I pouted and tilted my head back to send a pair of puppy dog eyes looking directly at my mother.
Her name was Angelica Wolfe, and she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Even though she was in her late twenties, she never appeared to be older than twenty. She stood easily at 5'8", with an athletic build, had silver eyes and ombré hair, black at the roots and auburn at the tips. She preferred her hair in a ponytail or braid, or very rarely, a bun.
Mama always seemed to be at ease around nature, in fact, most of my early childhood memories were of camping in the forests across America. At night, just before bed, my mama would lay a blanket just outside the tent and Archer and I would snuggle into her sides as we stared up at the night sky. She would point at the moon and tell us what phase it was in, pointing out constellations and teaching us where their names originated and the stories behind it.
Often, the story was an Ancient Greek myth.
Honestly, with her knowledge of the moon and stars, she probably could have easily been an astronomer if she wanted to, but she preferred working as a wildlife rehabilitator upstate in Dutchess County. We lived in a townhouse on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, so she commuted daily even though I never understood why we never moved out of the city.
One thing that I remembered the most about her was her love of animals, archery, and hunting. There was actually a room in our house that was dedicated solely to her collection of bows and hunting gear. My brother and I were never allowed in that room. The only times we saw what was inside was when she left the door open when she went in.
Mama had moved her gaze away from the archery target and looked down at me for a second before making a silly face, widening her eyes and sticking her tongue out at me. My pout disappeared as I started laughing and she smirked in triumph.
"Mama, why do I need to use the target?" My six-year-old self had asked. "Why can't I go with you and hunt a rabbit or sumtin'?"
She gave me a pointed look. "You couldn't bear to look whenever I skin any of the prey I bring back. Why would I let you take a life if you can't honor it's sacrifice?"
I looked at the floor dejectedly before she continued. "Besides, how can you hunt an animal if you can't shoot a bow properly?" I felt her smooth out the top of my hair. "Look up, face the target."
With a sigh, I did as was expected of me, I was the one who asked for lessons after all. "Feet shoulder width apart. Good, now straighten up, keep your weight even, and relax. Don't lean into or away from the shot, and don't bend your knees."
Mama grabbed an arrow from the quiver next to her. She wrapped her arm around me and handed me the arrow, making sure the sharp part was pointed away from me. When I had the arrow in my hand, she guided my hand, notched the arrow, aimed at the target and fired.
When I blinked, I was back in the gym and perched on top of the bleachers again. The muscles in my arms, which had been tense, were now relaxed. I seemed to have subconsciously moved my body in coordination with my mothers instructions.
Taking a deep breath again, I hyper-focused on the monster heading straight for Dove and drew back the string of the bow.
This time when I exhaled, I let go of the string and sent the arrow flying.
I had aimed for the Ghouls' head, but my shot ended up a little too low and hit the monster's neck instead.
When the ghoul disappeared in a shower of yellow sand-like substance, I grinned and pumped my right fist while whispering. "Sweet! Neck shot!"
Surveying the area, I saw that Dylan and Dove were busy fighting one ghoul each. The ghoul Dylan had knocked to the ground before seemed to just now be getting up, so I notched another arrow and aimed at the monster.
When I shot the arrow this time it missed. I had aimed for the creature's head again, but my shot was too high up. I notched another arrow and tried a second shot, but I missed again.
Frustration and panic started to swell in my gut, and I couldn't concentrate on my breathing or my aiming. Before I knew it, I wasted 5 arrows, just trying to hit the ghoul as it was stationary and getting up on its hands and hooves.
I tried to grab another arrow, to try one more time, but it fumbled out of my hand and frantically I looked around to find it. When I picked it back up and notched it, the ghoul was no longer standing still.
Instead, it ran towards Dove.
Dove didn't see it coming; she was too focused on the ghoul she was currently fighting. She ducked under a swing from the first creature's claws and thrusted her rapier into the ghoul's chest. When her opponent disappeared, Dove took a moment to breathe. Dylan was too occupied fighting his ghoul, so he wouldn't be able to save her.
"DOVE, LOOK OUT!" I screamed. She looked up in panic and saw the second ghoul that lunged at her.
She had just enough time to bring the fencing sword up to block it's claws, but the force of the creature sent her falling backwards. She landed on her back with the creature on top of her, the two of them locked in a struggle that Dove was sure to lose.
So returning the arrow to the quiver and securing the bow across my back alongside the quiver, I did the only thing I could think of.
I jumped off the bleachers, fighting back another string of curses as I (somehow) managed to land on the back of the Neo-Ghoul.
To be honest, I was amazed I was able to summon the will power to jump from another high surface (I have a feeling this was going to become a habit), I normally couldn't stand being too high off the ground. Sure, I used to climb trees and sometimes still do, but when I was younger, I would grab hold of the trunk for dear life and start crying.
It's funny when I look back on it, mama would always look up at me with her hands on her hips and a raised eyebrow.
"Luna," she would say sternly. "If you can't climb a tree without crying, then don't climb trees." Then, she would climb up after me and carry me back down.
I was sure Dylan has seen this happen more times then I would have liked. He never met mama, but he did see her several times when we were younger and she was still alive.
I grabbed the broom handle and slid it under the monster's neck, then grabbing it with both hands, I pulled the handle closer to me and started strangling the monster.
Nothing happened at first, so I pulled more and dug the wooden handle deeper into its neck. The creature got off of Dove and on its hind legs where it stood to its full height.
"Ho-oly shrimp-sicle," I heard Dylan breathe in disbelief.
I didn't blame him, with this thing on its back hooves, I was nearly halfway back up the 17 foot tall bleachers.
'This explains why Servius was able to jump so far' I thought unamused.
"Did Luna just jump on that thing!?" Dove yelled from somewhere behind me.
'No shit, Sherlock," I thought as I struggled with the monster who kept fumbling in circles. 'What a lovely deduction you made and your welcome for the save. NOW HELP!'
The ghoul tried to pry the wooden pole from my grip, so I wrapped my legs around the monster's torso and pulled the handle closer to me. We turned so we were facing Dove and Dylan then I felt the ghoul stop trying to pull away the handle and narrowed my eyes in confusion.
Why did it stop?
My answer came not even a second later when I saw a blur reach behind it and felt something grab my right bicep, suddenly I was sent sailing across the gym. Flying past my friends like a frisbee.
I was painfully aware of when I crashed to the floor, because it hurt. A lot. I wanted to cry and curl into a ball, wishing I had been knocked unconscious by the force. There was a loud ringing in my ears and I had a terrible headache.
"Luna!"
I wasn't sure which of my friends called my name, or if both of them had. Their voices sounded like they were under water and as I turned my screaming body to look at them, there were about four different Doves and Dylan's.
"Putain d'enfer, girl." Dove's muffled voice started incredulously. "What the hell are you on and where can I get some?"
"Are you okay?" Dylan asked in concern after sending a glare at Dove.
I rolled my eyes at both their questions and felt myself get dizzier by the action. I had to bring a hand up to my head to try and center myself, though it was useless. I started to get up very slowly, moving my hand from my head to my- probably dislocated- shoulder, my face scrunching into a wince and barely holding back a whimper or scream.
I'm sure my eyes were probably a bit dazed and I turned to Dove, trying to focus on only one of her before giving up and just deciding to glare at all four of her.
"Dove. I'm twelve, what drugs would I be taking?" I deadpanned at the blonde, a slight slur to my words. "And you curse a lot, for an eleven year old."
"You understood me?"
"No. But it seems I was right by your reaction."
"Meh." The blonde shrugged.
"You could be taking drugs for your ADHD." Dylan piped up, trying to be included.
I turned my glare to the now five Dylan's. "I was never diagnosed, dummy. We only suspect I have it. And to answer your earlier question, I feel like I just got hit by a bus."
A snarl from behind them made Dylan turn around, I could see the creature was staring at us and ready to pounce.
"Monster now, talk later," Dylan yelled hysterically.
Suddenly a feeling of relief overcame me, kind of like when you're out on a really hot day then step into a room with the a/c on full blast. I felt stronger and I suddenly wanted to run marathons back to back. The pain I was feeling in my body was starting to dull slightly, almost like I had wrapped my entire body in a giant ice pack. The room had gotten just a little bit brighter, and I looked at the ceiling to see that this gym had skylights.
In a moment, streams of moonlight broke through the clouds and shined on the three of us. The ringing in my head started to lessen, and most of my friends' clones disappeared, leaving only two behind.
We needed to take this monster down, and fast.
"Dove," I said seriously, my voice strained as I turned to the blonde. "Do you have a plan?"
I tried to ignore Dylan's crestfallen and hurt expression when I chose to rely on Dove instead of him. He probably would have been able to come up with a way to defeat the ghoul.
...but I wasn't sure how realistic his plan would have been and I didn't want to risk dying because I made a decision based on emotion instead of logic.
"Can you shoot?" Dove asked me, and I grimaced in reply and did a mental once over, trying to take note of any injuries.
I certainly felt better than before, but I was still in pain. My ears were still ringing, though it was not as loud as before and I still had a bad headache.
"I was just thrown across the gym, my ears are ringing and I have a splitting headache. I could try, but I doubt it would be useful. Besides, out of my eight shots before, only one hit."
Dove narrowed her eyes and humed at the monster who was walking towards us slowly.
'Why doesn't it just run or jump at us?'
"Dylan?" Dove asked suddenly and he gave her his full attention. "Can you shoot a bow?"
I blinked slowly. I doubt Dylan had ever seen a bow in real life.
"I've never even held a bow before."
Dove clenched her jaw tightly before she persisted, "If I ask you to shoot the bow to distract it, can you? You don't need to hit it."
"Maybe," I started as I tried to move my right arm, "but my...arm...is…" I faltered and stared at my arm in disbelief, suddenly able to stretch and move it in different directions. The pain in my arm had all but disappeared.
"It's not...hurting…?"
Dove noticed the monster heading their direction and yelled, "Dodge!"
Without waiting for either of us to react, Dove pushed Dylan to the right as she jumped to the left while pulling me along after her.
The monster had decided that it was tired of waiting and had lunged at us, aiming to take off Dylan's head.
We regrouped behind the beast.
"Well?" Dove asked urgently. "Can you shoot and distract it while me and Dylan grab something from the closet to take it down?"
'Grab something from the closet? What the hell could be useful there? That thing is huge! It's bigger than-!'
My eyes widened as a plan emerged. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and once it landed on the ground, we could attack and bring it down.
I looked at the beast for a moment before a determined expression settled on my face. I wasn't sure how well I could do because I still felt slightly dazed, but I suppose the best bet we had at the moment was for me to try.
"I'll try my best."
Dove nodded at me before turning to Dylan and whispered something in his ear. More than likely, it was a plan she came up with.
Dylan blinked, and was incredulous. "You think that will work?"
"Best to try it and it works than to not try it and die."
She had a point. I was sure Dylan remained skeptical, but it was all we've got right now.
I grabbed the bow off my back, and I was honestly surprised that it didn't break after my unplanned flight, the thing looked ancient.
"I'll stay with Luna," Dylan decided. "You head to the storage closet and see if you can find what you need." He turned to watch the monster as it stalked towards us, only stopping in its tracks when I shot my arrow at it. "Hurry back."
I grabbed more arrows and shot them one at a time, I didn't bother to aim- only notched arrow after arrow in hopes of preventing the ghoul from getting close to us.
The arrows were a good few inches away from being anywhere near close enough to hit the monster, but it still gave the beast pause.
Dove's going to be gone for a bit, I needed Dylan to stay nearby in case this monster decided to pull something.
"Do whatever you can to help, and stay close!" I shouted.
Dylan nodded and glanced around the room, probably looking for anything he could use besides his bat. I've been around him long enough to know that if this were like one of his first-person shooter video games, then he would keep to the perimeter before rushing down to attack the ghoul's blind spots.
Unfortunately, this was real life, and he didn't have any sort of ranged weapon or attack, so he couldn't use that idea.
The monster got on all fours to snarl at me and Dylan rushed over to stand beside me, raising the bat in defense. I paused for a brief moment before notching another arrow at the monster.
'The quiver is probably almost empty by now. I've shot probably at least 15, maybe 20 arrows."
I couldn't check myself, so I called out to Dylan. "How many arrows do I have left?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him do a double take. "How many did you shoot?"
'You moron! Now's not the time!'
"Umm." I said a voice that screamed exactly that thought, and did a double take with an eyebrow raised. "I haven't exactly been keeping count! You know, been kind of busy trying to shoot at this ghoul and all!"
"I'm asking because your quiver is full! Looks like you didn't shoot a single arrow!"
'Wait….what!?'
I stopped reaching for another arrow, and instead moved her palm to try and feel how many arrows were left.
Sure enough, there seemed to be an entire quiver of arrows on my back and now that I was aware of it, it certainly felt full.
"What the hell?" I asked in bewilderment. "I had to have shot at least 20 by now."
"It looks as full as when you ran out of the closet."
I would have said something else, but the ghoul snarled again. I notched another arrow and the monster walked closer, when I shot the arrow, it missed.
This time when I shot the arrow the ghoul didn't back away, it stepped closer.
"Umm," Dylan started nervously. "It didn't back away this time."
I growled in reply to Dylan's comment. 'Thank you captain obvious.' I had just enough restraint to keep my comment in my thoughts. I wasn't quite sure what to do, my head was still cloudy from my crash landing so I couldn't pinpoint where exactly Dove was.
That left the planning up to me.
I still didn't exactly trust Dylan to plan something this important.
'I could try and get it to focus on me so Dylan can try and attack it or I could try and stall it long enough for Dove to come back.'
My vision wasn't completely back to one hundred percent, but I was able to look around at my surroundings. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be screaming 'Use me!' Or 'This could work!'
It was as I notched another arrow and prepared to shoot that something caught my eye. They were on the side of the bleachers that I didn't climb, nestled into the corner.
"Dylan!" I called un-notching the arrow and pointing with the bow. "Balls!"
He turned to me with a confused 'what the hell are you on?' type of face, not even bothering to look at where I was pointing. The ghoul snorted in what sounded like amusement.
Were all of these things able to comprehend what was going on? I knew Servius was able to communicate with me, but the other ghouls were just snarling and attacking. None of the other ghouls seemed to be thinking their actions through, it was like they were going purely on instinct. Granted, this one seemed to be thinking things through more….
'I wonder…'
"Over there!" I growled, pointing more urgently at the two mesh bags in the corner.
Dylan still seemed confused, but this time turned to look at where I was pointing. His face brightened in understanding and he ran over to get the sports equipment.
To test my earlier thought about the ghouls, I shot the monster in front of me a 'Can you believe what I need to put up with?' look. The monster snorted again, but this time it shook its head in an exasperated 'these kids are too much' kind of way.
I narrowed my eyes at the monster in thought.
'So it is capable of expressing emotion, how…..interesting.'
What else could it do? Was it adapting as we fought? Some sort of forced evolution, maybe?
No.
Evolution took at least a million years, it wouldn't be able to evolve just by fighting.
The light from the moon got brighter and I was suddenly overcome with energy and the need to go into the forest and hunt something down. However, my mother's words always stopped me from doing anything more than chasing after the animals: 'Why would I let you take a life if you can't honor it's sacrifice?'
This... thing, though. These creatures weren't animals. They attacked me and my friends and tried to kill us. Worse, the one before me, was showing signs of intellect and comprehending what my friends and I were doing to deter it.
But Servius was able to speak, why do I find this ghoul different and more intriguing than the one that was most likely the Alpha?
'Because Servius wasn't the Alpha.'
My eyes widened as the realization came over me. Curiosity filled my head, and it was like an itch I needed to scratch.
Was this the Alpha? The way the ghoul rushed out of the forest made them seem like they were a pack, that they were a group that lingered and hunted together. As far as I knew, every pack of animals had an Alpha, a leader. Did that mean this one was the leader of the ghouls that attacked us? It did seem to be slightly taller than Servius was and about a foot taller than the other ghouls. But then why could Servius talk and not this one?
I started to feel a little giddy, I wanted to see what this monster could do. How were its reflexes? Could it talk like Servius, if pushed hard enough? What was a Neo-Ghoul exactly? What could it do? Why did the ghouls attack me and Dylan?
I stared at the floor, hair covering my face and started bouncing on my feet, a grin broke across my face. I wasn't scared anymore, perhaps that made me crazy, but I didn't care. I was fascinated by this creature in front of me, and I wanted to hunt it.
The moon got brighter and my eyes widened. The feeling of wanting to hunt the creature became stronger and my right fingers twitched with barely contained energy. But I also wanted to examine this specimen….my left hand curled into a fist.
It was like two different sides of me were fighting each other and I didn't know which side to pick. What's worse, is that I felt like the fight between the two was making me crazy. Eventually, Dylan reappeared by my side, dragging the bag of sports balls towards me.
"Here," he said, slightly out of breath. I snapped my head to the left like I was possessed and Dylan screamed like a little girl, dropping the two bags and causing a few soccer balls to roll out.
I didn't blame him for screaming, I probably looked like some deranged lunatic or something.
"Those are soccer balls, right?" I asked Dylan and he nodded in response. "Good. Remember last year when I asked you to roll them in front of me so I could practice my shooting?"
Another nod from Dylan and a snarl came from the Ghoul. It was like he was trying to say: 'what are you planning?'
"Do exactly that. I'm kicking the soccer balls at the ghoul, you roll them in front of me. Either I stall enough for Dove to return or I kill it myself."
"How would you be able to kill it with soccer balls?"
I didn't answer Dylan's question. I wouldn't be able to kill the ghoul with soccer balls, but I did have a bow and quiver full of arrows. And a screwdriver in my pocket. The beast snarled at us and charged at us.
"Now!"
Dylan started rolling the soccer balls in front of me and I kicked each one as soon as it got close enough. My aim with the soccer balls was better than my aim with the bow, each ball just barely missed the monster and caused it to stop in place to try and dodge.
Unlike with the arrows, I ran out of soccer balls pretty quick so I needed to switch up my plan. I grabbed an arrow and notched it before running in a diamond like formation, sliding to a stop at the monsters left, I aimed and shot the arrow. I don't know how fast I was going, but I was going pretty dang fast.
I started moving as soon as I shot the arrow into the air. This time, the ghoul barely dodged it.
A small part of my brain was wondering why I suddenly seemed to start aiming better with the bow and how I suddenly got faster, but I didn't have time to dwell.
I slid behind the monster, and repeated my earlier action of shooting the bow. I kept this pattern up long enough for Dove to return from the closet, but I didn't pay attention to my friends.
I was too busy playing with my prey.
'Oh this is fun.'
My grin returned again as I ran around the monster, shooting arrow after arrow. I spared a glance towards my friends after the third time around the monster.
They were both staring at me slack jawed and holding opposite ends of a very long rope. I grinned and continued running.
When I got behind the monster, I yelled, "NOW!"
My friends snapped out of their musings and ran towards opposite ends of the room before running straight at the Neo-Ghoul.
When I reached the left side of the monster, I took a second to aim the bow better. I breathed in deeply and corrected my posture before letting the arrow slice the air towards the ghoul.
This time the arrow hit it's shoulder, causing it to roar in pain. It was enough of a distraction for my friends to be able to tie the rope around the creature's legs and trip it. I ran towards the bleachers and jumped, using it as a springboard towards the monster.
I threw the bow to my left and pulled the screwdriver out of my pocket, landing on the creature's neck. I drove the tool into the monster's temple, and it turned into yellow sand underneath me.
Silence rang throughout the gymnasium as I stood above a pile of yellow sand, panting.
The moonlight started to dim a little and I felt the need to hunt diminish enough for me to think through the events that had just transpired.
I stumbled away from the disappearing ashes of the monster and walked to the center of the gym, collapsing just underneath the skylight with the moonlight shining down upon me. I rolled onto my back and my friends both stumbled over after me, collapsing next to me with Dylan to my right and Dove to my left.
"Well," Dove chuckled, her voice sounded mirthless and echoed in the empty room, "that was a thing."
"I never want to do that again," Dylan whimpered.
I stayed quiet, sorting through the thoughts and feelings I had throughout the night. I turned onto my right side, my arm coming up to use as a makeshift pillow and my left hand cradled into my chest.
"...this isn't the end…" Dove whispered, so softly I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hear it from right next to her "is it?"
There was no answer. I didn't know what to say after that. What could I say? 'Don't be silly! This was a one time deal! Monster's aren't real!"
The feeling of despair that settled over me made me feel like I would be lying to myself if I had said that.
Instead, I just let myself bask in the silence of the gymnasium. The other two seemed to do the same, as we lied there.
After a while, I heard Dove's breathing even out, soft snores being the only sound in the gym. Dylan and I didn't make any movement to get up, so about an hour had passed before I made any movements or sounds.
"It's almost 2 am." I said, getting to my feet. I wasn't sure how I always knew what time it was during the night, and I hoped Dylan wouldn't ask. Luckily for me he didn't. "We should head back."
"Should I wake Dove?" Dylan asked, from his voice I can tell he was just about to fall asleep himself.
"I'll carry her. She deserves to rest."
Dylan got on his feet and walked over to where I was pushing Dove into a sit-up position. He bent down in front of her to give her a piggyback ride.
"I'll carry her." He decided. "You were just thrown across the gym, I won't be able to carry both of you if you collapse."
Feeling too tired to argue, I pushed Dove onto Dylan's back. He stood and adjusted his hold on her before starting to walk out of the gym, leaving the weapons inside the gym. I followed a few steps behind Dylan, in case Dove started to fall or something.
'She probably wouldn't even wake up if she did fall off.' I shook my head at the thought. 'That girl is a heavier sleeper than both the Jackson brothers."
Which if you didn't know, was quite the feat. Both of those boys can sleep through earthquakes, and I'm not talking about small little tremors. I mean room shaking earthquakes.
Yea. They sleep like the dead.
There wasn't a conversation between me or Dylan the whole way to my dorm room. For the most part, it was total silence, except for when I led him into the auditorium so we could get to the music wing faster, or when I led him through a janitor's closet that connected the music wing to the back staircase of the girls' dorms.
It was a shortcut I discovered so I didn't have to get stuck waiting by the teachers' rooms. Sometimes, they were up late and I didn't want to get caught.
The door was constantly unlocked, but no one wanted to mess with the janitor, so they never went into the janitor's closets. The head janitor was a total creep. He hated the students and loved to get us in trouble. There was always a scowl or glare etched on his ashen face.
He was always grumpy and glaring at people. I could never get a read on him. Sometimes, I felt like I could trust him and other times, I felt like I needed to get as far away from him as possible.
When we reached my dorm, I opened the door for Dylan and we walked in. Everything was fine, I pulled Dove's sheets down so Dylan could put her down, then I pulled the sheets back over her and we turned around to leave.
It was when I turned around that I noticed a paper plate on Dove's nightstand. We weren't allowed to eat in the dorms unless we were sick, so I was confused. Especially because Dove doesn't break the rules very often.
Walking closer, I saw a pudding cup and a spoon on the plate with a note. The label on the pudding cup read 'Olympia Desserts.'
Dove,
I see you ran to the bathroom so I'll leave this here.
I know you didn't eat much at dinner and are probably worried about Luna. So I brought you a pudding, maybe something sweet will cheer you up.
I'll see you in class tomorrow,
Ms. Swan.
I blinked at the note and shrugged before putting it down and following Dylan out the door.
We didn't start speaking till we reached the commons by the cafeteria.
"Why didn't you ask me for a plan?" Dylan asked quietly in a hurt tone. "I could have come up with a battle plan."
Why did you choose to rely on Dove instead of me?
I sighed, and suddenly couldn't meet his eyes. "Dill, you're great at video games, hell, you always seem to be playing one. I've seen you come up with cool tactics whenever Archer and I join you and some other kids to play Dungeons and Dragons in the library."
"But that's the thing - all your battle plans and strategies rely on magic, ranged attacks, elemental abilities, and other fantastical things that don't exist in real life."
"Well, ghouls shouldn't exist in real life either." He grumbled.
I just sighed and didn't respond, if we got into an argument then it would take ages to die down and I wanted to go to sleep and forget today ever happened.
Besides, If I was being completely honest? Dylan tended to forget that we didn't have super speed, strength, or any of the abilities I had mentioned. It was cringy and awkward, but I didn't mind it. He always seemed to be in his own little fantasy world, and I always worried when he would need to grow out of it and face reality. Unfortunately, that day had to happen now in the worst of circumstances.
Dylan pouted at my lack of response before letting out a yawn. "Well, today was interesting."
I stretched my arms over my head, I was getting pretty tired- which makes sense since I got attacked and all. "Hopefully, Percy and Archer had a normal day."
"They're going on a field trip to the Met later today, right?"
"Uh-huh," I yawned. "I bet Archer's excited. We haven't been there since our mama died."
"You miss going?"
I winced in pain as we rounded the corner and a slight ringing started in my ears again. 'It feels like the pain from my crash landing is coming back.'
"Yeah, especially the Greco-Roman exhib-!" I cut myself off mid sentence and shot my arm out in front of Dylan to stop him from going any further.
"Hu-" I put my hand over his mouth and pushed him against the wall. I tried to look past the corner without turning my head completely.
Someone was by the nurses office.
I felt Dylan grab my wrist and pull my hand away enough for him to talk. "Wha-"
"Shh." I replied in a low voice, before pointing in the direction of the office. "Someone's in the nurse's office."
Dylan stopped talking and turned to try and look down the hall. We stood there in silence for a few seconds, a heartbeat echoing in my ear.
I heard the door to the nurses office open and looked slightly past the corner and to the trophy case. The mirror behind the trophies let me see who it was.
An adult male in his forties with neck length dark red hair and brown eyes exited the room, he had a slight hunched back from scoliosis or something and a permanent scowl on his face. Dressed in a Judas Priest concert t-shirt under a trench coat and jeans.
"Who is it?" Dylan whispered.
"It's Mr. Logan."
"The janitor?"
I didn't respond to Dylan's question, just kept watching the head janitor as he turned to walk down the opposite way. He stopped once before turning to look behind him with a grunt, I jolted back and pressed my body against the wall.
'Hopefully he didn't see me.'
I waited a minute before looking back down the hallway and Logan Finnegan was nowhere to be seen.
"Let's go," I whispered, and the two of us ran down the hall to the nurses office and back into the room I had woken up in.
Dylan had stretched and walked over to his bed with a yawn. "Well...that-" he cut himself off and blinked in confusion. "Hey Luna? Did I put my comic and flashlight on the table before we left?"
I had just pulled away the sheets on my bed so I could climb in. "I don't think so." I yawned while rubbing my eyes. "Why?"
Dylan's confused voice carried over to me. "Because they're on the table next to….pudding?"
I turned around in confusion and saw on the table, just like Dove's nightstand, was a paper plate with two spoons and two containers of vanilla pudding. Also from the 'Olympia Dessert Co'. Narrowing my eyes in confusion, I walked over and inspected the pudding, grabbing the note wedged between both containers.
Dylan,
I left you and Luna each a pudding. I know you both like them, and figured that today would have been nerve wracking for you both. I'll check on Luna when wakes up, so you can head to class in the morning. If her migraine isn't gone by tomorrow, I'll keep her another night.
Sweet Dreams,
Barbara O'Connell
I didn't think anything of it in the dorm- since Ms. Swan always seemed to go out of her way to look after Dove, but why did Ms. Barbara leave some pudding out for me and Dylan? I don't even remember seeing this when I woke up before. Did Creepy-Finnegan deliver it?
Now that I think of it, Ms. Barbara seemed to be similar to Ms. Swan. I felt a slight warmth around them and felt a kind of….familiarity from them. Since I was a kid, I always seemed to feel different things around people. Some people I felt safe around, some people I felt I needed to stay away from, some people would make me run in the opposite direction, and some people I would feel comfortable interacting with. Sometimes, I could see a colored outline surrounding people out of the corner of my eye. It didn't happen often, just enough for me to notice it. But out of the corner of my eye, I could always see a slight outline surrounding Ms. Barbara and Ms. Swan. They were different colors, gold for Ms. Barbara and pink for Ms. Swan, but they both seemed to glimmer like the colors had glitter mixed into them.
I felt Dylan walk up behind me and read the note over my shoulder.
"Sweet!" He called out in joy. "Dessert right before bed! Mom would never allow this!"
I glanced at Dylan out of the corner of my eye. Like always, he seemed to have a glimmering blanket of sea-green light surrounding him. I turned to face him, the outline disappearing after I moved.
I was going to tell him that we should wait till morning, but the splitting headache from earlier suddenly returned full force and I brought my hands up to hold my head, a whimper escaping from my throat. The ringing in my ears also returned, though it wasn't as loud as before.
Dylan shouted something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I felt hands on my shoulders as I was directed to the bed I woke up on. Once I had sat down on the bed, I tried to lie down and curl into a ball. But Dylan stopped me from doing so, keeping his arms on my shoulders so I stayed sitting. I had my eyes clenched shut, only prying them open when I felt Dylan poke my cheek.
In front of my face was a spoonful of the pudding.
I was confused, why did he think pudding would help? Did he hide a Tylenol or something in there? I turned my head to look at Dylan who was staring at me with pleading eyes and a hopeful look on his face.
Honestly, I couldn't stand the sight of the pudding, which was strange because I normally loved pudding and soft sweets like it. Pudding, ice cream, panna cotta (was that considered pudding?), mousse, and anything that had tons of sugar.
But the look in Dylan's eyes was too hopeful, too pure. It was like the look of a small child who tried to share their favorite toy or their dessert with you in hopes of trying to cheer you up. I would have felt like a monster if I destroyed that look.
With a sigh, I let him feed me the pudding. And despite my splitting headache, I recoiled at the taste. Based on the color, I expected a vanilla or butterscotch flavor. It should have been sweet!
Why the hell was I tasting jerky?
I felt tears prick my eyes.
Why was I tasting my mom's homemade jerky?
"Luna?" I glanced at Dylan and noticed the entire container of pudding was empty. "Are you okay?"
I blinked and just then realized that I had tears running down my face. "I…" I moved a hand away from my head and rubbed away the tears.
My headache was also gone and my ears were no longer ringing, but I didn't care about that mystery. I was remembering too many memories today, and I didn't like it.
"I think...I need to go to sleep."
Dylan shot me a worried look before walking over to his bed. I lied down, pulled the cover over me and stared at the wall. I didn't say anything when Dylan exclaimed in shock: 'This tastes like mom's cookies!'
I just stayed quiet, even as Dylan walked over to the trash to throw out the containers and turn off the lights.
"Hey, Luna?" Dylan called out into the darkness.
"Yeah?"
He didn't say anything right away, but after a minute I heard him. "Happy Birthday."
I mumbled thanks and closed my eyes, trying to force myself to sleep. I heard Dylan's breathing even out and chuckled.
'My birthday, huh? I almost forgot. Couldn't he have waited till morning?'
.
.
.
'MY BIRTHDAY!?'
Suddenly my eyes snapped open and I threw off my covers.
I bolted out of bed and ran to the window, pressing my face against it to try and see the sky. Or to be more exact, I was trying to see the moon.
When we were fighting, there was a full moon- I could see it in the sky lights.
But my birthday was Wednesday, May 4th.
The fight tonight would have happened during the night of Tuesday, May 3rd.
The lunar phase on my birthday this year was a waxing crescent.
That means the lunar phase tonight…
I should have been able to see the moon from the window of this room. But there wasn't one.
That made sense.
Because the night before my birthday, May 3rd….
It was a new moon.
Translations for Dove's French courtesy of Google Translate:
Pere - Father
Maman - Mom
Mere - Mother
Putain de tout - Damn it all
Où diable était-elle - Where the hell was she
C'était un plan fou - It was a crazy plan
Je doute que ce soit possible mais - I doubt it's possible but
Putain de merde - Holy shit
Je dois admettre - I have to admit
Comment est-elle arrivée si vite - How did she get there so fast?
Tu me manques maman - I miss you mom
J'aimerais pouvoir vous revoir - I wish I could see you again.