Chapter 8

Boathouse

She rubbed her eyes, but it made no difference. The land before her was Loch Loud, the small town residing in... where was it? Scotland? As in, as far as possible from Royal Woods... Scotland? The rifle landed hard against her shoe, though pain became nothing underneath the fear blowing up in her heart.

Immediately she gripped at her temples, trying her best to breathe. "What the heck? This... this isn't right. You gotta be dreaming. Gotta be!"

She grabbed her phone again, once more seeing the childish wallpaper staring back. She tried calling anybody she could, but ran into a fast problem; all of her contacts were removed. Parents, siblings, her bandmates, even Sam; all of them were missing underneath uglier names sporting false numbers.

"You dumb-dumb. Dumb!" Was all they said. Luna nearly crushed her phone in frustration, and quickly tried dialing the first person she could think of. Of all people that could potentially aid her, Doug and Michelle were obvious bets. They had to be around, right? Her fingers wobbled as she entered their number, cautiously bringing it up to her ear.

"C-Come on, please answer!" She begged, eyes still locked down on her ancestor's home. Underneath the snowy moon, it looked particularly frightening. She took a deep breath; focus on the phone call, not the world.

It rang and rang... and miraculously, something picked up. Her smile of confidence smashed into nothing as soon as the white noise broke her ear drums. Instincts kept it firm in her grasp, and through this she heard what sounded like some sort of voice on the other end. Doug? Had to be, right? She quickly took the opportunity.

"Doug! Please, answer me!"

"Lu... Whe... e?"

Signal was bad. Very bad. Still, she was smarter than most in situations like this; had to be after Abraham. "Doug, I'm... I'm outside of Loch Loud, and there's this helicopter, and so many people are-"

"Lo...fam...?"

He must've heard her, right? Luna had to pray, for as soon as that last bit was asked, the call at last dropped. She looked at the bars in frustration, before shaking her head. No reception whatsoever. She tried dialing Sam, followed by Lincoln and her mother, but overall they failed worse than Doug; not even an attempt to ring.

She was alone, far away from her home.

Shaking her head, she grabbed the rifle again, looking back towards the wreckage. "Dammit... well, I have to be here for a reason, right?" She questioned to herself, slowly making her way down the hill towards the edge of the lake. The cool wind froze her to the core, but she bit her lower lip, trying to keep any warmth inside. "Did Doug know them? If he did... crap, what got them? Highly doubt it was natural."

On her way down, feeling remorse as the wreckage disappeared behind her, a new sight quickly took over her focus, just as the beautiful reflection of the lake overtook her senses. Against the pale moonlight rubbing harshly against the mounds of snow, a small shack could be spotted. Beside it, a small dock rested beside it, with an even smaller tugboat resting in the water, barely held by a rope that was ready to tear apart.

She gripped her weapon hard, gulping as she saw the shadows deep within the building. Didn't seem anyone was home. She cautiously approached the door, trying to peer in through the window. Aside from one small table resting in the corner, she couldn't see anything else. A sign was written above the wooden entrance. Hard to make out, but if she had to guess, it seemed to say "Stay Away From Loch Loud!"

She backed away. "Oh no... oh God, no..."

Luna was ready to back away, but gulped as soon as she saw that the door was actually unlocked. An easy entrance for her, should she decide to pursue it. Naturally she feared even attempting it, but with confusion plaguing her heart and frostbite robbing her of her senses, she knew there was little choice left. With her mouth held firm, she silently bashed the door open with the rifle.

The darkness embraced her deeper than the forest, with even the approaching moonlight being powerless against the mighty power of the wintery night. However, that was nothing compared to the horrid scent that kicked her nostrils into high gear. Like rotting meat, it spread through the air fast, and she was the unlucky recipient of its full glory.

Holding her nose, she noticed something against her foot. A metallic cylinder that, once lifted and studied, she noted was none other than a spare flashlight. She doubted it had no charge left, but one shake brought its light back into the world. She was nearly blinded by its illuminated glory, but relief came to her. At least she had something to see, right?

"Well, guess I got something going ri... Oh, crap!"

Her hand flipped the flashlight towards the corner of the boathouse, where she immediately noticed the source of the stench. Lying just underneath the window. a thicket of white vines were protruding from the wooden floor below, grabbing around a human-like mass that neither resisted nor struggled. She fell back towards the wall, face growing flush as she trailed the light over its whol form. Legs and arms were easy to identify, but everything else was hidden.

Didn't take long to note the white vines were a little too familiar. "H-Hair... oh no, no, no!"

Indeed, it was the very stuff that haunted her on that Mountain. White hair that masqueraded as grass; white hair that dominated the night; white hair that showed her what real hell was.

White hair that she swore to protect.

Some of the vines seemed to have a mind of their own, with one leaving the mass and seemingly looking directly at her. It didn't slither, or even move. It simply stood there, watching her with ill intent. Soon, as if it spread a message through the dirt, the others suddenly began to shake.

Luna screamed, and slammed the door behind her, breathing heavily. She heard them chomping back down on the mass, losing all interest in her scared form. With a sigh, she tip-toed her way back from the entrance, finding her feet touching down hard against the dock. She shook her head, having enough awareness to know the lake wouldn't be kind should she have fallen in. Getting her breaths back in shape, she returned to shivering as she looked towards Loch Loud. Its silence against the uncalming night was damning.

"What happened here?"

Her mind begged her to stop and find something else to do; anything to keep her from being stupid and marching forward towards an uncertain fate. Even then, though, her heart would naturally win over. Everything about this whole situation told her that she was walking into either a trap, or into a conflict that had no peaceful resolution. As a young teenage girl with seemingly no allies present, she was doomed even before attempting to cross the lake.

But these people... they were hers, weren't they? Her ancestors owned this land long ago, and no matter how removed she was from them, they were still hers, and she had to respect that, no matter what. After all that she been through with them last year, she knew they would do anything for the Louds.

"But... what's happening now?" She thought to herself as she entered the boat, "That... that was white hair. Come on, that stuff's over! It has to be!"

She prayed it was, but Doug was never sure. All those days staring off paranoid; even training was filled with his frightened sense of security. He wanted to be an optimist, but ever since they escaped, he never stopped being alert at all times. She thought it was just over the government not exactly being kind to their small group, but naturally there was something else afoot. Luna wished she realized it sooner.

As she sat back on the boat, her mind raced again with the dream replaying itself. Her whole family, massacred before her, all taunting how useless she was. The fear from seeing the mass of hair couldn't compare to that grizzly image. Everyone, shot down like they were nothing, and only she found herself breathing.

Behind her, Abraham spoke: "Get involved, and you'll just be worse and worse. Why bother, Luna? Why bother?"

Behind him, she swore Rorrim took hold: "Sister, please... be safe..."

She looked down at her hands, sighing in defeat. "Control yourself. It's not about you right now." She looked out towards the town, her spare hand grabbing at the rope. "Whatever's going on, they're in danger, aren't they? I... I can't ignore that. No matter what. Heh, you're probably gonna hate me for doing this, huh Linc?"

Linc... Where was he? He was right beside her last night, if that was even last night at this point. Was he grabbed like she was? Her family? What if she wasn't the only one here? Would that be good or bad? On one hand, she would at least know there was an agenda, but that didn't exactly sit well with her.

But if they were somewhere else, and not at home safe and sound...

She shook her head. "Focus. Just... be safe, guys. I'm going in."

The moon watched as Luna grabbed at the oars resting below her feet, quickly skimming their mighty forms against the near-frozen lake. A sharp wind blew by, heading down towards the other side of the horizon, heading down towards the ocean that once carried her ancestors when the banishing began. In a way, it felt humbling scanning the same waters. She looked down towards the Atlantic, sighing all the way.

Her homeland, possibly under attack. Was it right to just head there, completely blind to it all? She had no choice. No matter what, she'll find a way home.

And hopefully stop whatever hell was awaiting her.

FROM: A journal belonging to a young girl in Loch Loud, dated last month

"Daddy keeps telling me not to go outside, but I don't know why. Everyone's getting scared for some reason, but every time I try finding out, they yell at me and tell me to stay in my room. It's so strange! All I know is that every night, a cool fog descends over our town, and these weird men keep arriving on horseback, seemingly growling at the Lord Regent! It's kinda spooky. It feels like we're under ransom, but I don't know for what. Strangest part, I have to say, is that when those men do arrive, it's like the men aren't separate from the horse. It's like they're... one, or something..."