Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 20: A moment of rest

Noah shook his head as hard as he could, making a futile attempt to chase away the flies. He threw an accusing look at the horses next to the trees.

"I didn't think this through," he whined and leaned his head against the tree. A fly immediately landed on his cheek.

"What a surprise." Winton blew a fly away from his nose. "Though on the bright side, catch them in your mouth and it's free food."

Cassius looked repulsed and Noah suppressed a laugh.

"I'm afraid the effort made to catch them would defeat the purpose of eating them though." His laugh died out into a sad smile. "Ugh, I wish I had a tail to fend them off like the horses do. Or that I'd grown my hair out. Uncle Ethan was right all along..."

"Are flies really the worst of our problems?" Winton asked, watching a fly land on his knee.

"It certainly doesn't help," Cassius replied tiredly, him having an easier time to chase them away with his shoulder length hair. "It's the little things that get to you."

"It could've been something else. It could've been..." Winton trailed off as he watched a mosquito land on his knee. "Oh, son of a bitch."

Fortunately for them the soldiers had been busy setting up camp since they arrived and no further questioning had occurred. Initially they'd planned to take this moment to rest but the flies had proven infuriating.

Noah tried to focus on his story instead but he was constantly distracted by itchy spots wherever the flies sat down.

"So!" He raised his voice a little as if that'd make the disturbance go away. "Uh... I'd seen the boy in the window and had them check the house only to find yet another corpse. That's where we were?"

The other two nodded.

"Right. So I tried talking Luna about the boy's presence but she just tried to avoid it and I knew no one else would listen. And then..." He paused. "... Oh. Was that a Finn moment?"

"What was?" Cassius eagerly asked.

"Well, when Luna tried to get rid of me she introduced me to a bunch of people, one of them which owned a school for young men of a higher class. To, you know... Build connections, learn from each other and dig deeper into our fields. He wanted me to attend but..." Noah shook his head, partly to get a stray lock of hair away from his eyes. "Because of my social awkwardness I said no at first. That is, until Finn joined the conversation. Turned out he went there so of course I blurted out that I'd consider it."

"Of course..." Winton repeated after clicking his tongue.

"I mean... He was right in that I could use some connections and friends in the same social circle so it wasn't the only reason."

"Sure."

"But you finally talked to Finn," Cassius butted in and Noah nodded.

"It was an awkward first 'talk' from what I remember, as one would expect of young me, but he didn't seem to mind."

"And? What did you talk about?"

"Oh, well... I don't really remember. It was pretty short and Luna interrupted us shortly after."

Cassius looked disappointed but Noah continued.

"So I finally got to talk to Luna about the boy in the house—"

"Come on," Cassius of all people interrupted. "You just got to the Finn part and that's all you say?"

"No. No, I'm not at the Finn part yet. The Finn part happened later when I actually attended that school the year after. I promise we'll get there, anyway... So we agreed to go back to the house the day after but..." Noah stopped to think. "I didn't go with Luna for some reason... I don't remember why she wouldn't go, but in the end I went over there with Alexei."

"Alexei?"

"Well yeah, I didn't want to go alone to a crime scene, and he and Ivan came by our house that morning after the banquet for some reason." Noah tilted his head from one side to another. "I think, despite apparently having had their differences in the past, Ivan and my father actually started enjoying each other's company after the years of us and Alexei growing up together. I guess Alexei followed to hang out with Luna, but I think... I think Luna had disappeared from the house by then or something? So I was the only option left, and I was missing an investigation partner so it worked out."

Noah shrugged and shook a fly off his chin.

"I remember it was a pretty awkward walk there. I mean, we'd spent time with each other before but rarely without Luna during the later years—" Noah's eyes suddenly widened.

"Ohh, wait, that's why Luna was angry that morning!" He gently banged his head backwards against the tree.

Cassius tilted his head.

"She was... Angry?"

"Oh, oh yes. She was furious. Honestly it was horrid, for all of us. See, actually our father gave her some pretty... Um... Big news that morning..." Noah's expression suddenly turned grave. "It... Turned out Luna and Finn had become engaged during the banquet... Without Luna's knowledge."

A long silence ensued, only to be broken by Cassius who shook his head, almost at a loss for words.

"... What!?"