Under the Shadow of the Moon

Chapter 38

Luna was sitting on a pile of pillows on the floor of her living room, the others in various places as they watched a movie on the TV.

A pillow landed on her head as the doorbell rang. "Jeez, Lloyd, alright I got it." She tossed the pillow back at him as she stood up again. The doorbell rang again as she stepped closer to the door.

She ran a hand through her hair and smoothed out her t-shirt before she pulled the door open. It was a man dressed in a black business suit. Behind him was a lady in jeans and a t-shirt holding a camera with the lens facing the ground. There were a few other people making their way to the front door, and Luna could see a white van parked in her driveway. She sighed dramatically, throwing her head back, and slumping her shoulders when she saw that it was the news.

The smile on the man's face wavered. Luna tried to shut the door in his face but he stopped it with his foot. Luna pulled the door open and glared at him. His smile wavered again.

"Miss Vis, please," the man started. "My name is David Hill, I'm a news reporter with Bulletin Board, only the biggest news channel this side of the world," he said proudly, tugging on the end of his blazer for emphasis. "If we could just have a moment of your time Miss," he looked inside of the house and saw the others. "And there are more of you!" His cheerful tone wavered again. "We just need you for a few questions, that's all." He was overly cheerful, and quite honestly, Luna wasn't impressed. She sighed again. "We just want to know your opinion on the White Sand and if you believe our country should engage in this war."

"Look, sir, we cannot answer any questions without legal consent from a parent or guardian. Since you don't have that, we will have to bid you a good day." Luna swung the door shut with her fingers, making the movement as dramatic as possible, locking the door as it clicked shut. She sighed once again, walking back to her friends.

She plopped back down to her spot on the floor, right under Lloyd and Lily's couch. "Who was it?" Lily asked quietly, looking up from where she was lying on Lloyd's chest.

Luna sighed yet again. At this point, everyone was staring into her soul. They had all sat up, interested to hear about what had just gone down.

"It was the news, you know, Bulletin Board." Luna said, rubbing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Lily's eyes widened. "What did they want?"

"They wanted to ask a few questions. They want to know what we think of the war and the White Sand." Luna looked out one of the windows that faced into the driveway. "Oh look, they're still here," Luna muttered to herself.

Lily shrugged Lloyd's arm off of her back, standing up to stare out the window too. Colin followed her gaze and smirked. "It looks like they're camping out over there," he laughed.

The kids all crowded around the window, Lloyd's hand quickly finding Lily's, and a smile finding her lips.

Luna frowned, watching the crowd in front of her house enjoying their lunch.

"Maybe we could call the cops," Lloyd suggested.

"Maybe," Luna responded with a sigh, switching on the news.

"A new turn in the protests, vandalisms, kidnappings, demonstrations, and rebellions... President Violet Chase is taking precautions to keep us all safe... perhaps there is more to the story..." The news anchor droned on, Luna only catching bits from the hall. "Perhaps a group of superheroes?" Luna's eyes glued themselves to the TV at the last words.

There was footage of the group flying into the clouds, filmed from a low quality phone camera, whoever's hands were holding it shaking. Nothing was distinguishable in the footage, it might as easily be people as birds. Luna relaxed a little, but a bowling ball of dread had found a home in her stomach. She sighed, about to switch off the TV when a group of White Sand soldiers burst into the room on the screen, grabbing the woman and the cameraman and dragging them off the set before one of them kicked the camera over, smashing it to bits. An error message came on to the screen, and the kids all looked at each other.