Under the Shadow of the Moon

Chapter 39

Luna was sitting on the floor of the training room, dark circles under her eyes and four red crescent shaped marks on each of her palms. They stung as her hands started to sweat. She swiped them against her pants, biting back a hiss.

The others were training around her, Lloyd and Lily sparring a few feet away, Harper and Sylvia stretching and giggling.

Harper turned to Luna. "You said you had a dream last night," she said as her smile dropped. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Luna nodded. "I was in the Throne Room... The Eye said they were transferring the kids today. He sent Elijah and someone named 'Boyce' to bring them to the Castle."

Harper paused for a moment, thinking. "We should see what that was about."

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?" Sylvia inquired.

Luna nodded hesitantly. "I think it was a vision."

"What if it's a trap? What if he's just baiting us?" Sylvia reasoned.

"We'll have to risk it. If there's a way for us to retrieve all the kidnapped kids, we have to take it."

"We can't underestimate him, my father," Lily jumped in. "He's just playing games, trying to see how we react. He has no sense of love, only greed. He cannot be bothered to love another."

"Not even his own children. He craves power over people, and we're the only ones standing in his way." Sylvia added, raking a hand through her hair.

"So he has to get rid of us." Lloyd said, his face going pale.

"Exactly. Once he finds the best way to do it, our blood will be on our own hands." Lily responded.

"And he'll have had nothing to do with it." Razaia said, her eyes wide and her jaw setting.

"We can't let him get to us," Luna nodded.

"And we can't let him win." Sylvia finished for her.

"So we're all in agreement?" Colin chimed in. "We're going to try and get the kids back?"

The next thing Luna knew, they were on their way to the Castle, the plan fresh in their heads. They would wait around the Castle, waiting for any sort of transport to come through. They'll ambush them, get the kids out, and take them to the DoSD building.

As they landed in the trees, they masked themselves in the dark, running through only the darkest of shadows to get to a good vantage point.

☆★☆

Colin was sitting in the branches of a tree, staring up at the sky when he heard tires squeal. He slipped down, keeping himself hidden in the shadows as the car door slammed. He drew his sword, aware of the scraping sound it made against its sheath.

The force hit him from behind. He stumbled, his sword clattering from his hand. He looked up at his assailants, who to no surprise were Elijah and the blonde.

Lily dropped out of the tree across from him, making hardly any sound as she shifted through the branches. It didn't make a difference, Elijah spotted her as soon as her feet touched the ground.

The blonde girl smirked at Colin. He took a few steps back, pressing up against the tree.

Lily was pleading with Elijah. "Please, you used to be go—"

"Save it," he groaned. "I have a job to do."

Lily yelped. Colin's vision went dark.

When he came to again, it was because Lily was shaking him mercilessly.

"Please... just one of you... wake up!" There were tears running down her cheeks.

Colin blinked quickly, lifting himself off the grass. Lloyd was unconscious about a foot away from him, with very little breath escaping his lungs. "Ouch," Colin said through his teeth as he held a hand to his head. His hand felt sticky. He looked around, taking in the dark terrain around him. The three of them were boxed in, surrounded by black vans.

"Is he ok?" He asked softly, her hands pressed together in fists as she leaned over Lloyd.

"Why is it always him who gets hurt?" Lily laughed again in an attempt to make herself feel better, though it worked in reverse.

Colin shrugged.

"What... What happened?" Were the first hoarse, strained words to escape Lloyd's mouth.

"Lloyd!" Lily giggled a little, more tears spilling over the rims of her eyes. "Lloyd I was so worried!" She flung her arms around his neck.

He winced as he sat up, but he was still smiling at her. The pain was evident in the curl of his lip and the dimmed light in his eyes. Lloyd put his arms around her waist. "Lily, I promise when all of this is over, I'll take you somewhere nice. It'll be just the two of us... and all this drama will be far behind us..." He whispered into her ear.

Lily smiled hugging him tighter, but they all knew that nothing would be the same after this. They would never be normal again. Nothing will ever be the same again.

The irony of the situation made Colin snarl. He started to get up, brushing off his uniform with a look of pure rage on his face and a look of longing in his eyes. He longed for his princess in shining armor.

There was a scream not far from where they were. All three heads jerked in the direction it had come from.

Colin looked around their makeshift prison. The vans were too low to the ground to go under, too close together to slide in between. Above them was some sort of net, slung over the top of the vans and glinting with electricity. He clenched his fists.