FINDING LUNA

Chapter 2

MIRA

Wood is burning, somewhere very close. Too close because the fumes are getting into my nostrils as if I've slept with my head in a fire pit. Then, there is light and heat that warms my skin a tad too much. Now there are noises too. Screams. Someone is screaming. No, not someone, quite a few people are screaming.

Okay, what kind of a stupid nightmare is...oh no!

I open my eyes to flames roaring outside my window. I jump off the bed and throw open my door. It's a landscape of blackened earth and orange skies with tongues of angry fires consuming everything in their path: wood, leaf, flesh. Then, an arrow lands at my feet and I see a gigantic, gnarly silhouette in the distance against a furious backdrop, a body of muscle and power and rage standing on hind legs, a familiar arched back, and claws.

Lycan.

He isn't alone. There's an entire pack – or packs – ravishing the village; stabbing, punching, and tearing with jaws that gleam red with blood in the moonlight. Monsters so big, everything else dwarfs in their presence. It's like being stuck in a nightmare you cannot wake up from.

There is no trace of lunars fighting back, only cries for help. It's a slaughter. I can't understand how this is happening or how these beasts broke through our forcefields, but it is happening.

Perhaps it has something to do with this sick green haze in the air, but I have no time to decipher this new magic or to fight it back. I have a duty to the Crown.

I dash into the adjoining nursery and over to his bed to snatch him from there. He is fast asleep and unharmed, thanks to the protection spell I cast over his room every night.

"Arcas." I stroke his hair and he stirs. "Come on buddy," I whisper in his ear, hauling him from the covers. "We have to go."

He isn't even off the bed when a wall comes down and a mountain of black fur jumps in roaring. He sees us and stops, eyes all obsidian, nostrils flaring and a growl that sends a rumbling through the earth. Then, a slow sneer spreads over his wolfish face revealing bloody fangs that tell me he's been tearing throats.

"Finally, the trophy," he hisses. "Hand him over."

Arcas jumps out of my grip and picks up his fake wand from the nightstand, wielding it like a weapon because he still believes it would let his magic flow through. But it is still a toy for a little boy.

"Stay away," the prince roars.

The lycan stares at him then his shoulders start to shake, a throaty guffaw erupts from his hideous mouth as he throws back his head and takes time to mock Arcas's bravery.

That's all the time I need to punish him for his insolence. A ball of red energy hits him straight in that massive chest of his, pushing him out of the same wall that he'd splintered to jump in.

I grab Arcas's hand and run out of the room only to collide with Luna Syra. She's out of breath, still in her nightdress and covered in blood and soot. She quickly hugs her son and gives my cheek a caress.

"Mira, you must take him away from here," she says. "They are everywhere. There isn't much time."

"I know a place," I tell her. "But Luna, what happened? How could they breach?"

"They have lunars to fight our magic, and someone let them in. We had a traitor, Mira. All this time."

What?

This is too unbelievable to even process. Not that we have time. Another growl erupts from nearby and a lycan comes crashing down on us through the roof.

"Run!" Luna yells at me and she doesn't have to tell me twice.

I pick up Arcas and compel the energy of the air around me to propel me forward. It's like gaining supersonic speed. However, magic has its limitations. It works just as well as the person wielding it and the nervous state that I am in, my spells aren't working as fast they should. I am out in the open with Arcas on my back when a body comes flying over us and lands a few paces away.

I have to clamp a hand over my mouth tightly or my screams would attract every lycan there is. But Arcas cannot contain his. He wants to wiggle out of my grasp and run to the dead body. A body bathed in its own blood, with gashes all over her face and eyes still open.

My Luna is dead.

Arcas's mother is dead.

And there are growls and howls in the air everywhere. I must run.