Into the Moonlight (Part Three)(Katie) I woke up from a dream about bloody wolves. All of them had white fur and looked exactly like me. Hunter was standing over them, staring in disbelief. Sebastian had a bloody knife in his hand. I shook off all the memories. I looked around at where I was. I was in a tiny bedroom. It was a cheery yellow. I yawned and stretched. I looked at my clothes and saw that I was in a pink sleeping gown. Kaye must’ve put it on me. I tried to remember what happen after I saved Hunter. All I remember is passing out after seeing something. I can’t remember what that something was.
“BREAKFAST!” I heard Kaye call. I hopped up from the bed and went out into the hallway. The hallway connected three bedrooms. I was in the first bedroom. I saw Sebastian come out of the third one. So, that must mean that Hunter was in the second. I beckoned to Sebastian and we crept quietly into his room.
Hunter was still sleeping when we crept into his room. His arm was thrown carelessly off the edge of the bed. I gestured for Sebastian to grab one side of the sheets and I grabbed them next to him. I held up three fingers and counted down. Three two one! We both yanked as hard as we could. Hunter flipped off the bed onto the floor.
“HOLY—” Hunter cussed as he hit the cold ground. He got up as fast as he could.
“Good morning,” I said, trying hard not to laugh. From Sebastian’s face, he was trying hard not to laugh, too. Hunter glared at us.
“What was that for,” he asked.
“Kaye called us for breakfast.”
“And you couldn’t have asked nicely to wake up?”
“We couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Come on.” I walked out of the room. I went to the kitchen. Kaye was in there, flipping pancakes.
“I hope you’re in the mood for pancakes and news.” I groaned. Just then, Hunter walked in.
“What are you groaning at? I thought you loved pancakes,” Hunter said.
“Not that,” I said, “News. I hate it when people have news.” Suddenly, Jeremy was standing next to me.
“Why do you hate news,” he asked.
“Usually it’s bad news,” I said.
“What’s usually bad news,” Sebastian asked walking in. His hair was wet and he was shirtless, so something told me that he had taken a shower. Having his shirt off proved to me that, unlike Jace, Sebastian was dark, while Jace was all golden. “Is that coffee,” he asked. Kaye nodded, not turning around to look at him. ¬¬
“Kaye said she had news to tell us,” Hunter explained to him when I didn’t answer. Sebastian rolled his eyes.
“Breakfast is ready,” Kaye said. I grabbed a plate and stacked it high with pancakes, sausage, bacon, ham, scrambled eggs, biscuits with jelly, and to top it off, I got a soda. Sebastian and Hunter stared at me.
“You have a soda with your breakfast,” Hunter asked. I nodded.
“And you must be really hungry, piling your plate high with all that stuff,” Kaye said. I nodded again.
“I haven’t eaten since I left for Nevada to find these punks,” I said, jerking my thumb towards Sebastian and Hunter.
“Hey,” Sebastian said, glaring at me. I shrugged and started to dig in. The pancakes were delicious. Kaye had put a few chocolate chips in them. I pour syrup on them. I looked up from my bountiful plate and saw that Hunter had put as much on his plate that I had. Sebastian had a normal sized plate. Kaye and Jeremy had stuffed their plates with sausage, bacon, and ham.
“You guys must like meat,” I said. Kaye and Jeremy nodded.
“We’ve been eating meat most of our life.” Kaye smiled. I stole a glance at Hunter. Hunter looked back at me.
“Look, can you tell us the news? We have got to get going to find Jace,” I said.
“Okay,” Kaye said. I took a swig of my soda. “Rylee, Jacob, and I want to go with you.” I spit out my soda. Sebastian glared at me as he got drenched in spit up soda. AND he still had his shirt off. I smiled inwardly.
“Sorry,” I muttered. Louder, I said, “Why? This is pretty much just us. We don’t want to stick you in trouble.” Kaye smiled.
“Oh, we LOVE trouble. Why do you think we hunt? Most of us love to tackle bears, lions, and tigers. That’s how we get so strong. Oh and for heaven’s sake, go stick a shirt on, Sebastian.” Sebastian looked up at her. Kaye narrowed her eyes. He glared back at her, got up, and went to stick a shirt on. Kaye turned back to me. She looked at me expectantly.
“What?”
“So what do you say? Can we come?” I looked over at Hunter. He was too “busy” in his meal that he didn’t notice my look. I sighed and turned back to Kaye.
“Fine, you can come, but I’m leading this group, so you have to do what I say.” She jumped up.
“Yea! I’ll go get Jacob and Rylee.” Jeremy rolled his eyes and looked at me.
“I’m not going because I don’t want to and I have to watch the house.” I nodded understandingly. I got up from the table and placed my hands on the table, trying really hard not to scream. I really did not want to put Kaye in a tough decision of fighting to the death. I took a deep breath and walked back to my room to get my stuff.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter stand up, say something to Jeremy, and then follow me. I stopped and waited for him.
“I can’t do this, Hunter!” I started crying. “I don’t want you to die, or Kaye to die, or Sebastian to die! I don’t anyone to die. I want to go home!” I was sobbing now. Hunter grabbed my shoulders and brought me into a hug.
“It’s okay,” he said in my ear, “no one’s going to die. I will stay with you. Don’t worry about a thing.” He kept on hugging me. I started to feel more comfortable now, in his arms. He smelled like the woods and meat. His muscles rippled under my arms. He must work out a lot. I opened my eyes and saw Sebastian looking at us, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. I pushed Hunter off, feeling slightly embarrassed. Hunter looked at me and then turned around.
When he turned back to look at me, he looked just as embarrassed as I was. Sebastian walked past us, not looking back. His shoulders were shaking with unheard laughter. He had changed into an Under Armor shirt. It hugged what muscles he had. I looked at Hunter and raised my eyebrows. He seemed to get the message and nodded. I jumped up and did an air spin kick right at Sebastian’s head. My foot hit its target.
“OW!” He spun around glaring at me. I laughed at the ticked off face of his. He smiled evilly, ran over, pick me up, and spun me it the air.
“HEY! Put me down,” I whined, “I’m getting dizzy!” He let go in mid-spin. I flew through the air and landing right in Hunter’s open arms. I hopped out of his arms and glared at Sebastian. I heard a cough behind me.
“Well,” a voice said sarcastically, “if you guys are done messing around, I think we have to leave.” I spun around and saw Rylee, Kaye, and Jacob staring at us. Embarrassment burned hot on my cheeks. Rylee glanced at me in amusement while Kaye glared at Sebastian.
“Whose fault was this,” she demanded. Sebastian was about to say, but Kaye cut him off. “Never mind. We have to go. Oh and Tara, go stick some real clothes on.” I looked down and saw that I was still wearing the pink night gown. I stalked off to my room. Sebastian followed me. I spun around when I go to the front of my room.
“What do you want? I thought you—” He stooped down and kissed me. I grabbed the sides of the door for support. First, his lips were hard, then they softened and he tried to make the kiss deeper. I hesitated. I didn’t know what to do.
“What the heck?!” Hunter was staring at us. He had just come around the corner. He said it so loud that Kaye came around the corner. Sebastian let go of me. He turned around slowly.
“You get in business that isn’t your own a lot, Kettering.” Hunter’s anger was flaring up in his eyes.
“Get this, Velon; Tara’s business is sometimes mine, too.” Sebastian growled. He crouched. I gulped.
“Kaye, get out of here.” Kaye looked at me and then sprinted headlong out of the hallway. I turned back to the boys. Hunter had crouched now too. He was growling. Sebastian sprang at Hunter. Sebastian burst out of his skin. Hunter met him in the middle, breaking out of his skin. They started ripping each other’s fur off.
“Guys,” I said, “Hunter, Sebastian—” They weren’t listening. I got down on my hands and knees. I transformed into my wolf self. I howled a loud, high-pitched howl, an Alpha sound. The boys broke apart, trying to cover their ears with their paws. I snorted.
Guys, you are brothers in blood. All wolves are brothers in blood. So KNOCK IT OFF! I yelled.
Fine, we’ll do it your way, Tara, Hunter said, but keep that…that dirt bag away from me. Sebastian snorted. I transformed back into my human self and stood up. I looked down at them and walk away. I found Kaye, Rylee, and Jacob in the kitchen, pacing around the counter. They looked up when I walked in.
“I got it all settled,” I said, “They won’t fight again.” Kaye nodded. Rylee rolled her eyes.
“Here this’ll be faster.” She pointed a finger at me and my night gown fluttered up. When it fell back down, I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
“Thanks,” I said, “Where are the boys?” Just then, Hunter and Sebastian walked around the corner. They were laughing and pushing each other.
“Got things settled?” Kaye raised her eyebrows. They nodded, still chuckling.
“Can we get going,” I asked, “We’re wasting daylight.” Kaye nodded. We headed out of the house.
“Where exactly are we going,” Jacob asked.
“Stillyir.” He brightened at that.
“I know exactly where that is.” He turned to the right. We were heading to the woods where we first met Kaye. I hadn’t known that Stillyir was so close.
“How far is it,” Hunter asked.
“About five days.”
“Wait, what’s today?” My heart was pounding in my chest.
“May third, why?” My birthday was in three days! I slapped my forehead. How could I be so stupid?! I was turning eighteen. Yeah. I get to have my eighteenth birthday with people I barely know.
“What is it, Tara,” Hunter asked.
“I can’t tell you,” I choked out, “It will wreck it.” Hunter looked at behind at me. He shrugged and faced forward. We were climbing up the ridge that lead into the encampment. Jacob was in the lead with Rylee next to him. Kaye was right behind them. Sebastian was behind Kaye with Hunter next to him. I stopped. Something wasn’t right. My eyes closed.
I was standing on the ridge still but the trees were gone. In their place were crouched men with bow and arrows. The arrow heads were green with poison and sleep dart potion.
My eyes shot open. The group was far ahead.
“RUN!” I screamed. I sprinted past a bunch of surprised people. They didn’t question. They started running after me just as the arrows started raining down.
“Try and dodge the arrows!” I heard Rylee shout. I turned around. Hunter had gotten hit with one of the arrows. He pulled it out. He tried to run again, but fell.
“HUNTER!” I screamed. I slid down like a baseball player. I scrambled next to him.
“Hunter, wake up, please wake up.” Tears that were rolling down my face stopped. Sadness was turned into fury and determination. I pick him up and put him over my shoulder. I started to run back up the hill. The others had made it to the safety of the trees. The arrows had stopped falling. I made it to the top of the ridge.
I was WAY wrong when I said the safety of the trees. A bunch of men had the group locked in their arms. Kaye was still struggling to get out of her man’s grip. Rylee wasn’t even trying. Jacob looked like he was about to throw up. Sebastian was locked in a head lock. Someone came up and grabbed Hunter off of my shoulder.
“NO!” I screeched. A man stepped out. He had short brown hair. He was tall, taller than Hunter. He looked closely at me.
“Tara Werlac.” I was surprised that he knew my name. “My name is Talathian. We’ve looking for you. Our master would like to see you. If you come willing, your friends will go free. If you don’t, you will watch them die slowly. It’s as simple as that.” He smirked.
“Don’t do it!” I heard Sebastian shout.
“Shut up!” I heard his guy shout at him.
“Listen to Sebastian,” Kaye said, “We’ll be okay.” Rylee and Jacob nodded. I saw Hunter start coming to.
“What the—” He tried to get out of his guy’s grip, but the guy held on tighter. He looked around at the rest of the group. His gaze finally came to rest on me. I avoided his gaze.
“You know,” I started, “It would be easier if I just came quietly. But, I love hard things.” I transformed into my wolf self and sprang at him. Talathian was surprised. I snapped my jaws an inch away from his face. I scratched him with my claws. I didn’t want him to turn into a werewolf. I transformed back into human a few yards away from him. I got a running start at him. Then I quickly transformed back into my wolf self and kicked his legs out from underneath him. I looked around and saw that Sebastian had hit his guy in the gut with his elbow and had knocked him out. Now Sebastian was helping Kaye with two guards. Rylee and Jacob were throwing blue spears at their guards. Hunter punched his guy in the face and slithered out of reach.
Suddenly, I felt arms on my neck. Then I felt the cold tip of an iron blade being held against my neck. I transformed back into human, but the knife was still there.
“Got you.” Talathian was the one that was holding the knife to my throat. He forced me to my knees.
“STOP!” Sebastian and Kaye whirled around. The people that they had been fighting were knocked out. Hunter looked up from his guy, who was hanging limply from his hand. Jacob and Rylee turned around. Their people staggered away.
Talathian grinned. “Now that I have your attention, I have something to show you.” He flicked his wrist. The trees disappeared. Instead, about fifty archers were standing there, their arrows pointed at us. He laughed and, as if on cue, they laughed, too.
I cursed myself mentally. I did see them in my vision and the arrows should have been enough to tell us that they were there. I looked up. Sebastian’s face was a mask of shock. Jacob and Rylee exchanged glances. Kaye rolled her eyes, as if she expected this. Hunter was still trying to meet my gaze. Talathian grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. I yelped. Hunter started towards us.
I felt the knife go deeper into my skin. “Take one more step, mutt, and my knife will cut right through her neck.”
“Hunter,” I said, against the pain in my throat, “get back.” He looked at me and stood there as if he didn’t know what to do. Sebastian walked up and started towing him back towards Kaye. I looked up at Talathian. He was smirking at Hunter.
“Good choice.” He looked down at me. “Let’s go.” He started dragging me away. Suddenly, an arrow shot out of the trees and hit Talathian right in the temple. Talathian’s eyes flew wide open. His trembling hands dropped me and touched the arrow sticking grotesquely out of the side of his head. Then, he fell. I quickly moved out of the way so he didn’t land on me.
“Thanks, Kaye,” I said.
“That wasn’t me, girl.” She was staring at the body with disgust. I looked around at the group. All of them shook their heads.
“Well, then, who shot the arrow,” I muttered. Suddenly, Rylee gave a little shriek. She was pointing at something in the trees. I whirled around. There, standing right between the trees, was a boy. He had dark, brown hair. His eyes were a blue-green. He was tall, maybe six feet two inches. He still had his bow raised. The arrow was gone from it. He must have been the one that shot Talathian. I heard Sebastian growl. He raised his hands.
“Peace, friends. My name is Draven. I am here to help. I heard that there was a group traveling to the main city, Stillyir. You might need my navigation.”
“And why should we trust you,” Hunter growled.
“Because,” Draven said, “Jace is my brother.”
Sebastian hit his head against a tree for a third time. Hunter and I were standing in shock. Kaye just rolled her eyes.
“Okay, Sebastian, KNOCK IT OFF!” Sebastian broke away from the tree. His eyes were wide and wild. Kaye rolled her eyes again.
“I didn’t know that Jace had ANY brothers or sisters,” Hunter said, “I didn’t know that he had any relatives at ALL!” Draven was still leaning up against the tree; smirking.
“Of course you didn’t know,” he said, “I ran away from home when I was six years old. He hated me for leaving him. I had heard that he had become a werewolf, but I decided to stay out of it. Now, I heard that he had been captured by the Dark Soul.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “People say that the Dark Soul is the most powerful human being on the planet. He walks through time realms and worlds, collecting supernatural creatures souls. He took Jace just to get to you. You are the most powerful werewolf of them all.”
“What exactly can I do?” I asked.
“You just learned two just now,” he said. “You can see things that other people can’t see. Like when you saw the archers. And you can change from your wolf form to your human form in the blink of an eye.” I opened my mouth to ask how he knew that I saw the archers, but he shook his head.
I’ll tell you later, he mouthed. I nodded. Sebastian looked over at me, and then shrugged. Hunter went over and leaned on a tree, his back facing me. Kaye, Rylee, and Jacob were grinning because they had no idea who Jace was. I looked at the ground. I just couldn’t think right now.
“Well,” Hunter announced suddenly, “we aren’t going to get very far tonight. We might as well make camp here.” Sebastian and I nodded absently. Draven nodded too, but more enthusiastic than us. Kaye rolled her eyes and Jacob and Rylee exchanged a glance. Hunter looked around at us.
“Well,” I said, “I’ll go get wood.” I started out into the forest of trees right behind us.
“Um, Tara,” Kaye said, “you might want this.” She held out an axe. I took it silently and then started back into the forest. I found a dead tree about ninety yards in. It had a lot of branches on it and it was skinny. It looked easy to cut. I started hacking at one of the limbs. The lowest one was about ten inches in diameter. I took all my strength and hit the branch with all my might. It cut through half way. I gathered up all my strength and hit again. This time I was able to get it off. I tossed it on the ground. I went to the next limb.
After about twenty limbs, I stopped to take a breath. Cutting off limbs from a living tree was hard, but cutting them off from a dead one was way too easy.
“Tara.” I whirled around. Nobody was there. I turned back to the tree. I could have sworn that somebody said my name. I started hacking at the tree again.
“Tara.” There it was again, but this time it sounded like two people. My name kept on coming again and again. Each time, a voice was added on. I tried to plug my ears, but to no avail. The voice got louder and louder until they were surrounding me. I closed my eyes, knelt to the ground and tried to cover my ears.
Finally, I opened my eyes and saw… nothing. Nobody was there, nothing but the trees and bushes. I got up and started hacking away at the tree again. Suddenly, I heard more than my name. I heard where I was from, where I was born, what year and what day I was born, when I got turned, what I was.
“SHUT UP!” I thrust my hands out to the side. Everything stopped. The birds stopped singing. The leaves stopped dappling to the ground. The voices stopped. Everything! I walked back towards the camp.
When I go there, I saw that everything there had stopped too. Sebastian was building a fire. He was frozen in place. Hunter and Kaye were building tents. They were frozen. Rylee and Jacob were shoot sparks at the trees, cutting off branches. One of the branches was stopped in mid fall. Rylee and Jacob were frozen, too. Draven was nowhere to be seen.
“You have quite an amazing power.” I spun around. There, sitting on a fallen tree, was Draven. He was examining his nails. He looked up and spoke to me seriously, “I’m serious. Some people would kill to have all the powers that you have. I think that’s why the Dark Soul has captured Jace. Just to get to you and your powers.”
I asked, “How are you not frozen?”
He grinned. “Would you like me to tell you how?” I nodded “I’m able to do things with my mind that other people can’t do. That’s how I knew about your vision. I’m able to read minds and put my thoughts into others.” I just looked at him. It wasn’t possible! He was just a human, for crying out loud!
He grinned. “I may look human, but really I’m just like you.”
“Knock it off! I don’t like when people rummage through my thoughts.” I chewed on my lower lip. I stopped immediately. Draven raised his eyebrows at me. I got the message. I didn’t know what to do though. I lifted my hand and did a swish motion. Everything started again.
“Hi,” Hunter said cheerfully, “I didn’t hear you walk up.” I barely heard him.
“I have to be alone for a little bit,” I muttered, starting towards the forest again. Kaye gave me a sidelong look and then turned back to what she had been doing. I walked back to the spot where I had been chopping wood. The voices were long gone. I sat down on the tree and put my head in my hands.
“God,” I prayed, “why is this happening to me?!”
“I think I know why.” A voice had come out of nowhere. I whirled around to see a boy with dark brown hair walking towards me. He had burgundy eyes and was really tall. Almost as tall as Kaye. He sat down next to me and stared into the forest.
“I know why it’s you, why you chose those people, why you are on this quest. After spending four years in that prison I know.” He clenched his hands into fists. I went back to my thought. Kaye. I gasped standing.
“Your Kaye’s—” He smiled and interrupted me.
“Yes, I am Kaye’s lost brother, Aelix.”

I gulped. I had brought Aelix to the edge of the trees. I could see the camp, but I wasn’t sure if I should take him there. Kaye would have a really bad shock probably. I sighed and led him towards the camp. We neared the camp and as we came through the trees, Hunter saw us. Draven looked up but didn’t say a thing.
“Jeez, I must need hearing aids because—” He broke off, final seeing Aelix. “Who’s he?” Rylee heard his question and came over.
“Who’s who?” She saw Aelix. “Aelix? No, it can’t be! You were taken—”
“By a stranger that nobody knew who he was. Yeah, I know.” I looked around for Kaye, Sebastian, and Jacob.
“Hunter,” I whispered, “where’s Jacob, Kaye, and Sebastian?” He shrugged.
“Hey, um, I going to go get more fire wood, okay?” Rylee nodded. I walked back into the woods to search for Sebastian, Kaye, and Jacob.

I don’t know how far I walked. The woods seem endless. I saw a bunch of little sprites flitting in between the trees. Most of them were muttering among themselves. One brave, little sprite came up and asked, “What are you?” She had a petal for a dress and her wings had rainbows glistening off of them. She had pretty, long, blond hair. She was entirely pink. Not a dark pink, but a light, pale shell pink. She was about as tall as a pencil.
“I’m a werewolf,” I muttered. She smiled pointy, sharp teeth at me.
“What are you doing out here?”
“A couple of my friends went missing. I’m trying to find them.” One of her friends came up. He was a normal color with red wings. He had black hair and he looked like a mini human.
“Did one of them have black hair?” he asked.
“Boy or girl?” I asked.
“Boy.”
“That’s Sebastian!” I gasped.
“Is he one of your missing friends?” the first sprite asked. I nodded. The sprite with red wings flitted back into the darkness.
“Would you like me to come with you?” the sprite asked.
“Sure, but first tell me your name.”
“My name is Luna.” I held out two fingers. She grabbed them with one tiny hand and shook.
“My name is Tara and I am honored to meet your acquaintance.”
“Did someone say Tara?” A voice appeared out of nowhere. I looked up and saw a white sprite flying towards me. “Are you Tara Werlac?” I gulped and nodded. She bowed. “I am queen of the sprites. Long ago, I received a message from an angel who said that a girl called Tara Werlac would walk through here one day. He told me to give you this.” She drew back her robe and pull out a sword. It wasn’t just a plain sword. It had a light blue glow around it and it was encrusted with rubies and sapphires on the hilt. She handed me a sheath. I stuck the sheath on my belt. Then, she handed me the sword. As soon as I took it, she disappeared. I looked around, shrugged, and then stuck the sword in its sheath
Luna and I took off. Luna sat on my shoulder as she told me all about the life of a sprite. Her voice sounding like tiny bells. She talked on and on about a sprite named Pix. Something told me that she had a crush on this Pix. She broke off abruptly, looking at something in front of us. I looked at it, too.
It was a tall oak tree and on it was Jacob. His eyes were torn out from the roots. There was blood filled in the gaps. He hair was torn out from one side and matted with blood. His head was at an awkward angle. His arms and legs were both bent the wrong way. There were a dozen arrows pierced through him.
I was nauseated. I ran past the tree and a few yards away. I fell to the ground and retched until there was nothing left in my stomach. Luna flew off my shoulder and landed on the ground next to me. I move away from the vomit and curled up in a ball. Luna came over and petted my hair, saying something that I could understand. I don’t know how long I was curled up there, but by the time I stood up again, it was almost sunset.
“Pretty,” was all I could say. I started following the bloody footprints. They led me to a circle of trees. I didn’t go in the circle, but I was able to see what was going on inside of it. There was a whole bunch of people inside the ring of trees. Some of them sat around a campfire that was in the middle of the ring while others did stuff. I watched closely to see if I could see any of my friends. Luna muttered something.
“What,” I asked quietly.
She flew up to my ear. “Rangers.” So that’s who these people were. They were rangers. We both watched as one of them came in through the trees.
“Farren, what have you got for us,” one of the rangers asked.
“Warenth, I found more intruders one the hill.” The ranger gestured behind him. Three more rangers stepped into the ring of trees. Each one held a person. It became hard to breathe when I saw who they were.
It was Hunter, Draven, Aelix, and Rylee. All of them had their hands tied behind their backs. I felt my side for the sword that the queen had given me. It was still there. I took a deep breath and charged into the middle of the ring. All of the rangers were surprised. The one called Warenth was the first one to recover from the shock.
“What’s this?” He looked really confused.
“Give me my friends and this won’t end up in bloodshed.” I tried to sound brave. Warenth looked at me for a second and then burst out laughing. All of the rangers laughed with him.
“Do you really think that we would—” Without thinking, I grabbed the closest ranger, drew my sword, and brought it across his neck. He fell to the ground, dead. Everyone stopped laughing immediately. Warenth’s eyes were blazing with rage. Another ranger charged at me. I grasped my sword and swung. The blade sliced through the guy’s head like it was a piece of bread. I looked at Warenth.
“Hand… them… over.” I spoke through gritted teeth. He made a gesture and the rangers holding them threw them to the ground. Rylee cut her rope with fire and shook them loose. Hunter was already free. Aelix stood up.
“There were two more.” I said. Warenth shook his head.
“You are mistaken. There were only these three.” I gaped at him. So they didn’t have Kaye and Sebastian. I walked past Warenth. As I walked past, I drew my sword and cut a big T into his back.
“That should remind you to stay out of my way,” I whispered in his ear. “For a very long time.” He winced and moved away. Hunter and Draven looked around and followed me. Rylee stood, staring. I turned around.
“Are you coming?” She nodded and started after me.
When she caught up, she asked, “You said two of them. What about Jacob?” I stiffened. I hadn’t told her yet. I turned around slowly.
“Well, um, he’s… dead.” Rylee stiffened, as though she had been shot. Then, she fell. I saw the arrow sticking out of her back. She had been shot. I looked around, but saw no shooters in sight. Luna flew down next to Rylee.
“I can fix her.” She sounded positive.
“What do you need,” I asked. She rolled off a list of items. Draven and Hunter took off.
“Watch out.” Luna stood up on the ground. Standing up, she was about as tall as a pencil. She started to transform. Soon, she was a head taller than I was. She bent down over Rylee as soon as Draven and Hunter came back. Her golden hair fell in front of her face as she started to work. All I could do was wait.
Luna worked at the speed of light. She was done with fifteen minutes. Aelix sat down next to me but didn’t speak. I watched carefully as Luna stood up and went down to her small size again.
“That’s all I can do,” she said, “I don’t know if she’ll live or not.” I nodded absently. It was hard not to look at the arrow sticking grotesquely out of her back. I stood up.
“I have to go on. You guys stay here with her. Make a camp. I’ll come back.” Hunter nodded. Draven smiled. Luna didn’t say anything. I walked towards the setting sun. Hopefully wherever Sebastian and Kaye were they were safe.

---