Rise at Twilight

by Kayla Krantz

  Luna wiggled her toes, admiring the feeling of the dirt beneath her feet as she moved. As she traveled into the woods, her cautious thoughts of Chance were behind her. She’d deal with that problem whenever he decided to show his face again…if he decided to show his face again.

  The farther away the cabin grew, a building feeling of foreboding pierced through her. She wouldn’t know how to feel if Chance’s anger toward Max turned out to be warranted, and she felt her throat squeeze in the beginning of a panic attack. She thought about abandoning her mission, turning around and going back to sit and obediently wait for Chance’s return, but told herself not to do that.

  What’s the worst that could happen? she asked herself. Chance could be right, came back the answer, but she shrugged it off. If he was, she’d owe him an apology. The thought caused her to narrow her eyes. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

  She folded her arms across her chest, rubbing the tops of her arms as her eyes darted around warily. The Amanda trail was far colder than she felt at the moment, so what could she do? She had limited knowledge of the Realm which meant she wouldn’t be able to manipulate her way to Amanda the way Chance most likely could.

  Maybe he could teach me some things, Luna thought as she stared at the wispy clouds above her head. The blue of the sky reminded her of the blue fire in his eyes as he warned her away from Max, and suddenly, asking didn’t seem like a good idea. He wouldn’t teach her anything that would help her put distance between the two of them—that much she was sure of—so she would turn to her next option, Max.

  Old habits really do die hard, she thought with the faintest hint of amusement. It was one of the last things Chance had said to her before killing himself.

  The thought made her shiver. She distracted herself with thoughts of Max once again but didn’t feel better doing that either. Everyone around her felt like a stranger…even herself. You used to know Max better than anybody… she thought and frowned, trying to reassure herself that if she thought about him in terms of how she used to see him then she should be able to find him.

  “Max?” she called out when her wandering brought her gradually to the end of the woods and the beginning of Lima itself. She didn’t know where she was exactly but had the feeling he was nearby. It was like a radar, a pull that told her he was close…even if she didn’t know where. “Are you around?”

  She studied the trees, the grass, the end of the forest in the distance, but nothing changed. No one stepped forward, and the trees kept their secrets. Seeing the world she had left behind stretched before her in an eerie parallel version disheartened her. Max could be anywhere…and the last time they had spoken, things hadn’t ended on good terms.

  She swallowed heavily, forcing out another choppy utterance of his name before she heard movement from nearby. She froze, glancing over at the outline of an old shack as the rusty door creaked open. She hadn’t noticed it during her initial survey and wondered if that was because Max had a choice whether or not he wanted her to see it. Max’s pale face peered from the darkness inside the shack, and Luna felt her heart sink though with which emotion, she wasn’t sure.

  The ice on his face made her positive he experienced the same range of emotion.

  “Hey,” he said, holding a hand on the door as his other reached up to scratch the back of his neck.

  “Hi, Max. It’s been a while,” she replied, not breaking eye-contact.

  He looked the same as he had the last time she had seen him—tall with wispy brown hair and a hardened jaw. He had a hefty build, his frame twice the size of her own. Before everything, that thought had comforted her because she had believed he would use that size to protect her, to shield her from any danger. Now that he might bring her danger, she was uneasy standing beside him. His shadow swallowed her whole.

  Max bobbed his head. “From what I remember, you said you never wanted to see me again.”

  Luna cringed. It was true she had said it, but the look on Max’s face made her feel guilty when she knew she shouldn’t. “I spoke out of hurt.”

  “And now?” he demanded, crossing his arms.

  “I want us to be friends again…like we used to be,” she said with a lump in her throat. It was hard to tell if she meant it or not. She missed Max, but the fact he had lied about being friends with Chance, that he had wiped her memory, that he had been the cause of all her pain, still sat at the back of her mind.

  How could she forget information like that? More importantly, how could she trust him again?

  “Friends?” Max scoffed, raising his eyebrows. “That’s what you want? Really?”

  Luna pressed her lips together but didn’t know how to answer the question.

  “The last time we talked you practically told me I ruined your life.”

  She realized Chance’s mannerisms were rubbing off on her when she had to stiffen her upper lip to keep it from twisting into a sneer. “Is that not the truth?”

  Max flared his nostrils but stayed silent. No defense in the world could save him from the truth of her question.

  Luna chuckled but not out of happiness. “Fine. If that’s how it’s gonna be, I’ll cut straight to the point. We don’t have to be friends. I need your help.”

  “My help?” Max pursed his lips, pushing the rusty door open the rest of the way as he stepped out onto the concrete step beyond. His figure loomed over hers, tension obvious from his head to his feet. “Why would you ask for my help after everything?”

  “Because you’re the one who’s always helped me,” she replied instantly, gazing directly into his light brown eyes.

  Max frowned. “What could you possibly need my help with?”

  Luna lifted her chin, staring at him in the way she used to watch Chance—guarded. “Asher. I want him back, and I know you know where he is.”

  “Why do you assume that?” Max asked, resting his shoulder against the doorframe.

  “You and Amanda talked when we were all still alive, if I remember correctly,” Luna pointed out, once again barely restraining her bitterness. “You must know where she’s at.”

  Max laughed. “Really? Just like that, huh? Yeah, we spoke on the phone a few times, but we weren’t friends. We’ve never conspired against you if that’s what you believe.”

  “She might not have,” Luna said, thinking of the sweet simplicity of Amanda’s brain. “But you had some kind of plan. You always do. That’s the problem.”

  “No. No. Don’t stand there and act like I’m the bad guy, Luna. I made some questionable choices, but I never did any of it to hurt you,” he said, blinking harder than usual, and Luna wondered if it was out of anger or sadness.

  “If you never wanted to hurt me, you would’ve told me everything when the dreams began. When you knew Chance was out to get me, you would’ve told me why…you would’ve stopped him. Don’t you get that all the hurt Chance caused me was because of you?”

  “We all have a role to play, and you made your choices just like everyone else,” Max retorted.

  “I’m not pointing fingers, and I’m not trying to rehash the past. I just want my son, Max.”

  Max tilted his head to the side. “To take him back to Chance?”

  Luna tensed, studying the emotion on his face. It was empty, but the glint in his eyes showed him to be ready for a fight. “What does it matter to you where I take him?”

  A cocky smirk appeared on Max’s face, not unlike Chance’s signature, and Luna hated herself for not realizing how similar the two really were much sooner.

  “You don’t deny it?”

  Luna shrugged. “Why would I? I’m not trying to hide anything, Max. Unlike you, I’ve been honest.”

  “Okay. Then tell me what that means. You’re just with him now? Is that it?” He stopped, waiting for Luna to speak.

  Luna bit her lip, unsure how to answer the question. The answer was no, but Max would never believe it. She was in the cabin with Chance, she had been bonded to him, she had killed for him. />
  When she didn’t speak, Max continued, “I can’t figure you out anymore, Luna.”

  “There’s nothing to figure out,” she hissed, feeling more defensive the longer Max spoke.

  “Yeah, there is. I’m trying to figure out what happened to my friend. I’m trying to figure out where she went, and if there is any chance of getting her back.”

  Luna frowned and shifted her gaze to the ground. “You really want to know what happened? I’m tired of fighting, Max. So, so tired. Aren’t you?”

  “Just because you’re tired doesn’t mean you can stop fighting if the war isn’t over,” Max said. “It’s been hard for all of us so you’re just gonna give up now? Throw away all those years of pain, sweat, and blood?”

  Luna felt her eyes glaze over with the first sting of tears. “I don’t know what else to do. I literally lost my mind, and he was the only one there for me. He was the only one who could understand.”

  “That’s bullshit, Luna, and you know it. If you would’ve opened up, would’ve let anyone else in, they could’ve helped you. He made you think they wouldn’t care, that they couldn’t understand, but you never tried. He’s brainwashed you to be his pet. How can you not see that?”

  “Is it bullshit, though, Max? Really? Because from what I recall, Chance wanted me to be okay while you wanted me to kill myself.” Luna’s grief made her throat tight, causing the last of her statement to come out hard to hear.

  “Of course, he wanted you alive. If you were dead how could you possibly carry out his errands?” Max retorted.

  Luna didn’t know how to respond.

  “Just to be clear, I didn’t want you to kill yourself,” Max murmured, tone slighter softer unlike the look on his face. “I just wanted it to stop. We all did. If you had let go, you would’ve found yourself again, you could’ve come back to us.”

  She stared down at the ground, conflicted on what to believe. Chance had told her that they didn’t care about her, didn’t care about what happened to her, and were only doing their duties as Keepers, but hearing Max’s version of the story was different. She could hear the care in his tone, and even though she didn’t want to admit it, she knew he wasn’t lying about that much.

  “You don’t have to believe me, but the truth of the matter is, I didn’t want to see him use you the way he used me, but I think with you, it was worse. I broke away, but you’re only falling deeper into the pit.”

  “He’s not using me,” she spat quickly. Too quickly. One thing she didn’t want was for Max to see how foolish she’d been, that’d she’d made a mistake—the same mistake he had. “I just lost sight of myself for a while. It’s behind me now, and I want a clean slate. Starting with my son.”

  “Look, this isn’t my problem,” Max said with a shrug. “You’re choosing him…after everything he did to me…to you…you’re actually deciding to stay with him.”

  “What else is there for me, Max?” she snapped.

  “You could leave,” he suggested.

  “It’s not that easy though, is it, Max? I mean, he took everything from me. So, what if I decide this…to give him what he wants to finally stop the war?”

  “I can’t even look at you. This isn’t stopping the war, it’s causing a new one. You haven’t found yourself—you lost yourself for good. There’s a difference. I can’t believe you would choose to do this. The Luna I loved was smarter than this.”

  Luna sniffled, looking away to hide her hurt. She didn’t think she could feel any more pain after what she had gone through, but he had proved her wrong.

  “Don’t forget, it’s your fault this whole mess started in the first place. I never would’ve had to choose if it weren’t for you. We would all be somewhere else. In a parallel world, I bet we never spoke again after high school,” Luna said.

  Max narrowed his eyes. “How dare you throw that in my face? I risked my life to save you.”

  Luna smiled bitterly. “And I did the same for you. The difference between us though is that you did it because you had to—your guilt wouldn’t let you have it any other way. I saved you because I loved you. I guess we were both wrong.”

  Max smiled, but it wasn’t a happy one. He was grinning out of anger, something she had seen Chance do on a number of occasions. “You’re gonna sling that my way after all the shit you’ve done?”

  “You wanna know somethin’? Chance may have his faults, but at least he’s honest about them,” she said.

  They stared each other down, tension crackling in the air like electricity. Feeling the bubble of tears, Luna took a slow step backward and whisked on her heels to run back to the safety of the foliage before the first drop rolled down her cheek, hoping the harshness of her tone had kept him from seeing the depth of pain in her eyes.

  Chapter Twelve

  MAX STARED AFTER Luna for a time longer than he dared to admit. Even after everything they had been through, he still cared about her, and part of him had died trying to pretend he felt nothing at all while he cut her down…while she cut him down. Her words buzzed in the back of his mind like a swarm of angry hornets, and he tried to make himself feel better by reminding himself that he had said his piece to her as well, but that did little to comfort him when he thought of the fact that both of them had had good points.

  For everything Chance had done, he had been honest with Luna about what he was, about what he was trying to do, and about what he had wanted. As despicable of a person as he was, he had always let Luna know it upfront. While Max had wanted what was best for Luna, he had gone about it in the wrong way. There was so much she still didn’t know, information that he could easily tell her, but had chosen not to because it wouldn’t help her to know, it would just make things more complicated. It would further push her away.

  If I really wanted to hurt her, I would just tell her everything, he reasoned, the thought accompanied with guilt and smugness before shoving his chunky fingers through his short brown hair and closing the door to the shack.

  He stared at the dark inside of his home, and for the first time in a while, he didn’t know what to do with himself. Seeing Luna had never been easy, alive or dead, but it was worse now. Something in motion, will stay in motion, he reasoned and fought against the voice in his head, the one that urged him to follow after Luna, to try and talk her down from the ledge that she stood on, but he couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that. It was senseless.

  If there was one thing he knew about her, it was that she was determined. Whenever she had something in her mind, she would achieve it come Hell or high water. Just because he had denied to help her find Asher didn’t mean she would give up hope.

  If she could find me, she could find anyone, he pondered and that thought sent a bolt of tension through his spine. Who else would she look for besides him? Violet, maybe? Max winced and instantly pushed the image of the girl’s face from his mind. Even though it had been years, that was still a raw wound for him and for her.

  Max drew a map in his mind of the souls he had encountered on this side, the places where they stayed, and the jobs that they carried out. It wouldn’t be long before Luna would do something similar, his shack the first ping on her map. She would follow it out until she found somebody else and then someone after that so on and so forth. Pursing his lips, Max wondered how much of her decision to come to him had been her own, and how much had been influenced by Chance.

  After all, Chance was too cowardly to make an appearance on his own, but sending Luna seemed like something he would do. Max could picture the scene, Chance twisting a story, telling Luna to get on Max’s good side, to plead her case and break him down to see if she could get her way—both their way—like that.

  Plopping onto the couch, Max tapped his fingers on the ragged old arm, trying to get inside Luna’s head. She would look for Violet. She would not find Violet. Then she would go after the other people who had approached her in the dreams. Though if it would be Amy or Amanda she’d look for first, he couldn’t decide. Bot
h were viable.

  I have to warn Amanda, he thought, and in a flash, dashed out of the shack, metal door rattling shut behind him. He stopped on the porch, skimming the woods for signs of Luna, but she was gone. Good. He still didn’t know how he felt about her visit, but he wouldn’t worry about it now—he’d sort it later, when he didn’t have a mission in his mind.

  In his mind, he pictured Luna’s old roommate. A blonde girl with a pointed face like a fox. Even though she was beautiful, she was a strange girl—the type Max had thought Luna hated. When they had been alive, he had only ever communicated with her over the phone—the first face-to-face interaction they had had was after they came to this place, and he was surprised to see what she really looked like.

  It was no wonder Chance had used her as a pawn. She was pretty, ditzy, and easy to manipulate—all the things that Chance adored in a victim. Max pulled his mouth sideways at the thought, wondering why Morpheus had given her of all people such an important role. How could it trust her? Max certainly didn’t. He would’ve almost felt insulted if he wasn’t so relieved. For as worried as he was about the situation, he didn’t want to be the one to have to shoulder such a responsibility. After everything he had been through, he felt as if he had paid his dues.

  It was someone else’s turn to prove their worth.

  That was the thought he held onto as he pushed through the last of the trees and the burnt mansion came into view. As always, his nose wrinkled at the foul odor, and he lifted his sleeve to press it over his nose and mouth. The filtered air made it more tolerable though his eyes still stung. Blinking back the tears, he moved onward, thinking. The first time he had been here, he had offered to help Amanda repair the building to its new state, to give her a real place to stay, but she had insisted these ruins brought her comfort.

  Max had shrugged it off at the time, assuming that she wanted to try and rebuild it herself, but the fact it remained the same, completely unchanged, bothered him. He stood a few feet away from the nearest wall. Even though she insisted it was safe, he didn’t want to go inside; he had no reason to.