Rise at Twilight

by Kayla Krantz

  “And you think she’d just abandon Lucky like that?”

  “I don’t think, I know,” he said with a pointed glance to the window.

  Luna felt bad for Lucky, bad for Chance, and bad for herself. Amanda had already been a bit too entwined in her own vanity, but Luna couldn’t imagine her being purposefully mean to Lucky. In the apartment, Amanda had been so happy to help Luna take care of her. Abandoning her now made no sense.

  “I swear Lucky wasn’t there when I was,” Luna insisted and narrowed her eyes, thinking of the charred house and her desperation.

  “You’d bet money on it? Because I know you well enough to guess you were distracted when you were there.”

  It was true for both of her visits, but Luna had taken the time to find small details like baby bottles, and Amanda’s clothes—she would’ve seen her dog too if she had been there. Something was there, she reminded herself.

  “I think she left with Amanda at first,” Luna insisted and folded her arms across her chest.

  “Your theory is what…she came back?”

  Luna nodded.

  “Why would she do that?”

  “Maybe Amanda sent her to fetch something…or…or see if the coast was clear? I don’t know.”

  Chance tilted his head to the side. “Those are possibilities, I suppose, but the whys don’t really matter, don’t you see that? What does is the fact that we can use her. Lucky can help us.”

  Luna smiled. “Yes, she can. I just hope she will.”

  Chance waved a hand. “Consider it already done. If there’s one thing I know, it’s dogs.”

  “Yeah,” Luna said, staring down at the table. She didn’t want to think about that statement more than she had to. Chance’s dogs weren’t just dogs—they were Hellhounds.

  “We can try to track her tonight, if you want to,” Chance suggested.

  Luna tilted her head to the side. “Why not now?”

  “Because she would expect it. She would see that Lucky doesn’t come back, if she was supposed to, and will think we’re on our way. After a few hours, she’ll relax. She won’t expect us to come in the dead of night. The longer we wait, the easier it’ll be, but I’m guessing you don’t want to wait more than a day?”

  Luna shook her head.

  Chance smirked. “Thought not.”

  The plan sounded nice, laid out the way he said it, but Luna knew things weren’t so black and white. Amanda would expect them no matter what time of day they tried because that was her job—to defend Asher.

  “You’ll see,” Chance said, reaching out to pat her hand.

  She didn’t move, didn’t speak, just stared down at their matching rings, and frowned.

  Chance raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

  “You’re really not going to tell me the truth about these?” she asked but didn’t look up. It was too easy to lose herself in his eyes, chasing after emotions that she wasn’t sure were even real.

  “I told you everything you need to know. What else is there?”

  “So not all of it…just like I thought.”

  Chance closed his eyes and breathed in deep. He was trying to keep his patience with her, she could tell that much, but he was failing.

  “Does it have something to do with Cody and them?” she asked.

  His eyes shot back open at once, the blue irises moving toward her, studying her. “Why would you think that?”

  Luna took notice of the fact that he neither agreed nor denied the statement. Interesting. “Because they’re the only thing you won’t be completely honest with me about. I think you’ve told me everything else…everything there was to know about you, about Max, about Layanna, about Asher, about this place, but them? You won’t say much about them, and I just don’t understand.”

  Chance’s lips push into a straight line. “That’s because there’s not much to say.”

  “I know you better than that.”

  “I know you think you do, but these are forces outside your control. Things you don’t need to mess with.”

  “You always say that.”

  “And how often have I been right?”

  Now it was Luna’s turn to be silent.

  “Exactly.”

  “I’m right in my assumption though, aren’t I?” Luna asked at last.

  “Would it really make you feel better if I said either way?” he asked, eyebrows raised as his exaggerated voice drawled out each word.

  “It would, but it wouldn’t change a thing, would it?”

  “Exactly,” Chance said and looked down at the silver band on her finger.

  Luna reached out then, poking and prodding at it again. She made sure he watched her the entire time she went through the process of trying to remove it again, and when she exhausted herself, she let her hand fall back to the table with an audible thump.

  “You finished?” Chance asked, picking up the book again though he didn’t open it.

  Luna sighed and pushed her tangled black hair from her eyes. “For now.”

  Chance did not reply, merely opened the book to where he had left off and continued to read.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  LUNA DIDN’T LIKE to wait for his dismissal. It made her feel like she was a child waiting for a reprimanding from her father, but in this instance, she was glad. The conversation had fizzled out, there was nothing left to say.

  For now, at least.

  Luna stood, the chair scraping behind her, and stared down at him, waiting to see if he would look up.

  He didn’t.

  She wandered out of the room, not wanting to look at him for longer than she had to though in the depths of the cabin, she had nothing to occupy her mind, nothing but the ring on her finger. She stared at it, really forcing her brain to see it. If the ring wouldn’t move, what would happen if she were to cut off her finger?

  She didn’t know which part of that bothered her more—the fact that she had the thought to begin with or the fact that she was considering it as a legitimate possibility. Moving into the bedroom, she sought out a fresh outfit and was horrified to see she was down to just one set of clothing. She didn’t know where Chance had gotten the other outfits, but she didn’t want to ask him for more.

  I should’ve stolen some from Amanda, she thought then shot it down as soon as she pictured the yellow and pink frilly things she had seen in the closet. Luna might be dead, but even now, she would never wear something like that. She pulled on her last outfit and went to the bathroom, looking at herself in the cracked mirror. Even through the lines, the exhaustion on her face was visible. She tried to wash her face but that didn’t make it better.

  “I should sleep,” she told her reflection but knew that would be impossible.

  Breathing in, she braced herself for a confrontation as she went back down the hall and out into the living room. As she approached the door, shoes clamping against the floor, Chance looked up at her, eyebrow cautiously raised as had become his usual.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To find Amanda,” she said and threw the door open.

  Chance was on his feet, rushing over to her with barely a moment of hesitation. “We talked about this.”

  “You talked about it. I listened,” she said and tried to make a move out the door again when he blocked her, setting a hand on her shoulder.

  “We should wait.”

  “And do what? Twine our thumbs?” she sneered, smacking his hand off of her.

  Chance frowned but let her push her way past him. “Fine. Fine. We can go now, but I’m coming with you.”

  “Okay,” she said. “What’s the plan?”

  Chance went quiet, and she guessed he had hoped that would’ve been enough to get her to change her mind, to get her to not go, but she was over his manipulation. Whether he was physically by her side or not he was always with her, in her head, in her heart, in the pain that would never fully go away.

  Chance was the one to open the gate of dogs and pull Lucky ou
t by her collar. Luna frowned, watching her dog whine under the contact, and hurried to pull her away from him. Lucky growled at Chance, baring her teeth in a way that Luna wasn’t used to. Luna tugged on her collar, getting the dog to turn its snout toward her before she crouched beside her, petting the soft silky fur on either side of her muzzle.

  “Hey, girl, it’s okay,” she said, petting down her neck.

  Lucky began to ease, her eyes not moving to Chance when she let out a happy bark. Lucky stared directly into Luna’s eyes, and she knew the saying about not looking into a dog’s eyes, but she couldn’t help it. She was drawn to the soul in her furry friend—there was never any hostility in Lucky’s eyes so she never feared what would happen.

  “I’m going to need your help, girl,” Luna said, playing with the dog’s ear.

  Lucky yipped once, paws kneading into the dirt, and Luna peered up at Chance from the corner of her eye. “Still have that cloth?”

  Chance nodded and handed it to her without a word. She stared at it, wondering if the fact he had had it in his pocket would affect Lucky’s ability to track Amanda or not. Luna held it out to Lucky anyway, and the dog sniffed once, taking a step back as if she was afraid she would be reprimanded for something that she hadn’t done.

  Lucky huffed, the whites of her eyes showing again as she looked up at Chance.

  “She doesn’t like you,” Luna said, trying to pull Lucky’s attention again.

  “Can’t say I blame her,” Chance said with a sigh.

  “Lucky, Lucky!” Luna said, pulling Lucky’s attention long enough to extend the cloth toward her snout. “Can you find Amanda for me?”

  There was a long moment where none of them moved. Lucky bayed in place, and Chance and Luna held their breath, watching her. In their plan, they hadn’t taken the dog’s hesitation into consideration so it seemed ironic that they would be faced with it now. Slowly, Lucky took one step closer and another, bringing her black nose up against the piece of fabric. She sniffed it, looking at Luna at such an angle she revealed the whites of her eyes. Then she pulled back and barked, bouncing on her paws the way she had done when she was ready for a walk.

  Chance raised an eyebrow, and Luna looked up at him. “I think it’s safe to say she’s going to help us.”

  Luna nodded and stood up. She let her fingers run over the fur on Lucky’s face again before she said, “Help us find her, girl.”

  Lucky took off through the trees at once. Chance’s eyes widened as Luna stood to her feet. Smiling, he held out his hand to grasp hers. Hand in hand, they ran after Lucky, and the irony of the moment was not lost on Luna. Somehow, she blocked it out, blocked it all out, and focused just on the fact that when this was over, she would see Asher again.

  That was enough for her to ignore the feeling of his hand in hers, enough for her to ignore the feeling of the metal band on her finger, and certainly enough for her to ignore the fact that all her hard work getting Asher was the worst thing she could do when she was still at Chance’s side.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  THEY RAN SO long that Luna wasn’t sure just how much longer she could keep going. Even Lucky was beginning to slow, her tongue hanging dramatically out of the corner of her mouth as she glanced over her shoulder, checking to see that Luna was still behind her. It felt as if an eternity had passed, and they were still in the woods, still running. Even Chance, for all his composure, seemed exhausted.

  “Where are we going?” Luna asked Chance, knowing without a doubt, that she had never been this deep into the woods before.

  “I don’t know,” Chance admitted and lifted a hand, running it through his blonde locks. They darkened instantly from the dirt and grime that had been on his hands.

  That was never comforting, but she looked away, pretending the statement hadn’t bothered her, and continued on behind her dog. At last, Lucky came to a stop, her nose directed into the shadows before them. Luna narrowed her eyes and realized that through the thick wall of foliage ahead sat the mouth of a cave.

  She glanced to Chance uncertainly.

  He shrugged, clearly as caught off guard by their destination. “It’s as good of a place as any.”

  Luna bit her lip—she didn’t feel too sure. All she could think of were the frilly outfits in Amanda’s closet, her bubbly personality, and her rich background. Caves, dirt, filth? That didn’t seem like somewhere she would hide, but maybe she hoped it would be perfect for that very reason. Who knows?

  “Okay,” Luna said and stepped up beside Lucky. “Thank you,” she said to the dog and petted her fur.

  Lucky took that as a signal to rest and plopped down, panting, and rested her head on her paws. Luna looked to Chance, but he looked back, eyes expectant. He wasn’t going to lead. Instead, he wanted her to go first. Of course, he did. Amanda might be willing to stay and talk if she saw Luna…but if she saw Chance? It would get ugly. They both knew that.

  Luna took a deep breath, trying to pointlessly calm her overworked nerves, and took a step closer to the mouth of the cave. She looked over her shoulder one more time, studying her resting dog and the blonde man in the shadows, just to see if Chance had anything else to offer before she slipped inside.

  He did not.

  Stepping from the light of the forest into the darkness of the cave gave her the impression of being in the belly of the beast. She couldn’t shake away the chill that encompassed her and folded her arms across her chest, forcing herself to walk. The darkness swallowed her whole, every footstep seemed exaggerated in its sound, the noise bouncing off the walls around her.

  If Amanda doesn’t know I’m here, it’s a miracle, Luna thought despondently and hugged herself closer.

  The cave was damp and smelled stale and musty. For as much as she wanted to find Amanda, she didn’t want to think that this was the place her old friend and child had been forced to live. It was cruel, and for all the punishments Luna herself had been through, this one seemed somehow worse.

  “If I was a snake, you’d be bitten,” came the sound of a soft voice, lilting from the shadows.

  Luna jumped and looked around but saw nothing until movement in her peripheral caught her eye. Slowly, Amanda rose to her feet, the low light in the cave illuminating a shock of her blonde hair.

  “There you are,” Luna said, unsure of how else to approach this. For all the time she had spent thinking about meeting up with Amanda again, she hadn’t planned on what she would say. In her head, words just weren’t necessary.

  “Yep, here I am, Luna,” she said. “Just me and no one else. Now say your piece so we can part ways.”

  “I…I—” Luna struggled over her tongue, hating that she couldn’t force herself to create words, even one.

  “You have nothing to say to me, do you?” Amanda asked, tilting her head to the side, moving through the shadows once again. “You just thought you’d what? Come in here, take Asher from me, and give him back to Chance?”

  “It isn’t about Chance,” Luna said, wishing she could make Amanda understand.

  “Then what is this all about?” she asked, echoing sounds of footsteps announcing her movements. “Is it you?”

  “No,” she said, suddenly uncertain of the answer. Of all the things she had seen in this Realm, everyone seemed to have their memories to face, their own place to delve out their problems, except for Luna. She was linked to Chance, and that was a problem. Luna never considered it could be the problem.

  “Then tell me why your baby is being kept from you, Luna. Why are you what Morpheus is worried about?”

  She swallowed, feeling herself grow ill. Amanda had a good point, and Luna hated that she couldn’t think of an answer to any of her questions.

  “You’re going to really keep it to yourself? Every chance you have at redemption, you don’t seem to want to take. Why?”

  “I don’t think I can be saved,” Luna replied, openly, honestly.

  “Well, that might be the case, but you don’t think I deserve to kn
ow?” Her quiet voice floated through the darkness.

  “That’s not it.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “I can’t tell you something I barely understand myself,” Luna whispered.

  “Then why should I help you?” Amanda asked. “The things we’re dealing with are no little thing.”

  “Because I’m your friend. I tried to save you, Mandy, I did,” Luna said, feeling the tears brim in her eyes. At least that wasn’t a lie. The last few months of Amanda’s life, Luna had tried to warn her about who Chance really was, but the girl hadn’t wanted to listen. “Don’t you remember that? I tried so hard.”

  “Maybe, but that was then, and this is now,” Amanda said. “You’ve changed, and so have I. I have a job to do, and that’s the only real thing I’m sure of anymore.”

  That was something Luna could understand. Getting Asher back was the only thing that mattered to her anymore. That and getting away from Chance once and for all. “Is he here? Asher?”

  Amanda’s face twisted. “I’m not supposed to tell you anything about him.”

  Luna pursed her lips. That information wasn’t new, but it hurt her all over again listening to Amanda say as much.

  “What about me?” Chance’s silky voice drifted through the shadows a moment before he grabbed Amanda by the hair, holding her to him, his knife held to the white skin of her throat.

  “Especially not you,” Amanda said through gritted teeth.

  Luna’s eyes went wide as she watched the scene, heart pounding. She hadn’t expected Chance to do something like this, and maybe she was naïve for that, but now that the moment had come, she didn’t know what to do. Should she help him or Amanda?

  “This is what he’s reduced you to, huh, Luna?” Amanda asked, staring straight at Luna.

  Luna faltered under her stare. “I…I didn’t…”

  “Where’s he at, bitch?” Chance growled, cutting off Luna’s sentence. His knife traced a gentle line across Amanda’s throat.

  “Or what? You’ll cut my throat again?” she seethed at Chance. “You did it once, but it didn’t kill me. I dare you to do it again. Matter of fact, you’ll have to do it again because I’m not going to tell you a thing other than the fact that he’s not here.”