Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night Book 1) (25 page)

“What?” she asked him finally.

He shook his head like he didn’t want to answer her. Without another word, he walked away with long, quick strides. She frowned as she stared after him. That hadn’t been like Chance at all. What if he had meant his apology? What was he sorry for? Was he just pretending to lure her into a false security?

Luna shook her head.
I’m imagining this,
she thought finally.

There was no other way that that had happened.

                                                        Chapter Forty-Three
             

When Chance got home he didn’t feel like himself, in either of his two minds. He felt angry and for no real reason. He found himself full of road rage on the way home. When he stepped through the door of his home, his hand tightened on his knife, and he pulled it from his pocket (tearing his pants a bit) and stabbed the couch. The ripping sensation was satisfying, not satisfying enough though, because he knew he missed the feeling of the knife ripping through flesh.

He could remember back to his two recent murders. The pure adrenaline was amazing; he hadn’t had that satisfaction in too long. It was overwhelming to him. He knew that he needed to kill again…and soon.

                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clearing her head of all thoughts of Chance, Luna walked up to her house. As she stepped into the kitchen, she looked at the phone. She set her backpack on the table quickly as she continued to stare at it. She wanted to call Max and tell him what she knew, but part of her was worried about what Chance would do to him. He seemed to know everything she did, and since he already hated Max, that never helped.

Luna swallowed her doubts, what was she thinking? Was she actually feeling fearful? She had never listened to a word that Chance had said in his life, why did she care so much about this promise? She hadn’t even cared about the first promise.

Because you’re scared of him,
a small voice seemed to say.

She frowned at it. She couldn’t decide if it was right or not. What did it matter either way? Max was her ally, and Chance was her enemy. She needed to help Max, and forget the consequences. For all she knew, things could turn out even worse if she
didn’t
tell Max.

Luna crossed the kitchen to her phone. She picked it up and dialed Max’s number. It rang a few times, but there was no answer on the other line. She frowned again as she looked at the phone in her hand. Had Chance finally gotten his wish?

                                          ~~~~~~~~~

Two days passed and Luna hadn’t been able to reach Max once though she had called him every time she had had the opportunity. During those days, Chance had hardly said a word to her at school; it was like he was avoiding her. He seemed oddly withdrawn. He had only stayed for first hour and skipped the rest of the day. She wondered what was on his mind.

Luna sighed as she looked around her locker once again in case she was forgetting something. She closed the door and slung her backpack over her shoulder as she walked down the hall. She passed a couple of groups of popular kids that were whispering among themselves, but when she passed them, they went quiet instantly. She wondered if they were talking about Chance.

She sighed and looked down at the ground. What was happening to her? She never used to notice what the other kids did, but now that was all that was ever on her mind. She emerged into the warmth of outside and took a few steps as she tried to clear her mind. Instantly, she noticed Max leaning against a tree trunk a few feet away from the door. She ran up to him as relief flooded through her.

“Hey, you’re okay,” he said as he stood up.

“I could say the same to you,” Luna said blankly as she observed him. He had a bandage across his throat, but besides that, he looked as well as ever. She didn’t know what she had been expecting when she saw him, but she was glad that he looked well. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been calling you.”

“Oh, I’ve been getting shipped between hospitals for my treatment,” he said. “I haven’t been near a phone in forever.”

“Are you okay now?” she asked him.

He nodded. “The wound healed up as well as any.”

“Good.”

Max looked at her and frowned. “Yeah, but are you okay? I remember you said you jumped out of Chance’s truck. You had to have broken something.”

“Actually, I didn’t get hurt at all.”

Max frowned again. “Are you serious?”

Luna nodded. “Yeah, what’s wrong you?”

“Normally you would’ve gotten pretty hurt. It was like something was protecting you from the fall,” he said.

“What would that be?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Luna didn’t answer him as she bit her lip.

“Is something bothering you?” he asked.

Luna glanced up at him feeling uncertain to mention the topic that burned a spot in her mind. “It’s Chance again,” she said finally, re-biting her lip.

Max snorted. “No surprise there.”

“He made me promise to not tell anyone about Susan’s hair ribbon.”

“And why do you care that he said that?” he asked, and she could tell he wasn’t amused.

“Because this time he said he’d kill me if I told anyone,” she said. “And we know very well he’s completely capable of it.”

Max frowned. “He’s just trying to scare you; he won’t kill you.”

She looked at him. “How do you know?”

“Think about it, if he was going to kill you, wouldn’t he have done it already instead of keeping you there to see his crimes?” Max asked.

Luna frowned. “I guess you’re right.”

“He needs you for something.”

“He said I have a gift,” Luna said shrugging.

“A gift?” he asked scrunching up his forehead. “What kind of gift?”

“I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me.”

“That’s weird…” Max said trailing off.

“I guess, but I have news,” she said to him.

“What would that be?” he asked as they began to walk.

“Violet’s sure I’m crazy,” she said. “We lost an ally.”

“How did that happen?” Max asked in disbelief.

“Chance went over her house and convinced her there was something wrong with me. Of course she believed him because she can’t get over how she feels about him,” she explained.

Max frowned. “Oh well, at least she wasn’t important to the dream.”

“That’s an upside, I guess,” she said.

They heard a loud creaking sound, and she looked to see a black truck driving by slowly. She looked right into Chance’s gaze as he looked through the window. He narrowed his eyes at her before he turned back to the road and sped away as fast as he could. She had the feeling that whatever had been on his mind was gone at the sight of her with Max.

A tear dripped from her eye again as she looked away from him. Max stared at her for a minute before he spoke.

“Are you sad that he drove away?” he asked looking at the lone tear on her face.

Luna wiped it away. “No, it did it by itself.”

Max stopped walking and stared at her. “I think I figured out why Chance wants you.”

Luna stopped walking to look at him. “Why?”

“He was right about you, you do have a gift,” he said, “it’s a very rare one.”

“I do?” she asked in disbelief.

He nodded. “Have you ever heard of the Teardrop of Knowledge?”

She shook her head. “What is it?”

“It’s an ability that lets you subconsciously connect to the DreamWorld while you’re awake. When your eye runs, it means something bad is about to happen that will affect you,” he said. “It could be pretty useful to us in plotting out what moves we should take next.”

“How is it helpful to Chance?” she asked.

“There’s more to it. With the Teardrop of Knowledge, Dimensional Theft is made much, much simpler,” he said. “That’s why Chance wants you. He knows you have that ability, and he wants it for something. The only question is what?”

Luna thought back to the night she had gone on a date with Chance. It had been a while ago. Her memory was blurred, but he had told her there was something different about her, but he hadn’t been willing to tell her what that was. She frowned; he was a lot more knowledgeable about DreamWorld than she would’ve ever guessed.

                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

              When Luna closed her eyes to go to sleep for those two nights, she found that it was harder than she had thought. She drifted into semi-conscious state, but it was so light that it could barely be considered sleep. She tossed and turned most of the night, and when she woke up in the morning she was more tired than when she had gone to bed the previous night. To her it could only mean one thing, something was wrong in DreamWorld.

                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Chance killed someone in front of you and threatened to kill you if you didn’t help him?” Max asked. “Did I hear that right?”

Luna had been confused about the dreamless nights, she was sure something was wrong. So she called Max to ask him about it.

“Yeah.”

“When was this?”

“When he told me I had a gift.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“No, I didn’t think it was important.”

“Then why would you bring it up now?”

“Last night, I couldn’t sleep, and I think there’s something wrong, well more wrong than usual, in DreamWorld.”

Max was quiet for a minute before he spoke. “Do you know why he does sacrifices?”

“It’s for some kind of power.”

“It’s why he killed that person in the dreams, and maybe Susan too. He’s getting stronger. A lot stronger, and that’s definitely not good news.”

“What happens if he gets too much power?” Luna asked quietly.

“Then if he fuses, he’ll be unstoppable in the real world,” Max said.

“That doesn’t sound good,” she breathed.

He snorted. “Trust me, it’s not. It could mix the dimensions and cause the end of the world as we know it.”

“He wants me to sacrifice people too,” she said quietly. “Why is that if he’s already unstoppable?”

“I’m not entirely sure the reason behind it, but I might be able to explain it,” Max said. “If Chance has power than he’s like a king…right?”

“I don’t know,” she said wondering why he had said that, “maybe.”

“Just work with me here. Is it true or not?” he asked.

“It’s true,” she agreed finally.

“Well, every king needs a queen to support him. He wants you to sacrifice people so you get as strong as him. Then you can help him as an equal,” he explained.

“It makes sense when you say it like that…but why’d it have to be me?” Luna asked, her voice was faint.

“Like I said, the Teardrop of Knowledge is a rare gift. It’s why he won’t let you go,” Max offered.

“Why can’t he just find someone else with it?” she asked feeling slightly confused.

“He must just not want to waste time, but I don’t know the real reason, Luna, I’m not him,” he replied sighing.

“Thankfully you aren’t,” she replied. “But we may have a serious problem on our hands.”

“What’s that?” Max asked.

“You have to promise me you won’t get angry,” Luna said as she crossed her fingers hopefully.

“What did you do, Luna?” he asked.

“Just promise me, please,” she said.

“Fine, fine. I promise, now tell me what the hell you did,” he replied.

“I might have accidentally pulled Chance’s dream character through the other night,” she replied quickly.

“You better be kidding,” Max said and his voice sounded calm though she knew that inside he wasn’t feeling that way.

“I-I’m not...” she said uncertainly.

“Are you serious?” he asked exaggerating each word. His voice was rough with his anger.

Luna winced, she knew he wouldn’t be happy, she wasn’t either. She shouldn’t have expected him to keep his promise.

“Yeah, towards the end of the dream he was holding my shoulder, and my fear woke me up before I had the chance to smack him away.” 

“This is a really serious situation,” Max said, and she could tell he was worried. “When exactly did you say you pulled him through?”

“Two nights ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he asked, and he was angry again.

“I tried! You didn’t answer your phone,” she exclaimed.

“You should’ve tried calling me again,” he grumbled.

“It’s too late for that now,” Luna pointed out.

“Yeah, and it might be too late for a lot now that he’s fusing,” Max snorted.

“How do we know if he’s fused?” she asked.

“You’ll know that he is because his eyes will start to change color, and his personality will change slowly to fit the dream character’s,” he said.

“What color will his eyes be when he’s done fusing?” she asked.

“An unnatural pale green,” he replied. “You’ll know when you see it.”

“What happens to us now?”

“He’s going to play out everything that he did in that dream…step by step,” Max replied. “To tie up the loose ends. That means that if he fuses, Violet will get killed.”

“No matter what happens, we can’t let him win,” she said.