Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night Book 1) (14 page)

Luna sighed; going to lunch with him didn’t help that any.

Luna led the way into the cafeteria, and Chance was right beside her. She glanced around the wide room as she observed the line. There weren’t very many people in it so she took her place. Chance was still beside her. She tried to ignore him at first, but the feeling of his presence was overwhelming as she remembered everything Susan and Violet had said. Chance’s own words surged in her head.

Luna turned to look at him. “Your friends are over there,” she said pointing to a table that was nearly completely filled with cheerleaders and jocks. One of the cheerleaders waved at him as she pointed to the table.

He turned his back to her. “Nah, I’m good right here,” he said not moving an inch.

She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the line. She took a step forward and grabbed a Styrofoam tray from the pile. She put a chicken sandwich and a juice on it before she paid the lunch lady for it and stood at the end of the line looking around.

She was looking for Violet. She hadn’t been able to find her this morning and Luna guessed Violet had just assumed that she didn’t want to see her. She spotted her at a table by the window eating lunch at a table by herself.

Luna rushed over to her, and Chance flanked her as she ran. She noticed that he hadn’t gotten himself a lunch; he had stood in the line with her for the sole purpose of keeping an eye on her. He was being really cautious today for some reason.

Luna knew she needed to talk to Violet. She was done trying to tell her Chance’s secret since she had seen it for herself. She wanted to get Violet to listen to her about her dreams. She sat down at the table across from Violet and Chance sat down beside her.

“Hi, Violet,” she said and then took a bite of her sandwich.

Violet looked up at her and her eyes flashed in some unreadable emotion at the sight of Chance. “Hey, Luna.”

“I have some news.”

Beside her, Luna felt Chance tense and knew what was running through his mind. He was assuming she was going to tell Violet. Little did he know she had already done that.

“What now?” Violet asked as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

Her eyes flicked between Chance and Luna expectantly and she could almost guess her thoughts. She was expecting Luna to tell her something else bad Chance had done, and Luna wanted to, but like Susan, fear kept her silent.

“Well, Max called me yesterday,” Luna began hesitantly wondering how Violet would react.

“Who is Max?” Chance asked looking between both of them and inside Luna laughed. He may be popular, but he didn’t know e
veryone.

They ignored his question as they continued to talk. Chance frowned wondering to himself if he had an ID for the mystery boy.

“The one from elementary school?” Violet asked her wonderingly.

“Yeah, him.”

“I haven’t heard from him in forever, how’s he been?” she asked and her mood had lightened.

“I don’t know. He didn’t talk about himself much.”

“Then why’d he call?”

“He had the exact same dream that I did,” Luna replied.

Violet looked away without a word. Luna could tell she had lost all interest the second she had said ‘dream’. “Why worry about a stupid dream, Luna? You have other problems to deal with.” Her gaze flicked to Chance again.

Chance’s mind brightened as Luna mentioned the dream. Then he frowned at Violet’s implication…what did she know? Had Luna told her about him? He gritted his teeth wishing again he had been able to kill her already.

“What dream are you talking about?” Chance asked.

“It’s an annoying one she puts too much thought into when her real problem is much closer,” Violet answered looking at him as she spoke.

Luna frowned at Violet. “You don’t believe me at all, do you?”

Violet looked back at her. “Not at all.”

“Why?” Luna asked feeling frustrated.

“Because I don’t think your priorities are in line.”

“What if the dream is connected?”

Chance tensed.

“The dreams aren’t important.”

“B…but he described it to every detail,” Luna stammered.

“Did he say it
after
you told him yours?” Violet asked.

Luna nodded.

“Then he’s lying! He just thought up something that sounded like yours to trick you! He always thinks it’s funny to pull your leg,” Violet said in disbelief.

“No, he’s not lying this time. I just know he isn’t.”

“And how do you know that for sure?” Violet asked setting down her sandwich and staring at Luna through agitated eyes.

Honestly Luna didn’t know how she knew. “No trace of any lie in his tone, he was sincere.”

Violet shrugged. “So what?”

Luna ignored her. “Just listen to me, I had another dream.”

“You and your dreams,” Violet muttered. “When will you realize that they aren’t real?”

Luna felt hesitant to talk for a minute. She realized that Chance hadn’t said anything the whole time she had been arguing with Violet. Did he know something about it?

“They might be real…just listen to me,” Luna said desperate to get Violet to believe there was something to this dream just like there was something to Chance’s Satanism. “This dream started where the other dream left off. I got pushed into this cabin and shackled to the wall. There was a dagger covered in blood right by me. It was horrible!”

Violet didn’t look up from her sandwich as she spoke. “What did you eat before you went to sleep?”

“I’m being serious, Violet, but since you don’t want to believe me, then I have proof.”

“Oh, and what would that be?” she asked.

“I’ll have Max tell you himself what he dreamt,” Luna said.

She snorted. “Yeah, that’s not proof, Luna.”

Luna sighed and set her hand to her forehead as she stared down at the table. No matter how much she argued with her she just couldn’t seem to get her point across. What could she possibly do to make her understand?

“What’s that on your wrist?” Luna heard Chance ask.

Violet looked up to see what he was talking about. Luna frowned and looked up from the table. She pulled down her sleeves to reveal her arms underneath. Both of her wrists were covered in deep purple-black splotches in a round pattern that covered her entire wrist. She gasped as she stared at them, they were obvious bind marks.

Violet gasped as she stared at the ugly marks in quiet horror. Luna flexed her wrists in the light as she tried to get a better look. Chance grabbed her wrist in his hand and held it close to his face. She tried to pull it back, but he wouldn’t let go as he observed them.

The dream had obviously had an effect on her. It was a stronger one than possible if she wore her demons out of DreamWorld and into reality. For a moment, Chance forgot where he was as he ran his fingers over it once. It was like he was trying to feel for something in her bruise before he looked at her through wide eyes. He didn’t say anything and she winced as he pushed on the bruises before she finally pulled her wrist away from him.

“How’d you get those?” Violet asked as she stared at the marks.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Luna said as she finally recovered from her shock. “This is solid proof to me that this dream is something more than ‘just a dream’.”

Violet looked speechless. She looked as surprised as Luna felt.

“I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but there’s something deep to this,” Luna said after a minute.

“It makes no sense at all!” Violet exclaimed. “It really looks like you were chained to a wall! You can’t fake marks like that unless you had a dog mauling your wrists, but I don’t even think you’d go that far to prove your point.”

“I know. Do you think it can be serious now?” Luna asked. “I’m not messing myself up to prove a point. This stuff is real…even if it doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know, how do you go to sleep and wake up with such horrid marks on your wrists?” Violet asked obviously trying to understand the situation before her. “That isn’t right.”

Luna felt a small trill of satisfaction. She glanced at Chance from the corner of her eye as she wondered what he thought about it. She saw his hand covered his mouth and his eyes looked down at the table.

Luna ignored it as she returned her attention to Violet. “Well, I was bound in the dream, but it seems like the marks followed me right out of it.”

“There has to be something you’re not telling me,” Violet said.

Luna shook her head. “I’ve told you everything that I know. What seems to be obvious to me is that this is more than a dream.” With that she gave her bruised wrists a final look and pulled down her sleeves to cover her ghastly marks from sight.

                                                                      Chapter Twenty-Five

Luna lay her head on her desk as her eyes began to droop in exhaustion. She was usually tired after lunch and history was the most boring class ever. It wouldn’t hurt her G.P.A. any if she took a quick cat nap. She closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep. She felt relief at the welcoming peace that came without a dream.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp jab in her ribs that made her wince and instantly snapped her back awake. She ignored it she tried to get comfortable again. In this class, Chance sat in the seat next to her. After a second, she felt a second sharp jab hit the same spot. Luna opened her eyes, annoyed and turned to glare at Chance.

“What do you want now?” she hissed angrily at him.

“Hey, don’t get mad with me, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t sleep through such an important lesson,” he replied calmly. “You should be thanking me for this.”

She groaned lightly and ground her teeth as she continued to glare at him. He stared right back. His almost colorless eyes seemed challenging and …familiar. She felt her heart sink as she looked at him. Could
Chance
be her dream abductor?

He had no reason to do any of what the dream foresaw. Except of course if his Satanism drove him to it…but that wasn’t likely, she hoped. She sat up off of her desk and gave one last defiant glance at Chance. He shrugged at her and blinked once before his gaze flicked away. She turned from him back towards the front of the room.

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

Luna’s mind welled with thoughts as she walked home. She kept thinking about how cold and malicious Chance’s eyes had seemed when he had looked at her. It was the same bitter look he had had on the night he had killed that bird and the two times he had been angry at her. Luna would bet a good chunk of money that it was the same look he had had when he attacked Susan too. It was a cold look that carried no remorse. It was almost like his face was made of stone.

She frowned, she didn’t get why she was still thinking about him. She hated him but he occupied her every thought. Then she thought about Violet’s doubts. Why was she making such a fuss over a dream? It couldn’t hurt her. She sighed, no matter how many times she ran that thought through her head she couldn’t make herself believe it. She looked at her wrists again in the sunlight and knew very well that they were proof that the dream
could
hurt her.

Was it really a dream or something more like an out of body experience? She tried to figure it out. She didn’t notice the sound of a second pair of footsteps join in with hers a few minutes later.

“Hi,” Max said after she continued to take no notice of him.

Luna jumped at the sudden sound of his voice but managed a friendly hello in response. She turned to look at him. He had short brown hair, small deep brown eyes, and a kind of squared off jaw. He was heavier than she remembered and a bit taller as well.

Max had noticed her jump. “Is something wrong?” he asked as she observed him.

“No, I’m fine. I’m just…just thinking,” she replied finally as she looked away to the sidewalk ahead. It was the only way she could explain it. Inside her head was pure chaos, and it would be too difficult to explain it to him…or anyone for that matter.

“What about?” Max asked.

Luna pondered on what she had learned from Susan last night. She looked around suddenly and didn’t see Chance anywhere in sight. She could tell Max everything she knew. And this might be her only opportunity to do so.

“Chance has a really bad secret,” she blurted out suddenly.

“Really?” Max asked in interest. She could tell he liked the thought that Chance wasn’t perfect after all. “What is it?”

She looked around again to make absolute sure that she didn’t see him. It was still clear except for the occasional car that went by.

“Okay, you can’t tell anyone,” she said taking a deep breath.

“I promise I won’t,” Max said.

“Okay, well, he’s a Satanist, and I think he might be responsible for Kate’s death somehow,” she said quickly getting out everything in one go.

“Whoa, slow down,” Max said as he took in her words. “How do you know he’s Satanist?”

“He took me to his house, don’t ask why, but it looked like it was abandoned years ago. It was run down and he lit the house with candles. In his back room, he had a pentagram drawn on the wall and bones all over the floor,” Luna explained.

Max let out a breath of air. “Yeah, he’s obviously Satanist. Okay, that’s not good. At least he let you out of his house after you found out.”

“No, it’s not good. It’s worse because he figured out I know.”

“What did he do to make you think that?” he asked.

“He got violent with me and pinned me against the wall at school, and threatened me to not tell anyone what I had seen,” Luna replied.

“So, you’re right about his Satanism…” Max said trailing off.

She looked at him glad that he believed her.

“Why do you think he killed Kate?” Max asked suddenly.

“Well, he never cared the whole time she was missing. He had no emotions at all when he found out she was dead and the report said she had “satanic marks” on her. Those were my first clues,” Luna told him. “Then last night Susan Cross came crying to my house warning me to be careful because Chance had threatened her with a knife and she said he killed someone but wouldn’t say specifically who.”

“This is really serious,” Max said.

“I know it is, and the worst part is that even if I do tell people they don’t believe me.”

“Have you tried telling anyone else besides me?” he asked.

“I told Violet, but she only believed there was something wrong with Chance ‘cuz she saw him attack me. I don’t know if she believes the Satanism, but she has absolutely no tolerance for the dreams. She keeps pushing me to press charges or something.”

“Did you tell her about Susan?”

“No, because she won’t handle it well. I want her to focus on the dream for now and ignore Chance.”

Max snorted. “Well, Violet can be thick-skulled sometimes.”

Luna shrugged. “I guess so.”

”While I’m here, I wanted to ask you, did you have another dream?”

“Yeah. Did you have a new dream last night too?” she asked him hoping he’d say something that would prove Violet wrong.

In the back of her mind her doubts still replayed over and over. He
had
pulled pranks on her in the past…a lot of them.

“Actually yeah, I did that’s why I asked,” Max replied.

“Well, what happened?” This would be the moment of truth.

“Well, just like in the dream before, I get shot. Normally it cuts off right there, but this time it didn’t. I felt myself being dragged, and I had a bad pain where the bullet hit. I felt so out of it, but I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings. I was too weak to fight or even move to look around so they just kept pulling me and pulling me. Right before I woke up I was dragged into a clearing, and I noticed a cabin come into view,” Max explained. “It looked like it was next to some kind of temple or whatever that old building was supposed to be.”

She felt herself stiffen as she realized he wasn’t making it up. If he was he wouldn’t know about the cabin. In one movement he had successfully proved Violet wrong and made Luna sure once again that this dream was more serious than she knew.

“A cabin…I’m in that cabin!”

“Really?” Max asked. “Why?”

“I’m not really sure,” Luna admitted. “I got dragged there.”

“That explains it,” Max said.

“Let me tell you my version of the dream,” she said. “Okay, it begins with me being taken to a cabin. Then when I get there, the guy shackles me to the wall and leaves without telling me any purpose. He didn’t say why I was there and after he left I saw a bloody dagger with a snake carved into the handle sitting on the table.”

“That’s really weird,” Max said almost as if he was talking to himself. “It’s like he’s keeping you hostage for some reason…but why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Do you want to see something else weird?”

“Sure,” Max replied and by his face she could tell he wasn’t really sure of his answer.

Luna pulled up her sleeves to reveal the purple bind marks on her wrists. They looked even worse in the heavy sunlight.

“Whoa! What the hell happened to you?” Max gasped.

“I woke up with them,” she replied simply.” You tell me.”

Max let out a gasp of air and looked away like he couldn’t believe her.

“I know,” she said quietly pulling her sleeves back down.

“Well, I’ve seen that dagger before,” Max said suddenly as he seemed to recover from his quiet mood.

“Really?” she asked feeling her interest spark.

“Yeah, right before I get shot I always see the handle sticking out of his pocket,” Max replied. “I could never figure out what that was, but now that you mentioned that dagger I can piece it together a bit.”

Luna frowned as she realized that he probably had no idea who it was. Then she flinched at the thought of the handle sticking out of his pocket. That was familiar to her because Chance always had the handle to something sticking out of his pocket. Her frown deepened…she wished she knew what was in Chance’s pocket now more than ever.

“What color is it?” she asked him.

“The handle? It’s silver, why? You already saw the dagger,” Max said.

She was speechless for a moment as she continued to run through her thoughts. She didn’t like them. She remembered the silver metallic glint of the object in Chance’s pocket.

“Are you okay?” Max asked.

His voice broke her out of her thoughts and she turned to him. “I’m fine, the other day you said you knew what was happening with this stuff?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Max started slowly. “That’s actually why I’ve come to see you. I have a lot to tell you but you kind of sidetracked me,” he said with a laugh.

“Okay, then let me hear it,” Luna said eagerly since she knew with more information she could work on the dream better.

“You’ll just say I’m crazy,” Max said with a nervous laugh. “I’ve heard it a lot before.”

Luna stared at him; she knew what that was like.

“No, I promise I won’t,” she said. Any crazy idea he had was far better than the hazy confusion that she had.

“You promise?” Max asked.

“Yes!” Luna said as her insides were nearly screaming from her curiosity. “Now please tell me what you know.”

Max sighed. “All right, well to start off every dream takes place in another dimension that I like to call DreamWorld.”

“DreamWorld?” she echoed him quietly. The name sounded like he had just made it up. She frowned again. Maybe Violet
was
right about him.

“Yes, it’s the place where you go when you sleep,” he explained.

“Oh…okay,” she said as she felt doubt begin to well into her again. “Go on.”

“Well, in the DreamWorld, there are no rules to go by like in normal society. And things that happen in the dreams can be strong enough to have an effect on reality too,” Max said. “I’m not sure how exactly that happens, but it does sometimes.”

“You mean like my bind marks?” she asked feeling startled.

“Yes, just like your marks,” Max said. “In DreamWorld the dream characters of everyone comes together to play out their fantasies or things they could never do in real life. Some play out their ambition for power or wealth and others talk to people they could never manage to work up the courage to talk to in reality. It’s a great dimension really. The only problem is that not everyone’s dream character looks and acts like they do in real life. So it can be difficult to identify certain people in dreams. This also makes it a lot harder to stop dreams. I know for sure that I look different in DreamWorld.”

He wouldn’t tell her that he had purposefully changed his dream character’s appearance so that if he got stuck in bad situations (like the present dream) it’d be harder for the other people to identify him.

“Wait,” Luna said as she sorted through his information. “You said people play out their fantasies? What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Well,” Max started. “Say you wanted a unicorn…in the DreamWorld you could have one. Just by snapping your fingers. Come on, Luna, don’t tell me these dreams are the only ones you’ve ever had.”

She thought about what Max said. “So, what you’re saying is that someone is purposefully dreaming of killing Violet, shooting you, and kidnapping me? It’s not just a coincidence.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Max said. “The only questions left to answer are who and why.”

“Yeah, and I don’t know the answer to either of them.”

Max looked uncertain.

“Is it possible to stop having dreams?” 

“No, you can’t exactly just get out of a dream,” Max said. “Not until the Creator is done with it, then you’re free to go to make your own dreams.”