Fated Triad: Shadows of the Forbidden Moon

Ariel's POV

Marie was disarmable, and Alan sent her knife clattering to the floor. She did not stop, though. Rather, her claws biting at his face, she lunged at him with just hands. Alan moaned in agony but stayed still, grappling her to the ground. "Stop!" Marie said. I cried out, my voice breaking. "Please, simply stop!"Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Marie hesitated briefly, her eyes locked with mine. And I realized then the anxiety, the guilt, the suffering she had been suppressing. She blinked then, though, and the frigid mask came back in position.

"Alan, do not harm her!" I yelled and raced toward them. Marie pulled free of Alan's grasp and ran for the door before I could get to them though. Under his breath, Alan cursed; I grabbed his arm as he began to pursue her. My voice shaking, I said, "Let her go." "Let her go, just let her.

Alan looked at me as though I had gone crazy. She aimed to kill you, Ariel. She will be returning.

Tears pouring over, I murmured, "I know." Still, Alan, I cannot lose her. I cannot miss my sister.

Alan's eyes softened, and he drew me tightly into an embrace to hold as I sobbed. He said, "We'll figure this out," into my hair. "We'll figure it out."

But looking at the door Marie had just left, I felt as though we had already lost her. The sister I knew vanished, and in her place I hardly knew at all.

Once more Lucas moaned, I turned away from Alan and rushed back to his side. His skin was pale, he was swiftly fading, and his breathing was weak. I went into a panic attack. We needed to get him help right now. My voice trembled, "We have to move," I said. We have to get him into a hospital. Now is the time.

Alan nodded, a dark look on him. "We'll grab the vehicle. Still, we have to exercise caution. Marie might have put a trap there.

Though we lacked options, I knew he was right. We had to gamble on this. Lucas was running out of time.

We gently raised Lucas under Alan's direction and headed out of the cabin. Though the night air was cold, it had little effect to slow my beating heart. Every shadow felt like a threat, every leaf rustling like a warning. We raced toward the automobile, which was parked just beyond the clearing, every second seeming to last an eternity. Alan looked about, his senses sharp, but he found no evidence of Marie or anybody else. Lucas was in the rear seat, his head resting on my lap as I ascended alongside him. Alan climbed into the driver's seat and turned on the engine; the automobile screamed to life.

My imagination ran a thousand ideas as we rushed down the dark, twisting route. Marie had done what? What had propelled her to this point? Most crucially, though, how could we save her-if there was any part left to save?

But I couldn't get rid of the impression that this was only the start as the headlights sliced across the night. Still lurking just out of sight, the shadows closing in around us were waiting for the ideal opportunity to attack.

And I knew we would have to be ready when they did. This struggle was for our spirits, not merely for our life.

The car whirled down the deserted road, the headlights like a knife slicing across the night. I watched Lucas, following his minute chest rise and fall. His face pale, he was still asleep, but at least he was breathing. Alan's white knuckles mirrored the road ahead for any signals of danger as he clutched the steering wheel.

Looking back in the rearview mirror, Alan said, "We're almost there." Though his rhetoric was consistent, I felt an underlying conflict. simply a few extra kilometers.

I nodded, but my chest still hurt like hell. Every second in the quiet car seemed to be a countdown toward something terrible. Marie's icy eyes still stayed in my brain, the way she had turned on us, the almost deadly behavior she had displayed.

My sister had gone through what? How has she changed to become this person?

"Do you suppose she might follow us once more?" Just above a whisper, I asked. The question loomed big and weighted mostly with fear.

Alan's mouth closed tightly. "I'm not definite. We have to be ready for everything, though.

His remarks seemed to me like weight, tons of bricks. He was right, as I knew. Not now, not ever, we could not afford to relax. But running across Marie once more and having to fight her... seemed too much.

Lucas jerked, a little moan erupting from his mouth. As I tried to settle him with a hand through his hair, my thoughts wandered elsewhere. Marie kept me from sleeping over the way she had seen me as though I were her enemy. Then there was the dagger she had handled so purposefully.

Has she gotten any promises? What may have driven her to turn on us in this way?

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Turning a corner, the lights of a little town started to show. While it was comforting to see signs of civilization, Marie could have set up her next trap anywhere someone could be watching.

His voice drawing me back to the present, Alan cautioned, "We'll get him to the hospital, but we need to be careful." We cannot stay for long.

"How are we going to explain this"? I asked pointedly down at Lucas. Not from a simple accident, his injuries came from a fight Marie had almost won.

"We'll think of something," Alan answered, but I could tell he was precisely as dubious as I was. Though lying might only get us so far, the truth was too dangerous to share.

As we arrived in the town, the streets were astonishingly quiet; the night wrapped us like a cloak. Alan parked the car in an alley behind the hospital far from pensive bystanders. We carefully dragged Lucas out of the rear seat together, trying to convey the idea that we were just two friends looking after another friend who had drunk too much.

The fluorescent lights assaulted my eyes when we entered via the ER doors. One nurse arrived really quickly and seemed to be professionally worried.

Her eyes flicked over Lucas's pallid face and she said, "What happened?"

"He... he fell," I said, trying to keep my voice calm. We were out trekking when he fell terribly.

She nodded even though her eyes kept on the cuts and bruises covering Lucas's arms and face. "We'll keep an eye on him. Please wait here politely.

As the nurse turned Lucas away, I squeezed my chest. I wanted to follow, be at his side even though I knew I couldn't. Not just now. Alan and I stared at each other knowing we were crossing dangerous ground.