Moonless

Chapter 40

AN; So here's another bonus chapter because of how wonderful all you guys are! If you are having a bad day just remember that you work it!-Sam
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I froze, unsure if I had actually heard the gunshot or not. But deciding I had, I began to frantically rummage through the truck looking for anything I could use as a weapon. But all I came up with was half-eaten stick of beef jerky and an ice scraper.

If that was Annie following us, why would she have a gun? Unless he had been wrong and it hasn't been Annie following us... Or maybe that person that was in the car with with her had taken her hostage.  Either way, the worse thing I could do was to sit in this truck like a sitting duck. It would be stupid to try to go up there and investigate. I just hoped that shot hadn't been for Liam.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to lose my brother after just meeting him.

My eyes landed on the keys still in the ignition. I leaped into the driver's seats and turned back to them. I looked in the rearview mirror hoping I would see Liam running back towards the truck, but he was nowhere in sight. What I did see was a red convertible flying down the road towards me and Annie drove a black jeep...

I turned the key and the truck roared to life. I quickly snapped my seat belt into place, took the shift and slid it into the drive, something I had witnessed Richard do many times, and slammed my foot on the gas. The car let out a loud roar and flew forward, and I was pressed back into the seat.

I gripped the wheel tight in a white knuckle grip, while I struggled to keep the truck on the icy road. Everyone I had ever driven with made driving look so easy, but this was terrifying.

Up ahead, A house appeared in the distance. This must be the vacation house that Liam was talking about. Seeing it gave me an unexplainable feeling of dread. I was so focused on the loaning stone coffin that I didn't see the large jagged rock that suddenly appeared in the road. I yanked the wheel sharply to the left in a desperate to avoid it. My plan backfired though when the back tires skidded on the frozen soil and the car fishtailed. I let a scream when the truck began to spin, and it spun right off the road. It whipped me around a few times before slamming me into one of the few trees that populated the flat, snow and ice covered land.

Disorientated, but still terrified, I jump out of the car and began to spirit towards the house at full speed. As I got closer, I saw that it was a two-stories high house made of gray, smooth stones, with a green metal roof. Its windows were boarded up and one of the gutters had come loose and was hanging down the side of the house. I ran up to its old wooden front door and tried to pull it up, but it was locked. I circle to the back and began to search for another way in. And then I spotted what looked like a broken window to a basement. Moments later, I heard a car pull up and the sound of someone yelling. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it was certainly not Annie. The voice sounded like it belonged to that of a man, and that man didn't sound like Liam.

Oh Moon Godess, I hoped Liam was okay.

I sat down on the ground and kicked at the window with the bottom of my shoe. The glass shattered under my feet with three well-placed kicks. I jumped down inside into the cold dark hole. " I landed on something that crunched loudly crunched under my feet. I looked down and saw I had stepped on a porcelain figurine of a wolf.

"Everlee?" a voice called our from somewhere in the darkness. but it didn't sound natural. The speaker sound like they were speaking to me from somewhere deep with in a cave, while water was being poured over their head . "What are you doing down here?" women's voice spoke again, but this time it sound like if was coming from somewhere above me in the dark and didn't sound disorientated. An exposed light above my head sparked to life and the room was filled with yellow light. The walls here were made up of same large gray stone that covered the exterior, while the floor was nothing more than yellowish dirt. Outside the sun had begun to set, and its dying rays were filtering in from the small windows behind me.

A petite woman with a small upturned nose nose, dark eyes, and thick brown hair, wearing a tightly fitted gray dress looked down at me from the top a set of wooden steps.

I stared back up at her stunned and I suddenly realized that the ground had grown closer to me and my clothes had changed. No longer did I wear the gray sweatshirt and blue jeans I had on moments ago. I was now dressed is a glimmering pink dress. Confused, I began to back away from the woman, when a thought, as clear as day flashed through my mind, and my current reality devolved away.

I am Everlee Crest and I am 8 years old.

In my hands, I cradled a delicately painted, unbroken, porcelain statue of a wolf, which I set down on the ground. With Gema , the name I had given my porcelain wolf, safely on the ground, I raced to the top of the steps and gave her a hug. I tilted my face up to gaze up into my mother's warm brown eyes like I was a flower and she was the sun.

"Gema wanted to hide in the basement," I told her.

"Did Everlee want to hide in the basement with her?" she asked me.

"Yes," I whispered.

The woman knelt down and wrapped me in a loving embrace before pulling away.

"Come upstairs, it's time. Everything will be okay!" she reassured me. She took my hand and together we ascended to the attic.