Hidden Moon

C H A P T E R 16

THE DRAGON'S MAIDEN

NADIA

My wolf forced me awake. Alert, I immediately focused on listening to the sounds on the island. I could hear the animals out and about after the rain but the wet ground has muted any approach and my sense of smell wasn't as helpful. On the surface, everything appeared ok but my heart hammered in disquiet. Just like when I heard those howls earlier, I felt uneasy.

Suddenly, the unfamiliar echoes of insects or birds grew louder and all the others disappeared. The tips of my fingers itched as my nails grew into claws in preparation for the unseen. Whatever creature made such noises had my wolf almost out and ready to fight. I thought I would calm down when the noises softened in their retreat but the opposite happened. My peace was threatened. I sat up and found Cora gone. Something wasn't right.

Good thing Cora wasn't around to see what my inhuman form was starting to turn me into. When the ticking noises grew fainter, I sprung off the bed and released a chilling howl as a warning. I had marked the island as my territory and any uninvited guest should know I wasn't happy with stealthy visitors roaming around at hours past midnight. Even as I was trapped in half-shift, I continued to assert my claim. If my guards were here, they'd join me in chorus. As the unknown enemies continued undeterred, I went for the back window and growled in warning.

Satisfied of driving them away, I got out of the room to look for Cora but was met by a smirking Haliyah.

"I bet you've made your wolf mom proud," she slow clapped, "you've scared them away."

"Do you know what those were?"

"Aswangs," she said, "shape-shifting monsters. No offense meant to your kind, though."

"None taken," I walked to her, "aswangs, what are they?"

"They're the kind that preys on humans. Strange though, they're that one usually hunts alone; they don't come in hordes."

There was no time to dwell on the 'preying on humans' bomb and the possible full-on attack on us. Never mind Dy, she's capable of protecting herself when the need arises but my friend couldn't. "Where's Cora?"

With a jerk of her head, she motioned for me to look out the window.

"I thought you suppressed her ability and memory?" Haliyah asked as we watched the heartwarming reunion of the star-crossed lovers. "Why was Cora walking around with half herself awake?"

"The seal was still working. I don't know what's happening." Surreal lights beautifully circled the area where Dylan courted Cora or rather, the consciousness she displayed that's undoubtedly Liway. "Are you sure you didn't do anything, goddess?"

"To the human eyes, those are nothing but dancing fireflies. They give off light and nothing more."

"How did she escape the barrier I made? Liway and Mayari are of the past and long buried. Their time has ended and this is Cora's now. She'll have no recollection of this moment after. She shouldn't remember."

"The tree," Haliyah pondered.

It stood vibrating with lights whose reflections at the spring's surface danced like they too were celebrating the meeting.

"What about it?"

"That tree is said to be connecting three realms: the world above, the human plane, and the world below; a gateway. Within its presence, unusual things do happen. A portal or amplifier–the years it cultivated grew its power," she got back on the mat, abandoning me and the spying on the two. "Unknowingly burying Liway beneath the tree, the stupid dragon has made her reincarnation spiritually extraordinarily gifted in healing and divination. The normal human life she would have lived in the next altered–Mayari, the binukot and babaylan, was born."