Moonlight

03 |Nightmares begin|

Julieta jumps when she hears rapid footsteps coming down the stairs and quickly turns around in time to see Bruno run in to the kitchen "Luna's gone!" He shouts. Julieta puts down the dish she was washing and quickly wipes her hands "What? What do you mean she's gone?" "I mean, she's not in her room!"

Bruno tugs at his hair a bit "Ok, ok. Calm down. Are you sure Luna isn't in one of the kid's rooms? She is still adjusting." Julieta says, the seer shook his head "No, I already checked. She's not even in the nursery." He says. Bruno then remembered what Alma had asked him after dinner and had a thought "Where's Mama?" He asked.

"She went upstairs after dinner." Julieta says, Bruno turned a bit pale "I-I think she took Luna into town." Julieta's eyes widened "No..she wouldn't. Mama would never go that far." "She did." Both adults turned around when they heard Dolores's voice. Dolores stood at the archway rubbing her eyes sleepily "I came down for water and heard tío panicking." She explained.

Bruno gripped her by the shoulders "What did you hear?" He asked, "I heard Abuela go into Luna's room and ask her to accompany her to town to see about using her gift." Dolores squeaked. Bruno muttered some words under his breath before taking off "Wait Bruno! Don't do anything rash!" Julieta shouts after him "She took my daughter in the middle of the night without telling me! Don't tell me not to do anything rash!" He shouted back before running out the doors.

He ran through the town and started to hear the sound of Luna crying, she sounded really scared. He picked up his pace and rounded a corner to see Alma kneeling down trying to reassure a scared Luna with a few other townspeople crowded around. He couldn't really make out what she was saying but Bruno saw that Luna's eyes were glowing and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Luna!" Both of them quickly looked at Bruno and Luna ran to him "Papa!" Bruno scooped her up and hugged her tightly. Luna was crying and whimpering things that he couldn't understand, "Shh..mija, please calm down. I can't understand what you're saying." He says "P-Please don't let the monsters get me!" Luna cried.

Bruno furrowed his eyebrows. Monsters? Alma stood up and he looked at her, everyone took a step back in surprise when they saw a fury in his eyes that they've never seen before. His eyes flashed green for a brief second before gritting out "We need to talk back at Casita. Now."

Julieta had sent Dolores back to bed and was waiting around for her brother, she knew that he was angry but didn't know how angry. She jumped when Casita's doors slammed opened and Bruno came storming in with Luna still crying in his arms, Alma followed behind trying to explain her actions "Bruno-" she was cut off by his angry glare before he handed Luna off to his sister.

"Can you take Luna up to her room? I need to talk with Mama." He says, eerily calm. Julieta nodded and began to take her, Luna gripped Bruno's ruana tightly "No Papa! Please don't go!" She cried. Bruno's heart ached at seeing Luna so scared, he gently held her hands "I won't be gone long. Go with your tía and I'll be there in a bit. I just need to talk to your abuela."

She nods before latching herself to Julieta, she adjusts Luna in her arms and gives Bruno an understanding look before heading upstairs. Bruno waited until they went into Luna's bedroom before turning back to his mother, his gentle expression replaced with his fury.

She opened her mouth to say something but he raised a hand to stop her "Stop. You do not have a leg to stand on. Mama, you've gone too far this time." Alma found her voice "Bruno, it was ok. She was with me and I was making sure she was using her gift correctly." Bruno threw his hands up "That doesn't matter! You took her without my knowledge and permission!" He shouts.

"I was just trying to help. You kept saying that Luna didn't understand how to use her gift yet so I wanted to help her figure it out. You kept stopping her." Alma explained, "I never stopped her. I said to be careful because her gift is not like Julieta's, or Pepa's, or Isabela, Dolores, or Luisa's. You can't see the outcome like theirs, only she can just like me."