Broken: The Second Book of the A Tale of Two Sisters Series

Child of the Moon

tw: mention of suicidal thoughts in second flashback

Serenity woke up at the sound of her brother's screams. She turned her head, expecting to see Reagan, only to recall the previous day's events, remembering how Reagan went home with Regina after what happened to Daniel. Knowing she was the only one in the apartment, David was at work, she rushed downstairs to her little brother.

"Henry? Henry? Hey, hey, hey, hey," she rushed to his bed, waking him up from his nightmare. "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay, you're okay."

He finally woke up, looking up at his sister in fear, "I . . . I just had the worst nightmare."

"It's over now," she said, grabbing his hand.

"Okay," he said quietly.

"Okay? Here. This will help," Serenity looked over at a candle that sat on the nightstand. With a flick of her wrist, she lit it.

"A candle?"

"Yeah. They keep the nightmares away—Always helped me in The Enchanted Forest. Talk to me. What was so bad?"

"I . . . I was in this room, and . . . And it was red. And there were no doors, no windows. And these curtains . . . And they were on fire. And . . . I was in this corner."

"Alright," Serenity whispered.

"And . . . And . . . And . . . And I was looking out, and there was someone else there. She was staring at me through the flames. Th—Then I woke up and—"

"Hey, don't worry, alright? It was just a bad dream. Would you like me to stay up while you try to go back to sleep?"

"No, it's alright," Henry said sleepily before laying back down, drifting off to the world of sleep.

His older sister got up and looked at the clock to see that it was five in the morning. Instead of opting to go back to sleep like she typically would, she decided to stay up. Serenity ran upstairs and went to her duffel bag, pulling out a black sweater, a short-sleeved red top, ripped jeans, and red converse. She ran back downstairs, going to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Once she was dressed, she walked out of the bathroom to find David coming home from work.

"You're up early," he whispered.

"Henry had a nightmare, and I didn't feel like going back to sleep," she whispered back as she went to the freezer, grabbing a box of frozen waffles.

"Is he alright?"

"I think so. He dreamt of a fiery room," she said as she put two waffles in the toaster.

"Sounds awful."

"Eh, not that bad," Serenity leaned against the counter. "He could have had worst—like the ones I get of people killing me and Mom."

"You get nightmares?"

"Don't expect a kid not to. I don't get them a lot, but when I do, they're awful. I'll wake up drenched in sweat sometimes."

"Wow . . . I—"

"Didn't think The ex-Evil Princess had nightmares?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't assume. Do—"

"I ever dream about the war? Yeah. What do you think it feels like to stare your oldest sister in the eye as she holds a dagger to your throat? To watch your Savior sister plunge a sword into your mother?"

David put a hand over his mouth, staring at the girl almost in tears, "Serenity . . ."

She gave him a sad chuckle, "It's fun being an ex-villain."