Wings Of Fire As Humans ~ 4 ~ {MOONBLI}

[15] The Thick Stench of Evil

WARNING: For this chapter you're going to need a little refresher from book two! I'm going to put it below to save you guys the trouble of searching for it!

I let Peach lead me up the spiral stairs and we walked past all of the guest rooms. We went up one more pair of stairs until the lighting got darker, but everything got prettier. Weird plants were growing against the walls, giving the place a sort of eerie vibe. I let my fingers brush against the marble walls and eyed the pillars in the middle of the room. There were many random paintings all over the room, singed by different signatures each.

^Qibli^

Maybe it was just my luck that my life seemed to never cease of twists and turns. Or perhaps it was just that whoever was writing my story had some insane obsession with never allowing anything to go my way.

It almost made me wonder how my story would end.

"Yeah, I'm not opening that," Luna said, backing away with the batter secured tightly in her arms.

Swordtail slowly spoke. "I... ordered takeout. What are the odds it's that?" Moon deadpanned.

"Geez, what are you, an idiot?" she demanded, subconsciously stepping behind me. "I thought we agreed we'd refrain from ordering to this address. It's less risky that way."

"And I said I'd make us pancakes!" Luna scolded, smacking his arm. "This is your fault! Go open it!"

Swordtail eyed the door wearily before slowly stepping closer to it. He reached for the doorknob and I mentally and physically braced myself for what was to come, reaching back to push Moon further behind me. Cyclone also seemed a bit weary, his jaw clenching slightly.

And then Swordtail swung open the door and there stood a man with a box of pizza.

Swordtail seemed relieved and quickly paid the man before shutting the door. He rested the pizza on the nearest surface (which happened to be the coffee table) and mumbled a quick string of apologies for scaring all of us shitless.

"Okay, no more ordering," Moon grumbled, plopping down on the couch, and Cyclone mimicked her movements. "Check the pizza for bombs."

"I'd laugh if you were joking," Cyclone said, kicking his feet onto the coffee table with a tired sigh. "But that's a genuine concern when it comes to you guys."

"Welcome to the family," I muttered with an eye roll. We were way too used to this. I wondered if what really made us all on edge was because our little runaway ploy was working too much in our favor. Okay, excluding the train incident, I thought, looking down at my healing leg. But that wasn't even Leopard's fault, which proves my point further. Why hasn't he tried to lash out at all? Why is he just silently following us?

What is he planning?

"*"

It took us another day before we finally reached our destination. It was driving at night and camping out in motels during day. Cyclone was as annoying as always and Moon smacked him any chance she got. It was like being on a road trip with two competitive toddlers, and when Moon would try to get me on her side, it was the husbandly thing to do to always take it (I was worried for my life). But finally, somewhere near dawn, I circled the car in front of a large, white building with tall, strong pillars. It was hidden amongst a barrier of trees, so much so that nobody would know it was there unless they'd either been there before or they ran into it while venturing deep into the forest.

Moon recognized it immediately, and Cyclone leaned forward in his seat to stare up at it, too.

"Holy shit," he breathed, arching a brow. "What is this place?" I couldn't answer that even if I truly wanted to, and Moon just continued staring with slightly parted lips. Finally, she leaned back in her seat and averted her gaze.