Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 12: A waste of space

It hurt to admit, but Luna was a little disappointed by the lack of manpower for her part of the plan, and the worst part was that she wished Noah would stay with her.

"I'm just saying we don't know what's out there," she argued while Lucius, Damien and Noah prepared to leave. "It's too easy, isn't it? Why would Lord Clausson of all people agree to sell his son just like that?"

"He agreed to meet and discuss it," Lucius corrected her. "And you're the one who suggested it."

"I still expected some resistance." Her eyes shifted in Noah's direction. "It just seems like a risky place for Noah to be. Wouldn't it be better if he stayed with me and Vincent, after all?"

"You're dealing with a stealth mission," Lucius reminded her. "The fewer the better, especially with those weapon wielding servants in there. You're lucky I'm even letting you stay."

Luna shut her mouth at that. No reason to argue further and risk being cut from the plan, and as soon as the carriage left, Luna and Vincent cautiously rushed over to the high fence surrounding the back of the building.

"You sure that's the place?" Vincent whispered, pretending to have stopped a casual walk to wipe some dirt off his coat while covering Luna so she could dive into the bushes.

"Annarósa said it was behind a large bush next to the fence to the backyard. It doesn't get more specific than that," Luna responded loud enough for him to hear, throwing a glance over her shoulder. "You know you don't have to pretend to wipe dirt off. You could, I don't know, actually wipe it off."

Vincent eyed his coat. It had indeed taken a turn for the dirtier, much like everyone's clothes after recent events. Luna and her family may have had the opportunity to borrow new clothes but Vincent had abstained. His eye twitched, but he did as Luna suggested.

"I can't seem to find a loose one," Luna continued and tried to yank yet another bar from its place in the fence.

"And there are supposed to be three of them," Vincent reminded her.

Luna pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and looked around. None of them looked different than the others, so she shook a bunch of them harshly.

"Screw that then. Is there another, more helpful bush around?"

Vincent pointed to three more places, and Luna groaned.

"It's a big fence, my Lady," Vincent wiped some actual dirt off his boots.

"Yes... Yes, alright but..." Luna stopped to think for once. "... Annarósa said she and Sigveig had used to sneak out through there, and that's also how they managed to escape, so... it shouldn't be visible from many places."

Her gaze darted between the potential places, seeking out the most likely hiding place and proceeded to sneak away towards the side facing the smallest street.

Vincent nodded in unexpected approval and followed her with caution, still pretending they didn't know each other, which in fairness was a reasonable act as Luna dove into the bushes again.

"I think this is it!" she called out, a little too loud. "Yeah I can loosen one here, and... I think this one too. Come here and help me!"

Vincent soon sat down next to her inside the bushes and began loosening the three bars Annarósa had told them about. Fortunately for Luna, her current dress wasn't quite as poofy as her previous one and it proved convenient for crawling through the gap in the fence.

She was greeted by a ghastly, neglected garden. No one could've been here for months. As soon as she got up from the ground the two of them tried to move as stealthily as possible towards the windows. This proved surprisingly easy as most of them seemed to be covered up by curtains or thick fabrics. Some of them had even been nailed shut.