The Grim's Daughter

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

The fire was still burning. Luko had relit it again when it had died out. For a while he had sat beside Nevaeh in the living-room. After a while though, he left to walk upstairs. 

Nevaeh opened her eyes when she was able to hear him running up the stairs. The room was dark, and the light from the flames illuminated the robes. Phantom and Dawn were sleeping beside her, their heads resting on their paws. 

"I need to know what time it is," she said, looking round the room. A candle was alight on the stand, by the left side of the chair Luko had been sitting in. Nevaeh could not hear Luko moving upstairs. She guessed he had fallen asleep by now. 

She walked over to the curtains and drew them back, gazing up at the stars in the black sky, and the full moon, shimmering on all the houses under it's light. "A full moon!" exclaimed Nevaeh, closing the curtains quikly. "Should I tell Luko?" 

An idea sprung to mind. "If I tell Luko, he'll never let me go. I can do this," she urged. Nevaeh shook Phantom and Dawn awake. "If he comes down here," she told them, "Try cover for me."

Nevaeh got up from the floor, her legs still feeling weak as she tried to walk from one side of the room to the other. She took some cushions from the chairs and hid them under Luko's robes, making it look like she was still sleeping beside the fire. He wouldn't know anyway; the light from the fire was bright, but the darkness in the room had won the battle. 

"I'll be back later," she said to the hell hounds, who cried when she walked out of the room. Before leaving, she checked in her bag. Inside was he  scythe- the scythe of souls. "I guess I'll be using you after all," she said, gripping the case in her hand tightly. She then, snook out of the house, clsoing the door as quick and quiet as she possibly could. 

"Nevaeh?" said Luko. When nobody answered he ran down the stairs in a hurry. "What was that?" Luko ran into the room, seeing Phantom and Dawn beside what looked like Nevaeh- but wasn't. He saw the shutters, shaking more than himself. Luko closed them before they could wake Nevaeh. "Watch her,"  he told Dawn, who was now gazing at him with large, black eyes that seemed to never end. "Make sure she doesn't leave. I never told her that he would be going to the sacrafice tonight- she wouldn't be safe."

Luko pulled his scythe out of his pocket, took it out of it's case and then, spread it out so it was the size it should be. "Nevaeh can't leave this house. I have to get Dusk."

The door closed behind him. The fire died as a cool wind entered the living-room, leaving Phantom and Dawn to  cry in the darkness. Suddenly, the door opened again. Luko stormed towards the hell hounds. Phantom looked up at him, but Dawn gazed at what was left of the burnt firewood. He kicked the cushions and his own robes. "I knew it!" he yelled. "She's went after him!"

Luko took his robes from the floor. "Let's hope I get to her before Dusk!"