When the Moon Rises

Chapter Five

Kate

I watched as Jenna stormed out of the kitchen, furious. What was Olivia thinking? By now she should know how Jenna would react to things like this. To Jenna, Olivia wasn't a part of this family; it was only our dad, Jenna, and I. There was a look of shock on Olivia's face, but shock quickly turned to bitterness when she said, "You ought to teach that girl a lesson or two, Daniel. I swear! She is going to be the end of me!"

All my dad did was sigh and say, "I know." He walked out of the kitchen rubbing his temples.

Olivia then turned to me and said with a sweet smile, "Kate, sweetie. Would you please go and talk to your sister for me. It would be a huge help."

"Sure, no problem," was all I said. But going to talk to Jenna for Olivia's benefit was the last thing I was going to do. If anything I was going to talk to Jenna to comfort her.

I knocked at Jenna's door softly then walked in.

"You okay, Jen?"

Jenna's face was solemn when she looked up from her pillow.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Olivia just bugs the crap out of me. You know?"

I smiled. "I know what you mean. Just ignore her. She's not worth it."

*   *   *

Kevin laughed at Jenna's screams as he tore her flesh apart. I wanted to run to run to Jenna, scream for her, anything to stop Kevin. 

STOP! STOP! PLEASE JUST STOP! I managed to scream at the top of my lungs.

Kevin turned around to smile at me, his razor sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight.

"It's too late to save your sister, little witch, “he told me smiling. "She's mine now."

NOOOOO! I screamed savagely.

I ripped the silver necklace that said Jenna off my throat and launched myself at Kevin.

His red eyes were wide with shock as I landed on him and pressed the silver to his face. He cried out in pain as the chain of the necklace burned off a pink sliver of skin right below his eye.

I smiled and screamed the words, VARIUS ALUIDAH!

Kevin twisted and kicked me off of him. With one last howl to the moon, he dug his claws into the sand and ran away into the night.

Jenna was lying in a pool of her own blood. I ran over to her my heart pounding. I looked down at her face. But when Jenna opened her eyes they were blood red... just like Kevin's.

                                                                                   *   *   *

I woke up panting and sweating, tangled in my bed sheets. I was still whispering the words to myself.

Varius Aluidah. Varius Aluidah. Varius Aluidah.

Suddenly I knew what the words meant. I knew what Kevin was.

I jumped out of my bed and bolted into Jenna's bedroom.

"Jenna?!” I said loudly as I busted through her door.

Jenna's eyes slowly opened. She had been sleeping.

"Kate? Why the hell are you bursting through my door at three in the morning?” she said groggily.

"I don't know I guess . . . I just . . ." My voice trailed off. What was I suppose to tell her? That I just wanted to make sure the monsters hadn't eaten her? No way.

Jenna closed her eyes again and rolled over. Her voice was muffled by the pillow when she told me, "Just go back to bed..."

"Okay," I said and slowly closed her door. But I couldn't go back to sleep. I was too scared.

I turned on the shower, making sure it was as cold as ever.

I don't know how long I just stood in the shower, letting the ice cold water patter against my skin. It must have been pretty long though because when I got out I could see the sun begging to rise. I walked into my bedroom and threw on a cute t-shirt and some jeans. Today I decided to put on some Converse instead of flats.

Orange sunlight had begun to shine through my window, illuminating the entire room with an odd golden haze. When I looked in the mirror I realized that my hair had dried by itself. It tumbled down my back in long, dark, loose curls. My hair was so dark that it was almost black, if it weren't for a reddish shine it had in the sunlight. It clashed oddly with my fair skin and deep sapphire blue eyes that I shared with Jenna.

And for a moment, I felt beautiful. I looked like a fair maiden with dark hair and light skin that you would read about in fairy tales. I hated it. It made me look delicate, soft, and worst of all, it made me look weak. The only good thing about it was the fact that it would distract people from the ugly, dark circles under my eyes that the nightmares had given me. So I guess I'll have to wear it down today.

Like every morning, I applied a small amount of makeup on (mostly under my eyes) and put some light smelling perfume on.

I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast with Jenna. We were talking about gossip, clothes, and homework when she brought up the party.

"I'm so excited!” she was saying. "John always throws the best parties."

"What time does it start?” I asked.

"He said it would start around noon. When it starts to get dark they'll be a huge bonfire."

Jenna then smiled at me. "You look pretty with your hair down. You should wear it like that more often," she said.

I grunted. "No thank you. I only wore it like this today 'cause I was too lazy to put it in a braid." It was a quick lie but Jenna seemed to believe it enough. "Besides it makes me look all weak and stuff. I hate it."

Jenna frowned. "No it doesn't. It makes you look like a princess!" She was pushing my buttons on purpose now.

"Even better," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Whatever," Jenna said smiling.

At school everybody was pumped for tomorrow because it signaled the start of Spring Break. Also it's the day of John's party. Almost everybody in the school is going to be there.

In the first few hours of school I had already seen about four boys ask Jenna if she wanted to go to the party with them as a date. She rejected all of them by saying, "Sorry. I already have plans with my sister." Then she would flash them a smile and walk away. All of them afterwards had looked crushed.

I was sitting with a few of my friends from lunch when Jenna bolted over to where I was sitting and said, "Guess what?!" There was a huge smile on her face and she sounded really enthusiastic.

"What?” I asked, curious of what might have happened to her while I was away.

"Kevin Norris asked if I wanted to go to the party with him!" She sounded like the happiest girl on earth. But at that moment, I sure as hell wasn't.

I was frozen as it dawned on me what she was saying. "And what did you tell him?” I asked, my voice cautious.

"Well... ", she hesitated a bit as she saw the expression on my face.”I said yes, of course."

Oh great.