Moon Angel

Chapter 44: An Exchange to be Made

"Who?" Cyra asked softly.

"The Elvirans- the ones who took me from you, the same ones who captured you last week. They were trying to make sure I never made it back to Elvira. Why would they do that?" I tried to understand, but it didn't make sense. Why was I such a threat? I had only been ten at the time. I didn't even have any abilities.

Cyra was silent for a while before she said, "They were scared of you. They are still scared of you. When I was taken by the Elvirans, they were looking for you. Somehow they knew I had come to collect you. They tried to make me tell them where you were, but I refused." There was pain in her eyes as she spoke. I'd seen that look before. They'd tortured her for information about me. It was bad enough that they had captured her to find me, but torture too? Anger rose in my chest.

She continued speaking before I could respond, "They had almost caught you in a forest but you evaded them. They were scared of you, but they were desperate. Whoever they work for, and I assume it's the Zorkan, wants you found and caught, whatever the cost."

"I know that I'm the Millennium and that I'm prophesised to stop the Zorkan, but why come after me now? They let me go all those years ago, granted they wiped my memory first, but why now? Are they going to kill me, capture me? And what did capturing and hurting you achieve?" I paused in my rant for a second. "How did they find me anyway?"

"Do you know how I managed to contact you the first time a few weeks ago?" Cyra asked.

I shook my head. "What does that have to do with this?"

"Well, a few days before I contacted you, there was a huge energy pull from somewhere. As a healer, I felt the pull. I've told you before how we pull energy from the moonlight when we heal others, but this was not a normal pull. Normally that only happens when a Lunair is near death."

I knew exactly what day she was talking about; the day the guard on the cliff shot me three times in the chest. I should have died, but the moon energy saved me. I realised as Cyra spoke that I must have pulled moon energy to heal myself without noticing. A hidden survival instinct, perhaps.

Cyra kept speaking, "I investigated the energy pull to check that the other Lunairs were safe and found a match to your signal, one I had spent years looking for but never found." She paused. "The point is if I was able to track your signal, other Lunairs could too. The amount of energy you pulled was unbelievable. I had never seen it before. Your energy signal was like a beacon, shining so bright."

"You make it sound like a problem that other Lunairs could find me."

"What you have to realise," she said. "is that not all the Lunairs stayed loyal to the cause, especially when the Zorkan started imprisoning and trying to kill us. Even now, we are still in hiding, on the run, persecuted. There were a few Lunairs who made a deal with the Zorkan to help him in return for money, power and their freedom. They have forgotten that it is our duty to protect Elvira, that we were chosen specifically for the job." Cyra tried to hide the anger in her voice. "One of them would be able to track your signal and alert the Zorkan to your presence."

She paused again, "You asked 'why now?' You probably don't realise this but you are incredibly powerful. For you to pull that much energy on your own, and then what I saw you do with the earthquake back there... They're coming after you because the Zorkan has realised this. You managed to regain your memories and contact me with no help from us. The Zorkan is scared of you and he has a right to be."

It took a second for what Cyra said to sink in. I nodded slowly, not sure how else to respond.

Cyra moved closer to me. "You have the power to save us, Selene, to save the world. You can't let anything stop you." She looked me straight in the eyes. I could see the hope in them.