Somnia Moon

Chapter 4: Only Hope

It took every ounce of Alex's strength to not collapse onto her knees upon bursting through the trees onto the perfectly trimmed grass of Illuminae; she was absolutely exhausted. Sucking in huge gulps of air, she felt her rapidly beating heart begin to slow, the realization that she was no longer in danger calming her. Holly stood about a metre in front of her . She was gazing back into the depths of the forest, presumably looking for Zoe. Once Alex had somewhat regained her composure, she too glanced through the trees, but saw nothing except the verdant leaves, perfectly formed and perfectly still. Before she could start to panic, however, Zoe's blood-stained form came into view, and a couple of seconds later, she was standing beside them, breathing heavily.

Silence. For the first time since she'd known them, both Holly and Zoe were completely speechless. Even after everything they'd been through, none of them knew how to react to what they'd just experienced. None of them knew what to do.

"What the hell is this place?" Zoe said softly, her voice barely more than a whisper. Alex and Holly looked at her hopelessly, neither of them able to answer.

"I'm telling you, whatever's going on here, it has something to do with Rowen. These things always do." Holly stated, standing up straight and pretending with all her heart that she was completely unfazed by this situation.

"Holly, I know Rowen's powerful, but she would never have been able to do something like this." Alex pointed out, although she was beginning to doubt the truth in that statement. Rowen was definitely not someone to be underestimated - if anyone was responsible for doing this to them, it was incredibly likely to be her, but somehow Alex felt there was more to it than that. Rowen could have killed them easily in those last few moments of her memory, but she didn't. Why send them here? What purpose could she have for them being here? It just didn't make sense.

"You can't see when you're wrong even when it's obvious. Why do you have to be so stubborn? I know how you feel about her, but you have to stop fixating on this insane theory. Rowen is not behind this. Ok?" Zoe said, perhaps a little sharper than necessary.

"How do you know that? Just because you don't see why she would? Yeah, well, newsflash! You can't read her mind, so how do you know what she's planning?" Holly retaliated . Alex looked at the ground, the statement meaning something entirely different to her than Holly's intent.

"Look, I know her. This isn't-"

"Do you?" Holly challenged."I don't think anyone knows her, not even that lapdog of hers, Jayden or whatever his name was."

"This isn't her style. She's practical. If she wanted us out of the way, she would have killed us." Zoe said, in such a way that implied she was not going to discuss it anymore. Holly scowled, but didn't continue the argument.

Alex looked up and noticed a rather flustered looking Piper hurrying towards them, skeletal hand grasping his hat to prevent it falling. Evan followed a little further behind him, walking with slightly less urgency - he was already aware that none of them were hurt due to his knowledge of Alex's healing ability, and therefore would not feel the need to rush .

"Oh my goodness!" Piper exclaimed upon halting in front of them. He looked them up and down, completely horrified, and Alex suddenly became incredibly aware of the sticky blood that soaked her clothes, making them cling to her body. It was uncomfortable, and was already beginning to dry, encasing her in a glutinous mass. "Are you all right?"

"What the hell do you think, dumbass?" Holly, with one hand on her hip and her eyes narrowed into an aggressive glare, snapped. "What even are you? You look like a freaking - "

"We're fine, thank you. It's... not as bad as it looks." Zoe interrupted. She looked at him curiously, frowning. "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm Piper, the mayor of this town. I don't believe we've been properly introduced. Welcome to Illuminae!" he tried smiling, but it was shaky and uncertain, displaying his unease at their gruesome appearance.