Clara Moore and the Creatures of the Night

"The secrets of her family"

Chapter 9

As the night stars shone above, Clara lay in bed staring at the crescent moon emitting a soft glow through the skylight. So much had happened these past few days that Clara's mind was too active to sleep. She had been given one of the empty rooms in the HQ, it was bare and felt cold compared to her room at Agnes' house, yet it would do. She thought of Agnes, who was probably worried about her, and wondered why they hadn't let her leave. What did she mean to them? She was just an ordinary- or apparently not.

In all the craziness of the past few days, she had lost track of why she had come to New York in the first place, why she had left her life in California and walked so willingly into the unknown. The answer came immediately to her head, like a small flame burning defiantly. She had to reveal the truth behind her brother's death. She knew she had no evidence that proved there was something more behind just a warehouse fire that took him away, yet her instincts told her there was. And her instincts hadn't always been wrong, how could they, when they led her to stumble upon this place? What if Michael had done the same, what if he had discovered CON for his own eyes? Clara's chest began to feel hollow at the thought of him, and she rolled over to shake the feeling away. The memory of him on the beach, telling Clara stories, couldn't have just been a coincidence. Michael had known of the Shikari; her mother also knew, although she never spoke of it. That meant her father also had known, Jonathon- the man that in a faded photograph, who wore the moon symbol upon his chest, much the same to a Shikari. Was he a moon child?

The pieces clicked together, much like a completed puzzle. It was all starting to make sense; the reason why Michael had left in the first place- it wasn't because of a job offer at all! Maybe he was hoping to discover the CON, to experience what he had believed in all those years... And her father, he was a Shikari! That was why she could enter Howler's Den, why she could see creatures that would otherwise be shielded from an ordinaries' eyes...

There was still one missing piece of the puzzle, one part she still didn't understand. The letter, what purpose had it been? Fifteenth night of the first month, what even was the first month? Something told her it wasn't January. And under the watchful eye of the dragon.. was that just a threat, or did it mean something more? 

Her mind began to lull as the thoughts dwindled and she closed her eye once more. Only moments later she was blissfully swept away, no longer bearing the thoughts of her aching mind.

***

Clara woke to a persistent knocking on the door. The room in daylight looked different from the previous night; it was bigger than her own room but lacked furniture to fill the space. With only a bed, two night-stands and a closet, Clara much preferred her own space. Grudgingly she pulled on her pants and moved across the room to the door. Still half asleep, Clara pulled at the handle and the door swung wide open. To her surprise, Hayden stood on the other side, holding two coffees and a brown bag of which Clara didn't know the contents.

"Sorry," Hayden said. "Did I wake you?" Clara must have appeared worse than she apparently felt. She rubbed at her eyes, before attempting to flatten her tousled hair. Hayden laughed at this, handing her a coffee.

"I came to see if you were okay- after the meeting, I couldn't find you."

"Iris took me to Wilko's and we when we got back I fell asleep." Clara sipped the drink, which tasted warm and bitter in her mouth, and looked up at Hayden, slightly confused. She wondered why everyone was being this nice to her? She thought of Iris, who had acted so softly towards her when she learnt of Clara's father and wondered if he was trying to be nice after all that she went through. The thought annoyed her, she didn't want or need anyone to feel like they had to take care of her. Hayden stared at the ground and seemed to be fumbling for the right words.