When The Moon Falls

Chapter 4 - Friends and Enemies

I awoke in different place once again. My head was fuzzy, from sleep I hoped, and my left arm felt like it was on fire. I opened my eyes to see a rough stone roof over my head. I was laying on what seemed to be stone covered in straw. I tried to sit up but pain shot through me as soon as my head left the floor.

"So you're awake." A male voice spoke from somewhere behind me. "I wouldn't move just yet, Morphed poison can last sometime. Rest is the best medicine according to Grey but I think this should help too." The voice grew closer. I couldn't speak, not even move in response without waves of pain and nausea. I heard a door unlock and open. Footsteps. I felt a needle go into into my injured arm. Then the world faded away.

When I returned to conciseness, I was still on the straw-covered floor. I was relieved that I hadn't moved again. The pain in my arm had faded to a dull throb and my head felt clearer. I opened my eyes to blinding sunlight, gasped and closed then again. I lifted my right hand slowly to find that I could move freely. Shielding my eyes, I sat up and looked around. I was in a cell. Three of the walls were rough stone and the fourth was of thick metal bars driven deep in the ground. A metal door was built into the bars. A small bed was set beside me. I must've rolled off it. I couldn't tell were the light was coming from as the cell had no windows.

Just outside the cell, a boy that looked about 17 stared at me. He had close-cut blonde hair and had blue eyes. "Why are you staring at me?" I asked, testing my voice. It was quiet and rough but it worked.

The boy shrugged. "I just wanted to know what to you would do when you woke up in a strange place."

"It's not the first time..." I muttered, then added. "Where am I and why am I locked up?"

"I can't tell you where you are but I'll say that you're locked up for my safety and yours."

"Are you saying you see me as a threat? How could I possibly be a threat?"

"For all I know you could be a Hunter that's come to her senses, or a Hunted... You could even be a Morphed thats brain wasn't completely dissolved!"

The terms he used confused me. Hunter, Hunted, Morphed. I had no idea what he was referring to. "Are you just going to keep me in here forever? I know I'm none of the things you listed but you probably think I'm deceiving you or something." I said.

"Well you're not wrong there. Only a few more minutes and we should have our answers..."

"We?"

"Yes. Now sit quietly and try not to chew your leg off, we've had a few do that." He stood and walked out of my sight. I looked at my leg and noticed that the metal band that was wrapped around it was similar to the one that was on the werecat. It chained me to a loop in the middle of the cell. I walked over to the bed and sat down as close to the loop as possible so I'd be able to move my leg.

Minutes past yet nothing changed. I still sat alone in some strange jail cell with no idea how I'd gotten there or even where there was. I thought back to my latest blackout. I remembered the girl chained to the tree and how she'd turned into something like a werecat... But past that everything was blurry. I recalled a great pain... then peace... then something about my mother... I also remembered a great blackness...

"I'm back!" The boy's voice brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up and saw that the boy wasn't alone this time. A man walked behind him. The man looked about 65, with thin grey hair and a fuzzy beard. He slouched a bit when he walked but he seemed to have aged well. 

"Now we'll see if we can let you out."  The boy said, unlocking the door. The man came into my cell and stood in the far corner, where I would never be able to reach him. He gestured for the boy to leave and he did. The man looked directly at me. He had kind blue-grey eyes. 

"I'm Grey, what is your name?" He asked

"Celestine" I replied instantly.

"That's a nice name. Do you know why you're in here?" 

"Not really."

"Well I'm sure you know that the moon finally decided to crash into us. Some of us were... changed by it, mutated or given gifts beyond belief. You are here because we must know if you are like us."

"I'm pretty sure I'm not mutated and I haven't noticed any 'gifts'..."

"You are right about the mutation but you may have gifts. Some take days to develop."

Days? How could he know they take days? Its only been a few hours... Hasn't it? "How long has it been since the crash?" 

"About 3 weeks, why?"

I started to panic. "3 weeks! No, its only been a few hours... I-... How..." 

The blackouts... How long had I been out...? It wasn't possible... I hadn't had anything to eat or drink... What was going on...?

I was forced back into reality when something grabbed my arm. The man sat beside me, one hand on my arm. He looked as though he was in a trance, eyes glazed over and muttering something under his breath.