Under the Shadow of the Moon

Chapter 58

Luna felt the danger before she saw it. They were packing away the weapons and things they were using during training and hiding everything when the house was flipped inside out. Men in dark suits broke in, breaking things and taking whatever they wanted. Luna pulled out her sword, pointing it at the man closest to her. Lloyd pulled out his gun from under his pillow and the others stood ready towards the back of the room.

There were at least twenty of them, each with either a gun or a taser. One man had a crowbar. Luna pushed three of them, but she was overpowered and pushed into a wall. She hit the back of her head against it, and felt her vision go dark as she fell to the floor along with plaster from where the force of her body had broken the wall.

The others continued to fight, but it was no use.

☆★☆

Luna opened her eyes slowly, her heart already racing. She blinked as the pain in her skull started to worsen. Light was slowly pouring into the Refuge House, the others silent and bloody.

Everything told her something was wrong, something had happened. She replayed the events of the night before in her head, trying to remember every little detail before her world had gone dark. She felt the bump on the back of her head, assuming it happened around the point her memory ended. She scanned the room, counting her friends slowly. Lloyd was bleeding, Lily was curled up in a little ball, Sylvia was on the floor by the back wall, and Harper was standing over Luna with a worried expression on her face. Luna looked around again, confused, not knowing whether she was truly seeing everything around her. Her heart sank and a chill ran over her when she realized Colin and Razaia were no longer there.

Harper waved a hand in front of Luna's face. She called her name a few times, shaking her shoulder slightly. "Luna... are you okay? Luna. Hey, Luna." Luna blinked, her vision focusing on Harper. She looked tired, her turquoise eyes sinking into her face, dull and lifeless. Her dark brown roots had started to grow in and the pink dye in her hair faded to a dull coral. "Luna!" She waved her hand in front of her face again.

"Yes! I'm okay, I'm glad you're okay too. What happened?" Luna asked as Harper helped her to her feet, embracing her.

"They took Colin and Razaia... it was so scary..."

Lloyd was slowly peeling himself from the floor, his hair stained red in the front from his split forehead. He never tore his gaze from Lily, who lay motionless in the middle of the floor.

The three of them froze when they saw the lights, red and blue, flashing from the doorway. They looked at each other, anxious looks on their faces.

"What happened in here?" A police officer asked as he stepped into the room. He was a middle aged man, greying hair, short mustache, smug attitude. They could outrun him no problem on a good day. This however, was a very, very bad day. "Did you kids do this?"

Lloyd rose to his feet, his arms shaking as he pushed off the floor. His gun slid across the floor as it slipped from his hand.

"Whoa there kid, I don't think that's something you're allowed to have. What are y'all doing here anyway? And what happened to those two girlie's over there?" He gestured at Sylvia and Lily, both lying still.

Lloyd noticed Lily's breathing was uneven and extremely slow. He knelt beside her, checking her pulse. It was steady. He propped her up against his knee, checking her heart rate and the breath leaving her mouth. Satisfied that she was okay, he checked on Sylvia. Once he was sure she was alright as well, he turned to face the others, ignoring the pudgy cop. "They'll be alright. They took quite a few hits, but they should be fine."

"Hits from what?" The officer asked, discreetly placing his hand on his taser. Not discreet enough, since all three of them picked up on it. "What are you doing here? I'll only ask one more time." His tone was set, but still mocking.