Silent As The Moon

Chapter Four

"Okay, so all we have to do is find the people she warned you about," Kael concluded. "Then everything will fit together."

"How, exactly?" Lyrik asked, grouchy that he had come up with another idea when she hadn't even come up with one.

"They got you stuck between heaven and hell, which means that they must have done a lot of research. And so they might have a solution- not might, they will. They don't sound crazy. They sound like they have bad intentions, but not like they're crazy. Which means they have a backup plan."

"Oh." A sudden thought occured to her. "So who's Mykel?"

"Mykel? He's... Well, he's the prince."

"Of all of M'Dall?" Lyrik asked, astonished. M'Dall was huge- huge! Kael shook his head.

"M'Daoll." Lyrik's mouth dropped, but she quickly recovered.

"No, we're not working with a M'Daollian," Lyrik snapped. "He would just sabotage the mission!" She glared at the floor. "And that will not be happening."

"What about the vision?" Kael asked. Lyrik jerked her head up.

"I didn't mention a vision."

"You did, when you were complaining."

Lyrik scowled. "Some boy who died said I was the only one who could hear him, that I had to watch out, he kissed me, and that was it." She blushed slightly, but bit her cheeks to hide it. Kael blinked, his warm brown eyes deep in thought.

"So he could be from your past."

"Sounds like it," she snapped. It was pretty obvious.

Kael rolled his eyes visibly but said nothing, and turned to his laptop. "Did Ruby have any close friends? Maybe she told them something."

Lyrik closed her eyes briefly.

"Yes, a boy called Daniel Brown." Kael nodded and typed something. "You realize it's nearly impossible you'll find him on the internet? He has one of the most common names ever."

"What does he look like?" Kael asked, ignoring her. Lyrik tried to remember.

"Brown eyes, black hair, dark skin," she recalled. Now he answered her earlier question.

"I'm not using the normal internet. I'm using the dark web."

Lyrik said nothing, refusing to admit she was impressed by his devotion to help her.

"Found him." She peered over his shoulder, not wanting to admit that it did look like him. But the picture did. Kael wasn't so useless after all.

"So now wha-" Kael had already dialed a number on his phone.

What is this, his third phone? Lyrik thought incredulously. It was a different design, so it probably was. 

"Is this Daniel Brown?" he asked. Lyrik nearly topples over. He's calling him? "It's Kael Griffin," he responded. She leaned closer to hear Daniel.

"Who-"

"Daniel, it's Lyrik, Ruby's sister," Lyrik interrupted, then remembered that he couldn't hear her.

"I'm investigating Ruby Thorn's death. I'm a reporter," Kael said, glaring at Lyrik. "She was your best friend, I hear?"

"Sort of," Daniel responded. He trusts Kael that easily? Lyrik thought. If I were Ruby, I wouldn't tell him any secret, let alone a life-or-death one. "Near her death, she was closer to her other friend, Kera. Um, Kera Dalen."

"Did Ruby tell you anything?" Kael asked. Daniel was silent for a moment.

"No. She acted normal. There was no way that she could have known that she was going to die. She would have been careful otherwise."

"She wasn't careful?" Lyrik burst out, cursing herself once she remembered, again, that she was silent. Luckily, Kael asked the same question, after shooting her another glare.

"I mean, she was, but she would have locked herself up in a room or something." Daniel sounded confused. "She would have told the police, at least."

"Did she not trust them?" Kael inquired. "Any specific reason?"

"I told you, she didn't know she was going to die!" Daniel burst out. "I can tell you about Kera, though. She moved to M'Daoll the evening Ruby died. I don't know if it's connected?"

"That's all you know?" Kael asked. Lyrik squeezed her fists, desperate. He had to know more than this! Al they had gotten from him was that Ruby was friends with another person, too, and that she didn't know she was going to die. Not very helpful! It's very little information! Lyrik thought furiously.

"Yeah."

Lyrik sighed.

"Thank you," Kael said. His face was grim. Does he know something? "This was helpful."

"Tell me if there's something off about her death," Daniel pleaded. 

"I will."

The call ended.

"Did you get anything useful?" she asked. Kael nodded.

"Kera left to M'Daol the same day Ruby died- what are the odds of that? We're going to find her." Lyrik blinked.

"We can't call M'Daollians."

"She's not a M'Daollian, and she could know what happened." Kael turned, not waiting for a response, and typed the name.

"Did you find anything?" Lyrik asked after a minute of silence. Kael narrowed his eyes.

"It says that..." he paused, glancing at her.

"What?" Lyrik demanded. "What is it?"

"Well, you're not going to like it." She opened her mouth, about to tell him to just tell her, but there was no need. "Apparently this 'Kera' person went to a trip to M'Daol." Lyrik rolled her eyes.

"I know that, you dimwit. I heard-"

"She never came back, Lyrik. She never came back, and she went to Mykel's house. I have no idea how she managed to break into the prince's castle, but-"

"What?!" Lyrik roared, stiffening. Kael's eyes flashed with alarm at her outburst, and Lyrik saw her reflection in his dark eyes. She was a horror to be seen, a real horror. "I'm going to find her," she said, quietly, deciding to pity Kael by settling down. She sighed as Kael began to argue. "Kael, you don't understand. If Mykel did something to her, to Ruby's friend and to maybe the only person who knows how to help me, then I'm getting her back."

Kael narrowed his eyes, but Lyrik kept talking.

"I'm going to M'Daol, Kael. You've been a huge help, don't get me wrong- I'm more grateful to you than you've ever known. But I have to find her. And I'm not asking you to come with me. You could die, or at least lose your job. But nobody can hurt me. Nobody can even hear me." She winced at her words.

"I'm silent to them, Kael, you understand? And when people see that someone is different, they don't help them. They hurt them. Sometimes they kill them. But I can't be killed, and we both know why." Face it, Lyrik. You're never going to see your family again. This brought tears to her eyes, because she had never truly thought about it. She hadn't truly thought about what it meant. She hadn't truly let herself know that there was no going back, that even this wouldn't bring her back, not unless everyone was on her side, but she had only herself, and maybe, just maybe, Kael. But two people weren't going to change much. It was a cruel world, and she had a cruel fate.

"I'm already dead."