Luna - Beasts of Beauty Series - Book 1

Chapter Two

"Evelyn, are you okay?"

I look up to find that I am still in the dining room. I glance at Marianne to find her and Asher watching me intently. My half eaten dinner plate sits in front of me, my stomach too full to take anymore. Not that I want to eat anymore, my head is pounding and any movement I make hurts.

"You've hardly eaten," Asher observes.

"I'm full," I mumble. "And my head hurts. I'm sorry. Can I go back to my room?" Marianne's eyes soften as she watches me.

"Doctor Rusch said she would complain about a headache," Asher mumbles to Marianne. "Your painkillers are in your room, I'll walk with you," he adds, turning to face me.

"Thank you," I mumble. "Thank you for dinner, Marianne. It was delicious. I'm sorry my stomach couldn't handle any more." She waves her hands a couple times in response.

"Don't do that, dear. You have nothing to be sorry for. Go get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" she asks. I nod, trying to feign some eagerness. Asher gestures to me and I nod my head silently, trudging behind him slowly. He slows until he falls into step beside me. He doesn't say anything about how slow I walk even though I know it has to be almost painful for him to walk so sluggish.

After what feels like forever, we make it to my door. I mumble my enchantment's release quietly. The door shimmers for a brief moment before settling back to normal. I turn the knob and lead Asher just inside.

"What was that?" he asks, gesturing to my door.

"Just a small protection enchantment," I explain. "All it does is lock the door. I just don't have to carry around the key." He nods silently, looking as if he wants to say something but deciding against it.

"I put your painkillers right here," he informs me, grabbing the bottle from the table next to my door. "You take two every six hours as needed. It's already a pretty high dose, so don't take more than that, okay?" I nod my head in compliance, opening the bottle and tossing two down my throat. "Your closet was stocked with clothes while we were eating," he adds. "If you need anything more or a different size, let me or Marianne know." I nod my head again. 

"Thank you," I say quietly. "Good night." He nods again, mumbling the same back at me before turning and padding down the hall to his room.

I step back and shut my door, turning my back to lean my weight into the thick wood. I heave a sigh of defeat as I slump down. I look at the room around me and think back to my room at my home in Silver Pearl. This room is nothing compared to mine. This room is dark and consuming with all the black furniture; it's gloomy compared to the light blue and purple theme of my old room. In this room there are only two small windows on either side of the bed, making me miss the big windows that covered nearly two whole walls of my old room and allowed in endless sunlight. The windows and bed are covered with dark blue linens and match the towels in the bathroom that I used for my shower earlier. The light beige walls offer a small sense of comfort and welcome, in contrast to the darkness everywhere else. My eyes fall on a desk along the wall with a leather-bound book on the surface.

As if a switch is flipped in my brain, I slowly make my way to the desk. As I suspected, the journal is blank and begging to be filled. I sit in the cushioned chair and search the drawer for something to write with. As soon as I find something suitable, I begin to fill the empty paper with everything I know.

It's time to start over.

All of my spell books that I wrote with my father, all of my journals about my talents that I kept, all of the books I used for research are all gone; everything is just gone. I have to start over.