Luna #2
“It kills me to announce that my daughter, Luna, has betrayed us all. After investigation, Raven has discovered contacts our Head Keeper has made with the outside claiming she’s been selling our infants.
Because of her actions, the Shadow Sanctum is being investigated by powers that don’t understand our home. It’s no longer safe for us here.”
“What?” Angel looks between me and Aurelius. Waiting for me to do something. To stop this.
I don’t move. I don’t think I can.
Aurelius hands off the capsule to a Keeper so it can be passed around the crowd. I still don’t see Luna, but I can tell where she is by the shuffling of people moving away from her. Out of disgust. Out of fear. Out of renunciation.
Several Keepers create a fence around her to block the inevitable mob.
“Luna’s desire is to have you betray me and leave as her flock. She’s poisoned the Dregs to destroy our wealth and the children to shake your faith.”
“Bullshit!” Angel yells, hands cupping his mouth. He tries to walk toward the stage, but I take his arm and shake my head.
It’s not time for that yet.
She’s gonna have to explain herself. Or at least try.
“Yet I am partially to blame,” Aurelius goes on, splaying his palms. “I have given my daughter my trust despite your protests. Her infected heart has plagued my own, and my sins can hardly be forgiven. But if you can find it in your hearts to try, you may follow me to a safe place I’ve chosen for the true believers. We leave tonight.”
“What about her?” Someone shouts.
“What are you going to do about the Head Keeper?”
“What if she follows?”
Aurelius raises his hands when too many shouts pop from the crowd to address. I watch the bastard’s lips twitch with a smirk. No one else seems to notice.
“She won’t be slain without trial. I would not silence your voices by condemning who many of you may still consider your Keeper… The challenge restriction is now lifted. Any who wish to seek redemption for the crimes against our people may do so.”
With a sweep of his hand, a Keeper brings a basket of tiny clay pots to the edge of the stage. It’s only a few moments before someone steps forward and grabs one.
“For Annabelle!” The man smashes the clay on the ground and sends black smoke billowing.
A Keeper is next, and soon, the basket is surrounded.
“Enough!” Thorne growls as he forces himself to the basket only to be bucked back.
He tries to step onto the stage, but a Keeper gets in his way.
From the bottom step, he addresses the crowd.
“Luna has been the Shadow Sanctum’s protector for years.
She’s dedicated her life to our home, and for what? For all of you to turn against her?”
When a shoe flies at his head, he catches it and rips it to the ground, his face redder than I’ve seen it. “She is your true leader,” he shouts while objects hurl his way. “Aurelius is—”
Clay smashes against his skull and knocks him back in a stumble until he trips off the step. Lying defenseless, people start to swarm.
“What do we do?” Angel asks like this is something I anticipated.
Out of my hundred and forty-three scenarios, Aurelius fucking over Luna made up a hundred and twenty.
But still, I feel unprepared.
I know the exit. I know what we need to do to leave before any challenge can occur. And in some ways, I hoped for something like this. For one last shove to push Luna away from this place for good.
But I wasn’t prepared to feel this sick about it.
“Sawyer.”
“We let it happen,” I say, too calm as Luna takes the steps to the stage. Her face is stone, her eyes ice. She’s exactly the way she looked the first time I saw her as Head Keeper. Heartless.
I stare at her in hopes that she’ll find me, find an anchor. If I could slap the stone off her face, I would.
Her voice slices through the roar. “Control yourselves!”
The crowd stumbles into silence, tension strung taut. Her presence alone pulls every eye, every breath, toward her.
“All will get a chance to throw down their clay.” Luna’s chin tilts, her voice steady but sharp. “I will meet every challenge with acceptance and honor.”
She steps toward the basket. Her hand reaches into her pocket and pulls out her own little pot of clay. She lifts it high enough that everyone in the back can see.
“But I have a challenge of my own.”
The words ripple through the crowd like a shockwave.
Her gaze cuts to Aurelius, the faintest curl of disdain tightening her mouth. “Fear does not command respect.” Her voice rises. “It only makes people whisper. And that is all Aurelius has given us. Fear. He’s ruled with it, poisoned with it, thrived on it.”
The crowd shifts uneasily. A few faces harden with anger, but others… others listen.
“My father does not protect this Sanctum. He does not guide it. He only devours it,” she continues.
“And if I must die, so be it. Let it be known that the Shadow Sanctum is not a flock guided by a shepherd but a living organism that will thrive once freed from its master. If the universe decides I have one last fight in me, I’ll spend my last breath protecting my people from a virus deadlier than the sickness my father blames me for. ”
Then she hurls the clay at her feet. It shatters in a burst of black dust that curls up and around her like a crown.
And in that moment, her eyes find mine.
The dust swirls, but I see her clearly. The set of her jaw. The fire in her stare. The Luna I know. The Luna I love.
The one who’s my equal but opposite.
Angel is right. If it weren’t for Luna, I’d be gone, even if that meant leaving him here. But Luna isn’t like me. She’d never leave her people without making sure they’d be okay. And with Aurelius, they never will be.
My heart sinks.
Because I know… She isn’t running. Not even for me.
Luna’s eyes move back to the crowd. Her voice carries with the certainty of a verdict. “The ceremonial fight will begin in one hour.”
A beat of silence. Then, calm and sorrowful, she adds, “Prepare yourselves, my friends.”
She steps down from the stage, dust curling in her wake. The sound of clay breaking returns, but I don’t stay to hear it.