Find Me Under The Moon

Chapter Two: The Renaissance

The Flag Manor, three months before

IVAN:

Suddenly, I awakened.

For a long moment, the world was a muddled up version of itself. The air smelled like ice: sterilized, cold. I tried to sit up, only to realize I could not. I was strapped down to the bed.

The 'bed', a flat hard extension that was meant for examining more than it was for relaxation was at the centre of the room, elevated high off the floor. The lights in the room were all white, all fluorescent tubes giving off such resplendence they almost blinded me.

It took a moment, but it had finally dawned on me where I was. I was still at home, at the manor, but at the worst part. Iris's lab.

'Iris!' I growled.

Iris's lab was where she had all sorts of experiments and did God knows what. When you have lived as long as we have, you have many abilities, many degrees, too. Iris though, was one experiment away from becoming a super villain. The last place I wanted to be was there, in her lab.

'Iris!' I was losing it, the walls pressing down on me. The stretched out silence was even more maddening than the fact that I could not pull myself free of the bounds. I could not turn either. Not in this state. Not this exhausted. Besides being held down to the table by silver studded straps, I was exhausted. I felt like I had run miles without stopping.

'Iris'

'I am right here.' Iris said, appearing out of nowhere. Horizontal as I was, I had to twist around to see her. She was leaning against the door jamb, arms folded across her chest, the sleeves of her dress shirt rolled up to her elbows. Under the fluorescent, her dark hair was a sheen of silver and coal. 'It is about damn time you woke up, sleeping beauty.'

She sauntered over in quick long strides that would have put any human to shame. I resisted the urge to snap at her when she came close enough to begin undoing the straps. With Iris, I always found myself resisting the urge to do exactly that. She was nothing short of aggravating. Once when we were younger, she turned into her wolf form and ran into the middle of the highway. She had the entire town hunting wild, giant wolves for months.

'What happened? Why am I in here in your lab? How long have I been out?"

'Out?' I heard the frustration in her voice for the first time. It stilled mine for a short time. 'That's your word for your complete breakdown? Ivan, you spasmed in front of the entire world. Almost turned to a wolf right in front of them, too.'

The last of the buckles undone, I sat up straight. 'I turned?'

Iris's mouth was a grim line. 'Why do you think you were tied up in here. Tobias and I could barely restrain you ourselves. We were lucky there were so many of us at the party.'

I was shirtless, shoeless too, retaining only my slacks. Anxious to undress me, weren't you all, I wanted to say. Iris did not seem in the mood for a jape though, so I held my tongue. Rubbing my wrists encouraged the blood to start flowing properly again.

'What did you tell the guests?' I asked, tentatively. As much as we had been surrounded by friends, me crumbling at Iris's engagement party still had the chance of making the news. Things always did when you were a Flag, we had learnt.

If it did, I wanted to be sure I knew the narrative. People love shiny things. In society's eyes, people like us, wealthy people, were exactly that. Lustrous.

Iris leaned against the table and took out a box of cigars from her slacks' pocket, then seeming to remember where she was and returned it promptly.

'We told them you had a fit, which was true. Partly, at least. The party went on. It was just a little more subdued afterward. Everyone would have forgotten it ever happened soon, if they haven't already.'

'Sorry I ruined your party, Iris.' I managed.

The room seemed to be getting colder by the moment. Goosebumps grew on my arms like tiny balloons. She glanced at me. 'It's fine,' she said.

Except it was not. I could see it on her face, and I could hear something different in her voice. A catch. A newness in her tone. It is one of the perks of being what we are, werewolves. Every sense is heightened beyond human abilities. An old werewolf I know once said, we are wolves trapped in the human body. We sense emotions with ease. And at the time, my twin smelled of fear.

Iris was not telling me something.

'Iris? What's wrong?' I asked.

She would not speak to me. I found the strength to slide off the surface and stand on my feet. The world went wild, tilting and doubling for a moment. Then it righted itself. Or rather I righted myself gripping the table. Iris was at my side in a second, as quick as a streak of light. She slipped an arm underneath mine.

We moved towards the door, limping as we went. Most of my weight rested on her shoulders. Her body was tense; the tiles were icy cold beneath my feet.

'You will see.' She said. Again, that newness of tone.

It sounded like a promise.

LIANA:

I woke up to the pain.

This is what it felt like: like all my bones had rearranged themselves while I was unconscious. Like fire was roiling underneath my skin in waves. Like the world was too bright and too loud, a festival of too many colours and too many sounds.

I had never it would be possible for a person to be overly conscious, too awake, but that was exactly how I felt. As though someone had upgraded the universe while I slept.

I shut my eyes tight seconds after I opened them.

'She is awake.' An unfamiliar voice said above me, from a little distance away.

The pounding in my head would not let me look. I tried anyway, squinting. The room was awash in brightness. I shut my eyes again. Straps held me to a table. I jerked at them. They would not budge.

What happened? How did I get here? What is this place? Most importantly, why am I in this place?

'Why is she here? Jesus, Iris, what did you do?' Someone spoke again. This time I knew who spoke, I recognized the voice. It was Ivan's.

I am still at the Flag Manor, I thought. Even my thoughts were unbelievably loud.

'What I did?' Another voice asked, then scoffed. 'Last I checked, I did not lose it at a party and bite my own secretary.'

'I did what?'

'You heard me, Ivan.'

Ivan swore loudly.

'You know the rules,' she added.

Another string of unprintables filled the air. Then silence followed. Then footsteps. They were walking towards me. Then, the room plunged into darkness. Even with my eyes closed, I could tell someone had flipped the switch.

Iris was standing over me, in the deep darkness the room had settled into. 'Li? Honey, it's me Iris. You can open your eyes now.'

What sort of prank is this, I wondered. Then I wondered how Ivan had managed to drag his twin into one of his jokes—she was not one for pranks. I opened my eyes. I looked. And in that swollen darkness, I could see.

I could see everything.