Blood Moon Uprising

4

That night, Kai had a nightmare.

He was moving. The land was flat and dark, the sky flashing like fire. There was nowhere to hide in the endless plain. Nothing to cover up. Something was threatening to harm him. Something that was familiar with and loved the dark. developed from it.

That was something all-powerful and malevolent that desired him.

Yellow eyes followed him as he ran. They were radiant. They touched Kai's back. Just like a gun's laser sight, designating him for death. The long, bony jaws broke. From just out of sight behind him, there was a victorious hiss. A warm breath touched the back of his neck. Over his ears, a booming, rushing noise started to close.

Kai woke up as the creature's fangs were starting to close in on his face. Sweat-soaked and wide awake, he sat up straight in his bed. It was the sound of his labored breathing.

The sun was peeking over the horizon through the window. His bed linens were coiled like chubby white serpents around him.

After inserting the key into the lock, Marcie entered the room wearing a long nightgown and her dark hair disheveled from sleep. "We detected a sound," she reported. "Dreams gone bad?"

With his heart still beating frantically, Kai shuddered. "The worst," mumbled he.

Marcie grinned. "So, honey, if that was the worst, then your dreams can only get better from here on out." She handed Kai a glass filled with thick syrup that she had poured from a big brown bottle. "And they will." You'll discover. Before this puts you back to sleep, you tell yourself, "Okay?"

After taking the glass, Kai emptied it. It tasted strangely sweet, almost burning, almost like anise. Marcie busied herself with a change of linens.

Kai heard more voices outside the room as he began to fall back asleep. A man screamed, "Max?" and there was what sounded like a girl's voice responding. He attempted to grasp the enraged words, but Marcie's concoction was throwing him off-balance. Nothing could get his attention. "Who's that?" he asked, his eyes starting to go crazy. "The girl, that is." "You'll discover," Marcie assured him. "But not today," she continued, disappearing from Kai's line of sight.

****

"Awaken." Awaken.

Wes Dane was sitting on Kai's bed when he woke up. Shafts of damp, thin light came in through the drawn curtains.

The boy gave him a smile. "Kai, you were really acting crazy." Did you have a good night's sleep?

It seems as though I have been sleeping for days. Kai let out a yawn and became relieved that there was no sound of raindrops striking the window. What's happening with the flooding?

Wes gave a headshake. "It rained all night."

Kai's heart sank. He caught a whiff of his sheets' horrible stench as the rest of him fell back into the mattress. It's not surprising that he hadn't showered in over a week. Perhaps Marcie had bathed him in bed.

Horrible.

Wes said, "You must be completely bored." "Want to engage in some gaming?"

Kai frowned as he lifted his tightly coiled hands.

We chuckled, a little too shyly. "I suppose not!" Shame, though. I'm incredibly bored.

Kai remarked, "It must be difficult to be totally cut off every time it rains."

Yes, Wes replied. "And it's not fun to hang out with my sister."

"Sister?" All of a sudden, Kai could remember the woman's voice.

"Anya la." Anya is seventeen years old. We stated this as though it clarified all of his issues.

Kai said, "She hasn't come in to see me."

We appeared a little awkward. "Believe me," he said. "At this point, you wouldn't want her to." She's not exactly in the best of moods.

Everything alright, Kai enquired.

We grinned once more. Yes, He then shrugged. 'In Twilight, things were different.'

"Idaho at dusk?"

"Hey, you know who we are?" Wes laughed. "It was nice there." However, we had to depart three years prior.

"Why did that happen?" Kai asked.

"Reasons," Wes mumbled. "Mom was tired of being a nurse." And Dad's writing career was taking off, so

"Your dad writes?" Kai exclaimed, in awe.

Yes. He's also fairly well-known. children's belongings. Wes smiled and made a mime of severing his throat. "If I were to reveal his pen name, we would have to murder you."

Kai grinned. I suppose that's why he enjoys his privacy. I'm trying to cut everyone off here.

Kai heard someone cry out and a door slam somewhere in the house at that exact moment. "Anya?" he enquired.

We averted our gaze. "You know, she just didn't fit in back in Twilight." Unfavorable events occurred. Very awful.

Kai scowled. "Items such as what?"

Wes gave a headshake. "You want to get over your fears, right?" He rose from the bed and proceeded towards the door. "You should get some rest," I said.

"One more thing," Kai blurted out to Wes. "The door." He held back. "Why am I confined here?"

We shifted awkwardly. "Mum's concept." She is not in favor of you sleepwalking. You could sustain injuries.

But Kai remarked, "I feel so much better." "Actually."

"Good," Wes replied, opening the door with a confused expression on his face. "I'll let Mom know." That will make her happy to hear.

Kai observed the door close after Wes. But then he heard the key turn with a quiet, confident click.

*****

After every visit, the door remained locked. Marie Kai was still too weak, in Soli's opinion, to wander around the house by himself.

Who am I? Kai pondered uneasily. A prisoner or a sick person? He felt that asserting his freedom would somehow come across as self-serving. Besides, he was still feeling a little under the weather.

The locked door, though, alarmed him.

Day was slowly fading into night. For the second time, Kai found himself sinking into that desolate, flat nightmare landscape as the time passed slowly but furiously. He ran in the dark, the deep red sky burning and hardening his skin. However, something wasn't the same this time. He was no longer as afraid and felt stronger. The jagged yellow eyes had stopped chasing him and were no longer fixed on his back. Rather, they belonged to the shadowy entity that was pursuing him headlong.

They were both running after something together. Something that was desperately trying to survive. When they caught it, they would rip into its skin, kill it, and Kai jolted awake in his bed. It felt as though his heart would leap out of his chest. He wiped the sweat from his face and forced himself to breathe deeply. Then he became aware of it.

His door stood open.

Kai gazed at it for a short while. Then he noticed that the bedside table had a mug of black tea waiting for him. He made contact with it. Still quite warm. It had been left by someone who forgot to lock it up.

This was his chance to explore the area outside his tiny room.

Kai carefully swung his wrapped legs from the bed to the ground. Despite his disorientation, he was able to stand and limp to the door. His hands were no longer wrapped, but they were still swollen and painful, so he winced as he gripped the door handle. He opened the door wide and looked around to see what was around him.

At the end of a long hallway that had been painted a deep red was Kai. He was dizzy with strange sensations. He stepped barefoot on the cold, smooth floorboards and began to explore.

Kai turned the corner and came to a landing. To his left, a curved set of wooden steps led down to a dim hallway. There was an empty bathroom and another door to his right. Its edges were letting in light.

Was this Wes's room, perhaps? Talking could be heard downstairs, according to Kai. It had the sound of Marcie and Max. The realization that they weren't close gave him the confidence to rap on the door.

Not a response.

Kai pushed the door open almost without thinking, and in the ensuing breeze, at least twenty candle flames danced wildly.

Kai looked around, feeling a bit uneasy. This was in no way Wes's room.

The walls were painted a rich, dark blue, reminiscent of summer evenings. The closet and blanket, in contrast, were both stark white. A corner featured a full-length mirror next to a rack of clothing, the majority of which were black. There were masks, figures, strange trinkets, and glowing candles all over the place.

A student card lay between four scented tea lights. Mark Fisher was the name Kai read. The boy in the photo had dark hair and was probably eighteen. Kai chose the guy. To receive the candle treatment, one had to be pretty serious. It resembled a small shrine of some sort.

A tiny writing desk filled to the brim with vintage books stood to his right. Instinctively, he picked up one of them, scattering dust particles across the candlelight. He had to hold the book with both hands because it was so heavy. Bright gold letters bearing the title COVENANTS WITH THE LYCANTHROPE were stamped into the leather cover.

Are you a lycanthrope?