Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night Book One)

  As she walked, she recognized the foliage up ahead. She remembered that it had hidden Max from view when he fell. She crept over to it, desperate to see him but fearful of what she would find. Max lay on his back, and blood soaked his light-colored shirt. Her eyes trailed down his body, her stomach twisting in horror as she realized his leg was clamped in the metal teeth of a bear trap. She rushed over, falling to her knees beside him, holding her hands above the contraption but uncertain of what to do. The spacer had been removed, and she guessed that was supposed to be another sick joke on Chance’s part. She dragged her eyes to Max’s face. He lay still, and she began to fear the worst. His eyes were closed, his mouth barely parted. She leaned forward and set her fingers to his bloody shirt as she stared down at him, bowing her head and biting her lip as her fingers dug into his chest slightly.

  “Max…” Luna whispered, grief welling inside of her at the sight of him.

  She closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe he had died at Chance’s hands. With all the knowledge Max had, she never thought Chance would’ve been the one to kill him.

  “Luna,” she heard a raspy voice say in response.

  Her eyes flew open, and she looked at Max’s face again. His eyes were open too.

  “Max!” she cried, lifting a hand to her mouth. “Max! What happened?”

  “He knew I’d come…he set a trap, Luna,” Max said, wheezing as he looked up at her. “I got lucky though—Chance is a terrible shot. He should really stick to his dagger.” He tried to laugh but it came out a pained, gurgling sound.

  Luna swallowed heavily, feeling the bile rise at the sight of the blood. His leg was twisted and disgusting; on closer inspection, she saw the teeth had sliced right through. If he lived, he would have to get an artificial limb to replace it. The fact Max hadn’t lost consciousness—or bled out—in the time she had been in the cabin was nothing short of a miracle.

  Realization hit her—he must’ve had the same ability she did—at least to some degree. It was the only explanation she could manage to justify why he was still alive.

  “Where is he?” Max asked.

  “He’s in the temple, but please tell me you called nine-one-one,” Luna said, crinkling the corners of her eyes to keep herself from crying.

  “I haven’t,” he replied, swallowing. “Please call for me.”

  “Why didn’t you already, Max?”

  “I didn’t know what Chance was doing. I was worried if I called the police, he’d end up killing you,” he admitted.

  “You could’ve died,” she whispered, shoulders slumping forward.

  “But I didn’t,” Max pointed out, attempting to smile before he moved his arm to reach into his pocket. His face twisted in pain as he passed her a pitch-black cellphone that looked similar to hers. In the back of her mind, she wondered what Chance had done with her clothes. She stared at the numbers on the black plastic as it sat in her hand and called nine-one-one as quickly as she could. They answered the call and for a moment, she couldn’t think of what to say.

  “My friend’s just been shot,” Luna said finally, “and another one’s been killed.”

  “Okay ma’am, I need you to remain calm. Can you tell me your location?” the woman on the other end of the line asked.

  “We’re in the woods, outside of Lima. It’s down the main road out of town. We’re in a clearing toward the middle of the forest,” Luna explained, “and…and there’s a black truck just inside the woods where we are. Please hurry, he’s been caught in a bear trap…he’s bleeding really badly.”

  “Yes ma’am, we’ll send someone right away, just stay where you are. I’ll be right here to talk to you until they arrive, so I want you to stay on the line with me, okay? Are you hurt?”

  “Thank you,” Luna replied, hanging up the phone. She couldn’t go into any more detail than that, not yet. She still had no idea how she’d explain any of this.

  She handed the phone back to Max. His face twisted in pain again as he crammed it back into his pocket.

  “What happened to you, Luna? With him?” Max inquired as he rested his head back against the forest floor.

  “He was going to make me sacrifice Amy,” she said, more emotionless than she expected as she smeared the traces of Max’s blood along her fingers.

  “Is she okay?” he asked, grunting in an effort to sit up. He was worried at the idea of Chance trying to claim another human life.

  “Yeah, Chance’s dream character is gone. Amy was so scared that she probably went home,” Luna murmured, scratching her ear as she guessed where the girl had gone.

  Max sighed. “At least you managed to save her.”

  Luna nodded, her eyes and mouth downcast as she remembered what had happened to Violet.

  “Are you okay?” Max wondered, gesturing to the blood soaking through her gown.

  She shook her head slowly.

  “What happened?” he demanded, trying to sit up to better see her.

  “Chance stabbed me.”

  Max’s eyes grew wide. He sat up fast, grabbing his shoulder as he winced in pain.

  “Luna! My God! Are you alright?” he asked when he recovered.

  “I’ll live,” she muttered and swallowed with a sickening flutter of her heart as she remembered Chance uttering those same words to her. “I-I’ll be fine…” she whispered, trying to push the memory away before Max noticed the distant look in her eyes. “Your wound is much worse.” She shook her head, once again in amazement that he hadn’t called for help hours before.

  “You didn’t tell nine-one-one about it,” he remarked.

  “I don’t plan to be here when they arrive,” she replied. “Before I go, I have to know, what happens to Chance now that the dream character left him? Is he going to die?”

  “No. Unfortunately, he’ll live, though he’ll be a totally new person when he recovers,” he replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Chance will have complete amnesia. He won’t remember anything that happened today. Hell, he won’t even remember his own name,” Max said. “We’ll never have to worry about this happening again.”

  Luna looked away from him for a moment in the direction of the temple. She couldn’t believe that just like that, everything Chance knew was gone. Max had been right about what would happen all along. The true Chance had vanished forever when the dream character had taken over his mind.

  “You need to wait here for medical help too,” Max pleaded, interrupting her thoughts.

  Luna gnawed on her lip as her gaze slowly shifted back to him. “I don’t want to go to the hospital,” she whispered. “I don’t want people to know what happened to me.”

  “You’re in pain, Luna. Don’t do this.”

  “You’re in much worse shape. You can’t afford any distractions.”

  “They can’t save my leg, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Max said, grimacing as he stared at the bloody remains of his mangled thigh. “I already know what’s going to happen to me.”

  “I’m sorry. I need to get away from here.”

  Max frowned at her. “I can’t make you stay, can I?”

  She shook her head and shifted her weight to her heels, preparing to stand. Max reached his hand out and caught her arm.

  “You’re sure Chance’s dream character left him?” Max asked quietly, knitting his eyebrows together.

  She looked him in the face, but her mind saw the image of the green flame that had encased Chance’s entire body back in the cabin. If that hadn’t been the dream character leaving then she had no idea what had happened.

  “I’m sure it did,” she replied. “I saw…something…”

  “What exactly happened in there?”

  “I figured out what you were trying to tell me. I kept convincing Chance nobody liked him. He was gonna shoot me, but then he started screaming, and his whole body glowed green.”

  Max let out a sigh of relief and looked up at her through calm eyes. “Good, then you really did
manage to stop him.”

  “But how?” she asked him slowly, her mind still trying to comprehend the idea that everything that had happened to her in the past few hours had been real. “If he was done fusing, how did I beat him?”

  Max shook his head. “I don’t know, but we got lucky.”

  “If you say so,” she murmured, biting her lip as she stared at the remains of his leg.

  “I have to congratulate you for winning. To be honest, I thought he might get the best of you.”

  She looked at him, lifting her head a bit as a slight frown crossed her face. Had he had no faith in her?

  “It was a feeling I had in my gut. It was wrong of me, I know, but I couldn’t help it.” He chuckled. “I really have to thank you.”

  “No, I should be thanking you.”

  He tilted his head to the side, pressing his lips together. “Why?”

  “If it wasn’t for you trying to find me to tell me about Chance’s biggest fear, then I would’ve never been able to stop him,” she explained.

  “That’s true, isn’t it?” he said thoughtfully. “After he shot me, I was worried you might not be able to figure it out. He was scared of being alone…who knew?”

  “I definitely didn’t. Of all the things to fear…it’s amazing.”

  Max nodded wistfully. “I wish we could’ve figured that out sooner so we could’ve used it against Chance before he had undergone fusion.”

  “Then none of this would’ve happened.”

  Max frowned. “Maybe, but we don’t know what could’ve happened. It’s impossible to tell in times like these, especially when half of the events weren’t even real.”

  They fell silent. Luna observed his shoulder and leg again. The ambulance needed to find him fast. Every moment that passed was another moment his wounds were allowed to bleed.

  “I’m gonna go now.” She straightened her legs and stood up straight, wincing slightly as she stretched the new, thin scab over her stomach.

  “Please stay and let them look at your wound too,” Max begged once again.

  “I can’t do that, Max,” she said. “I just…can’t.”

  He nodded once in understanding. “Okay. But if you won’t listen to that request, I’ll try this one—go see Violet before you go home.”

  “Why? I watched Chance shoot her point blank in the forehead.”

  She didn’t want to go find Violet’s body, because when she did, she would remember she had let her down. She had let her walk into the trap that had ultimately killed her.

  “You should find her to say goodbye before the cops take her to the morgue,” he replied.

  She dropped her chin to her chest and took a deep breath. “You’re right.”

  “I don’t know what to tell the police. I don’t even know if Chance has woken up yet. If he hasn’t, and the police find him, what kind of story could I possibly use?”

  She frowned. He was stalling her. “I don’t know, Max, but whatever idea you come up with will have to work. Chance won’t be able to say one way or the other.”

  “That’s true. I hope the police believe me.”

  “They’ll have to,” she said. “Will you tell them I was here?”

  He shook his head again. “No, you’ve been through enough Hell without me pointing the cops to you. Just find Violet and then go home and rest. You deserve it.”

  “I think you deserve the rest since it was your information that helped me beat him,” she said.

  “We’re both heroes.” He smiled.

  “Will you be okay here by yourself?”

  Max stretched and groaned as his shoulder popped. “Yeah, I’ll manage.”

  “Okay.” She gave him once last glance before she turned her back to him and walked in the direction she knew she’d find Violet. She pushed her way carefully through the thick foliage and traced her path. The sky was a deepening purple as she traveled through the eerie trees.

  It didn’t take long for her to discover Violet’s body lying stiff in the field. She almost had the route memorized—the horrid scene a burn in the back of her mind. She forced herself to look at Violet one last time and noticed the blood around her head had doubled.

  Luna stood on the edge of the clearing and continued to stare at her through narrowed eyes. She didn’t go all the way up to her. She had seen enough death without focusing on the gory details, and she had witnessed this scene twice already in the dream. She looked at Violet’s face to see her eyes sightlessly staring at the dark pink sky above. Her dark blonde hair was red and dirty, stained from her own blood.

  Luna turned away from her, feeling a twinge of guilt flutter in her stomach. If she had been able to stop her, she’d still be alive. Maybe if she had been quicker to get to the forest, she could’ve warned her in time. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. Max’s words played gently in the back of her mind. She knew he was right—the events could’ve played out anyway, and if Chance hadn’t been the one to kill her, then something else might’ve been.

  Luna walked away slowly through the trees and her faint shadow followed her. There was nothing she could do. At least she had been able to save Amy.

  Luna pushed through the thick foliage, the leaves scraping at her face and arms, until the trees began to thin out. They were spread farther and farther apart, and eventually, she reached the road beyond. She walked down the shoulder, tracing the white line on the asphalt as she slowly followed it back into town.

  She let herself cry again as she made the long, painful, solemn journey back home. She couldn’t believe the source of her pain had been a nightmare. Who knew it could’ve turned out to be more than broken up sleep and night sweats?

  She frowned again as she thought of Chance. She had never liked him, and she guessed that her Teardrop of Knowledge had sensed something was wrong with him. Chance had always been so popular and so seemingly naïve his entire life, yet no one had guessed his dark and twisted secret.

  No one had known he was a cold-blooded monster.

  Luna felt bad for his amnesia, but it was for the best.

  As she continued walking down the road alone, she thought of Amy. Where had she gone? Luna had tried so hard to keep her away from Chance’s clutches, but he had managed to find her anyway. She had nearly been another victim of his ‘game.’

  What worried Luna most was that Amy might not even realize what had happened to her was real. What happened had a high potential to traumatize her. Luna shook her head; maybe Amy would be lucky if she didn’t think any of it had truly happened. She could easily begin to confuse reality with DreamWorld, and she’d end up in the same place Luna had been.

  Considering the blurred line between dream and reality, Luna felt curious to see what her wrists looked like. She pulled up the sleeve of the dress but the ugly marks were completely gone. She turned her wrist over to examine her skin in the last bit of fading daylight.

  As she stared at her unmarked wrists in amazement, she realized for the first time that Chance’s reign of terror was truly over.

  Epilogue

  IT WAS ODD, seeing Violet in her coffin. Her face was cleaned of blood and the hole in her forehead had been sealed. If Luna wanted to believe, she could pretend Violet merely slept. She wanted the peaceful image to be in her mind, but it couldn’t displace the memory of her death.

  Luna stayed beside her coffin, staring down at her friend throughout the ceremony. She stayed in place as Violet’s coffin was closed and lowered into the ground. Even after many of Violet’s relatives left, she stayed in the same place watching as gravediggers slowly hid Violet’s final resting place from view. It was hard to believe the entire town had accepted the story that Violet’s death had been the result of a hunting accident.

  Reading Violet’s name on the tombstone wasn’t enough to make her admit she was truly gone.

  As Luna stood there, she felt a strong longing to see Max. The last time Luna had talked to him, he was getting fitted for a prosthetic leg. He’d have to
learn to walk all over again, and he wasn’t happy about it. Being shipped frequently between hospitals made it impossible to stay in touch with him. She could feel them drifting apart again, like they had been before DreamWorld brought them together.

  “Hey, are you gonna be all right?” one of the gravediggers called to her.

  She blinked to bring her mind back to focus as she turned to look at him. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  “You should get some rest,” he said and offered her a gentle smile before he went back to work filling in the grave.

  Luna nodded and turned to cross the cemetery. The gentle fall breeze blew lightly, chilling her. She noticed the vibrant orange and yellow leaves dotting the trees. When she bowed her head, she caught sight of a red leaf that had drifted free from one of the nearby trees.

  She swallowed and looked away from it—it reminded her too much of blood.

  Walking made her stomach ache with the memory of her wounds. Over the three weeks since that important day in the woods, her gash had sealed over, thankfully without anyone ever noticing she had been hurt. The first time she had cleaned it, she saw the back alley stitches Chance had used to close the wound and hated him even more for it.

  They would only make her healing process harder and more painful.

  The wound brought unwelcome thoughts of Chance to her mind. He lurked in the shadows of her thoughts almost daily. The last she had heard of him, he was deep in a coma at the local hospital. It was unknown if he’d ever recover from it.

  That would be the best option for everyone.

  She sighed sadly as she walked toward the edge of the cemetery. Beyond the gate, she could see a road—the one Amy had picked her up from. Sadness gripped her again at the thought of Amy. Since the day she had left the woods, she hadn’t spoken a word to anybody, most likely traumatized by what Chance had done.

  Luna shook the thought away; she couldn’t even fix herself, let alone attempt to help others. She needed to get away from her thoughts. She walked gently across the dirt pathway. When she reached the entrance of the gate, she stopped to catch her breath and give her stomach a moment to rest.

  A glint in the grass caught her attention a few yards away. She crept over to it carefully and stared at it as her throat clenched in horror. It was Chance’s snake-handled dagger, stuck into the ground like someone had driven it deep into the soil. She felt like her heart was about to stop.