Sun & Moon

Chapter 25 - Bianca

My first night in Sanctuary was quiet and restless.

I had slept so much during the day that it was hard for me to fall back asleep at night, even after the unbelievably hearty and fatty meal of ox stew porridge. I didn't want to leave the warmth of my small room so I resolved to sit by the window overlooking the courtyard and watch the falling snow.

I was told earlier in the day that the large building I was to stay in for the coming days was a sort of barracks for the fighters, most of whom were half-breeds like Ganzorig. As I watched the gentle snow, I could see flickering lights from the rooms across the courtyard. There were some solitary young men and women, till I found myself snooping into the window of a young couple about to get it on. I sighed and looked away because it only reminded me of what and who I'd left behind and this sudden responsibility that was thrust upon me.

All I wanted was to get away from home and find myself à la 'Eat, Pray, Love'. I wasn't expecting this divine duty. And why me of all people? Yeah, I may be a descendent of the Greywood bloodline, but I don't see how that makes me any more special than, for instance, the Jiminez blood of Violet Moon or even uncle Freddie from Golden Heart. At the end of the day, I'm just a wolf from Silver Bow.

I grabbed the new phone I purchased before leaving Silver Bow and went back to bed to surf the net for a while and distract my thoughts. Given that there were no reception towers for miles from my location, the connection was quite slow. Like a creep, I decided to check on Astrid's social media for an update, but by the time just one page loaded, I realized she set her pages to private and I wasn't logged in on my account to view them for fear of getting tracked. So, I flopped over in bed, closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

For about an hour, my mind was filled with anxious and self-deprecating thoughts. Would my parents want me back? Would Astrid be disappointed in me? And Valentina, well, she was a vampire with a cold and sly exterior. She wouldn't care at all. I don't know if it was the silence of the dark room I was in, or the feeling of loneliness that was starting to sink in, but my head was not a place I wanted to be in.

I opened my eyes and I felt like I was hallucinating, like I was in a fever dream.

The circular patterns on the ceiling above seemed to move and become an entangled mess that I was mentally detangling. It was frustrating, to say the least, when one shape wouldn't obey its form and the other disappeared from view. I started to sweat under my three-layered blankets so I sat up to remove one layer of my sweater.

And then, I saw a dark, smoky figure standing quietly in the corner of the room.

Please be a dream, I thought to myself as I blinked and rubbed my eyes for the thing to go away.

It approached me slowly, and with the voice of a thousand souls, it laughed sinisterly, stopping right at the foot of my bed.

"They are coming," said the voices.

"Who?" I dared to ask though my voice was trembling in fear of the answer.

The dark figure leaned in closer.

"The destined," it said.

Astrid and Rio?

I should have felt relief knowing my best friend was coming to me, even if with her supposed destined mate. But then I remembered the Sun Goddess's message that destiny would play an important part, and judging by the shadow's echoing laughter, something told me destiny was not all that it seemed to be.

Is Astrid in trouble?

"Be prepared to meet your doom," the voices said as the shadow crawled onto my bed, its weight holding down my legs.