Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 37: The lady

The lady was barely a stone's throw away. Luna silently grabbed Roya's shoulder and pulled her backwards. She wasn't sure if Roya had made the connection yet, not that Luna was certain that she was right either but in case she was, she'd rather not attract the being's attention.

"What do we do? Should we—" Roya whispered and Luna almost smacked her in the face as she placed a hand against her mouth, pressing a finger against her own. Roya looked displeased and frowned at her, so Luna took a step back and began making gestures in the air to explain her theory about The lady and Miss Hartka at the Home of withered lights, but while doing her best to impersonate light —mostly flailing around with her arms in hopes of getting sunshine across— Luna noticed Roya's confused and somewhat concerned expression and stopped. She regretted, like many times before, her inability to use sign language.

Finally it seemed to dawn on Roya as Luna managed to sign 'book' and proceeding to tear invisible pages out of it, mimicking what Miss Hartka had done back when they visited. Roya turned to gesture towards The lady but as she did, the song they'd been hearing echo through the barren space abruptly stopped, and they both noticed The lady had disappeared.

Luna twirled around. She couldn't see any trace of her ever having been there in the first place. The disorientation it caused was similar to the sensation of waking up by falling inside a dream. It wasn't as though senses failing was something new to Luna though. Her previous experiences with supernatural events had loved playing that trick on her. Especially the dream related ones caused by the mara. Perhaps it meant they were lucky. If the lady was as intimidating as Miss Hartka made it sound, Luna sure wouldn't want to actually encounter her. So she nodded to Roya and held up her hand against her forehead while looking around, suggesting they search for a way out of there.

"And if we are lucky, we could find that thing the captain is looking for," Roya whispered, and Luna shot a glare at her, but as nothing seemed to happen and The lady had already disappeared, she supposed it was fine.

She sighed.

"I... Did wish we'd be able to find it. I'd love to know what it was and just—Just learn more about it. Not to mention learn more about these places." She gestured around once again as they walked. "But I guess even I have a limit when it comes to danger. We came really close to bad things happening back at the last place and poor Vincent's a convincing example."

"So, you are giving up?" Roya sounded disappointed. Not in the way that she was judging Luna but rather just that she didn't want to stop looking just yet.

Luna shrugged.

"Unless we trip over it in the next five minutes I guess, which, judging by the view, won't be happening."

Roya's gaze fell to the endless stone floor and her shoulders slouched. Luna pursed her lips together.

"Well... If it's that important perhaps it's not too long of a shot to actually talk to Catherine. I mean I could do it, if you'd like. I doubt she'd be hostile towards me." Luna fidgeted with her bracelets as she talked. Being considerate wasn't her strong suite. "Maybe we could trade something for it... Whatever someone like Catherine would be interested in that she can't already—"

Luna's words choked as a large shape covered in ornate jewelry suddenly appeared in front of them in the blink of an eye, and with a sinking feeling in her chest she slowly looked up at the emotionless face of The lady.

"Uh..." she began but quickly shut her mouth. The lady was not to be disturbed after all, and Luna assumed that meant no matter what situation. So she slowly grabbed hold of Roya to pull her away from The lady's path.

Roya said nothing. It even looked like she was holding her breath, which Luna agreed may have actually been a clever move, but aside from that, they both found themselves at a loss. What could they do in that situation? There was no visible way out, and Luna was willing to bet fighting the being wouldn't bode well for them.