Moonshine

Chapter 11- Aprósklitos

"Focus on me." Brown eyes bore into brown. "Me, my voice, me holding you, anything- I'll be your anchor- just think of the ice turning to water. You can do it."

She had almost forgotten that.
He was her anchor.

The lizard leg slipped out of her hands, and her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

Edmund had grounded her, kept her soothed to the best of his abilities. He had helped her pool her turbulent thoughts into one pond, and channel them into her power.

He had loved her.
She didn't know why, but he had- he had loved her so much.
And he had made her happy. He hadn't just been the anchor of her powers, but of her emotions- of her heart.

She took great deep breaths, anything to stop the relentless sobs- she didn't want to weep here and now, she was starving and very vulnerable to attack!

She didn't want to cry at all.

Bu she couldn't stop sobbing. Her heart hurt, and it felt like someone had pushed their hand into her body and was trying to rip out that most vital organ- slowly and painfully. But it wasn't someone- it was just grief, loss, love.

She brushed her hands- they were dirty and covered with flecks of mud, since she had slipped and fallen into a bog minutes after she had started on the path chosen by Apollo- over her face, wiping away at the hot tears that scalded her cheeks.

She had been right, she supposed. Such a place was the best to express her emotions in.

She was just about to give herself lease to keep crying- just one time, one time she would cry, and then she would go on- when a loud howl rose up from the thicket of trees behind her.

In a moment, she was on her feet, Pax in her hand.

She couldn't differentiate between the howl of a wolf or any member of the canine family- though she could tell this one wasn't a dog- but she was well sure that whatever had howled was not a friend.

And it had sounded so close...

Not like the rush of the waterfall- which either didn't exist, or she couldn't find. This was different.

"This is deeply unfunny." Sanya muttered, as she raked her eyes over her surroundings, trying to spot the animal that had howled. "If it's another werewolf, I'll skin it alive."

But almost immediately, she was horrified. What had she just said? What? How could she even think of such a thing? No matter the creature- she could never do that. She would never do that.
"Maybe I should let the werewolf eat me."

But yet again, that was too kind a fate for someone like her.
"Come on!" She called, to whoever or whatever was out there. Her meal was disgusting, but she really wanted to get back to it, she was starving.

There was another howl, and it sounded even closer this time. And she could hear the patter of feet- paws?- on the grassy floor of the surface, twigs crunching under its weight.

Sanya felt like prey. Like she was being stalked- hunted- about to be-
Assaulted. Molested.

"No, no." Fuck's sake. Not now. Not that memory now. She missed the years of her life when she had forced it into the back of her mind, repressed it with all her strength. "I meant attacked. I didn't mean-"