Moonlit Wishes

Chapter 14- Shadows and Kaleidoscopes

     “Siobhan, wake up!” Briarius’ frantic voice called out to her, making her shake off the dredges of confusion and sleep as she snapped her eyes open, Neamhains’ words still ringing in her ears.

     Moving quickly, she sat straight up, looking around the room and realizing that her instincts were screaming at her in warning. She nudged Brennalyn hard, who in turn shot to her feet, reaching for a weapon. Briarius was staring into the darkest corner of the room, peering hard at the shadows.

     Siobhan carefully came up on her knees before exiting the bed, being deceptively casual while stretching as she palmed her blades, hiding them with her body. Brennalyn had already come to stand beside her, one hand on a short-sword, the handle barely peeking out from under the rumpled covers.

     The air was still, and the absence of sound was chilling. Even the background noises of the hotel were silent, and Siobhan unconsciously tightened her grip on her knives.

     On high alert, Siobhan’s adrenaline began to pump as she studied her surroundings. The shadows that Briarius was paying close attention to were darkest along the line of the wall closest to Lucian’s door. What was truly odd was that they seemed to be darkening more, even though the moon provided the only light in the room, pouring in through the drapes straight toward the corner. 

     Finding herself instinctually holding her breath, she thought she saw a shadow move.

     That can’t be right…

     With a flick of her wrist, Siobhan let a dagger fly before she realized it. Cursing herself for such a rookie move, she was about to suggest to Briarius that they call Lucian, but when her dagger imbedded itself in the wall through the shadow, a horrible eardrum-piercing shriek filled the air and all thoughts flew out of her head.

     Trying to figure out what she had accidently hit, Siobhan’s hands clapped over her ears before she could stop herself, and she came to the only possible conclusion.

     The shadow had screamed.        

     “Oh, shit. Bri, I don’t know what’s going on, but I think we might be in trouble.” Siobhan held a hand out to Brennalyn, requesting one of her blades silently as she carefully moved closer to Briarius.

     Brennalyn handed over a sharp, deadly looking bowie knife without a word, and stepped closer to her sister, her eyes never leaving the still writhing and shrieking shadow. 

     “Stay behind me, Sio. I mean it. I have a feeling all hell is about to break loose.” Briarius’ tone was terse, but he never took his eyes off the inky blackness that was unimaginably growing larger in the corner, as if it was pulling together every shadow in the room.

     Siobhan wisely kept her mouth shut, knowing it was the worst time to contradict his order. Her mind flipping into overdrive, she realized there was only one thing she could do, and she mentally screamed with every fiber of her being.

     LUCIAN!                               

     She poured all of her emotions into that shout, every ounce of fear, shock, and anger bubbling from within her, calling out to the one person she realized she needed near her more than anyone else at this moment. For the first time, Siobhan reached for their elusive link and held onto it with all of her inner strength. Screaming his name once more, she felt her heart leap with hope in her chest when she felt the slow fluttering of his consciousness, and she automatically knew she had woken him up.

     What’s wrong, hriso mou?

     Lucian’s sleepy, internal voice sharpened as he felt her emotions flooding over him, and he reached under his pillow for his weapon, bounding across the room to the connecting door to her suite.