The Fourth Moon

Chapter 12

Tyler's POV
"Okay. It all started in the early years of the world, right around the time of the Roman Empire. About the year 1."
"This is already getting weird for me." Rachel laughed at her comment and I shook my head at her. In super serious times, she always brought back the laughter.
"I'm not joking! Anyway, a group of 13 people were randomly selected and put together in a region in Europe, the place where your ancestors are from that speaks Basque. Only about 1,000 people lived there at the time. There's many more now, but that's besides the point. So, out of these 1,000 people, 13 met up at the top of this cliff. They were praying to God that the Romans wouldn't take their land and their language away from them. The Romans already took it from the ones who lived in what is now the lower part of France, but these protectors, as they are known by now, asked God for a way to protect themselves, for most of them were farmers with very little money. The 13 people that walked up the mountain that night were some of the poorest members of their society. God responded with the moon. It was the first full moon in the year of 1. He supposedly enacted this power that everyone has inside, but few are able to reach, but that part of the history is all jumbled up. Anyway, the woman that lead this group of people was your ancestor of some sort. Far too many greats for me to count. Everyone there got their power from a different full moon, your ancestor got the fourth full moon of the year, for that was when she was born. Anyway, God gave them the ability to do many things so that the Romans would leave this peaceful village free from harm. Flash forward to your great-grandmother. She brought the power back after it had nearly died out. Over time, many of these family's powers have fizzled. The only way to pass it down is to have a descendent born on a full moon. Here's the catch. If someone gets powers and is killed before they've had the chance to produce any offspring or blood descendants, the powers in their bloodline dies with them. You Luna, are very special. Not only did you meet your great-grandmothers qualifications, but your the only bloodline to have never died out at some point. Someone in your family has always had these powers. You carry the pure power that your ancestors did 2,000 plus years ago. Your great-grandmother brought back 12 people who were the closest to direct descendants as possible to recreate the army of 13, as she was warned of a great danger that would come after her time has passed. She went through nieces, nephews, and cousins of all sorts to try to find someone in each family who could take on this power and not die. But Luna, do you want to know something?"
"What? Is there something else wrong with me?"
"No, not at all. You were born on the fourth full moon in April, correct?"
"Yes. What does that mean?"
"It means you have the same moon as your original ancestor. Descendants become much more powerful if they were born on the same moon as their original ancestor, but you are the fourth in your bloodline to be born in this day. Do you get it? Your the fourth daughter of the fourth moon. Luna, this is why your being hunted. Your the most powerful out of all of us. You're our leader, just like your grandmother."
"Wait, your said 'our leader' implying that you are a part of this too. How long have you had powers? Why didn't you tell us earlier? When you got shot, why didn't you use your own powers to heal yourself?"
"I have had my powers for a little while. I haven't told you because I haven't had a chance to fully explain yet. And why I didn't use them is another story. My powers are a little... damaged. After your family, mine is the closest to pure. My great-great-uncle had received the powers on his 18th birthday, keeping the bloodline strong, but he wasn't strong enough for them and he died. So, they were transferred to my great-grandfather when your great-grandmother tried to give the bloodlines their powers back. My great-grandfather was born on the 7th moon along with myself, so that's the moon we received our powers from."
"I'm still stuck on the part that you have powers and never told us. Why didn't you tell us, Tyler?" Lance was getting defensive again.
"Let him talk, Lance. Let him finish." Tyler continued.
"Not have, had. When I was a boy, my grandfather would tell me stories of how his dad had these fantastical powers that would someday be handed down to me. So he said until I was 18, he would protect me. My dad became an alcoholic when my mother died 5 years before this conversation with my grandfather. I was only 9. Anyway, my grandfather died when I was 11 and my dad was so bad that I was put into foster homes. They were no better. At one point, they kicked me out for saying no and I slept outside."
"Oh my god, how old were you?"
"Uh, I think I was 13. Anyway, so when I was 17, about to turn 18, my dad caught wind of where I was. My grandfather had told my dad the same things he told me, except my dad got to see my great-grandfather actually use his powers. He was angry that he would never get them, and if he didn't get them, he sure as hell didn't want me to get them either."
"What did he do?" Tyler took a deep breath. He was holding back deep sadness. He spoke, very shakily.
"He called the government. At that point, the government knew about people like us who had these powers and they were scared. They didn't know what to think or what do do, so they would hunt us down and do experiments on us until we broke. My dad gave me to them and they did test after test on me for almost a year. It was then that I had broke. They found a way to take my powers from me."
"Really? That's so unfair! They were your birthright!" Rachel was sticking up for Tyler. This was new.
"I know. Anyway, while I was there, I learned all about us and our history and what we can do. I also learned how to get my powers back, so I did."
"If you got your powers back, then why can't you use them?"
"I can use them, but only when my emotions are super heightened. Our powers are tied into our emotions. When our emotions get too crazy, we tend to loose control. With me, I have to be seriously emotional about something to use my powers at all."
"But you used them a few minutes ago. I saw your eyes go green like mine, but you didn't glow. How?"
"My eyes went green because I got frightened. Terror is one of a persons strongest emotions. Whenever I see government workers, my powers begin to work. The only other time they have ever worked when I wasn't terrified was actually when I heard you. You were in the hospital the first time. You were screaming in your head so loud, that it moved to mine. I heard it and I came running. Well, actually, I took the bus. Then I somehow was able to talk to you when I knew you were being hunted. It just came to me. Anyway, the reason I didn't glow was because I can control it. When you get really intense with your powers, you begin to glow the color of your eyes. Off the record, blue eyes and green eyes look a lot better than brown eyes." We all laughed at that one. The more I heard him talk, the more I was starting to feel this pull towards him. I wanted to get close to him, to have him hold my hand, to kiss him, but I knew I couldn't. I shouldn't. "Anyway, I've learned to reign it in. That's one of the biggest ways the bad people find you. They scare you by lurking around the place they think you are and they look for your glow. It's very simple, but it works well for them. The first time I escaped, that's how they tracked me. Anyway, we have bigger fish to fry right now. Luna, I've noticed that your eyes are looking a little green at the moment." I took in a sharp breath.
"Why are they green, Tyler?"
"Well, that's your warning sign. When you sense a danger of some sort, you first change your eyes, then you glow. Sometimes you don't notice it, which can be dangerous. We need to get you out of here. You don't have a way of controlling that yet plus I mean there's a danger. So, I say we grab our food and hop right on out of here." Right as Tyler said that, the waitress came out with our food.
"Okay now, who ordered what?"
"Actually, miss, can we get some to-go boxes? We're on a time crunch." Lance grabbed the boxes from the waitress and we all slid our food in and scurried out of the diner.