Lucky and the Killer ✔

I am Awake

"But Sarah!" Lucky protested as King drug her up the hill behind him. "You left Sarah on Earth?"

"She's fine," King said, and it was the best lie he could manage. King stood still on top of the hill. He watched the air around him ripple as portal after portal appeared. They were scattered. They were haunting. It was like the sky around them was bleeding black blood into the air around them—like wounds.

Lucky stood beside him as the wind picked up and tossed their hair behind them. Even though she hadn't fully recouped her memory, she was sure that the portals never acted that way before. She watched as the portals became solid and tangible to the naked eye.

"What's happening?" Lucky whispered. She looked up to King for guidance, but his face was unyielding. His mouth wasn't open like hers, but his eyes were wide—scared even. He stared out across the fields towards the palace that she once called her home.

They'd walked a good ways to get to the top of that hill. King finally let his eyes blink. He knew Lucky was staring up at him, and he knew she was waiting on him to speak. He just didn't know what to say. He knew that the second moon was already passing without a problem. He watched the translucent ghost of a circle in the sky dip down towards the grass on the horizon. It couldn't have been the second moon causing the portals to act funny, or they would have screwed up when Lucky's father took the throne all those years ago. It was the dawning of the third moon.

"It's not out yet," King whispered.

"What's not out yet?" Lucky mimicked.

"The third moon," King said. "It's coming, though. Be prepared."

"Prepared...," Lucky said as the wind hit her face.

"Yeah," King said, "and it means war."

"War?" Lucky yelled over the wind that was starting to escalate—like even it was afraid.

"Yeah," King said, "at least. That's what I've heard, and I hope that it's wrong."

"Heard from who?" Lucky asked as they watched the portals pop into place.

"My father," King said.

"How did he know?" Lucky asked.

"I've told you before that my father is dangerous," King said. "It wasn't an exaggeration."

The portals thickened in front of them. They wavered in the air like sun-sick heat waves in June. It wouldn't be long before they opened, and neither of them knew what they were going to be opened to.

"The third moon," Lucky started, "do you think he has something to do with this?"

"I do," King said. He got down low—perching into the grass like a lion. Lucky followed suit. They dug their nails into the ground, that was very much like Earth's, and waited. "Gray couldn't have known that much about this—not without talking to him. Lucky, was it really him? Was he alone the day my sister died? Tell me the truth."

Lucky could see the two men in her memory and already knew the answer to King's question. She'd never considered that it could have been King's father with Gray that day, though, and wasn't sure what that would mean for them.

"There were two," Lucky said, "but I never saw the other's face—just his back."

"I figured as much," King said. "Get ready and stay down. I imagine the portals will open up and let something in. Don't you think?"

"I'd imagine," Lucky whispered. "But...what?"

"We're about to find out," King said.

"But, where is everyone? Where's Bella? Zachary? What about everyone else?"