Luna
The same night Luna lay in her bed and scrolled through her Instagram.
She had found Lucas' profile easily and had followed him this afternoon. He had followed her back.
Now, she was having a look at his profile. There weren't many pictures, but on most of them was the same brown-haired boy. His name was Wyatt and she guessed that he was Lucas' best friend.
She liked the most recent upload. It was a video of Lucas and Wyatt in the car. The camera showed Lucas driving and then Wyatt and then the road ahead of them. Some music was playing and the caption said 'On our way to Dacrest, New York.'
It's over a month old, so she assumed that the two moved over here.
She was still looking at the pictures when she got a text from an unknown number.
'Hey. How was your day? Lucas' She smiled, she wasn't sure if he would write.
'Great. Have met someone I wanted to meet.' She hesitated for a second, but before she could decide otherwise, she pressed the send button.
Luna saved his number and waited for his reply, it came a few seconds later.
'Really? But he probably isn't as charming as me.' She chuckled as she read it.
'He is pretty charming. Maybe you know him, his name's Lucas Carter.' She got up to change into her pajamas while keeping her eyes on the phone.
'The name sounds familiar. What do you think about him?' She sat down in her desk chair in only her pajama shorts and a bra.
'Well, he's kind of charming and more or less nice. Also, he's mysterious.' Luna pulled her top over her head and waited for his reply.
'More or less nice? And why mysterious?'
'I can't really tell yet whether he's good or not. And he's mysterious because the first time I met him he kind of got into a fight and never explained anything.' While she wrote her answer, she walked back to her bed and got under the blankets.
'I think he can be really nice if it's the right person.'
'You think I'm such a person?'
'I'm sure you're such a person.' She smiled again, then she got another text from him. 'I have to confess I met someone I needed to meet, too.'
'Really? Who?'
'A pretty brunette girl, who is in my business lecture. I think she's the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.'
'Now you're taking it far.'
'No. I'm just honest and I'm stating the facts.' Her cheeks burnt and she was so glad he couldn't see it. 'You're beautiful, did no one ever tell you that?'
'Thank you.' She wanted to keep the conversation going, but she didn't know what to talk about. Seems like Lucas didn't want to stop texting either.
'Was I disturbing you?' he then asked.
'No, I was just laying in bed. What are you doing?'
'Having Dinner.'
'At ten p.m.? Isn't that late?' she wondered.
'I was at work and just came back. Wanted to write you before you fall asleep. You're tired?'
'Okay. Did you cook? I'm not tired yet.'
'No, Wyatt, my best friend, cooked. It's not that good. I'm better.' She sent him a laughing emoji and just like that they went on to talk for another hour before she went to bed and fell asleep.
Lucas
Thursday noon Lucas just left his criminology lecture and was on his way to meet with Luna when he saw Reyna walking a little ahead of him and talking to a few girls.
It was the perfect opportunity to talk to her about Luna's supernatural being, he couldn't miss it.
Catching up to her, he greeted her. Reyna greeted back and sensing he wanted to talk about something important, she told her friends to go ahead.
"Everything okay? Something happened to Luna?" she asked slightly worried.
"She's fine. I wanted to talk to you about her." Reyna looked at him disturbed.
"You must be crazy to think I will talk behind my best friend's back," she snapped.
"I didn't mean it that way. I wouldn't do that, I like her," he instantly defended himself.
"Like like or love?" Reyna asked curiously. He wasn't entirely sure.
"Not what I wanted to talk about. It's about Luna being supernatural." She immediately got serious and stopped in her tracks.
"Around the corner are tables. Let's sit down, I have some time." And so did Lucas and he wanted to know a lot. Luna would come in like one and a half hours, that should be enough time.
They sat down opposite of each other at the table. Reyna supported her elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand. Her nails tapped on the table.
"What do you wanna know?" she asked, looking up.
"Everything?"
She rolled her eyes. "Start with questions."
"Does Luna know she's supernatural?" He knew the answer to that one.
"She has no idea. Luna doesn't even know of our existence."
"But she's supernatural?"
"You smell it, I smell it, witches and fairies see a supernatural aura around her, and shapeshifters feel a supernatural presence. We all know she's supernatural and we all see her cluelessness."
"If Luna's supernatural, her parents have to be too and they would have told her."
"I don't know why they didn't tell her. Maybe they don't know about supernaturals either."
"What are her parents?" He folded his hands on the table.
"That's a complicated question." Reyna paused a second to decide where to start. "You see, Luna didn't always show her supernatural side like this. Back then, she showed as human, but as time went on, she was showing both. Sometimes she appeared human, sometimes she appeared supernatural. Now, she only shows her supernatural side." Reyna sighed, the tapping had slightly stopped.
"Back then, I never checked her parents' kind. She was human, why shouldn't her parents be? It wasn't interesting either. Later, when her supernatural side showed, I wanted to check her parents, but they were never there. They often go on business trips and back then, they left her with her aunt, who's human. Later, Luna was old enough to stay alone and know Luna lives alone, her parents moved down to New York City."
"Doesn't that sound a little bit weird? Her being supernatural and her parents not telling her? What reason could there be?"
"As I said, I don't know." She started tapping her nails on the table again. She was lying.
"You know something. Can't you tell me? Is it because Luna wouldn't like it?" Lucas dug deeper. Reyna stayed quiet.
"Okay. Can I ask what you think she is?"
"Either witch, shapeshifter, or fairy, but only because she should've already gone through a transformation if she would be like you or me."
"Didn't any of her powers show? Ever?" Reyna shook her head.
Lucas fell back in his chair, he had thought that Reyna might have seen some of her powers accidentally show. That could give him at least a suggestion of what Luna could be.
They remained quiet for a moment.
"Why didn't you ever tell her? You think she wouldn't believe in supernaturals?"
"She would believe it," Reyna said. "Luna loves the supernatural stuff. If she got to know, she would be terrified, but amazed too. On top of that, Luna's-"
"Curious. She wants to learn new things," Lucas interrupted.
"Exactly. I don't know for sure how she would react to all this stuff, but I think she would take it and want to know everything."
Lucas smiled. In the last days he found out how much of a lively girl Luna was.
"But you can't tell her. The reason I never talked to Luna about it is that I don't know her parents' wishes. It could be that they want to protect her from something or grow up in a less dangerous world," Reyna demanded.
"I won't tell her, but I think something's off. Also, her parents are forbidding Luna to feel complete and know who she is. Her powers are a part of her."
"I know, but what should I do?" She was right. He couldn't just go to Luna and tell her she was supernatural, but he had no idea what she was.
"You want to know something else?" Reyna asked, he shook his head and thought about what he had gotten to know. He felt like something was wrong, but he wasn't sure what it could be. A million ideas entered his head and he couldn't sort them.
"I'll see you in class." Reyna got up to leave but then turned around once more. "Sometimes, we wondered if she's adopted." Lucas opened his eyes wide.
"Adopted? Why would you think that?"
"She doesn't know about supernaturals and she doesn't look like her parents at all. They're both blond, but Luna's brunette. They both have brown eyes, but Luna doesn't. They're both tall, but Luna's short. Luna once said that there are no pregnancy photos of her mother or when she was born," Reyna explained.
Lucas got nervous. If that was true, Luna could even be in danger, but she didn't have to be. He ran his fingers through his black hair. "When did you meet Luna for the first time?"
"Nursery. She was three." Luna could've been adopted before the age of three, but when she was born by supernatural parents she should've been given to supernaturals. The programs made sure of that.
"It could be that her parents are human," Lucas spoke out loud.
"That's why I keep quiet. Look, Luna's happy with her life and never missed something. Her parents are great and treat her very well. Don't mention anything about her being adopted, she gets easily hurt by that."
"Okay. I will leave it to it. I just wanted to know why she didn't know." Reyna nodded and waited another second before she finally asked.
"Luna told me you had a fight last Friday. You're part of a gang or something?"
"No. I work for the ARIA and was on an undercover mission. I arrested a few men last Friday."
"Luna won't get hurt because of that, right? She really likes you and the fact that she trusts you so fast means something. Luna's rather quiet."
"I could never let anything happen to her."
"You like her," Reyna pointed out with a smirk.
"I do."
"Just don't break her heart, or what I'm going to do to you is far more worse." Reyna left, but Lucas' head was already making up possibilities of what the truth about Luna was.
It could be that her real parents gave her up and she was adopted by humans. It was extremely rare for supernatural children to be given to human parents, but it could happen.
On the other side, she could have been kidnapped, too. That might explain, why she didn't know of supernaturals. But Reyna said her parents had been loving to her. Though, it could be an act, but why would they keep it going so long?
Eventually, Lucas got up and left to the café he would meet Luna at. There was still a lot of time until she would come.
Luna
Almost two weeks had passed since Luna had met Lucas at the bar and ever since they met in class, they had been talking and spending some time together.
Luna had trusted him fast, something that had surprised herself. She usually didn't do that, especially since her parents raised her that way.
However, Lucas was different.
He just made her feel safe and she had no idea why. Maybe it's because of his character, maybe because he protected her from those men and her ex, maybe it was both.
They've been texting almost every night, talking about silly things and about their past, so it confused her when Lucas did not appear to class on Thursday.
She had waited for him in front of the lecture theatre because she wanted to talk to him before class, but he never appeared.
So, she went to sit next to Reyna and focused on the lecture, which by now was almost done.
They've been going through a lot of new material that they would need for their papers. It was partner work and Professor Stone was pairing them up.
That's what she was waiting for. Reyna already got paired up with a girl named Emma. The two were exchanging numbers.
Professor Stone named five more pairs before he called her name out.
"Luna Jones you will work with Lucas Carter."
She nodded at the professor and got up to leave the room. Reyna just got finished and walked outside with her.
"I didn't hear who you got paired up with. Are you lucky or will you die the next weeks?"
"I got paired up with Lucas." Reyna looked at her with a smirk.
"Well, if that isn't a sign of fate. She wants you together, too."
"Oh shut up. I don't think Lucas likes me like that and how do you know fate is a she and not a he?" Luna raised an eyebrow at her, while she got her phone out of the pocket.
"I'm just guessing. Also, Lucas asked about you."
Her head suddenly turned to her, looking at her shocked. "He did?"
Reyna laughed while nodding.
"He did. He asked me about you last week." Then she suddenly stopped laughing.
"What did he ask about me?" Luna questioned, Reyna started tapping her nails on her phone.
"Nothing too special."
"Then why are you nervous? You should think you're best friend can tell whether you're lying or not." Luna gave her a look that said everything and Reyna knew that too.
"It doesn't matter what he asked. What's important is that I saw that he was totally interested in you. He likes you."
"I don't know. We will see." Luna started texting Lucas, while they walked to their next class. She would have English studies and she was excited because they had started talking about Shakespeare.
However, now she was worried about Lucas.
'Hey. are you okay? I missed you in class,' was her text. She had a business class tomorrow again and would tell him then about them working on a project.
But the next day Lucas didn't come to business class and he still hadn't responded to her.
Luna decided to go see him that evening. He had told her where he lived a while ago, so that shouldn't be a problem.
She just needed the courage to go, even after she had a long talk with Reyna.
Lucas
Friday night Lucas limped into his apartment. His arm was pressed against his stomach, where he had a deep cut, and his other hand pressed against his hip, where he had a stab wound. He had a slight head injury and several cuts.
Those would heal first, along with the bruises. His head spun slightly due to the blood loss.
He might need some serious help, but who could help?
Asher was out with friends and Wyatt was working late. Wyatt might come back around ten p.m., but would Lucas make it until then?
Shit. Why did the mission have to go wrong like this?
He had skipped college yesterday and today to hang out with the underground group and get some information on them. He had gotten the information, but they had found out that he was a spy, too.
That's how he ended up like this. It came to a fight and they beat him up pretty bad.
Not that he didn't kick their asses, he did, but he had been lucky. If it hadn't been for the police sirens, they wouldn't have left him.
He had disappeared before the police could come and made it all the way back home, but now he needed to take care of these wounds.
Taking one step in front of the other, he made it to the living room. Aiming at the bathroom for the first aid kid, he took another step, but his legs gave in and his body hit the ground.
Lucas groaned in pain, while he tried to push himself up. He failed and gave up. Instead, he turned on his back and looked up at the ceiling. Goddess, he felt how the blood leaked out of him and how his blood-soaked clothes clung to his body.
If only he were able to get up and get his phone, he could call someone to come. But his phone was in his room.
The pain was bearable as long as the wounds didn't touch anything.
He tried pressing his hands harder on the wounds to stop the blood flow, but that wouldn't be enough.
Yet, he wasn't able to get up. He probably lay there for five minutes before he heard a voice.
"Hello? Is someone there?" spoke the soft voice. Then, he heard quiet steps. He turned his head to look in the direction of the door. That's when he saw her coming towards him.
"By the angels," she voiced.