Chapter 39: XVII. Luna

"They don't know that we know they know we know." Phoebe Buffay ---- Chapter XVII – Luna My phone chimed. My eyes flickered open and I was quickly blinded by the sun that was streaming into my bedroom. I hadn't closed my curtains last night. Ugh, since when was the sun so bright? I shielded my eyes with my forearm and felt out onto my nightstand for my phone. The first thing I found, though, was an aspirin and a glass of water. I wondered who had left those for me. Shea had brought be home. I remembered that. I didn't remember getting into bed, though, so he must've helped me after I fell asleep in the car. I hope my mom was asleep when we got home. We might not be talking right now, but I did not want an alcohol lecture. I quickly took the pill before taking my phone in my hand. I saw that I had been tagged in something online. I quickly opened my Facebook app to see that one of the guys from school had uploaded a video from the party. It wasn't just me that was tagged, but a whole group of people. I clicked on the video and watched as the camera was sloppily spanning around the room, capturing the party goers, the drinking and the music. I saw myself near the kitchen as I quite loudly told Shea to leave me alone. "Dude, Luna's gone cold!" The microphone had managed to pick up that drunken slur, and I immediately remembered thinking the term was odd, considering Lex had called me a Luna before then. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it? What sort of nickname was Luna? I mean, I knew it was a baby name that was semi-popular at the moment. But it wasn't like Sara was anything close to Luna. I had to use any clue I could find to work out what the hell was going on. Maybe this was nothing, but maybe it was something. I was more awake as I opened up the web browser on my phone and typed in "Luna meaning". I was immediately offered results explaining the meaning of the baby name, but that didn't seem significant enough for me. I abandoned the site and kept scrolling until I found something interesting. I clicked on a dictionary website that gave me an intriguing piece of information. Luna was the alchemical name for silver. Even more interesting was that Luna was the Roman Goddess of the moon. The moon personified. I followed this trail and opened at least a dozen pages that kept offering me the same few words. Luna, lunar, silver, and lycan. That last word I wasn't familiar with, and so I searched it. And that's when I knew I was insane. It was like googling your symptoms when you felt sick. You only made things worse and you scared yourself. Well, I was about to have a freakin' nightmare. "Lycans, commonly mistaken as werewolves," I read, "are not servants of the moon, but are a more advanced species that can control their transformations at will. A lycan transforms into a bigger specimen of wolf, and is typically stronger than a werewolf, with senses more superior than any other creature. Lycans rarely live away from a pack, and follow a specific chain of command, similar to other animal pack hierarchy." I looked up from my phone and frowned. "What the fu –" I checked the website that I was looking at and saw that it referenced mythological species. But my brain was already racing. The crazy, unnatural, illogical part of my brain was considering this, even though every fibre of my being knew that this was insane. But reading was this was like driving past a car crash. I just couldn't look away. "The leader, commonly referred to as an Alpha, commands total obedience from their pack. Disobedience is unheard of, and their social makeup is part of what makes the lycan superior to other species." My mind, which felt completely independent from all coherent thought at that moment, immediately flashed to my conversation with Cece in Spanish. I could vividly see her struggling with her secret, battling against her want to confide in me, and being physically incapable of doing so. She simply couldn't. "Their superiority as a species is further demonstrated by their heightened speed, strength, sight, hearing, and sense of smell. Lycans are able to use their skills to defend their territory, their pack, and their mate." Shea was fast. I had noticed it many times. He lived half an hour away from school, and yet still beat me there after going home from my house. I wracked my brain, trying to think of evidence of Shea being fast, or strong, but I was just feeling overwhelmed at the thought as I continued to read this manifesto of crazy. "Lycans are monogamous, and mate for life." "Whoa," I gasped, and threw my phone away, it landing on the end of my bed. At that moment, there was a knock on my door, and my mom entered the room with a cup of coffee in her hand. She was wearing her robe, but it looked like she had been awake for a little while. "Thanks," I said, as I accepted the coffee. I needed one after what I had just read. "Sara, we need to have a talk about last night," she said seriously, sitting down on the edge of my bed. "I had a really shitty week, Mom. I just had some fun with my friends," I told her as an excuse. But I knew that wouldn't fly. I could tell that she was really biting her tongue. She wanted to blow up at me. She was a doctor. I would wager a hundred bucks that she had pictures of alcohol affected livers on her phone right this minute. But at risk of us not talking again for another week, she was trying to be cool. "You need to have your wits about you with these people, Sara. It's too dangerous to be vulnerable like that," she said calmly. Dangerous. There was that word again. Mom was obsessed with how wrong these people were for me. How wrong Shea was for me. She had forbidden me from seeing him, for Christ's sake! She had been convinced he was the devil incarnate out to do me real harm. And it had come from nowhere. Like she knew already what the impossible was. Oh my God, my own brain was freaking me out. This wasn't possible, was it? This was the stuff you saw in movies, and you read about in books. You would see this stuff at sci-fi conventions, not in your own backyard! Magic, the supernatural, freakin' lycans, were the stuff of fairy tales. Or nightmares. "I know, what an asshole Shea was keeping me from harm by bringing me home safe. We really ought to have him arrested," I muttered sarcastically. "Sara," Mom said in a warning tone. She couldn't know, could she? Who knows this sort of stuff? Who on earth is actually aware that this could even be possible? My mom is a doctor. She was a woman of science. She believed in facts. She was a staunch atheist, after all. Entertaining the thought that my mom could believe in any sort of magic seemed unnatural. But Mom had grown up in this town. She had known all these people once upon a time. Was this a town secret? Did everyone know but me? Surely she couldn't keep something this crazy from me? It then suddenly hit me that I was not only considering the fact that Shea could run really fast, but that he could transform into some kind of wolf beast. What the actual fuck? What the hell kind of crazy was this? It was nuts. People couldn't just turn into animals like they could in the Harry Potter universe. "Do it again," she warned, "and you're coming with me to meet some patients in alcohol-induced liver failure." With that, she stood up, and left my room. I was still in the middle of my freak out that I hadn't much registered what she'd said. Before I knew what I was doing, I had already tapped on Shea's number in my phone and I was calling him. He answered on the first ring. "How are you feeling?" he asked. What a loaded question that was. "Um … pretty … awful, actually," I managed to respond. My hangover was forgotten. I honestly couldn't feel my alcohol headache. The pounding in my head was over imagining a person actually growing fur. "Shea," I whispered. Was I going to ask him? Would he laugh at me? God, I was hoping he would laugh at me so that everything I was freaking out about would be just in my imagination. "Can you come over? Right now?" I chickened out. But then I realised he would just have to laugh at me in person. I still hoped he would. "Yeah, of course. I was on my way to see you anyway. I thought I could take you out for a greasy breakfast. Bacon is the only fix for a hangover. That and not getting drunk in the first place." "Okay," I whispered and hung up the phone. I mindlessly got dressed, and my window opened as I was dabbing concealer under my eyes. "Didn't think your mom would be any more my fan after last night. Figured the window was my best bet," Shea joked. I could see him in the reflection of my mirror. Damn, he looked good for a Saturday morning. I looked and felt like crap, which was quickly becoming my usual. Don't be a coward, Sara. Just ask him. The worst he could do is laugh. No, the worst he could do was confirm that all your crazy conspiracies are true. "Did you want to get breakfast now or –" "Lycan," I said, interrupting him. Shea stopped talking immediately and recoiled in shock. I sucked in a breath and turned around to face Shea. He honestly looked like I had just sucker punched him. And just like that I knew it was true. This utter insanity, this crazy conspiracy that I had stumbled across on the damn internet was true. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" he coughed out. "You heard me," I whispered. He had heard me. He knew exactly what I'd said. He knew I knew. ---- I couldn't resist with the quote. One of my favourite Friends episodes hahaha. You guys know me and my love for drama hahaha. Because this was a shorter chapter, I thought I would update it now and give you another one when I wake up in the morning. I'm currently watching Djokovic's match and Nadal and Federer are playing next, so if I'm able to stay awake, which I hope I am, it will be a pretty late one for me. I'll probably get the next chapter up around noon my time by the time I wake up XD