1. The Blood Moon

LYRA

“Please, wake up! ” My voice cracked between sobs as I shook the mystery lady in my arms.

“Somebody help!” I continued yelling hoping to get any form of extra help that I could garner.

But there was still no response.

She was pale with her pulse slowly fading away “You’re just tired that’s all” I lied to myself covering my panic with fake laughter while making attempts to resuscitate her.

As I starred at her lifeless body, four important questions raged in my mind

Where am I?

Who is this mystery lady?

Why did she have to fall from that hill?

And most importantly, why was I the only one here with her?

“Don’t give up on me! Please!” Tears burned in my eyes as I punched the soil in anguish. There was no reason to further delude myself.

I sat beside her lifeless body feeling defeated and while trying to recall everything that led up to this moment in case there was something I was missing.

It all started moments ago as I ran through a field of daffodils when I saw just a little far ahead. She looked divine, almost like an angel. Her voice, a well composed melody singing out this magnetic tune that drew me to her.

She began to ascend, her body eliciting a blinding glow. I didn’t understand any of it then because I was enthralled by her.

She began to shift into this majestic white wolf, fur as white as snow and eyes like midnight. She looked like peace itself.

All of a sudden, she fell.

Descending at the unimaginable speed of light, she plummeted into the soil back in her mortal form.

Then the trance broke and I ran to her, heart pounding and my survival instincts kicking in.

Now here I sit, beside this mystery lady’s dead body. Short of words with many unsolved puzzles concerning what happened.

Clang!

I jolted awake by the sharp sound a metal tray with a stack of dishes being loudly dropped on the counter I had fallen asleep on.

“You’re sleeping again? How dare you embarrass me at the Alpha’s peace summit!” I kept on yelling while pointing an accusing number at me.

“Now get up and take these dishes Alisa dropped for you to the dishwashers . Then come back out immediately and do what you were hired for. If you’re not back here in two minutes, you might as well get out of my fine dining establishment and crawl with the rats where you belong!” my boss, Mr. Carvelli snapped at me.

“I’m so sorry sir, it won’t happen again,I’ll get to it now” I apologised as I scrambled to my feet, my head bowed downwards and took the plates to the back room.

On my way to the back room, I kept pondering on the dream I had with multiple flashes from different parts swishing through my head.

I’ve had the same dream for a while now; If I’m counting properly then this is the tenth time. I kept wondering what was going on and if there was a hidden message I stood to gain from it all.

While I was walking through the doors, Alisa tried to trip me off but growing up in the cruel embrace of the homeless streets will teach you a few things to watch out for and avoid. Thankfully this was one of them so I was sure to evade her attempt without any dish falling off the tray.

I set the tray down in the dirty dishes section and gave a soft smile and nod of courtesy to the dishwashers before heading out to which I saw Alisa glaring at me from a corner. I made my way to the staff room and used the mirror there to fix myself up before going back to attend to the guests.

“Bottom of the barrel and she wants to showcase her mediocrity at an important event like this? Pathetic!” some of the other waitresses gossiped in hushed tones but intentionally loud enough for me to hear.

“She was so desperate to get off the streets when she didn’t have a job and now she thinks she can act privileged because there’s a roof over her head” another waitress spoke.

I had thought of confronting them for their shameless behavior but I knew my history was already a common story because I was the only staff member hired out of pity despite the strict persona Mr Carvelli portrayed himself to have. And if I wasted any more time then Carvelli would throw me back on said streets.

I hung around the corridor of the dining area until I was called upon by the guests at table 43.

“Good evening Sirs” I spoke lightly with a soft smile carefully examining each guest on the table to navigate my choice of words when responding to them. One thing was evident, these men reeked of alcohol.

“Since we’re on table 43, we thought we should get all the number 3’s and 4’s from each category and try them out” the first man spoke with slurred speech.

“Will that be all sirs?” I asked politely while scribbling on my pocket sized notepad.

“Yes, that will be a-“

“I don’t mind a number 10 as long as it’s you served up on a platter” another man slurred with a wink in an attempt to flirt with me.

I offered a soft smile and turned to leave and in that moment this man smacked my ass. I immediately turned around to set him straight before immediately remembering where I was so I resorted to a very snarky comment.

“We most certainly do not condone cannibalism here, maybe next time you could visit an abattoir and get smacked with a meat mallet since you reason as well as a cow.” I said making a gagged expression while I took my leave.

Faint slurs of insults and angry comments trailed behind me but they were already too intoxicated to even get up. Did he think that would woo me? All these ranked wolves think the rest of us are such low lives we must bend to their will. I really don’t understand people’s thought processes and I certainly do not want to know his.

Thirty minutes had passed after attending to other guests then the chef signaled me that one of my orders was ready. I balanced the tray in my hands and the other servers followed suit with their trays behind me.

On our way across the pier, the Alpha of our pack, Shadow Rael was giving a welcome address to the event of the night since we were the hosting pack this year.

Suddenly, the sky turned red, a blood moon. If anyone told me I would live to see one I wouldn’t have believed them. After all, no one ever hopes to see a bad omen. We all stopped in our tracks and the guest began to mumble amongst themselves in feats of panic.

A few seconds into the generalized confusion, a black cloaked figure breezed through the corners and slit the alpha’s throat before vanishing into thin air just as it came. Chaos ensued as the guests all arose from their tables running towards the podium to assess what had just happened. Screams of fear and barks of anger flew everywhere.

Just then a female guest screamed out loudly “The moon stone is black!

This caught everyone’s attention, both staff and guests as such an occurrence would be the first of its kind to be witnessed by most if not all of here. There was a standstill as we turned to verify what we just heard and truly, she was not lying. I was in a daze trying to process the events occurring before me.

“Well don’t just stand there! Keep those trays and control the chaos!” Carvelli yelled in our direction forcing me into action.

As I turned to drop my tray on the nearest counter, I tripped on a random foot in the frenzy of chaotic guests and fell.

I didn’t realize how close I was to the moon drone until in that moment I fell directly on top of it.

The moon stone turned white beneath my hands and in that silence, I understood one thing clearly: my life as I knew it was over.

The pendant beneath my dress grew warm, then hot. I sucked in a sharp breath, clutching at my chest as the silver metal pressed against my skin. For a heartbeat, the Moon above seemed to shift, its light tightening around my like a gaze. Somewhere beyond the hall, a wolf howled not in alarm, but in recognition.

I had always known I was something the pack could lose without consequence. I just didn’t expect the moon to agree.