Shaden Wars

No one spoke again until we had exited PiPs and arrived at our cars. Kate was still fuming, and she kicked at the ground aggressively with a scowl on her face. I looked at her surprised as a sudden sense of déjà-vu swept over me.

“What are we going to do now?” Lily asked quietly.

“I…I don’t know,” I replied.

“Well I do,” Ash quipped as he watched Kate pace back and forth. “We’re going to go to the police and make them help us get information out of that bastard.”

“We can’t, Ash. Whenever we try to tell someone it just sounds like we got drunk and forgot everything. There’s no way the police would take us seriously,” I said. Ash scowled at nothing in particular, and I was struck by the rare resemblance between him and Kate. Under normal circumstances they didn’t appear to be related, but their short tempers and brute stubbornness gave them away.

“There must be something we can do…” Lily said. I turned to look at her and she met my gaze. I could almost feel the worry and anxiety surrounding her like a dense fog.

“We’ll figure something out,” I assured her. My voice sounded more confident than I felt and I was relieved that my words seemed to break the tension surrounding our group. A slight gust of wind brushed against us, and I felt the cold biting into me through my sweater. I rubbed my arms aggressively trying to create some warmth.

“How about we all meet at our house?” Ash suggested.

“Okay,” I agreed. Lily nodded her agreement and Kate merely shrugged.

“See you there, then,” he said as he nudged Kate towards their car. Lily and I waived as they departed. With a sigh, I turned back towards my car and shivered.

“Rayne,” Lily said suddenly breaking the silence. I turned back to her while fumbling in my pocket for my keys.

“Yeah?”

“You felt it too, didn’t you?” she asked. Her blue eyes almost seemed stormy and she crossed her arms over her chest.

“…yes,” I hesitated. “But…I’m not sure what it was. I’ve never felt so strongly about someone like that.”

“Me too,” she said. She frowned and her hair rustled around her shoulders in the wind. In the subdued daylight she almost looked surreal.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Lily. He’s bad news. That much was made obvious to us today. I think it’s better if we just wipe our hands of it and be done.” I declared.

“That’s true, I guess. The important thing is that we are all ok. Even if we don’t find out what happened to us last night,” she replied.

“Yeah. Well, I’ll see you at Kate’s house,” I said. We parted ways and I got into my car.

Once inside I took a deep breath, gripping the wheel tightly. What’s wrong with me? With us? Why can’t I remember anything? It should not be possible for a whole night to just disappear from our memories. If I could just remember something…anything…

I shut my eyes and concentrated. We were at the club…that girl had come out and spilled her drink…I gritted my teeth…Chancellor gave Kate paper towels…Ash showed up…then…the Eclipse happened…a bright blue halo surrounding an orb of darkness…and…

“Nothing,” I said aloud in frustration. I growled and hit my steering wheel with the palm of my hand. “Damnit!”

Momentarily disheartened, I pulled out of my parking space and silently drove away. The drive to the Snow’s household was a brief one. Kate and Ash lived in a residential home just within the city limits, only 15 minutes away from PiPs. Their house looked identical to the ones beside it; all golden bricks, white shutters, and grey slanted roofs. Kate’s mom, Charlene, kept a tidy garden in front of their home, but that was the only defining feature.

I glanced down the street as I got out, but there was no one outside. That in of itself was odd. It was a little chilly, but normally Kate’s neighbors are always out and about anytime of the day. The stillness in the air was almost tangible.

“Hey,” Kate appeared beside me making me flinch away.

“Damnit, Kate! Don’t scare me like that!” I exclaimed. She grinned at me, and I felt slightly relieved to see her earlier anger dissipate.

“You’re just too easy. Zoning out like that all the time,” she said waving her hand in front of my face. I rolled my eyes and looked around again.

“I wasn’t zoning out. It’s just…where is everybody?” I asked. Kate’s expression grew troubled as she also looked around.

“Hm…that’s weird. I don’t know. Must be the cold.”

“Yeah…” I agreed without much conviction.

“Well, come on then,” she said ushering me towards the door. Inside the house, I was always surprised by the great contrast from their exterior.

Mrs. Snow had decorated the interior with a series of giraffe items. We were never really sure why she was so obsessed with that particular animal, but whenever we would ask she would simply reply, “What’s not to like about giraffes? Do you have something against them?”

At which point we would quickly drop the subject. The walls were a honey golden color, much like most of the other furniture that ranged in different shades of gold and brown. Giraffe themed paintings and ornaments were assembled throughout the house as well. I’m often astounded that Kate’s dad, Rodney, let her mom get away with her designs. But her dad is wrapped around their fingers. Almost feel sorry for the guy.

“Hey, Rayne! Happy birthday! Well, belated birthday, you know what I mean!” Charlene gushed as she swept me into a hug. The force of her embrace caused me to drop my keys, and I laughed as
Kate ducked her head in embarrassment. Her mom was dressed in a black turtle neck with a golden pencil skirt. She had on a pair of black pumps and she smelled like cinnamon as she often does. She was relatively short, even with the aid of heels, and she had long brown hair similar to Kate’s. Her face was gentle, but offset by flashing amber eyes.

“Thanks, Mrs. Snow,” I coughed out as she finally released me.

“Oh please, Raynee dear. Call me Charlene. We’ve known you too long for you to be so formal with us.” She said with a wave of her hand. A pose Kate’s notorious for.

“Honey?” Rodney called from the kitchen. Charlene gave me one last pat on the head and then dashed away. Kate rolled her eyes at me and I smiled.

“I think your parents are great,” I said.

“Mm-hmm. Great,” she agreed sarcastically.

She led me down a hallway towards her room. Once there she opened her door and ushered me inside. Kate’s room was a definite contrast to the rest of the house. Her walls were stark white and filled with posters of witty phrases. She had a single bookshelf shoved into one corner that was cluttered with not only books, but an assortment of anything. Her room was quite messy seeing as she had a tendency to just drop things and leave them there.

Clothes littered the floor and just about every other surface. Yet, her closet still seemed to be full of more. Some, meaning me, would call her a hoarder of clothes, but Kate prefers to call herself a collector. I slowly swept off a clear spot for myself on her queen-sized bed as Kate drudged through some papers on her desk.

“Kate, when are you going to clean-“

“Never. I’ve got everything exactly where I want it. Organized chaos that only I understand and that’s how I like it,” she replied automatically. I smiled to myself and shook my head.

“Uh-huh,” I said. Then we heard the doorbell chime through the house and Kate quickly left. She returned a minute later with Lily in tow. Lily carefully picked her way over to me and sat down.

“Alright, we’re all here,” she stated.

“Well, besides Ash,” I said. Lily looked at me with amusement and Kate scoffed.

“What?” I asked frowning.

“Nothin. Nothin at all,” Kate said chuckling to herself.

“What?” I demanded. Kate laughed aloud and shrugged.

“He’s been around us a lot lately. Around you…” Lily said cryptically. I felt heat creep up my face involuntarily and I glared at them.

“What are you trying to say?”

“My brother’s hot for you, Rayne,” Kate said completely unfazed by my glare. Lily laughed with her as I stared at them.

“That’s ridiculous,” I said, waving my hand flippantly like Kate’s mom.

“Is it though?” Kate asked with a raised brow. I scowled at her and Lily laughed harder.

“It is!” I argued. I had known Ash since I was little. There was no way he liked me. It was all just harmless teasing. He’s like that with everyone. “Ash does not like me like that!”

“Did I hear my name just now?” Ash asked as he poked his head into the room. This made Kate and Lily burst out laughing and I blushed even harder embarrassed.

“Well, now that you ask-“ Kate started wiping tears from her eyes.

“Nothing! It’s nothing, Ash,” I interrupted frantically. He narrowed his eyes at us.

“Alright then.” He said. He straightened up and came into the room making a face at the state of
it. “Kate, jesus. How do you live in here?”

“Oh shut up,” Kate said rolling her eyes. He decided to perch on Kate’s desk, despite her protests.

“Ok, let’s figure out what we’re going to do about what happened last night,” I said, relieved at the change in topic.

“Is it too late for one more?” A voice said from the hallway. We all glanced up and I was shocked to see Ian step into the room.

“Ian? What are you doing here?” I asked confused. He was dressed in a casual pair of blue jeans and a white T-shirt. His hair was disheveled and he looked tired. This was confirmed as he yawned and slowly shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, Ash told me what happened at PiPs. I want to help.” He said.

“Oh. Thanks,” I replied in surprise. Kate immediately started gathering her clothes and piling them into the closet. Once we were all settled, I found everyone looking at me with expectant expressions.

“What?” I asked.

“You seem to be spearheading this thing, sis,” Ian said.

“I don’t…I mean I’m not…I don’t know what to do though,” I said at last. I hated being put on the spot and I certainly didn’t feel like I should be our leader in any way.

“I think we should forget about this whole thing,” Lily said catching us all off guard. I looked at her stunned.

“But-“ Kate started to protest, but Lily put her hand up shushing her.

“I’m not saying that I don’t care about getting answers. I want to know what happened just as much as you all do. But that bastard manager at PiPs was our best shot. And that’s not going to happen. I think we should just count ourselves lucky that nothing’s wrong in the first place,” she said calmly.

“How do we know nothing bad happened?” Kate challenged.

“We don’t,” I replied. Their eyes turned to me and I sighed. “We honestly don’t know what happened to us last night. But it’s entirely possible that nothing happened. Maybe after the Eclipse we all just went home like we had planned. I don’t know why none of us can remember, but Lily’s right. Our best chance at answers is gone. We’re out of options.”

“But we can’t just leave it like this. Not knowing?” Ash said hesitantly. His eyes were dark and I could feel his anxiety. I could almost feel everyone’s anxiety. Bubbling up from within myself, threatening to overwhelm me. I felt my heart beat quicken and I drew in a ragged breath. The room spun before me and I swayed. I could feel myself break out in a cold sweat as fine tremors worked through my body.

“That’s hours of our lives gone! Vanished from our memories forever. I am not ok with that,” Kate said angrily. I squinted my eyes in her direction trying to see her clearly.

“Neither am I, but what can we do about it?” Lily snapped back.

“This whole situation you guys are in is messed up. You’re not handling it very well,” Ian cut in. Kate and Lily gave him hard looks.

“Are you saying you weren’t affected? Then why are you here?” Ash asked him.

“We can’t just go on as if it never happened,” Kate said.

“That may be exactly what we have to do,” Lily replied.

“What are you so scared of?!” Kate said loudly. Lily straightened up and glared at her.

“I’m not scared, Kate. I’m using my head. Maybe you should try it sometime!”

“Please! First sign of a fight and you tuck tail and run!” Kate snapped.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Ash said obviously annoyed with his sister’s behavior.

“Shut up! You’re no help either,” Kate growled.

“If I remember correctly I was the one who got us that damned appointment with the manager in the first place! And you’re the one who got us kicked out,” He retorted acidly.

“Well at least I did something unlike the rest of you!” Kate yelled.

“STOP!” I cried jumping to my feet. I felt all of the anxiety, worry, and panic that had been building within me explode out in waves. My voice almost seemed to echo around the room as everyone froze. It was so silent you could almost hear a pin drop. With everyone’s attention on me I stood taller and looked them each in the eyes.

“Arguing like this isn’t solving anything! Getting mad at each other? What’s the point? We will try to find another way to get the answers we need. But for now all we can do is try to get our lives back to normal.” I said. I slowly sat back down feeling emotionally exhausted.

“Rayne’s right,” Ian agreed. Lily and Kate exchanged sheepish glances, while Ash nervously fiddled with a frayed string on his shirt.

“Sorry,” Lily said, looking at the ground.

“What she said,” Kate replied quietly.

“Shit, I’m sorry to,” Ash sighed. “This whole situation’s so messed up.”

“I know,” I said while slumping in my chair. A heavy silence hung around us, weighing down on our shoulders.

“But we should put it behind us. One weird ass night that for whatever reason we cannot remember,” Lily remarked.

“Exactly,” I said with a nod. “All in agreement say ‘aye’.”

“Aye,” Ian and Lily responded in unison.

Ash and Kate both had sour expressions, but reluctantly agreed.

“It’s settled then…” I announced. With that being said, I immediately felt lighter. I noticed some of the tension leave the others as well.

“This little meeting sure didn’t amount to much did it?” Kate asked with a humorless chuckle.

“Nope, guess not.”

“Damn,” she sighed. With our ‘meeting’ over, the boys slowly started to make their way out of the room.

“Hey, Ian?” I called after him. He paused near the door and turned back to me with a raised brow. “Do you really think you just fell asleep during the eclipse?”

“Yeah,” he replied immediately. I frowned as he walked out of the room. A slight tingle of warmth shot through my chest causing me to gasp. Lily, who was sitting closest to me, gave me a quizzical look.

“He’s lying,” I said with absolute certainty.

“How do you know?” Kate asked.

“I’m not sure. I just know that he is. Which means…” I pondered aloud.

“It must have been the Eclipse,” Lily quipped suddenly.

“Yeah. Something about it. I need to do some digging,” I said standing up. Kate rolled her eyes.

“Didn’t we just agree that we were leaving it behind us?”

“Ah…” I trailed off. “Well. A little research won’t hurt, right?” I countered innocently. I quickly turned away before she could respond.

“Kate where’s your computer?” I called to her as I shuffled through the stacks of clothes on her floor. With a sigh, Kate reached down, and pulled out her computer from beside her desk. She handed it to me gingerly.

“Just be careful with that, will you?”

“Of course,” I replied rolling my eyes. They gathered around me as I opened an internet browser.
I stared at the blank bar on Google suddenly confused.

“Wait, what would you even look up here? Blue Moon Eclipse causes case of group amnesia?” I noticed that when said out loud it sounded even more ridiculous. Lily and Kate exchanged puzzled looks before turning to me.

“Well looking up the Blue Moon Eclipse should be a good place to start, right?” Kate asked.

“Right,” I scanned the screen eagerly as the words popped up. About 12, 400 000 hits?
I looked at back at Lily and she shrugged.

“This might take a while…”

-2 hours later-

I snapped Kate’s laptop shut suddenly making Lily and Kate jump.

“Hey! I told you to be careful with that!” Kate growled as she pulled the laptop from my hands.

“Right, right. You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…” I sighed and angrily yanked the ponytail out of my hair, letting it fall down in black mass around my face. “This is not helping! It’s just been a waste of time!”

“Well, not a complete waste,” Lily yawned while rubbing her eyes. “We learned that it was a rare phenomenon that astrologers believed released some kind of cosmic energy…”

“Still not helping. Or not much anyway. We don’t even know if any of this stuff is legit,” Kate said. She leaned back on the bed and stretched slowly. I could hear the audible pops of her back and I winced.

“Have a little faith, huh, guys?” I asked half-joking. Kate mutedly scoffed as she covered her face with a pillow.

“Alright, I’m going to go get some fresh air,” I said.

I exited Kate’s room and walked to the front door. There was a soft light streaming through the curtains that cast the room in hues of gold. I knew it was a deceptive scene of warmth as I felt a slight chill seep from beneath the door. With a sigh I walked out into the light.

Once outside, I noticed that it was still deserted. I wrapped my arms around myself and slowly paced along the porch. The clear air, though cold, was refreshing. It woke me up and made me more alert.

Suddenly I heard a slight tinkling noise to my left and I twisted around startled. I was met by two large spheres of green staring back at me.

“Ah, Monte you scared me,” I teased as I reached down to scoop the kitten into my arms. Monte was a very small cat who made up for his lack of size in his amount of fur. His fur stuck out all over him making him appear twice his size. He was covered in stripes varying in shades of grey and black. Kate’s mom had rescued him from a parking lot outside of her work. He immediately started purring as I nestled him closer to me.

“It’s a bit chilly out today isn’t it, Monte? But you got so much fur I’m not sure you feel it at all,” I commented as he nudged my shoulder with his head. I smiled and hugged him tight despite his mewling protests. This is good…normal. Everything will be back to normal…if Monte’s fine…I’m fine…
Monte abruptly went rigid in my arms and I felt a growl run through his body. Stunned, I looked down at him to see that his fur was even more puffed out, and he was steadily glaring at something behind me. His claws dug into me through my sweater and I winced.

“Monte, what’s wrong?” I asked as I turned around. At first I was confused by what I saw, as it shifted in and out of focus. It appeared to be some kind of large cat. Its fur was black as night, but I could almost make out a silver like sheen to it. It had a large tail waving about agitatedly behind it, and I noticed it didn’t look like a cat’s tail. It was more like a fox. It peered up at us through bright eyes.

I thought it may have been blind because its eyes were clouded over, but it followed my movements as I stepped away from it. Its ears were quite large and angular, I noticed as they twitched backwards. Monte hissed vehemently in my arms as I struggled to hold on to him.

The fox slowly blinked at me and cocked its head to the side with its tail swishing behind it. I stood frozen as we looked at each other. The fox seemed to be looking right through me, searching for something. My vision started to tunnel until all I could see were its eyes. Dazed, I watched as images started to appear as if being seen through a thick fog.

I saw the field again. The lilies being bent under the force of the wind. The trees swaying ominously in the distance. The image raised and I was stunned to see the moon hovering overhead in the sky. It was bigger than I’d ever seen it before. I could make out the ridges and holes that marred its surface with unaided eyes. The sight of it stirred something inside me. Something buried deep within my core. As if waking from a very long sleep. Instinctively I turned away from the moon and saw that I was not alone.

There was a woman standing a few feet away also staring up at the moon. She wore a simple white dress that draped around her elegantly. Her skin shone pale and unflawed as porcelain. Her hair cascaded down to her waist in a mass of black waves, but ended in gleaming silver at the ends. She gave off a surreal aura that made me withdraw from her unintentionally. Sensing my movement she turned and looked straight at me.

I gasped as I saw her face. She was beautiful, but also incredibly sad. I could feel the force of her sorrow, and it was suffocating. Her features were fierce, but soft and feminine at the same time.
Her eyes were all encompassing black. I saw my own image reflected back at me within their depths.

Terrified, I stumbled away from the woman. She didn’t move, but I felt an invisible force freeze me where I stood. My heart beat erratically in my chest as I struggled against my restraints. I gasped for air as I felt the panic seize me.

“Rayne,” She said. I screamed as her voice filled my head. She hadn’t moved, hadn’t said a word. But I heard her as clearly as if she were talking right next to me.

“You have to end this,” she continued. Her voice was so powerful I felt like my head was trying to split in two. I cried out and fell to my knees.

“E-End what?!” I gasped out as I heaved for oxygen.

“You have to end this,” she repeated. “Only you can save them.”

I screamed soundlessly as pain radiated throughout my body. Just as my vision started to go black a sudden sharp pain in my arms snapped me back to reality.

“Ah!” I cried out as Monte clawed my arms. I blinked rapidly trying to process what was happening as he struggled out of my hold on him. I glanced down and saw the fox still sat there staring at us silently.

“What?” I gasped, but then Monte escaped. I tried to grab him, but he was too quick as he tore after the fox. “Monte!”

The fox gave me once last look, and then it turned and dashed away with Monte in close pursuit. I slumped down onto my knees and tried to take deep breaths. A persistent stinging brought my attention back to my arms. Cringing, I drew back my sleeves and saw several bleeding cuts.

The pain I had felt earlier had completely dissipated. Had I imagined it?

No. I didn’t imagine that. That really happened.

I glanced up at the sky and shakily rose to my feet.

What the hell is going on?