Sleep Tight, page 3
An arrow of light whizzed past my face just as I was ducking, lightly grazing my cheek.
The warmth of it sinking into the bone.
I looked to my left, the only thing I could see was the swaying of leaves, the branches gently jumping from the wind.
He gave away his position, a mistake. I knew exactly where he was now.
Without making a sound I quickly climbed a tree. Jumping from branch to branch, the wind loud enough to cover any noise. On the fifth tree I stopped and looked down at him.
He had no idea I was standing right above him. He was crouched down, scanning the area for me.
Without hesitation I threw a burst of light at his head, but he was quick, he spun around and threw a ball of light of his own straight into mine, sending it towards the tree I was in.
I jumped, spun and landed on the ground with a soft thud. The light behind me scattered into a million pieces, falling like snow.
Blake rolled his eyes. “Show off.”
He stood in front of me dusting off his pants. Blake was my cousin; but he was more like a brother. We grew up together. His parents died when he was young, our dads were brothers, and our parents didn’t hesitate to take him and his younger sister, Olivia, into our home.
Blake and I were only a year apart in age, I was older, so we got close easily, I was twenty-one. His sister Olivia was nineteen.
On cue Olivia came jogging out towards us.
“Finished with your run?” I asked.
“Yeah, just in time to see you beat Blake again.” She wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
Blake rolled his eyes again. “He did not beat me. We weren’t finished.”
“You keep rolling your eyes and they’re gonna get stuck in that big head of yours.”
He punched me in the arm. I punched him right back, which lead to him hitting me again.
We looked at each other for a second before I grabbed him and put him in a choke hold.
He spun in my arms, getting out of it with ease. Grabbing my arm, he twisted it behind my back, but he couldn’t hold me.
I grabbed his arm with my free hand and pushed before lifting him up in front of me, dropping him to the ground.
He groaned then coughed as his back hit the ground.
“I almost had you that time.” He winced slightly.
I laughed and stuck out my hand for him to grab, helping him up on his feet.
“Yeah, just a little more practice and you’ll get me soon enough.” I patted him hard on the back, making him cough harder. He gave me a warning look that only made me laugh.
“You guys are just big goofy boys.” Olivia smiled.
Olivia was sweet, she treated everyone and everything with kindness. Just like I saw Blake as a brother, I saw Olivia as a little sister. They were alike in a lot of ways, he also treated everyone with kindness.
I envied that. I wish that I had as good of a heart as they did.
“Uncle Cass has an assignment for us, he needs to talk to us now. He caught me near the house and asked me to come get you guys.” Olivia started the walk back to the house without waiting for us.
We headed back to the house without question. We followed Olivia into the house and headed straight for the basement. We took the elevator in silence. The house was built like a fortress, a tall stone wall surrounded the property.
The outside had cameras with sensors especially made to warn us when a Kryp was on our property.
The basement extended all throughout the property and went down two stories. All meetings were held in the basement, it was big enough to hold all the Leki’s in our county and it gave us the privacy we needed.
It also had training rooms but when it came to training with our light everyone preferred to do that outside during the night when we were at our strongest.
We walked out of the elevator and headed straight to the meeting room; the halls bright with lights. We passed by training rooms with Leki’s training not only their bodies but also their minds.
As we walked into the meeting room, I saw dad standing at the end of the table, his hands resting on it, he was looking down at a screen. His shoulders were tense, and his eyebrows furrowed.
Dad was a jolly guy, so to see him like this was really throwing me off, even in the worst of situations, he was always the one to make light of things and joke around. He wasn’t the serious one.
Mom was standing beside him with her arms crossed, her back to me. I looked around and caught Ethan Velez, my best friend, leaning back in a chair, his feet resting on the table.
Ethan’s eyes meet mine and he quickly walked over to us.
“Finally, you guys are here. Your dad is being tense and it’s freaking me out, they were waiting for you guys to get here to tell us what's happening.”
“Well, we’re here now. Dad what's going on?” I asked.
Dad looked up at me, tension in his eyes but also relief.
Mom turned around to face us. “We found them.”
The tension in the room went up in an instant. After looking for the Luna family for years with no luck I couldn’t believe it.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
I looked at dad and he gave me a small smile, the relief of finally finding them in it.
Gabriel Luna was dad’s best friend growing up. When Gabriel ran off with his new wife and baby, dad felt betrayed. Gabriel told dad that he was tired of this life, he wanted his family to have a safe and normal life, so he ran, believing that he could give them that only if he left.
So, when we found out that Gabriel died, dad was heartbroken. Since then, he’s been searching everywhere for Gabriel’s children. We had been keeping tabs on them, we knew he had two more kids with his wife, but we were never able to figure out where they were.
And when Gabriel was murdered, we lost track of his family, we were no longer getting updates about them from our anonymous source. They were in even more danger since his death.
“It’s them. They’ve been right under our noses this whole time, only one town over from us.” Dad put up the picture of them on the main screen.
“Meet Daniel, Jesse, and Ava Luna.”
We all looked at them in silence. They were hugging each other and looked happy. The youngest son, Daniel, had a wide smile and a dimple on one cheek, straight brown hair combed to one side. Jesse, the middle son had curly brown hair, a sharp jaw line, and a crooked smile.
Ava was between them, she had long wavy brown hair; her eyes were dark sea green with a twinkle in them. She looked small, but her smile was big and radiant. Without even meaning too, I gulped.
Shaking my head, I looked away from the picture.
“So, what's the plan.” Ethan asked.
“We need you to go and bring them back here. It’s the only place that we can keep them safe and watch out for them.” Dad looked at mom. “But there is something else.”
“There are already two Leki families watching over them. The Sutter's and the Rey’s. They ran off around the same time that Gabriel did, we assumed he had something to do with it. Well, we were right, they have their daughters, Priya Sutter and Skylar Rey watching over her, they’ve become her best friends.” Mom explained.
“Why chose those families? I've never heard of their names before.” Olivia said.
“Those two families have been guarding the Luna’s for generations, when they ran off, we kept quiet about it to you kids, you were too young to understand,” Mom sighed. “Plus, the council was so upset they made sure that they were never talked about. But they are in more danger now than ever before, two young girls protecting them isn't enough. They don’t realize the danger that all of them are in right now.”
“So that’s why we're sending you, Elijah, with a team to bring everyone back. You’re one of the best we have son, and the only one I trust with this.” Dad said.
“Your mother and I will be going to the Rey’s and Sutter’s to bring them back.”
I looked at Blake and Ethan, they nodded at me knowing already that they were the only ones I trusted to have my back.
“I’m going with you guys.” Olivia said without hesitation.
“No, you are not.” Blake gave her a warning look.
“I am more than ready to go out into the field, Blake, you can't stop me forever.”
Blake was protective of Olivia; he had been looking out for her his whole life.
Mom walked up to Blake and gave him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. “Honey I know you are worried about her, we all are, she's the baby of the family,” she turned, smiling at Olivia. “But we should let her go, its time.”
Blake looked between mom and Olivia, clearly not happy about what was happening. But he knew it was true, he couldn’t stop her forever.
He threw his arms up in defeat. “Ugh fine. But you listen to everything I say you got it.”
Olivia squealed before jumping to hug Blake and mom.
“I promise, scouts honor.” She pulled away. “And thank you, Aunt Wendy.”
Mom smiled and winked at her.
“We need to move fast. From what we’ve learned so far, they have no idea about the power they possess. Jesse is turning eighteen in a couple of days and is having a birthday party.” Dad said. “That’s your in. Become friends with them first before telling them anything, we don’t want them getting spooked and running from us.”
“We all know how important this is. We need to keep them safe. Its everyone's number one priority to keep them alive.” Mom said.
“I can't believe this.” I muttered under my breath.
Dad looked at me. “What's the problem?”
Everyone looked at me with a curious look. I couldn’t help myself sometimes, I knew I should stay quiet but instead I opened my mouth.
“I'm just not happy about the fact that their lives may or may not decide the fate of our people.” I looked at the picture of them, my eyes involuntarily finding Ava, something in my gut told me I was in for some trouble.
“I know it doesn’t seem fair, but we have a duty to protect everyone who needs our help. They are important to us, whether you like it or not is irrelevant, you have a job to do.” Dad’s voice was firm and final, he wasn’t talking to me as a father right now.
I knew I should have kept quiet, but it was a habit I couldn’t break. My eyes meet dad’s and he was right; I had a job to do.
“Yes sir.”
Mom gave me a look, she always said I was stubborn but admired me for always speaking out for myself, even if it did get me into trouble sometimes. She walked by me and squeezed my hand, I squeezed back.
Dad looked around the room before speaking.
“We leave tomorrow morning. We already arranged a meeting with the Sutter's and Rey’s, and they’ve agreed to hear us out. You guys will be going with us to meet them. There has been enough division between our own people. Now more than ever we all need to be united. A war is coming.”
Dad’s face was determined. I always admired him, he was so tough and never seemed afraid of anything.
Someday I hoped to be even half the man he was. We all walked out to go get ready. After years of looking for the Luna family we were anxious to finally get to them, especially dad.
He never gave up hope even when everyone thought the Kryps had finally got to them all. It was finally time to meet them.
“We're here.”
Dad turned a corner and stopped the car. We all stepped out of the car and stretched.
There were trees all around us, swaying in the light breeze. You could hear the thundering of a river in the distance.
We looked around but there was no one else but us.
I looked at dad puzzled. “Are we getting stood up? Where are they?”
“They’ll be here, don’t worry.” Dad took his pocket watch out to check the time, he was the only person I knew who still used one, it was his great grandfathers and had been passed down to him.
I sat down on a log nearby, looking up at the clear blue sky.
Olivia and Blake started silently bickering, Blake was obviously trying to set some rules with her.
Ethan sat down next to me, and shut his eyes, his face concentrated as he listened to the noises around us.
“It's going to rain soon.”
The sky was clear, but you didn’t doubt Ethan when it came to the weather, this was his gift. Well, not an actual gift he was just freakishly good at smelling the rain miles away.
“You think these two families are going to come back?”
I stayed silent for a moment taking in his question. “I don’t know. But it would be stupid of them not to. It’s been years, they should get over whatever loyalty they had to Gabriel.”
We stayed silent for a while just looking at the sky and listening to Olivia and Blake’s bickering.
Ethan broke the silence.
“Are you ready to meet your sworn enemies?” He gave me a playful smile.
“I don’t think the Lunas, or the Sutter’s and Rey’s are my sworn enemies.”
Ethan gave me a doubtful look. I shook my head and chuckled.
“Ok so I'm not their biggest fan, but I don’t see them as enemies, I promise.” I sighed and looked down at the ground. “You know we don’t even know if the rumors are true. And if they are well...it just wouldn’t be fair.”
Ethan nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, I get how you feel man. But you also have to remember they are the reason we even have our power in the first place. We’re lucky, don’t forget that. It's our role to protect anyone in trouble, that’s why we are here.”
“Yes, old wise one.”
Ethan laughed. He always knew what to say.
He looked up; his face now serious. “They’re here.”
We all turned to look just as two cars pulled up in the distance.
The two families stepped out of their cars and walked towards us. Their faces showed hesitation but their bodies tried to hide it with confidence.
I watched their daughters next to them, they both had their arms crossed over their chests, sizing us up. Ethan and Blake were also watching the daughters, but Blake was already giving them his signature smile.
I rolled my eyes, that wasn’t good.
Dad spoke, breaking the silence.
“Scott, Dana. Joseph, Amelia. It's been a long time. Thank you for meeting with us, we appreciate this.”
“Of course.” Scott Sutter looked over at his daughter. “This is my daughter, Priya.”
“Cass, Wendy, it's good to see you both after so long.” Joseph Rey said. “This is my daughter, Skylar.”
“It's so good to see you all again.” Mom smiled and turned to introduce us all. “This is my son, Elijah. My nephew Blake and my niece Olivia. And Ethan Velez, he’s a close family friend.”
Dad stepped forward. “We know that the Luna siblings have been here with you guys. We aren't here to argue with you, let’s leave the past in the past.”
The Sutter's and Rey’s glanced at each other; they didn’t seem surprised about what dad just told them.
“We knew you would eventually find them. But we have been watching over them. Our daughters are close with the oldest, Ava. They trust us.” Joseph said.
“Yes, so what is all this about? Like my husband said we have been watching over them for years now, with no problems.” Amelia said.
“You didn’t expect to keep going on like this did you? You had to have known this day was coming.” Dad said.
“There is a war coming. Have you guys heard of the rumors?” Mom asked.
They all looked at each other, confused.
“What rumors?” Dana asked.
Dad sighed. “It's the Kryps. They’ve been killing off every member of the Luna family they can find. It’s been happening for years. Ava, Jesse, and Daniel are the last Lunas alive.”
They all gasped. So, they hadn’t heard the rumors.
“We haven't kept track of what's going on. We just watch over the kids just like Gabriel
wanted.” Scott’s voice wobbled for a moment.
“But how can this be possible? There really is no one left?” Joseph asked.
Before dad could answer his question, Amelia threw him another question.
“Why are they targeting them? Do you guys know the reason behind what they're doing?” She twirled her hands together.
They were visibly nervous now.
“That's where the rumors come in. The Kryps have gotten the idea that if they kill all the Luna’s then we all lose our power.” Dad said.
“Wait is that true? Will that happen?” Now Priya was asking the questions.
Mom and dad looked at each other and shook their heads.
“We don’t know.”
Ethan spoke up. “That's why we're here. We need to take them back with us. They aren't safe with you anymore.”
Skylar took a step forward, the look she was giving him was not good.
“Are you saying we aren't good enough? Our duty is to protect them, I think we know what we're doing.” Her eyes lit up with annoyance.
Blake glanced at me, his eyebrows raising.
Joseph gently grabbed her arm. “Mija it's okay.”
“No, of course we don’t think that, that’s not what Ethan meant.” Dad gave him a look. “We know that your families have always been personal bodyguards for the Lunas since the beginning. What Ethan meant was that right now being out here alone is not a good idea. The Kryps are forming an army and are now outnumbering us, they won't stop until Ava, Jesse and Daniel are dead. All were asking is that you all consider coming back with us. Please we just want to help protect them like we always have in the past.”
Scott and Joseph looked at each other, then at their wives before nodding silently in agreement.
“We have noticed more Kryps in the area these last few years. The number of people having nightmares, terrors and sleep paralysis has increased. So have the unexplained deaths.” Scott’s face was clouded with worry.
“But Ava and her brothers have no idea about their powers, they’ve gone dormant. They know nothing about who their father really was, neither does their mother. Their father’s wish was for them to grow up different, so we’ve kept everything a secret from them. We have no idea how they will react, so we need to be cautious and tell them at a slow pace.” Amelia warned.
