Chapter 31: Interlude Nine – Crawling Out of Darkness

 

The darkness was cool around her. The type of cool you’d find on a brisk autumn morning in the sheltered valleys between the mountains in Goesan when the new day had begun but the warmth of the sun hadn’t broken past the surrounding peaks. A clammy cool which dotted your skin and made the hair on your arms and neck stand on end.

There were sounds as well, at first strange crackling sounds like flames devouring dry tinder then voices, then silence for a long time before an insistent, measured beeping. Like an electric cart backing up at the other end of a supermarket. Then a voice. A voice filled with fear and desperation. A voice soft and pleading.

She searched for what seemed like an eternity trying to find an exit to the darkness, but the gloom surrounded her like cotton, pressing against her. She could never be sure which direction she was facing or where she was moving. Finally, with no other way out she focused on the voice alone. It was familiar, yet not. Its very existence began to comfort her. Slowly, the voice also began to guide her through the unnatural, inky night. It spoke in incomprehensible whispers, but she knew there was no malice in that voice. It stirred a warm feeling in her chest which spread to her extremities, fighting back the chill of the dark. Soon, it became a guide for her. A point in the darkness which was unlike everything else. Something different, something unique, something to struggle towards.

Moon’s eyelashes fluttered, butterfly wings against her skin as she crawled out of the darkness toward the light. The bright light caused her to close her eyes tightly and she briefly felt her consciousness slipping back toward the edge of the abyss it had dwelled in, but she powered through and slowly opened her brown eyes. The ceiling was plain and white. Recessed fluorescent light shone down like to torment her eyes like the wrath of some low-rent sadistic god.

What happened? The last thing she remembered was leaning in to hug Ash as Minji’s apartment was torn apart around them. She felt like she’d gotten hit in the back by something, but she couldn’t remember anything after that. Ugh, she thought, Minji was going to be pissed about her otaku lair being ruined. She’d spent far more money than a human had a right to on worthless knickknacks and Moon had watched helplessly as those very same tacky figures were tossed around like leaves in a typhoon.

Something heavy was laying on her belly. She groaned slightly in pain but managed to crane her head far enough to see Ash’s head lying on her, dark hair askew, breath coming in regular whispers. Moon breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried that something might have happened, what with that angry girl catching everything on fire. Moon tried to lift her hand and was mildly surprised to find various tubes attached to machines by the bed. I guess that’s why my hand hurts so much, she thought, staring at her hand in surprise.

As if a dam had given way, she became acutely aware that more than just her hand hurt. Her chest hurt badly; her shoulder ached, her back was sore…in short, her whole body seemed like it was on fire. What the hell had happened? As Moon was silently going through the checklist of body parts that ached, hurt or were just sore Ash moaned and stirred. Yawning she raised her head and looked at Moon.

“Hi!” Moon said, here voice a bit hoarse. Ash blinked at her. Then again before lunging forward and holding her tight in a hug. “Ow! Ow!” Moon whimpered as Ash’s hand brushed her back.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” Ash backed off quickly, tears running down her face. Her eyes searched for anywhere she could grab onto, finally settling for Moon’s free hand. “I’m so, so very sorry!”

“It’s ok! There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Moon shook her head with a smile. “What happened?” Ash’s lower lip quivered for a moment before she burst into tears once again.

“That’s another thing I’m sorry about!” She wailed, screwing here yes tightly closed as the tears ran freely down her cheeks. “You got shot because of me!”

“Shot?” Moon stared at her blankly. “I got shot?” Ash nodded her head.

“It was bad! There was blood everywhere and I was panicking and there was magic and things on fire and the doctor saved you, but the whole situation was just insanity. I…I...” Ash trailed off, a look in her eyes that Moon found disquieting.

“Is everyone else ok?” Moon asked, trying to draw Ash back from wherever her mind had taken her. Not to mention she was trying to process the extent of what was actually going on. She’d been shot. If you’d told her a month ago, she’d be shot in a weird magic battle in her sister’s apartment while someone else inhabited her body she…well, no one would ever have said that because that would have been madness.

“Well, that angry wizard is still recovering from exhaustion but we’re all ok. It should have been me being shot. I am so sorry, Moon. You never would have had that happen to you if not for me. I hate it. I hate this whole thing,” Ash closed her eyes and exhaled after a long moment. “I’m just glad you’re ok. I was so scared.” Moon laced her fingers with Ash’s squeezing her hand gently.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Moon said, trying to capture Ash’s gaze with hers. The other girl stubbornly averted her eyes, though. “Hey! Look at me! We’re ok!”

“I suppose,” Ash finally answered. Moon could sense the tension in the girl’s body through her hand.

“Ah, good!” A voice from the door said with no small measure of satisfaction. “Welcome back to the land of the living!” Moon looked over to find Dr. Hideki standing in a white coat with a tired but pleased smile on her face. “We were worried about you, young lady. Ashvallen has refused to leave your side since we arrived. Maybe now she’ll slip off for some much-needed rest.”

“You said I could stay until she was out of danger,” Ashvallen insisted.

“And I was true to my word,” the doctor approached the bed, making marks on a chart held in her hands.

“She’s out of danger?” Ashvallen tried to maneuver to take a peek at the chart.

“Yes, indeed,” the doctor nodded, turning her gaze to Moon. “The first 24 hours was touch and go, but I believe with some time and rest you’ll be just like new! You’ll have a couple of interesting scars to brag about, but boys like scars. Trust me, they find them to be mysterious.”

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“Yeah…” Moon heard Ashvallen whisper.

“I thought girls were the ones who liked scars,” Moon tried to lighten the mood a bit. Something very plainly was bothering Ashvallen.

“Ah, I suppose they do at that,” the doctor smiled, pulling her stethoscope from around her neck and fitting it into her ears. “Let’s take a quick listen to your heart and lungs.”

“Annnd good mor- “the girl who had barged into the room paused, glancing at the clock on the far wall for a second before continuing, “noon! Yes, yes, good mornoon! My name is Anastasia Romanov. Yes, that one! I’m here to give you your debriefing.” The girl whirled through the room like a dervish before stopping in front of the chair Ashvallen was sitting on. She tapped her foot impatiently as Ashvallen stared at her with confusion.

“I’d like her to stay,” Moon finally said, holding Ashvallen’s hand possessively.

“Sorry, Kisa,” Anastasia returned, a hint of a Russian accent creeping into her voice. “Too many cooks and all that. You’ve been debriefed so if you don’t mind, could I have the chair?”

“Oh! Sorry,” Ashvallen murmured, letting go of Moon’s hand and stepping aside.

“Quite alright! Quite Alright! Don’t worry!” Anastasia grinned broadly at Ash before sitting. “After this we should all watch Squid Game, sound ok?”

“O-Ok,” Moon nodded.

“Splentacular! How do you feel? And if you say ‘with my hand’ I will not be pleased so bear that in mine,” Anastasia’s long honey blonde hair slipped over the screen she was staring at, and she brushed it back over her ear irritably.

“Sore.”

“I bet!” Anastasia sighed. “What do you remember about what happened?” Moon told her everything she remembered up until something hit her and she slipped into blackness. Anastasia nodded silently, typing into the device. “This thing is slow, sorry. They say 5G will make you grow a second head or something, but as far as I’m concerned if 5G gives me better streaming on my phone, I’ll take one for the team.” She finally seemed to get the response she was expecting and sighed. “Well, this is about right. Still sucks, though.”

“What sucks?” Moon asked nervously.

“We’ve been hearing some chatter from our sources and comm drops and apparently the Coven was more thorough and organized than they can usually muster,” Anastasia replied. “We’ll be moving you to the den tomorrow. It’s the only place in Korea we can assure your safety. Doctor, it looks like your family will be moving there as well, at least until this is over.”

“No,” Dr. Hideki shook her head. “That’s not possible. We cannot involve my family. That was the first condition for my joining.”

“See, that’s the problem, your family was recently involved whether we like it or not. Your name specifically came up in our comm scans. Someone in the Coven managed to figure out both how to use a camera and how to do an internet image search and, unfortunately, there you were! If we leave them where they are we can’t protect them,” Anastasia glanced up meaningfully. “I assume I don’t have to spell out what that means.”

“This isn’t right,” Tomoko muttered. “Saki will not be ok with this.”

“Well, you know what they say; ‘let no good deed go unpunished’,” Anastasia shook her head sympathetically. “As for you and the target-“

“Her name is Ashvallen,” Moon sniped with a scowl.

“Ok,” Anastasia peered at the screen for a moment before nodding. “What a weird name, right? My cousin’s name was Nina, which wasn’t that weird, but she had this doll she kept calling sobaka yashcheritsa, which made zero sense since it was a baby and not a dog or lizard. But that’s ok since Nina was kiiind of a bitch. Anyway, I digress. We’ll be moving you all over tomorrow morning. We’ll coordinate with you doctor to come up with a convincing story to get your family to the den as soon as we can. We’ll get Sierra to keep an eye on them in the meantime. So…Squid game?” She glanced around curiously for a moment.

“My math may be rusty, but we seem to be missing someone.”

“Where’s Ash?” Moon asked with concern.

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