AllFreeNovel
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I’ve never felt this furious, thisdestructive.Not in my lifetime.
“PAUL!” Someone knocks. “Come out!”
Luna clings to my biceps with panicked breaths. “Donnelly.” Her fear is killing me all over again.
I gently touch the back of her head and whisper, “I’m not leaving you.I’m not leaving you.”
She blinks a few times, woozy, but she’s trying to root herself to my assured gaze. Her eyes start falling to the blue kyber necklace.
While I’m bending to her, the crystal hangs between us like the force between me and her, and a swell of emotion pools underneath me, through me, through Luna. Love and light are the powers that’ve guided me. Been racing towards them my whole life. I just never realized all this time I’ve been racing towards her.
She wraps her weakened arms around me. “Where…where are we going?” she asks.
“To your planet, space babe.” I scoop Luna into my arms, cradling her carefully against my chest, and she closes her eyes, seemingly breathing in my words like morphine. I whisper, “You’re safe now. We’re gonna fly there together.”
She curls herself closer to my body. Her breaths slow.
“Don’t fall asleep, alright?” I worry about her going unconscious. “Stay awake with me.”
She barely nods.
“PAUL!”
“I’m coming!” I shout back. With Luna in my arms, I exit into the short hallway. Someone half my age, ateenager, is blocking my path to the stairs. He puffs out his chest like he’s a threat, but a bad mixture of anger and pity rise inside me. “Get outta here, man.” I walk past him.
He doesn’t fight me. All bark.
Descending the staircase hurriedly, I hit the bottom stair. Everyone in the crowded living room zeroes in on me and Luna. My dad has his arms outstretched like he’s been keeping the peace.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” someone shouts at me.
“What is he doing, Sean?!”
“Put the girl down!”
Luna is trembling in my arms. I hold her tighter to my firm chest. “You all go!” I shout at them. “Leave me here with her. I’ll take the fall.”
Mutterings, dismissals, refusals.
“How do we know the cops are even coming?” Ryan snaps. “They could be lying!”
My dad scowls. “Why the fuck would we be lying? Are you really that dumb?”
I glance at the door. Could I just bolt outside?No.Liam and someone larger are guarding the exit and eyeing me skeptically. If I charged at them, I couldn’t fight ‘em off. Not while carrying Luna, and they’d pry her out of my arms.
“They’ll probably be here soon,” I warn. “You could let me take her. I won’t say anything to anyone.”
“No fucking way,” Colin spits. “We should at least take some pictures of her before—”
“Nah, there’s no time,” I cut in.And fuck you.Venom bleeds through me, and I shift my gaze so nobody can see that I’m pretending to care about them.
“No one has the names of who’s involved tonight,” my dad announces. “Either give Paul the girl or leave him with her. It’s the smart thing to do.”
They start talking over one another. Discussing more seriously. No one has left the row house yet, and suddenly, Luna goes limp in my arms. Her body slackens, and my pulse shoots to the moon.
“Luna,” I murmur.
Luna. Luna. Luna.
