Chasing My Rejected Luna
Chapter 183

TEGAN'S P.O.V

"Momma, Momma!"

After talking with Uriah an unsettling feeling washed over me. Why was he acting so strange? I couldn't quite figure out what had changed. But something had. I hadn't known Uriah long, but in the few years I've known him, he had never acted this way. "What my sweet boy?"

"Bad man, ouchie!"

He must've seen something on TV.

"What happened to the bad man?"

"Red water."

Did he mean wine?

"Did he spill it on himself?"

"Red-" He paused, looked to his side, then back at me. "Lud."

What was lud?

"Oh, really?" I asked, acting as if I had understood what he meant. "Safe." He then said to himself.

Something he tended to do often. People have told me it's abnormal. However, Kenedy, our pack therapist, said children often create imaginary friends. That children who create imaginary companions actually engage in high levels of positive self-talk which helps them have more positive social development. So, at least I can say that's going for him.

"No, safe. Mommy, no safe."

"Why is Mommy not safe, E?"

"Bad man."

A feeling washed over me when he said that. A bad man. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about it. But something made me question if he knew something that I didn't? Was this meeting a trap? Was the Pl the bad man? "Hey, ready to head out?" Novalee's voice asked from the doorway, pushing all of my thoughts aside.

"Sure am. The kiddos are all set, snacks packed, bags ready. We're ready."

"Good. Lucy insisted that they tag along. Something about making it a girls trip."

"So, us girls and our kids. Some 'girls trip"." I replied, air-quoting the last part.

"Truthfully, I didn't even know she liked those sorts of things."

"She used to. Then she stopped. A lot has happened since then. Maybe she just wants to get back to how she used to be. You know, before everything."

"I never met that side of her. But I can't say I wouldn't want to."

"She was the best."

"I still am bitch, what are you talking about?" Lucy said, entering the conversation.

"I know. I just mean, the old you was great too. Even if you hated her, I loved her. Just like I love this you too."

"Okay, don't get all mushy on me. Are we ready or what?"

"Appears so, all the babies are in their carseats. All that's left is-" I turned to look around for Elias. "Come on, E, it's time to go." I hollered out when I didn't see him.

When he didn't respond, I ran back inside to replace him.

"E, come on baby. We have to get going."

"Mommy, red water." He paused before looking over to his side. "Baby E, red water" His eyes cut back over once again. "And baby sissy, red water."

Red water? What was red water? He had never mentioned it before today. I thought he meant the bad guy had wine. But now I'm questioning that because why would he mention him and his baby sister having red water? "Baby what's red wa-"

“Come on, T. We are going to miss our flight if we don't hurry." Novalee yelled from outside.

Note to self, ask Elias what red water is when we get settled in the car.

"Come on baby. We are going to go see a plane. Do you want to see a plane and fly in the sky?"

"YEAH!" He hollered out excitedly while jumping up and down. "Plane dada! Plane!"

"No baby, I'm Momma."

Everytime he calls me dada or mentions Ezra, my guts twist into knots. It's hard to explain to a two year old why Daddy isn't here. It's even harder when they create an imaginary friend and name them dada. Because what do I say to that? "Plane." He repeated again as I strapped him in the car seat. "Sit dada, sit" He then said, pointing to the empty seat next to him.

We had rented a transport bus for today. It was easier with all of the carseats.

"Who wants to play eye spy?" Lucy asked as we pulled out the driveway.

"Hell yeah, I'm the queen of eye spy." Novalee shot back.

"Eye spy with my little eye, something brown."

"POO-POO!" Elias yelled without missing a beat, making us all laugh hysterically.

"Good one kid, but if you saw poop, we'd be in a world of shit. Literally."

"Shit."

"Lucy!" I yelled when Elias repeated her.

"How was I supposed to know he was at the repeating stage?"

"Um, because he is two?"

"Touche, sorry about that. Anyway, I spy with my little eye something black."

"Wait, we didn't get the chance to guess the brown, what was it?" Novalee asked curiously.

"It was that penny on the ground."

"See a penny pick it up, all day you'll have good luck!" Novalee said loudly while reaching down for the penny.

"But only if it's heads up." Novalee immediately drops the penny to her words.

"I didn't keep it, so it doesn't count. Right?"

"It's just a superstition. It's not real." I replied.

"MOMMY, RED WATER!" Elias randomly screamed, making us all jump at his outburst.

"Red water, what's he me-" Lucy began to ask but before all of her words could come out, our bodies jerked.

The van flipped from the impact, rolling us three times before coming to a crashing stop.

My head was pounding and all I could see was glass and blood. My eyes shot over to Elias first. He was dangling upside down, still tightly secured in his carseat, blood trickling down his forehead. I panicked trying to free myself from the seat belt. I had to get to him, to make sure he was breathing. Oh god, the babies. My Irelyn. I needed to make sure everyone was okay!

I pulled out the knife I kept tied to my leg and began cutting the straps. Once I was free, my body fell to the top of the car. The car was flipped upside down, which meant everyone was dangling upside down.

A sharp pain coursed through my body from my movements. I quickly peered down to see a chunk of metal intruding from my thigh. I knew better than to pull it, so instead I focused on the kids and began to crawl towards them. I checked Elias first, once I knew he was fine I then quickly moved to the back of the bus to check on the babies. Luckily, all of them were safe as well. The carseats all do their jobs by keeping the kids safe and secure.

I slowly undone each buckle holding them to the bus's seat. Setting each carseat on the roof of the car, which was now the floor. I didn't want them to be dangling upside down while extracting us all from the bus. As I started working on getting Elias out, I began hollering at Lucy and Novalee.

"Novalee! Lucy! Wake up!"

No response.

"NOVALEE! LUCY! WAKE UP!" I screamed that time.

Lucy's body started twitching, but Novalee remained still. Not moving at all.

"What... Happened?" Lucy asked, in a daze.

"Lucy, check on Novalee. She isn't responding."

"THE KIDS!" She then screamed in terror once she was able to make sense of what happened.

"THEY'RE FINE, CHECK ON NOVALEE!" I yelled again as panic started to take over.

"Nov, hey can you hear me? Nov, are you okay?"

A silent pause, something I hated.

"Lucy, what's going on?"

I was freaking out because Novalee didn't have super healing abilities, she wasn't a werewolf like Lucy and I.

"SHE ISN'T BREATHING!"

FUCK, SHIT, F**K!

"WHAT DO I DO, TEGAN? SHE HAS NO PULSE!"

You can do this, remain calm. You can do this.

"You need to start CPR. I'm working my way back to you guys. Count the compressions out loud!"

"123456789..."

"Good job, keep going. I'm almost there."

We could trade off with compressions and breaths once I made it to her.

"28 29 30."

"Now do the breaths and I will take over the compressions." I said once I finally made it to her side.

"Your- puff, Leg- puff" She said between breaths, motioning to my leg.

"I'm fine. Let's just worry about Novalee."

Once her breaths were done I jumped into action.

'Dun.Dun.Dun. Another one bites the dust.' Gemma started singing in my head.

'Not funny, Gem!'

'What, it's the beat. The words are harsh but still true!

'NOT NOW!'

"25 26-"

"MOMMY, BAD MAN!"

"Not now baby, mommy's bus- UH!" I screamed as my head jerked backward.

I twist my body doing the alligator roll until I see a man with the most vile look in his eyes. "TEGAN!"

He doesn't realize just how bad he has fucked up.

"FOCUS ON NOVALEE. THAT'S A DEMAND!"

The question was. What did he want?