Page 75 of Under an Endless Moon

“And not with me?” River razzed.

I let go of a soft laugh. “Don’t fool yourself, big brother. Nolan is the life of my party.”

He chuckled, too. “Kid is going to miss you.” He hesitated then said, “And I’m gonna miss you, too.”

TWENTY-TWO

RAVEN

NINE YEARS OLD

Raven was having another nightmare.The same one that came every night.

“No, no, no. Daddy, please, no.” She used her heels to slide across the carpeted floor, trying to get away from him. But she couldn’t. She never could, no matter how hard she tried. No matter how quiet she tried to be. No matter if she hid beneath her covers or at the back of her closet.

He always found her when he was mad.

And he was mad right then. She could see it even though his face was twisted in a grin.

“Told you that you’d be punished if you left the light on again.”

“I didn’t, Daddy. I didn’t.”

He flicked the lighter and she screamed.

Screamed and screamed.

Her scream echoed through the dark room as she awoke, so small in her tiny bed, and she flailed her arms as she tried to get away. She had to get away.

“Shh, Raven, it’s okay. It’s okay. It’s me.Otto. You’re safe.”

Her breaths kept heaving out of her, and her heart beat so hard that it hurt, her chest squeezing tight as she tried to process where she was.

She blinked through the shadows that covered the room, and it took her a minute to be able to make out who was there.

It was Otto.

His face was pinched up like he was mad, and his breaths were hard, too, but his blue eyes that shined in the dark chased away the feeling in her stomach that she might be sick. She felt sick a lot, a yucky sense inside her that made her feel like something was always wrong.

But it’d always been wrong, at least most of the time.

But it didn’t feel wrong right then.

“You’re safe,” he murmured again, his voice low. “You’re safe.”

She nodded to tell him that she understood since she couldn’t make any words come up her throat.

He nodded, too. “Okay.”

Then he plopped down on his butt beside the little bed that Theo and Kane had brought for her and put in this room because they’d said a princess needed her own special space. “Bad dream?” Otto finally asked.

She nodded again.

He roughed a hand through his brown hair that was kinda shaggy and long. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

He sighed. “Hate it for you…that you feel scared here. Mean it when I tell you that none of us will let anyone get to you here.”

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