NOVEL WEB Chapter 16: Chapter 15: Veil of Warnings
The world outside the car felt eerily still as Alex closed his eyes for a moment, trying to settle the disquiet within him. It had been a long, exhausting drive, and he needed to clear his head. But then, something changed.
A strange, unfamiliar sensation crawled up his spine, as though eyes were watching him from all angles. Alex breath caught in his throat as a greenish fog began to seep through the air around them, thickening, swirling with an unnatural presence. It choked the air, making it hard to breathe.
His eyes snapped open, panic flaring through him. "Luna!" he called, shaking her awake. "Something's wrong."
Luna blinked in confusion, sitting up quickly and looking around. The fog was gone, the air perfectly clear. She glanced at Alex with a frown. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice tinged with concern.
Alex rubbed his eyes, scanning their surroundings. There was nothing—just the night, quiet and still. "I swear... there was something," he muttered, standing up as he stepped out of the car, pulling her along with him, still unsettled. "I know what I saw, Luna . Green fog. It was thick, and I couldn't breathe. You didn't feel anything?"
Luna shook her head,her brow furrowed in confusion.. "No... nothing. Are you sure?" She watched his face, trying to read his thoughts. His confusion was palpable.
He ran a hand through his hair, disbelief crawling over him. "I don't know anymore. Maybe I'm just tired." His gaze shifted to the small convenience store across the road, the neon sign flickering slightly in the dim light. "I stopped because we've been on the road for too long—I thought you might need a break. Do you need anything?"
Luna looked away, biting back the words that wanted to escape. Instead, she shrugged, her tone sharp. "You don't need to care about me, Alex. We're not friends...we're nothing to each other." Her words hung in the air, pointed and tinged with the bitterness of their last conversation, the one where he'd shut her out so firmly.
He raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his lips. "You're really that petty, aren't you?"
She tossed her hair over her shoulder, silver strands gleaming under the dim streetlight, and arched a brow. "Damn right, I'm pretty."
Alex rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a chuckle. "I said petty, not pretty."
She gave him a mock-offended look, about to launch a retort, when her stomach suddenly betrayed her, grumbling loud enough to break the tension. The two of them froze for a moment before Alex burst into laughter, the sound rumbling through the quiet car.
"Oh, so that's what you need," he teased, nudging her arm playfully - the tension in his body still present, but he nodded. "What do you want? I'll grab something from the store." He said pointing to the convinience store across the road .
"Anything with chocolate," she said with a small grin, as if she wasn't trying to make him eat his words just few seconds back.
He smirked despite himself, his eyes softening for just a moment. "Stay here. I'll get you something."
He turned toward the road but froze as his gaze fell on something disturbing—a young boy, no older than nine or ten, standing in the middle of the street. Cars whizzed past him as though he wasn't there, his small figure motionless against the chaos of moving traffic.
Alex's heart leapt in his chest. "Stay here," he ordered Luna, and without waiting, sprinted toward the child, moving with a speed that made him a blur. Cars rushed by, and any moment, the boy could be hit.
As Alex neared, their eyes met for the briefest moment—the boy's lips curved into a chilling smirk.
And then he vanished.
Alex froze, skidding to a halt, his hand reaching out to where the boy had been, but there was nothing but thin air. He stood alone in the middle of the road, confusion and disbelief washing over him. The vehicles blurred around him, their honking growing louder. Suddenly, a truck sped toward him from the left.
"Alex!" Luna's scream echoed through the night, her voice filled with terror.
Time seemed to slow. Luna's instincts screamed at her to run, to help him, but before she could move, the boy appeared again—this time beside her. His small hand reached out, grabbing her wrist.
"Stop," he whispered, his voice laced with power far beyond his years.
Luna paused, her heartbeat steady but her instincts sharp.
The child wasn't just a boy—there was something ancient, something unsettling about him. It wasn't fear that held her still, but a strange, unspoken connection that simmered between them. Her gaze remained locked on the boy, her mind quietly calculating as Alex narrowly dodged the oncoming truck, rolling out of its path just in time. She didn't flinch, only observed, as if she were waiting for something more from the boy—something she knew might never come.
When Alex finally made it to the other side of the road, his gaze locked onto Luna—and the boy standing next to her. His mind raced, trying to process the impossible. Who was this child? And why was Luna not moving?
The boy's dark eyes met Luna's, filled with the same silent warning she'd seen so many times before. She knew him but this was the first time he'd spoken in all those centuries , and the weight of his words only deepened her unease.
"Stop pretending to be clueless, Luna. Hide in the shadows. Don't come out. This is your only chance," he said .
Luna's lips curved into a faint smile. She knew exactly what he meant, had always known, but she wasn't ready to stop pretending. Not yet.
"Maybe I know something but I don't know everything, Ezra " she replied as she emphasized his name , her voice light, dismissive, but the tension beneath it betrayed her.
His eyes narrowed, cutting through her defense with ease. "You made yourself human. You chose this fate to escape what you already knew - remember the prophecy . You can't outrun what's coming," he said, his gaze drifting toward the direction Alex was in.
His next words sent a cold chill crawling down her spine. "Don't trust anyone, Luna. Everyone you trusted in betrayed you."