I slept until noon on the day of the festival. Groggily, I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. My muscles were sore from sleeping in the wrong position; I rolled my head a few times to try and get rid of the soreness.

"Sis!" May cried, running over to me. "What do you think?"

Rubbing the drowsiness out of my eyes, I turned around to see May turning around in a circle to show me her dress. My mouth feel open. But it wasn't because I was looking at her dress, but rather because of the state of the house.

"What happened to the house?" I screeched.

Clothes were scattered everywhere from the living room to the kitchen. Makeup and powder rolled onto the floor, creating colorful stains. There was a rustling from the side, and I looked over my shoulder to see Mom squirming her way out of the closet. She popped out of the messy closet and held up a puffy pink dress.

"May!" she exclaimed, waving her hand. "Come and try on this outfit—oh you're awake."

"Mom," I started. "What the hell are you doing?"

Mom glared at me. "First of all young lady, no profanity. Second of all, unlike you, we ladies know how to dress up pretty and act ladylike at parties. We wear ladylike dresses and have ladylike manners."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll stay like this thank you very much."

I spent my remaining time watching May and Mom try on dresses and putting on makeup. In the end, May chose a blue dress that was dotted with flowers on the end. She had her light brown hair pinned back with bobby pins and wore the jade necklace she had bought at the market. I noticed Mom had pinned May's hair weirdly again with two bobby pins on top of each other like a cross instead of just one bobby pin pinning down on one strand of hair.

Mom wore a knee-length red sleeveless dress with diamonds glittering across her chest. She had refused to go out until I changed into something "appropriate", but I had no dresses or skirts. Of course, Mom came prepared and handed me a blue dark dress with sleeves that poofed up like a balloon.

I rejected it immediately. She muttered something unintelligible and dug deeper into the closet. She pulled out a knee-length, sleeveless simple black dress with thin straps and held it up for me to examine. I cocked my head to a side and grinned. Mom rolled her eyes and gave it to me to wear. I went into the bathroom and put on the dress gingerly. I took a glance at the mirror.

An eighteen-year old girl stared back. I sighed as I glanced closer at my shoulder-length light brown hair and dark amber eyes. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and glanced at my delicate nose and almond-shaped eyes. I liked staring at myself in the mirror; Mom always told me it was like staring at a girl version of Father.

The only physical trait where I didn't follow Father was the color of my skin. I was strangely fair, so fair that people would sometimes stop and stare at me. Mom told me they envied the paleness of my skin because that represented being wealthy and having class, but I hated it more than anything. I was pretty sure I was the worst person on this planet when it comes down to social skills. I had none. Just like I had no friends.

Mom was a little darker than me but still quite pale, but May was pretty tan when she stood next to us. That was the only thing that separated the two of them in terms of physical features though. Both of them had dark brown hair and moon-shaped beige eyes. Their hair lengths were the same as well; both fell to their waist and shined in the sunlight whenever they moved their heads. Although May was six years younger than me, she was only shorter than me by a head. In height, I think she followed Father. Mom was only five foot five.

Leaning in, I glared at myself harder in the mirror, trying to evenly part my hair but was rudely interrupted by May pounding on the door, yelling me that it was time to go. I was about to leave the bathroom when my elbow knocked into something. It felt on the ground, and I quickly bent down, examining the tiny bottle to see if it broke. As I took a closer look, I realized that it greatly resembled an eye dropper.

I tilted my head. It couldn't be an eyedropper though. She didn't have itchy eyes nor did she ever show any sign of discomfort with her eyes.

"Sis! Hurry up!" May's voice broke my thoughts.

Shrugging, I placed it back to the sink and came to the conclusion that she probably had it for one of her patients. I left the bathroom and ran outside only to be hit by a strong wind that tousled my hair wildly. I shivered and pulled the jacket Mom had given me before leaving the house.

I could see the lantern lights and hear the happy cries of the townsfolk from the house. Excitement bubbled within me. Tonight was a full moon. The moon looked like it wouldn't lose its shine until sunrise. As May and I waited for Mom, I decided to amuse myself a little as I let out a breath and watched it turn misty before evaporating into the night.

May was staring at me raptly and started to do it on her own. Suddenly, she turned around and tugged my jacket.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking down at her.

"Are you wearing the necklace?" she questioned, her eyes big and innocent.

I frowned. What necklace?

May pulled out a piece of jewelry wrapped around her neck and revealed the jade we had bought yesterday. I made an 'o' shape with my mouth and nodded slowly. "Yes...yes! I did, in fact. I don't want to wear it with me right now though because I don't want it to fall off in such a crowded place! Why don't we go first...Mom's taking really long."

Grabbing May's hand, we left the house with Mom hurrying to catch up from behind us. Our steps quickened when we began to hear the sound of music. Many people were already there, waiting in line to play games or order food. Bright lights lit the party up from one building to another, hung in a zigzag line from the roofs. The smell of food drifted from the many stalls, and children screamed with excitement as they played games. May dragged me across the floor in her excitement to eat fried dumplings again.

Before I disappeared in the crowd with May, Mom slipped me some money. I finally got May to calm down as I bought her the fried dumplings at a stall she dragged me towards. We walked hand in hand, visiting every stall, pointing at the exciting way a man was cooking his noodles or watching a child trying to win a prize.

We arrived at a stall where a boy was attempting to use a toy arrow to hit his target. There were many circles in the target, but only the tiniest circle in the middle was what granted you a prize.

As the boy lets the arrows fly, all of them hit the circle board, but none of them hit the center. The boy placed the bow down in disappointment before moving on to other stalls.

"Sis!" May cried, tugging my jacket. "I want to play!"

"Huh?" I asked, looking at her with an expression of disbelief. "You can't even hold your chopsticks properly."

May pouted and crossed her arms.

"Little girl," said the man, standing behind the counter of the game looking at May with a smile. "Would you like to try?"

"No—"

Too late. May had already grabbed onto the bow and was already starting to load arrows on to the toy. I glared at her, and she smiled back angelically. I fished through my pockets, trying to find the money Mom had given me when I heard May shriek.

"Hey," I scolded May. "I haven't given the man—"

May looked back at me confused, the bow in her arms still loaded with an arrow. I glanced up to the man, and he looked back at me with the same bewildered expression. The crowd murmured and buzzed with bewilderment as everyone began looking around.

"That wasn't you?" I asked May.

She shook her head.

Screams suddenly rippled through the crowd. I whirled around, a chill shaking my spine. I had never heard such a gruesome and terrified scream in my life before.

Out of the bright colors people were wearing, I could spot tall men in black clothes standing out from the colorful crowd. They looked around, as if trying to search for something. In their hands, they held either longswords or bow and arrows. Everyone made way from them quickly as they ambled along the crowd. After a moment of silence, a man from the lines against the walls bravely stood up.

"Do you have any business here?" he shouted. "If you don't, please-"

"Silence," a voice said from a tall man, big and burly. He held a knife up to the man's face, and the man quickly stumbled back into the crowd.

His cold eyes swept through the silent and motionless crowd. Frozen, I examined the man and his comrades. He was at least six feet or higher with short hair bristles. His face had a long scar, trailing from his eyebrow down to his mouth. His tanned skinned reflected strangely in the beautiful moonlight. Judging by the commanding atmosphere he gave off and the way his comrades formed a protective circle around him, he was probably their leader. There was something strange about him, but I couldn't lay a finger on it.

"I don't think they're here," one of his men muttered.

The tall man raised an eyebrow and slowly turned towards him. His henchman flinched and turned white. In a blink of an eye, a sword laid centimeters away from his feet on the ground. People shrieked and gasped, pulling away from the circle of men.

Ignoring the reactions the leader was getting, he turned his back from the man and motioned for his henchmen to follow him. They slinked towards him like shadows, and I exhaled slowly.

The leader suddenly stopped. I blanched. A woman was standing in his way, not realizing what was happening as she stared at a batch of cookies.

Not just any woman.

Mom.

My voice suddenly stopped working as I tried to warn Mom.

"Mom! Move!"

I gasped and looked down to see May shouting at Mom. The leader turned his head in our direction and narrowed his eyes at us. My eyes widened when I realized what it was that I couldn't place my finger on.

His eyes were purple. In other circumstances, I would've gushed and questioned about how he got his eyes to become purple, but I wasn't about to sit down and have tea time with Purple-Eyes. He swiveled back to Mom, and a horrible smile stretched across his face.

"Jackpot," the man sneered.

In a flash, his men grabbed onto Mom.

"Mom!" I screamed.

"Run! Go away!" Mom yelled, trying to struggle out of their grasp.

May threw the bow and arrow onto the ground and started to shove her way through the crowd.

"Take May with you!" Mom shouted, struggling from the arms holding her. "GO!"

I was conflicted and confused. If I took May and ran, Mom would be in trouble. But if I ran and helped Mom, that would only get the three of us into trouble. But was I really going to leave Mom to fend for herself...?

Suddenly, Mom's eyes widened; she was staring past me as a glimpse of hope shone in her eyes. Now looking directly at me, she yelled, "Take May and follow them!"

Before I could register who "them" was, three black shadows suddenly dropped from the sky. One of them scooped up May and started to run towards the forest surrounding Cardia.

I shoved my way past the crowd and tried to catch up to the stranger holding May.

"Give her back!" I yelled.

Someone came up from behind me and put something over my mouth. Before I realized what they were trying to do, I inhaled. A sedative. The last thing I saw was the moon, the dark sky, and...caramel eyes.

~~~~~

Thank you guys for taking the time to read Chapter 2!!! Please vote, comment, and follow if you enjoyed reading :)))

The picture above is what I visualize the festival as. If you thought of it as any other way, no problemo 

NO COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED. ALL CREDIT OF THIS PHOTO GOES BACK TO THE ORIGINAL OWNER.

I found the picture of Google Images with the website commons.wikimedia.org