Only one girl in town had hair as red as blood, but that girl had disappeared almost three weeks ago, never to be seen. Unlike most missing people in the last few weeks, her body hadn't turned up yet. Nor dead, nor alive.

Until now.

Thomas was running after Luna, avoiding the tree roots and the rocks that were making it tougher for him to keep up with the little spy. The forest trail went up and down, the girl jumped over fallen tree branches as if they were nothing. She ran through water as if her shoes didn't get wet. Nothing seemed to slow this girl down.

Thomas's lungs were burning. He almost twisted his ankle on an overworld root and the muscles in his legs were starting to protest.

When he was thinking of giving up and letting the girl go, the red-head tripped over a protruding stone and slammed down against the rock-ribbed earth. A high-pitched screech blared between the rustling trees.

Thomas stopped, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. He crouched down next to the wounded girl. An open gap was crossing the girl's lower arm, blood was streaming down to her fingers and dripping on the ground. Her eyes turned glassy as tears started to cloud over, she blinked a few times but that only let the tears escape and roll down her rosy cheeks. She immediately wiped them away with the back of her hand.

Now that she wasn't moving, Thomas's assumptions were stated correctly. It was indeed Luna Devon, the missing eighteen-year-old girl from Home. The last time Thomas interacted with her was on her fourteenth birthday. By then, they had already seen each other less due to their age difference and life getting in the way. He had by then his job on the field, and Luna was very much in the middle of her teenage hormones stage of life. Of course, he had regretted not keeping more in touch. Now that regret seemed to have returned. Perhaps if they had, she wouldn't have been kidnapped.

The young woman in front of him was nothing like the little girl he last saw. She still had the same red hair and those clear blue-gray eyes. Everything else had changed though. She had lost most of her baby fat, she was leaner and sharper in her face, although Thomas would never describe Luna as 'sharp' in any circumstance. She didn't wear a skirt or dress with one of her many blazers, which used to be her typical outfit. She now wore the cobalt blue school sweater around her hips and a white blouse with rolled up sleeves, which was now covered in dirt stains. Her cut off jeans shorts were just as muddy and her long white legs were hidden under scratches and scars - not all of them from her recent fall.

How long had she been living in these woods? Three weeks he guessed. That answer only raised more questions.

"Are you okay?" He asked, already diagnosing what he was dealing with. "That looks like a nasty cut, you need to clean it as soon as possible. Here." Thomas pulled his green plaid button front off and draped it around the wound, putting pressure on it so the blood would clot. "Doctor Delgado can take a look at that wound more closely." Her face tensed. "I think it's going to need stitches. Everybody will be so happy to see you again."

Luna pulled away her arm, pushed him back and jumped up, making a move to run off again. Thomas grabbed her wrist before she could disappear in the forest. She turned to him, her eyebrows knitted in an angry frown while trying to pull her arm free.

"Or not." Thomas quickly recovered from his clear mistake. "Whatever you prefer." That seemed to calm the girl down a bit. "But you have to clean the wound or it will get infected."

"Like I don't know that," she hissed.

That made Thomas take a step back. He was not used to Luna being so aggressive or even slightly rude. She used to be loving and polite. A warm soul. What happened to her? He wondered.

Her eyes fell to the ground and her shoulders dropped in regret. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to go back down there," she carefully spoke. "There is a cabin a bit further to the north with clean running water. See, I'll be fine," Luna argued while marching off.

"I don't think so. Do you know how to clean your wound and how to swathe your arm?" He asked with as much authority as he could muster.

"I'll figure it out." Thomas kept following her on the heel, not giving up. "Damnit Thomas, I'm a grown woman, I'll be fine."

"You're eighteen. That's not a grown woman. What's the big deal? I've got nothing better to do, trust me, you'd be doing me a favor."

He heard a sigh come from the younger girl and that brought his lips up in victory.

They walked in silence for about ten minutes before Thomas's mind switched to darker thoughts. To distract him, he focused his attention on the girl in front of him.

"So how come you're alive?" He asked curiously.

Luna turned her head and looked at him questionably. "Because I didn't die?" She returned the question puzzled.

His eyes rolled at her sarcastic comment, before Thomas explained himself. "No, I mean, how come you're not kidnapped?"

A thought popped up. "Wait, are there more of you? Are the other missing people with you?"

A spark of hope started to build in Thomas's heart, but was quickly squashed.

"It's just me." Thomas's shoulders fell in defeat, together with the very recently built-up hope. "Are there still people disappearing?" She questioned carefully, her voice was slightly shaking.

"I'm afraid so, and there are more people turning up dead."

Luna turned around but not quick enough for Thomas to notice her tight jaw.

"Don't worry, they'll find the person responsible," he reassured her.

She turned around, a pulled up eyebrow was planted on her young oval face.

"You don't believe that," she said with certainty. He looked at her and he knew that she didn't believe a word he just said.

"No, I don't. I can't keep promising people that everything will be alright, I've been telling Esme that since ...," he swallowed the forming lump in his throat. "You know. I don't want to see you hurt. But you know what I can promise you? That I will do everything in my power to find the killer."

He tried to sound strong, but on the interior, he felt his chest turning tighter. He cursed himself for being so weak. He dug his nails in the skin of his palm - the slight physical pain dulled the emotional one for just a second.

Luna stayed silent, her focus on the rough underground.

"They won't find the person responsible," she suddenly said, "they never will. They're looking in the wrong place."

With that being said she started climbing a steep rocky hill.

"Do you mean the animals? Because I'm pretty sure that's ... just a cover story... uh... Can you slow down, please?"

The distance between them grew as Thomas fell behind, puffing and panting. The climb was such a heavy exercise that he didn't have enough breath to ask further questions.

Once on top, Thomas saw the most beautiful wooden house he had ever seen. It was beautifully decorated with climbing plants. Ivy and coral honeysuckle grew on one side of the house, covering most of the wooden frame. Whereas moon flowers decorated the ground surrounding the house.

The cabin had a simple front door and two little windows. In front of the right window, a little kitchen garden was situated. It looked as if someone had been living here for decades.

"You live here?" He asked, confused and impressed.

Luna was fondling with her made-up bandage while she sat on the edge of a little pond where a streaming waterfall from the top of the house tumbled down into it. Thomas hadn't noticed it before, but now that he walked closer to her, his mouth fell open in astonishment.

Luna was sitting on the edge of a stone round pond on the left side of the house. A little waterfall that came from a self-made stone gutter on the roof of the house filled the pond with fresh water. To make sure that the pond didn't flood, a hole was made on the side of the argillite edge that led the water in a nice gully towards the stream a bit further from the house. That stream would probably lead to the White River that divided the town and the Devon mansion - Luna's family house.

"This house is absolutely breathtaking. How come no one knows about this?"

"As if anyone would come this far into the forest. I'm surprised you followed me this far."

Thomas hadn't even thought about the local myth that kept people from the eastern mountain. Why would he, when Luna had been in danger?

"People still believe to a certain extent that this mountain is plagued by vengeful ghosts. There is some hard evidence that our town was quite bloodthirsty in the medieval days. We were a perfect location for some unsanctioned shit that they didn't want anyone to look into. So you should be careful around these parts."

There was a moment where Thomas' body betrayed him, a fear spike made his heart halt and his glands create an enormous amount of salty water. Then his rational mind took over again.

"Yeah right."

Luna lifted her shoulders. "Could've worked. Still works for most people down there."

"Do you keep that lie alive, Luna?" He asked, partly teasing, partly serious.

He wanted to say a hundred more things but Luna's painful hiss brought his attention back to the girl's wound. The young farmer knelt down in front of her and took his shirt out of the girl's clumsy hands.

"You didn't need me, uh?" He teased. Luna rolled her eyes at him.

Thomas sat next to her, bowed down and inspected the wound. "Let's first clean it."

He dipped his shirt in the pond with fresh water. "This is probably going to hurt," he said before he pressed the wet shirt against the wound, dabbed it and rinsed the dirt from the graze.

Luna's jaw tightened but she kept quiet. She had toughened up, he noticed.

"There you go." Luna looked down at her wound. "I cleaned it, do you have anything to put over it, a fresh bandage or dressing?" Thomas asked.

Luna nodded, but stayed in her place. She seemed to weigh her options. In the end, she let out a deep breath, stood up with a grunt and showed him inside the house.

The front door didn't seem to be locked, nor was there a key hole to lock it. He was surprised by how enjoyably warm it was inside. While Luna went looking for some bandages, he looked around.

There was a fireplace in the center of the opposite wall of the front door. In front of it was a cozy two person couch. On Thomas's left side was an oak table, with bread and pots covering the surface. While on his right there was a bed situated in the far corner, with next to it a second-handed mattress with blankets and lots of pillows.

Luna didn't live here alone. He had already wondered how she would've survived on her own for so long. Now the question was: who else lived here? Did she live here with Vanessa, the other missing girl? Why wouldn't they have told anyone? Or was it someone else? Was Luna even safe here? Did she-?

"Here are clean bandages," she interrupted his inner thoughts. He turned towards her, the ghost of a frown lingered on his eyebrows.

"You're okay, right?" His voice exposed his concern.

"As good as anyone can be in our situation," she said, a sad smile appearing both on her lips and in her eyes. There was so much sadness for someone her age, he thought.

"You don't live here alone, do you?" Thomas asked the question that had been looming ever since they arrived at the house.

Luna's eyes turned big, fixed on something behind him.

"No, she doesn't."

Before he could turn around towards the newcomer, a sharp blade was put against his throat making it impossible for him to move.