Free Alive at Sunset (Rituals of the Night Series Book 2) by Kayla Krantz

Amanda wasn’t in the living room. She didn’t want her to see her come into the apartment in her frenzied state.
    Luna trudged into the bathroom and shut the door quickly behind her. She turned on the hot water and stripped off her muddy clothes to the clear white floor. She’d worry about the mess later. Luna hopped in quickly and stood beneath the hot water. The water ran off brown chunks into the clean white bathtub.
    She watched it run down the drain until the water ran clean against the basin once again. Her heart was still gripped in heavy grief that she didn’t see having relief from. But at least she could feel some of the tension in her shoulders loosening. Suddenly, she heard a knock on the bathroom door. It brought her out of her thoughts and back to the present, back to reality and back to her burden of grief.
    “What is it?” Luna asked, peering around the shower curtain to look at the door.  She wondered what Amanda had to say that couldn’t wait until after she had finished her shower.
    Amanda popped the door open a crack before she spoke. “Your phone was ringing so I answered it for you. This boy really wants to talk to you, Luna. It sounds important.”
    “Oh, okay. Thanks, Amanda,” Luna said, feeling as though she already knew what boy her friend meant. “Set it on the sink and leave it on speakerphone.”
    “Alright,” Amanda said. She set the phone on the sink across the room and closed the door behind her.
    “Hello?” Luna called to the phone as she resumed her shower.
    “Hey, Luna,” Max’s voice poured from the speaker and echoed around the room.
    “What are you calling for this time, Max?” Luna asked, slightly paranoid that he would pick up the conversation from where it had last left off. Knowing Max, that was exactly what he was planning to do.
    “To talk to you, Luna,” he replied, not sounding offended. His tone sounded light like he only called for small talk. Luna knew better. He always called for a reason, a very specific reason.
    “About?” she inquired.
    “We might have a slight problem in DreamWorld, remember?” Max replied. “You can’t have forgotten already. Luna, I know you don’t want to hear it, trust me I don’t either, but if something is wrong then I need you to help me. I can’t do this alone.”
    “’If’? What do you mean ‘if’?” she asked, scrunching up her face as she washed the shampoo out of her hair. “If you’re not even sure there’s a problem then I don’t want to worry myself for nothing.” She wouldn’t let herself believe Max was right. Things were bad enough without worrying about things that might happen.
    “I know. But I’m convinced there is a problem,” Max said. “I still have that feeling that something’s wrong.”
    “Have you actually seen anything that proves that something is wrong?” Luna asked tiredly.
    “Honestly, no, but I’ve visited a part of DreamWorld that I haven’t been in before. There’s a field with haze and a bright light,” Max said. “I’m convinced that it’s telling me that Chance has his memory back.”
    Luna stiffened at his description as she remembered that she had had the same dream before the one about Chance himself.
    “Luna?” Max asked.
    “I’m here,” she whispered.
    “What are you thinking?” he asked, sensing that something was bothering her.
    “I had that same dream.”
    “Then I’m convinced it definitely means something,” Max said. “When we both had the same dream before, you knew to take it seriously.”
    “It was just some haze in a field. It’s nothing life threatening like before,” Luna said, feeling hostile as memory of that night engulfed her. “In the dreams we had before, we saw people die .”
    “Yes, but don’t you think it’s a little weird that we’ve had the same dream once again?” Max asked.
    “Come on, Max. I thought we’ve been through this already. I don’t want to hear it today,” Luna said.
    “But-“ Max tried to