Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) (7 page)

April 9

A lot has happened the last two days. Yesterday,
we talked to Lance. I don’t know if he has forgiven me, but at least he liked
my idea. He even smiled at me before he left. Today we found the perfect spot
to hide the canoe. Morri’s so smart! Since we don’t want him to know we’re
witches and that we’re going to use magick to hide his canoe, she told him it
would help his “acting” if he didn’t know where we had put it. He agreed.

It’s a good thing I have kitchen duty until the
end of this month. He wants me to sneak out things like candy and chips, and
other snacks, and tuna, rice—if I can get some—cereal, and large garbage bags.
I don’t know what the deal is with the garbage bags, but he wants me to get as
many as I can. Oh, and 2 or 3 small empty plastic juice containers.

He passed Morri a note this afternoon telling
us to also get some of his camping gear and hide it in the canoe. We still can’t
talk to him much because Kelile is with him most of the time. Morri can’t stand
it. I want to talk to Kelile. But she told me Lance would get mad. Why? I won’t
tell him. I don’t know why Lance doesn’t trust me. And why doesn’t he want Kelile
to go?

Morri asked me if I wanted to get my box when we
get the other things. I said no, that we needed to figure out how to get the
curse off my things first. I’m glad she agreed. I don’t want her to know I
already have my amulet.

Wednesday, April 10

“Hey, girl, wait.” Kelile caught up to Aishling
after classes.

She checked to see if anyone had seen them. Though
happy he was finally talking to her again, she didn’t want Lance to get mad.
While smiling at him, she grabbed his shirtsleeve and pulled him behind
Anderson House. “Hi.”

“Why are you draggin’ me over here?”

“I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Girl, I’m not stupid. You don’t want your prissy
queen to see you talkin’ to me. Don’t shake your head. I know what you’re
doin’.”

Her stomach flip-flopped. What could she say?
“You’re right. I don’t want her to see us. But, I want to tell you something.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Go ahead.”

“I’m sorry about what happened to you.”

“What
was
that? Why
did
my eyes
bleed? Explain that for me.” He nodded his head and kept his squinted eyes
fixed on hers.

“I don’t know.”

“And I should believe that. Right.”

“Kelile, I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“Then why did you say, quote, ‘Kelile, stop
reading it now!’?” He moved in on her. “What was that? Even the doctor couldn’t
figure out what had happened. It was like some voodoo or something. Tell me.”

She backed away. “I told you to stop reading it
because it wasn’t yours.”

He made faces and mouthed her words back.

“I did!” She huffed. “Look, if you don’t want to
talk, fine. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Wait just a minute, girl. You keep sayin’ you’re
sorry. I don’t believe you. You knew what was going to happen. I know you did.”

“No. I had had an awful nightmare that night, and
I was kind of dazed. I would never want you to be hurt. Honestly. Can’t you
believe that?”

He stared at her a moment before nudging her on
her shoulder. “Okay. We’re good.”

While shaking his head, he grinned. “Girl, was
Lance mad at you two, fighting mad! I felt a little bad about snitchin’ on you.
Just a little.” He chuckled. “Listen, I think he wants to run away now. He
hasn’t said anything yet, but I think I could convince him. If I do, do you
wanna come?”

Heat moved across her face, and she felt herself
blush. “Uh … Let me think about it. Okay?”

April 10

Kelile finally talked to me today. He seems to be okay
now. Who knows, maybe he’ll bug Lance so much that Lance will finally agree to
take him with us. I hope so! But I’m keeping
my
mouth shut! I’m not
telling Morri, either.

April 11

What a wonderful dream I had!!!! I wonder if
it’s because I wore my amulet to bed. I put it on last night while Morri took a
shower. It makes me feel like Ma is with me. Morri came back too soon, though,
so I kept it on. Anyway, last night I dreamed I saw Ma, and she had her arms
open and was motioning for me to come. She was in the forest where we used to
go sometimes. She stood inside a cave opening. I knew that once I was in the
cave with her, everything would be fine. I woke up before I reached her, but
she was smiling at me, and I knew she still loved me. I know that was her! She
was communicating with me through my dream! Ma, I’m coming. I’ll be there soon.
I love you!

I’ve got to go, Morri’s waking up.

“Did you have another nightmare last night?”
Morrigan said while making her bed.

“No. I had a wonderful dream. Ma was calling for
me. She’s waiting for me. I know it.”

Morrigan frowned. “So, you didn’t have any
nightmares?”

“No.” She shoved her desk chair back into place.
“You look surprised? Why did you think I did?”

Morrigan shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe
I
had a nightmare. Never mind.”

On their way to classes, Lance caught up with
them, pretending to borrow a pencil. “Aishling, have you—”

“Lance, wait up.” Kelile jogged over to them.
“Hey, man.”

“Hey,” Lance said as he and Kelile bumped fists.

“Hey, girl. What it is?” Kelile held his fist up
for Aishling to bump, waiting.

She almost swallowed her tongue. Not daring to
look at Morri, she lightly tapped his fist with hers. “Hi, Kelile.”

Morrigan rounded on her, sneering.

“You got a problem with that, prissy queen?” He
chuckled. “Yeah, we’re talkin’.”

Lance stared at Aishling. She couldn’t read his
look.

Kelile clamped onto her backpack and pulled her
ahead of the others. When she looked back, they were mouthing something to each
other. “What are you doing, Kelile?”

“Take this,” he whispered, shoving a note into her
hand. “I need to talk to you later.”

“I don’t know. I’ll try. I—”

“Don’t try. Do.” He let go of her backpack and
jogged off toward the classrooms.

Before she could say anything to the others, Lance
chased after him.

“What is going on, Aish? Why is he talking to
you?” Morrigan huffed. “Do you remember what I told you about talking to him?”

“I didn’t know he was going to do that.”

“What did he whisper to you?”

“It’s nothing. We ran into each other yesterday,
and we’re talking again. Don’t run off!” she said as Morrigan stormed away.

Before entering the classroom, she opened the note
from Kelile.

I have a plan. You
have
to meet me
behind Anderson House at 4pm.

K

She wadded up the note and threw it in a trashcan
before walking into class.

Even though she tried getting Morrigan’s
attention, Morri ignored her through math. Fuming by their first break,
Aishling confronted her in the girl’s bathroom. “Will you stop acting like
that!”

Morrigan scowled at her in the mirror and kept
combing her hair.

“I didn’t tell him anything.”

“Didn’t Lance tell you not to talk to him?”

“No.
You
told me not to.”

“Same thing.”

“Don’t you think he might get a little suspicious
if I don’t talk anymore? We
are
friends? As long as I don’t tell him
anything, how can that hurt?”

Morrigan stared at her own reflection. “Oh, all
right, but you have to tell me everything he says to you. Agreed?”

“Okay.”

April 11 (evening)

I should have never talked to Kelile yesterday.
If I’m not careful, I’m going to mess everything up!

Kelile told me Lance was going on a weekend
visit with the Jamesons tomorrow night—which I already knew, but acted like I
didn’t. On Saturday night, he wants to take the canoe and leave. I didn’t know
what to say. I swear, the more lies I tell, the more I have to tell. I don’t
like this. I’m so afraid I’ll get mixed up and tell the wrong thing to the
wrong person. But this is the only way I’m going to be able to find Ma.

Anyway, I went along with him and said I would
do it. Morri exploded when I told her. She finally agreed that I had to play
along with him now. But because of that, we have to move the canoe tomorrow
night instead of Saturday night. And Saturday night I have to pretend to leave
with him and be surprised when we discover the canoe is gone—which is really
kinda good. I told Morri that now he won’t be hounding Lance anymore because
he’ll think the canoe is missing. She smiled at that.

Wish me luck, Ma.

Friday, April 12

“This is working out well, Aish. I didn’t know you
had it in you,” Morrigan said as they snuck into Preacher Collins’ office after
curfew and retrieved the key to the storage building.

Aishling wasn’t nervous this time. She rubbed her
amulet under her shirt. What could go wrong?

But, when they crept past the playground, a
rustling noise behind them startled her. She grabbed Morrigan’s arm and
stopped, whispering, “Did you hear that?”

“No. I didn’t hear anything.” Morrigan listened a
moment. “You’re just skittish. Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

“
Turn around and go back
.” The warning seemed
to resonate through all the trees.

“Morri, wait. I don’t feel good about this now. I
feel like we should go back.”

“What? We can’t. Remember? Because of your silly mistake,
we have to do this tonight. Now, come on.”

“Okay,” she whispered, still lingering there. It
couldn’t be Lance. He was gone. Besides, he knew. And they had been quiet when
they snuck into the preacher’s office. They had even made sure Kelile was
asleep before they left the house. Everything should be fine. And since she was
wearing her amulet, surely she’d be protected.

Once inside the storage building, Aishling spotted
the large gear bag Lance had described to her. “Morri, here.” She picked it up
and lifted it into the canoe. “Have you got Lance’s ‘must-have’ list?”

“I don’t need it. I memorized it,” Morrigan said,
looking through the compartments of the backpack. “Plastic fold up water jug;
mini survival kit—it’s a little metal box with fish hooks, safety pins, wire—here
it is; compass; flashlight; maps; cooking pan; and water purifying kit. Where
is that? Oh, this must be it. We still need his knife, a flint stone, tent, and
two sleeping bags.”

Aishling looked around again and found a smaller
backpack. Rolled tightly and fastened to the bottom was one sleeping bag.
Rolled up inside was a lightweight tent. She also found his knife and flint
inside. “But there’s only one sleeping bag.”

Morrigan lifted the heavier pack and found the
other sleeping bag also rolled up and attached on the bottom. “Okay, here it
is. We’ll just take everything. Put that pack in here with this one. Come on,
hurry.”

After securing the gear in the canoe, Aishling
said, “How are we going to make it look like someone broke in?”

“I hadn’t thought about that.”

Aishling worked her way over to one of the two
windows. As with the other window, this window’s glass pane had been painted with
white paint. No one could see in or out of the window. “Could we make it look
like the window had been left unlocked and someone pried it open from the
outside?”

“Let’s try.”

She unlocked it and followed Morrigan outside. As
they both pushed up on the glass panel, it lifted just enough to wedge their
fingertips underneath the frame and finish prying the window open.

“Great! Let’s get out of here. Hurry,” Morrigan
said.

They struggled carrying the canoe, having to rest
several times before reaching the bushes where they had planned to hide it.

“Run
.
Run
.
Run!”

Aishling almost bolted with this warning. When
they set the canoe down by the bushes, she checked the perimeter.

“What’s the matter?” Morrigan asked.

“I hear a voice telling me to run. I don’t feel
good about this.”

“Stop being so scared. There’s no one around. Fix
the flashlight to shine in the bushes and help me push the canoe in. Hurry!”

Then it happened.

A stream of bright light from behind them
reflected off the canoe.

“You girls are in for it now.”

Return to Beginning

begins transformation

“G
et
that light out of my face,” Morrigan said.

“Don’t you girls know a canoe goes in the
water
?”
Kelile chuckled.

“Ho, ho, ho, very funny, slave boy.” Morrigan
rushed him, grabbing for his flashlight.

“Get away from me, prissy queen.” He jerked
backwards. “You’re gonna think
funny
when I turn you two in to Preacher
Collins.”

“No, Kelile, please, let us explain,” Aishling
said, clutching his arm.

He yanked away. “Don’t you be puttin’ your voodoo
hands on me.”

“You’re not telling Preacher Collins.” Morrigan
stepped in front of Aishling. “You thought your eyes hurt before, slave boy?
That was just a
taste
of what I can do.”

“Morri, back off.”

“You think you scare me, prissy queen?” He shoved
his face within inches of Morrigan’s. She crossed her arms and stood rooted in
place, as immovable as a boulder. He bared his teeth at her, then said, “And,
I’ll
think it’s funny when Lance tells you what you can do with his canoe.”

“Stop, both of you. Stop!” Aishling said too
loudly.

“Shh,” Kelile and Morrigan hissed.

“Quiet, Aish! You’ll wake everyone.”

She coddled herself. “You and Kelile stop
arguing.” Focusing on him, she said, “Listen to me. Lance already knows what
we’re doing.”

“He does?”

“That’s right, slave boy. It won’t do you any good
to go to the preacher because we’ll tell him we caught
you
stealing the
canoe. I’m sure the preacher would believe—”

“Stop, Morri.” Aishling searched for the right
words to say next. She couldn’t let him ruin their plans, yet she didn’t want
to hurt him.

“I don’t get it. Why would he want you … Ah, the
perfect setup.” He glowered at Aishling. “I thought we were better friends than
this. You were playing me all along. Well, this sweet little scheme won’t work
now unless you take me with you.”

“Oh, so now you’re going to blackmail us? Huh.
Don’t you see, slave boy, Lance doesn’t want you to come.”

Hoping to console him, Aishling said, “Since we
knew you’ll get to leave in a few weeks, we thought you’d be okay.”

“Right,” Morrigan echoed. “You’ll have to stay
behind and be patient.”

“You know better than that,” he snapped at Aishling
before rounding on Morrigan again. “I doubt that, prissy queen. If anyone gets
left behind, it’ll be you.”