Jade Moon (Celestial War Book 1) (8 page)

“Wait, you’re a Sun Warrior?”

“That’s right. In fact your father trained me. He was truly great.”

I stared at her wheel chair. “Did you…was that…?” I blushed again. It must be rude to ask someone why they’re in a wheelchair. Way to go, Harper.

“No Harper,” she smiled, making me feel less like an ass, “I was born to this. There are other ways to fight.”

Whoa, I was about to ask more when Raf interjected.

“Can we stick to the problem? Let’s say I believe any of this.” Raf waved his hands in the air. “Does this mean that the moons are making their move? You think they’ve somehow hurt Mr. Silver?”

“I’m afraid so. Though I’m confused. Martin is a Gnomon…”

“Mr. Silver is a Gnome?” Raf looked like he was about to walk out the door.

“Not Gnome.” Mambo let out another cawing laugh. “Gnomon. He’s our keeper of ancient knowledge. Gnomon is the ancient Greek word for the vertical piece on a sun dial that casts the shadow. Thus acts as the interface between light and dark yet always points to the truth. The Gnomon are neutral. Untouchable to both sides. Were one side to aggress on a Gnomon, well it would be an outright declaration of war. I suspect they have taken Martin but will treat him well. They would never risk actually hurting him. None the less, it’s concerning that they are even willing to accost him at all.”

“So what should we do?” I was starting to think about the time. School was out and my mom would be expecting me home. I really didn’t want to freak her out again so soon after our last fight. I couldn’t tell what the right thing to worry about was. Mambo seemed to believe Mr. Silver would be fine so I guess my mom’s mental stability seemed like the right thing to focus on at the moment. Plus, it was still pretty hard for me to take much of the sun and moon stuff seriously.

Mambo thought for a few minutes, rolling back and forth in the cozy kitchen. I grew more and more agitated.

“Alright, I think we should remain calm. I will get in touch with my superiors and see what they think. Sadly, we won’t be able to do much without confirmation. The Solaris will be unwilling to accuse the Lunates of anything without proof. My superiors are…over cautious I feel. Plus, a plea from me won’t exactly help.”

“Why, aren’t you one of them?”

Mambo smiled sadly, “I am, but Martin and my relationship is forbidden by the Solaris hierarchy. I’m a Solaris and he is a Gnomon. Martin is supposed to be neutral. Loving a Solaris makes everyone question his ability to do his job just as they question my loyalty to my people.”

She shook her head sharply, “But no matter. I still need to go to them. You two should go about your business as if nothing happened. Don’t talk to anyone about this. Leave me your cell numbers and I will call you if I find out anything about Martin.”

“We can’t just sit back and do nothing!” I protested.

“Yeah,” Raf agreed. “If Mr. Silver is in trouble, we want to help.”

Mambo considered. “You’re right. You can be my eyes and ears at the school. Keep an eye on things there, let me know immediately if anything seems off. I know there is a Lunate presence there but have no information beyond that. But we aren’t just going to sit on our hands. Give me a day to organize a plan and I will be in touch soon.”

As we drove away, Kaska and Mambo stood rigid in the door and I could see the tension written on both their bodies. Despite her protestation otherwise, Mambo was afraid that Mr. Silver was gone forever.

Wolves in the Mist

I started to really worry about my mom as we crawled down the dirt road back toward Waterford. Raf’s poor Prius bounced angrily, not built for navigating rutted mud.

“My mom is going to kill me when I get home.”

“I’m actually a little more worried about her killing me.”

“Heh, you might be right. I’ll call and hopefully that will diffuse some of her anger.”

I flipped open my crappy phone. No signal. I looked up at the trees. Though it was only 4:30, the canopy made it dark as night. It was a disconcerting darkness, like we’d been torn from the progression of time experienced by the rest of the world.

“Dammit, no signal here. I’ll try again when we get out of the trees.”

“So, is this why…I mean, is the Solaris versus Lunate thing why your mom is so worried about you?” Raf asked.

“Yeah. She just told me about it two days ago. But obviously, she’s been scared for a long time.”

“Is that why you went to Belize?”

“Yep. We were hiding from some crazy group of Lunates that are supposedly still after my mom.”

“How do you feel about all that?”

His concern pulled the flimsy scab off my emotions. All the fear and anger and uncertainty hit me like a train that I wasn’t braced for. Warm tears slipped out of my eyes before I even had a chance to fight them.

“I’m…” I trailed off. Raf waited me out. “I’m tired of it. I just wanted to stay in Belize. I wish we had never come here.” I looked at Raf. He had been the only thing I was excited about, and now I find out he was never even interested in me. “I still don’t really know what to believe. For a long time I’ve been worried my mom is crazy. Now, I’m really confused.”

“It is hard to buy. But it sounds like there are a lot of people telling you the same thing.” Raf glanced away from the road to me, his grey eyes full of genuine concern.

“I know. After my mom explained everything, I was even more worried, but then Mr. Silver. Now Mambo. They can’t all be crazy, right?”

“Who knows. Sometimes I feel like the adults of the world could all go crazy at once and we wouldn’t know it, we’re so used to being told what to believe.”

I nodded. “Maybe it’s time we become empiricists.”

“Empiricists?”

“Yeah, empiricism, faith in observable data. We should only trust what we can see and touch.”

“Alright, have either of us seen any actual evidence of the existence of the Solaris or Lunates?”

“Well…” I thought for a while. “I don’t know what it’s evidence for, but there was the crying in the library, the bloody tools in the janitor’s shed. Oh, and someone tried to run over me! Plus, I saw a little moon symbol in the library while I was waiting for Mr. Silver.”

“So, what does any of that prove?”

“I guess it suggests something hinky is going on. I don’t think it actually proves anything. We don’t have enough data.”

“So we need more data, then.”

“Right. But how do we do that?”

“I don’t know. You’re the professor here.” Raf looked at me and smiled.

“Haha.” I gave a fake laugh but it felt nice to see his lopsided smile.

We rode in jolting silence for a few minutes, both lost in thought.

“Hey, I wanted to say thanks again for the other night.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. “The other night? Oh, sure, Raf.”

“I, uh, I don’t think I really would have done it. I sort of feel like I should explain.”

“You don’t have to. I think I get it.” I let out another rueful laugh. 

“I know I don’t have to. That’s why I want to. In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have many friends here.”

To be honest I hadn’t noticed. Harper Dae, least observant person alive? But he was right, he had no friends, which made no sense. Rebellious, attractive, smart. No one cared about someone being gay anymore, if anything it should have made him cooler.

“It’s because I came out last year. I told a few friends that I’m…that I’m gay. Told my best friend I was in love with him.”

Ouch. Guess he understood liking someone who wasn’t interested back. I didn’t say anything.

“You don’t hate me do you?” he said.

“Hate you? What, no! I’m just a little…hehe.” I laughed uncomfortably again. Sounded like an annoying little girl. Bleh.

“You hate me now.”

“Raf, I don’t hate you! Just the opposite. I was just hoping that, if we were stuck in a car in the middle of no where, it would have been to make out, not talk about how you’re gay.” I blurted without thinking.

I blushed so hard I was certain I glowed.

He laughed. “I’m sorry Harper. Oh this is just so messed up. I really like you. I love hanging out with you.”

“I probably should have known.” 

“Should’ve known I was gay? I didn’t exactly broadcast it.”

“No, should’ve known no one would actually be in to me.” Just stop talking, Harper. I bit my lip.

“Harper, if I were straight I would definitely be kissing you right now. You know the reason Olivia and her gang hate you so much is because you are much hotter than them.”

That, at least, got a real laugh out of me.

“I’m not joking, Harper. You might not be…what the word I’m looking for? Conventional? You’re not conventionally beautiful, but you’re real, and kind, and genuinely hot…in an unconventional way.”

“I think you just said conventional more times in that sentence than most people say in their lifetime.”

“Seriously Harper. Please don’t think this is about you.”

“No, I know. That’s dumb. It’s not like you’re gay so you don’t have to kiss me.” I laughed, letting some of my embarrassment go. The good thing about making a fool of yourself on a regular basis? You get better at getting over the mortification with practice.

The shadow of silence came back and sat with us for a while.

“Is that why you were…on the roof?”

“Yeah, my parents found out. They went insane.”

“What did they say?” I reached out and put my hand on his.

Raf cleared his throat. “Uh, my mom was the one really mad. My dad just shook his head and left the room. But my mom,” his voice cracked, “she said some really terrible things. She’s kind of an important person and she just told me I could ruin her career. That she was going to disown me if I told anyone. She said she…couldn’t love me anymore.”

Tears started dripping down his cheeks.

“I knew they would be upset, but I didn’t expect….”

“They’re wrong. You know that right. They have no right to act like we live in the dark ages. They are the ones being jerks.”

He took a long breath in. “Yeah, I know. It just really hurts to hear that from your own mom.”

I tried to imagine my mom saying that she didn’t love me any more. It sent a jolt of nausea to my gut. My mom drove me crazy but I knew it was because she loved me so much. “I can’t even imagine, Raf.”

“So here we are, both crying.” Raf seemed to feel slightly better.

Me too, actually.

I looked at the clock, 5:00. Still no signal. Crap.

I was opening my mouth to ask for Raf’s phone when we slammed into a pothole. The entire car tilted forward, all but one wheel lifting off the ground. The sound of crumpling plastic was bad but it was the gunshot crack of metal snapping that really sucked. We thumped back down onto all four wheels and sat in total, utter silence except for the faint tic tic tic sound of air releasing from something vital.

Raf looked at me wide eyed, “You okay?” his voice rose.

“Yeah, I’m fine, you?”

He looked down at his body as though he wasn’t sure. “I’m fine.”

We got out and circled the car making disbelieving ohs and ahs. The hood was crumpled on the driver’s side, bumper mangled beyond recognition. The wheel well pushed back into the engine block that was exposed, black and grey metal among the glossy plastic of it’s shell.

“How fast where you going?” I asked, incredulous. “I mean, you weren’t going more than five, maybe ten miles an hour!” The amount of damage done made it look like were were going forty.

“What the hell? I was barely crawling.”

“I know!”

We stared at the lopsided wheel. “Well, we’re not driving this anywhere. We are almost to the road. Or I guess we could walk back to Mr. Silver’s house.”

“No way, that’s like five miles back. Let’s just walk out to the road and we can wave someone down.”

I checked my phone again. “You have a signal?”

“No. This is so messed up.”

We started walking briskly along the narrow track.

I spent the time thinking about Raf and his mom. What he really needed was a friend, not some girl who thought his grey eyes were dreamy. “Hey Raf? I want to make sure you know that I really don’t care at all if you’re gay. You’ve been a good friend.”

He gave me a lopsided smile, “You too, Harper. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The dirt road wound over rolling hills, curving among the trees and rocky dells. The pines felt alive, silent watchers towering above us blocking the light. The cold air was so still it felt like a void actually sucking the warm breath from my lungs. No shadows were cast across the forest floor. No animals rustled in the trees tops. Perfect stillness swallowed us whole.

I was suddenly completely sure that Raf and I were lost in some fairytale forest forever.

The sky darkened as though a cloud passed above. We looked at each other, both sensing something amiss. I flipped open my phone. Still no signal.

“What the hell,” Raf whispered.

“Something’s not right,” I whispered back. We picked up the pace, almost running along the road. “We should be at the main road by now,” I added.

“I know.”

I looked back and let out a gasp. Moving along the forest floor toward us was a wall of fog. Roiling, it seemed almost alive. We moved fast but it was faster. The amorphous monster engulfed us in a thick, damp mist. I reached for Raf. He grabbed my hand, the warmth felt reassuring.

We walked on, hand in hand, unable to see more than a few inches ahead of us. I looked down and realized I couldn’t even see my own feet in the white miasma swirling around us. Raf disappeared though I could still feel his hand wrapped around mine, hear his breath. We kept moving forward, stumbling over rocks and roots, gripping each other like a lifeline.

Over Raf’s panting breath, I heard something else. Foot falls in the distance. Crunching dried leaves. The loping gallop of a fast moving dog. Make that plural, dogs.

“You hear that?” I hissed.

“Run, Harper!” I heard panic in his voice and it pushed me right over the edge. I let out a strangled cry and we broke into a full run.

Our ragged breathing was overwhelmed by the heavy sound of huffing right behind us. My foot slammed into a rock and I pinwheeled sideways. My hand tore from Raf’s as the entire left side of my body slammed to the ground. I let out a grunt of pain.

“Harper?” Raf shouted.

I rolled over on my back and tried to breathe in.

“I’m here,” I could barely squeak out the words. Instead of sucking in air, cold mist flowed into my lungs. I inhaled the pulsing creature and let out a full scream. Every cell in my body felt like it swelled from the inside, pushing shooting pain to the tips of my fingers and toes. My body went rigid, every muscle straining almost to the point of tearing. Unable to move I bellowed incoherently, terrified that I’d been paralyzed.

“Harper!” I could hear Raf shouting but he seemed very far, like he’d faded away.

My muscled spasmed. My back arched up off the ground. Convulsing, I bit down hard on my tongue and blood flooded my mouth, choking me as it filled the back of my throat.

Tears flowed from my eyes. I couldn’t blink so the world blurred into fractals of light.

Through brimming tear drops I watched long wolf snouts slide out of the fog as though materializing from it. Silvery fur glowed with supernatural luster, mercury eyes shining from the pack of wolves that surrounded me. Breath puffed from between stark white fangs. They circled close, taking long luxurious breaths in, sniffing at me as I shook on the cold ground.

Some core part of me raged against it. The sense of being totally helpless, not able to move to fight back.

I took a deep breath in and, fueled by pure fury, I shouted, “No!”

Forcing out my anger broke something lose and my body once again became my own. I jumped to my feat and prepared to fight the wolves off.

“Get back!” erupted from my mouth. 

They cowered.

“Back!” I shouted again.

They turned and ran. Fluffy grey tails bounding back into the fog.

“Harper?” Raf practically ran into me. “Harper, what the hell happened? Are you okay?”

He took a quick step away from me in horror. I reached up and wiped away a long slick of blood that ran from my mouth.

“Bit tongue,” I managed to say.

“We need to get out of here. Come here, let’s go.” He wrapped a protective arm over my shudders and propelled me forward. We both practically fell over onto the paved road that we hit less than a minute later.

We stepped up onto the black asphalt with a sigh. I spun around. Behind us not a trace of fog remained. Just a normal early evening Virginia woods.

I flipped open my phone. Full signal. The clock read 8:23.

Raf gaped at my phone. He pulled out his phone. Same thing. 

What in the hell just happened?

Shaken, we both sat on the edge of the main road.

“How could we have been walking for four hours?”

“We weren’t.” My tongue hurt like hell and my ribs screamed with every breath, but my head felt clear as a bell. “That was no normal fog.”

Raf’s nose flared with emotion. “No,” he said, eyeing my blood stained lips, “clearly not.”

I imagined my mom catatonic with fear.  “I need to get home fast.”

Raf looked around. “I know where we are. My house is just through those woods.” He pointed across the street to a much less thick patch of oak trees. “Like, less than half a mile. Let’s just walk to my house and I can get another car to drive you home.”

With wobbling hands I held up my phone. “Perfect. Let me call my mom so she’s not dead when I get there, then we should go.”