Under the Moon's Shadow (8 page)

Principal Dunfries moved to stand in front of the crowd just then, clapping his hands and calling for attention. “We’re going to turn the lights out now. Remember, no student couples on a blanket without an adult present, and if you have to leave, you check with the teachers at the gate. Let’s have fun, people.” He motioned, and just like that, the lights were turned off.

As the bulbs dimmed and the crowd’s eyes adjusted to the dark, an anticipatory murmur moved across the field. To Beth’s surprise, Ethan scooted closer to her and put his arm around her back, his hand resting on the ground next to her hip.

“It doesn’t irk me, sharing a blanket with you.” His voice was low, and he’d put his mouth near her ear so as to not be overheard. Beth couldn’t prevent a shiver as his warm breath washed over her skin.

Just like Saturday night, when they’d stood so close on the deck at the Lighthouse, she could feel the warmth radiating off his body, and just like that night, it pulled her in. She almost felt like she’d eaten one of the special brownies as she turned her face toward him in the darkness. She didn’t look away, not even when the first oohs and ahhhs starting going up from the crowd, and neither did Ethan. After a few seconds, though, he pulled back. She didn’t bother trying to hide her disappointment.

“Principal’s on his way over,” Ethan said. “We’ll continue this discussion later.”

Pulling herself together, Beth turned to greet Principal Dunfries. She was grateful she had her digital recorder, because she never would have remembered a word of what he’d said without it.

~ * * * ~

Ethan watched Beth closely the rest of the evening. Her reactions to his comments about them being looked at as a couple had surprised him. He had thought she would have been more bothered by the gossip than by his dismissal of it.

Watching her work the crowd after the initial awe from the meteor shower had worn off had been surprising, as well. Though he wouldn’t admit it to Beth, he had followed every word she’d written in the last few years. He knew she was an accomplished journalist, but he’d had no idea she had to work so hard at it. Several times during the evening, she had sat down next to shy teenagers and cajoled them into speaking with her about their impressions, exhibiting a patience Ethan would have been hard pressed to find.

By one thirty, the strongest part of the shower was over, and the crowd was starting to disperse. Walking to his truck, Ethan felt the tension between them like another presence. When a particularly happy couple rushed by them, laughing and giggling, Beth stopped to watch them. He was surprised to see an envious expression cross her face.

“Brings back memories, huh?”

She shook her head. “No. Not memories. I don’t think I was ever that young. I didn’t even date in high school.”

“You’re kidding me,” he said. “You never had a boyfriend in high school?”

“Nope. Not kidding.” She got into the truck and looked back at him. “Why is that surprising?”

At a complete loss for words, Ethan just gently closed the door and went around to the driver’s side. “What about prom?” he asked as he slid behind the wheel.

“The one time I went, my senior year, I went with Annie. I did get asked one year, by your sister’s ex-boyfriend, no less,” she teased, “but he was just trying to make her jealous.”

“So if you never dated in high school, what else didn’t you do?”

Beth groaned. “Do we have to talk about this? It’s embarrassing.”

“I guess we don’t,” he conceded.

As they sat in his truck behind the other vehicles waiting to get out of the parking lot, the cab filled with silence and she sighed. “I never went to parties, and I never parked with a guy. Never got drunk, never got kissed. The first time I was kissed was in my first year at college. There, you can laugh now.”

“I’m not going to laugh. I may cry, though.”

She just rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’ll get the tissues ready.”

Ethan shook his head. “Seriously, you just keep surprising me. You’re not what I expected.”

“I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. What did you expect?”

He moved his shoulders restlessly. “I don’t know. I didn’t expect to see you put in sixteen, eighteen-hour days. I guess that’s an insult, but it’s more reflective of me than of you.”

“What did you expect my days were like? Get up late in the mornings, wander into the office, write a little, meet with some people and kiss cheeks, then come home and party all evening? Throw in a little ambulance chasing and law enforcement harassment?”

As that was a fair approximation of what he’d thought, Ethan flushed with guilt. “Since we’re being honest, yes.”

Shocked, Beth didn’t say anything until they pulled up to her apartment building ten minutes later. Her voice was very quiet when she spoke. “Is that the impression I give people?”

Ethan hastened to reassure her. “No. Not at all. It’s just my own misperception. And I’m sorry.”

She didn’t respond, just opened the door and got out. Ethan caught up to her at the entrance to the building, but she still didn’t speak. While they waited for the elevator, he stepped in front of her and tipped her chin up. Beth slapped his hand away and took two steps back.

“Don’t. Just don’t,” she said as the car arrived. “You can’t pretty this up.”

When she angrily wiped away tears, Ethan cursed under his breath and rubbed his forehead, following her onto the elevator.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes, you certainly are.” Upstairs, as she unlocked the apartment door, she stopped. Taking a deep breath, she spoke over her shoulder without looking at him. “I would really appreciate it if you would stay out of my way for the rest of the evening. And Jason’s going to have to make other arrangements for the rest of the week.” She left him to lock the front door and went into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

For an instant, he almost followed her, demanded they hash things out, but then common sense kicked in. “You’ve screwed things up badly enough already, stupid. Keep your mouth shut before you make it worse,” he told himself.

Going into the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator. Beth had stocked it back fully, including a few of the microbrews Chase liked. Grabbing one, he pulled the lid off with a vicious twist. He would have preferred whiskey, but since the beer was all that was available, he’d make do.

Chapter Ten

 The noise of the printing press was deafening as the week’s
Free Trader
was being printed Monday afternoon. Beth was in the back with press foreman Saul Williams, sharing a bag of chips and two bottles of orange soda, a ritual they had established when she was a teenager. They would sit against the wall in scrappy but comfortable office chairs and demolish the salty snack while watching the presses, and by the time the bag was empty, any bad mood she had been in was usually gone.

It had been nine days since the break-in, a week since she’d had the falling out with Ethan. She had neither seen nor spoken to him since Tuesday morning. That he’d thought so little of her, of who she was, after having known her for so long, had really thrown her for a loop. It made her take a step back and look at herself, even though Ethan had sworn the problem was his.

Sitting there beside Saul, watching the paper roll through the large machines, she finally reached the mental place she needed to be to deal with the blow. Saluting him with her bottle, she stood and headed back to the newsroom. As she walked, she saw Alicia heading toward the pressroom and sped up her pace. Beth knew the noise of the press bothered the young woman. Once the door was closed, she took off her protective headphones, hanging them on one of the hooks beside the door.

“What’s up?”

Alicia’s eyes fairly sparkled with curiosity. “You have a phone call, a mysterious woman. She wouldn’t give her name.”

Eyebrows raised, Beth hurried toward her desk. She picked up the receiver as she sat, punching the one blinking light. “Beth Hudson. May I help you?”

For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line, and then a woman spoke. “Beth, this is Zora Mongiardo. I work at the pawn shop.”

A picture popped into Beth’s mind immediately of the eccentric young woman. “I remember you, Zora. What do you need?”

“Um, I need to talk to you. It’s about all these rumors, the devil worshipping stuff that’s been going around?” Zora sounded nervous, her voice tight and high. “Can we meet?”

Intrigued, Beth agreed. “Absolutely. When and where?”

Zora suggested the Brown Bag. “Are you free this afternoon?”

Beth checked her calendar. “As it happens, I am.” A meeting time set, she hung up and doodled on the calendar on her desk. She searched her memory for whatever facts she knew about Zora, and realized that she didn’t know a lot, just what she had heard around town.

She turned to her computer and ran a search using a popular search engine. The woman’s name came up several times in relation to social networking sites, and by following those links, Beth was able to learn quite a bit about her mysterious caller, including her age, hometown, and religious preferences. Shaking her head at how willing people were to put their most intimate personal information out on the Internet for all the world to see, she pondered what she had learned. Some of the links on Zora’s various websites had been to groups practicing Wicca or Wiccan-like beliefs.

A thrill of anticipation ran through Beth as she remembered the pictures Stacy Kirchner had shown her of the altars. She wondered if Zora would reveal another piece of the puzzle when they met.

~ * * * ~

Rain was falling steadily by the time Beth made her way to the Brown Bag. She deliberately arrived a few minutes early and, after ordering a large hot chocolate, she took a corner booth facing the door and watched for Zora’s arrival.

As she looked out over the park that formed the middle of the town square, she noted that several of the trees were starting to turn. An unseasonably cool snap had descended on the region, bringing the gloomy rain with it, and the first real hint of fall was in the air. Before long, all the trees would have their fall colors on, and the round of festivals and carnivals would be upon Olman County.

It was a busy time for the paper and probably her favorite season, Beth thought, smiling to herself. Her smile slipped a little as she thought about Ethan and the break-in, but as she saw Zora dashing across the street, she put those concerns to the back of her mind. As the young woman came in, Beth raised her hand. Zora made her way over to the booth.

“Hey. Would you like something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine,” Zora told her, a little breathless. “Thanks.”

Beth took in the woman’s eclectic attire, wispy black blouse and skirt. The outfit put her in mind of something her sister, Joely, would wear. The memory caused a pang of loneliness for Joely, who had just started her third year of college in Louisville.

“I like your nail polish.” Beth said as she leaned in to look at the dark electric blue the woman had applied to her long nails, hoping the topic would help Zora relax. “I wish I could wear something like that at the paper, but I can’t. I also can’t seem to get my nails to grow out like yours. I keep breaking them off.”

“They’re like a decoration, almost. I do different colors and designs for different days of the week, seasons, holidays. I have some really wicked spider web stickers that I use for Halloween.” Zora cleared her throat and pulled herself back into the moment, and to the purpose of the meeting. “I don’t know what you know about me.” Her wariness was apparent as she waited for Beth’s answer.

“I know that you work for Vestra at the pawn shop, and that you purport to have some paranormal abilities.”

Zora nodded. “I do have abilities. I’m clairvoyant. I can sense things, feel things that most people can’t. I know when really good things are going to happen, and when really bad things are going to happen.” She stopped and studied Beth for a moment. “You aren’t laughing at me.”

“No, I’m not. I’ve seen too many things that couldn’t be explained. I had a friend in college who was precognitive to some degree. I try to keep an open mind about that sort of thing.”

When she saw that Beth wasn’t going to ridicule her, some of the woman’s tension eased. “I guess you’re wondering why I asked to meet.”

“I’m very curious, yes. You mentioned the possible devil worshipping?”

Zora looked around warily, and lowered her voice. “I associate with a group of people who have different beliefs than most of the people around here. Most of us are pagans, but there are a few folks in the group who worship darker stuff. They aren’t devil worshippers per se, but they’re definitely not Christians.”

Beth was intrigued, and she sat forward. “Okay, so we’re talking what – Satanists? Heathens?”

Zora shrugged, wrinkling her nose a little. “More Satanists, I suppose. It’s odd because pagans and Satanists don’t usually mix, but with this being such a rural area, I think we all fell in together because none of us really fit in anywhere else.”

“I understand. So you have this group – what do you do?”

“We meet, usually at someone’s house, and we just talk. Sometimes there’s a meal, and sometimes we have speakers. We just basically form a physical group that gets together and discusses like ideals. That’s why it’s unusual – pagans are typically practicing Wiccans, at least in this section of the country, and Satanists are more hedonistic. This bunch is less into the whole hedonism thing and more into individuality, and they don’t really practice dark magic or anything like that, so that’s probably why we all get along.”

Beth nodded, excited as she thought about what the other woman was telling her. It fit with what she had learned in the last few weeks, and with what the expert on the occult she’d consulted had told her. “So do you all have rituals that you follow?”