Moonset

“Cold,” she whispered through her teeth. “Numb.” One whole side of her face had gone slack, the skin sinking downwards like a stroke victim. “Have to get out of here … ”

I turned back towards the fireplace. “Why do all this? Why? Luca, and everything you put him through. My family. WHY?”

“Ripen and rot, Child of Moonset. Touchstone of all those bound to you.” The dry voice whispered, crackled really, like a viper. “Ripen and rot, for this night they have condemned you to us, a plague to send to the Abyss itself. Swear unto usss.”

“To usss.”

“We will bless you, vessels of our essence. Free usss, let usss in, and we will crush those who persssecute you. Our powers are legion. We can teach you to channel the Abyss. To live forever, with usss. In usss. As usss. Swear!”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“They will spill your blood where you ssstand,” the viper hissed. “Swear, and your hour of vengeance will be had. Sssuch power we will bestow upon you.”

I could feel it in the air, the symbol that Ash had been drawing. It hung there, half-finished and pulsing with magic that could quite possibly rip me to shreds. Rip any of us to shreds. I could feel it—this wasn’t just another spell, it was something more. It was almost finished—it was begging to be finished.

“Swear!” the viper demanded. The fire began to rage again, the three prongs losing cohesion as the fireplace was consumed in one giant ball of cold fire.

“Swear!” repeated the female.

“Swear,” moaned the other.

The knife was still in my back pocket. My hand slid around the pommel like the blade had been crafted just for me. It was hot against my skin, warmth the fire couldn’t provide.

They asked for it.

“Fuck you,” I snapped, bringing the knife down in a slash that ripped through and completed the symbol that Ash had started.

Aerous. The symbol glowed so bright that it dimmed the Abyssal fire. It was a familiar symbol, but still one that I had never quite seen before. But I knew what it was, now. Aerous.

The primal wind. A spellform. I didn’t have time to wonder how Ash had known a spellform, or how I’d known how to complete it.

A tornado exploded in front of me, throwing me backwards. For a moment, I sailed in the air, my eyes drawn to the sickly blue green of the fireplace. I saw the fire wrap itself around Luca like a cocoon; heard a dozen inhuman shrieks; and felt a whirlpool pulling us down, down, down into the darkness.

Then the roof collapsed.

Twenty-Nine

“When we found them, they had been lined up in a row of cribs. The twins were together in one, of course. It was almost a month before we found evidence that Baby

Girl

Daggett had a different mother.”

Adele Roman

Moonset Historian Official Witness Statement, From the raiding of the Moonset compound

I don’t know how any of us made it out of there in one piece. A magical SWAT team had descended upon the farmhouse property. Adults were everywhere, searching the grounds, talking in hushed circles. Spotlights blazed on the remains of the farmhouse.

I was awake for a long time before I was actually conscious. For the longest time, I watched

Witchers hustling to and fro, and others farther away, combating the weather magic.

“Someone really huffed and puffed all over that house, didn’t they?” a familiar voice drawled from next to me.

Jenna was leaning against a tire. I craned my neck around, realizing that we’d both been propped up against the side of an SUV. “Are you okay?”

Her hair was a mess, and both of us were covered in dirt and grime, but she nodded slowly.

“Think so. Last thing I remember is leaving the house with Malcolm.”

“They’ve got Witchers all over the place trying to maintain control,” Jenna said. “I heard them talking earlier. They’re spread thin, trying to cover up what was happening in town, and contain all the shit Luca stirred up.”

“You idiot.” There was suddenly a voice and a presence in front of us, blocking out the light.

My stomach tightened, thinking for a moment that the … demons, or whatever they were, had come back.

It was Quinn. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you tonight? What did you think you were doing?”

“We ran out of Thin Mints?” Jenna asked, assuring me that she really was okay. If she could crack jokes so quickly after a house caved in on her, she was going to be all right. “You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to track down a Girl Scout at this hour.”

“Do you know what’s going on out there? How could you be so stupid?” he demanded, his voice oddly whispered. Like he was afraid someone was going to overhear him. Come to think of it, he was facing us at a strange angle, more like he was looking towards the back of the house than talking to us.

“It was Luca,” I said. “I thought … I thought it was someone else. But he released more of the darkness. I know. It talked to me.”

Quinn’s self-possession got the best of him, and he spent the next several moments like a gaping fish in front of us. Mouth opened. Mouth closed. Opened. Closed. “Now you listen to me you little asshole,” he managed to get out, though his voice was strangled. “You don’t remember anything. Anything. Any of you.”

I went to argue, to say something, but Jenna caught my eye and shook her head. It became an elaborately silent conversation, with complex thoughts expressed only through our looks.

I have to tell them what happened. They need to know.

She tugged at her hair, trying to create some order out of the chaos. No they don’t. But you’ll tell me later.

Of course I will. Don’t be stupid. I scratched at my forehead, my fingernails coming back dark with dried blood. My second attempt was much softer, more uncertain. There wasn’t any wound I could feel, no sensitivity, but nevertheless there was a whole section of my hair that was plastered against my scalp, congealed with that same brownish red.

Is everyone okay? Jenna’s head didn’t move, but her eyes moved around quickly and anxiously. She didn’t have to say anything. I read the question on her face.

I shrugged. That in itself said everything I knew.

“Ahh, it’s about time they began to awake,” Illana Bryer was suddenly above us. Her outfit was some sort of strange mesh of skintight slacks with a black shawl hanging nearly down to her ankles wrapped around her.

“So helpful of you to keep an eye on the two of them, Quinn,” she continued, staring down at us. I met her eyes only for a moment, enough time to see the calculating coldness in them, before I turned and scooted closer towards Jenna. “But someone will be around shortly to take care of them.”

“Take care of us?” Jenna’s voice was acid. “Considering something attacked us, and my brother looks like someone beat the shit out of him, you’d think a little medical care wouldn’t be out of the question.”

Illana’s lips thinned. “Yes, well that was before the five of you were found cavorting with a known warlock.”

“Who?”