Moonset

“Was there another attack?” I was having a hard time pulling myself out of the sleep fog I’d been in. There was something I was missing. Something with teeth.

My stomach sank and I didn’t know why. Jenna went to the front door, peering out one of the windows on either side of it. The porch lights were on at Mal’s house, and at Bailey and Cole’s.

Farther down the street, standing in the street itself and positioned perfectly under one of the streetlights, Quinn and the other two guardians were huddled together. Mal’s guardian Nick, and Kelly, the sorority guardian.

All three of them were clutching their athames, prepared to use them at a moment’s notice. A car turned onto our street and slowed as it approached the trio. Nick opened the driver’s door and Meghan stepped out.

“What’s she doing here?” I don’t know why I was whispering.

Jenna looked at me, an eyebrow raised. “If we knew we wouldn’t be spying, would we?”

Nick was getting in the car now, and he closed the door once he was behind the wheel. Then, like nothing had happened, he continued driving, turning towards down-town.

“You feel that?” I looked over at Jenna, and saw the most peculiar look on her face. Like she could almost make something out, but it still didn’t make any sense.

“Feel what?”

She shook her head, and focused back on the adults in the street. “Nothing. Never mind. Just one of those ‘someone walking over your grave’ feelings.”

Maybe they know about the book. The thought struck me at all once. Maybe. It looked serious enough.

My coat was still tossed over the railing post at the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed it, figuring

I could be outside and back in just a minute or two. Sneak into the garage and see if the book was still there. If it was, I’d grab it and hide it somewhere else.

Two minutes, tops. If they find it, they might punish one of the others. It’s no one’s fault but mine. If anyone should take the blame, it should be me.

“Where are you going?” Jenna’s voice rose.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, opening the door before I could give her a chance to respond.

Everything was fine as I first stepped off the landing and down onto the concrete porch. It was when my second leg left the safety of the house that something went wrong.

It was like that moment when you’re somewhere between being awake and asleep, but you’re still kind of dreaming. Everything is fine until you trip in the dream, and then you’re suddenly awake as your body jerks itself in compensation.

That was what this was like, except it was almost exactly opposite. I stepped down onto the porch, but some dream-part of me missed the step. I kept falling, like there were two of me.

One on the porch, and one that was hurtling somewhere else.

There were a thousand pairs of hands, and they were all grabbing for me, each pulling me further and further down. There was a glimmer of light so far in the distance I thought I must be imagining it.

The farther they dragged me, the worse the pain. At first it was like every muscle in my body was clenching at the same time. But every few feet, it was like more and more of those muscles were being torn off my body, ripped from where they were supposed to be.

I was there, but I was also on the porch. Jenna had been standing next to me, but now she was towering over me like some sort of wild and terrified Amazon. She hadn’t stepped down onto the porch yet. I don’t know why I noticed that, but I did.

I tried to say something to calm her, but there was a tunnel between my mouth and my voice.

It was like looking at a slide from the bottom up. Such a long way back.

They’re here. Now they’re here. Finally. Whispers chittering against my skin. Their voices were legion; hot and icy against my skin, fetid and honey against all the things on the inside.

Part of me could still see Jenna, framed by the porch light. I was sinking faster, or she was floating higher. Either way, the distances kept growing.

Her mouth moved, but the words were unintelligible. All I could hear was the Others. Here now. Finally here. They’ve come. Everything you’ve ever clawed for in nightmares. Here for you, crackling open your bones and biting down on your rage. You know what we need.A thousand voices, all talking in the same tongue. Something that wasn’t English, and wasn’t the language of magic. Something else.

Blood rushed to my skin, but it bounced down the tunnel all the way down to me before I felt the slap. Jenna’s face, blocking my vision. She’d grabbed me. Dragged me back towards the door. Slapped me.

She did it again, and I floated between two worlds. The hands released, though they struggled to regain their grip.

A third and final slap. Long enough for a single moment of clarity. This was not my sister.

Jenna’s makeup never smeared, her eyes were never that wild. Her skin never flushed like that.

Her breathing was never so erratic.

This was not my sister. She would never ask for help.

Jenna had never in her life screamed the way she did. “Quinn!” It was a howl, fearful and breaking apart at the seams. If I kept watching, I was sure I would see things spilling out the side of her as she came undone.

One of the voices crept close, a whisper-burn against my spirit. You know what we need. We only need one. We only need one. We only need one.

That was the last thing I remembered, before the hands pulled me back down. It was almost like sleep. Almost exactly opposite.

Twenty-Two

“People thought it was a sick joke at first.

Moonset hadn’t even graduated from college yet. How could they be behind this? The reports said that their magic had been amplified by the Abyss—they’d willingly become warlocks and turned their black arts on the rest of us.”

Elizabeth Holden-Carmichael (C: Risenleaf) Personal Interview

There were snatches of conversation as I floated back towards my body. Fearful words, some accusations, and the sound of tears. Whatever had happened, it wasn’t pretty.

“ … fixing … ”

“ … never so quick … ”

“ … damnit, tell me … ”

“He’s awake.”

Everything was blurry. My eyes burned at the harsh light. There was a bulb hanging from the open ceiling, the long chain swaying back and forth. Everything smelled musty and sour.

Basement. This was our basement. Why had they taken me down here?

Jenna’s face swallowed my vision. She’d wiped off her makeup and tied her hair back. Then she was pulling away, and Quinn was there, looking concerned. Standing on the stairs, looking over his shoulder, Meghan tapped away on her computer.

“Can you talk?” Quinn crouched down on his haunches, watching me.

Meghan looked up “He wasn’t in a coma, Quinn. Of course he can talk.”

“He had some sort of seizure,” Jenna snapped.

I had?

My throat was on fire, like something had reached inside and left huge gouges on its way back out. “Why the basement?” Even my voice sounded burned out.

“Best place for you,” Quinn said, stepping back. “Closest to the warding spells.” He looked over his shoulder, “Shouldn’t you be hovering over my grandmother, Meghan? There’s no one’s ass to kiss down here.”