Moonset

“You had Malcolm dress you, didn’t you?”

I laughed. “That obvious?”

She shrugged. “It’s a gift. I admit I have a keen awareness when a boy suddenly develops a radical shift in style.” She linked her arm with mine and started pulling me towards the theater doors. “Plus, I might have texted him while you were, and this is a direct quote, ‘throwing the biggest fit he’s ever seen,’ about ironing your shirt.”

I … he … oh. Malcolm was so dead! “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to delete his number,” I managed. “Especially since I’m going to break his thumbs to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Oh, it’s all in good fun,” Ash said. “Now open the door for me like a gentleman.” I did so, and she dipped her head as she swept past me. “Thank you, kind sir.”

The whole “Mal texting” scenario had me distracted, and I nearly walked straight into Santa

Claus. “What the—”

Ash returned to my side, slipping her gloved hand into mine. “Wicked, isn’t it?” she said in a breathless, excited voice.

“Wicked,” I agreed. This Santa was no ordinary Christmas elf. It was a life-sized mannequin, dressed up like one of the demonic Santas in the movie we were about to go see.

“I love when theaters do the cool promo stuff like this,” Ash said. “They’ve got Santas all over the place.” She tapped one—boop!—right on the nose.

I looked around the lobby. “This movie is really that big?”

“Of course. Christmastime plus horror? Every kid at school has probably gone to see this movie twice. The holidays make us all want to engage in a little patricide, don’t you think?”

“Wouldn’t know,” I said absently.

“Oh, shit, I forgot,” Ash said, ducking her head down. “Sorry,” she said quietly, squeezing my hand. Neither one of us said anything for a long moment, and the silence hung between us even in the noisy theater lobby. I didn’t know what to say to hijack the conversation away from my parents, and the dead elephant in the room.

We passed another pair of Santas on our way to the box office. I paid for our tickets, and we skipped the insane lines at the concession stand to head directly into our theater. It had been awhile since I’d been to a megaplex—the downside to small-town living was that the movie theaters usually only had one screen.

“Hold up,” I said, trying to pretend my brain hadn’t skipped on account of Moonset. Ash didn’t mean anything by it, I told myself. “I’m not supposed to walk in with her,” I said, nodding to

Bailey and her friends, who were still in line for the concessions.

“It’s really sweet that you look out for her,” Ash said, glancing up at me for only a moment before she looked away. She pulled a pink lip balm pot out of her purse, unscrewed the cap, and ran her ring finger over the surface of the balm before transferring it to her lips. It was enough of a distraction that I forgot about my parents entirely.

“Look,” I said, trying to ease some of the sudden awkwardness between us. “It’s not a big deal. People slip up about my parents all the time. Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me.”

“Yeah, but it’s tactless,” Ash said. She slipped her hand out of mine, the sudden cold startling me. “Guess I’m just a little nervous.”

“You, nervous?” I laughed. “I doubt it.”

“I like you, Justin,” she said quietly. “Maybe at first it was just a game, but you’re sweet.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything. We waited near one of the benches until Bailey and her group of freshmen sauntered past, barely looking at us. I noticed Luca in the group. “I didn’t know he was a freshman,” I said to Ash.

“He’s not,” she said, watching the group thoughtfully. “But Maddy’s cousin is, and he basically chauffeurs the both of them around whenever they want. Sara’s a lot nicer about it than Maddy is, though.”

“So he’s just like … on call all the time? That kind of sucks.”

“He doesn’t seem to mind,” Ash said absently, like she’d never given it much thought. “You ready?”

I nodded. We headed into the theater and waited near the door, until our eyes adjusted to the change in lighting. The previews had already started. “Come on,” Ash said, grabbing my arm and dragging me up the stairs. She chose seats a few rows up from Bailey’s group, for which I was eternally grateful. I looked them over as we passed, Bailey making every effort to act like she didn’t know me. There were only a couple of guys, and Luca on the end. I nodded to him as we passed.

“So, since we’re chaperoning, how much trouble are we allowed to get into?” Ash pulled off her jacket, and set it on the seat next to her. The gloves she pulled off a finger at a time.

“Yeah, you’re not exactly chaperone material, I’m afraid.”

She gasped. “Are you telling me I’m a bad influence?”

“I’d give you examples, but you know I’m not supposed to talk about your criminal charges until the jury comes back with a verdict.”

“Touche, Mr. Daggett,” she laughed, grabbing my hand again. The movie started soon after that, and I was quickly caught up in holiday cheer and dismemberment. The premise was fairly simple: evil Santa. It wasn’t highbrow by any means. About halfway through, just as the heroine and her love interest were finally getting close for the first time, I turned to see Ash watching me, not the movie.

“What?” I said, dropping my voice so it wouldn’t carry. “Is there something on my face?”

“You’re not anything like I thought you’d be,” she said, her tongue darting out to lick her lips.

“Fi-first impressions aren’t what they used to be,” I said, transfixed. I wasn’t sweating now, but my skin was flushed. Hot. I couldn’t stop staring at her lips, and wondering what her lip balm tasted like.

“Definitely not,” she whispered, leaning in.

Just before our lips would have touched, our first kiss, I happened to look down past her nose, and pulled up short. “What is he doing?” I demanded.

Ash pulled back in surprise. “What?” It took her a second to follow my line of sight. There had been some seat changes in the freshman group, and now instead of having a girl on either side, Bailey was on one of the ends, and talking to a blond-haired kid with a bowl cut. He kept leaning in to her, showing her something on his forearm.

“Relax,” she chuckled. “At least they’re not making out.”

Making out? I almost jumped out of my seat. But Ash grabbed my hand, stopping me. “Relax, it’s just a movie. They’re just talking.”

“That’s not the point!”

“God,” she said softly. “You really do think of her as your little sister.”

“Of course I do,” I said, suddenly confused.

But before I could push the issue any further, sirens wailed in our ears.

Twenty-Four

“The alliance between Illana Bryer and

Robert Cooper gave us a fighting chance.

But for three years, we stayed at a stalemate. Moonset went to ground, and continued to direct the war front from the shadows.

We thought they’d never be found.”

Adele Roman

Moonset Historian, From a college lecture series about Moonset

The movie kept playing, but the lights rose in the theater. Emergency sirens continued to blare from the hallway—they weren’t the ringing bell of a fire alarm, more the whoop-whoop of a tornado alarm.

“What’s going on?” a girl cried from behind us.

“Trying to watch the movie,” someone bellowed from down below.