Light of the Moon (6 page)

“No? She’s hot though,” Chad said. “And the crazy one’s are always the best at-”

“At
what
, Chad?” Annabelle’s voice was cold, hard.

“Uh, nothing.”

“Exactly.” She looked at me. “She
is
crazy. I heard some weird stuff about her when I was in the office this morning.”

“Me too!” Michelle squealed. “There are rumors going around that she transferred here from Maine because she was in this coven of witches.”

Annabelle nodded seriously. “And they killed people.”

Chad snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure they did.”

Annabelle glared at him, but didn’t say anything else.

“I heard something like that too, actually,” Jason said. He leaned in like he was about to tell a secret. “Except I heard she was part of some cult in Detroit that worships the devil. I heard she’s only here to find her next sacrifice.”

Annabelle gasped. “No!”

“I knew she was too pretty,” Michelle said, pulling a finger through her mess of strawberry curls. “She probably takes baths in blood to keep her skin so perfect, like some vampire.”

Annabelle nearly screamed. “What if she’s the Bloodletter?”

“A girl? Right,” Jason laughed. “You think she’s related to Elizabeth Bathory, that serial killer countess that took baths in the blood of her victims?”

Michelle put her hand over her mouth. She slowly brought it down and, as her eyes moved rapidly from side to side, she said, “
Ohmygod
. Isn’t Kate’s last name Bathory?”

Tyler waved his hands in the air, mocking. He rolled his eyes and said in a high-pitched squeal, “Isn’t her last name Bloodletter?”

Michelle gasped. Her hand was shaking. “Ohmygod, is it really?”

“No, it’s Black,” Chad said. He smiled and tilted his head at Jason. “You need help with your history, huh?”

“Shut up, Chad,” Annabelle said, her lips pursed. “And how do
you
know her last name, anyway?”

He grinned and took a sip of his water. “Oh, you know.”

Annabelle threw her hands on the table and stood up. “No, I do not know! How do you know her name?”

“I just do,” he said.

“You tell me right now!”

“Calm down, Annabelle. I’ll tell you tonight at Jason’s. I have a feeling we won’t have much history to talk about.”

Annabelle grabbed Michelle’s arm and said, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

After they left, Chad couldn’t stop smiling.

“So, do you have a date for Homecoming?” he asked Jason. “Maybe whoever you’re taking can double with me and Annabelle.”

“I haven’t asked anyone yet,” Jason muttered. He picked at his food as Chad continued to tell him about his plans for his Homecoming night with Annabelle.

Tyler whispered to me, “Annabelle and Chad really are perfect for each other aren’t they?”

I nodded. “I’m just glad the conversation always goes right back to them.”

“Yeah, sorry. I figured you wouldn’t want to talk about Kate.”

I shrugged. “It’s just after everything she’s said today I’d rather not think about it.”

“I get that, but you can’t ignore stuff forever.”

I sighed. “I know. This is different.”

The loud, metallic sound of the bell rang through the noise. In one swift motion, everyone moved toward the doors.

“Is it different?” Tyler asked when we stood up. “Or is it just more of the same.”

My storm:
Kate. Dad.
“I don’t know.”

Tyler gripped my shoulder. “Well, hey. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? No practice today. We can pretend to do that review packet for Brandt’s class.”

“Eh,” I started. I didn’t want to think about Monday’s quiz, either.

I knew I needed to think, to try and understand
why
my heart seemed to live and die with three thoughts: The pain of Dad, the mystery of Kate, the confusion of me. I just couldn’t seem to find a place to start. There was no middle ground, only high and low.

“C’mon,” Tyler urged. “We have to start sometime. I have practice on Saturday mornings so I can’t tomorrow.”

“All right. That sounds good.”

“Good! Meet me at my locker after school and we can just ride to my house together.”

“Sounds good,” I said, not really paying attention. My eyes were searching the crowd, looking, wondering.

Is she close?

She could be anywhere.

Tyler’s voice in my ear: “She’s not here.”

I tripped on nothing. “What? Who?” I said as he steadied me. My lips were dry with a taste of the memory of Kate. My tongue ran across them. I needed air.

“When I was in the office I heard Nurse Anne say that Kate went home sick,” he said. “Must have been right after we saw her in the hall. You don’t have to worry. She’s not here today.”

“Good,” I said.

Still, Kate’s voice haunted me, and I couldn’t help thinking about how the freckles on her face reminded me of the stars I once wished upon.

I gripped my arm, felt the warmth of my skin where my birthmark forever was, and let the wave of students carry me into the hall.

You don’t have to worry.

Let them pull me under.

She’s not here today.

Let the feelings drift away.

-Kate-

“He’s the one. I’m sure of it.”

A snarl.
How do you know?

I said, “I saw it in his eyes like you warned.”

If you are sure,
he barked
, then bring him to us. Tell him what you must to get him to the compound, nothing more and nothing less.

Even over the phone Marcus’ voice begged me to obey.

I nodded. “I’ll have him to you in three days.”

Good. Three days will be enough. We cannot wait any longer than that. Is the binding spell real? Did those treasonous fools speak the truth? The boy knows nothing of what he is?

“The binding was real,” I said, choking on the words and what they meant to me. What they made me remember. Then the lie came easily: “No. I’ve said nothing to him.”

He must know what he is
, Marcus said. His voice rang in my ear making blood pound in my head.
Has he shown any signs of his powers?

“None that I can see. The binding spell worked.”

It’s fading too quickly if the Orieno have found him as well. Keep watching. Do what you must. Don’t let them get him. We need him.

“Yes, Marcus.”

His voice spilled out in anger.
The Orieno grows stronger each day you and the others are out searching.

“Yes, I know.”

You know what will happen if we’re too late then.

I whispered, “Yes.”

I cannot protect you if you fail. You’ll be no better than them.

“I won’t fail.”

No hesitation:
Do not come back if you do.

Silence.

I heard the phone’s screen crack under my grip.

Three days
, I thought.
Three days until I’m free
.

When I was sure Marcus was gone-

I finally breathed:
You are mine Calum Wade
.

-Calum-

Some blurry class periods later I
found
myself in the last hour of the day: Newspaper with Mr. Knight. Relief painted the room in light; outside in the courtyard, the sun broke through the dark clouds and fell into the room in three beams of gold.

Light to dark and back again.

Even though I felt my thoughts poke and prod in the back of my mind, reminding me of three worries on repeat, I felt the weight of the day fade. As the class came to life, so did I. Here, I felt as close to myself as I ever could, lost in the chaos of deadlines and gossip and words that had nothing to do with me. Working on
The Hollow
, the real me meant nothing, and that meant everything.

The room buzzed with quiet whispers, clicked as computer keys pounded down, as the bell rang. No one looked up;
The Hollow’s
Homecoming issue deadline was yesterday.

When the smell of cotton candy hit my nose, I ducked my head close to my desk pretending I was correcting an article.

Not today
, I thought.
I don’t have the energy for this
.

“Hey, Calum,” a voice said, as sickly sweet as her perfume.

I didn’t look up. “Hi, Tanya. I’m actually in the middle of this article for Knight. Sorry.”

There were too many people noticing me today, too many moments that made me remember why I didn’t want to be noticed.

I thought,
Just let me be a ghost for one more day.

“Oh,” she said. She must have leaned close because suddenly I could barely breathe. She tapped a highlighter-pink finger on my desk, slow like her words. “I was hoping you could, like, maybe help me with my article.”

I shook my head. “Sorry. You know how Knight gets. I really need to finish this.”

She whispered, “Too bad.”

Sighing, I said, “I don’t think I’d be much help with the gossip column anyway.” I looked up to see her pouting.

Her lips stuck together in shades of pink, strings of gloss hanging down like prison bars. She twirled a finger in her hair, leaned back, and giggled. “I think you’d be good at anything. By the way, do you like my new lipstick?” She puffed out her lips so the gloss bubbled in the middle. “It’s called
Puck
er-Me Pink.”

“Calum, could you come here for a second?” Mr. Knight called from his desk, saving me.

I quickly stood up. “Sorry
,
Tanya. Gotta go!”

I almost laughed at the look on her face, as though her perfume had been discontinued.

What a horrible day that would be.

“What’s up?” I asked Knight. “I’m almost done with setting up some interviews for the Homecoming bonfire, I just have to ask a few more people.”

Knight held up a hand. “Relax, Calum. I just thought you might need some space to, ah, breathe, so to speak.” He laughed under his breath, making me realize again how young he was.

I pressed my hands to a paper on his desk, feeling my body lean forward into it. “Thanks.”

Knight set his pen down. “Rough day?”

It was one of those moments when a whisper wouldn’t do, but speaking normally was too much.

So I nodded, breathed deeply, and felt words fill my lungs like paper breaths:
Yes. It’s been a day I want to forget. Too much is running through my mind. My heart is beating so fast because I’m afraid my Dad is going to come back and finish what he started, come back for my mother and me. I’m afraid
I am just like
I’ll become him because sometimes I get so angry I can’t control it and then I can’t see and I explode in rage. And then there’s Kate. I don’t know why
I’m afraid of her
she’s all I can think about.

He ran a hand through his thick, straw-colored hair, his eyes blinking beneath his black-framed glasses. He sighed, “I see. Me too. My girlfriend’s been getting really nervous about these Bloodletter attacks; one of her coworkers has gone missing. No body, just blood and
gone
like the rest. It’s been rough, to say the least.”

A chill ran down my back.

Blood and gone.

“Do you think we should run a story?” I asked.

Our eyes met. “No,” he said. “Not when it’s like this. We don’t run stories about this kind of thing, Calum.”

“What do we do?”

He drummed his fingers on his desk. “We think about the good things and pray the rest sorts itself out.”

Words thick with the poison of sadness caught in my throat and fell out in a burning whisper. “But what if there are no good things?”

Knight looked at me. He said, “There are always good things to see if you want them badly enough.”

His eyes, deep and dark brown, said,
I’m sorry
.

He knew just as much as me that the good things were not so easy to find, even if you wanted them with all your heart.

He leaned close. Moments like this he reminded me of Tyler, of a friend. Maybe even of a father. “If you ever need to talk...”

I cleared my throat. “I know,” I said. “Thanks.”

Thanks for being there
, I didn’t.

He winked and said loudly, “And speaking of your article, good job on it so far. Just make sure you get those interviews done.”

I smiled,
breathed
, and started to turn away.

“Not so fast,” Knight said, waving me back. “I really did have something to talk to you about.”

“Shoot.”

“
The Hollow
is getting a new staffer and I wanted you to kind of show her around. You know, answer questions and whatnot. She’s a junior like you, and was on the paper at her old school. Her transcripts said she’s pretty decent, but you can never be sure.”

“Yeah, no problem. When does she get here?”

A knock.

A laugh. “She gets here now, apparently.”

My heart.

My stomach.

No.

And then, “Calum Wade, this is our new student, Kate Black. Kate, Calum will be showing you around for the next few days until you feel comfortable. Okay? Okay! Now, get to work both of you. If we don’t get this issue out by Monday, we won’t have it in time for Homecoming.”

Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen it before, but when she smiled at Knight the air around me seemed to shiver, making anger impossible.

Making breathing impossible.

“Thanks,” she said, eyes smiling purple. When she smiled it was something like the first light of day, or a melody played only with the black keys of a piano; panged with inconceivable mystery. The melody of her voice as she spoke reverberated off every bone in my body, making my heart quake, hurt. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I need anything, Mr. Knight, though I don’t think it’ll take more than three days to fit in.”