Rise of the Moon (Moonlit Series Book 1) (18 page)

Chapter 24: Blake

“What happened?” Carlos asked as Jason practically dragged me inside of the house.

My body felt heavy, and my breathing had become laboured. As he’d helped me out of the truck, Jason had made a joke about how maybe we should have brought Evelyn along if it was going to pain me this much to be away from her.

I had wanted her to come. Oh god, had I wanted her by my side. But at the same time, I didn’t want her to see me this way. And Carlos wouldn’t let her downstairs, anyway. Might not even let her into the house.

“I think,” Jason took a large, heavy breath. “I think he was poisoned.”

Carlos lifted me up off the ground, and Jason hurried ahead of him, opening up the door to the basement, then hurrying to open the hidden door downstairs. All I could think about was how I’d forgotten how strong my father was. How much of a role model he’d been for me growing up. His touch was almost as comforting as Evelyn’s had been. Almost.

I heard Dante, Noah and Kaya all following behind us.

“Poisoned?” Kaya asked. “You mean, like, food poisoning, right?”

“When have we ever gotten food poisoning?” Noah reminded her kindly. “Do we know with what? Aconitum? Ricin?”

“If it’s who I think it is, then it has to be aconitum,” Jason said, throwing open the medical room that we’d only finished three weeks ago.

“The foxes?”

When Marissa had bumped into me and Evelyn in the hallway, there had been a prick in the back of my neck. It was immediately after that that I’d begun to feel nauseous. Before that I’d been fine.

Carlos didn’t say anything as he laid me on the table and began shuffling through the drawers and cupboards to find what he needed. Jason made sure I was stretched out okay, that I could breathe clearly, then realized that for what Carlos was finding, I’d need to be on my stomach and not have my shirt on.

“You know. For irony’s sake,” Jason continued when no one said anything, pulling my shirt up over my head with Kaya’s help. I tried to be of use, but it felt more like I was fighting them than doing any good. Jason went on, “First the wolf shirt… now wolfs bane.”

“There
was
a reason it was called that,” Dante muttered. “And I’m betting that a couple of foxes wouldn’t have a hard time getting any of it.”

“Jerks probably grow it in their backyard,” Kaya murmured.

“Twenty minutes between here and the school?” Carlos asked, pulling out several thin, long sticks, similar to acupuncture needles. Only these needles had tips that were made of silver. Michael had long since taught Noah and Carlos how to use them, since any number of supernaturals had access to wolfsbane. You didn’t need a lot of it to incapacitate a werewolf.

While our bodies could fight off a lot, high doses of poison would get to us as badly as anyone else. Aconite poisoning was the worst for us, though. While the poison shut us down quickly, the acupuncture kept blood and energy flowing through us. The silver tips would fall off after the needles were removed, their chemicals fighting alongside our bodies to get rid of the poison.

“And about five, maybe ten minutes before that was when he was poisoned,” Jason said, wiping down my back. I could barely feel the cloth, focusing on not throwing up again.

“What else?” Carlos said. I couldn’t see him, but I felt him at my side. His warmth radiating, comforting me as I felt myself fading. Fading even though nausea swept over me. Man, I was thirsty.

“Evelyn –”

And I was out.

Chapter 25: Evelyn

I arrived at the ice cream parlour an hour before my shift started. I’d been trying to keep Blake off my mind, but it was failing miserably by the time I pushed open the glass door, sending the small bell chiming. Harry was surprised to see me, but he greeted me just the same.

“You want to start now, or did you want to chill until your shift starts?” he asked, taking a customer’s change.

“I might as well start now,” I responded, heading into the back to change in the bathroom.

“I’ll clock you for two-thirty then,” he said as I passed. I didn’t bother looking at the time –I knew that I was a few minutes later than two-thirty, but Harry was often that way, and I’d come to accept it. When you owned the business, you kind of had that leeway –who was I to judge how he used it?

I switched shirts, casting a glance in the mirror as I did so, still trying to figure out what Blake saw in me. Maybe it was my presence that had made him sick today. Not that I actually thought that way. The poor guy, though. I could only think of how quickly his health had disintegrated before my eyes. What had Jason done? Taken him home and shipped him to bed with a handful of Gravol or Tylenol and a bowl for the moments he couldn’t make it to the toilet?

I should have called in sick today and just gone with them. But I didn’t –and both of them had insisted I go to work, so really, what could I do?

What I
did
do was send Jason a quick text message, asking how he was doing.

My hair was already pulled back from another warm autumn day, but I adjusted it nonetheless. Before I could step back into the open space of the back room, I received a text message back.

It read, “He passed out. He’ll be fine though.”

I let out a small breath of relief, and went to put my bag in my locker. As I was about to slip my phone into the front pocket, it buzzed again in my hands.

That message read, “So this is what prolonged exposure to you does to a person. Lol.”

I rolled my eyes, wondering what a good comeback was, but falling short. I tossed it in my bag without a reply, hoping that it would make him more restless than if I had sent a really good retort. Though I doubted it, at the very least it might make him feel bad for teasing me.

When I entered the front of the store, it was empty, except for Harry who was on the computer ordering more stock.

“Just you and me tonight, girly,” he said, glancing up at me.

“Maddie said she’ll stop by later,” I told him, adjusting the box of sampling spoons on the counter.

“Oh, straight for the spoons –what’s up?” he asked.

“I don’t always go for the spoons when something’s wrong,” I snorted.

“I have two years of evidence against that,” Harry countered.

Letting out a sigh, I admitted, “It’s nothing, really. Just a little worried about a friend who got sick today. Has it been busy so far today?”

“Nah,” he shook his head. “It’s fair week, though, so I kind of expected this.”

“I don’t know why you don’t rent an ice cream truck and set up at the fair,” I told him. “A change of environment’s nice every once in a while, no?”

“Maybe next year,” he patted me on the back, moving to my other side to grab a notebook and bring it back to the computer. Coyly, he added, “So, Lizzie and I are getting married.”

I let out the most girlish squeal I’d ever heard myself make. “That’s so exciting.”

“It’ll be next October,” he told me. “You and Maddie are both invited, of course.”

“Well, duh,” I grinned. “You guys have been living together for two years already –it’s about damn time.”

“Blame it on me –I always figured since we were already common law, I didn’t need to put any more effort into it.”

“Ouch. But she’s been pressing for it?”

“I wouldn’t say pressing –but it’s clear that she’s been a lot happier since she got the engagement ring,” Harry smiled.

“That’s good. Maddie will be so disappointed,” I couldn’t help but grin. “But she’ll live.”

“Forever, if her dream ever comes true,” he chuckled.

“The girl’s got her head in the clouds,” I shrugged helplessly.

“And you don’t?”

“I like to think I’ve at least got my feet grounded pretty well. The lightning of fantasy only strikes me occasionally.”

He shook his head, “We both know that’s not true.”

“Alright. I’m just as bad as her. But something has to get me through the day. High school sucks.”

Customers came in before he could respond, sitting down in a booth and taking their time. I busied myself changing the frozen dessert display, moving the older ice cream tubs to the front and putting the older ones in the back. They all sold pretty quickly during the summer, so it didn’t matter all too much, but I was the kind of person that wouldn’t drink milk the day it was “best before.”

By the time the customers left, Harry and I forgot what we’d been talking about beforehand. It turned out that didn’t matter either. Maddie walked in shortly after three fifteen, running a hand through her red hair and giving me a huge smile.

“Oh, love of mine –how I have counted the minutes since I’ve last saw you,” she exclaimed, putting a hand over her heart.

“And what’s the count at?” I asked.

“Too long,” she giggled, tapping the glass that shielded the ice cream from the customers. I’d have to wash that later, but that kind of came with the job regardless. “I’ve heard some things, Evelyn dear.”

“This should be good,” Harry elbowed me lightly as I walked by.

“What kind of things?” I ventured, keeping my voice low for dramatic effect.

“Like Blake getting super sick kind of things. I heard he was with you,” she answered. “So, what’s the scoop?”

“Ice cream jokes in an ice cream parlour –never gets old,” I did an aside with Harry. I turned back to Maddie, “He was. It was kind of nerve wracking. One moment he was fine, and the next… not so much. But I got an inside man saying he’s sleeping it off now.”

“Jason?” she asked.

“The one and only,” I replied.

“Whoa, clearly I have some catching up to do,” Harry chuckled. “What’s going on?”

“Like, if you want to, like, join in on girl talk, you, like, have to be a girl,” Maddie said, impersonating the stereotypical preppy girl. Except for when people did mock impressions, I was pretty sure I only heard people talk like that on TV.

“Well, I’m not talking like that,” Harry shook his head.

“Lucky for you, I don’t have the same standards as Maddie,” I told him. “Where do I begin?”

Harry and Maddie listened while I laid out my cards. Harry knew a few things, mostly because sometimes all that was left to talk about during a long night of zero customers, after talking about the latest episode of whatever, was school and, yes, boys. And what was nice was that he didn’t judge me at all. Also, he gave decent advice. Not that I ever had the guts to put some of the things in play. After all, I still couldn’t bring myself to be the girl who made the first move.

“So that’s what happened,” Maddie nodded when I was finished, as though everything made sense again.

“That Blake guy, huh?” Harry let out a long breath.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” I rolled my eyes, resting my elbows on the counter. “He’s
not
a bad guy. Rough around the edges –but not, like, corrupt or anything. Right, Maddie?”

“I don’t mind him,” she admitted from where she had taken a seat at the nearest table, slowly eating her chocolate ice cream that Harry had given her free of charge.

“I just get bad vibes from him,” he replied, leaning on the broom’s handle. We were tidying up the store in a moment of peace, but not bothering to rush it. We’d probably sweep the floor, or mop it, once again before the night was up. Just so that we had something to do. It looked like it might rain though, and a part of me begged it to fall so that we’d have a flow of customers who were currently preoccupied at the fair. “Whatever happened to that other guy? Shayne?”

“Things… fell apart. He never got back to me after we fought. And I did that thing where in my head I find a million reasons why we shouldn’t be together.”

“Is that a thing you do?” he chuckled.

“Oh, it’s a thing,” Maddie rolled her eyes.

“What reasons did you have?”

“Conversations didn’t come that easily. Well, they appeared to, at the time. But you know how I hate to be the one that comes up with every topic.”

“You guys went on two dates –of course it was awkward,” he laughed.

“Not with Blake,” I murmured, looking down at my hands.

“What else?” he asked.

“It sounds weird, but when he was looking at me, I didn’t really feel like he was looking at
me
,” I picked up a sampler spoon and dipped it into the orange sherbet. I thought of Blake momentarily before I licked it off the spoon. It was, after all, the first thing he’d ever ordered from here. He’d been back, of course, and had ordered other flavours of ice cream, but he seemed to fall back on the vanilla and orange sherbet mix.

“That doesn’t sound weird. Unfortunate, maybe,” Harry said.

“Very unfortunate,” Maddie agreed.

“That’s what I thought. And –he’s too rational,” I pointed the spoon at him. “I don’t mind rationality, but there has to be a limit. Some spontaneity… you know? And even more than that –there’s a time for spontaneity. Which Shayne didn’t have down.”

“And you’re telling me that you’re not finding any of these reasons for this new guy?” Harry snorted.

“No, there’s a list of reasons why I shouldn’t date Blake,” I admitted, tossing the spoon in the trash.

“Such as?”

“None of my friends seem to like him, Maddie aside, and vice versa: he doesn’t seem to like any of my friends,” I adjusted the pile of cups beside me. “There are still a million things I don’t know about this kid, who just appeared out of the blue about, what, a month ago? Also, he doesn’t read books.”

“The horrors,” Harry gasped mockingly.

“I used to consider it a deal breaker.”

Maddie nodded her agreement as she finished the last of her ice cream, getting up to toss it in the trash. In the back of my mind, I made a mental note to check to see if it needed to be changed later.

“And now?”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Well, those all seem very minor in comparison to Shayne,” Harry pointed out.

“Oh, there are bigger reasons,” Maddie answered before I could. “Like –what was it that you said –he’s oddly cautious?”

“Oddly cautious?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. I just feel like he’s watching out for me when I’m with him. He’s always on the lookout. He’s got my back –and it’s awesome. As long as I have Blake around, Cole and Marissa don’t come near me.”

“But she was in here the other day,” Harry pointed out.

“But Blake wasn’t,” I countered.

“Touché,” he nodded.

“The thing about Blake is, even though I get so nervous that my mind essentially stops working properly, he… he calms me at the same time. Like I said. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“I’m a little disappointed you and Shayne didn’t work out,” Harry sighed.

“Why? Do you know him?”

“I do, actually,” he admitted. “He’s actually moved out here because I recommended the area. He wanted a quiet place away from his dad –and wham. Here we are.”

“Oh my god –I’m so sorry,” I was horrified. “Here I am, saying all these things about him –”

“Yeah, good going,” Maddie pointed an accusatory finger my way.

“It’s not like you’re saying bad things,” he waved his hand dismissively. “It’s a judge of his character –and it’s not necessarily a wrong one.”

“I would still like to stick my head in one of the tubs of ice cream and die,” I groaned.

He replied, “Please, don’t. We have to sell those.”