Once Upon a Haunted Moon (The Keeper Saga) (18 page)

I huffed out a breath and pushed my hair back from my eyes. Then I met her gaze, and found the courage to keep going. She needed to know what I knew. “Your wolf. You’ve been sparkling with a white-colored mist the same way the rest of us do right before we change. I don’t know how you got it, but I think you have one in there. If you fight it the first time she wants you to change, it hurts. Really bad. You needed to know that, it will make it easier.”

There. I said it. I waited for her to look at me as if I were crazy. But she didn’t. Instead, she said in a quiet voice, “Thanks. I wondered about that, but I didn’t know who to ask. Adam was taken before I could say anything. I had called him and was planning on telling him when he got here. Then he was on his way here and Zue…” her voice cracked and her eyes filled with tears. The mist got stronger.

“Easy now, it’s all right. We’re going to find him.” I hugged her, trying to calm her wolf back down into the shadows.

“I can’t hear him anymore, what if we’re too late? It’s my fault for asking him to come, she wouldn’t have gotten him if he hadn’t been on his way here!” she asked through the tears that soaked through my shirt.

“We’re not too late,” I said, making myself believe the truth in my own words, “We’ll find them. And it wasn’t your fault, she would have just found another way to get to him.”

She cried a few more minutes. Then she sniffled, stepping back when she noticed my shirt, “I’m sorry. I’ve soaked your t-shirt.”

I smiled, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll dry. What good is a friend who won’t let you cry on his shoulder?”

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” Nikki said, “Thank you for being so great with all of this, Brian.”

“You’d do the same for me, and I mean it when I say we’ll find Adam. But since he isn’t here to tell you, I’ll try to tell you what I know. Having a wolf spirit isn’t all that hard. You just have to remember she’s there. When your emotions get out of control, your wolf will try to come out and help you — that’s what she’s there for. So unless you’re ready for her, concentrate on deep breaths to calm down, that works most of the time.”

“And when it doesn’t?”

“Then you’re a wolf, and you tend to think as both a wolf and a human, unless you choose to let your wolf do all the thinking, which I don’t recommend. If you do that, then things can go bad really quick.”

“Right,” she sighed. “I wish we could hurry up and find them, so I could quit worrying, maybe then I wouldn’t have to worry about this shifting into a wolf thing.”

“Well, let’s get a look at that book again. You never know, we may find something that we missed.”

We flipped through the rest of the pages, and even though we managed to look at some pretty strange looking creatures, including one that closely resembled the principal, there wasn’t any other mention of a Spriteblood.

“So. Tori didn’t seem too surprised when Ed showed up as a wolf, or when the cats showed up. I thought she’d be afraid, but she wasn’t.” I stared at a weird sketch of a creature with odd teeth, though what I was really thinking about was a tanned girl with long black hair and sharp, beautiful, green eyes.

“She’s a Sci-Fi nerd at heart, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. She thinks the truth is out there. It takes a lot to shake her up. Wolves and fairies by themselves won’t do it,” Nikki said, her voice lightening up as she talked about her friend.

“The truth is out there, you just have to know where to look,” I mumbled, trying to concentrate on what was in front of me.

“You two belong together,” she rolled her eyes, and then turned her attention back to the book. Looking back, I knew that one statement started it all.

That’s when it happened. That’s when I knew.

Suddenly, I was so worried that I actually felt sick. My heart felt like it was going to hammer out of my chest. I knew she was in trouble. I knew she was afraid, even though she wasn’t going to show it. She was in danger. And she needed me…

“I know where she is!” I jumped straight up from the floor, adrenaline pumping through every nerve ending in my body.

“Tori?” Nikki scrambled to her feet, trembling with excitement.

“Yes! She’s at St. Claire’s tomb, they are moving her deeper in the mound!” I was ready to run out the door, but stopped at the unasked question in her eyes, so I stilled for a moment and said, “I don’t know if Adam is there and I don’t know why I know this — but I’m certain that Tori is in that tomb.”

Nikki smiled, though it never reached her eyes. “You’ll see why you’re able to find Tori soon enough. Let’s go!”

We were almost out the door when she stopped. “Wait!” she exclaimed, then ran back to the coffee table and picked up the book, putting it up on a high shelf in the corner closet before she ran back toward me, “Sorry, I can’t leave it out. There’s no way I could explain that book to my mom.”

“You can say that again,” I agreed, then shivered as I stepped outside, “It’s still bad out here. Should we take your Jeep? The heater in my truck isn’t working right.”

“Nothing works right on your truck! But you don’t want to take the Jeep, either,” a voice called out across the yard.

Erik, Tommy, and Michael walked out from the trees, looking oblivious to the cold, even though their coats were icy.

“All the roads are blocked, people have wrecked all over the place. I wouldn’t go out there if you can avoid it,” Erik explained, then came to the point of his visit as he asked, “Have you guys seen Ed by any chance?”

“No,” Nikki shook her head, “Let me guess, he’s missing, too.”

Erik nodded grimly, “No one has seen him since last night. He was acting better after we saw Evan and he did his thing with the Wolf Stone again. I thought he was okay, but now we can’t find him.”

“He’s crossed over to the dark side,” Michael said in an ominous tone. His cousin nodded his head in serious agreement.

“So what are you two doing out here?” Erik asked, suspiciously.

“Brian knows where Tori is,” Nikki smiled, “We have a plan.”

“Well, what are we standing around here for?” Erik demanded and switched over to his wolf, which looked rather weird as Erik had been wearing a tie-dye hoodie. His wolf was now a beautiful blue, pink, and purple, with the words
I have flying monkeys, and I’m not afraid to use them
…written in black squiggles. I was pretty sure he had snatched that particular piece of clothing from his girlfriend.

“Yeah, we know. It’s Penny’s,” Tommy rolled his eyes, “But he’s in charge. That may make him a witch, but it makes us the flying monkeys.”

Oblivious to the mumbling cousins and the psychedelic wolf, Nikki hopped up on Erik’s back, and for the first time, a smile touched her eyes. She didn’t have to say what she was thinking. It showed in her face. She knew she was going to find Adam.

I just hoped that we were going to find him alive.

Chapter Twenty-Four
Ella

The Village

October 18, 1859

Years had gone by, though she didn’t know how many. Ella fell seamlessly into the role Old Mother once held, and as she grew older, her visions became clearer and came nearly every day. Her people held her in the highest respect and learned to leave her alone when her eyes became vacant, as she saw things that none of them could see. Her predictions were never wrong. The village flourished under her guidance.

Ella had grown very old, exactly how old she wasn’t sure. Time had lost meaning to her. The Fire Witch had been right, she lived a very long life, but the worse part of her prophecy had also been true — in all of her years, she never found love again. Instead, she watched the children of those she loved grow up, and then watched the next generation do the same.

She loved them all, her heart breaking each time she watched one generation die, but loving the one that came after them, even though she knew she would watch them die, too, when their time came. Life was an endless circle, but it seemed she would be the only one who escaped death’s notice.

She wondered if perhaps it was a curse given her by the Great Spirit — to live her life with no end, growing older and older, watching those she loved die. After all, she hadn’t been the only one to bargain with Him on that mountain, The Wolf still came to sit with her at night. She had become feeble, unable to make the climb up the hill, and so they sat now in the same place where she and Bright Eyes once watched the stars, though the stump had long since rotted away.

One night, instead of the nightmares, a vision came to her while she slept. It was in a time and place she didn’t understand. She saw a young girl with curling blonde hair sitting under a bright, blue sky. The girl turned, and Ella could see her big, brown eyes. She was so full of life. Ella knew the girl was a descendant of her brother from her springing, corkscrew hair, and the wide, brown eyes that were so very much like Chenoa’s. Ella smiled as she slept, happy that the love Billy and Chenoa shared would still show in the girl so far away.

The girl looked up then, smiling at the boy who sat down beside her.

Ella’s breath caught. She was staring into familiar golden eyes again.

The boy looked so much like Bright Eyes that it caused her heart to ache. Ella tried to look at him closer. He looked down at the girl, brushing a kiss on her forehead. The long blue-black hair, high cheekbones, and even the slight wrinkle between his eyebrows reminded her of her own love. They were smiling at each other now, so happy that they ignored the world around them. They were completely and utterly in love. They reminded Ella of the time she had spent with Bright Eyes. That was when Ella dared to hope the vision had come to tell her of their happiness and the future ahead of them. But that was not meant to be.

A shadow passed over the boy’s face. She had seen this many other times, and in every vision, the shadow was a terrible omen. With a feeling of complete dread, she watched the boy with the golden eyes because she knew that their love was as ill-fated as her own had been…

He was marked for death.

She woke, feeling as if her very life were draining from her body. Even though she had awakened with the memory of the vision, she also had the feeling that she knew why her life had been so long. She still had a purpose yet to be fulfilled. Slowly, feeling even more feeble than she ever had before, she rose, and made her way out of the hut, walking until she came to the spot at the edge of the village where The Wolf met her.

“Hello, old friend,” she whispered, as she fell heavily onto the bench her people had built solely for her nighttime visits with the stars.

The Wolf whined softly. He had watched as she left the hut. She moved so slowly now, it pained him to watch her. He knew something had happened; she had more life in her the night before. He feared she may soon see her end, so he nuzzled her fragile, veined hands, and then laid his head in her lap.

Ella was still troubled over what she had seen, so she sat, patting The Wolf’s fur, and told him of her vision and the boy’s death. Then she told him what she wanted.

“The gift you gave me when I was a little girl,” she said softly, “Can it be taken back?”

The Wolf lifted his head, wondering why the white-haired creature wished him to take back the strength her wolf gave her. He was sure that strength was more than likely the only thing keeping her upright on the bench at that very moment. He whined again, wishing she wouldn’t ask anything more.

“I wish them happiness,” she explained earnestly, as her mind read his. Her blue eyes plead for his understanding as they bore down into his, “May my life end, but I would have them happy. I would have the spirit of the white wolf stay and give them strength.”

The Wolf once again admired the courage of the white-haired creature, willing to give up her life for a chance at another’s happiness. He understood her sacrifice, and reluctantly took back his gift, willing it to stay until the girl in the vision had need of it. Then The Wolf sat with the old woman through her last night, feeling her anticipation grow as they watched the Moon and the star, for whom she had waited so many, many years.

Her people found her the next morning. Her life had finally ended, but they knew from the smile on her lips that she had found Bright Eyes once again. As they prepared to take her body, the spirit of a white wolf appeared on the hill and howled. They left to search for the wolf, but she had disappeared. When they returned, Ella’s body had disappeared as well.

Chapter Twenty-Five
Brian

Bland had only two cemeteries. There was the one that everybody used — and then there was Parsons Cemetery. It was the one with huge ornate tombstones of angels and columned crypts that were the resting places for important people years ago. But nobody remembered those people anymore, and the statues were chipped and cracked. Other than the guy who got paid by the county to keep the grass down, nobody had gone into that cemetery in decades.

Well, that was a slight lie. It did get used on weekends by the wild kids who liked to party, drink, and mess around. But otherwise, it was unused, the people buried there long forgotten…with one exception.

St. Claire’s tomb was a place everyone in town knew. It was also a place everyone avoided, even the dude who mowed the grass.

Buried deep under the mound of dirt and rock, lay John St. Claire and his wife, Maria, and unlike many other old tales, their story didn’t have a happy ending.

As the story went, the St. Claires were among the very first to settle in the county. As the years went by, and more people made their home in the town, John became one of the strongest figures of the community. He was a big man, with an even bigger heart. Outgoing, and happy, he was loved and respected by them all.

His wife, Maria, however, was not. Gentle and shy, she preferred the solitude their home provided, rarely ever to be seen by anyone other than her servants or her husband.

Rumors spread that she was a dark and mysterious witch, one who practiced her black magic on any so unlucky as to catch a glimpse of her. Fearing what they didn’t know or understand, Maria was inevitably blamed whenever one of them happened to sicken or die. The rumors always started in hushed whispers so as not to upset John or even worse — attract the wrath of Maria.