by Lily Webb
He wore a black beret and oversized sunglasses — odd given it was still dark outside — and a sparkling gold name tag pinned to his blood-red uniform shirt read, "Claude."
“Zoe Clarke?” the man asked without looking at me.
“In the flesh,” I answered. Claude turned to take stock of me, and a chill ran down my spine as he smirked.
“In the flesh, indeed,” he said in a French accent thicker than brie. I blinked, and he was at my side, an arm wrapped around my shoulder. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve sworn he sniffed me.
“My name is Claude, and I’ll be your driver. Please, let me help you with your things,” he said, his breath metallic in my nostrils. Luna growled, long and low, behind me.
“Uh, yeah, sure thing, but the cat comes with me,” I said as I lifted Luna’s cage off my suitcase and held it close to my chest.
“Of course,” Claude said. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.When I re-opened them my suitcases were gone, and Claude was back in his seat. What the…?
“Hurry along now, ma chérie. I have a strict schedule, and I don’t wait for anyone, but I’d hate to leave a specimen as lovely as you behind.”
Lovely specimen? I’d gathered Claude was a bit odd — how couldn’t he be working this kind of job at these hours? — but I’d never had another person refer to me as a specimen before.
“Right, sorry,” I said as I climbed the stairs into the bus. My skin prickled as I passed Claude, and a chill colder than the arctic swept over me when he lowered his sunglasses so his murky red eyes met mine.
Claude wasn’t just odd, he was downright bizarre.
I hurried toward the back of the bus, its gaudy satin decor barely registering as I passed row after row of strange people. Most wore long black robes and stared back at me like I was a stray animal who’d wandered aboard, and their expressions only got worse when I yelped after catching sight of a man with more hair on his face than a wolf.
What kind of sideshow circus had I boarded — and where was it taking me?
I tried not to think about it as I sank down into the plush, dank cushion of the last seat on the bus. Luna grunted as I set her cage down beside me.
“It’s okay, girl. Everything’s okay,” I said as I pet her through the cage, more to comfort myself than her. She rubbed her cheeks against my fingers and purred.
“Please take your seats, everyone. Next stop, Moon Grove. Allons-y!” Claude shouted from the front of the bus.
With a smile, the driver put the bus into gear, smashed the gas, and I screamed as a deafening roar tore through the cabin. The bus hurtled forward, and the station outside became a blur of light and color. I gripped Luna’s cage to keep it from flying away, and seconds later the bus jolted to a stop, sending me crashing into the seat in front of me.
“Bienvenue à Moon Grove,” Claude called from the front of the bus in a sing-song voice.
I looked out the window, my vision swimming, and couldn’t believe my eyes. The moon still hung in the sky, so there was no way on Earth we’d traveled from Lumberton to Moon Grove already, but the old sign outside my window said otherwise.
“Welcome to Historic Moon Grove, North Carolina. Established 1586,” the sign’s faded, peeling gold lettering read.
Some fifty feet beyond it, several buildings stood surrounded by a massive iron gate — and they were all dilapidated. Wherever it was we’d stopped, it couldn’t possibly have been Moon Grove. I had to be dreaming.
“Zoe,” a voice called, pulling me back into myself. I shook my head and blinked a few times, but the sign and the sight of the ruined buildings didn’t go away.
“Zoe! Down here,” the voice said, and I nearly fainted when I realized the sound was coming from Luna. I was definitely dreaming.
“Luna?” I asked. If I couldn’t beat the dream, I might as well join it.
“Oh, thank Lilith, you can hear me,” Luna said. “I thought this curse would never end.”
“Lilith? Curse? I feel like I’m under one right now,” I said.
“We can talk about that later. This is our stop. If we don’t get off now that driver’s gonna make you wish you had,” Luna said.
Though I saw her little kitty jaw moving in time with the words, I wasn’t convinced speech was really coming out of her mouth. Had Claude slipped me something when I wasn’t paying attention?
“Are you sure? It doesn’t look very inviting,” I said.
“Look closer,” Luna said. I squinted, but no matter how hard I tried, all I saw were rotted and moss-covered buildings ringed by a tarnished gate and a murky, algae-ridden moat.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to text Mitch for advice, but the screen was fuzzy and unreadable like I’d dropped it in water. Great. In addition to being in the middle of nowhere, I’d been cut off the cell grid.
“Last chance for Moon Grove. Sunrise is coming,” Claude called from the front of the bus, and I shivered when I realized his reflection didn’t show in the rearview mirror. Even if Luna was wrong — as if a talking cat could be right — anything would be better than staying on the bus with Claude. I picked Luna’s cage up off the seat and ran for the door.
“Au revoir, ma chérie,” Claude cooed as the doors swished shut. The bus squealed into gear and rolled forward.
“Wait, what about my—” I started, but stopped as my bags appeared seemingly out of thin air in the overgrown grass beside me. An explosive bang ripped through the air as the bus vanished, and I stood staring at the spot where it’d been parked a second prior questioning my sanity. I hoisted Luna’s cage up to eye level and blinked at her.
“I’d ask you to tell me I’m not dreaming, but I don’t think it would help,” I said.
“Hey, I don’t blame you. It’s not every day you learn your cat can talk,” Luna said. “But now that you know, would you mind letting me out of here? It’s not exactly comfortable.”
“Anything you say,” I said, laughing at my own joke as I set Luna’s cage down and opened it. She strutted out and shook herself before stretching and sharpening her claws in the grass.
“Much better,” Luna said, her tail swishing.
“I’m losing it. That’s the only explanation for this,” I mumbled as I sank down to my knees, and Luna trotted over to rub herself against my arm.
“No, you aren’t,” Luna said.
“Isn’t that what a talking cat would want me to believe?” I asked.
“If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?”
“I’m stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a talking cat who swears I can trust her. Yup, I’m definitely losing it,” I said.
“That’s better than being sucked dry by a bus driver.”
“Sucked dry? What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You know, for a journalist, you’re awfully oblivious,” Luna said.
“Oh, excuse me. A few other things were occupying my brain. Like, you know, a talking cat telling me to get off the bus,” I said, and Luna laughed.
“Good thing you had me there, otherwise you might’ve been dinner for old Claude,” Luna said.
“I don’t even want to know what that’s supposed to mean. I just want to wake up from whatever awful dream this is,” I said. Luna reached over with a paw and dug her claws into the back of my hand. I yelped and pulled it away.
“Ow! What are you doing?”
“You aren’t dreaming, Zoe,” Luna said. “You’re where you belong.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. I’m about as far away from belonging as I could possibly be right now,” I said, but Luna never answered.
Instead, she growled, and I whirled around in the grass to find, of all things, a golden retriever trotting across the lawn toward us. My skin prickled at the sight of the dog, and though it was one of the least threatening things in the world, after everything I’d seen I didn’t trust it.
The dog slowed to a crawl as it came closer, its tongue lolling off one side of its mouth.
“Can you talk too?” I asked and was surprised when I didn’t get an answer. It was worth trying. The dog took another few steps forward and stopped less than a foot away from me. It whimpered and barked, making the hair on the back of Luna’s neck stand up.
I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees and crawled slowly toward the dog. It kept panting as I reached for its head, and I closed my eyes until my fingertips brushed the bristly fur between its eyes. I let out a sigh. Maybe everything hadn’t turned entirely upside down.
“Are you lost?” I asked the dog as I pet it. It would’ve made two of us. The dog leaned into my petting and fell onto its side, begging me to rub its stomach. Who was I to say no? It was as comforting for me as it was for the dog.
“I think we can trust him, Luna. What do you think?” I asked as I stroked the dog’s belly.
“You might want to look again,” Luna laughed. I turned to find my hand on the stomach of a handsome and barely clothed young man drooling from my touch.
Everything went black.
Chapter Three
I woke to a chiseled, handsome face, perfectly white and straight teeth, and a pair of beautiful brown eyes. For half a second I thought I might finally have woken up from whatever nightmare I’d fallen into — until Luna’s face appeared and her mouth opened.
So much for pleasant.
“Zoe? Are you okay?” she asked.
“Just peachy. I’m being held by a man-dog, and my cat is still talking,” I said as I forced myself up out of the man’s arms. My head swam, but I managed to keep it together.
“Sorry to scare you, darling,” the man said.
“I’m not your darling,” I said, and the man blushed. “Who are you anyway? Or, uh, what are you?”
“Name’s Beau, Beau Duncan,” he said. “I’m the lead anchor at Moon Grove Tonight on Channel 666. You might say I have a, uh, nose for finding the truth, if you catch my drift.”
Someone had definitely slipped me something. Moon Grove Tonight? Channel 666? Man-dogs chasing the truth? The whole town was falling apart, and I didn’t think they had electricity, much less their own news channel. This all had to be some elaborate prank — or I really was losing my grip on reality.
“I’d say it’s nice to meet you, Beau, but since you almost gave me a heart attack when you changed from a dog into a man, well…”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Sometimes I just can’t stop myself from shifting when I’m getting my belly rubbed. It’s my weak spot, always has been,” Beau said with a shrug. “But boy, you should’ve seen the look on your face. Might’ve been funny if you hadn’t fainted.”
“Yeah, hilarious,” I said as I stood and brushed the grass off my clothes. “Wait, what do you mean shifting?”
“Long story,” Beau said.
“I’m sure I don’t want to know. What were you doing out here anyway?” I asked.
“I could ask you the same question,” Beau said, and I glared at him.
“Fine. I heard there was some new competition arriving today so I thought I’d take a peek. You know, it’s always good to keep an eye on the field. I gotta say, you aren’t what I was expecting to find.”
“Likewise. So you aren’t the one Mitch sent to meet me?”
“Nope,” Beau said. “I try to steer as clear of him as possible. Werewolves and shifters aren’t the best of friends.”
“Werewolves? My new boss is a werewolf?” I asked.
“You mean you didn’t know?” Beau asked.
“Does it look like I know, well, anything about all this?” I asked, waving my hands around me.
“Not really, no,” Beau mumbled. “Odd he’d hire you then. Things must be desperate at the Messenger after the Harper Woods fiasco.”
“Who’s that? What do you mean, fiasco?”
“She is — er, was — the reporter you’re replacing.”
“Was?”
“I guess I should’ve warned you about what you were getting into,” Luna interrupted.
“Warned me? What do you know about all this?” I asked, still in disbelief my cat could talk.
“Moon Grove isn’t like most places,” Luna said.
“Clearly,” I said, gesturing at Beau.
“That’s the tamest of what you’ll see in this town,” Luna said.
“Wait, how do you know Moon Grove and why are you just now telling me all this? Why couldn’t you tell me last night before I agreed to come?” I asked.
“I couldn’t. That’s kinda how curses work,” Luna said. Things just kept getting weirder. Every question I asked led to ten more.
“Okay, someone cursed you. Does that mean you’re like him? Are you gonna turn into a supermodel of a human on me at some point too?” I asked, and Luna laughed.
“I wish,” Luna said. “I’m a cat, through and through. The curse was to keep me from talking.”
“Why?”
“Can you imagine what kind of controversy a talking cat lurking around rural North Carolina would stir up? We aren’t trying to recreate the Salem Witch Trials here,” Luna said.
“But why wouldn’t you just keep quiet then? Why would someone curse you?” I asked. A million other questions whirred through my head, but I could only process so much at once.
“We can talk about that some other time. Right now we’ve gotta get you to the Messenger,” Luna said.
“There’s nothing here. Nothing except condemned houses anyway,” I said.
“Wait, you can’t see it?” Beau asked.
“You mean the crumbling buildings? Yeah, I can see them just fine,” I said, pointing at the mess beyond the iron gate. Beau and Luna exchanged glances and Beau shrugged.
“What if you close your eyes and open them again?” Beau asked.
“I’m not a computer, turning me off and on isn’t going to do anything,” I said. “Look, the prank’s over, you can all come out and start laughing at how well you pulled one over on me now,” I called to the grass around us.
Nothing answered me except the chirping of insects.
“It’s not a prank, Zoe. This is real,” Luna said as she stepped toward me.
“Right, sure. I’ll believe it when I see it because right now all I see is a talking cat, a shantytown and a half-naked man,” I said. Beau stood and brushed himself off.
“Come with me,” he said and offered me his hand.
“What? Why? I don’t even know you,” I said.
“You’ve gotta get to the Messenger, don’t you?” Beau asked. “I can take you there.”
“I told you, the prank’s over. There’s no Messenger, there’s no Moon Grove, this is all just a joke I’m really ready to be done with now,” I said, stepping away from Beau. He lunged for my wrist, and as soon as his skin touched mine, my body came alive with electricity I’d never felt before. The buzzing, itching feeling I’d experienced way too often lately returned and even the insides of my ears itched.
“You can trust me,” Beau said. “I’m a golden retriever, remember?”
“I’d rather not remember,” I groaned, but didn’t resist. What other choice did I have? I had no way to get back to Lumberton, my cell phone didn’t work, and now that I thought about it I didn’t have any idea where I was. Besides, who would believe me if I told them?
Beau reached for the gate, which unsurprisingly wasn’t locked, and it groaned as it swung open. Dread washed over me and ran down my spine as Beau pulled me forward by the wrist. My eyes squeezed shut, and my skin itched so badly I couldn’t help scratching at the back of my neck with my free hand — until we crossed through the gate and everything melted away.
“Can you see it now?” Beau asked.
I gasped and clapped a hand over my mouth. The houses that previously stood with rotted wood and missing roofs were replaced by immaculate, southern plantation-style homes. A cobblestone street stretched through the center of the town as far as my eyes could follow it, lined by swaying, crooked willow trees whose branches were dr
aped by Spanish moss.
All manner of shops were nestled among the trees along the street, their wares displayed in their windows: brooms, wands, cauldrons, and potions floating in vials along with what looked like animal parts. I shuddered.
There were people everywhere, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air, most of them in flowing robes that trailed behind them as they flitted from shop to shop. It couldn’t be real. I had to be imagining it all.
“Yeah. I see it. I wish I didn’t, but I see it,” I whispered. “Where on Earth are we…?” I breathed, and Beau squeezed my hand, stirring me out of my awe.
“Good. Only paranormals can see this place so I was starting to worry you might not have a single drop of magic in your blood. Welcome to Moon Grove,” he laughed.
“Crescent Street isn’t normally this busy so early in the morning, but it’s election season and last night was a full moon, so everyone’s a little more energetic than usual.”
“Election season?” I asked, hearing my voice from far away like I was outside myself.
“Give it a few days, you’ll know more than you ever wanted to about Moon Grove politics,” Beau said. “Anyway, we need to get to the Messenger. It’s a few blocks away from here. Get your bags.”
He let go of my hand and set off down the street, weaving between the crowds of people who paid him no mind, as if an insanely good looking and half-naked young man walking around in broad daylight was the most normal thing in the world. I stood staring at everything, unable to take it all in until I remembered I had functioning legs and somewhere to be.
I felt like I’d stumbled onto the set of a historical documentary as I walked after Beau. Luna trotted along beside my suitcases, which bounced across the cobblestone.
Tall, gothic street lights with curly accents towered overhead, each of them fitted with a real oil lamp. The shops themselves were little brick squares that didn’t look like they could’ve held more than two or three people at a time, yet they were all packed. None of the ones I passed appeared to have electricity after all, but it didn’t seem like they needed it — because candles hung in the air above the heads of the patrons, bobbing like leaves on water.