Moonlight Rising

by Linski, Megan

  In that moment, a high-pitched chirping sound caught my attention. “Do you hear that?” I stood and inched toward the sound near the edge of the manicured grass.

  “I do,” Camden said slowly, rising to join me.

  I pulled long blades of grass apart, following the sound of the chirping. Eventually, I parted a section of grass to find the source of the chirping: a small yellow bird.

  “Oh, no. I think he might be hurt.” I reached down to fold my hands over the small creature. I could feel Camden looking over my shoulder at him. “What should we do with him?”

  “Do you think that’s maybe his nest?” Camden pointed to a branch above us.

  “Maybe.” I peeked into my hands at the bird. “I don’t think he can fly yet.”

  “Maybe we should put him back in his nest,” he suggested.

  Camden reached out his hands, and I placed the bird in them. He gently cupped the small creature in one hand and used a finger to pet its head. The bird folded into a smaller ball and chirped at him.

  “Aw, isn’t he cute?” Camden asked, holding up the bird to show me one more time.

  I nodded. “Be careful with him, okay?”

  “I will.” He reached up to the branch above us, but he couldn’t quite reach it. “Here.” He handed the bird back to me.

  I wasn’t sure how I was going to help since he was several inches taller than me. I cupped the bird in my hands and whispered to it, letting it know it was going to be all right. Camden paced beneath the branch and gazed up at it. Then, in one swift motion, he jumped and caught it. I drew in a surprised breath. Camden pulled himself up until his legs straddled the branch. He scooted himself closer until he could reach the nest. Then he extended his arm down. I stretched up on my toes and placed the bird in his hand. Camden gave the creature another stroke on the head and gently set him back in his nest. I smiled at the victory.

  “Coming down,” Camden warned.

  I hardly had a second to react before I caught the motion out of the corner of my eye and heard the thud of his feet as he hit the ground. He stumbled slightly and caught himself on my shoulders. His touch made me jump, but he quickly apologized.

  “We should maybe get back to the car,” he suggested.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, but I kept my gaze locked on the nest above me.

  If Camden was so gentle with the bird and willing to help out wildlife, he had to have a heart of some sort, right? It was the only explanation for his kindness.

  On the way back to the car, Camden suggested we play two truths and a lie.

  He went first. “One, pizza is my favorite food. Two, I’m the younger of two brothers. Three, I prefer cats to dogs.”

  “Mmm…” I let out a sigh. They all seemed plausible. Then I recalled how Camden hardly touched his pizza at lunch on the first day of school. “One is a lie,” I stated confidently.

  A smile crept across his lips. “Nope. Three is the lie. I like dogs.”

  I nodded slowly, thinking briefly how that didn’t make sense to me, but I didn’t push it. Instead, I asked, “Does your brother live with your grandparents, too?” Only a moment later did I realize he said his brother was older than him so he was probably off at college or something.

  “No,” he said, dropping his gaze to the path and pressing his lips into a thin line.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Camden eyed me curiously. “It’s just that you remind me of him a little.”

  “I do? In what way?”

  He shrugged. “Your humor. The way you eat your pizza with a fork and rip apart your rice crispy bars before eating them. I’ve just never seen anyone else do that.”

  I laughed. “Well, it’s good to know I’m not the only one who’s weird with food. Is it my turn? My favorite food is cheesecake, I’m an only child, and I too prefer dogs to cats.”

  Camden thought about it for a moment before answering. “The third one is the lie.”

  I sighed in defeat. “Yeah.”

  We spent most of the walk back playing two truths and a lie, allowing us to dig up even more information about each other. By the time we reached the car, I’d nearly forgotten why I was so wary to get to know him in the first place.

  “I hope you had fun,” he said as he slid into the driver’s seat.

  I opened the passenger side door. “I did. It was a really nice day for a walk. And I learned a lot more about you than I ever thought I would.”

  Camden didn’t start the car right way, nor did he meet my gaze. “And what do you think?”

  “You mean what do I think about you? I think…” I couldn’t find the right words. “I think I may have misjudged you.” As soon as I admitted it, I realized I meant it. So I’d misjudged him. What did that mean about his aura?

  “Does that mean—” Camden stopped mid-sentence and dropped his hands from the steering wheel. He fidgeted slightly in his seat and turned to me. “Two lies and a truth?”

  “You mean two truths and a lie.”

  “No, two lies and a truth.” He leaned closer to me. “One, I don’t find you interesting at all.”

  I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Well, that has to be a lie.”

  He nodded. “Two, you weren’t the first girl to catch my eye at Aurora High.”

  “Um…truth?”

  He shook his head and leaned in even closer until I could feel his hot breath on my face. “That’s another lie. Three, I want to kiss you right now.”

  My breath caught in my chest. My next word came out as a whisper. “Truth?”

  His eyes shifted between mine and my lips. My heart beat wildly against my chest in anticipation.

  “Truth,” he whispered before closing the gap between us and pressing his lips to mine.

  Chapter Seven

  “I—I’m sorry,” Camden said after a moment, pulling away.

  I sucked in a sharp breath, and not just because the kiss left me breathless. When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to find a light red glow just barely illuminating off his skin. For the first time since I’d met him, Camden appeared to have a true colorful aura.

  “No,” I whispered breathlessly, still mesmerized by the red hue surrounding him that seemed to glow brighter with each passing second. I could only wonder how bright it might grow. “It’s okay. You can do that again.”

  And he did. Camden’s lips were soft against mine. He grazed his tongue against my bottom lip, making me want nothing more than to pull him closer to me. I locked my hands around his neck, and his settled on my hips. His warm hands made contact with my bare back, causing me to suck in another breath of surprise. My pulse quickened, and I leaned in even closer to him until he pulled me over the middle console and onto his lap.

  I only had a brief moment to wonder what I was doing. I didn’t even know the guy. But something that felt this good couldn’t be bad, right?

  Eventually, Camden pulled away. “You had to be home by five, right?”

  I hesitated before answering. “Right.” Before I could stop myself, the next words tumbled out of my mouth. “But you could stay for dinner if you want.” I situated myself back in my seat and readjusted the hem of my shirt.

  “Sounds like fun.” Camden put the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

  This time on the car ride, I kept my eyes on him as he talked. The red hue I’d seen earlier remained, though it was dimmer than the other auras I was used to. It stayed close to his body, just barely an outline. Could it be that this aura was there all along and I’d just missed it? Or did the kiss change something? The whole ride home, I wondered if it had changed something inside of him or inside of me.

  “Thank you,” I told Camden as soon as we arrived at my house.

  “For what?” He shut off the engine and turned to me.

  For helping me see how wrong I was about you. “For taking me on the trails.”

  “No problem.”

  “Camden.” I stopped him before he could exit the vehicle. I froze, rea
lizing I didn’t know what I was going to say. I went the easy route. Instead of saying anything, I reached out for him and pulled his lips to mine once again.

  He drew away with a smile on his face. That red, passionate aura of his seemed to grow brighter. It was still nothing like I was used to, but at least now I could see it. Why, then, was I still having trouble feeling his soul’s energy? Something about him felt cold and empty, despite him seeming so full of life.

  “What is it?” Camden asked, reaching up a hand to tuck my hair behind my ear.

  I hadn’t realized my face had fallen. I glanced away toward the back seat. “I just…”

  A shadow caught my eye. I blinked several times, praying I was just imagining things, but the dark haze remained. My entire body tensed. Anger flared inside my veins, anger at myself for writing it off, for not seeing it sooner.

  “Get inside. Now.” The immediate concern was evident in my tone.

  “What? Why?” Camden glanced to the back seat, but I knew he wouldn’t see it.

  “Just do it.” I rushed to open my door, and he followed quickly behind.

  “What’s going on?” His breathing sounded labored, worried, as he pushed through the front door of the house.

  I wanted to answer, to give him some sort of explanation, but the words caught in my throat. All I could manage to choke out was a command to stay in the living room. Camden took a seat on the couch, a confused expression fixed on his face, while I turned to head up the stairs two at a time. Curse words escaped from under my breath. I snatched up the spell book from under my bed and gathered my candle and matches from my dresser. I nearly tripped over the area rug in the living room when I returned. Dropping to the floor with purpose, I spread my supplies across the coffee table in front of Camden. I frantically flipped the pages in search of the spell I needed.

  “Katie,” Camden said firmly. When I didn’t answer, he reached out to grab my wrists.

  His touch immediately stopped me. I froze, moving ever so slightly to gaze up at him. Hot tears burned my eyes.

  “Katie, what’s going on?” He released me.

  I blinked several times, and the tears receded. Clearing my throat, I returned my attention to the spell book and flipped the next page carefully. It all made sense now, why he didn’t seem to have an aura. I knew now why my protection spell hadn’t kept him away. I never needed protection from him in the first place.

  My tone wavered. “How long ago did the depression start?”

  “What are you talking about?” His voice remained calm, but a hint of confusion was present in it.

  “The depression,” I stated flatly. “The suicidal thoughts. How long has it been?” I glanced up from the book to assess his reaction once again.

  Shock settled over his face. “How do you know about that?”

  My pulse quickened, and I swallowed hard. I had no other choice but to be blunt with him. “Because, Camden, you have a demon attached to you. I know because the same thing happened to my mom. Before she killed herself.”

  Chapter Eight

  I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it sooner. But that was the thing about depression. The signs were there, but no one ever took the time to notice them.

  Even with my mom, I hadn’t noticed her purple aura growing dimmer day by day. The soft hue had become so normal to me that I’d forgotten how vibrant it’d once been, back before the three miscarriages that triggered her depression.

  In some ways, I still blamed myself for not realizing what was happening. Sometimes I worried that my dad blamed me, too, that that’s why he didn’t care to hear about my aura reading anymore. Because if I had used my gift like I should have, I would have known something was wrong with her. I would have seen the dark haze following her each day. I would have known when she called herself a bad mother that those weren’t her words, that there was a darker force feeding off her soul’s energy, eating away at it until there was nothing left.

  Why hadn’t I noticed it with Camden? Maybe I just didn’t want to see it, I thought to myself. He didn’t seem depressed. I realized then that should have been my first clue.

  The more I thought about it, though, the more the pieces seemed to fall into place. His loss of appetite at lunch, the headaches he said he got… That year of basketball he skipped had to have been because he’d lost interest, not because he wasn’t good enough. Then there was that thing he’d said earlier. Sometimes I wonder if maybe they’d be better off without me around. I should have known better than to brush that off. I should have known better than to brush any of it off. This was all on me, all because I didn’t want to see the truth that was staring me in the face. Because if I had admitted what was happening, I’d have to face the memories of my mother’s death again, and even now, I didn’t want to have to do that.

  The memory of the day they found her flashed through my mind. I’d come home from school to find police cars and an ambulance in my driveway. Dad held me as I cried into his arms after he told me what happened. I’d seen the dark haze—the demon—emerging from the house. It was obvious at that point because he’d become so strong.

  “Katie.” Camden’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “What is all this?” He gestured to my spell book and candle on the table.

  I didn’t answer for several seconds. How did I tell him my mom had taught me how to read auras and cast spells? Instead, I settled for, “It’s a way to get rid of it.”

  He eyed me skeptically. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened to your mom, but I don’t believe in this kind of stuff—demons or whatever. You can’t help me.” The red aura I’d seen earlier had faded to almost nothing.

  I glanced toward the dark haze beside him. “That’s how it wants you to feel. It wants you to feel worthless, like you can’t be saved. It’s been, what? A year? Give or take? I know about this stuff. Let me help you.” The truth was, I didn’t know that much about it. I’d never cast a protection spell over someone else, and certainly never to protect them from a demon. But I had to at least try.

  Camden narrowed his eyes skeptically. “How could you know?”

  “My mom. She—”

  “I mean about me. No one at Aurora High was supposed to know. This was supposed to be my fresh start.”

  I shifted on my knees in front of the coffee table. “No one told me, Camden. You think after watching my mom go through the same thing for two years that I wouldn’t recognize the signs?”

  I instantly felt sick. I hated using that as an explanation because it wasn’t true. You never got used to seeing it. At first, you see it everywhere. The depression. The demons. The memories. Then you become so used to seeing it where it’s not that you have no choice but to brush it off or rationalize it as something else. Only, I’d done that one too many times.

  Camden fidgeted on the couch, and his voice rose slightly like he was scared. “How could you know when I didn’t even know for the longest time? I watched my brother go through it, and I couldn’t even tell when the same thing was happening to me.”

  It took me a moment to realize what he was saying. The death in his family that he’d mentioned…it was his older brother.

  I dropped my gaze to my hands and spoke quietly. “That’s the thing about suicide, Camden. It doesn’t end the pain. It just hands it off to someone else.”

  I surprised even myself with the revelation. Could it be that the demon attached to him was the same one that’d been attached to his brother? It made sense.

  Tears rose to Camden’s eyes. “My brother was my best friend. I mean, sure, we fought, but after he punched Jared Novak for making fun of my braces when I was twelve, we really grew together. Brandon had no filter and thought he knew best, but I always thought he was the one constant in my life.” He wrung his hands together in his lap.

  I suspected he was talking more for his own benefit than for mine, but soon, he went quiet. The urge to fill the silence consumed me. I had to get him to believe me. If he didn’t, I may not be able
to help him.

  “Demons look for weaknesses in your aura, your soul’s energy,” I explained. “They feed off the weakest of us in their most vulnerable times. I’m guessing for you it was right after your brother died. It saw you as an easy target.”

  I couldn’t tell if Camden was listening to me or lost in his own mind. I wanted to continue, but before I could, the sound of my father’s footsteps on the front steps reached my ears.

  “Shit,” I muttered under my breath as I gathered my book and candle in my hands and shoved them under the couch in record time. I plopped down next to Camden before my dad made it into the living room.

  Dad glanced between Camden and me. We both stood.

  “Hi, Dad. This is, uh, Camden.”

  The confusion on his face deepened. No doubt he was wondering why I’d brought the “weird” guy over. And he was probably shocked to see a guy at our house at all. It wasn’t exactly a common occurrence, but it’s not like he had any rules against it. He never had a reason to.

  “Hello, sir,” Camden said, stretching out his hand.

  Dad shook it and muttered a greeting. Then he turned to me. “Are you going to Briana’s today?”

  I’d nearly forgotten it was Friday. “Yes,” I answered almost too quickly. “I put a roast in the crock pot for you. It should be done soon.”

  He nodded, but I could see the fatigue in his body after a long week at work. His shoulders fell, and his eyes drooped.

  “Okay,” Dad said, passing by us and falling to the couch. He crossed his ankles and closed his eyes. “You two have fun.”

  I bit my lip nervously, glancing at my dad and then to the floor where my spell book lay beneath the couch. I needed it if I was going to help Camden.

  “We should maybe get going,” Camden suggested.

  I glanced at him with a look that told him to give me a minute. My dad’s eyes remained closed so maybe there was a chance I could get the book and hurry out the door without him noticing. My heart pounded as I inched closer to the couch. Dad didn’t seem to notice. Slowly, I eased my way onto my knees. Before I could reach underneath the couch for the book, his eyes shot open. Thinking fast, I leaned over to give him a hug.