Blood Moon Rising

by K. R. Thompson

  “She once entrusted me with her most precious book,” I whispered to the enormous reference tomes that ran from floor to ceiling in hopes of making one of them jealous enough to break their silence. “You should tell me what I need to know.” I waited for one long second.

  Still nothing.

  I went up the spiraling metal staircase to the second floor, walked slowly by each of those bookcases, quietly talking to the books, the walls, the metal steps—all of it, as I went along, no doubt looking like an insane person talking to herself.

  When the second floor didn’t reveal anything either, I came back down the staircase, stopping on the last step to do a little hop in hopes of making the steps angry enough to move.

  The only things that netted me was a metallic clank as my boots his the metal and a scowl from the boy who had come in after me. He obviously still believed all libraries should be quiet, even though there were only the three of us in there.

  I went back up to the librarian’s desk. “Just one more thing,” I said in my best detective voice.

  Marianne grinned. “Yes?”

  “Can I look around back there?” I gestured to the spot where she was standing behind the desk. “That’s the only place that I haven’t been.”

  “Sure.”

  We traded places and I ran my hands along the paneled wall in the place where the hidden door had once been. The smooth, lacquered wood glided under my fingertips I whispered my chant again, hoping the previous password would show me if there was anything there.

  Nothing.

  I took a quick look at the desk, but it looked the same as any librarian’s desk. Sticky notes with various book titles, a stapler, stacks of books. That was it. Completely normal.

  I sighed and came back around. “I didn’t find anything at all. I think maybe she spelled the library against me for some reason.”

  “I wish she’d spell it against me. This place gives me the creeps,” Marianne said.

  Noticing that she’d dropped her ink pen, I bent over and picked it up. My necklace swayed with the movement and I remembered something as I handed the pen to her.

  “Thank you so much for my necklace. I love it,” I told her, fingering the painted cabochon.

  “Ah,” she said, leaning forward to get a better look. “I wondered who was going to get that beauty. Mandi worked on that one for hours in the shop. I would say you’re welcome, but I didn’t have anything to do with it past giving her some tips with painting the web. It’s a gorgeous piece. She did a fantastic job with it.”

  I suddenly felt even more embarrassed for the way I had acted around Mandi. She’d spent a ton of time trying to make something nice and I’d all but run away from her. I resolved then and there to stop by the gift shop on my way home and thank her.

  Marianne hadn’t noticed my inner turmoil and was staring past me, toward the far aisle with the heavy reference books, that last aisle I’d gone down before heading upstairs. “You’re sure nothing at all stuck out at you when you walked down there. I heard a loud thump while you were talking to yourself.”

  “What kind of thump?” Surely she’d been hearing things. Nothing had happened while I was there.

  Still, I followed her as she walked between the bookcases. She stopped in the exact place where I’d been talking to the books and bent over, picking up something that looked all too familiar to me.

  “It must have fallen,” she said, looking up at the shelves. She pointed to the top shelf in the corner to a vacant spot just big enough for the book.

  “But this doesn’t go there.” I took The History of Bland County from her, noticing immediately that it felt different to me somehow. Though the paper jacket on the book looked smooth enough, my fingers told me it was rough. I ignored that and walked back two isles to the place where I knew this book should have been kept. Having checked this particular book out several times, I knew exactly where that place was. “It’s supposed to be filed under ‘local interests,’” I told her, knowing that she had to have been the one to make the mistake. After all, I knew for a fact that Tori had had this book last when she was searching for information on her house. With any luck, she’d returned it and Marianne had misfiled it and put it on the wrong shelf.

  But when I reached the spot where the book should have been, there it was.

  “Huh,” I said, dumbfounded. “There are two copies.”

  “Yes, I put that one up there yesterday when Tori returned it,” she replied.

  The cover of the second book seemed to be warming beneath my fingertips. Maybe this was what I had been looking for all along.

  “I’ll take it. Maybe this is a different edition and has more info in it than the other one.”

  Marianne nodded, adding a bit of her own logic with a wry smile. “You mean maybe there’s a reason it hopped off its shelf and tried to follow you down the aisle.”

  I didn’t answer her, only went back to the librarian’s desk. Why hadn’t I heard the book fall? I wondered. Had I been concentrating so hard on finding something that I had missed it when something actually happened?

  I slid the book over to her and waited as she scanned my library card, then the barcode on the back of the book and handed them both back to me.

  “You’re going to be late for your next class, Nikki,” she said, her eyes flicking to the clock. “You’d better hurry.”

  She was right, I realized. I was about one minute shy of being late for English class. I grabbed the book and made the dash for the door, calling out a quick “thank you” over my shoulder as I left.

  I ran down the hallway, luckily not meeting a teacher along the way, and managed to slide in next to Adam mere seconds before class began, chucking The History of Bland under my seat to get it out of the way.

  Adam arched a brow, clearly wondering why I was getting to class so late. I normally was the one to beat him here.

  I expected to hear his voice in my mind, asking questions. I’d grown so accustomed to listening to his thoughts that I’d come to expect them. Instead, he stayed silent, turning his attention to the teacher as class began.

  7

  IT HAD BEEN the most normal school day that I’d had since moving to Bland. Or so it seemed. With the exception of finding a second copy of a history book, nothing at all had jumped out at me as being odd. I didn’t pick up on the thoughts of any of the Pack, didn’t have any visions of what the blood moon might bring, and didn’t think anything out of the ordinary was happening.

  But the second that the bell rang and school let out, I knew I’d been wrong. When Adam grabbed my hand and hurried me out of the school, I knew something had happened that I knew absolutely nothing about. Not exactly great news when you’re supposed to be the one who sees things before they happen.

  Standing out in the parking lot, I realized we weren’t the only ones to have rushed out.

  “The blood moon has begun,” Adam said, when he saw that it was obvious that I had no clue what was going on. He pointed to the sky.

  It appeared overcast, but as I followed his gaze, I found that the eclipse had indeed happened.

  “I don’t know why, but I figured it would start at night,” I mused, staring at the merged, red image of the sun and the moon.

  “Not everything happens at night.”

  “Yep, now things will really get interesting,” someone said from behind us. “And when stuff starts happening, you can’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

  Darren walked past us toward the Jeep, never bothering to look up into the sky.

  “I still think he knows something,” I said after he disappeared around the back of Brian’s truck.

  “I don’t think so, but I’m planning on getting Michael and Tommy to stick with him tight to be sure. They’re in most of the same classes, so they can pretend they’re helping him with schoolwork when they follow him home.” Adam frowned, then looked at the other kids around us that had stopped to look into the sky.

  Every one of th
em was a magical. The regular kids hadn’t noticed the change in the sun and had gotten into their vehicles, completely unaware of the eclipse. Like me, I realized. I would have already gotten into my Jeep and started home too if Adam hadn’t shown me.

  That made me worry.

  “Have you talked to me at all today?” I asked. “You know, without speaking.”

  “A few times, yes. I thought you might be busy or just didn’t want to answer me though,” he admitted.

  “I’d always answer you. I never heard you. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s probably the moon affecting me a little. Wolves and moons have a thing, you know,” he grinned, the silver in his eyes sparkling. Then the smile melted away and he became serious as he looked over my head at the others around us. “The moon might affect us all a little.”

  I turned around and saw a group of Woodsburls. When the human kids had left, they’d shifted to their true selves. Now parts of them had changed back into human. One kid lifted an arm out to inspect it. It had shifted back, while the rest of him was still Woodsburl.

  Then I spotted William who was blowing out an experimental breath filled with smoke. When he saw me looking at him, he gave me a grin and the thumbs up sign. While the Woodsburls might be having issues, the dragon was still fine.

  “The moon might be affecting you too,” Adam suggested somewhat offhandedly, as if he was worried that the thought might worry me if he said it any other way. “You’re a magical too, after all.”

  It really might, I thought. “How long will the eclipse last?”

  “This one will last two days, according to the meteorologist. Normally they last a day or less, but this one will be longer,” Ed was the one to answer my question. “Nikki, can you give me a lift home? I refuse to ride with Erik again.”

  “Sure!”

  He let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll come by later and check in on you, if that’s all right,” Adam offered. “I’m going to do a run around the perimeter of the town and check on the ones scouting tonight to make sure everyone is all right.”

  “Okay,” I gave him a kiss goodbye and Ed and I got into my Jeep and headed to the Res.

  “I really appreciate the ride,” Ed said, buckling his seatbelt.

  “It’s no problem at all,” I said, turning the ignition. “Listen, I don’t know all that much about blood moons and what can happen when they occur. Can you tell me more about them?”

  Ed, ever the teacher of the unknown, nodded and started immediately into the history of blood moons. I listened as he gave me statistics and dates of the abnormal eclipses that lasted more than a day. Then he started in on the legends and myths that surrounded them, including the one that Darren had told me.

  “How many blood moons have you been through since you became a Keeper?” I asked.

  “Only a couple, and they both started pretty much like this one. They always affect magicals for a little bit, but not for long. It typically only takes a few minutes after it begins for the side effects to wear off and everything goes back to normal.” I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eye. Apparently both he and Adam were on the same page. Neither of them seemed too worried where the eclipse was concerned.

  “So you don’t think that their magic could be taken away completely during a blood moon?”

  “As a cause of the eclipse? No. I’m more worried about the killer we haven’t found. The sun will move off the moon soon enough, but that killer is still out there and we’re no closer to finding him now than we were days ago. An eclipse hasn’t ever killed anyone that I’m aware of, but fangs and claws can—and have.”

  I pulled onto the dirt road that began the Reservation’s territory and drove past the entrance to the Village’s gift shop, noticing a small blue car parked in the back.

  Mandi must be watching the shop today. Good. I can stop and thank her for making the necklace, I thought.

  Ed’s house was on the farthest side of the Res, but still it only took a minute or so to get there. We passed Adam’s house along the way and I noticed his Jeep tucked behind it, parked by the basketball goal. He’d managed to beat us here. When I parked in Ed’s driveway, he hopped out and gave me a smile. “Thanks for the lift, Nikki. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem. If you need a ride tomorrow, just let me know. I’ll come and save you from Erik and his bike,” I joked.

  “I’ll give you a speed dial number on my telephone,” he laughed. “I should be good tomorrow. I plan on riding with Hannah. Thanks though. See you tomorrow?”

  “You bet.”

  I waited until he started up the front porch steps, then I backed out and went to the gift shop and parked next to the blue car at the back of the building. I stretched my biggest grin across my face and went in the side door that I had seen Penny use when she worked at the shop, thoroughly hoping that I looked completely happy and relaxed, but knowing full well that I more than likely had my jack-o-lantern grin going again. The screen door slapped behind me, announcing my arrival.

  A loud crash erupted, wiping the smile off my face. I walked forward slowly. Just as I rounded the corner, the front door slammed shut and I caught a streak of dark blue out the window before it disappeared.

  The reason for the crash was a spinning rack that held local books written by local authors and postcards featuring picturesque scenes from Bland County. From the looks of things, I’d startled someone and they’d sent the rack flying. Books and postcards littered the floor.

  Where was Mandi? I scanned the room, looking for any hint that she might still be in the shop, hiding from whoever it was that just ran out. I rose up on my tiptoes to peek behind the counter.

  I didn’t see Mandi, but I did find the reason for the toppled book rack. Every single jewelry display had been opened in the back, the contents inside in total disarray.

  My heart raced. I’d just interrupted a robbery.

  Adam will be here any second. He’ll pick up on my emotions and know something is wrong. He’ll come to find me, I thought, my back plastered to the back wall. If only I was a few seconds earlier, I’d be able to tell him who it was when he gets here. I inched my way along to peek out the window in hopes of catching a glimpse of the thief, even though I was sure he was long gone by now.

  Sure enough, the only things I saw were trees and an empty parking lot, with the main road just beyond it. I waited there for a long moment, and when Adam didn’t arrive, made my way to the phone on the wall and dialed his house.

  Adam didn’t pick up, but his dad did. I told him what had happened and within seconds, the sheriff was there.

  “Stay right behind me,” he ordered as he made a quick circuit around the shop. I did as he asked, trailing close behind him, carefully stepping over the books near the door. We went completely around the building, then through the back storage room, finally coming back to the place we had begun.

  “You didn’t get a good look at who it was?” he asked. He was in uniform and I found myself wondering if he had just gotten home from work, or if he was getting ready to go in. Either way, he’d still beaten Adam here, which I found extremely odd.

  I shook my head. “I just saw a bit of dark blue. I think it might have been a jacket or a shirt. I didn’t see anything else though. I’m sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You can’t see everything that’s going to happen, even if you are a Seer,” he gave me a kind smile. “If you could, I wouldn’t have to worry about anything. I would just ask you for all of the answers.” His eyes flicked to the open jewelry cases. “Did you touch anything?”

  “Only the telephone because I wasn’t sure if Adam knew I was here.”

  He nodded. “I passed him on my way in. He was heading into the woods. He must not have known you needed him.” His brow furrowed as he spoke those words and he looked as if he was thinking the same thing that I had been. Why hadn’t Adam realized I needed him?

&nb
sp; Then his expression changed as he stared at the glass case that the cash register sat upon. “Whoever it was, was searching for something.” He pointed to a tangled web of beads that had been tossed in a heap in the center of the display. “Had they wanted to steal something, they would have cleaned everything out of that case. The turquoise in there is worth thousands. From the looks of things, it’s all still there.” A familiar dent deepened between his brows. I’d seen that same expression on Adam’s face when he was worried. “Mandi wouldn’t just leave the shop unattended.”

  “Her car is out back,” I offered, then felt foolish. That fact was obvious. No way had he missed it when he drove in.

  “Which means we have a missing person…”

  “Or possibly a kidnapping.” I finished the sentence, not having to use my Seer abilities to come up with that conclusion. He raised an eyebrow, so I added. “Well, if she isn’t here, and she’s not out there,” I gestured outside. “Then she’s somewhere else with someone else.”

  His expression became unreadable as he reached for the radio clipped on his shirt and keyed up the microphone. I listened as he talked to the dispatcher. My mother’s voice crackled in the air as he gave out codes and requested back up from his deputies.

  It’s too bad they can’t find a way to use the same frequency for cell phones that they use for the police radios, I thought as he turned away, still talking to my mother. It would be great to have a cell phone again.

  When he finished, he clicked the microphone back onto his shirt and asked, “Could you call Penny and ask her to come over? She’ll be able to tell for certain if anything is missing from the cases.”

  I did as he asked and a few moments later, Penny arrived. It only took her a moment to figure out what was missing.

  “Everything is here except for one piece,” she said, frowning to an empty, raised platform that sat literally in the shadow beneath the cash register—in a place no one would ever see unless they looked specifically for it.