Hidden Moon

by K. R. Thompson

  After making me promise not to paint anymore that day, he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and started back down the road. I watched him walk, taking in the breadth of his shoulders as their muscles strained against the fabric of his black t-shirt. He seemed stronger all of a sudden. I shook my head. He had to have been like that all along, I just hadn’t noticed.

  Hero worship, I thought. I fell and he caught me. That’s why I’m noticing all the muscles now.

  I watched until he was out of sight, and then I turned and walked back to the porch. It still felt as if eyes were staring at me from the forest.

  HE DIDN’T SEE what the big deal was. Hidden under a canopy of darkened trees, he sat watching her as she climbed up the ladder. He was curious. He couldn’t understand what the whelp of a boy saw in her. She was short, with frizzy blonde curls, and eyes the color of mud. He couldn’t figure out why the boy liked her and wanted her so much. It would be a lot easier if she wasn’t in the picture to muddle things up. He did not want her here. Truth be told, he didn’t want anyone here. This place was his. He worked very hard at keeping this particular house vacant. It had been his to look after.

  It was their fault, all of it. This stupid girl and her family were to blame. He had lost his job because of them. If they would have just stayed away, none of it would have happened. He would still have the run of the place. He would be free to come and go as he pleased, but now he had to be careful. So careful.

  He snorted, causing the dead leaves below him to ruffle and move. The girl turned from her perch near the top of the house, and peered back over at her shoulder. His breath caught as instinct kicked in. He crouched lower in the shadows. She seemed to be staring right at him. Had she heard him? No, that was impossible. She was only a girl, after all, and a dumb one at that. Still, he sighed in relief when she turned back and started humming and painting again.

  The boy and his mother had lived by the woods for so long that they were used to the sounds that came from the forest. They didn’t pay attention to what lay so close to them. He watched them occasionally, too, but he didn’t mind them. In their own strange way, they felt as if they belonged there as much as he did. He enjoyed watching the pretty woman with brown hair plant her little flowers in the window boxes while the boy tinkered with his old, dilapidated truck. It was odd, but he felt protective of them, and did not like the boy coming to this house.

  Then, the idea struck him. He could do it now. He could run up there and knock against the ladder and cause it to fall. It wasn’t exactly the way he preferred to hunt, but she wouldn’t survive such a great fall. No one would suspect. They would call it an accident. The mother and little girl would move away, the house would be vacant again and the boy would stay away. It was perfect. His lips moved up in an eerie grin that emphasized his sharp fangs. His muscled tensed with eagerness, and he felt almost giddy as he readied himself for the kill.

  Ready to spring, he stopped and watched in awe as she took one foot off the ladder and stretched. He watched the ladder wobble as she continued to reach for the corner. He sat back down in his shadows, content to let fate do his dirty work. Eagerly, he waited for the second she would fall. Anticipation was the greatest part of the hunt, he reminded himself.

  Then, it happened.

  His glee turned into astonishment at what he saw next. The boy had run in to save the day. He fidgeted. He should have seen him coming. Or at least heard him. He had moved like a blur, and was just there. Just in time to ruin his perfect plan. Well, wasn’t that just…perfect. Rage surged through him as the animal in him awakened, eager to hunt. Wasn’t two better than one?

  No, no. He took deep breaths to calm his beast. He couldn’t hunt them both, he reasoned with himself. Her? Absolutely. That would be just fine. But not the boy. Shaking from the urges of the animal, he sat with tremors running up and down his body and watched.

  It was far worse than he had feared. The boy was besotted with the little tramp. He watched as the paint made it on the corner of the house, and then watched in disgust and horror as the boy leaned over to kiss her. His control loosened just enough that a low growl rumbled out of his chest.

  The boy turned and stared at him with cold, blue eyes. He had heard him. But how? He had never sensed him before. His animal in his control, he sat calm, yet astonished, and stared back at the boy. Then, he knew.

  EIGHT

  THE NEXT MORNING I left to find the berry patch. The small walk from the house through the woods was peaceful. I found the path behind the shed as Brian said I would. It was well-worn. The dirt was packed so well that there wasn’t any hint that grass had ever been there. I followed the path as it curled around the base of the trees, swinging an empty basket in one hand, and a water bottle in the other. The quiet sounds of nature were soothing, I decided that must be the reason the path hadn’t been overgrown since my grandmother’s death. She must have enjoyed a walk here often. Either that, or those raspberries were to die for.

  After a few more minutes of walking, the forest didn’t look quite as appealing. Everything had gone still, as if every animal in the forest had fled, or were in hiding. The trees even looked foreboding and half-dead with shriveled leaves and branches that stuck out like skeletal arms. The path was barely discernable from the rest of the ground now since there wasn’t any grass or moss anywhere around, only dirt. I picked my way through the eerie place as fast as I could and came out on the other side, finding myself happy to hear the sounds of birds as they sang high above me in trees. The trees made me happy, too, since they were green and alive. It hadn’t crossed my mind to turn back, only to get through that strange place. Now I wasn’t so sure that I would want to return on this same path. Maybe I could make a wide circle and not have to go through it again. If I was careful I wouldn’t get lost, I decided.

  Lost in my musing, I was on top of the berry patch before I realized it. Then every thought left my mind as I started gathering berries.

  I ate the first few handfuls, and then decided to fill my basket. I had it half full of berries and was just starting to reach for a juicy-looking clump over my head when I heard a snuffling sound coming from around the side of the bush. The sound was coming closer. I was stuck with one leg placed in between several thorny branches. I froze as I saw a large black shape appear out of the corner of my eye. I jerked my leg free, wincing as I felt the briars dig their tiny barbs into my jeans and down the length of my leg. I whirled around to face a large, angry-looking black bear that was watching me a few feet away.

  “Be still, Nikki. And when I tell you to move, run back down the path,” a voice said calmly from the other side of the bush.

  I looked over and was as shocked by who was there as I had been by the bear’s arrival.

  “Adam,” I whispered. “There’s a bear…” I was cut off by a low, threatening growl.

  “I know. Just do as I say. Now be quiet.” Adam moved to my side.

  The bear saw him and stood on its rear legs, as if daring him to come nearer. Adam took one step forward in front of me, shielded me with his body, and whispered, “Now, go.”

  I ran down the path a few steps and stopped. I couldn’t leave him there. Everything I had ever read was telling my brain that bears didn’t attack unless they were provoked, but this one was angry about something. Adam was speaking in a low, soothing voice, in a language I didn’t understand. He murmured, his voice a gentle lull, as if comforting a child. It seemed to be calming the bear down. I took a deep breath. This had been a close call with disaster. The bear looked like it was going to back down, then it roared and swung a giant claw down and struck Adam on the chest. He went airborne, barely missing a huge branch on a nearby tree.

  The bear ambled over to where he lay, and nudged his face with its large muzzle. After what seemed forever, Adam raised one arm up and laid his hand on the bear’s massive, furry head. As if it were happy with the current state of events, it turned and disappeared into the forest in three great bounds.
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br />   I ran over and fell down on my knees to where Adam was lying on his bare back. I leaned over his face. His eyes were open and looked at me with a mixture of relief and anger as he sat up. A huge, bloody mass of deep claw marks stretched from the top of his shoulder down the front of his chest. Small rivulets of blood ran down onto his bare stomach.

  “Are you okay? Are you crazy? Are you hurt? She could have killed you!” He took me by the shoulders and shook me once hard, and then one hand came up to cup my chin and turn my head from side to side, as if to reassure himself that I was in one piece. He seemed oblivious that he was the one in pieces.

  “Adam, you’re hurt. We have to get you to a hospital.” I ripped the bottom part of my t-shirt off and pushed it into the wound to try to get it to stop bleeding. He grunted as I pushed against his chest.

  “You didn’t run when I told you to.” His golden eyes shot arrows at me and once again the air around us popped and sizzled.

  “You were about to get eaten by a bear. I wasn’t going to let it kill you.”

  “No, you were the one about to get eaten. I was just explaining it to her. You were the one who shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Don’t you know you shouldn’t go wandering around in the forest alone?”

  “I thought I was fine, thank you. I was just picking berries, that’s all.” I lowered my eyes to the ground, suddenly ashamed. “What were you explaining to her?”

  He smirked, “That you didn’t mean any harm to her cub, and…”

  “A cub. I didn’t see it, I swear,” I watched as the blood seeped through the thin shirt and covered my fingers, “I don’t think she believed you. We need to get you to a doctor, Adam. It isn’t far to the house. Let me help you get up.”

  “You didn’t let me finish,” he said.

  “Sorry.”

  “I told her you didn’t mean any harm to her cub, and that you were mine. I wouldn’t let any harm come to you. She did give me a swat, but it was just to let me know that she wasn’t happy about it. She did apologize, though.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.

  I was shocked. He had just claimed me as his. He acted as if an apology from a bear was a regular occurrence and was bleeding and looking as if he didn’t feel a thing. He was in shock and delirious, I decided. Under normal circumstances, he never would have said something like that. I had known him for a few weeks, which could hardly make me belong to anyone.

  I reached up and ripped a sleeve off my shirt, getting ready to switch it with the blood-soaked one that was stuck to his chest, when his hands caught mine and held them between his.

  “Nikki, stop. I’m fine,” he said.

  I looked at my hands streaked with his blood. I felt my eyes fill with tears.

  “No, you’re not. I think you’re in shock and I need to get you out of these woods. You aren’t feeling pain, so that must mean it is deep. We need to get you help, I have to get you to a doctor, so please help me and stand up,” I pled.

  “Wait, Nikki. I need to show you something,” he said, letting go of my hands. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

  He pulled the sticky piece of shirt off his chest, “I saw a water bottle in the side of your basket over there, if you don’t mind, go grab it and bring it here.”

  I handed it to him and watched as he poured water at the top of his shoulder and let it run down his chest. He wasn’t bleeding anymore. Some of the smaller, shallow marks had already closed and the larger ones just looked raw. I reached over and touched his chest in wonder. My brimming eyes spilled over.

  “Don’t cry, Nikki, please. I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt much at all. I’m fine.” He pulled me toward him in a big hug. One hand petted my hair while the other held me close.

  I pulled back and looked up at him, one last tear slid free and slid down my cheek. He brushed it away with his thumb, then slid his hand behind my neck. Leaning forward, he kissed my cheek.

  “No one has ever worried that much about me before,” he whispered. His eyes looked troubled.

  I’m the one who watches out and worries for everyone else. No one does it for me, a voice whispered in my mind. I am a Keeper.

  I realized my hand was still against his chest, I slowly moved it away. His wound had closed itself under my hand. It looked like it had been healing for weeks, instead of a few short minutes. Faint, pink scars in an outline of a huge claw, were all that was left.

  “What are you?” I whispered, looking up into his eyes. The word Keeper kept echoing in my head.

  “You don’t want to know,” he stood up and turned his back to me.

  You’ll be afraid of me if I show you, and you’ll run as far from me as you can get. I can’t stand being away from you, the voice whispered.

  “I’m not afraid of you, and I’m not running. Why should you stay away from me?” I asked, frowning. “What the heck is a Keeper?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You heard me.”

  “I guess I did,” I shrugged, giving into the fact that I must indeed be nuts to admit to the voices in my head. Oh well, at least I wasn’t the only insane one here. “Show me.”

  He looked at me uncertainly, and then seemed to make up his mind as he nodded.

  The air stirred again, snapping and popping as if it were charged by a thousand tiny currents. The amber in his eyes shimmered. The little onyx specks in his irises pulsated and circled his pupils.

  I am a Keeper. I am U-la-gu of my tribe, the leader of the Six.

  A soft black mist materialized out of thin air. It flowed down his shoulders and across his chest, creeping towards his hands as it left a soft black fur in its wake. Where the fur reached, the muscles tensed and changed.

  Our tribe is one of the oldest in the land. When white men came to this land, we were a mighty and fierce people. We were many. When they came, they took everything they wanted. Our land, our food, our lives.

  He was covered in the black fur. He dropped down to his knees and doubled in size. His hands and feet clawed into the soft moss, his head bowed down.

  A few of my people survived. They took refuge in the mountains. The wolf had been watching the white men, and went to the mountains to speak to the elders of the tribe. He said, “They do not respect our Mother Earth. They take and they do not give. They are men of no honor. Your people must survive to teach your children the old ways, so that the land may heal. I will give you a gift to protect you.” The wolf dug up a large stone and scratched it with his foot, and then gave it to the elders. “In the morning, they shall come,” he said, and disappeared into the fog.

  His spine straightened, and he raised his head.

  When dawn came, the firstborn sons of the elders, their best warriors and hunters—the only six that had survived—transformed into wolves. They were the first of the Keepers, the protectors of the wood.

  I stared into the beautiful amber eyes of a giant black wolf. I walked closer to him as he sat back on his haunches. He never moved when I walked around him. He stared straight ahead, as if I weren’t there.

  I reached out and put my hand between his shoulders and ran my fingers down his back. His fur felt like silk. The muscles in his back quivered where my hand touched. I came back in front of him and looked back up into his eyes.

  I smiled and reached out to touch his soft, furry cheek, “You’re still just Adam. Your eyes haven’t changed. They’re still beautiful.”

  Yeah, I’m still me. But there’s still a lot you don’t know.

  “Then tell me.”

  The air sparked again for what seemed like a split second, and then the fur melted away in a black fog. I was staring into his human face. Nothing he had done had seemed unusual. He could change into a wolf—a really big wolf—but it didn’t matter. He was Adam.

  I ran my hand across his perfect chest. The scars were completely gone. I rose up on my toes and kissed him. The air around us sparked, seeming to take on a life of its own. He froze for a second and then kissed me back. He buried his hand in the tangle o
f curls at the base of my neck. His other arm wrapped around my waist. He lifted me off the ground and closer to him. The kiss deepened.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and filled my hands with his long, silky hair. I felt like I could kiss him forever. The air shimmered around us, as if it were charged by magic. Adam broke the kiss, but still held me in a hug against him.

  “There’s still so much you need to know. I’ve wanted to tell you since I first saw you. You need to know it all,” he whispered. His breath was warm against my neck.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said, clinging tighter to him.

  “Yes, it does. It matters a great deal.” He set me back down on the ground and looked down at me, his eyes serious. “We need to go to the Res.”

  He walked over and picked up the basket of berries that I had forgotten, and came back to take my hand.

  “Does your mother expect you home soon?” he asked.

  “No, she’s working late today, and Emily’s been at friend’s house for a sleepover all weekend. There’s no one home.”

  He nodded and led me down the path.

  “There is someone we need to talk. That way you can be sure,” he said.

  That way I can be sure, too, of what you are. Of who you are, his thoughts came into my mind unbidden.

  I didn’t say anything in response. I was pretty sure these were thoughts he wasn’t trying to send to me, but somehow I heard them as clearly as if he had spoken aloud.

  The Seer. She isn’t tribe, but how does she have it? Does it matter? The clans have never mixed, so the elders won’t like it. It still doesn’t matter, though. I will fight for her if it comes to that, his thoughts clouded my mind and my vision blurred, then a flash blinded me.

  I sat around the campfire, laughing with my brothers, when I saw her coming toward me. The girl I watched was me. I watched myself reach out toward his eyes.

  Another flash…Panic. There was a bear. I had to save her.

  Flash! Warmth, heat sizzling in the air. She’s mine. I think I love her.