First Full Moon

by Michelle Alstead

  Error! Error!

  “Jas?” My palms sweat. We should not be in here.

  “It’s okay. I can get past this,” Jasper says.

  “Does anyone know we’re in the system now? Will they be coming for us?” Bennett asks, peering over his shoulder.

  “It’s possible, but we’ve come too far to turn back now.”

  Larkin points to Jasper. “I agree with him.”

  “There!” Jasper punches a number and the error disappears. “We’re in the McGregor Corp’s network. We can access whatever we want.”

  “Start with emails. Maybe there’s something in my dad’s account,” I say.

  Jasper pulls up my dad’s email account, quickly scrolling through the thousand emails in my father’s inbox.

  “One day I’m going to feel really bad about invading his privacy,” I mutter, studying the emails as Jasper flips through them.

  “I don’t see anything worth feeling bad about yet,” Larkin says. “Seriously, ten emails about when to arrange one meeting?”

  “Stop!” Bennett walks over and points an email on the middle wall screen. “Go back to this one.”

  “Sure.” Jasper hits a couple of keys. He pulls up an email to Claire with the subject line: research.

  My dad wrote:

  Your recent ‘research’ is not sanctioned by the McGregor Corporation and is in violation not only of our policies, but also violates federal and state laws. If you don’t cease immediately, I will be forced to contact the authorities.

  Larkin shudders next to me. “I can only imagine what kind of horrible research Claire is doing if Uncle Dartmouth objects.”

  My conversation with Claire at the pizza place runs through my mind. “Keep going. There’s a whole conversation between them.”

  Jasper scrolls down.

  Any interference regarding my research will result in swift and immediate termination of your ‘next gen’. —Claire

  My mother has made arrangements to secure the safety of the next gen based on your mutual agreement. Any action taken on your part will result in a full-scale war. —Davin

  Deals are made to be broken. Keep an eye on your daughter, Davin.

  —Claire

  “Keep an eye on your daughter,” I mutter.

  The wolves in the woods were out for my head, and my head only. Then there were the waiters at the restaurant who talked about being an army.

  “What does that all mean?” Larkin asks.

  “We’re the next gen,” I say slowly. “She’s threatening to hurt us if my dad interferes.”

  “Well, we can take of ourselves. I’m more concerned about the research Claire has going on,” Bennett says.

  I fold my arms. “She did mention something about cancer research, but I never asked how about who she was researching on.”

  “There’s more in his chat history,” Jasper says, pulling up the transcript. “Look.”

  Claire: Give me back the Grimoire, Davin.

  My dad: No.

  Claire: I have the spell. The book is worthless to you.

  My dad: Why do you want it then?

  Claire: Because science alone isn’t enough. I need

  your sister’s spell.

  My dad: I’ll trade the spell for the book.

  Claire: You know I can’t do that. They’ll kill me.

  My dad: Spell for the book. Best offer.

  And then the conversation ends. Claire has the spell. But where? How do we get it back?

  “Who is they?” Bennett asks.

  “Probably the powerful enemies Magnus was referring to.” I turn to Jasper. “Put the company’s camera feedback on the screen. If my dad was watching it, there must have been a good reason.”

  “Okay.” Jasper makes a few keystrokes and the camera feeds from the company appear on the screen again.

  My eyes go to the closed door and the lab person who suddenly emerges. Everything seems normal, maybe too normal.

  “Do you think the spell is in there?” Larkin asks.

  We have the best and most secure facilities in the country. Not even the military could get in there.

  “Probably,” I say. “But how do we get in there?”

  Bennett goes to another computer. “We can’t go in there until we know more about Claire. Maybe your dad has information?”

  Larkin touches Jasper’s shoulder. He jumps two feet.

  “No light touching!” he says.

  “I’m sorry. I forgot,” she replies.

  He rubs his head. “What do you want?”

  She chews her lower lip. “All that information you’ve got on your tablet, does any of it pertain to Claire?”

  “It’s an algorithm. The code goes out to the web searches for data related to McGregors, and then returns a statistical analysis.” Jasper blinks several times.

  Larkin gives me a nod.

  “Jas, can you run that code, right now?” I ask.

  He sits down at a computer. “I’ll just the code from the cloud.” Jasper studies the screen while I take a lap around the room.

  “Computers, cameras, threatening emails—I think it’s safe to say Claire is more foe than family.” I run my hands through my hair, tugging to get past the tangles. “But I still don’t know what my dad’s been up to or what Claire is doing in that lab.”

  “One problem at a time,” Bennett says. “First we get the spell, then we get the talisman.”

  “I should go practice while you guys go through this stuff. The spell is useless if I can’t cast it,” I say.

  “She’s right—” Larkin says.

  Jasper jumps up from the computer. “This can’t be right.” He turns the monitor to show a black and white photo of a man and woman dressed in clothing from a time period that had to be at least a hundred years ago. I don’t recognize the man, but the woman is a dead ringer for Claire.

  “That can’t be who I think it is.” I take a step closer, trying to swallow the lump sitting in my throat.

  “Claire McGregor, co-founder of the McGregor Corporation,” Jasper says.

  “Where did you find that?” Bennett asks.

  “In the government’s historical archives,” he replies.

  “Is that public information?” Larkin’s voice is squeaky.

  “No.” Jasper scratches his nose.

  “You hacked the government?” Larkin asks.

  Jasper looks to me. “I didn’t mean to. I was bored and wanted to take my code for a walk. If the government was smart—”

  “The first rule of committing a crime is don’t talk about it,” Larkin blurts out. She pulls at her hair.

  Bennett steps back, horrified.

  “Everyone calm down. Jas, don’t go hacking anything else, okay?” I say. “We don’t know that’s really her. I mean everyone has a double somewhere, right?”

  “The data doesn’t lie.” Jasper points to another screen with a list of numbers. “There’s a 98% probability that the Claire McGregor we know today is also the Claire McGregor who was twenty years old in 1900.”

  “If Claire is the co-founder of the McGregor Corporation, then that means two things—” I draw a deep breath. “She’s feeding on humans to stay young, and she’s not our aunt.”

  Bennett frowns. “No, she’s our great-grandmother four times over.” His face pales. “The older the wolf, the more powerful they are.”

  Larkin sinks down into a chair next to me. “So, basically our grandmother’s the Big Bad Wolf.”

  “Yeah, well even the wolf gets his in the end.” My legs shake and my hands tremble.

  “If these emails are any indication, she plans on coming for you,” Bennett says.

  “Let her come. McGregors don’t go down without a fight.” I turn and head for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Larkin asks.

  “There’s a lock that needs opening,” I say, walking away.

  First the lock and then the spell. It’s time to put an end to the McGregor curse.
>
  Once and for all.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Just as I make a beeline for the kitchen, the doorbell rings. Who could be visiting now at the worst time ever? Maybe I should hang a sign on the door that says to come back after the apocalypse. No, that would only attract nice, young men in suits.

  I check the peephole. Ryan is at my front door! Ryan—gorgeous, mysterious, and looks like a guy I’ve dreamed out about for years—is on my front porch. What do I do?

  Oksana emerges from the kitchen.

  “Where have you been?” I ask.

  “Been busy. Rude not answer door.” She yanks the door open just as I step back.

  “No, don’t—”

  Oksana gasps, taking a step back. The color leaves her pink cheeks as she shakes her head. “You!”

  She raises her hands, chanting in Latin, which I recognize because it was my only ‘C’ last year.

  “Whoa!” I step between her and the entryway where Ryan stands. “Stop, just stop!”

  Oksana’s eyes are dark. “You send boy away. See soul. Bad. Very bad.”

  I glance over my shoulder at Ryan, giving him my I’m-sorry-my-housekeeper-is-crazy smile while steering Oksana away from the door.

  “I’m going to talk to Ryan but when I’m done, I’ll need to work on that thing in the kitchen,” I say to her.

  Her brown eyes turn down at the corners. “Thing?”

  “Yes, you know that box you needed help opening? Well, I’m going to help you get it open.”

  Oksana nods and clasps her hands together. “Dah.” She turns and walks toward the kitchen. “Open box. Things get better. Send boy away!”

  I face Ryan, sheepishly grinning. “She’s crazy. Don’t listen to a word she says.”

  He smiles—an amused smile that says she doesn’t faze him at all. “Right.”

  “You found my house,” I say.

  I didn’t tell him where I live, did I? No, I definitely didn’t do that with everything that’s been going on. But he’s here. How?

  Ryan holds out a folder. “You left school before I had a chance to give you my notes. I wanted to see if you were okay, so I asked around. Turns out there aren’t a lot of mansions in this town, but every single one of them is owned by a McGregor.”

  “Yeah.” I take the folder, not sure what to say. Where the dreams just my subconscious working through sixteen years of being told the Little Irish Witch story or is there more to Ryan than meets the eye? “Thanks for bringing these over. That was really nice of you.”

  He winks. “Tell your housekeeper. It might change her opinion of me.”

  I glance over my shoulder in the direction she went. “She’s just overprotective. She doesn’t mean anything by it.”

  “I get it. I was raised by a single mom who has her own issues.” His eyes meet mine.

  He wants me to invite him in. But I know where that will lead: Ryan will see the McGregor world—fabulously wealthy, ridiculously spoiled, and filled with supernatural beings I never believed existed.

  Um, no thanks.

  “My dad was a single parent. I know how hard it can be.” I lift the folder. “Thanks again for these.” I put my hand on the door, bringing it forward an inch to signal my intention.

  Ryan puts a hand on the door. “I wanted to do this the right way—let you get to know me and see all the qualities that made you fall in love with me the first time, but I got here too late. Now we’re out of time.” He pushes past me, stepping into the foyer.

  “We were in love?” I say, taking a step back.

  “You don’t remember. They said you wouldn’t, but I didn’t believe them.” He runs both hands through his hair.

  “Them?”

  “My coven.”

  “Oh.”

  His coven. That means he’s a witch. Carrick was a witch.

  “Candy, where’s the book?”

  My head hurts and it’s hard to focus. “What book?”

  He scans the room. “The Grimoire.”

  I force a shrug, shoving my hands into my pockets. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You don’t know me, so you don’t trust me. I get it. I’ll just do this the hard way then.” Ryan holds his hands out and closes his eyes. The language that rolls off his tongue is not one that I know, but something in me stirs at the sound of it. He’s calling to the book. How do I know that? Because I understand every word he says. But how?

  His eyelids fly open. The whites of his eyes are black. “It’s not here,” he says in a deep voice that turns my skin cold.

  Oksana walks down the stairs with a broom in hand. She sweeps the steps, sending shock waves of blue energy in Ryan’s direction. One hits him in the legs, bringing him to his knees as he howls. The blackness disappears.

  “No dark magic in this house,” she says.

  “I don’t exactly have a choice,” he replies, slowly getting up.

  “Always choice. You choose wrong.” She continues to sweep, creating more shock waves that hiss and burn as they fly down the stairs and across the floor, backing Ryan into a corner.

  “Let me go,” he says.

  “You leave.”

  “Not without Candy.”

  “I protect girl.” Oksana raises her broom and slams it down on the very last step, sending blue and black waves racing across the floor toward Ryan. Seeing them, he dives, tucking and rolling until he reaches me. He jumps up and grabs my hands, staring into my eyes.

  “I didn’t want it to be this way. You believe me, don’t you?”

  The urgency in his tone scares me.

  “Yes,” I mumble, trying to pull my hands away.

  Oksana chants in Latin. Ryan waves his hand, creating a black wall between her and us. She screams, raising the broom over her head.

  “I don’t have much time. She’s stronger than I am in this life. So I’m just going to have to show you who I was to you.” He kisses my forehead with soft, warm lips. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs.

  “For what?” I ask.

  “For how much this is going to hurt.” He places his hands on my cheeks and presses my forehead against his.

  Pain shoots through my skull, tearing down the length of my body. I cry out, trying to push him away, but he’s a boulder that won’t budge. I scream, falling backwards. Expecting to hit the wall, I brace for impact.

  But I land on my knees, sinking in wet sand. Ryan kneels before me, holding out both hands. He takes mine in his, wrapping a silver rope around our wrists and over our palms.

  The sun is setting, casting long waves of color across the beach. “The ceremony tonight is for our families. This one is for us, my love. I join my heart with yours, our souls forever connected as one,” he says. Ryan’s face glows warm in the fading light. His love flows through his body and into mine as I speak: “I join my heart with yours, our forever connected as one.”

  The white rope turns gold then silver tightening around our hands, as our bond deepens.

  As the sun disappears, I fall into his arms, my head against his chest.

  “We are bound together through time and all eternity,” I whisper.

  He kisses my lips. “We are as one. Whatever this life brings even if it is death, I will find you, my love.”

  I melt into him, disappearing into the bliss of a love that warms me from the inside out, filling every hole and empty space I never knew I had. We were completely and utterly happy.

  My vision goes black suddenly.

  Ryan is ripped from my arms while Oksana chants at the top of her lungs bringing me back to the present. Blood seeps from her nose, dribbling on to her faded dress.

  “Let him go!” I yell.

  Ryan is choking, coughing up black sludge. Her magic is strangling him. “Use your magic,” he gasps.

  “I can’t.” Tears stream down my face. “Please Oksana! Let him go!”

  But she doesn’t hear me over the screaming wind forces open the front door, tearing through the entry
way.

  Ryan’s lips are blue. I’m losing him. Just when I found him, I am losing him again.

  If only Oksana would go to bed and mind her own business.

  “No!” I scream, letting loose all the frustration and hurt that’s been eating at me since my mom left.

  The wave of energy knocks Oksana to the ground where she goes silent. I run to her side, praying I haven’t killed her.

  “She’s fine.” Ryan gets to his feet, rubbing his throat. “You just knocked her out.”

  I touch her neck, feeling for a pulse. “Did she hit her head?”

  “No, you wanted her to sleep,” he says, coming to my side.

  Oksana turns over onto her back, letting out a loud snore, before flipping over onto her other side.

  “I did want her to go to sleep and now she is.”

  Ryan helps me up. His left-hand takes my right, intertwining our fingers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out this way, but I had no choice.”

  I search his face. How can a boy who seems so good, have such darkness inside him?

  “What’re you talking about?” I ask.

  He draws a breath just as Bennett, Larkin, and Jasper come racing into the entryway from the hallway.

  “We’re in trouble,” Larkin says.

  “So much trouble,” Jasper says.

  “Claire knows your dad hacked the cameras, and I’m pretty sure she’s coming here,” Bennett says.

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure she’s already here,” Claire says from the open front door. She gives Ryan a look and frowns. “Well, this is unexpected.”

  “Aunt Claire, so good to see you,” Larkin says, stepping over Oksana. “How are you?”

  Claire wrinkles her red lips. “I’ll be honest, you were always my favorite and the most tolerable to be around, but I don’t have time for this, kid.” She stands with her hands on the hips of her black suit. “Where’s the Grimoire?”

  “They don’t have it,” Ryan says, stepping in front of me.

  “Even if we did, we wouldn’t give it to you,” I say, snarling at her.

  Claire crosses the room, grabs Ryan by the throat, and tosses him into the wall across the room. He smacks his head hard, going limp, and falling to floor.

  I feel rage unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Red is all I see as I try to focus enough to utter some words. “If you killed him—”