*******
April 6
It’s Saturday morning. Morri already left. I don’t know what to do all day. There are no classes and no one to talk to. What did I do before she came? Oh, that’s right, I was a zombie.
I’m sorry, Ma. I didn’t mean it. Please forgive me. But why can’t you tell me what’s going on? I know you’re not dead. Was the fire my fault? Is that why you won’t come get me?
I had such a stupid dream last night. All these feathers kept falling from the sky and landing around me. And the more I picked up, the more fell. Another dream that makes no sense! Oh, and I saw a flying white horse. Blah!
*******
April 7
Yesterday may have been bad, but today is worse!!!!!!! I’ve tried talking to Morri. But every time I do, she runs away. Even at night, she won’t answer me. She just ignores anything I say.
I thought about throwing my amulet in the trash. Because of that stupid thing, no one likes me anymore.
After church, I saw Morri talking to Lance. They were smiling at each other. I can’t believe it. They’ve made up, but she still won’t talk to me.
Then Kelile was walking toward me, and I thought he was going to speak. He just hadn’t noticed I was in front of him. When he saw me, he ran away too!
I had a bad dream last night. Not my usual nightmare though. In this dream, everywhere I looked I saw Morri laughing at me; and every time I saw her, that evil shadow-woman from my other dream was next to her. I’m afraid something awful will happen to her. Why should I care? She doesn’t care about me.
Oh, I just want to die!
*******
“Here, Aish, why won’t you write in this one?” Morrigan interrupted, laying down the diary she’d given to Aishling.
Aishling flinched. She hadn’t heard Morrigan come into the room. After wiping her tear-streaked cheeks, she picked up the diary. “How did you get this?”
“Have you been crying?” Morrigan leaned backwards against Aishling’s desk and crossed her arms. Looking down at the other diary, she read the last sentence aloud, “ ‘Oh, I just want to die!’ I’m sorry, Aish. I’ve been dreadful to you. Forgive me?”
Just like that? “You haven’t talked to me in days. You really hurt me.”
“I was hurt, too.” Morrigan turned and plopped on Aishling’s bed. “I couldn’t stand what had happened, and all because I was trying to help you.”
“You’re going to blame me? You’re the one who wanted to leave Sunday night, remember?” She shoved away from her desk and stood.
“Oh, all right.” Morrigan rolled her eyes. “If that’s what you want me to do, then I’ll take all the blame. I’m sorry. Everything was my fault.”
Aishling wanted to cry again.
“Come on. Let’s make up. I’ve got exciting news for you. Don’t look so sad. Smile.” She crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue, making a funny face.
Involuntarily, Aishling snickered. “Stop it.”
“See, I knew I could make you laugh. Best friends again?” Morrigan hugged her.
“Oh, Morri, I was so sad. I couldn’t stand us not talking to each other.” She sniffled.
Morrigan let go of her and reached for a tissue. “Here, wipe your eyes, and let’s go swing. I want to tell you my exciting news. You’ll be surprised.” She skipped to the door.
13
Aishling followed Morrigan to the swings.
“Lance and I have been talking the last couple of days.” Morrigan sat on one of the swings and pushed off.
“I know.” Aishling sat in another one. “I saw you today.”
“I knew you saw us, but Lance and I had just started talking again. I didn’t want to scare him off.”
Morrigan slowed her swing. “He’s gotten upset with everyone here and with the state. He’s been telling them he wants them to contact that Cherokee guy I told you about before. But no one is listening. They have this other family interested in him—you know, the couple he went with last weekend. They want him to go with those people for an extended stay.” She snickered. “Oh, Aish, this is so good. I can’t drag it out any longer. Lance asked me if I still wanted to leave this place.” She lunged out of the swing and landed on her feet, laughing. “He wants to leave, too!”
“No! Really?”
Morrigan nodded and twirled.
Aishling stopped swinging. “What did you tell him?”
“Of course, I said yes.”
“Yes!” she said, hopping out of the swing.
Morrigan grabbed her shoulders, holding her still. “But, listen to me. Under no circumstances can you act like you know yet.”
“Why?” She frowned.
“Because, he’s still mad at you. He thinks you hurt Kelile and that you made me help you try to steal his canoe.” She squeezed Aishling’s shoulders.
“What? Why does he think that? It was your spell that hurt Kelile, and—Ow! Don’t squeeze me so tight.”
“Listen. That was the only way I could get him to talk to me again.”
Unable to breathe, Aishling wheezed. “What about me?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll talk him into letting you come with us. But you must promise you won’t say anything to him until I do. And, that you won’t tell Kelile.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t want Kelile to go. Now, promise.”
“That doesn’t make sense. He and Kelile are best friends.”
“Do you want to go or not?”
I can’t believe this.
“Well?”
“Okay,” Aishling whispered.
Morrigan released her and danced around, chanting, “We’re leaving. We’re leaving. Yes, we’re really leaving.”
Monday, April 8
Lance had his shoes off, and his feet dangled in the river when she and Morrigan met him after classes.
“Hi, Lance. Isn’t that water too cold?” Morrigan said.
“No.”
“Hi, Lance.” Aishling smiled.
“Hi,” he mumbled, without looking at her.
Gee, he’s still mad. She sat on the grass a few feet away while Morrigan sat next to him. What could she say to get him to look at her?
“What’s the matter?” Morrigan broke the silence.
“Mrs. Dawes just told me the Jamesons want me to spend this weekend with them, too. They’re putting pressure on her every day for me to do an extended stay.” He threw a rock into the river.
“Then we need to leave as soon as possible.” She looked over at Aishling and nodded.
Aishling’s voice quivered as she said, “Let’s leave Thursday before you have to go.”
He scowled at her. “We have to be smarter than that about it. I don’t want to get caught.”
“I don’t want you to get caught, either, you know.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Aishling said, on the verge of jumping up and running away.
“Then we have to do things my way.” His eyes jabbed at her like an ice pick. “And why don’t you want Ke—”
“Okay, you two. Let’s don’t squabble,” Morrigan said. “We all want to leave, and none of us want to be brought back to this dreadful place.”
Aishling caught Morrigan giving him a slight shake of her head. What was she up to now? “What’s—”
“I don’t know how we’re going to do it, Morrigan,” Lance said, wiping his feet on the grass. He put his socks on. “If we take the canoe, they’ll know that’s how we left. I’ve got to figure out a way to make them think I got rid of it or something.” He stood.
Aishling hopped up. “Lance. When you’re gone this weekend, Morri and I could take your canoe out of the shed and hide it. Then, when you come back, you could report it missing.”
“And how do I know you won’t take it and leave while I’m not here?”
She hunched over, crushed. How could he think she would do that? “Look, we weren’t going to steal your canoe. We were—”
&
nbsp; “Lance.” Morrigan stood, brushing dirt off her shorts. “Aish—”
“Look, I’m sorry! I guess we didn’t think things through very well before.” Aishling pointed at Morrigan. “But, can’t you forgive me like you forgave her?”
He kicked at the ground. His silence drowned her heart.
“Come on, Lance. Both Aish and I will do whatever you say. We don’t want to get you in trouble. We want to help you as much as you’d be helping us.” She held out her right pinky finger. “Pinky promise?”
He clutched her wrist and moved it down to her side. Turning to Aishling, he said, “Okay, I guess I have to forgive you, anyway.”
What does that mean? Why was it hard for him to forgive her when he’d been able to forgive Morri? Aishling hugged her stomach.
After several aching moments, he said, “You know, that’s not a bad idea. Like you said, when I go on my visit, you all could hide the canoe. When I come back, I’ll ask Preacher Collins if I could get my camping gear ready for my next visit with the Jamesons. I’ll discover my canoe missing and report it. We could wait a couple of weeks while they’re searching for it, and then leave. That’s a great idea, in fact.” He briefly smiled at Aishling before looking at Morrigan. “Listen, I’ve got to meet Kelile in the gym. I’ll slip you a note tomorrow. Think about where you would hide the canoe. I’ll think about it too. Bye.” He jogged away.
Tuesday, April 9
That evening after dinner, while Morrigan took a shower, Aishling hid her original diary again, this time underneath her mattress. She also used an enfolding enchantment on it so even Morri couldn’t see it. Then she sat at her desk and opened the diary Morrigan had given her. She paused and studied the maze spell, wondering if it could hurt anyone else. Then she wrote:
*******
April 9
A lot has happened the last two days. Yesterday, we talked to Lance. I don’t know if he has forgiven me, but at least he liked my idea. He even smiled at me before he left. Today we found the perfect spot to hide the canoe. Morri’s so smart! Since we don’t want him to know we’re witches and that we’re going to use magick to hide his canoe, she told him it would help his “acting” if he didn’t know where we had put it. He agreed.
It’s a good thing I have kitchen duty until the end of this month. He wants me to sneak out things like candy and chips, and other snacks, and tuna, rice—if I can get some—cereal, and large garbage bags. I don’t know what the deal is with the garbage bags, but he wants me to get as many as I can. Oh, and 2 or 3 small empty plastic juice containers.
He passed Morri a note this afternoon telling us to also get some of his camping gear and hide it in the canoe. We still can’t talk to him much because Kelile is with him most of the time. Morri can’t stand it. I want to talk to Kelile. But she told me Lance would get mad. Why? I won’t tell him. I don’t know why Lance doesn’t trust me. And why doesn’t he want Kelile to go?
Morri asked me if I wanted to get my box when we get the other things. I said no, that we needed to figure out how to get the curse off my things first. I’m glad she agreed. I don’t want her to know I already have my amulet.
*******
Wednesday, April 10
“Hey, girl, wait.” Kelile caught up to Aishling after classes.
She checked to see if anyone had seen them. Though happy he was finally talking to her again, she didn’t want Lance to get mad. While smiling at him, she grabbed his shirtsleeve and pulled him behind Anderson House. “Hi.”
“Why are you draggin’ me over here?”
“I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Girl, I’m not stupid. You don’t want your prissy queen to see you talkin’ to me. Don’t shake your head. I know what you’re doin’.”
Her stomach flip-flopped. What could she say? “You’re right. I don’t want her to see us. But, I want to tell you something.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Go ahead.”
“I’m sorry about what happened to you.”
“What was that? Why did my eyes bleed? Explain that for me.” He nodded his head and kept his squinted eyes fixed on hers.
“I don’t know.”
“And I should believe that. Right.”
“Kelile, I didn’t know that was going to happen.”
“Then why did you say, quote, ‘Kelile, stop reading it now!’?” He moved in on her. “What was that? Even the doctor couldn’t figure out what had happened. It was like some voodoo or something. Tell me.”
She backed away. “I told you to stop reading it because it wasn’t yours.”
He made faces and mouthed her words back.
“I did!” She huffed. “Look, if you don’t want to talk, fine. I’ll leave you alone.”
“Wait just a minute, girl. You keep sayin’ you’re sorry. I don’t believe you. You knew what was going to happen. I know you did.”
“No. I had had an awful nightmare that night, and I was kind of dazed. I would never want you to be hurt. Honestly. Can’t you believe that?”
He stared at her a moment before nudging her on her shoulder. “Okay. We’re good.”
While shaking his head, he grinned. “Girl, was Lance mad at you two, fighting mad! I felt a little bad about snitchin’ on you. Just a little.” He chuckled. “Listen, I think he wants to run away now. He hasn’t said anything yet, but I think I could convince him. If I do, do you wanna come?”
Heat moved across her face, and she felt herself blush. “Uh … Let me think about it. Okay?”
14
*******
April 10
Kelile finally talked to me today. He seems to be okay now. Who knows, maybe he’ll bug Lance so much that Lance will finally agree to take him with us. I hope so! But I’m keeping my mouth shut! I’m not telling Morri, either.
*******
April 11
What a wonderful dream I had!!!! I wonder if it’s because I wore my amulet to bed. I put it on last night while Morri took a shower. It makes me feel like Ma is with me. Morri came back too soon, though, so I kept it on. Anyway, last night I dreamed I saw Ma, and she had her arms open and was motioning for me to come. She was in the forest where we used to go sometimes. She stood inside a cave opening. I knew that once I was in the cave with her, everything would be fine. I woke up before I reached her, but she was smiling at me, and I knew she still loved me. I know that was her! She was communicating with me through my dream! Ma, I’m coming. I’ll be there soon. I love you!
I’ve got to go, Morri’s waking up.
*******
“Did you have another nightmare last night?” Morrigan said while making her bed.
“No. I had a wonderful dream. Ma was calling for me. She’s waiting for me. I know it.”
Morrigan frowned. “So, you didn’t have any nightmares?”
“No.” She shoved her desk chair back into place. “You look surprised? Why did you think I did?”
Morrigan shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe I had a nightmare. Never mind.”
On their way to classes, Lance caught up with them, pretending to borrow a pencil. “Aishling, have you—”
“Lance, wait up.” Kelile jogged over to them. “Hey, man.”
“Hey,” Lance said as he and Kelile bumped fists.
“Hey, girl. What it is?” Kelile held his fist up for Aishling to bump, waiting.
She almost swallowed her tongue. Not daring to look at Morri, she lightly tapped his fist with hers. “Hi, Kelile.”
Morrigan rounded on her, sneering.
“You got a problem with that, prissy queen?” He chuckled. “Yeah, we’re talkin’.”
Lance stared at Aishling. She couldn’t read his look.
Kelile clamped onto her backpack and pulled her ahead of the others. When she looked back, they were mouthing something to each other. “What are you doing, Kelile?”
“Take this,” he whispered, shoving a note into her hand. “I need to talk to you later.”
“I
don’t know. I’ll try. I—”
“Don’t try. Do.” He let go of her backpack and jogged off toward the classrooms.
Before she could say anything to the others, Lance chased after him.
“What is going on, Aish? Why is he talking to you?” Morrigan huffed. “Do you remember what I told you about talking to him?”
“I didn’t know he was going to do that.”
“What did he whisper to you?”
“It’s nothing. We ran into each other yesterday, and we’re talking again. Don’t run off!” she said as Morrigan stormed away.
Before entering the classroom, she opened the note from Kelile.
I have a plan. You have to meet me behind Anderson House at 4pm.
K
She wadded up the note and threw it in a trashcan before walking into class.
Even though she tried getting Morrigan’s attention, Morri ignored her through math. Fuming by their first break, Aishling confronted her in the girl’s bathroom. “Will you stop acting like that!”
Morrigan scowled at her in the mirror and kept combing her hair.
“I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Didn’t Lance tell you not to talk to him?”
“No. You told me not to.”
“Same thing.”
“Don’t you think he might get a little suspicious if I don’t talk anymore? We are friends? As long as I don’t tell him anything, how can that hurt?”
Morrigan stared at her own reflection. “Oh, all right, but you have to tell me everything he says to you. Agreed?”
“Okay.”
*******
April 11 (evening)
I should have never talked to Kelile yesterday. If I’m not careful, I’m going to mess everything up!
Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) Page 6