Cursed Moon

by Jaye Wells

  All of my excuses dried up and a crystalline silence took their place. My head filled with a pressure that felt like I was swimming through water. The bell on the nearby buoy clanged every few seconds, but otherwise my ears were filled with the bass-drum kick of my heart.

  Suddenly Pen’s concerns about the sacrifices I made for this job twisted until I saw them in a new light. Yes, being on the task force had led to me using magic again. But it also had allowed me to use magic for the good of someone besides myself for the first time in my life. While my cooking methods might have been learned the dirty way, I was finally able to use them in a clean way, as far as my conscience was concerned.

  “Time’s running out, Cupcake,” Morales said in a quiet tone.

  I swallowed hard and looked into his brown eyes. “Shit.”

  He smiled and nodded approvingly. “You can do this.”

  I chewed on my bottom lip, ignoring the roiling fear in my gut. My brain scrolled through everything I’d need to make this impossible Hail Mary pass. I had plenty of blood and water. I had a Blue Moon offering its powerful energy to the air. What I didn’t have was a heat source.

  “I don’t suppose you have a lighter,” I said.

  He patted down his pockets and shook his head. “ ’Fraid not.”

  I went to the passed-out Dionysus but only discovered that the false god preferred to go commando under his toga. Wiping my hands on my jeans, I looked around for something, anything I could use as a heat source.

  The inflatable boat we’d came over on from the skiff bobbed off the edge of the platform. From our ride over, I remembered seeing a small metal box strapped near the back. I leaped into it and started feeling around the edges. When my hand hit the hard-sided case, I whooped in victory. I cracked it open and found two waterproof emergency flares.

  I stashed the flares back in the metal box and climbed back on the wooden platform. The whole structure tilted dangerously, but I stilled long enough for it to stabilize before I proceeded.

  “Tell me what you need,” Morales said.

  “The flare’s potassium nitrate will add some punch to the potion, along with the heat I need to cook the ingredients,” I explained. I handed him the second flare. “Hold on to this in case we survive.”

  He frowned.

  “To call in the cavalry to come get us,” I explained.

  He smiled. “Good thinking, but why not shoot it now?”

  “They won’t get here before the bomb goes off, and I don’t want anyone else to get hurt if this monster shows up and I can’t control it.”

  His face paled at the thought of me summoning an uncontrollable beast. Ignoring his reaction, I placed the metal box under Dionysus’s bloody hand. When I had a good puddle in the bottom, I stepped away. I didn’t want to risk him gaining consciousness and interrupting me while I cooked.

  I handed Morales the box. “Get some water. Equal parts to the blood.”

  While he went to do that, I took the flare from my mouth and ripped the plastic top off with my teeth. When he returned, I tapped the flare onto the edge of the box to get a little of the potassium nitrate power mixed in with the blood-and-water mixture. Then I scratched the lid against the tip of the flare to ignite the flame. A loud hiss sounded and the light blazed, illuminating the area in an eerie red glow.

  “Ten minutes, Kate.”

  Ignoring the pang of nerves in my center, I placed the flame under the box. The metal heated quickly, singeing my fingertips. I ignored the pain and tried to focus all my attention on the potion. I wasn’t sure how long I had before the flare petered out, but I knew I had only minutes before I was totally out of options.

  While I worked, I was vaguely aware that Morales had stepped back to watch me. I didn’t have the luxury of feeling self-conscious about it, but it felt as intimate as him knowing my darkest secrets.

  Lifting the box high, I willed the moon to speed the process. I closed my eyes and imagined a stream of neon magic zapping from the moon to the little box. A tingle of energy sizzled up from my chest, through my arms, and into my burning fingertips. Electricity shocked my fingers and pain burst behind my eyes.

  A shock attacked my hands and the box leaped from my grasp. My eyes flew open in time to see it splash into the water. The potion sizzled, and a bright blue pool of light flashed before going dark.

  “Shit.” Rubbing my stinging hands together, I glanced at Morales with a heart sinking as fast as our last chance.

  His face fell and he glanced at the moon like it was his biggest enemy. I suppose at the moment it ranked pretty high on the list.

  I dropped to my knees on the platform. In the distance a few lights were still illuminated in Babylon’s office towers despite the late hour. All across the city, hundreds of thousands of people slept peacefully in their beds. Children dreamed of jack-o’-lanterns and bags full of candy. Night-shift workers yawned and hurried to complete their work so they could clock out and head home. Junkies huddled in doorways, their eyes rolling back in their heads from the high of a potion-fix mixed with the Blue Moon’s rising power.

  Kneeling on that platform with Morales and a passed-out madman, I’d never felt so alone.

  “I told you it wouldn’t work,” I said in a low, savage tone. I couldn’t look at him.

  “Kate, I—”

  The entire platform swayed, as if lifted by a large wave. The unexpected movement threw off my equilibrium. I fell toward the bomb, grabbing the bracket out of instinct.

  “What the fuck?” Morales yelled. His arms were outspread, and he crouched to keep from tumbling over.

  “Morales—it’s her!” Hope bloomed in my chest. Rogue waves didn’t just appear in the middle of a lake—unless something under the water caused them.

  At that moment a large, black hump crested out of the water, followed by a loud splash not fifty feet from our suddenly very small platform.

  Cold fear and hot hope swept under my skin. Lake Erie wasn’t home to whales or dolphins. I’d heard some large catfish lived in the deep waters, but the spiked tail I’d seen didn’t belong to a fish. It belonged to a monster.

  Another wave—smaller this time—rocked the platform. The monster was circling, trying to decide on the best approach.

  A loud gasp sounded behind me. I turned to see Dionysus’s head jerk up and his unfocused eyes go wide. “Wh—what’s happening?”

  Now that I’d managed to summon the monster I’d invited to the party, I realized with a start that I had no idea how to control the beast.

  “Cut the raft off the buoy!” I yelled at my partner. He jumped to do what I asked without question.

  The monster roared and leaped into the air a good way from the raft. The hulking shape made my mouth fall open.

  “Four minutes,” Morales yelled, coming to stand beside me.

  Underneath the instinctive fear, the kernels of a plan began to form. The kind of plan born of desperation, gut-wrenching terror, and lack of options.

  The beast emerged from the depths again. This time a large head broke the surface. I had a quick impression of large yellow eyes and a gaping mouth filled with a few rows of sharp teeth. From the triple nostrils large plumes of water shot up into the night air. And above this terrifying image, the Blue Moon watched in judgment from the sky. It seemed to say: “Be careful what you wish for.”

  Another crest of water exploded beside the buoy. The wake threw my body through the air. “Kate!” Morales screamed.

  I landed in the cold drink with a splash. My head went under; water shot up my nose, choking me. I couldn’t tell which way was up or down. But if I didn’t act fast I’d drown. Kicking my legs with every bit of strength I had left, I burst above the surface for a brief, victorious moment. I gasped in a lungful of air.

  “Moral—”

  My scream was swallowed by the water. Something tugged on my leg, pulling me farther underwater. I looked up, yearning for the surface.

  Despite my body’s instinctive struggle
for air, in my brain a small voice urged me to just surrender. Maybe Dionysus had it right all along. Life shouldn’t be a constant struggle, but lately it seemed to be nothing but one conflict after another. Ever since I’d joined the MEA—my dream job, I’d thought—I’d been forced to choose between my principles and the Arcane demands of the job.

  I could just let go. Sink down. Let the abyss swallow me.

  I closed my eyes.

  Pain in my lungs, desperate for air. For life.

  An air bubble escaped my mouth. Another tug. Stronger this time.

  My eyes snapped open. The bright orb of the Blue Moon shimmered through the water, lighting my path toward the surface. Morales’s words came back to me: If you don’t try what will happen?

  The thing I’d managed to successfully ignore this entire time suddenly loomed larger than the monster. Danny and Pen were in that city. Baba, Rufus, and everyone else I cared about. If I gave up now, they’d all suffer. My surrender would doom them all.

  I kicked hard with both feet. Yearned for the surface with my grasping hands. My foot made contact with something solid, again. Again. And then, miraculously, I was loose, swimming like a wild mermaid toward the surface.

  I burst out of the water, and panic fueled my arms to scramble for the edge of the platform. My eyes were blurry with dirty water. I struggled to reach the edge of the platform. Exhaustion threatened to pull me under again.

  A warm hand grabbed mine and hauled me from the water like the catch of the day. The wood dug into my solar plexus, knocking what little air I had from my lungs. But I didn’t care as long as I wasn’t in the water with the monster anymore.

  Morales grabbed me in a fast, hard hug.

  “Jesus that was close,” he gasped. His face was pale from blood loss, and his eyes searched the water for the beast.

  I grabbed his wrist. According to his watch, we only had a minute and fifteen seconds left.

  I leapt across the platform toward Dionysus. I slapped his face. His chin jerked to the side. “Wake up, Scott!” Cold water from my hair splashed over his eyes as they winked open.

  “What—” he said in a groggy tone.

  “You have a visitor.” I jerked his chin toward the water.

  The beast’s huge head rose from the surface a hundred feet from the platform.

  Scott’s eyes widened. “What the fuck!”

  I leaned forward and whispered, “You wanted chaos?” I pointed toward the beast. “Well, she’s coming for you.”

  The monster’s two large yellow eyes zeroed in on us. A loud roar filled the night. She was coming in hot.

  “Untie me!” His voice cracked with fear. “Please!”

  “Kate?” Morales said in an urgent tone. “It’s go time!”

  “No, you can’t leave me!” The Raven struggled against the belt, but with his ruined hand he didn’t have a hope of untying himself. “I’m begging you!”

  Morales looked at me, unsure. Part of me wanted to leave the asshole tied to his own bomb—a little poetic justice. But in the end, I couldn’t justify leaving him tied up. I certainly didn’t intend to save him, but I also couldn’t damn him to being unable to try and save himself.

  “Untie him. Quickly!”

  Morales dove across the raft and quickly unbuckled the belt. Dionysus froze, as if shocked by the tiny mercy we’d shown him. “W-why?”

  Morales came back to join me at the edge of the raft before he answered. “Because every man deserves to be able to go down fighting.”

  A roar echoed over the water. All three of us turned toward the spine-chilling noise.

  The monster’s mouth emerged from the water and opened wide enough to swallow a Volkswagen. A guttural sound escaped the maw. Morales and I edged to the opposite side of the platform from the bomb. Scott, clearly dizzy and weak from lack of blood, slipped and groped against the metal frame to regain his feet.

  “Take me with you!” Scott yelled.

  “Kate?” Morales was pushing against me.

  “Patience,” I said. A sudden calm descended over me as time slowed. I glanced at the clock. Thirty seconds.

  “It won’t work,” Dionysus yelled. “You’ll die, too, you stupid fucking whore.”

  I taunted the monster. “Come on, you big, beautiful bitch!”

  “Oh shit,” Morales said. “This is crazy!”

  The beast’s mouth grew closer until it filled our vision like a portal to another dimension. Bending my knees, I wrapped my arms around Morales. His came around me, too.

  I cast one final glance at Dionysus. He was crawling toward the other edge of the raft, his knees slipping in his blood. “So long, asshole.”

  The monster loomed closer, closer. The man who claimed to love chaos screamed with a terror that would haunt my dreams.

  “Now!” I shouted.

  The first few boards of the platform crunched under the monster’s enormous, sharp teeth. Lunging with all our strength, Morales and I flew off the port side of the platform. Slamming into the water felt like belly flopping onto concrete. The air whooshed from my lungs and cold, dirty water surged into my sinuses.

  Morales kicked his good leg and I scissored both of mine until we were clear. Once my head emerged from under the water, the shrieking registered first. Then a loud crunch. The sound of sharp teeth on bone and wood. The monster’s victorious roar filled the night. And then, silence.

  We swam like mad things toward the raft he’d set adrift. I helped him in first, and then he pulled me up to join him.

  An instant later a magical concussion spread through the water like an aftershock. Ripples spread in choppy concentric circles through the water, making our raft bob wildly in its wake.

  I held my breath, watching the surface for signs of the beast’s fate. When I’d formed the plan, I hadn’t thought about what would happen when the bomb detonated inside the monster’s body. If she exploded, would the lake be contaminated?

  But then, breaking the silence, a loud splash sounded. The monster’s body leaped out of the water fifty feet from our raft. The formerly black surface of her slick skin sparkled iridescent purple in the Blue Moon’s glow. As soon as she appeared, the Lake Erie Lizard descended back into the depths, taking every trace of Dionysus and his ill-fated bomb with her.

  I finally released the breath I’d been holding. “Holy shit.”

  Morales’s eyelids were drooping. “Jesus, Prospero, if I’d known you were going to play chicken with that beast I never would have suggested you summon him.”

  “Her,” I corrected. “That was definitely a lady monster.”

  He popped an eyebrow. “How can you tell?”

  “I just know.”

  He laughed. “Well, guess what, Cupcake? Since you’re so smart, I’ll let you row.” He tossed the oars to me. Despite the sarcasm, I could tell the suggestion was really a necessity.

  He’d lost a lot more blood than me. Besides, he had the flare, which he shot into the air as I rowed us toward the lighthouse.

  By the time the rescue boat reached us twenty minutes later, we’d both fallen into shocked silence. What other choice did we have? It’s not like we were going to talk about the secrets we were forced to know about each other. The ones we were both praying the other would never repeat.

  I was shocked to see Gardner, Shadi, and Mez standing on the ship’s railing, loaded down with every Mundane and magical weapon in existence. They rushed off the boat and secured the area before coming to make sure we were okay.

  Then we were being bundled in blankets, having our wounds triaged, and being urged onto soft benches to rest. Morales’s bullet wound was the most serious, so Mez focused his efforts there.

  I went to sit while Shadi and Gardner peppered me with questions. I answered in a monotone, but my eyes were on Morales. His jaw was tight as Mez doctored his wounds with saline and iodine. His eyes met mine, and his face was a mask of solemn shock.

  I’m not sure what Morales thought about during those moment
s, but I was thinking about the time I’d spent under the water. The moment when the moon that had caused a lot of my problems became a beacon of hope.

  Eventually, Gardner explained that they’d been found by the sheriff’s tac-wiz team not long after Dionysus managed to get us out of the farmhouse. Best they could tell, he’d had a boat waiting in the Steel River, which ran along one side of the winery’s land. Of course they hadn’t known that then and wasted a lot of time trying to find us on the road. They’d spent the last twenty-four hours tearing the city apart. They’d been loading onto the boat to sweep the coastline when Morales’s flare exploded into the sky.

  “Jesus, Prospero,” Shadi said. “We’re lucky it was you on that platform. The only other person who could have stopped that bomb was probably Mez.”

  Or Uncle Abe, I silently amended. Guess he hadn’t been lying all those years ago, after all.

  I pushed that thought aside and forced a smile. Inside, I was relieved that the team had taken news of me using magic so well. But the other part of me was terrified of what they’d say if Morales told them about the last time I’d cooked.

  After that, Gardner and Shadi melted away to go speak to Morales in quiet tones. I stood wrapped in a blanket on the bow, watching the moon hanging over Babylon. The city looked so peaceful and quiet from this distance. Because I’d used magic, those dreaming children would get their Halloween. Because Morales and I had exposed our skeletons to the moonlight, the entire city was spared the horror of having their deepest secrets revealed. And because I’d refused to surrender, I emerged from that water with a new appreciation for the Adept genes in my body that had felt like a burden for so many years.

  I guess when it came down to it, the entire night had been a baptism of sorts. And it never would have happened if that damned Blue Moon hadn’t come around to fuck everything up.

  Chapter Thirty

  November 1

  Waning Gibbous

  On my way home from the hospital, I made Baba take me by an apothecary.