Moonglow

by Michael Griffo

  “Before this happened,” Arla told me, her sky-blue nails gesturing toward her eye, “I thought I was part of your team and helping you because you’re my friend.”

  “And now?” I asked.

  “This made me realize I’m helping you because it’s the right thing to do,” she said.

  It doesn’t matter that I no longer need my own Wolf Pack, Arla’s conviction hasn’t faltered.

  “I must have inherited my dad’s crime-stopping gene, because I’m not going to rest until this Luba is caught and served the punishment she deserves,” she pronounced. “No matter what, Dom, good’s gotta stomp out evil.”

  I was so moved by her sincerity I could only shake my head. Until she made me laugh.

  “And my pumps with the four-inch heels were just made to stomp out some evil,” she declared.

  Laughing and hugging her tightly, I added, “So is that lemon-yellow eye patch you’re sporting!”

  “It’s my homage to Jess,” Arla explained. “Just a little piece of sunshine to carry along with me while I heal.”

  Oh how I already miss holding on to a little piece of Jess’s sunshine. But she’ll always be in my heart. And holding on to two muscular arms isn’t the worst consolation prize.

  Wrapping his arms around me, Caleb whispers in my ear. “You know I’ve never kissed Archie, right?”

  I let him squeeze me tighter; his chin stubble feels wonderful on my neck. “I know.”

  “Not since sixth grade anyway.”

  It’s hilarious that Caleb has a higher-pitched laugh than I do. I don’t know how long he’ll be my boyfriend, but for now I couldn’t imagine feeling this way about anyone else. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees I’ve made the right choice.

  “Nice to see that you’re up for a party, Dominy,” Napoleon says the minute Caleb walks away to get more punch.

  “It was time,” I reply. “Excuse me.”

  We both step to the same side at the same time. I don’t know if it’s deliberate on his part or unplanned, but it puts a glitch into my getaway.

  “I was thinking about Jess the other day.”

  Maybe I’m annoyed that Nap isn’t getting the hint that I don’t want to have a private conversation with him or maybe the sound of my friend’s name coming out of his mouth sounds wrong and irritates me, but I involuntarily channel my inner bitch, who has been lying dormant for several months.

  “Seriously, Nap, you don’t get to say her name, let alone think about her.”

  “I’m sorry,” Napoleon says, becoming very nervous all of a sudden. “I was just, you know, having sushi and, well, you remember how she was obsessed with everything Japanese.”

  Of course I do!

  “I remember how much she adored Japanese culture because I was there the exact moment she fell in love with Hello Kitty,” I explain. “I remember the first time I helped her dye her hair black and straighten it with an iron. I remember the first time we saw Saoirse doing makeup tutorials online, and Jess immediately e-mailed her to tell her that Nakano, her Japanese sidekick, was gorgeous. I remember everything, Napoleon, because I was there. Because I was her best friend, and I loved her. You didn’t even like her that much even though you masqueraded as her boyfriend. You’re in love with me, and don’t think that we didn’t know it.”

  It’s just about this time that I realize we have an audience. I didn’t plan on it, I didn’t want anyone else to overhear, but I have nothing to hide. Everything I said was the truth. So I wrap it up as succinctly as possible.

  “So, Nap, you don’t get to say Jess’s name or remember her or try to make a play for me,” I add. “And if you follow by those rules, maybe, just maybe I can forget about the past and we can start to be friends.”

  The only sounds in the basement are the ticking of a clock and Archie chomping on more food. Until Napoleon replies.

  “I accept.”

  I shake the hand he’s holding out to me and agree. “Now let’s get this party started!”

  Somebody turns up the music, and Caleb twirls me around, my hair, my necklace, my skirt spinning with me.

  “Domgirl,” Caleb says, pulling me in close to him, “I am so hot for you right now.”

  Grabbing onto his shoulders, I smile. “Well then, maybe we’ll have to do something about that later.”

  Filled with surprise, anticipation, and lust, Caleb can’t contain his smile or the little rustling in his jeans. I know he’s just about to kiss me when I scream.

  No! This cannot be happening!! Not again!!

  Out of the corner of my eye I can see the full moon in all its silver glory hanging against a navy blue sky, the full moon that’s no longer supposed to pose a threat, the full moon that’s making me transform once again into something I was no longer supposed to become.

  “No!!!!!!!”

  I look down at my arms, and it feels like they’re on fire. This was never supposed to happen again; we had made sure of it.

  “Help me!!!!!”

  Just as I feel my knees about to snap backward, I see Nadine slam a lamp over her brother’s head and watch him fall to the ground. Maybe she’s being a good sister and trying to protect him from witnessing the horror that’s about to be on display. I can’t protect anyone, but I can salvage one thing. I rip the necklace Caleb gave me off my neck and throw it at him.

  “Caleb, run!”

  The rest of my bones snap into place; my skin disappears underneath a cloak of fur; my screams give way to growls, and then one long howl announces I’ve returned. The curse is still flowing through my veins. I’m still connected to the powerful wolf spirit, and I’m still consumed with the desperate need to feed.

  Slowly I walk around the room, taking my time, as all around me is commotion and screams and crying. There he is, the last one I saw before I turned, the one who’s escaped me so many times before. This time will be different.

  He looks muscular for a human, and his yellow hair is like a crown of sunlight, but he’s no match for me; we both know that.

  “Dominy, stop!” he cries to me. “It’s Caleb. You have to fight this!”

  Do not give me orders!!

  Leaping into the air I see him cower to the floor, and I open my mouth to show the full fury of my rage. I’m seconds away from tasting his flesh when I feel something burrow into my side and hurl me across the room.

  I’m on my back, my paws being held by the one made of pure white, and he’s staring down at me. His face carries none of the fear of the other one. How stupid.

  “Dominy,” he says quietly. “Look at me, look into my eyes. It’s me, Archie.”

  I’ve seen this one before too. He thinks he knows me; he thinks he’s smarter than me. He’s another fool. One push against his hands and we flip over. Now he’s looking up at me as I pin him to the floor. Our positions are reversed, but he looks exactly the same.

  “Dominy,” he repeats. “You do not want to hurt me. You don’t want to hurt any of us.”

  There’s something in his eyes that I’ve never seen before, something that makes me remember I’m not alone, that I share this soul with another. Kindness.

  “Remember who you are, Dominy, and remember that we’re your friends.”

  I can feel the girl stir inside of me, begging me to let him go, imploring me not to hurt these people. I turn to look at the others, and they’re more afraid than he is, but they’re all looking at me with the same kindness in their eyes, even the girl surrounded by the silver mist.

  Inside of me I can feel the girl become stronger, struggle to take over. I need help; I need more power so I howl at the moon. My sound is long and desperate, but there’s no response because the moon has disappeared.

  The entire room is pulsating with light, golden yellow and blinding in its intensity. Whatever it is, wherever this magic light is coming from, it’s come for the girl, to help her, infuse her with just enough strength to take over, to take control, and to escape.

  “Jess!”

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nbsp; I hear the girl scream from deep within our soul, and when her scream is acknowledged, there’s nothing I can do to fight it. I feel my body run toward where the moon should be and crash through the window to escape to the outside. The cool air does nothing to change things; the yellow light has followed me, and now sparkles of dust are falling all around me, making me weary, putting me to sleep. I know that this Dominy is taking over, and there’s nothing I can do to prevent it. She has too much power on her side and too many allies.

  “Jess?”

  “I’m right here, Dom.”

  The voice is finally accompanied by a shape, and Jess emerges from the center of the light, looking the way she did the last time I saw her, as if she’s been dipped in shimmering gold, still a breathtaking sight. Thanks to her intervention I’m completely merged with the wolf-spirit now; we’ve become one, but why? Why did this happen again? Why did Luba lie to me?

  “You said I could believe her; you said she was telling the truth!”

  “She was,” Jess replies.

  “That’s impossible! If she was telling the truth, the spell would be broken.”

  “Follow me.”

  I walk behind Jess, fragments of her light piercing through me, warming my fur, but unable to calm my racing heart. We walk away from the houses and cars, past an area filled with trees and bushes, and only stop when we reach a small clearing. Blinking my eyes to adjust to the mixture of moonglow and sunlight, I let out a low growl when I see the black-haired woman standing in the middle of the clearing, only dirt surrounding her, as if her presence has made it impossible for any life to grow.

  “I’m sorry, Dom,” Jess says.

  I have no idea what she’s sorry for until Luba brings her hands up to her mouth and laughs. I’ve seen her do this before; I remember it clearly. We were in my mother’s hospital room at The Retreat. Both of my worlds must be starting to connect, to merge together. Next, I know that she’ll raise three fingers of her left hand and point them in my direction. And then she’ll speak.

  “The original sinner was killed,” Luba says, barely able to conceal her laughter. “But not by the original sin.”

  No! No, this can’t be true!

  “You tricked me!” I scream.

  “No!” Luba rages. “You didn’t kill your father!!”

  What? That can’t be possible. Can it be? I don’t remember it, but . . . if not me, then who? “Who?! Who killed him?!”

  “Someone who wanted my child’s death to be properly avenged,” she hisses. “Someone who believes in vengeance and didn’t want my curse to be removed.”

  Two sounds fill the night—Luba’s spiteful laugh and my mournful wail. Both sounds feel like knives slicing through my flesh and my heart, their impact leaving me devastated and so wounded I want to lash out at anything and everything, but I’m too angry to move.

  “Now my curse can never be broken!” the witch screeches.

  This can’t be happening! This can’t be real! My father gave his life for me so this curse could be lifted, so it would be over and I could live my life the way my parents always dreamed I would. And now this! It isn’t fair!

  I don’t know if Luba melts into the night or if Jess’s blinding sunshine makes her flee, but when I catch my breath, when the shock settles into my body, she’s nowhere to be found.

  “I’m sorry, Dom,” Jess says, sitting on the ground next to me, looking as if she’s sitting in a pool of liquid gold. “I couldn’t tell you.”

  Well, tell me now! “Who killed my father?! Jess, please, you have to tell me!”

  “I can’t,” she replies.

  “What do you mean you can’t?!” I cry.

  “I told you, Dom; I have limitations.”

  Oh my God! I can’t believe this is happening! We thought this was over! We thought this was finished, and it’s only just begun!

  “What am I supposed to do now?!”

  Jess doesn’t respond right away. She lets me howl and cry and growl; she lets the pain and the anguish settle into my bones. When I appear to be calm, when Jess senses that I’m ready to hear her, she does what she always did when she was alive: She tells me the truth.

  “You have to do what I did and make the best of a really, really bad situation,” she says. “How else do you think I got to be a sun goddess?”

  That’s my Jess. I feel the warmth of her hand travel along my back, and in response I nuzzle my snout up against her leg. It’s comforting, like sitting next to my father. My poor father. He gave his life for me and for what? It was all for nothing. No! It can’t be. And it won’t be, not if I have anything to say about it. There is no way that I’m going to let Luba get away with this. Not her or whoever did her bidding.

  But right now is not the time for revenge; right now is not the time for action. It’s the time to think about how to fight back and how to overcome this evil for good. I know Jess can’t give me the answers I need, I know she can’t give me my old life back, but she can give me one thing which I know she always will—her friendship.

  Epilogue

  Jess’s grave is the only one surrounded by cherry blossoms.

  “I thought they were a nice touch,” Jess says, appearing next to me.

  “A little show-offy, don’t you think?” I reply.

  “That was the point!”

  Of course it was.

  “Look at me, Dom,” she says, raising her arms to create waterfalls of sunshine. “I’m not exactly subtle.”

  I don’t care if anyone’s looking; I don’t care if anyone sees me and thinks I’ve lost my mind. I tuck my arm inside Jess’s and watch as her sunlight dances and sparkles all around us. Together we laugh like the girls we used to be, even though we’ll never be those same girls again.

  Where this curse will lead me, I have no idea. It’s already brought me to places I never conceived existed, and now that I’m determined to find out who really killed my father, I can’t imagine where it will take me next. The bad news: I don’t know how much longer I can keep the lid of the honey jar screwed on tight to prevent the honey inside from being scooped out and devoured. I don’t know what other secrets I’ll need to uncover or what obstacles I’ll be challenged to overcome, but against all odds I won’t be taking this journey alone. Because there’s good news too: All my invisible strings are intact.

  I carry my parents’ love with me every day, especially my father’s. Caleb and Archie have both proven I can trust them with my life, and Arla’s stood by me, although she has every reason to hate me, and has even become a surrogate big sister to Barnaby. The jury’s still deliberating on the fate of the bee and the butterfly—Nadine and Napoleon—but for now I consider them friends.

  My friends. A group that thankfully still includes Jess as its president and now its guiding light. A group committed to helping me and traveling with me wherever this curse may lead us. It’s totally subarashi.

  “Remember, Dominy . . .” Jess starts.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” I reply. “I’m blessed.”

  And finally, I am starting to believe it.

  Dear Reader,

  Now that you’ve read Moonglow and have gotten to know Dominy, Jess, Archie, and the rest of their friends, families, and even their enemies, I thought I’d give you a peek at some of the intriguing stuff that’s coming up in Sunblind, the next book in the series.

  Right on page one, Dominy starts to question who she is and why she became a werewolf. She knows the how, she knows that Luba set the curse into motion, and as difficult as it’s been to grasp, she’s coming to terms with her mystical fate. But she can’t stop thinking about the bigger picture and the ramifications of Luba’s spell. How is being part teenager and part wolf really going to affect the person she is and the person she hopes to become? Will the guilt she feels over her father’s death ever go away? And how can she stop Barnaby from wandering over to the dark side? Those are the things Dom wants to know. The problem is she hardly has any time to think.

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sp; Turns out, the citizens of Weeping Water are not a quiet bunch. They want to put an end to the terror that’s seeped into their sleepy little town, and they’ve decided to take action in order to rid themselves of this serial killer. Unfortunately, they have no way of knowing what kind of danger they’re really in, because Luba isn’t working alone; she’s got her own army of witches who are almost as powerful as she is. And they’re about to unleash even more supernatural forces that threaten to destroy Weeping Water and everyone in it.

  Despite all the physical action and drama, there’s some happiness too. Relationships are flourishing even while the world seems to be going crazy. Archie, Nadine, and even Mrs. Jaffe all find boyfriends, and, trust me, you’re not going to believe who they are. Even I was shocked when I found out! And don’t worry, Caleb continues to prove why he should be crowned Boyfriend of the Year, even if Dominy is afraid and reluctant to fully commit to him.

  A lot of secrets are revealed in Sunblind too. We learn the true history of what happened on the night Luba cursed Mason and, as a result, Dominy, and how that history is very much a part of the present. Luba is hell-bent on destroying not only Dom, but her entire family. We also find out what’s up with the bee and the butterfly—Nadine and Napoleon. Are they good? Are they evil? Are they working together? And, most important, what’s the real reason they returned to their hometown?

  But through it all, the central theme of this second book in the Darkborn Legacy is the undying friendship between Dominy and Jess. Both girls continue to grow as individuals as they become more acclimated to their newly acquired identities—the werewolf and the sun goddess—but it’s as friends that they shine. They become closer, each more in tune with what the other is feeling and thinking, and more loyal to each other than either one ever imagined. The future is nothing like they thought it would be, but it’s turning out to be a destiny that they’re going to share.

  So lives change even more drastically as the harsh light of the sun exposes the truth. But even though the truth is blinding, Dom doesn’t become defeated; she doesn’t try to hide from her fate. Just the opposite: She embraces the wolf spirit that’s living inside of her. And by the end of Sunblind, Dominy becomes more determined than ever to use that primal passion and strength to defeat the evil that’s lurking within the shadow of the moon.