Iron Moon

by Jenny Phillips

“Don’t worry, I told her to be on her best behavior,” Harlow informed me as if I had spoken my thoughts out loud.

  “Why can't you meet me in the clearing in an hour instead?”

  A smile played on his lips. “Because I have to talk to my brother, remember?”

  “Right,” I sighed, disappointed.

  Harlow lifted the iron pendant from my chest, examining it as he spoke, “You should keep this hidden under your clothes,” he suggested, changing the subject entirely. “And I hate to cut things short, but I gotta run.” Tearing his gaze from the pend-ant, Harlow leaned in, gave me a quick peck on the mouth and strode away.

  “Oh, get a room!” Dalyn complained in jest as she approached the passenger door.

  An hour later, I grabbed my red peacoat and headed out to the clearing to meet Ivy as planned. I found her leaning casually against the oak tree with one foot propped flat against the bark. She was sporting a short leather jacket with silver studs on the sleeves, black jeans, and black laced boots. Her signature cherry red hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. “You should hide that,” she commented, gesturing toward the necklace hanging visibly around my neck.

  “Oh, yeah, you’re right,” I agreed, fumbling with the strap as it caught in my hair before safely tucking the necklace away in my coat pocket.

  “Let’s go,” she announced, turning her back to me and heading into the underbrush.

  I followed behind Ivy through the forest on a once again familiar path. Our silent walk gave me a chance to absorb our surroundings. There was something serene about the landscape; the way the snow clung to the tree branches impersonating white foliage. I flipped a low branch as I walked by, admiring the snowflakes as they twirled around in front of my face. Ivy glanced back at me and shook her head.

  We reached the bank of the river in less than twenty minutes. This time, I didn’t stay hidden in the trees. I trailed Ivy to the rocky banks, taking a seat next to her on a big square rock that jutted out of the ground. The water had frozen over due to the cold weather. I shivered, tucking my hands into my pockets to warm them, while Ivy appeared unaffected by the winter air. “What now?” I asked, hoping to strike up a casual conversation.

  “We wait.”

  Ivy and I waited for what seemed like an eternity before Harlow appeared between the trees, followed by Nick, the two other guys I had seen before, and a blond girl around Nick’s age—who I assumed to be Sloan. Her features were very sharp, and she wasn’t smiling—absorbed in her own thoughts maybe—but somehow Sloan managed to radiate calm even from this distance. Her beauty was natural: wide brown eyes, and a natural wave to her medium-length, dirty blonde hair.

  Before the group of them even reached the river, Nick grunted. “What’s she doing here?” he asked in my direction.

  “I already told you, I invited her,” Harlow replied in a way that suggested my presence here was not up for debate. “This affects her now, too.”

  “Fine, whatever,” Nick replied, obviously frustrated. The five of them took seats on surrounding rocks without taking their eyes off of me. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, the river clearing felt very crowded all of a sudden.

  “Dean, Blake, Sloan, this is my girlfriend, Rayna,” Harlow announced, making the introductions.

  “Nice to meet you,” I replied, quietly enjoying the first time I'd ever heard Harlow call me his girlfriend out loud.

  The three of them nodded in my direction in response.

  “Well, the gang’s all here!” Ivy announced. “As you all know, we have some recently uncovered information, but before I get into that, Harlow asked me to go over everything so our guest,” Ivy's eyes flicked to my face, “can keep up. So as we all know, the witches dagger was stolen from Nick and Harlow's house back in September. As I said from the beginning whoever took it has plans for it. Because why else would the dagger be the only thing taken from the house? The questions were then who stole the dagger, why, and what are they going to do with it? Then it dawned on me, a woman's body was found out here months prior to your pack's return to Harbor Glenn. The woman's death was reportedly caused by an animal attack. So we all went back to the house and I pulled up the article.”

  “Get on with it,” Blake interrupted, annoyed that he had to sit through Ivy's rehash.

  Ignoring Blake's outburst, Ivy continued, “That's when we noticed the woman's identity was not mentioned once in the article. A warning sign that someone related to her could very well be planning to avenge her untimely death. Enter werewolf hunters.”

  “But how can you be sure?” I asked.

  Ivy smiled at me in response like she thought I was stupid. “Do you honestly think the only secret in Harbor Glenn is the details of some senior class initiation ritual, Rayna? Everyone here,” she said looking around, “knows this town holds much bigger, and darker, supernatural secrets. When the only thing stolen from the home of a pair of werewolves is a witches dagger it becomes pretty clear pretty fast that we're not dealing with your average robber.”

  “Keep up, girlfriend,” Blake chided.

  “That's enough, Blake,” Harlow retorted.

  “As I was saying,” Ivy continued, “We've confirmed—thanks to Cecily Till's journals—that the witches dagger and the necklace passed down through Harlow and Nick’s family from their great ancestor, Francis Glen, anchor their werewolf curse. I found a page about the witches dagger in one of my grimoires and with the help of Nick and Harlow's family journals we made a bigger connection. What you need to know is that the dagger is an object of dark magic. Maybe that doesn't mean much to any of you, but the problem is, this object of dark magic partially controls your pack's fate and it's in enemy hands. So it's clear to me now that the hunters who stole the dagger will come for the necklace. That's probably why they haven't made a bigger move yet.”

  “Perfect,” Blake complained. “You’re a witch, Ivy, figure out what these hunters are conjuring.”

  Ivy’s gaze sliced into him at the outburst. “That’s not how magic works, you idiot. Werewolfism is a curse. There is no spell for it in any of my books. I don’t practice dark magic.”

  “Could have fooled me,” Blake retorted.

  “So you’re suggesting we’re up against a witch?” Nick asked for clarification.

  “Not necessarily, but it’s safe to assume with the dagger missing, a witch is involved. And, thanks to Dean,” Her eyes flicked to his face, “we now know who some of these hunters are.”

  Dean stepped forward, adjusting his glasses. “You know I’ve got eyes on some of the townies. Well, Blake and I followed three of them to that bar over on Steele a few days ago. The three of them were going on and on about hunting season with the bartender for quite awhile. At one point, I took a trip to the bar to grab a beer and noticed one of the guys sketching the three moons, just like the pendant, on a napkin. The group of them were wearing the same black jumpsuits with a letter V patch on the chest and their last name stitched onto the fabric. At first, I thought they might be mechanics, but after seeing what the one was drawing I thought better of it. So I went online later and researched their logo. They call themselves Venators and they are most definitely werewolf hunters.”

  “And you think this group of hunters specifically are our guys?” Nick cut in. “How do we know their presence at the bar wasn't a diversion?”

  “We don't,” Harlow replied. “But it's a lead. If we track these Venators they might just lead us to this woman's avenger whether they mean to or not.”

  “Nick has a point.” Dean concurred. “It makes sense that they’d set up a false lead and then strike while our backs are turned.”

  “It doesn't matter,” Ivy chimed in. “We need to act now to ensure that the necklace is kept safe and out of the wrong hands.” Ivy’s eyes locked on me as she spoke.

  “We also have reason to believe that a teacher from Harbor Glenn High might be involved in this somehow,” Harlow noted.

  “What makes you so sure?” Sloa
n asked, seeking proof.

  “He displayed some unusual behavior at school today,” Harlow's eyes flicked to my face, “that deserves a bit of looking into.”

  “Did you miss the conversation we just had?” Blake complained. “Forget the teacher, let's go after these Venators and take them down!”

  “And did you miss the part where Nick suggested it might be a diversion?” Ivy scowled, annoyed with Blake. “We have to follow up on every lead we already have before jumping at the too obvious choice if we’re going to have any luck protecting your asses from whatever these hunters are dishing up,” she said, propelling herself to a standing position. “It's not my call, but I think you should start with Walsh before he gets his potentially grubby hands on the necklace!”

  “Speaking of which,” Nick said, looking to his brother. My heart raced at what might happen if Nick found out I had it in my pocket as he spoke.

  “Right here,” Harlow lied, patting his chest.

  “Good. Now if you ask me, Blake’s right.” Nick continued. “We’re up to here,” he gestured with his hand, “in other shit. We need more proof that this Walsh guy is a real threat to the pack. More than just some unusual behavior. Otherwise, we’re wasting our time and resources.”

  Beside me, Ivy muttered, “I swear no one listens to a word I say!”

  “And my word isn’t enough?” Harlow shot back, growing frustrated.

  I stood, seeing an opportunity to share my reason for being there. “I can vouch for Harlow,” I told them.

  “Of course you can,” Blake remarked snidely.

  “—Walsh blatantly asked Harlow about the necklace. The whole encounter was off. He’s supposedly been shadowing a teacher for awhile and he asked where her classroom was.” I explained, spinning the truth so Nick wouldn't know Harlow had given me the necklace.

  “What the hell do you know, mundane.” Blake retorted, his tone sharp and loathing—he meant to insult me.

  “Watch your mouth, Blake,” Harlow growled.

  Blake pointed at me, “So she says jump and we're supposed to say how high? Where do you get off thinking you can bring just anyone into this? You’re putting all of us in danger, Harlow. How do we know we can trust her? How do you know her own father isn’t one of them?” Blake continued his rant, standing to face Harlow.

  “Because I trust her,” Harlow said, stepping toward Blake.

  “So we’re just supposed to fall in line and let her in because you happen to be seducing her this month?” Blake retorted, a vein popping from his neck. His comments made me sick.

  “Back down, Blake!” Dean shouted over the top of them.

  Harlow shoved Blake. “What did you just say to me?”

  “Woo! We got ourselves a tussle!” Nick cheered, adding fuel to the fire.

  “Nick don’t encourage them!” Sloan objected, finally speaking up.

  “I said,” Blake replied, brushing his shoulders. “Your girl doesn’t belong here.”

  Nick and Dean got up to surround Harlow and Blake. Harlow let out a bellowing yell and I took it as a sign that he was going to shift. His eyes turned from hazel to a stark yellow in a blink. It seemed that this was their preferred fighting form.

  Ivy strode toward the impending fight. “Not while Rayna is here! Don’t make me intervene!”

  “Harlow wants to shift! Aw, come on Ivy, let ‘em battle it out,” Nick said. “It’s more fun when we settle our tiff’s the right way.”

  This was also not the first time I’d heard Nick proclaim that settling arguments in wolf form was “the right way” of handling their disagreements. But Ivy was having no part of it. Pushing her way past Nick, she bent down and placed her hand on the ground, closed her eyes and muttered a few indiscernible words. The branches of the surrounding trees began to shake, sending snow swirling above us. On her final word, a wall of wind blew past Harlow and Blake, causing them to stumble backward. I had just enough time to see Harlow’s eyes return to normal before being thrown back by the wind and into a nearby rock. On contact, everything went black.

  The next thing I saw were five heads staring down at me. I blinked a few times to clear my vision before fully recognizing the people standing over me. “Ow,” I groaned, touching my sore head.

  “Are you okay?” Sloan asked.

  “Sorry about that, Rayna,” Ivy apologized. “Collateral damage.”

  “What was that?” I asked, not moving from my position on the ground.

  “Ivy is a party pooper,” Nick replied in disappointment.

  “Shut up, Nick,” Ivy sneered. “It’s just a little something I conjured up to prevent the supernatural effects taking over Harlow and Blake and force them to remain their human selves. It only works pre-transformation, but as you can see it’s tremendously effective when their animal instincts start to take hold.”

  “No kidding,” I said, trying to find my footing. Harlow reached out his hand to me as the other four backed away. I took it, expecting to be helped up, but instead was met with a powerful surge through my entire body, an electrocution resonating in every muscle. My vision blurred again and I began to see random flashes of images. It was like watching myself live out experiences I couldn’t remember. Me at the bonfire the night of the initiation. Me waving to Lacey and Arianna as they headed off in different directions in the forest to resurrect Roslyn. Me watching the glowing light of the bonfire as it died out. Running toward it. Panic. The fall. Yellow eyes. Nick, Ivy and Harlow standing over my unconscious body. Ivy casting a purple glow around me. Harlow in the Vista Cruiser, driving me home while I lay unconscious across the backseat. Harlow carrying me up to my bedroom, laying me down on top of my sheets. It was like watching myself live out experiences I couldn’t remeber. All of the visions I'd been having were memories of the night of the initiation. Harlow brought me home that night—despite the fact that we'd only just met. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t told me. All this time, he'd been lying to me. When the images stopped, I opened my eyes and found myself curled in a ball on the ground clutching my head in my hands while the rest of the group surrounded me.

  “What the hell just happened?” Nick asked, puzzled.

  I locked eyes with Harlow, my expression filled with rage. “You lied to me!” I fumed, crushed by his betrayal.

  Harlow tried to help me up, but I swatted him away. “Get away from me!” I shouted, getting to my feet. I swayed for a moment as I tried to find my footing before storming off back in the direction we had come.

  “Rayna!” Harlow called after me, his tone troubled. Ignoring him, I continued on my way. He wasn’t going to talk, or lie, his way out of this. I made it a few feet before Harlow called after me again, and in no time, he was at my side, seizing me by the arm and jerking me to a standstill. “Do you want to explain to me whatever the hell it is you’re upset about?”

  I glowered at him, tearing my arm from his grasp before retreating a step. “Mad? Harlow, I'm crushed. You’ve been lying to me, literally,” I laughed darkly at the absurdity of it, “since the day we met and I need to explain to you why I’m mad?”

  “I've told you everything, Rayna,” he reminded me pointedly.

  I thrust my hands up in frustration and turned on my heel to leave.

  “Rayna! Talk to me.”

  I whirled around to face him again. “God, Harlow!” I spat. “I spent days! Weeks! Trying to figure out how I got home from the bonfire the first night we met. You came up to me the next day at school and asked me if I was okay. And when I ran into you out here that first time, I flat out asked you if you knew anything about what happened to me and it turns out you did! You lied right to my face when you knew the whole time—” I stopped short, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

  Harlow's expression was lost somewhere between confusion and defeat as he asked, “How did you find out?”

  I scowled at him. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

  “It’s more complicated than that,” he tried to explain.


  “There’s that word again,” I fumed.

  “Nick found you a few yards away from the bonfire. You had hit your head on a tree stump, or maybe a rock or something. Nick was convinced you saw him shift back to human and he called me immediately. Ivy and I hadn’t stayed long during initiation night. We left about ten minutes into the resurrection portion. When we got back to my house, the front yard was covered in Wolfsbane and the house had been ransacked. The case for the dagger was left open on the kitchen table so we’d know exactly what had been taken. We’d only been there for a few minutes when Nick called in a panic. We exchanged stories and then Ivy and I came back out here to find my brother with your unconscious body—”

  “Ha!” Blake let out a sharp laugh in the distance.

  My gaze cut to Ivy. “This is all your fault.”

  “I was afraid something like this might happen,” she admitted, cautiously approaching us. “If you think I wanted to erase your memory, Rayna, then you're wrong. It's dangerous—”

  “I’ve been having visions of what happened that night for months, only I didn’t realize what they were until now. I thought I was losing my mind and yet it was all because of you!”

  “I should have told you sooner,” Harlow admitted

  “Or maybe you thought you’d get away with it.”

  “You have to understand the position we were in. Rayna…” Harlow pleaded with me.

  “Well, I don't,” I argued, my voice thick with the threat of tears.

  “Rayna as werewolves we live by a code. And with the dagger stolen that night, we couldn't afford to risk who your family connections might be or how much you really knew about Harbor Glenn. We're supposed to blend into society for your safety and ours. Nick thought you saw him shift, so Ivy agreed to erase your memory of the incident so we could take you home and you'd wake up the next morning able to move on with your life like nothing happened.”

  “Except for the part where I couldn't remember how I'd gotten home,” I said, pointing out the obvious flaw in their little plan.

  “I saw you drinking that night with Bethany. People blackout after drinking too much all the time,” Ivy told me.