Moondust

by J. L. Weil

  Her smile was quick. “You gave me a heart attack. Don’t. Every. Do that again,” she added.

  “Duly noted.”

  “I noticed changes in you this last year, little things at first. Then when I noticed the stress and the worry you’ve been under…I knew that something was wrong. And I realized the time had come—your safety depended on it.” A shadow passed over her eyes. “Are you in danger?”

  I blinked. “It’s nothing that I can’t handle.” I hoped. My eyes had to be deceiving me.

  She didn’t look convinced, but then again I had done a crappy job trying to be assuring. “I might not be able to turn a frog into a prince, but if you let me, I can help you.”

  “My life is a mess.” I don’t know if anyone could help me.

  Setting aside her coffee in the grass, she said, “Tell me about your dreams.”

  Where did I start? “I met Morgana Le Fey,” I said.

  Her eyes bugged out. Finally, a reaction I expected. “The Morgana?”

  I nodded. “The one and only. She’s my great, great, great, great grandma.” I think that was right.

  She chewed on her little for a moment. “Your father failed to mention that little tidbit.”

  “I’m not sure he knew. Morgana came to warm me, and I think it was the first time she has reached out. Our p-powers are almost parallel.” I tripped over the word, finding strange to be saying it out loud in front of my aunt.

  “Warn you about what?” she asked, eyes narrowing.

  Damn. So much for not telling her about the dangers in my life. This was a fresh wound, and it still hurt. My gaze flickered. “That someone close to me would betray me.”

  She put the pieces together. “And was what last night was about?”

  “Yeah.” My voice dropped. “Lukas turned out to be someone he’s not.”

  She stiffened. “A witch?”

  It was more than just that. “And not a friend,” I grumbled.

  Her brows drew together, making her pretty face fierce. “He hurt you?”

  “Not physically,” I said just in case she was confused. “But yes. I thought he was my friend.”

  “People suck.”

  A sad chuckle tumbled from my lips. “I hit him.”

  There was a spark of fire in her eyes. “Good for you. Now tell me about your gifts?” She pulled her legs up, sitting Indian style across from me.

  I shrugged. “I’m still learning, but I have affinities with the weather and with dreams. I can call upon storms and invade dreams.” I dragged my eyes back to the cup in my hands. Here goes nothing. I had a sneaky suspicion that she knew about my supernatural boyfriend. “Shortly after meeting Gavin at the beginning of the school year, he told me what I was capable of—showed me that I had magic.”

  She smiled at me encouragingly.

  I wasn’t done just yet, leaving the jaw-dropper for last. “And recently, I discovered that I can steal power from other witches.”

  A small gasp leapt from her mouth. “Your father talked about witches with the abilities to take the powers from others. Are you sure?” She tried to keep the worry out of her tone, but I heard it.

  Nodding, my unease soared. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her why I was so positive. Stealing from your boyfriend wasn’t something I was proud of, not to mention the witch I left powerless.

  “Oh, Brianna,” she sighed. “I did not wish for that kind of responsibility on you, and I know that neither did your parents.”

  I twiddled with a blade of grass I’d plucked. “I’m dealing with it.”

  She gave me a sappy look. “Your parents would be so proud of the person you have become. I know I am.”

  Damn. She was going to make me cry. I swallowed back the tears that threatened, because with tears came rain, and I really didn’t want to get wet.

  She dabbed at her lower lashes, one eye at a time. “No more secrets, deal?”

  That I could agree on. Nothing good ever came from hiding the truth. “Deal.”

  “Well, I’ve procrastinated long enough. I’ve got to go into the shop, make sure Salena hasn’t burnt it to the ground. Are you coming in?”

  Salena was one of the part-time employees who helped out. I shook my head. “Not yet.”

  “Call me at the shop if you need anything.” She captured my chin between her fingers and tipped my face up. “Got that?”

  I smiled. “I will,” I assured, hugging her. She was surprised at first, and then she relaxed, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me tightly. I watched her walk inside thinking I was the luckiest witch in the world to have someone who cared unconditionally for me. And a few minutes later I listened to the gentle hum of her engine as she backed down the driveway.

  It did feel like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders by being open and honest with my aunt. I was still dogged with problems, but it was one less obstacle I had to hurdle. And that felt pretty damn good.

  Sitting there alone with Mother Nature, I mindlessly called forth my magic to pass time and keep myself from dwelling on what I planned to do about Lukas. He wasn’t a hurdle I had to deal with. He was a freaking planet-sized obstacle. And knowing Lukas, he would be searching for me sooner than later. I wanted the time and place to be on my grounds—my terms.

  I should have known that nothing goes as smoothly as intended—at least not in my life.

  Normally when my emotions were scattered and running wild like today, I caused wicked storms. Instead I decided I needed a less volatile approach. Something less dramatic and more subdued. Something magical and happy. No tears I told myself. So I made it rain a rainbow of petals. Coral. Garnet. Canary. Fuchsia. All around me, vibrant colors fell and swirled in the winds. I plucked them off trees, from the bushes, and swept them from the ground, uplifting them into the air. It was stunningly beautiful and filled the area with a sweet perfume.

  “This isn’t exactly the kind of skills I had hoped to teach you.”

  I went perfectly still. The petals dropped to the ground, strewn over the green grass like blood droplets. There were a few stuck in my hair, but I didn’t care. Seeing Lukas had drained all the color from my face.

  Chapter 22

  I stopped breathing, partly because I didn’t know how I was going to react. There was a good chance that I would hit him again, maybe a black eye this time, keep him on his toes. I jumped to my feet with my hands clenched at my side and stared at him.

  The wind had tousled his hair, separating the strands. Green flecks sparkled in his eyes from the sun beating down upon us. There was no remorse in his usually carefree expression. Even his dimples flashed at the center of his cheeks.

  I don’t what he was so amused with, but it fueled my anger. So I swung. In truth, I didn’t think I would get the jump on him a second time. He sidestepped out of the way, my fist connecting with nothing but air.

  His lips curled as he stared down at me. “Is this going to be the way you greet from now on?”

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

  The dark blue shirt he wore stretched across his chest. “We need to talk. Or rather you need to listen.”

  I scoffed. How dare he come to my house and order me about. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” Asshole. I spun on my heel with every intention of leaving him to eat my dust. I only got one step before a hand grabbed my arm.

  “Brianna,” he said, spinning me back around to face him. He kept his hand glued to my arm, preventing him from the escape I sought. “Just wait.”

  But the thing was, I didn’t want to wait. I wanted nothing from him. I wanted to be far away from him until I could get myself under control and form an intelligent thought. I grimace. “Let go of me.”

  His face was forbidding. “Not until you agree to give me a chance to explain myself.”

  I jerked my arm free. “You don’t deserve the time of day.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You sound like a crazy person.”

 
Did he just call me crazy? I’ll show him every color of crazy. “That is rich coming from you.”

  “You and I. We’re the same.”

  My stomach soured. “I am nothing like you,” I spat, but deep down, I was afraid that I was worse than Lukas. He might not be who I believed he was, but I knew who I was. The realization that maybe we were alike in some aspects turned my tummy, but that didn’t mean I was going to give Lukas the pleasure of admitting it, especially after he betrayed me.

  He was damn lucky I didn’t fry his ass here and now, because I felt the familiar pull—the one that whispered in my ear. Urging me to take—to feed the darkness—satisfy this craving. The fact that we were talking at all was a miracle, definitely since my first instinct was to cause him bodily harm.

  He stepped forward invading my personal bubble. “I never pegged you for a liar.”

  I quenched the impulse to back up, not wanting him to think he was intimidating me, which was exactly what he wanted. “I guess there is a lot we don’t know about each other.”

  “I thought you understood. I love you, Brianna. It was the only way I could get you to stand up. To show them you wouldn’t be cast aside. All I did was force your hand a little. I did it for us.”

  Dumbstruck, I just stared at him. He was shitty me, right? Putting a massive spotlight on my head was helping me? “What you did to me was not out of love,” I said flatly. “You put me in danger, Lukas—life-threatening.”

  “But I knew that you would be able to handle it—we could handle it. You have the kind of power that is limitless, and others need to know that you won’t live your life in fear. Why should you hide who you are? They have no right to decide your fate.”

  His reasoning was horseshit. How was it any different than those trying to zap me into orbit? I wasn’t about to go in gung-ho with guns blazing and demand everyone pledge their allegiance to me or else… “That is not what I want. You knew that. I barely had gotten use to the idea of being a witch. Lukas, using that kind of power is dark.”

  “Dark magic isn’t evil. It is stronger. Potent. Pure. People are naturally afraid of what they can’t control.”

  Uh. I beg to differ. Everyone knew that white magic trumped black magic ten out of ten times. Apparently Lukas had drunk the cook-coo Kool-Aid.

  I shot him a level look. “If you were really my friend, you never would have put me such a position or tried to make into something I’m not. I don’t want to use my gifts to make people fear me. I don’t want supreme control. I don’t want people thinking that I am holier than they are. I want to be treated as an equal.”

  He looked crestfallen. “But you aren’t,” he argued. “You are so much more. We are so much more. Together, we are unstoppable.” The tips of his fingers began to spark with magic.

  Just great. Lukas was on a power trip. “There is no we,” I insisted.

  Static crackled under my shirt. If I had to, I would defend myself, but I didn’t want to hurt him. And that fear was all too real, because I knew that I was capable of doing worse than just hurting him as he had hurt me. I could destroy him. And in the process, probably destroy myself. There was a good chance that if I used that kind of dark magic again, it would tip me over the edge—the point of no return. My poor soul could only handle so much darkness, and after my last talk with Sophie, I wasn’t very optimistic.

  “I will have you, Brianna. You were meant to be mine. If you just give us a chance, I know that you will feel it too.”

  Not likely.

  “I’ve already given myself to someone else,” I said, crossing my fingers. They sooner he got that through his thick skull, the sooner I could skedaddle.

  “You weren’t supposed to fall for that douchebag. You are mine,” Lukas growled.

  Warning, my internal “oh shit” alarm went off. I needed to send out a SOS. I had a sinking feeling about this. There was no one around and essential I was so screwed it wasn’t even funny. “But I did fall for Gavin. I love him, Lukas.”

  Green rage flashed into his irises. “That guy is such a putz.”

  Something told me that I needed to tread lightly. We were strolling into dangerous ground, and Lukas was unstable, quickly shifting toward the point of no return. One wrong move, one slip of the tongue and he would turn on me. My body trembled with certainty. I guess a witch knew when another was threatening her. The sizzle of magic might have been a dead giveaway.

  I needed distance. As slowly as possible, I started to take tiny steps backward, all while trying to keep Lukas focused on my face, not my movements. Obviously mentioning Gavin enraged him, so I needed to steer this conversation to safer ground. “Why are you doing this?” I didn’t try to hide the quiver from my voice, thinking if he knew that he was frightening me, he would back down.

  Yeah. It backfired.

  A twisted smile curved on his lips. “I want power. And with you at my side, there wouldn’t be a witch around stupid enough to mess with us.” His greed hung heavy in the air.

  For the first time I saw Lukas in a new light—a frightening image. Gone was the smoke of charm he hid behind and in its place was something truly terrifying. My stomach clenched up in knots. “Let me get this straight. You want me to let the darkness consume my soul?” Sounded like a suicide mission.

  He cocked his head. “Like I said. We’re two peas in a pod. I know that you like the taste of power—the high it gives after you’ve squeezed a witch dry.”

  We were day and night. Light to dark. I might be capable of both, but I choose light. The aftereffects of being a clàr silte were alluring—they were downright addicting, but the consequences were more than I was willing to wage. “You are out of your freaking gourd.”

  Crap.

  Did I say that out loud?

  That would be a big fat affirmative. I might have just fed the beast, because there was nothing human about the way Lukas was glaring at me. My heart threw itself against my ribs so hard it hurt. If I could just get close enough to the house I might be able to make it inside, but a quick peek from the corner of my eye told me I’d never make it.

  “That wasn’t very nice,” he growled.

  Screw this.

  I ran, my flight response kicking in. It was human nature to run away from danger. And Lukas was flipping oozing the black stuff.

  But I didn’t get far. With a low snarl, his had hand shot out, grabbing my hair and yanked. “That was a bad move,” he warned in my ear.

  I’ll say.

  Emerald eyes glowing like some kind of cracked out demon, he spun me to face him, and I seared him with a shut-up-or-die look. “I won’t give you what you want,” I said, my teeth clenched.

  His fingers dug into my arms, and I winced. The worst part was, I felt his desire for me, lust like sweaty palms on my skin. Repulsion swept through me, rising up to the back of my throat. But it was my gift he coveted more than my body, I was certain. He didn’t love me…he loved power.

  The storm I had just barely begun to weave started to take life. Born from my fear and my rage, winds howled around me darkening the sky to a dusty gray. Sooty clouds took shape in wrathful forms. Violent thunder cracked, trembling the ground at my feet. Bolts of lightning speared above our heads, brightly flashing in fury.

  “I always knew you were a hothead,” he taunted.

  I had on my rage face. “If you don’t let me go, I will shove a broomstick up your ass. Don’t test me.”

  “It’s that fire I want. It is why you are my perfect match.” He shook me, rattling brain matter.

  I threw up a little in my mouth.

  “I want it all. Your body. Your soul. Your magic.”

  Dry lightning fissured around us, and storm clouds gathered not only in the skies but also in my eyes. Hoping I knew what the hell I was doing, I closed my eyes and sent a bolt of light at his feet. He jumped, just as I hoped and it was the distraction I banked on. With a jerk, I was able to break out of his hold and put distance between me and the lunatic. “This is your
last chance. I’m warning you, Lukas. Leave now, before things get messy.”

  I saw the choice in his eyes and my heart plummeted. “I enjoy getting dirty.”

  I just bet he did.

  So be it.

  It was time for the showdown of the century. Lukas and I—a battle of wills. May the best witch still be standing.

  I just prayed that witch was me.

  He gave me no warning. I blinked and in the split hair of a second, he threw a ball of neon energy with blinding force. Before my eyes, I watched the mesmerizing light break apart into millions of shimmering dots. As pretty as it was, I knew that those dots were lethal. No friendly fire.

  A scream lodged into my throat that would have made a banshee proud. At the last second before I became a magical pincushion, I cast what I prayed to God was a shield, and then just in case, I turned, covering my arms over my face and braced myself.

  He laughed. It was a troubling sound. “See what you are capable of with your back pushed to the wall.”

  I didn’t die after all. The winds tangled my hair. My turn asshole. “Maybe you’re right,” I muttered. Magic thrummed through my veins, and I took my best shot. It was measly at most. Fighting wasn’t my forte, but slurping magic like a cherry slushy was right up my alley.

  I was out of my league going toe-to-toe with Lukas, but he didn’t give me a choice. Strands of a purplish glow shot from my fingertips sailing at him. I had no idea what it would do if it actually hit him. It could melt his flesh or turn him into a blue spotted leopard for all I knew. But it was a fruitless effort. He squashed my dashing spell like faerie dust with just a closing of his fist.

  Frustration growled inside me. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop this nonsense and felt an invisible slap across my cheeks. My head lobbed to the side, and I stumbled. Black spots darkened my vision. There was no time to even catch my breath. Ribbons of magic folded me in a cage, tightening around my neck and stomach. Within seconds my windpipes were struggling for air. My hands flew to my neck, trying to rid the energy that was squeezing the life out of me. Wide eyed, I realized that I wasn’t the only clàr silte alive.