Timeless Moon (25 page)

"I missed you."

He ran his nose through her curls and then led her to a table to sit near the window. "I missed you, too. When I saw the tracks, and couldn't find you
—"

It should have been a little embarrassing, looking like a moonstruck teenager while he stared at her. But the embarrassment faded after a moment. Who the hell cared what the bartender, or anyone else, thought?

"I heard what happened. I know about Ellen."

He flinched as though she'd slapped him. He'd almost rather she had. The pain of his failure at the hotel stung him far worse than any blow.

She touched his cheek gently. "It wasn't your fault, Rick. There's nothing you could have done."

He shook his head. He leaned back so that he could look down into her eyes. "You're wrong."

Shaking her head, she sighed. "Sacrificing yourself wouldn't have saved them. The Movement wouldn't have left them alive, even if you'd stopped Harold tonight. They were witnesses."

His body stiffened. The warm moment of reunion was ruined. She'd meant well, but she didn't understand. Not really. How could she? His stupidity hadn't just cost them a witness that could shed light on a threat to their entire race. No, a young Sazi would never turn; would never have children or fly under the moon.

She stared at him with tears brimming in her eyes and a wounded look on her face, as though she could sense his thoughts. In that moment, he realized she
did
understand. He could feel it like a fluid wave that lapped against his pores. Her sorrow and pain, for the hundredth, or the thousandth time over the last century. This one tiny death was just
one
to her. She'd endured many such senseless deaths, while he'd hidden himself away from everything, including the burden she bore without complaint.

"Are
you
okay?"

"I'm fine,"
Josette
said hollowly and he knew it was a lie. But then, seemingly on impulse, she changed her mind. Turning away from the window she shifted in her seat so that she could face him. "Actually, I'm not
.
" She took a long moment to organize her thoughts. "I'm trying to hold it together, to keep everything under control, but I can't, Rick. Too much is happening. People keep
doing
things. The future is changing so fast and I can't see any of it. People I love are in danger. I need to help them. But how can I when I don't even know what the hell is going on?"

"Welcome to what the rest of us live with every day." Rick's voice combined dry amusement with honest sympathy. "You're not Wonder Woman, Bun. You're doing everything in your power. That's all you can do. It's all any of us can do."

Now her lip started to tremble. "But
…
what if it's not enough?"

Rick touched her hand, then pulled her arm a little closer. "We're not gods,
Josette.
We're people. We live. We die. We make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes have dire consequences. That's life. The best we can do is try to honor her death by preventing more of them."

"You're not being very reassuring."

"Would you prefer it if I lied to you?"

Josette
gave a wry smile. "Yes, I think maybe I would."

They laughed together, and while it didn't solve anything Rick had to admit he was feeling a little better afterward. It
wasn't
his fault Ellen had died. It was Harold's.

Josette
stood up and walked off without another word, heading down the small back hall that led to the bathrooms. He didn't bother watching. Instead, when the bartender raised his hand to catch Rick's attention he went up to the bar to get his food.

The food smelled good enough to make his mouth water. He hadn't really been all that hungry when he'd ordered, just figured he needed fuel. But now that it was actually in front of him he realized just how long it had been since he'd had a decent meal.

Taking his seat again, he started in on the big burger, enjoying the amazing combination of tastes as his teeth crunched into rare meat, lettuce, onion, and the sharp tang of mustard.

When
Josette
returned, he gave her a stern glare. "You need to eat to keep your strength up." He pointed
a finger meaningfully at the top entry of the menu still lying on the bartop. "Protein.
Lots
of protein."

Josette
rolled her eyes but put a small Gucci bag onto the counter. When she opened the purse Rick saw a brand-new wallet and cell phone. "Yes, sir." He could smell that she was pleased he was taking an interest, so he just gave a small grunt that always used to make her laugh.

It did this time, too.

The bartender came up, wiping down the counter in front of her. "What can I get you?"

"I'll have the double cheeseburger plate and a tequila sunrise." She opened the wallet to display an impressive amount of cash. Rick's eyebrows rose in surprise.

Josette
caught the look and laughed. "Catherine called while Raphael was getting everything ready for me. She agreed with him that they should give me everything I needed including enough cash for any contingency." She grinned and her eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'm fairly sure Raphael was planning to do all that anyway. But he seemed grateful that she agreed."

It was a pleasant interlude, and while they knew it couldn't last, they were determined to enjoy the moment. Rick was almost sorry when it was time to go.

They stepped out of the bar into a fierce wind that nearly blew the door from Rick's grasp. The scent of rain was on the air.

Putting up his shields like a knight donning armor, he began preparing himself for the trouble ahead. "Let's get out of here. We'll have to come back to the hotel later." His voice was suddenly harsh, cold, and he wasn't quite sure why.

He followed her across the lot to a newer model white Volvo. She hit the button for the lock. When the beep sounded, he opened the passenger door and climbed inside. "We've got business to take care of."

Josette
stood behind the open driver's door and looked up at the sky, her brow creasing with worry and
…
something else. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was something between guilt and fear. The wind tore at her hair like claws as she leaned her arms against the roof of the car. "Do you think he'll be able to fly in this? It's getting pretty bad. The only way I could make it rain was to make the storm worse."

"But I thought you could
—" Rick cringed at a particularly loud crack of lightning overhead. "You know
…
fix it."

She snorted. "Make nice weather come and go? No, I can't
control
the weather. I just sort of
steer
it. And I have to be very, very careful. One wrong move could make things worse, cause wind shears, or a tornado in a different place. People could die just because I wanted a sunny day."

"Oh. Yeah, I can see your point. But it sure would be nice."

"No, it wouldn't be nice. I don't want to bring down
any more bad luck on this adventure that I already have. I can't see the future right now. I just can't risk it. We're just going to have to wing it."

He gave a small, sad smile. "And hope for the best. Can't forget about the hope."

They'd switched positions
in the car so that Rick was driving.
Josette
kept getting flashes like there was going to be a vision, but then it would fade. Still to be safe, she turned over the wheel position and was staring out into the storm, trying to relax her mind and grab onto any vision that happened by. When it came, it sucked her inside completely.

Amber buried her head on the crook of her elbow where it rested on the white tile surface of the kitchen table. Warm late-afternoon sunshine streamed through the sheer white curtains on the windows, but her mood was bleak as midwinter.

Nana was dead. She'd done everything she could, poured every ounce of her strength into the old woman. It hadn't been enough. The old woman's body simply hadn't been strong enough. Her magic had shredded itself against the walls that had been erected around it, and when the power grew too great and her body tried to change
…
Amber's body shuddered. She was a physician and a healer. She had never thought she would see anything so terrible.

Josette
felt another wave of sorrow, but then wondered if this was a real future, or even the present. This was Amber's house in New York, not a hotel in Florida. But rather than constantly analyzing the vision, she just let it run to try to get some hint of what the import of this vision might be. She seldom dropped inside her sister, and the thoughts seemed important.

Amber dreaded Lucas finding out. Nana had been his kinswoman, the last of their line other than Lucas's own children. But more than that she dreaded what would happen to Charles,
Antoine,
and the others if
Josette
didn't get here soon.

She turned her head at the sound of someone coming in the room. Tatiana Santiago appeared in the kitchen doorway. She was dressed in jeans and a cerulean blue polo shirt, her silver-blond hair pulled out of her way by a pair of silver combs. She looked utterly weary except for her eyes. Those vivid blue eyes burned with an intense rage.

"So help me God if I find the people who are responsible for this
—"

Amber didn't argue with the threat. She felt exactly the same way. "I heard the phone ring. Was it Lucas? Has there been any word?"

Tatya walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a can of soda for each of them. She came and sat in the chair directly across from Amber. Shoving one drink across the tile surface, she opened the other.

Only after she had taken a long, slow drink did she answer.

"Tahira found the book you sent her after and is on her way back now."

Amber sighed. "That's good news at least.
…
Yes." The tired blonde made a similar sound and rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "The raid at the Grodin airport wasn't as successful. We didn't have any casualties, but they were unable to capture any of the snakes for questioning."

Amber popped the top on her soda, but didn't answer. She stared down at her hands, not trusting herself to speak. Yes, the raid had been important. She knew that. And she knew how worried Tatya had been for Lucas's safety. But to her nothing,
nothing
mattered as much as the old bear lying ill in the other room. She'd do anything to save him, but there was nothing she could do but sit here and wait. Charles had always been the strong one
—
so very strong
…

Tatiana reached across the table to grasp Amber's shaking hand. "He's holding on. We still have some time. Even the duchess seems to have stabilized for now."

The words were meant as a comfort, but Amber noticed the other woman wasn't meeting her eyes and she smelled faintly of a lie. Not an actual one, but a sin of omission.

"What aren't you telling me?" She pulled her

hand from Tatya's grasp, glaring across the table at her, daring her to lie.

Tatya's features took on an expression Amber had both seen and used before: the calm, professional face that a physician used to give a patient bad news. Amber fought not to scream in pure rage and frustration. "Just
tell
me."

"A storm front moved in over New Mexico suddenly, just as Aspen and the others were taking off. The plane went down. Nobody's heard from them. But they're hoping when the weather clears in a few hours
—"

"A few hours." The words sounded hollow, defeated. "The full moon will have risen."

Tatya touched her hand. "You mustn't give up hope, Amber. There's still a chance
—"

Josette
found herself rather abruptly back in her body as Rick slammed on the brakes and she was thrown hard enough against her seatbelt for the shoulder harness to choke her.

It had stopped raining, but the pavement was still wet. The car skidded a few feet along the narrow two-lane road, but Rick managed to remain in control. "Sorry. I nearly missed the turnoff."

Discreetly as she could she wiped the tears from her face.

"What did you see?" His voice was gentle as he reached a hand over to touch her cheek.

She shook her head, not trusting herself to talk about it. It simply hurt too much. Nana was her friend: one of few people who had earned that title. The old woman had taught her, listened to her, encouraged her to try things like yoga and the kind of weather workings that hadn't been done by anyone in millennia. A woman of wisdom, power, and humor. Was her life going to be snuffed out like a candle? Was this even a real vision or a "might be?" Would the plane crash? Would she Raven and Rick all be just lonely deaths, sucked away from a future that looked increasingly unsure?

Josette
sat bolt upright in her seat. Sucked. Siphoned. A thought occurred to her. The theory was sound, but there was no way of
knowing
if it would work. "Where's my cell phone?"

"You plugged it into the cigarette lighter." Rick pointed with a thumb, but kept his eyes on the pockmarked road. "I think it fell between the seats."

Josette
began digging frantically in the small open space. Her body vibrated with contained energy.

"You've thought of something." Rick's curiosity filled the car as he turned the Volvo onto a gravel road with no name. He had to slow the car dramatically as it jerked and bounced on the rough surface.

Josette
punched the speed dial with a trembling finger. Holding up one hand she signaled for silence as she held the cell phone to her ear. "Amber, it's
Josette.
Is Nana still alive?"

"Oui,
yes. Just barely. We're still in New York, but
were just about to get everyone ready to go to the airport."

A wave of relief passed through her. There might still be time. "I think I may know how to keep them alive until we get there. I just hope I'm right."

Her sister's voice was harsh with excitement. "What have you got?"

Josette
took a deep breath, trying to steady herself so that the words didn't come tumbling out too fast to make sense. "The problem is that Nana and the others are
too
powerful. As the moon starts approaching, they're going to start to change. But their power is going to hit the caster's shield, so their power will turn on itself and chew them apart. That's why they're growing weaker! The snakes were actually doing us a favor, but I didn't know it."

She heard Amber suck in a breath. "So what do we do about it?"

Josette
heard the triumph in her own voice. "Tahira is
a power well.
Her very nature is to pull magical energy from other Sazi. If she pulls power
from
them, makes them weaker
—"

"Snakes? Shields? What are you talking about?"
Mon Dieu!
That's right, Amber didn't know about anything that had happened! She'd spent all that time on the phone earlier telling her about things that didn't really matter to the present situation.

Rick's jaw dropped as she slowed down and explained the situation to her sister.

After multiple questions that were quite medically
technical, Amber responded, "It
sounds
good,
grande soeur,
but
what if you're wrong? Weakening the seers when they're already under attack
—it sounds like an awful risk
…
" She let the sentence trail off to silence.

"I know. I know."
Josette
was frantic. "But we have to try it. If we do nothing Nana is going to die. I
think
I just saw it. But things are changing so fast I'm not sure if it's real."

"I'll call. I don't know if Tahira and Tatya will go along with this, but I'll ask. Tahira will be willing. I have no doubt. She's a very giving person, and she's terribly worried about
Antoine.
And if Tatya won't agree to store the magic in her, then I'll take it instead."