Jade Moon (Celestial War Book 1) (15 page)

The right wheel lifted, then the left, then we bounced back hard onto the ground, then up into the air. The engine strained like an over-extended lawn motor engine, its high pitched weeeeeeeeeeee drowned out Raf’s moaning.

We pitched sideways and I recalled every prayer from my upbringing. An air pocket pitched the plane violently upward lifting us off the ground and Raf began retching, his face pasty and lips pale.

We flew past another Mennonite village where a modern house perched atop an ancient Maya temple. When you live in a place where there are temples every mile or two they lose their mystery.

Abe flew with a smile on his face, his shoulders hunched with pleasure.

“This is the first time I’ve taker her up since I flew you and Marian to DC. The missus don’t like me doing this as she thinks it’s too dangerous.”

Raf muttered something that sounded like agreement.

The flight smoothed out as we headed north and I actually began enjoying the bird’s eye view of the country I loved.

After an hour, the excitement faded and I closed my eyes, trying to figure out our plan when we landed. I must have drifted off because I woke as we began to descend. Raf directed Abe to the small landing strip behind his house. I didn’t miss the irony of landing at the house of the woman trying to kill us. I just hoped we’d beaten her back.

Veronica hit the ground hard and fast, bounced up and sideways. Even Abe lost his jolly grin for a second as he wrestled for control. He won the battle and the plane hit and stayed on the ground the second time, stopping just short of the road that crossed the end of the runway.

Abe gave me a pat on the cheek. “You be safe, Harper. I’m gonna get back in the air and find somewhere to refuel before I get back to Hilde.”

“Abe, how can we ever thank you?” Raf asked

Abe gave him a hard look. “You make sure nothing happens to Harper and we’ll call it even.”

We climbed from the plane. Or, I climbed. Raf rolled out onto the ground and practically kissed the tarmac on his hands and knees before collecting himself.

“Let’s get out of here.” I said.

“Should we grab a car and go out to see Mr. Silver?”

“No, I think we’ve got a jump on your mom and I want to get down to the tunnels to save my mom before she figures out that we’re back. I have a plan.”

“Wait, Harper. We can’t just bring the jade disk with us. If we get caught, she’ll have the complete relic. Mr. Silver said we should immediately bring it to him for safe keeping.”

“Not a chance, Raf.”

“So you’re going to just hand it over? What the hell?”

“You’re forgetting the third option.”

“Which is…?”

“We fight. We save my mom. We keep the disk.”

Raf’s mouth fell open but I just walked away. I was going in with or without him. 

Raf caught up, “Alright, let’s get a car.”

“We need a bolt cutter too.”

“For..?”

“To cut a padlock. I thought about that hatch in the woods you mentioned when we met. It has to go down to the tunnels. They’ll have the school entrance guarded, but they don’t know we know about the hatch.”

“Alright Harper. But if we survive this, I am totally counting this as my war zone.”

I stopped and turned to Raf. “You’re not still thinking about that are you?”

“No, actually I’m not.” He gave me a lopsided smile. I had one last flash of attraction to him, but it was the last one.

“I’m really glad. When this is all done, let’s get some Thai food and talk about something inane like cute boys at school or something.”

His smile widened and we jumped in his mother’s Lotus Super 7. What the hell, you only live once.

Back to the Tunnels

I called Mr. Silver on our way. Rather than listen to him rant about the danger of bringing the disk to the belly of the beast, I simply reported our plan then hung up.

“He’s pissed?”

“Yeah, really pissed.”

“You sure we should do this?”

“No. But the one thing everyone has said to me over and over is to remember who I am. This is what seems right to me. It’s what my gut is telling me to do.”

“Good enough for me, Harper.”

I wondered what I could have possibly done to deserve such faith.

Raf pulled us into a thatch of bushes, thorns screeching along the side of the Lotus. I cringed, but Raf seemed thrilled.

“This is my mom’s favorite car…”

I barked out a little laugh. The clearing opened a few hundred yards from the road. It seemed empty, just a ring of elm trees guarding a rusty panel nestled among overgrown grass.

We approached the hatch cautiously and I put my ear to the cold metal. Nothing but the faint sound of running water.

We both shivered in the cold as Raf worked on the pad lock.

“Tada,” he said almost twenty minutes later as it fell to the ground with a thunk.

An ancient looking metal staircase spiraled down into the darkness. Tentatively pushing with my boot, it held, though a rain of rust flakes spiraled out of sight into the cave. I clicked on my flashlight and gave Raf a thumbs up then headed into the maw of darkness.

The damn staircase creaked and groaned. At one point it shifted and a metal-on-metal clang echoed down the hall.

“So much for stealth,” I tried to joke but I was honestly terrified that a torrent of robed assholes were about to flood from the tunnel below. I’d bet on our ability to get in without being detected. No way we could directly take on Selene’s minions.

Despite the bangs and groans, no one came running. Thank you roaring River of Stars.

We stepped gratefully onto the hard rock floor and we moved quickly to the wall of the tunnel that ran low and long in both directions. To our right was nothing but darkness, but to the left a faint light flickered in the distance.

I pointed toward the light. Raf bowed and stepped aside. “You’re driving this boat.”

We crept toward the light until I could make out the next chamber. Inside was the stepped pyramid that we had seen before.

Two men patrolled the far entrance, stalking back and forth, pausing to chat between patrols.

Clearly they didn’t expect us to come in the back door.

On the platform, at the very top, I could just make out my mother shackled to the side of the stone table. Atop it was a human form, female I thought, though hard to tell. Grime and blood covered the body tied hand and foot to the stone surface.

Mom, strong as ever, whispered words of comfort to the girl on the table.

We watched from the doorway for a few minutes to make sure no one else was coming. Timing our approach to make sure the patrol couldn’t see us, we crept toward the temple, pausing in the shadows as they turned. Slowly, we made our way upward until we reached the platform, out of direct line of sight of the two robed man.

Mom saw us and blanched. “Harper, no!” she whispered at me.

With much more confidence than I felt, I hissed back, “Trust me.”

That seemed to calm her. She let Raf use his bolt cutters to work off the old fashioned iron shackled that held her wrists. Once they fell silently to the floor, she hugged me. We wrapped together atop that temple, arms against each other.  My mother, best friend, confidant, brilliant thinker, comedienne, beauty. I felt her love and strength flow into me like a wave.

With a nod, the briefest notation of approval, she let go. Together we moved to the table. Atop it lay Olivia. Bitchy, cruel, yet also human, abused, magical with makeup, Olivia. Raf was already at work on her bonds but they were strange, thick locks that defied our attempts to cut them. At the very head of the stone table, the incomplete Jade Moon reflected the firelight.     Arranged in an arc between the Jade Moon and Olivia’s head were the bloody tools I’d seen in the janitor’s shed.

As Raf and Mom worked on the bonds, I went to Olivia’s head and ran a gentle caress along her lovely face. The fading bruise around her left eye seemed mild compared to the cuts and bruises that painted her body. A pale stingray spine remained piercing through her palm, blood dribbling slowly from the puncture. The exact wound I had seen in my vision. It was her I had seen. Her future I had witnessed in the library and in the plaza of San Pedro.

On the up side, at least I wasn’t going crazy.

“I’m so sorry, Olivia,” I whispered to her, the full horror of what had been enacted upon her sinking in.

Her eyes fluttered open and she momentarily focused on me with blue eyes like the edges of ice. “I see,” she whispered, though I didn’t understand why.

 “I think she’s dying!” I tried to keep my voice low but I was ready to scream the ceiling down. This was cruelty I could not abide.

While we frantically worked, the patrol must have seen us. A wall of robed minions silently surrounded the base of the temple.

Raf looked up and tapped my arm. I was so lost staring into Olivia’s face that I barely registered the new horror. But when the mist began to seep up from the earthen floor toward us, I shifted my attention away from Olivia.

Selene stalked up the temple stairs. “I should have known you would be more resourceful than I thought. I assume you have what we need?”

I held aloft the jade disk in the leather pouch. “As we agreed, you let my mom and Olivia go and I will give this to you without a fight.”

She stood at the base of the temple, white fog swirling around her like a shield. At the sight of the disk in my hand, her wet, blood stained lips fell open as though she wanted to lick the relic.

With pupils dilated so wide her eyes appeared black, she said, “You give me the disk, agree to help us, and I will happily let your mother go.”

Mom grabbed my arms. “No Harper!”

“Mom, it’s okay.” I shoved her off. “You and Mrs. Wattana, Mrs. Foster, and Mr. Ransom did all this? For what?” I asked Selene.

“I can show you, Harper.” Selene smiled. “Though they were just tools to help me bring this all together. I will have my final revenge.”

“You have to let Olivia go as well,” I said.

With a look of mock sympathy, Selene continued to advance. “That I can’t do. She’s a nobody. Neither a Solaris nor a Lunate. Poor beaten little thing won’t even be missed. We need a human sacrifice to activate the relic once it’s complete. I was told this girl was very cruel to you, so I brought her here.” Selene licked her lips again, still staring at the disk I held. “She is an offering to you, a sign that we are on the same side.”

I slid the disk out of the pouch into my hand. It lit the entire room.

Selene’s mouth fell open, eyes shone with what looked like lust. “Yes…” she whispered. “Oh yes.”

She looked deep into my eyes with something like love, “Listen to me, Harper. You might not agree with my methods, but I am the one trying to save the world. I understand the need for sacrifice and it isn’t always pleasant, but I take no pleasure in harming these people. I’m doing what is necessary.”

Was she right?

I glanced over at Raf still frantically trying to cut Olivia’s bonds. His hair fell across his ernest, handsome face. He was everything I wanted to love in the world and I was overwhelmed by my feeling of gratitude that he was in my life.

Selene was wrong. Sacrificing the innocent, even for the greater good, wasn’t right. Would never be right.

“Is that why you treated Raf like dirt?” I asked, venom clear in my voice.

“I might not be the best mother, but you know I’m right. We need to sacrifice the weak to ensure the survival of us all.” Selene didn’t even spare a glance for her son who looked up to watch her response.

The hurt in his eyes made me furious. Not sure what I intended to do, I lofted the disk and Selene shrunk away in fear.

“If you hurt me, you’ll never find out where you father is!” she shouted.

It was a desperate ploy, but it worked. I paused. “My father?”

“Not me! It’s his own people. I’m telling you, the Solaris are corrupted from within. Part of the reason I spared you this far was because your father stood against them. They’ve hidden him away and I’m trying to stop them.”

I froze, uncertain. Everything clicked into place and I knew she was telling the truth. Indecision was what she’d been waiting for. Selene pulled out a moonstone marble and shouted an unintelligible command.  A sickly sweet mist rose from the ground and enveloped me. I held up the disk and shouted, “Stop!” The relic flared but nothing more happened.

“No,” Raf shouted.

 The light from the disk was easily absorbed by the fog. It felt as though my own life force was being sucked away. Ice filled my lungs, my blood turned into frozen sludge burning its way through my veins. Teeth chattering, I looked down at the jade disk that flickered faintly against the mist.

The snarl of wolves rang around me, echoing off the hard rock creating the sensation of a thousand wolves descending upon me. The white vapor cut off my air. I gasped for breath, making nothing but a frantic squeaking sound as I choked on her poison.

A sharp crack split the air and Raf let out a strangled cry. The fog fell to the ground like rain.

Raf stood with his pistol out, a look of horror on his face. Selene lay crumpled atop the temple, blood flowing from her shoulder.

I strode to her and kicked the small blue stone away from her fingers. She looked up at me, but clearly did not see me. Speaking to the sky, she whispered, “Mother Moon, I’ve failed you.” Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes.

His gun clattered to the ground as Raf let out an inhuman cry. He rushed to his mother’s side, cradling her in his arms. Rocking back and forth, he murmured to her.

“Harper.” My mom finally managed to cut open Olivia’s bonds. “Let’s get this girl out of here.”

I rushed to her side. 

The ring of red robed thugs still encircled the bottom of the temple, but they shifted uncertainly now that that their mistress was down. I held up the disk. “Let us pass or I’ll use it.”

That worked. I had a giddy moment of euphoria, though what power they thought I could wield I had no idea. For all I knew, I could shout commands till I was blue in the face and maybe it would sparkle like a pretty little firecracker in my hand.

“You need to come with us Raf. Once we’re gone, your mom’s people will see she gets to a hospital. But, you can’t stay with her.”

“I know.” He wiped away snot with his sleeve. He stood slowly, releasing more than just her hand.

We were at the edge of the temple when Mr. Silver stumbled into the room. Mrs. Louie arrived next to him, eyes literally glowing with golden fire. Her black hair writhed like snakes. She wore a white robe held on by two golden medallions at her shoulders.

Mr. Silver leaned on Mrs. Louie, his baggy cardigan and frumpy pants an almost hilarious counterpart to the splendor of his partner. “Oh thank the gods, Harper.” He said and limped toward the temple. “Are you all okay? Do you still have the disk?”

Something was not right. A voice, spoke to me, whispering in my ear, “Listen, listen, listen.”

Mom and Raf paused, looked at me.

I shut my eyes, and let the voice speak.