The Moon Rises (28 page)

“Okay.”

Simon stepped back and studied her. “What specifically
are you concerned about?”

“I don’t know. I was enjoying myself and now I
feel nervous.”

“Would you like me to stay and protect you from
the stupid dogs?”

Gigi smiled. “They’ll just break more of my
windows.”

“True.”

“I’m not used to anything, so I’m not sure how to
respond right now.”

“Oh, very well,” Simon said, taking her hand and
walking to the door. “You will give me a very nice goodnight kiss and I will
say farewell. You will then think over how much better I am than those stupid
dogs. Next time I see you, we will make plans for our next date.”

“You’re good at being bossy,” Gigi said, grinning.

Simon gave her a tiny smirk. “You have no idea.”

“Thank you for dinner and the dress and flowers.”

Leaning down, Simon kissed her softly. His lips
teased before his teeth nipped at her lower lip. Gigi swallowed hard and wondered
whether she really wanted Simon to leave. Maybe he could stay so she could make
him feel good too. Before she might suggest this idea, Simon opened the door
and released her hand.

“You are in too much of a hurry,” Simon told her
with a naughty smile.

“I’ve only been around for two decades. Time
feels short to me.”

“Yes, but soon you will be eternal and I can
teach you to be patient.”

Gigi said nothing because she didn’t want to
tease, but the idea of being with Simon every day for a hundred years felt like
a path she wanted to follow. Simon said to be patient though, so she just
smiled as he disappeared into the night and his waiting car.

Once he was gone, Gigi eyed the mess on the floor
and wondered which Were would have spied on her and destroyed her window. She
might never know who did it, but she did know that from now on she would keep
her drapes closed in the evenings.

Once the front gates of the large estate opened
slowly, Ella pulled up the drive to the main house. It was a lovely home with
thick moss covering the sides and curious ivy curling up the front columns.
Even if the sun hadn’t set an hour earlier, much of the front lawn would be
shadowed by massive willow trees. Gigi wished to explore the lush grounds, but
she knew this wasn’t the time.

Approaching the front porch, Ella and Dahlia took
the lead while Justine stayed close to Gigi. Dahlia, looking mysterious under
her cloak, knocked on the door. Barely a moment later, Nolan answered wearing a
black tee and blue jeans. Even looking less formal than when he was at the
club, he was still very handsome as he smiled warmly at the four females.

“Please come in. My mother is waiting for you in
the parlor.”

Gigi followed the other females and Nolan who
peeked back at her and smiled again. Inside the parlor, Mira sat near the
windows, staring out at the darkening night. She turned to the females and
gestured for them to enter.

“Oh, sweet Gigi, so wonderful to see you are
well. My dear sons told me how awful your injuries were, yet here you are as
good as new.”

Gigi smiled, but she felt odd being in the home
of powerful witches who might want to harvest her. Mira didn’t seem evil, but
Simon called her kind a scourge.

“Thank you for helping me,” Gigi said as the
females sat around a table.

“I’m so glad you asked for my help. False
memories sound so very troubling. Poor child deserves to know her past.”

“Your services are greatly appreciated,” Ella
said in an oddly professional tone. “Alpha O’Connor sends payment as a thank
you for your assistance.”

“Master Vamp Reynard sends his regards as well,”
Dahlia said, “and a gift for your gracious help in this matter.”

“Oh, how very wonderful for you to have such
benevolent males in your life.”

Gigi wasn’t sure what was happening, but she
sensed Mira was annoyed now. The witch’s face never changed from its pleasant
expression and her blue eyes found Nolan who also seemed perfectly content.
Ella and Dahlia were acting strangely by being so stiff and formal. Justine was
pretty normal though, as she spent most of her time stealing glances at Nolan.

“Shall we begin?” Mira said, turning to Gigi who
sat next to her.

“Yes, please.”

Mira took Gigi’s hands into hers, closed her
eyes, and inhaled deeply. Soon the witch murmured, “I see the majesty of stars
all around me. I see Saturn’s rings and the winds of Neptune and the volcanoes
of Mercury.” Opening her eyes, Mira frowned. “But that is all I see. There is
no more.”

“You don’t see Mamma Celeste?”

“No, child, I see nothing more. Someone has built
very powerful walls in your mind to block your memories.”

“Why would someone do that?” Dahlia asked.

Mira shrugged as she leaned back in her wide
chair.

“A girl from a good family was raped during a
party some years ago. She was quite expectedly traumatized, so her family created
a wall in her mind to suppress the memories from that night. As I understand,
the girl has no ill effects from the attack or the wall. She does cry whenever
a song from the dreadful night is played. While she doesn’t understand why she
cries, it does her no harm.”

“Whoever took her memories is trying to protect
her?” Dahlia asked.

“No, not taken, but hidden. Do you have witches
in your family?” Mira asked Gigi.

“I don’t know my family.”

“Ah, maybe this is your answer. Losing one’s
family could lead to such a trauma someone might have created all those walls
to keep you from remembering the pain.”

“My family is dead?” Gigi asked, instantly
panicked. “Why do I remember Mamma Celeste?”

“Who is Mamma Celeste?”

“I think she’s my mother. My only memories are of
her. I am very young in the memories and they are just tiny glimpses of her.”

Mira studied Nolan then raised an eyebrow. “How
did you come to live in the Circle?”

“I don’t know. I just woke up here one day with
memories that didn’t feel real. Once I started thinking they weren’t real, they
went away.”

“Woke up where?”

“In my apartment.”

“Do you have memories of renting the apartment?”

“No, so I asked the landlady about when I rented
the apartment, but she seemed confused. She told me I filled out an application
and she called my references, but she couldn’t find the references or my application
when I asked to see them.”

Mira’s eyes again flickered to Nolan who looked
concerned.

“Tampering with your memories takes great magic. You
do not have just one wall like with the poor raped girl, but a maze of them.
Not just anyone can perform this type of magic. To be so thorough would have
taken time too. Whoever did this to you seems to have also tampered with the
memories of your landlady. This magic is very curious.”

Mira took Gigi’s hand again and closed her eyes.

“I sense no magic in you. Nothing which lingers,
not even the magic of the one who healed you. Could I examine where your injuries
have healed?”

While Gigi nodded, both Ella and Dahlia were
unhappy with this request. Standing, Gigi allowed Mira to pull up her shirt and
examine her stomach and chest. Mira then lifted Gigi’s hair.

Nolan’s eyes met Gigi’s. He smiled, trying to
reassure her which made her anxious instead. The way Ella and Dahlia were exchanging
annoyed glances didn’t help either.

“Not a single mark,” Mira said as Gigi returned
to her seat. Mira and Nolan again shared a troubled gaze. “In theory, powerful
enough magic might do such a thing, but I have never seen such a perfect
healing.”

“Do you think Mamma Celeste is real?” Gigi asked.

“You might remember her because the walls weren’t
placed just right or perhaps she isn’t real? The mind doesn’t want to be walled
off and it can create memories which soothe. Do your memories of Mamma Celeste
soothe you, child?”

Nodding, Gigi said in a small sad voice, “She’s not
real?”

“Possibly. Your memories remain, but powerful
magic holds them in the darkness of your mind.”

“Who could block out so many memories?” Dahlia
asked.

“Oh, many witches have the power to install walls
in the mind. For her to remember nothing and for me not to move past them, it
must be a sorcerer. Whoever did this, also added the images of space as a way
to warn those like myself not to meddle. The vastness of space is like a
threat. To break past the walls could mean losing myself in the vastness of her
mind. If I were properly prepared though, I could push past the walls with the
protection of my clan.”

Standing up, Dahlia smiled. “Thank you, Mira, for
your assistance, but we wouldn’t want to put you in danger. We should go.”

Mira smiled, but her eyes lost their pretend
friendliness. “I would like to speak with Gigi alone. Would you three please wait
in the foyer with Nolan?”

Ella and Dahlia wanted to say no, but Mira did
something which made the room feel heavier. The magic intimidated the females
who grudgingly followed Nolan out of the room. Once the door was shut, Mira
took Gigi’s hand.

“Someone very powerful has tampered with your
mind. If you do not learn who, you will never be able to protect yourself. The Vamps
and Weres want to keep you weak, so they can lust after you. I offer you the
chance to know the truth.”

Gigi knew the truth was usually a good thing, but
she was nervous because Simon warned her to be careful with the witches.

“Will it hurt if you break the walls?”

“No, no. I will take precautions. We will both be
fine and you will learn who you are and who has toyed with you in this
treacherous manner.”

“Can I think about it?”

“Of course, my dear,” Mira said, standing up and
walking with Gigi, hand in hand to the foyer. Before they reached the others,
the witch sighed. “Beware of the males who control your friends. They want you
for their pleasure, but they do not care for your well being. You are alone in
the Circle, beautiful and innocent. They want to benefit from your situation,
but I hope you will trust me to help you.”

Gigi wanted to trust Mira, mostly because she
wanted to know who was controlling her. She also wanted to know if Mamma
Celeste was real, but Gigi didn’t trust Mira especially after the witch used
magic to make her friends leave.

Trust her or not, it made sense to let Mira push
past the walls. Eventually the witches would want to know her secrets. If Gigi
agreed and under the watchful gazes of the packs and Simon, maybe the process
could be done in a less aggressive manner.

“I’ll sleep on it and let you know tomorrow,”
Gigi said as they reached the foyer where the others waited.

While Ella and Dahlia did their formal goodbyes,
Justine smiled shyly at Nolan. Then the females were out the door and back in
the car in a rush.

Gigi expected her friends to tell her not to trust
Mira. Instead they were all very quiet for the rest of the ride. When they
dropped off Gigi first and then left without mentioning Mira’s offer, she
suspected they wanted to talk to their bosses first. Feeling a bit like a pawn,
Gigi wasn’t sure if she should trust her friends any more than she trusted Mira?
Missing Sara, Gigi realized her missing friend was someone she trusted to tell
the truth in a way she didn’t trust anyone else.

Soon Gigi sat in her pretty pastel apartment and
thought about Mamma Celeste. Knowing her mother was out in the world, even if
she was dead, brought Gigi comfort. To think she never existed at all felt like
something important was stolen from her. The grief of losing Sara returned as
Gigi felt herself grieving Mamma Celeste.

A knock on the door startled Gigi because she
rarely enjoyed visitors. Thinking it might be one of her friends, she answered
without checking the peephole. Instead Gigi found Nolan now wearing black dress
slacks and a white shirt which was open enough to show a hint of chest hair. He
looked very handsome and smelled really good and Gigi stood sort of
dumbfounded. Nolan smiled and her thought process shifted from his looks to his
reason for standing before her.

“Hello, Nolan.”

“May I come inside and speak with you for a few minutes?”

Nodding, Gigi allowed him to enter.

“I told your mother I would let her know in the
morning what I decided.”

“Yes, but my mother doesn’t know I’m here. It’s
probably best if we keep her in the dark about my visit.”

Gigi frowned as she followed Nolan to the sofa.
His expression was soft, yet she noticed uncertainty in his blue eyes.

“My mother is a good woman, but she is too
curious for her own good. Have you ever heard of the saying about how curiosity
killed the cat?” Once Gigi nodded, Nolan sighed. “In this scenario, you’re the
cat.”