Page 36 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

“But if a stand-in is no longer enough, what do we do?” Sebastian asked.

“I don’t know.” Samantha stood from the table. “I’m sorry, Sebastian. I’ve told you what you asked for.”

Sebastian stood, his chair legs scraping the floor. “Are you leaving?” He hated the desperate edge to his voice. Even after everything, he didn’t want his mom to walk away from him. He didn’t particularly want her around, but he couldn’t stand being abandoned again.

“Is there any point in me staying?” She picked up her handbag. “If things are falling apart and on their way to exploding, there’s no reason for me to stay.”

“No.” Sebastian felt hollow inside. “Why stand by your son? Why choose me? What would that be worth?”

Samantha scowled at him, her eyes angry. “There’s no sense in me staying to die. Or would that make you happy?”

Sebastian felt like he’d been slapped. “Of course not. That wasn’t… Never mind.”

James rose from the table, rounding it to approach Samantha. “You could try to help us find a solution.”

“What solution? The missing piece is gone. Selma did her best to replace it through blood and bone, but if that’s not working, I don’t know what you expect me to do.” She marched to the front door and threw it open, leaving without another glance in Sebastian’s direction.

James’s face twisted in a way Sebastian had never seen before, like he was about to explode. “She can’t just walk away.”

Sebastian wished he could pretend it didn’t hurt. He knew better than to expect anything different from his mother, but somehow, she still got to him. At least he’d probably never have to see her again.

James turned away from the open front door and engulfed Sebastian in a hug. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“You don’t have to be.” Sebastian pressed his face into James’s hair. “This sucks, but I’ve got you. Your support means everything.”

“I wish I could do more,” James whispered.

“This is enough, James.”

James held him for a long time. Sebastian wondered if James felt just as lost about what to do next as he did.

Eventually, they returned to town and found Hazel. Their grim expressions must have alerted her to the bad news because she didn’t immediately ask how things went.

“Let’s find Parker and Eli,” James suggested.

Eli was due to finish his shift at the diner, and when they arrived, it looked like Parker was too. They all settled in the park at a picnic table near the trees. All they needed was some possessed deer or a bear to come crash the party and the day would be a perfect shitshow. Though Sebastian was too consumed by everything his mother had said to spare any real concern for shades.

Sebastian explained what they’d learned. Eli looked like his mind was being blown when he heard a piece of the vein had been taken. Sebastian marveled at the younger man’s unwavering intellectual interest.

“It’d be fascinating to know how they did it,” Eli mused. “I doubt anyone else has ever taken a piece of a vein.”

“Unless they did and blew up because of it,” Parker countered.

Eli frowned. “True. Sorry, this is just fascinating. Academically, I mean.”

“If only it meant we weren’t screwed,” Sebastian said, half in the hope someone would tell him they weren’t.

“Maybe we need to redo Selma’s spell,” Eli suggested. “We could try to recreate it, rebind an energy source to the veins and get back to the stability she had originally.”

Sebastian didn’t think any of them were capable of that kind of magic. Parker was powerful, but he didn’t seem to do much bespoke spellwork beyond warding. Creating spells was a challenge, especially blood-and-bone spells, which none of them had any real knowledge of.

As Sebastian opened his mouth to say all this, something rushed out of the woods. A shade left the shadows of the trees and flew toward them, circling before diving downward, aiming for Eli.

Eli threw up his hands instinctually. James and Parker both sent sparks flying. To Sebastian’s surprise, the shade didn’t grab Eli. The sparks missed as it dove past him and grabbed his backpack, which had been discarded on the ground.

“Hey! What?” Eli twisted around in confusion.

Sebastian and James leaped from the picnic table. The shade shot into the sky in full sunlight. It clutched Eli’s backpack and leered down at them.

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