Page 37 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

Sebastian, James, Hazel, and Parker shot sparks in the air, but the shade flew higher to avoid them. It was nothing like the humanoid shade but still looked different from a typical one. It wasn’t made of ghostly semi-transparent shadow but a dark black substance that seemed to eat the light. Otherwise, its body and bony arms were a familiar ghostly shape.

The shade shot back toward the forest, flying above the trees and disappearing from view.

“Why would it steal your backpack?” Sebastian asked, thinking bitterly of his stolen robe.

“I don’t know.” Eli stared into the trees. “I guess there wasn’t anything else for it to grab.”

But why grab anything?

Parker put a hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Did you lose any of your research?”

Eli shook his head. “No, everything in my bag I’d already copied, though it’s never good to lose the primary data source. I had a bunch of old receipts in there. At least my laptop is at home.”

Hazel glared at the forest. “That shade out on a bright day isn’t good.”

Eli jolted like he hadn’t even thought of that, too focused on his stolen bag.

Sebastian tried to find a positive. “At least it didn’t stick around.”

“It seemed like it came just to take my bag,” Eli said. “Like it was planned.”

James looked at his brother with concern. “Do you think it could have known you were carrying research on the veins? Remember how the shades tried to grab your backpack at Storm House when all those shades were surrounding the fuel cell?”

Sebastian sat back down at the picnic table. The surprise shade hadn’t helped his headache. “How could it have known Eli was carrying his research? There definitely weren’t any shades like that in the clearing that day.”

“But they’ve clearly realized I’m doing something with the veins and must be able to communicate with each other.” Eli bit his lip. “Shades have been messing with my experiments from the start. What if they don’t want me doing anything with the veins because they don’t want me messing with their gateway?”

Parker seemed to go pale as something occurred to him. “Maybe you were targeted all those weeks ago and the bite you suffered wasn’t random.”

No one seemed happy about that revelation, but Eli rallied quickly. “Stealing my stuff won’t stop me, and they won’t learn much from what was in my bag,” he said with vindictive satisfaction.

“Who knows, if they’re so concerned with their gateway, maybe the shades will realize the veins are getting less stable and fix them for us,” Sebastian joked.

James snorted. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

It felt just about as unlikely as any other solution.

15

JAMES

James insisted they stay at the duplex that night. He wanted to keep an eye on the town and see if there was more shade activity. After confirming there were indeed shades resistant enough to light to be unhindered by direct sunlight, James couldn’t escape the feeling that something big was brewing. Maybe another wave of darkness was coming or something else they couldn’t yet fathom.

Watching for shades also gave James a sense of purpose. Learning there was no restoring the veins, other than by a work-around similar to Selma’s, left him lost.

He wasn’t sure what to make of the sun-resistant shade either. If some of the beasts could be out during the day, why hadn’t they seen more of them? Why had there been a herd of possessed deer? Were the stronger shades hiding to try and keep people from realizing some of them could withstand full sunlight, waiting to launch a surprise daytime attack, or was the one they’d seen a lone daylight-resistant one?

Sebastian leaned against James as they sat on the bed, looking out the window. He’d been quiet since seeing his mom. Part of James wished he’d given the woman more of a piece of his mind, but it was probably best he hadn’t. Sebastian knew where James stood, and Sebastian’s relationship with Samantha was for him to work out. James’s job was to support Sebastian and remind him he had trustworthy people in his life who would stand by him and treat him right, not get caught up in his own dislike for the woman.

They hadn’t seen many shades so far. A few hovered around the street but didn’t seem to be doing anything.

James rubbed Sebastian’s thigh. “You should get some rest.”

“I had a nap this afternoon,” he reminded James, even though James hadn’t forgotten. “Besides, my head is feeling better.”

“Okay, good.” James turned back to the window, arm around Sebastian. “We can’t stay up all night though.”

“We could do shifts. But even if we see anything, there’s no guarantee we can do something about it.”

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