Page 45 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

Samantha stared at him in horror. There was no way she hadn’t known her spell had caused the accident. She wasn’t shocked. She looked guilty.

Her eyes darted to Sebastian. “There’s no proof. You can’t hold me accountable for that.”

“We don’t need proof,” Hazel said from the back of the room, coming to James’s defense.

Samantha was startled like she hadn’t realized anyone else was with them.

“You’re right. James can’t prove you caused the accident,” Hazel continued. “But we know the truth, and so do you, and now you’re stuck here with us.”

Samantha took a step back. “It was still an accident. By the time we realized what happened, it had been days. There was no taking it back.”

Admitting her part in the accidental deaths wasn’t an apology, but James didn’t want one. He’d never considered her part in the accident her biggest crime. “And what about cursing Sebastian? Was that an accident?” he growled.

“I thought we already covered the fact that I’m a terrible person,” Samantha snapped.

“Mom, please.” Sebastian rubbed his head like it was starting to hurt. “We have enough problems without arguing about this. If you aren’t going to help, please just go away.”

Samantha opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. She gathered her handbag and left the shop.

“The number of people I don’t want to be trapped with keeps growing,” Sebastian muttered.

James was impressed that Sebastian had managed to stay so calm in front of his mother. James’s pulse was pounding. He’d expressed his anger but wasn’t sure how much it had helped.

Dealing with Samantha Storm felt like a waste of energy. It wouldn’t bring his parents back and wouldn’t help Sebastian feel less abandoned or take away his years of loneliness. They needed to heal and move on from these things, not dwell on them, and the key to that didn’t lie with Samantha.

Part of James was still pleased the woman was trapped. Call him vindictive. He didn’t care. He liked to think there was at least some justice in the world. Her fate was tied to Sebastian now. If they were all going down, she’d be dragged along with them.

Eli entered the silent shop, breaking the tension. “That looked unpleasant. Did I miss anything crucial?”

“No,” Sebastian said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, cool. But you should probably know three shades just flew down the street toward the center of town.”

18

JAMES

James and Sebastian joined Eli by the door, looking out the window. They couldn’t see the shades from here but James didn’t doubt Eli’s word.

Eleanor came up behind them. “We have to do something about shades being out in full sunlight.” Her determination didn’t quite cover the worried edge to her voice. “Not everyone can summon fire to fight them off. The town isn’t safe with beasts like this flying around. Not when they’ve become so aggressive. I hesitated to put out an emergency alert about it yesterday when there was only one, but I’m regretting that, especially since that humanoid shade is back.”

“Let’s put an alert out now,” Hazel suggested. “And report it while we’re at it.”

“I’ll take a picture of a shade out in broad daylight and send it to the officials.” Eleanor pursed her lips. “Perhaps proof will prompt them to send someone competent and willing to help.”

James moved out of the doorway so Eleanor and Hazel could leave the shop. “Be careful out there.”

“You too.” Hazel grabbed his arm. “Are you still taking one of the fuel cells to Storm House?”

James nodded, and with that, the two women left, heading for town hall.

James turned to Eli. “Where’s Parker?”

“Still at work.”

“You might want to hang out at the diner until he gets off.” James hated leaving Eli, but there was no way he was bringing him back to Storm House when they’d just seen that powerful shade by the cemetery.

“Yeah, okay.” Eli scrunched his nose as if he didn’t like James’s implying he needed protecting, but James was glad he didn’t argue.

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