Page 8 of Luna & Andres

I slid off the stool and grabbed Red's arm. "Come on. We're not wanted."

Red followed me outside to the car. I started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot of weeds.

"Not very friendly, were they?" Red commented.

"They're hiding something," I replied as I drove us onto the bumpy road.

Red raised an eyebrow. "You think it's him?"

I focused on the road, but my eyes narrowed. Mortale. We were going to a lot of trouble to find him, but something inside me told me it would be worth the effort."

Red slumped in his chair and sighed. "So what now? We call it a night?"

I shook my head. "Not by a long shot."

We passed by an abandoned railroad car and I turned off the road behind it. I parked the car so we faced the road. The entrance to the diner parking lot was only fifty yards to our left and down a dead-end road.

I shut off the engine and leaned back. "Now we wait."

Red frowned. "Wait? For what?"

"For them to take us to Mortale," I told him.

"That could take all night!" he protested.

I turned and glared at him. "You can go home, but you'll have to walk."

"Is this guy really worth getting us killed in a vehicle crash, or worse, sued for stalking?" Red asked me.

"That's what I want to find out," I replied.

Red pursed his lips and his eyes swept over me. "What is it that attracts you to him?"

I frowned. "I'm not attracted to him."

"You're certainly acting like a lovesick idiot," he retorted.

"I just want to find the truth," I argued.

"And you think that's going to make you happy?" he challenged me. He shifted in his seat so he faced me. "You think knowing what those things in the alley were is going to-"

"I don't know anything!" I snapped. Red started back and his eyes widened. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Listen, I just know I need to find the truth. Ineedto know the truth. I can't explain it any better than that."

Red relaxed and slumped in his seat. A small smile spread across his lips. He folded his arms across his chest and chuckled. "I hope you brought a pack of cards."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because while you were focused on finding that guy, I read the hours on the door. They close at midnight," he told me.

I checked my watch. It was almost seven. "Then we've got a long wait."

CHAPTER 4

We wiled away the hours with alternating silence and idle chat. Sometimes we napped. There was a slight benefit to the primitive state of the area. The stars, uninterrupted by streetlights and traffic, flickered above us in the bright, clear sky. I leaned forward across the top of the steering wheel and looked up at the pale moon. It was a god among its many worshipers.

"You're not going to try to find out the secrets of the moon, are you?" Red teased me.

I shifted my head atop my hands and raised an eyebrow at him. "What makes you say that?"

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