Page 97 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
Madeline had spoken to Shane multiple times a day but had gotten nothing back from him until this morning. Not a hand squeeze or breathing change until an hour ago. For a brief few seconds, his eyelids lifted. Shane’s bright blue eyes met hers and she believed the coherence in them to be real. He'd looked surprised, but when she spoke, his gaze turned fearful. He’d looked around as if searching for anyone other than her. He’d pulled his hand from hers. Then he’d gone back to sleep.
All they’d been through and he didn't remember her or feared her? Maybe this was her insecurity and he just had brain trauma, possibly amnesia?
She stood out on the terrace of the first-floor bedroom in the cold wind, her hair whipping around and skin tingling from the chill while she watched the setting sun reflecting on the water’s surface. She held one hand around the talisman Shane had given her.
Like the tides of her life, everything outside had turned cold. She supposed now that Shane was awake, she should start pulling the edges of her life back together. Whether that would involve him or not, she wasn't sure. The thought of walking away from him made her numb.
Somehow, she couldn't think about all the possibilities her mind had conjured of her and Shane. Except she did. God, she grieved for the potential of what could’ve been and she missed him to the point of agony.
It’d only been mere days, but it felt as if she could almost reach through time and touch those moments when they’d been on the verge of something bigger…a future.
Her phone rang. Shocked, she stared at the number. She’d left multiple messages since lifting the curse, but got no response from Cora. Until now?
"It’s been days andnowyou call?" Madeline asked. "What about congratulating me on surviving and trusting in the fates?"
There was a harrumph from the other end.
"Where have you been?" Madeline asked.
"Blowing up empty FenCor facilities. I never knew explosives could be so much fun."
"How did you figure out where they are? Evie said she was only able to discover a bit of information on the four programmed lycan soldiers sold into service. But there was nothing on where they were made."
"Oh, love, I’m a witch whose strength is scrying. Little bit of effort and I can find out just about anything. Like the fact you lived. And that dolt of a lycan hurt you. I can sense it."
"Shane paid a high price. He was in a coma after Baku left him. The demon gave himself up to the curse in exchange for our lives. He just woke up for a minute or so earlier day."
"And?"
"He looked at me and then… I don't know if he forgot about me. He seemed scared of me."
Silence.
"No, ‘I told you so’?" Madeline prompted.
"The demon was able to leave him in exchange for leaving you and Shane alive? That’s an unexpected move for a demon. Since it was adragondemon, perhaps the demon being present made Shane more partial to you?" As if speaking in stream of consciousness Cora added, "Yes, that’s probably it. It’s dangerous for you to stay there if Shane isn’t on your team. You should come home."
She dropped her chin. "I think you’re right." A sense of desperation to face off with Shane and fight for him to remember what they’d had twisted her gut.
"Meet me back at my place. I’ll be home in a day. Don’t let that vampire tag along."
A small smile tugged at her mouth. "You want Antonio to tag along, don’t you?"
"Posh. Whatever. Must run before this set of explosives go off. I’ve still got what you gave me to hold. See you in a day. Love you." Cora hung up.
She sat on the terrace outside her assigned modest bedroom and stared down the path that cut through a forest of trees to the lake. She needed one friend to talk to. Sure, she had Nova and Vivi, but the few times she’d seen them had been filled with their enthusiasm to see their past. The joy it gave them made her happy to help. They weren’t the kind of friends with whom she could discuss all the complexity of what happened with Shane and what she felt.
Summon a familiar.Cora’s suggestion from long ago came to her.
Worth a try. At least then she’d have something to lessen the loneliness.
She walked into the wooded area a few yards off the terrace and knelt to fist her hands in the dirt.
"Spirits of this forest, I announce my intention to thee. Come forth and seek me so equals we can be. Not master and servant but familiar to familiar. To share our knowledge and spirit."
She waited. Nothing happened.
Her last familiar had taken at least a half-hour to appear. After an hour, disappointed, she wondered if she needed to be in a location with more inherent magic for this to work. Being here in the barren dead of winter did limit the number of available spirits to become a familiar. Maybe none of those here liked her enough to want to be stuck with her, possibly die for her.
