Page 1 of Dark Moon Secrets

CHAPTER 1

Tanjie

The chill in the air should’ve been a warning, even though it was summer and the temperature mild. Ahead, an unnaturally huge dog crossed in front of us. My skin prickled, and I shivered for a moment. Then the memory of the dog was gone.

“Someone walk over your grave?” asked my friend, Mia.

Our heels clicked on the pavement, echoing into the quiet night as we walked back to my apartment after a night out. I hadn’t drunk too much not to pick up on the shiver and its meaning.

“Don’t get her started on the spooky stuff,” joked Caleb, who linked his arm with mine. “You’ll ruin a good night out.”

“No fear, it was nothing like that.” It’s better to forget about my past and easier to push caution aside. I wished I had drunk more shots, then I wouldn’t even be thinking like this.

“Maybe you’re finally regretting not taking up that guy’s offer to go home with him,” said Caleb. He looked down at me and winked, his eyes full of cheekiness.

I groaned as if in pain. “Would my dearest friends really have let me go home with a loser like that?”

“No way.” Mia linked her arm with mine, sandwiching me between them.

Since losing my parents last year, Mia and Caleb have been my biggest supporters. They’d been driving back from the Blue Mountains when a truck hit their car, killing them instantly.

Ever since their deaths, it’s been me against the world.

I wanted to choose my own life path and forget about the hippie shit my parents had tried to teach me. They had wanted me to live a very different life—one I didn’t want.

My parents had been whispering about how I needed to be ready before I turned eighteen.

Then it was too late.

They were gone, along with whatever it was they needed to tell me.

I turned eighteen without them and got an admin job that paid well enough. My small inheritance from them meant I could afford to buy a small apartment. With no debts, a job, and solid friends, my life for all of nineteen years was great.

At least it was on the surface, and I wasn’t about to dig any deeper.

Sometimes, you need to push shit down and get on with life, tell destiny to fuck the universe and all that hippie shit my parents had tried to teach me. I didn’t need that stuff, knowing I could make my way as long as I had Mia and Caleb with me.

I didn’t want to know what they had to tell me. It would only ruin my life anyway.

“What about you, Mia?” I asked as we stumbled down the street toward my apartment. “Wasn’t there that super-hot chick you were eying off?”

“No, you’re mistaken,” Mia argued. “I wasn’t into her at all.”

“Yeah, right,” Caleb contradicted. “You couldn’t stop staring at her.”

“I think we better go back next weekend, Caleb. Maybe by then, Mia will have the courage to speak to her.”

“She might not be there,” Mia answered, making sure she looked straight ahead and didn’t make eye contact with Caleb or me.

“She might be there,” Caleb teased. “Let’s have a vote about going back there next weekend.”

“Good idea,” I agreed. “Raise your hand if you want to go again next weekend.”

Caleb unlinked his arm with mine and raised it. Mia turned to me, wrestling to stop me from raising my hands. We burst out laughing, which made it hard for either of us to gain the upper hand. After much struggling, I managed to get my arm in the air.

“We’re going next weekend!” I shouted with joy.

“Not with me, you’re not.” Mia pretended to be a grump about our decision.

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