Page 52 of Moon Chosen

Her mother was almost across the creek. Mari’s fingers dug into the moss.Hurry, Mama! Hurry!

Ferocious barking came from the center of the Gathering and a too familiar voice carried easily over it. “Thaddeus, Sol said there’s no need to capture any Scratchers today. Calm Odysseus down before he breaks a blood vessel or something.”

Mari tore her gaze from her fleeing mother to look at the group of men. It was with a sense of detached shock that she noted there were only three of them. Two were standing beside small, wiry-haired canines that must be Terriers. The third had no canine, but Mari recognized his voice and easily put a name to his tall, handsome form—Nik. The man who believed Rigel was his.

“Nik, the more time I spend with you, the more you remind me of a neurotic old woman. Odysseus is just having some fun. Actually, let’s let OdysseusandCameron have some fun. Davis, get ready. I’m going to send my boy after that Scratcher. You send Cameron, too.”

“No, we’re not supposed to catch any Scratchers,” Nik said, obviously irritated. “Ignore the woman and let’s get back to tracking my pup.”

“We can do both, and Cameron needs the experience. Right, Davis? That’s why he’s here, isn’t it? We’ll release her after we catch her. No big deal.” Before the younger man could respond, Thaddeus nodded, in a self-satisfied way, and commanded his canine, “Odysseus, capture!”

Mari watched helplessly as the first Terrier shot away from Thaddeus, arrow-like, and plunged into the creek after Leda. The second canine followed behind, barking enthusiastically.

“This is wasting time we don’t have, Thaddeus!”

Nik was speaking, but his words weren’t making any sense to Mari. The only thing that made sense to her was Leda. Her mother had reached the far bank and had begun climbing up it. Mari could see that she was trying to hurry, trying to climb quickly, but the ground rose too steeply and was too filled with rocks and broken branches and brambles. She was going to slip—going to fall, and just as Mari thought it, it happened.

Later, when Mari replayed the terrible scene over and over in her mind, she realized Leda’s foot must have found one of the many holes that the dead leaves and forest debris so easily covered. But then, as Mari watched it happen, all she saw was her mother’s body suddenly tilt alarmingly to one side so that, off-balance, arms flailing madly, Leda fell backward. The steep bank acted like a slide, and Leda’s body careened down with a terrible momentum, head over feet, twisting and turning, until she landed in a broken heap half in, half out of the creek.

“Great. Now you’ve hurt one of them,” Nik said. “Call off your canine, Thaddeus. Davis, grab Cammy. I promise you, this isn’t the kind of experience my father meant for him to have.”

Mari couldn’t seem to make her body move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. All she could do was to watch the three men wade through the creek. Thaddeus called his Terrier to him. The other man picked up his smaller, younger canine.

“Good thing we didn’t need to capture this one. She’s too damn old—too damn weak to be any good on the Farm,” Thaddeus said, turning his back dismissively on Leda’s still form. “Okay, so, the holly bush was just up this bank, correct?”

But Nik didn’t answer Thaddeus. Instead he was looking at Leda.

“Hey, what are you doing? I thought you were in a big hurry to start tracking your phantom pup.”

Nik rounded on Thaddeus. “Shut up! I think she’s dead, and there was no reason for it.”

“Dead?” Mari’s lips mouthed the word and her body started to tremble. Rigel whined softly and pressed against her. “No no no no no.”

“Who cares about another Scratcher? One less to infest this forest,” Thaddeus said. “Come on, Davis. Bring Cameron up to the bush and we’ll start doing Nik’s job for him.”

The two men and their Terriers started up the bank, but Nik didn’t follow them. Instead he walked slowly to Leda.

“No no no no no,” Mari whispered the only word she seemed able to form.

Nik crouched beside Leda. Hesitantly, he brushed her hair from her face. Mari could see Leda’s face then, and she realized that she shouldn’t have been able to. Her head was at a strange angle—it shouldn’t have turned the way it did.

“No no no no no.”

And then her mama moved!Mari let out her breath in a gasp, and began to scramble to her feet, to push through the curtain of green and run to Leda. But before she could move away from the tree, her mother’s voice carried clearly, easily, over the water.

“Galen! My Galen. I knew we would be together again.” She smiled serenely at Nik, and then a spasm of pain twisted her features. Leda coughed and blood spewed from her mouth, down her chin, across her twisted neck. She closed her eyes, and with a long, rattling exhale, Mari’s mama died.

Mari felt her world dissolve. Her grief was so great that it was like a pounding fist within her, breaking her apart. She stumbled forward into a shaft of sunlight and the heat of it engulfed her.

“No. No! NO!NO! NO!”Mari screamed.

Still crouched beside her mother, Nik turned to look at her, and Mari saw his eyes widen in shock. It was as if she had stepped into the heart of the sun, and she knew it. Understood it. Wanted it and used it. She raised her arms and her despair exploded from her body in a stream of fire, so pure, so hot, that it was golden. With a ghastlywhooshthe forest around Mari burst into flame.

16

Thewhooshof the flames and the wall of heat that followed snapped Mari from the trancelike state that had gripped her since the moment her mother had landed, broken, on the rocky bank. Mari lifted her hands, trying to shield herself from the heat that threatened to engulf her.

Mama is dead.