“Are you guys like best friends now?” I asked as I sat next to Syn. Lola was on the other side of Blossom of course because Blossom brought snacks.
“We rescued missing girls and almost got killed by a psychopath, of course, we’re friends,” answered Lola.
Blossom opened her picnic basket and pulled out a hot tea kettle, a teacup, a glass of chocolate milk, a glass of iced tea, and a soda. I got the soda, Lola the milk, Syn the iced tea, and Blossom the hot tea. Along with the drinks, she pulled out a long French roll that she used to make sandwiches for us, some fruit, and there was an apple and piat pie with some plates if we wanted dessert. She set her small basket to the side as we enjoyed our sandwiches.
“What do your markings mean?” I asked Syn in a whisper.
“It lets people know what I am,” he answered. “That’s all.”
“No other reason?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Are you the only one that got away?” I asked.
“No, there was a group of us, but we split up to be safe. There were seven of us. Now there’s just three.”
“I could try a glamour spell. So, you don’t have to wear a jacket all the time,” I suggested. “Think about it.”
“Thought you weren’t good with spells and stuff,” he said.
“I signed up for some classes at the college. If I’m going to be a private investigator and put into some dangerous situations I need to make sure I can protect myself and everyone else.”
“You did a pretty good job of that on the farm. Never heard of a fire restraining spell,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”
The nighttime sky was bright and full of stars. It wasn’t until almost midnight when the stars changed color. Not all but quite a few scattered across the sky looked like dancing emeralds. They darted across the sky, wiggling here and there as if they were alive. They were dancing. Only the green ones danced, the normal stars stayed perfectly still. The emeralds danced around them, and some danced with each other. Spinning around and around.
When they tired of dancing in the sky, they fell. All over. Emerald stars shot across the sky in droves. It is believed if you catch a falling emerald star it will grant you one wish. One fell a few feet from us. It looked like they were dancing in the sky because they were dancing. The star jumped to her feet saw everyone sitting there and squeaked. Two children sitting on a blanket in front of us inched towards it. It folded two points across its chest and yelled, “I have never been caught and you two losers will not be the first!” she then stuck out her tongue spun around and darted for the wooded area.
The children exchanged a look and took off after the star. The hill erupted in laughter as others joined in on the chase.
I hope you enjoyed the story
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Restless Bones
Snippet
Moon Investigations Book 2
Prologue
Bamal Black
As sparks from the burning ship danced into the sea, Pirate Captain Bamal Black admired his spoils. Treasure, food, ale, and women. The four things he and his men needed to survive.
Raven Wing was a small warship that Mistress Moon turned into a pirate ship. It was a nice size but still no match for his galleon The Black Dragon. Bamal had seen Raven Wing on the way to Emerald Cove. But he knew his men were tired and thirsty, so he decided to save the ship for when they headed back out to sea. When he spotted the ship again, it was two days later. His crew had been well fed and were looking for some fun. Nothing made their blood boil quite like seizing a ship.
The sound of metal clanking against metal. The smell of blood surrounding him. The picturesque scene of decimated bodies littered around the deck of a ship while it was going up in flames against the backdrop of a moonlit sky. It was intoxicating. Bamal savored it. The sounds. The smells. Mental pictures he could pull up whenever he wanted. Once they had gotten back to The Black Dragon, they celebrated as Raven Wing burned into the sea.
When they had gone through all the women they had salvaged from Raven Wing, they tossed them overboard before setting sail. Having any women on board was bad luck, and if they were going to die at sea, it would not be because of that.
The next few months, Bamal and his crew sailed the seas searching for new conquest and treasure. Sapphire Port led them to the ship Golden Dreams. A large warship captained by Theodore Gold, a fearless man with more valor than sense. From his ship, Bamal got four barrels of ale and six chests full of gold and gems to add to his almost overflowing treasure room. When the business was done, Gold lay at Bamal’s feet, cut from his shoulder down to his belly. His hollow eyes staring back at Bamal as his ship was destroyed and his men slaughtered.
Bamal licked at the flecks of blood scattered across his face.
“Take everything!” he ordered.
He went back to The Black Dragon and left his men to their fun. The Black Dragon was one of the largest pirate ships on the ocean. Bamal descended from giants, had it built to accommodate his size. It was a wooden ship painted black with crisp white sails and a throne, made from the charred wood of the ships they had destroyed, on deck. Bamal sat on the throne and closed his eyes. He listened to the screams, the clanking of metal, and the crackling of flames.
“Where to next, Captain?” asked Bartholomew, his second in command.
Close to Mermaid Beach they encountered another pirate ship. The Red Lady was captained by Fin Lifton. The ship was aptly named after Fin’s most prized and cherished crew member. His sword. The Red Lady was known as one of the demon blades of Tarau. Bamal had coveted Fin’s blade ever since their first fight six years ago on the same beach where both men walked away battered and bruised. Bamal missing three of his fingers while Fin was missing a hand.
The sword was special. One of a kind with a mind of its own. The black blade turned red when it wanted to kill and only its owner could keep it in check. The sword had been in Fin’s family for generations. No one outside the family had ever held it until, in the middle of their fight, Bamal got the sword away from Fin. He snatched it off the ground with one hand while he kept Fin away with the other. But Fin didn’t run towards him, nor did he try to get his sword back. He just stood there, watched Bamal, and grinned. The sword was only in Bamal’s hand for a few seconds when it began to heat up. The longer he held it the hotter it got until finally, he had to drop it. His charred palm throbbed.
“No one holds the sword barehanded but the Liftons. Sorry,” Fin said with a smirk. Fin grabbed his sword which was sprawled on the ground at Bamal’s feet. “And once she has tasted your blood, she won’t stop until she has devoured your soul. Isn’t that right, Red Lady?” The sun glinted off the blade.
Bamal stared at it. It was in the light he thought he saw something. Someone. A woman with long black hair, red eyes, wearing a black kimono with red flowers around the sleeves. She stared at him and smiled. He fell back onto the sand of Mermaid Beach when the woman in the sword changed. To something so horrible. Something he had never seen before. Red eyes glared back at him while fangs dripped blood. Fin sheathed the sword and the beast went away.
“I don’t think she likes you. And she has a long memory,” said Fin as he walked away.
It was this old encounter that led Bamal to tell his crew that they would let The Red Lady pass this time. As the ships turned slightly to get out of each other’s way, Bamal and Fin locked eyes. Fin’s hair had grayed, and he was missing not only his right hand but his left eye as well.
“I could take him,” muttered Bamal. “If he didn’t have that sword.”
As if Fin had heard him, he raised his left hand and waved his sword. Bamal turned his head and faced the sea. They decided to pass Merma
id Beach and dropped anchor in Nymphiria Bay. Bamal Black and his pirate crew partied into the night. Drinking, laughing, and telling stories.
With the lackluster moon high in the night sky, he sat on his throne and watched as, one by one, his crew members drifted off to sleep. It was in the quiet that he heard it. When he tuned out the sound of waves crashing against his ship, he heard humming. Bamal stood up to investigate. There were no women around, but he had distinctly heard one humming. He moved to the front of the ship, stepping over drunk, passed out bodies as he went along.
He saw her on the beach. Alone.
“What’s wrong Captain?” asked Bartholomew.
“Who is she?” asked Bamal.
“Who?”
“The woman on the beach.” Bamal pointed to the shore.
Bartholomew followed his finger. “I don’t see anything, sir.”
“I’m going on land.”
Bamal sat in the small boat, which rested on the side of the deck, as Bartholomew lowered it into the water. He quickly rowed it to shore and pulled it up into the sand. His first mate was right. There was no one on the beach. Just as he was about to get back into the water, he heard it. A soft hum carried on the breeze.
“Who’s there?” Bamal spun around trying to discern where the sound was coming from. It seemed to surround him. “Hello?” He knew there was a cave further down the beach, so he headed in that direction. The humming got louder as he got closer.
“Hello?”
“Come in,” said the woman. “I was waiting for you to find me.” She giggled.
Bamal smiled as he followed the path in. A strange blue light got brighter the further he walked into the cave. The path opened to a woman wearing a blue and black tunic dress smirking at him. She was leaning on a large chair carved into the back wall of the cave.
“I made it just for you,” she giggled.
Standing eight feet high, Bamal towered over her. The chair had a blue sparkle to it that illuminated the room just enough to allow him to make out his surroundings.
“What do you mean?”
“Aww you don’t remember me,” she pouted. “Oh well, I mean, how could you? I would assume when you and your men throw the women you’ve ravaged overboard it wasn’t their faces you were interested in.”
He grinned. “Came back for another taste?”
“Hardly,” she smirked. “Release!”
“Wha—"
The ground shook. Bamal fell and crawled to the far side of the cave. “What are you doing, you—" Hounds as tall as Bamal leaped up from holes in the ground and surrounded him.
“Devour!”
Six large black beasts moved closer to him. Snapping at his legs and arms. Bamal picked one up and slammed it against the cave wall. The hound gave a soft whimper as he slung it across the room. He did it again and again. But every time he got rid of one hound another one rose from the earth. He was out of breath and bloodied when a black hound with bright red eyes grabbed on to his leg and bit down. The pressure from the beast’s mouth crushed his knee. Bamal screamed. He reached out to grab the hound, but another hound grabbed his arm and ripped it from his body. Blood splattered all over his face and gushed onto the cave floor. Now that Bamal was in a weakened state, the rest of the hounds descended upon him and devoured every ounce of his flesh.
“Wake!”
Bamal opened his eyes. “What did you do to me?” Bamal sat on the chair carved in the cave wall and looked down at his body. He wore black armor with silver and gold skulls at the knees. Next to him was a large sword with small gold skulls up the hilt and a black shield. But underneath the armor, there was nothing but bones. Picked clean by the hounds. No heart or lungs, or eyes. Just bones.
“Bamal Black, you are now the Keeper of Lost Souls. Any soul that wanders into this cave will be devoured by you. You will have no choice. It’ll be this urge. A need to kill them, if you will. But when you do all their pain and anguish will be felt by you. And that’s how you will spend the rest of eternity.” The woman smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I should really go tell your crew where they can find you.” The woman turned and slowly walked to the entrance of the cave. “Hmm. What should I do with your treasure?”
Lola Black
The murder of her father happened just two days after her seventh birthday. Her mother told her it was an accidental death, but Lola knew better. She was thereafter all. Hiding in the bushes.
It was after midnight when she started searching for her father. He usually came home late after a day of drinking but never after eleven. She waited until her mother fell asleep and headed to her father’s usual haunts hoping he hadn’t hopped to another island or left the city of Vulcar. Her father had gotten drunk in not just every bar in Vulcar but almost every bar on the island of Niarus. To the point where most wouldn’t let him in. There were still a few places in the city that would take his money so Lola started there. She had been to three places when Mr. Lowry, who lived two houses down from her, told her he had seen her father at Lava.
As she walked the dark streets alone, she noticed a pile of red sand. She scooped it up in one hand and poured it into her pocket. Vulcar was just on the other side of the Scarlet River. Lola had never been to the desert, but she had seen its vibrant red sand trekked in by visitors every day. Her mother told her the River was more dangerous than it was beautiful. It was filled with bandits who would poison you, have their way with your body and bury you in the sand where no one would ever find you. But that never deterred Lola from wanting to go. She had never been outside the city. With her father’s proclivity for drinking, gambling, and women and his inability to keep a job, Lola knew she would never have the money to go anywhere.
A loud group of people spilled out into the street as she passed a bar called Ole Ray’s. Another bar her father was no longer allowed to enter.
Lava was located between a spice shop and the butcher. When she neared the bar Lava, she could hear faint voices arguing. One of them sounded familiar. Dad? She ducked behind a piece of shrubbery next to the flower shop and peered down the walkway to the bar. Two me argued in front of Lava. One man wore a white shirt and black pants. His hair in a tight ponytail. While the other, she recognized as her father, wore a dirty black shirt and tan pants.
“We had a deal. Where’s the journal?” inquired the man.
“Why do you want it? I'm telling you, where it leads you is not a place you want to go,” answered her father. He was drunk as usual.
Go where?
“We had a deal.” He pushed her father and he fell back on to the ground.
“Fine. No need to get rough.” Her father pulled out a thin rolled up leather-bound book and threw it at the man. “There. That’s what you wanted.”
The man smiled as he picked it up and dusted the dirt off. In one swift motion, the man walked up to her father and stuck something in his chest. As her father fell to the ground the man turned around and went back into the bar. Once he was gone, Lola rushed over, but she was too late. Her father was dead. His dim eyes staring up at the night sky.
Voices were coming out of the bar. Afraid it was the man again she ran. Behind her, she heard voices and someone screaming.
Lola snuck back into the house and got into bed. Her father was dead. Dead? How was she supposed to feel? Should she cry? She tried. She replayed the scene over and over in her head. Trying to summon the appropriate emotion. After all, he was her father. But truth be told she didn’t really like him. He was a drunk and would often gamble away their money instead of paying the bills. He spent more time at bars and with other women than he did with her and her mother. His death wasn’t that significant to her. Although she had never seen someone die before nor had she been that close to a dead body. There was a smell to it. Hard to describe. Like metal mixed with something.
What interested her was the journal. Where did it come from and why did the man want it so badly? And why did her father say it would lead him somewhere he didn�
��t want to go?
The next morning, a man showed up at their front door while they were eating breakfast. He talked to her mother for a few minutes before leaving.
“Your father died. It was some kind of accident,” said her mother as she buttered her toast. Her mother had almost the same reaction as Lola did. Neither one of them seemed to care.
After the death of her father Lola’s life made a change for the better. In the five months following her father’s murder they had gotten completely out of debt; they could eat every day and Lola was even able to get a new pair of shoes and a dress. But most importantly they were happy. Worry-free. With her father gone, Lola didn’t have to worry if she was going to be able to eat that day or if someone her father owed money to would come to their house.
Seven months after her father’s death, Lola and her mother were tending to their garden when men on horses descended upon their home. The following six days went by so fast and yet everything happened so slowly Lola thought it would never end. In the end, it turned out her father was right. The journal led the man, Kevin Harrison, to a place he didn’t want to go. A cave to be exact. A cave where he stood outside and listened to his men scream. No one who went into the cave came back out. Only he and ten other men were left of his crew. And they were angry.
At the end of the six days, her mother was dead, and Lola was battered, bloody and raw. Kevin and his men left her mother on the living room floor. Three men dragged Lola to a wagon, stole what they could sell from the house, and left. After a two days’ journey, Kevin Harrison sold her to a nobleman named Annuck. Annuck decided he was done with her when she turned fourteen, so he sold her to a historian named Nolan Hernath.
He was nicer and didn’t use her like Annuck. But no matter how nice he was Lola never forgot she was still his slave. He taught her how to read and write and asked her questions about her life and her family. One day, Nolan allowed her to sit with him in the courtyard. It was in the middle of the house and surrounded by flowers and vegetables. She sat under the piat tree. Its black trunk had the shape of a spider crawling out of the ground. When it was in bloom it had little red blossoms that smelled of vanilla. She sat with him on a white bench under the tree and he asked her questions. He asked her about her family and what happened to them. When she told him about her father and what happened to her mother, Nolan rushed out of the courtyard back into the house. He yelled for her from his library.
Witch Hunt Page 14
