Jade Moon (Celestial War Book 1)

by Julia Richards

  Raf looked down at the ground, sweat pouring forth from his forehead like a mini-waterfall.

  “Slowly, slowly,” I said as I tried to move in a gentle motion toward the cliff just below us.

  I saw Raf reach for the pistol in his belt and I shook my head no once. He lowered his hand and climbed downward.

  Uncertain of our intentions the jaguar sat perfectly still, a low, threatening growl rumbling from her chest.

  Raf followed my lead, his body moving like flowing water.

  I, on the other hand, bobbled on an unsteady branch. To prevent myself from falling, I flung out my arms with a sharp grunt. The jaguar jumped, assuming I was attacking. Before I even caught myself, she attacked. Her paw struck my arm as though it momentarily transformed into lightening itself. Claws sliced through flesh and muscle. The force of her single swipe tossed me into the air like a rag doll.

  As quickly as she flashed forward, she retreated to her cub in a protective crouch. I spun around a few times as I felt to the cliff. Wisely, Raf moved slow but steady down after me. From the leaf-littered ground, we both looked back up to see if an angry she-jaguar was descending upon us. Instead she leapt down to the base of the tree. She was so big her landing made the ground shake with a thump. Hackles up, tail flicking the air, she spat and hissed but did not attack again.

  “She’s afraid we’re too big, but she’ll attack once she decides we are easy prey.” I hissed.

  Raf was hyper ventilating, little eeeps escaping with every breath out, but he nodded and helped me up. Together, we began to back out of the small clearing just as two wolves broke through the underbrush.

  The jaguar spun to face the new threat. Unable to stop themselves in time, the wolves slammed into the jaguar. She rose up on her hind legs, standing taller than Raf, and threw herself onto the snarling wolves. Two wolves and the jaguar tumbled to the ground in a blur of flying fur and blood.

  “Run!” Raf broke me out of my stupor, probably shock at my injuries coupled with awe at the sight of such magnificent beasts locked in battle. At least they would keep each other busy.

  We ran for almost an hour before I began to feel light headed. Deep night fell as we fled into the jungle.

  “Your arm.” Raf pointed to the blood dripping off the tips of my fingers. I hadn’t even noticed. The sight of my own blood made my vision swim. I was in full shock.

  “We need to stop the bleeding.” Raf pulled my bag off my shoulder and rifled through it, probably looking for a first aid kit. What a smart thing that would have been to buy. Oops.

  “Ants,” I croaked.

  “Ants?”

  I pointed to the roots of a tree. Along the sinuous roots, gold-butted ants marched in a straight line. “Grab one from the head, don’t crush it.

  Looking at me like I was totally insane, Raf did as told.

  “Ouch!”

  “Avoid the pinchers…”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He tried again and triumphantly handed me a writhing ant snapping its pinchers again and again, chitinous daggers clacking against each other.

  “Now hold this together.” I pointed to the separated flesh on either side of the single slice that ran across my bicep. Again, Raf cringed but did it. He stretched the sides of my wound together. I whimpered involuntarily but thrust the ant against my skin. Finally finding purchase on something, it clamped its pincher down, clamping the two sides together. Once it had the right hold, I squeezed and twisted off its head, permanently clamping its pinchers on my wound.

  “Need a few more.”

  Raf gathered five more ants and I used them to stitch together my arm. I thought to myself, hey that wasn’t so bad, and then I vomited all over the jungle floor.

  We sat among the tall roots. The jungle’s night song so loud I was able to push away my own cloudy thoughts just to listen.

  “Harper!”

  I jolted awake. I’d been drifting into unconscious.

  “Let’s keep moving.”

  We clung to each other the rest of the way to the Mennonite village, no sounds of pursuit behind us. We crossed the perfectly straight dividing line from wild jungle to manicured farmstead in the pre-dawn light.

  ***

  The wide, wooden front porch was slightly warped by age, but the farmhouse we approached was simple and well made. Inches from the front door, it swung open where we were greeted by the business end of a shotgun.

  “I help you folks?” the slightly German accent made the question seem quite threatening.

  A grizzled, middle-aged man squinted at us, his overalls crisp atop a starched baby blue button up. Long blond curls and thick wiry beard framed a scowl and suspicious deep blue eyes.

  “Abe you goat, get that gun out of Harper’s face.”

  Hilde, his stout wife, pushed Abe aside and stood with her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry dumpling, he doesn’t have his glasses on.” A flour smudge on one cheek explained the smell of fresh bread that wafted around her. My stomach growled loudly as the woman looked us slowly up and down.

  “Harper Dae, you look a mess. You have time for some food?’

  “I wish we did. But I need to borrow Veronica.”

  Abe huffed disapproval but seemed interested. “An emergency?”

  “Someone burned San Pedro and are after us. We need a ride out of here.”

  He nodded sagely. “Well, let’s go!”

  Hilde grunted and went to the kitchen where I knew she was throwing together a sack of food for the flight.

  We followed Abe’s slow, limping gait out to the faded blue barn. He pulled open the wide door and beamed at Raf. “Behold Veronica.”

  We beheld. Veronica was an antique plane, covered in cobwebs and dust. One tire was flat, part of a wing was held on with duct tape, a bungie cord wrapped around the tail.

  “Let me pump up her tires and we’re off.”

  Raf balked, “No way. That doesn’t look like it could drive to Belize City let alone fly all the way to Virginia.”

  Abe shrugged. “Looks can be deceiving, boy. Up to you.”

  “When was this plane even built?” Raf asked.

  “She’s a mint condition 1946 Aeronca Champion.”

  “Mint condition...” Raf tried to smile but it looked more like a lopsided grimace. “I guess we don’t have much choice.”

  “S’right” Abe said as he brought out a hand pump and starting huffing as he inflated the lopsided tire, the sun rising slowing above the horizon.

  “We’ve got some really bad people after us, Abe. You taught me well, I can fly her to DC and I promise to bring her back in one piece.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Harper. You’re pale as a ghost and shaking like a leaf. You won’t be flying anywhere. Anyway, you know Hilde almost never lets me fly.” He chucked Raf on the shoulder so hard Raf winced. “Jump in, lad.”

  I didn’t even bother to argue.

  We pushed the plane out to a flat stretch of grass that Abe called the ‘runway.’ Other than the pilot seat, the rest of the interior was stripped bare excepting a sad piece of rope tied to a bolt in the floor. I remembered this all from the night mom and I fled Belize. For Raf it was all new.

  “If it makes you feel better, we made it all the way there last time.” I tried to reassure him.

  “Squeeze in and grab on, here we go!” Abe said.

  He turned the key....nothing. Again, nothing. On the third try, the engine roared to life with a pop and a belch of black smoke.

  Raf grabbed onto the rope and sunk down until he couldn’t see out the window. I jammed myself sideways next to Abe and grabbed the rope with both hands.

  As we taxied over the grass, a flap on the front of the plane peeled off.

  “Don’t matter,” Abe shrugged.

  A small bubble of laughter escaped my lips as Abe gunned it.

  The plane bounced wildly down the rutted runway.

  As the wheels lifted off, Abe belted a wild, “Wooohoooooo!” The gruff, silent man replaced by an exci
ted little boy.

  The right wheel lifted, then the left, then we bounced back hard onto the ground, then up into the air. The engine strained like an over-extended lawn motor engine, its high pitched weeeeeeeeeeee drowned out Raf’s moaning.

  We pitched sideways and I recalled every prayer from my upbringing. An air pocket pitched the plane violently upward lifting us off the ground and Raf began retching, his face pasty and lips pale.

  We flew past another Mennonite village where a modern house perched atop an ancient Maya temple. When you live in a place where there are temples every mile or two they lose their mystery.

  Abe flew with a smile on his face, his shoulders hunched with pleasure.

  “This is the first time I’ve taker her up since I flew you and Marian to DC. The missus don’t like me doing this as she thinks it’s too dangerous.”

  Raf muttered something that sounded like agreement.

  The flight smoothed out as we headed north and I actually began enjoying the bird’s eye view of the country I loved.

  After an hour, the excitement faded and I closed my eyes, trying to figure out our plan when we landed. I must have drifted off because I woke as we began to descend. Raf directed Abe to the small landing strip behind his house. I didn’t miss the irony of landing at the house of the woman trying to kill us. I just hoped we’d beaten her back.

  Veronica hit the ground hard and fast, bounced up and sideways. Even Abe lost his jolly grin for a second as he wrestled for control. He won the battle and the plane hit and stayed on the ground the second time, stopping just short of the road that crossed the end of the runway.

  Abe gave me a pat on the cheek. “You be safe, Harper. I’m gonna get back in the air and find somewhere to refuel before I get back to Hilde.”

  “Abe, how can we ever thank you?” Raf asked

  Abe gave him a hard look. “You make sure nothing happens to Harper and we’ll call it even.”

  We climbed from the plane. Or, I climbed. Raf rolled out onto the ground and practically kissed the tarmac on his hands and knees before collecting himself.

  “Let’s get out of here.” I said.

  “Should we grab a car and go out to see Mr. Silver?”

  “No, I think we’ve got a jump on your mom and I want to get down to the tunnels to save my mom before she figures out that we’re back. I have a plan.”

  “Wait, Harper. We can’t just bring the jade disk with us. If we get caught, she’ll have the complete relic. Mr. Silver said we should immediately bring it to him for safe keeping.”

  “Not a chance, Raf.”

  “So you’re going to just hand it over? What the hell?”

  “You’re forgetting the third option.”

  “Which is…?”

  “We fight. We save my mom. We keep the disk.”

  Raf’s mouth fell open but I just walked away. I was going in with or without him.

  Raf caught up, “Alright, let’s get a car.”

  “We need a bolt cutter too.”

  “For..?”

  “To cut a padlock. I thought about that hatch in the woods you mentioned when we met. It has to go down to the tunnels. They’ll have the school entrance guarded, but they don’t know we know about the hatch.”

  “Alright Harper. But if we survive this, I am totally counting this as my war zone.”

  I stopped and turned to Raf. “You’re not still thinking about that are you?”

  “No, actually I’m not.” He gave me a lopsided smile. I had one last flash of attraction to him, but it was the last one.

  “I’m really glad. When this is all done, let’s get some Thai food and talk about something inane like cute boys at school or something.”

  His smile widened and we jumped in his mother’s Lotus Super 7. What the hell, you only live once.

  Back to the Tunnels

  I called Mr. Silver on our way. Rather than listen to him rant about the danger of bringing the disk to the belly of the beast, I simply reported our plan then hung up.

  “He’s pissed?”

  “Yeah, really pissed.”

  “You sure we should do this?”

  “No. But the one thing everyone has said to me over and over is to remember who I am. This is what seems right to me. It’s what my gut is telling me to do.”

  “Good enough for me, Harper.”

  I wondered what I could have possibly done to deserve such faith.

  Raf pulled us into a thatch of bushes, thorns screeching along the side of the Lotus. I cringed, but Raf seemed thrilled.

  “This is my mom’s favorite car…”

  I barked out a little laugh. The clearing opened a few hundred yards from the road. It seemed empty, just a ring of elm trees guarding a rusty panel nestled among overgrown grass.

  We approached the hatch cautiously and I put my ear to the cold metal. Nothing but the faint sound of running water.

  We both shivered in the cold as Raf worked on the pad lock.

  “Tada,” he said almost twenty minutes later as it fell to the ground with a thunk.

  An ancient looking metal staircase spiraled down into the darkness. Tentatively pushing with my boot, it held, though a rain of rust flakes spiraled out of sight into the cave. I clicked on my flashlight and gave Raf a thumbs up then headed into the maw of darkness.

  The damn staircase creaked and groaned. At one point it shifted and a metal-on-metal clang echoed down the hall.

  “So much for stealth,” I tried to joke but I was honestly terrified that a torrent of robed assholes were about to flood from the tunnel below. I’d bet on our ability to get in without being detected. No way we could directly take on Selene’s minions.

  Despite the bangs and groans, no one came running. Thank you roaring River of Stars.

  We stepped gratefully onto the hard rock floor and we moved quickly to the wall of the tunnel that ran low and long in both directions. To our right was nothing but darkness, but to the left a faint light flickered in the distance.

  I pointed toward the light. Raf bowed and stepped aside. “You’re driving this boat.”

  We crept toward the light until I could make out the next chamber. Inside was the stepped pyramid that we had seen before.

  Two men patrolled the far entrance, stalking back and forth, pausing to chat between patrols.

  Clearly they didn’t expect us to come in the back door.

  On the platform, at the very top, I could just make out my mother shackled to the side of the stone table. Atop it was a human form, female I thought, though hard to tell. Grime and blood covered the body tied hand and foot to the stone surface.

  Mom, strong as ever, whispered words of comfort to the girl on the table.

  We watched from the doorway for a few minutes to make sure no one else was coming. Timing our approach to make sure the patrol couldn’t see us, we crept toward the temple, pausing in the shadows as they turned. Slowly, we made our way upward until we reached the platform, out of direct line of sight of the two robed man.

  Mom saw us and blanched. “Harper, no!” she whispered at me.

  With much more confidence than I felt, I hissed back, “Trust me.”

  That seemed to calm her. She let Raf use his bolt cutters to work off the old fashioned iron shackled that held her wrists. Once they fell silently to the floor, she hugged me. We wrapped together atop that temple, arms against each other. My mother, best friend, confidant, brilliant thinker, comedienne, beauty. I felt her love and strength flow into me like a wave.

  With a nod, the briefest notation of approval, she let go. Together we moved to the table. Atop it lay Olivia. Bitchy, cruel, yet also human, abused, magical with makeup, Olivia. Raf was already at work on her bonds but they were strange, thick locks that defied our attempts to cut them. At the very head of the stone table, the incomplete Jade Moon reflected the firelight. Arranged in an arc between the Jade Moon and Olivia’s head were the bloody tools I’d seen in the janitor’s shed.

  As Raf
and Mom worked on the bonds, I went to Olivia’s head and ran a gentle caress along her lovely face. The fading bruise around her left eye seemed mild compared to the cuts and bruises that painted her body. A pale stingray spine remained piercing through her palm, blood dribbling slowly from the puncture. The exact wound I had seen in my vision. It was her I had seen. Her future I had witnessed in the library and in the plaza of San Pedro.

  On the up side, at least I wasn’t going crazy.

  “I’m so sorry, Olivia,” I whispered to her, the full horror of what had been enacted upon her sinking in.

  Her eyes fluttered open and she momentarily focused on me with blue eyes like the edges of ice. “I see,” she whispered, though I didn’t understand why.

  “I think she’s dying!” I tried to keep my voice low but I was ready to scream the ceiling down. This was cruelty I could not abide.

  While we frantically worked, the patrol must have seen us. A wall of robed minions silently surrounded the base of the temple.

  Raf looked up and tapped my arm. I was so lost staring into Olivia’s face that I barely registered the new horror. But when the mist began to seep up from the earthen floor toward us, I shifted my attention away from Olivia.

  Selene stalked up the temple stairs. “I should have known you would be more resourceful than I thought. I assume you have what we need?”

  I held aloft the jade disk in the leather pouch. “As we agreed, you let my mom and Olivia go and I will give this to you without a fight.”

  She stood at the base of the temple, white fog swirling around her like a shield. At the sight of the disk in my hand, her wet, blood stained lips fell open as though she wanted to lick the relic.

  With pupils dilated so wide her eyes appeared black, she said, “You give me the disk, agree to help us, and I will happily let your mother go.”

  Mom grabbed my arms. “No Harper!”

  “Mom, it’s okay.” I shoved her off. “You and Mrs. Wattana, Mrs. Foster, and Mr. Ransom did all this? For what?” I asked Selene.

  “I can show you, Harper.” Selene smiled. “Though they were just tools to help me bring this all together. I will have my final revenge.”