Moon Broken

by H. D. Gordon

  I suppressed an eye roll. The whole scene could not get any more cliché. The dynamic could be found in any high school across America. But that didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. I swallowed the last bite of my burger, no longer tasting it.

  “You know the deal,” said the brown-haired bully. She held up a paper. It had a red B written at the top. “I told you to write me an A paper.” She pointed a finger at the sheet in her hand. “What does that say, Sammy? Is that an A?”

  “It’s a B,” the blonde girl mumbled, tears welling in her eyes. She was looking at the ruined laptop with utter dismay. “You only gave me a day to write it!” she yelled, and then instantly recoiled.

  The brunette—Andrea—rolled up the sleeves of her jacket, her hands clenched into fists. There was hardly an intake of breath in the entire courtyard. I realized belatedly that I was standing.

  Andrea gave a smile that was toothy and twisted, and shoved Sammy hard in the chest, making the smaller girl fall back onto her butt in a way I knew had to hurt her tailbone. Andrea moved to stand over the girl… but I found myself blocking her way.

  It seemed to take Andrea a moment to absorb what I’d done, and her face screwed up as she took note of me. “Get out of my way, puta,” she spat, confirming my guess about her roots.

  I held up both hands, palms out. “Why don’t you just leave her alone?” I asked, my voice amicable, soothing.

  Andrea looked confused, which I chose to believe was her default state, given what I’d seen from her. “Who the hell are you?” she asked.

  I shook my head, still holding up my hands, but my body having moved itself into a defensive stance—right leg back, knees slightly bent, shoulders turned sideways to provide a smaller target, loose and ready.

  “I’m no one,” I said, locking eyes with her. “No one at all.”

  She said nothing, only took a step back. I’m pretty sure she would have walked away, too, if her friend hadn’t spoken up. I wondered how many times in a single day I could keep my eyes from rolling. It was a habit of mine I was trying to break, because it seemed to me to be terribly juvenile, but some situations just called for it.

  “You gonna let her talk to you like that, Andy?” asked the sidekick.

  Andy still looked confused, but then the dull anger came back over her. I saw the idea form in her head even before she took the cup that Sidekick Number Two was holding, knew what she would do even though she tried to be quick about it.

  My reflexes are too good, and I know the ways of people too well. So when she tried to dump the drink on me, and instead I popped the bottom of it up with my hand, and it splashed all over her face, there was no way to avoid what came next.

  I’d find out later that Andrea Ramos—Andy to her friends—was not only the star athlete and senior bully at Grant City High, but she was also a trained boxer. Her father owned a chain of gyms that trained fighters, and her attitude was just as strong as her right hook.

  As it was, I stood before her now, soda dripping down her face, every eye in the courtyard on me, my hands held out before me like I was some lion tamer. To say the least, this was not how I’d wanted to start my first day at a new school.

  There was no time to think anything else, because Andy swung at me with a hard right, and I ducked out of the way, feeling the air whoosh over my head. She’d swung hard enough to knock out my teeth had it connected, and this pissed me off.

  My body just acted, despite my rule never to use my abilities against humans. It really wasn’t fair to them. My Fae blood gave me stronger senses, faster reflexes, more stamina and strength. So when I swept Andy’s legs out from under her with a clean swing of my leg, spinning around and standing upright again before she even hit the ground, you can imagine the look of shock that was on everyone’s face.

  For a moment, the whole city seemed to go silent. I used the time to scoop up the broken laptop and back out of there, grabbing the blonde girl’s arm and taking her with me inside the school.

  We escaped. But I didn’t need to be full human to know my troubles with Andy Ramos were not over.

  As it would turn out, they were going to be the least of my worries.

  Chapter 3

  Once we were inside, I realized I didn’t know where to go.

  Grant City High School was housed in an old stone building with cold classrooms and countless stairways. It was going to take me some time to be able to navigate it, and at the moment, I was a little too shaken up to think straight.

  I hadn’t meant to embarrass the girl like that.

  “Come on,” said a voice near me, and I realized the blonde girl was still standing beside me. She took my arm and pulled me toward a staircase. I didn’t know what else to do, so I followed.

  We took a set of stairs up and made three rights, coming to a hallway that was mostly empty. Glass windows made up one long wall, and I could see into a large room filled with computers and other electronics. Inside were maybe eight other students. They were all wearing headphones and staring at screens.

  “What class is this?” I asked, not seeing a teacher anywhere in the room.

  The girl reached into her bag and took out an ID card, scanning it over the sensor on the door. A little light went green and allowed us access to the room. She held the door for me. “It’s called CODE,” she said. “But we just call it the game room. I’m Samantha Shy, by the way, Sam to my friends. And before you ask, yes, that’s really my name.”

  I hadn’t been about to ask that, but whatevs.

  “Aria Fae,” I said. “It’s nice to meet you… Sorry about your computer.”

  A couple of the other students in the room looked up before returning their attention to their screens. I followed Sam to the back of the room, where there were three round tables and several chairs. Bookshelves surrounded the area, giving it a sense of privacy. I took a seat at one of the tables, placing my backpack and the broken laptop I was still holding atop it.

  In answer to my apology, Sam shook her head so fervently I couldn’t help a small smile. She had a certain endearing quality. “Don’t worry about it. I can probably fix it,” she said, pulling the ruined computer toward her. “Besides, you kinda saved my butt back there. Where’d you learn to move like that?”

  I swallowed before answering. It seemed I could do nothing right as of late. I’d been at this school all of half a day and already I was drawing too much attention.

  “I took… uh, karate when I was a kid,” I said, and it came out sounding as lame as it felt.

  Sam sat down across from me and began examining the broken laptop. “You must’ve had an awesome teacher.”

  “The best,” I mumbled

  “Where’re you from?”

  “I moved here from Blue Hook.”

  “Oh, I love Blue Hook,” she smiled. “It’s one of my favorite Jersey shore towns. I used to go there during the summers when I was younger. Why’d you move here?”

  I shrugged. “My mom got a new job,” I lied. It sounded better than, My mother was killed by a crazy Fae Queen and the people I devoted my entire life to refused to do anything about it, and then banished me when I decided to take matters into my own hands.

  Yep, definitely couldn’t say that.

  Sam seemed to pick up on my low mood, and she busied herself with disassembling the computer. Without looking up, she said, “Andrea can’t get us in here, but I’m sorry for getting you in trouble with her. She can be really mean, and it’s hard being on her hit list.”

  I waved a hand at this. “I’m not worried about Andrea,” I said. “I’m just a little… homesick.” I stood from the table, suddenly uncomfortable. “I better go. I’ve got class and the teacher will be looking for me if I don’t show.”

  Sam nodded, her shoulders sinking just a touch. “Okay,” she said. “Unless you want me to hack into the school computer system and message your teachers that there was a schedule mess up and not to be looking for you.” She rambled quickly, then gave a littl
e laugh followed by a snort.

  I paused. “You can do that?”

  A look came over her face that suggested the question was somehow insulting. “Yes,” she said. “I can do that. Computers are my homies.”

  I couldn’t help a return laugh at that, and found myself sitting back down. “Okay, Bill Gates,” I said. “Let’s see it.”

  “Really?” she asked. “You’re not worried your parents might find out?”

  I raised my eyebrows. “You just offered to hack into the school computer system and you’re asking me if I’m worried about my parents finding out?”

  Sam considered this. “Right,” she said. “Okay.” She stood and went over to one of the desktops and sat down, her fingers flying over the keys.

  I moved to sit beside her, the screens flipping too fast for me to even keep up. Her aura lit up as well, and I could tell that sitting before a computer was where Samantha Shy felt most at home. Seemed her name was an apt fit.

  After a moment, she turned toward me, a grin on her face. “Done,” she said.

  “How do I know it’s done?” I asked.

  Her fingers flew over the keys again, and like magic, screenshots popped up on the monitor. I leaned in close to look at them, and saw that they were messages sent to my teachers from what appeared to be the school’s guidance counselor. I watched in utter amazement as the teachers confirmed receipt of the messages right before my eyes.

  “You’re a friggin’ genius,” I said.

  Sam flushed, pushing her black-rimmed glasses up on her small nose. “Not really,” she said. “It’s just like I said, computers are my homies.”

  My curiosity in this new friend of mine went up exponentially. Computers and technology were the equivalent to magic in the human world.

  “So you can, like, hack into shit?” I asked.

  This made her laugh. “Yes,” she said. “I can ‘hack into shit’… among other things. I write code, basically. It’s just language that makes sense to me. Not as cool as being a karate master.”

  Now it was my turn to laugh. “Trust me, Sam. When you say it like that, it doesn’t sound cool at all.” I realized my mood was slightly better, and was more than surprised by the feeling. “So what am I gonna do now that none of my teachers are looking for me?”

  Sam turned back to the computer and worked her magic again. “Let me just make sure none of mine are looking for me… There.” She looked at me over her glasses, and her bright blue eyes narrowed conspiratorially. “Wanna go on a field trip?”

  I found myself nodding, grinning. “I’d have to grab my board from my locker but… What’d you have in mind?”

  As it turned out, Grant City was having a technological expo at the Red Garden Convention Center. It was a sunny Friday, and when we got there it was clear many people had taken the day off for the event.

  “How are we gonna get in?” I asked, pausing as I saw that there were ticket checkers at the main entrance. There were also police officers, and I was worried we were going to be questioned about why we weren’t in school.

  Sam dug around in her canvas bag and produced two lanyards with VIP badges. “With these,” she said, grinning again in that conspiratorial way of hers.

  I took the badges, careful to act natural. “Where’d you get these?” I asked. “They must’ve cost a fortune.”

  Sam took one and slid it over her head, then slipped mine over my head. She glanced around before answering. “I made them,” she said, her voice lowering. “Remember how I can hack into shit? Well, I hacked into the ticket-selling database and scored these.”

  “Why’d you get two? Who were you planning to bring?”

  Pushing her glasses up on her nose, Sam took my hand and began pulling me toward the entrance, as excited as a puppy with a new toy.

  “My dad, probably,” she mumbled. “Or else Matt, I guess, but I’m glad it’s you instead. If things go south here you can just karate the guards so we can escape.”

  I came to an abrupt stop. “Wait, what?”

  Sam laughed. “I’m totally just kidding, Aria. Don’t worry. The badges will work perfectly.”

  “Oh… Good. Because I didn’t bring any weapons except my slingshot.”

  Sam’s eyebrows went up. “You’re carrying a slingshot?”

  I smirked. “Maybe. So what?”

  She shook her head, holding up her hands and smiling. “Right. I mean, who doesn’t carry a slingshot nowadays?”

  We grinned at each other like imbeciles, but our joking halted as we approached the building. Despite me having witnessed Sam’s mad computer skills, my pulse still picked up in pace when we entered the enormous convention center, and for the first time in over a month, I felt something other than the grief and depression that had been choke-holding me. Even if it was just adrenaline from doing something wrong—something no doubt illegal—it was a change I was thankful for.

  I still wonder to this day how things might have been different if I hadn’t gone to the expo that day, but in my defense, what teenager in my position would’ve done differently?

  The main entrance of the Red Garden Convention Center was breathtaking. It was made entirely of glass, and the ceiling was tall enough to fit a dinosaur or three. Huge banners hung everywhere, displaying logos of tech companies and advertisements for the newest products. The day’s golden sunlight filtered through the glass, reflecting off the countless shiny surfaces. Large circular flowerpots bloomed with vibrant red flowers at tasteful intervals.

  Hundreds of people were already filling the space, and I instinctively reached for my wooden staff, only to remember that I didn’t have it with me, as I hadn’t brought it to school. I forced myself to relax, and told myself that I was just having a little PTSD from the recent events in my life. I didn’t need my staff right now. This wasn’t a Peace Broker mission.

  I won’t need it ever again, I thought glumly.

  “You okay?” Sam asked, pulling me out of my head.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Because you’re squeezing my hand hard enough to crush my bones.”

  I looked down at our hands and released my hold. “Sorry,” I said. “Crowds make me a little nervous.”

  Sam gave a sympathetic smile. “They usually make me nervous too, but these are my people, dude, so relax. It’s all good. I promise.”

  I tried to absorb some of her light mood as we made our way through the crowd to where the event people were checking tickets.

  “Just be cool,” Sam said, and I suppressed a laugh. This girl was too much.

  But I found myself following the funny directive as we approached the ticket-taking guy. Despite all the training I’d had with the Peace Brokers, I’d never snuck into an expo before with VIP badges obtained by a high school-aged computer hacker.

  I held my breath as the guy scanned the barcode on my badge, and smiled when the little light on his scanner went green. He waved me in.

  Sam was scanned through next, a smug grin on her face. “Told you not to worry,” she said once we were inside.

  “Who said I was worried?”

  She arched an eyebrow at me.

  “Okay,” I admitted. “I was mildly worried.”

  Sam probably didn’t even hear this because she was too busy nearly jumping out of her boots, and I couldn’t really say I blamed her. If the entrance had been impressive, the inside was downright awe-inspiring.

  Gadgets whizzed through the air, and demonstrations of all sorts were being held in every direction. There was an actual human-like automaton that was currently sweeping up a mess his controller had made apparently just to show the robot could sweep it up. Drones of all shapes and sizes seemed to be a popular product, as I’d spotted three already, and everything from coffeemakers to self-propelling skateboards took up the enormous room. Geeks and nerds of all sorts buzzed around with obvious elation written on their faces.

  I’d never seen anything like it, and found that again, for the first time in what fel
t like forever, my mind was on something other than death and darkness.

  “This is amazing,” I said, almost to myself.

  “I know, right?” Sam replied. “Oh! Come check this out.”

  She took my hand again and began dragging me toward a booth where a long line wrapped all the way around the corner. I was about to suggest we try a less busy booth first, but before I could, Sam pulled me to the front of the line and flashed her VIP badge. It worked like a charm.

  I gave her a small nudge when I saw the other people in line become disgruntled. Sam leaned in close and whispered, “Don’t worry about it. These VIP badges cost three times the amount of theirs. They know the deal.”

  It must have been true, because no one said anything as we were ushered inside the booth ahead of them, and I felt only slightly guilty about the fact that we hadn’t actually paid for our passes.

  The dose of guilt was forgotten, however, as soon as we stepped through the curtain concealing the inside of the booth. Sam and I stood watching as another teenager slipped a virtual-reality helmet over his head that was connected by wires to two small rectangles. As soon as he put it on, the lights in the booth went out, and we were cast into darkness.

  I found myself taking up a defensive stance out of habit, but then the space lit up as screens were projected on all four white curtains, the entire space turning into a virtual world. My jaw dropped as I saw the teenager with the helmet appear on the screen straight ahead.

  “No way,” I said. “It’s a video game.”

  Sam’s smile was stretching up to her ears, her eyes alight with excitement. “That’s right,” she whispered. “This one’s a first person shooter. I prefer the adventure games myself.” She shrugged. “But it’s still super cool. It scans you at a million frames per second and projects you into the game. You choose a weapon and it modifies itself to your choices. Instead of pushing buttons, you control the character with your movements… and your mind.”