Rising Moon (The Rune Stone Trilogy)

by Anne Haley

  "Right." Terra laughed and let her eyes wander around the café. Her eyes widened and she muttered a curse, looking back to Blake. "We need to go right now," she whispered urgently.

  "What-" Blake frowned, but then the black haired goddess stepped to their table.

  "Hello again." She smiled warmly, her deep sapphire eyes on Terra. She was even more beautiful up close. Her smooth creamy skin had a faint glow to it, and her black hair fell around her face when she leaned down. Her head turned towards Terra, exposing her neck to him, and the scent of clean lavender and vanilla drifted toward him. He wanted to bathe in her scent.

  Terra, however, was concentrating on the table. "I see you’re busy, but I wanted to make sure you feel welcome on our island." She hadn’t even glanced at Blake. She watched Terra with an intensity that made Blake feel his brotherly protectiveness take over. "I never got your name." She paused. Blake looked back to Terra, who began to tremble. "Maybe some other time," she sighed. She turned on her heel and walked away.

  "Terra?" He watched his sister.

  "Is she gone?" she whispered.

  "Yes." He watched her leave the café.

  "Can we go now?"

  Terra had scrambled out of her seat before he could close his magazine. Once he threw his cup in the garbage and put the magazine back in it’s rack he found her standing on the street, her arms wrapped around herself and staring down the street, a blank look on her face. "You okay?" he asked.

  "Fine," she said quickly and started walking down the street, toward the Inn.

  "Terra, who was that?" he asked when he caught up to her. It hadn’t taken but three steps since his legs were much longer than hers.

  "I don’t know." She shrugged. Her face was still pale, even there on the hot pavement. She turned the corner and crossed the street.

  "Come on, you must know since she came and talked to you. Are you scared of her?" Blake couldn’t get used to her moods now. She’d never been so guarded against him. Normally she was an open book, willing to give him more of an explanation than he bargained for.

  "I don’t know who she is Blake," she said with a tone that told him the conversation that hadn’t even started was finished. She had lashed out with a quick and angry attitude that hadn’t ever been present in her until almost two years ago, just after she graduated high school. Her kindness had slowly seeped away, being replaced with someone you had to walk on eggshells around.

  "Okay," he sighed, not giving up just giving her space. He would get answers out of her before he went back home. He was sure of it. Even if that meant she would come to hate him, he had to know what has happened to his own sister.

  They entered the Chester Inn and he led them to the elevator in silence. He couldn’t think of anything to say to her.

  Once they retrieved Blake’s things from the Inn, he had to pay for the fee of staying overnight even though he was only there for an hour or two. They walked silently down the streets until they came to a residential area. He didn’t bring up the woman from the café, but it had been eating away at him. Terra pointed out a few sights and mumbled a few words about the beach, and something about a whale watching boat, but he had a hard time listening to her. He wanted to know why couldn’t she just say ‘I’ve taken up drinking’ or drugs, or she was depressed, or something. These things were fixable, or at least something he could work with. Silence was killing him. "It’s just up ahead," Terra said, breaking the silence.

  "Nice neighborhood," Blake said, looking at the houses they were passing. The houses were cottage style with colorful gardens that were well tended and stone walks.

  "Here we are." Terra stopped in front of a white, waist high picket fence. He looked toward the small blue cottage. It had a small front porch with two white wicker chairs. The grass had been recently cut, and the gardens only held one kind of flower. They were overflowing, and the blooms drooped towards the ground, as if the blooms were too heavy for the stalks. The color was an impossible bright blue.

  "What kind are those?" he asked her.

  "Oh, just some bluebells." She shrugged, underplaying her fascination with them. For a reason she couldn’t explain, she couldn’t seem to get enough bluebells in her life now. She craved the sight and scent of them whenever she wasn’t around them.

  Terra opened the gate and led Blake up the steps to the front door. She unlocked it and stepped aside. He looked around the living room, which held a loveseat and recliner, and in the corner there was a television on a small entertainment stand. There were two bookshelves that were empty.

  "The rooms are down this hall." She pointed off the living room and led him away from the deserted room. "This is my room," she pointed into the first bedroom, and when he looked inside he saw only a bed and dresser. A full-length mirror stood in the corner and on the nightstand he saw a single book and alarm clock next to the bed. "You can stay in here." She opened the door across the hall from hers. The set up was the same, minus the mirror.

  "Cozy," he said. She had been living here for almost a month and nothing in the house showed it, minus the small vases and pots of flowers that were littered around the house. Not having an eye for plants, he had no idea what kind they were, except for the lily of the valley that was in the living room. What surprised him the most were the empty bookcases. As long as he could remember she always surrounded herself with books. She never read one at a time, it was normally two to three so she could change books as her mood changed.

  The house was empty. There couldn’t have been much change to the house from when she rented it except for the clothes hanging in the closet and the toothbrush at the bathroom sink. This only made him more confused, wondering how she could run away from her friends and family to this lifestyle. He could see no comfort in her new home, only loneliness. She appeared to be far worse than he thought. He questioned himself if there was anything of his sister left.

  "I know it’s not much, but it is a roof over my head, and it’s cheap." She showed him where the bathroom and kitchen were, which neither held anything special. The kitchen didn’t have any food except for crackers, bread, peanut butter and milk. "I’ll go grocery shopping while you’re unpacking," she said.

  "Don’t make any special trips on my account."

  She frowned at him and crossed her arms. "You know this has nothing to do with you."

  "Oh," he said, a little surprised. "You mean you really do eat?"

  Terra sighed. "Not the groceries," she said quietly and was focusing down at her shoes. "I’m talking about my leaving home. I just couldn’t-" she stopped herself and shook her head.

  He walked over to his sister and pulled her chin up so she had to look at him. She hesitantly looked at him, and she tensed under his hand. "It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about this now." Relief swam in her eyes. "We will, eventually," he warned her. "But it’s been a long day for me. And, I’m starving." He eyed the empty cupboards.

  Terra nodded and stepped out of his reach. "Thank you, Blake." She took a deep breath and looked at the same empty cupboards. "How about we order pizza? Then maybe tonight we can go grocery shopping together?" she asked hopefully.

  "Sounds great."

  Aylin and Eliana sat on the back patio of their home. Two sides of the yard were lined with trees; the other side was a view of the ocean. There was a slight decline between the fence and the sandy beach. Their view of the ocean was littered with small wooded islands, with rock outcroppings that waves crashed into sending spray high in the air. At the right time of year pods of orcas could be seen making passage through. Eliana refilled her glass of wine, and topped off Aylin’s. "I saw her again," Aylin said, watching the waves lazily roll in. The sun began to set, making the sky radiant in pinks and oranges and the bright colors of her flowers dimmed to a warm simmer.

  "Did she run away screaming again?" El snickered.

  "No, it was too public of a place for that," Aylin slightly smiled. She didn’t find humor in frightening the young woman, but th
e thought of someone being scared of the sight of her was a little amusing. Nothing about Aylin should have been intimidating, but if the woman saw the current around Aylin, as Aylin saw it around her, that would make anyone that didn’t know a little nervous. "She wouldn’t even look at me this time. "

  "That’s because you’re so hideous." El winked at her.

  "I’ve only seen her twice, and whatever I am doing is wrong. It is scaring her away. I feel like I don’t even need to talk because just the sight of me has her on edge. Am I really that intimidating to others? How am I supposed to get her to warm up to me? To see past the current?" Aylin sighed and took a long sip of her wine.

  "Okay." El turned toward her, turning serious. "I’ve been thinking. What if she didn’t have the same upbringing as we did? What if she really has no clue what is happening to her? If she grew up with normal, average parents that didn’t give her a hint that there is more to life than what most people know, she would be scared silly of what is happening to her. Then you come along, glowing the way you do, and it just tops it off for her."

  Aylin looked at her. "Why would her parents not clue her in? At least hint at it?" She frowned.

  El swirled her wine around the goblet, thinking about what the right answer would be. "What if they didn’t know?"

  Aylin laughed. "It doesn’t work that way," she shook her head.

  "Maybe they wouldn’t say anything because they didn’t want it to be true," El said.

  Aylin reached over and touched El’s knee and smiled. She squeezed and let go. She knew that El didn’t have the easiest time with her parents, since El’s parents basically threw her out after she turned eighteen. It had been a hard time for El. Her body and mind were changing and she lost the support of her parents who were afraid of what she would become. Fortunately, Aylin came along and took her under her wing. El had been a scared teenager and blossomed into a confident and beautiful young woman under her care. They both knew that El’s parents turning their backs on her was probably one of the best things that could have happened to her, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t one of the most difficult. "I guess we will just have to wait and find out," Aylin finally said.

  "Maybe I could give it a go tomorrow?" El asked.

  Aylin laughed again. "No, I don’t think she is going to melt under the spell of your charm right now." She shook her head.

  "Okay. I tried." El stood up. She smiled at Aylin who looked up at her questionably. "Charles called yesterday, he’s back in town for the weekend. So, don’t wait up for me." She winked and headed into the house.

  Aylin followed her inside. "Which one is Charles again?" She uncorked the bottle of wine and refilled her glass.

  El turned in the doorway with a smirk. "I met Charles last summer in the cove. You know him, he’s the one that built us the fire pit in the back?" She nodded towards the back door.

  "Ah, yes. Make sure you tell him I say hello." Aylin was amazed at how many men El had collected in her time that they lived together. Never once had El been accused of cheating or lying, because she never committed herself to one man. To her the idea of committing yourself to one person seemed quite boring. She thought then there would be no surprises.

  Aylin stood at the sink, looking out the window that gave her a view of her gardens. There were two small clay pots on the windowsill that held white orchids. One’s petals were turning brown on the edges, making Aylin frown. She always took special care with these delicate plants. But sometimes they needed a little extra love. She rubbed her index finger and thumb together until her skin warmed, and then gently pinched the base of the stem of the plant. The brown edges seeped away, dripping into the soil like water, leaving the petals pure white. "Much better," she said to herself.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Terra had woken up early to brew Blake coffee before she left for work. He had crawled out of bed as she was leaving, and she promised him a homemade meal for dinner that night. He tried not to shudder at the thought. Her cooking had always been questionable. Once, she tried to grill steaks and she came back in with charcoal bricks that had twigs covering them. She had tried coating the steaks with rosemary and thyme, without pulling the leaves off the woody stems. They had ordered pizza that night also.

  Blake had his coffee with a toasted bagel, noting that at least she mastered the art of brewing good coffee, and began to feel restless sitting inside the desolate house. He set out to walk around the island. He had seen just a glimpse yesterday, but his tired weary eyes had blurred everything together. When he stepped outside he knew it was going to be a warm day because the air already felt sultry at nine in the morning. Good thing he had packed shorts.

  After locking the door with the extra key that Terra gave him, he started walking down the road. At the end of her block the road ended, meeting a small parking lot for the public beach. The beach had a few patrons that looked to be searching for shells. There was a small child with his mother, and the baby was throwing sand into the air. Each time the sand landed on her the baby squealed with delight.

  He continued on, making his way to Main Street. The first shop proved to be a drug store, at least that was close in case he needed to pick up more items, depending on how long he stayed. He passed a floral shop, and wondered if Terra would like some more flowers to brighten her house. It seemed it was the only thing she held onto in her new life here. On the way back he would pick up something cheerful and bright for her.

  He stopped in front of the bookstore and peeked in. The bookstore wasn’t busy, only a few customers browsing in the front. Terra stood at the front counter speaking to another woman. He waited until she looked up and smiled at him. She waved and the woman she was speaking to turned to look at him. He returned the wave and then continued walking. He had only taken a step when he saw the beautiful woman from the café walking toward him. He felt his body tense and he stepped out so he blocked her way.

  She looked up a few feet from him and slowed down to a stop. Her hair was swept back today, and a few tendrils escaped around her face. When she looked at him he had to ignore the thud his heart made. "Hello." She wasn’t smiling today, and her eyes were cautious of him.

  "Hello." He crossed his arms. He felt the anger bubbling inside him. He didn’t need to know what happened between this woman and his sister, but he sure wasn’t going to let someone intimidate her. Though, this woman didn’t seem all that scary to him.

  She stepped to move around him. "Excuse me," she mumbled, but stopped when he stepped in her way again. "Is there something you needed?" she asked, irritated.

  "Yes. I just wanted to tell you that you could leave my sister alone," he said.

  She frowned in confusion. "Sorry?"

  "Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You just need to leave her alone." He pointed his finger accusingly at her.

  She looked sincerely taken back. "Excuse me? I really don’t know who you or your sister is."

  "Really? You were talking to her yesterday in the café."

  Her mouth dropped open and she quickly started shaking her head. "Oh, you don’t understand." She took a hesitant step closer to him. "I’m only trying to help her," she lowered her voice.

  "With what?" he demanded.

  "I can’t explain it to you. I-"

  The door to the bookstore flung open. "Blake! What are you doing?" Terra ran out of the store.

  "Talking to this woman about leaving you alone." He began feeling a little worried that he overstepped the line. Or he should have just waited until Terra wasn’t anywhere around when he confronted this woman. He didn’t care how beautiful she looked, he wasn’t going to let some stranger get his sister all worked up.

  "And I am trying to tell him that I can help you. I can help you understand who you are, and why you came here. I can explain all this to you more than anyone can. There is no need to be frightened of me."

  "Who said I was frightened?" Terra exclaimed, her voice raising a few octaves. The woman onl
y looked at Blake. "Blake!" Terra’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

  "I just want to help you, that’s all." Blake took a step away from her.

  "Let me help you." The woman took a step closer to Terra. "Come by my home when you are ready to understand everything you’re questioning about yourself." She pulled a card out of her purse and wrote an address on the back. "I promise you, no harm will come to you. But don’t delay too long, time is a precious thing."

  Terra looked down at the card and was quiet for a few moments. Then she sighed, giving in. "Terra," she finally said, "Terra is my name."

  The woman smiled, lighting her entire face. "It’s a beautiful name, and very fitting if I might add. It’s nice to meet you, Terra." She shot a dark look at Blake, then stepped to the side and walked around them, leaving them alone.

  That night Terra attempted dinner, and when she burned the chicken to a crisp, Blake pulled out the pork chops that he had marinating, just in case. He made quick work with the grill and soon enough they sat down to dinner. She hadn’t said much to him since she had gotten home, and he knew she was angry with him. "What do you want to do tomorrow on your day off?" Blake asked her when they finished eating.

  She set their dishes in the sink and turned to face him. "Blake, you shouldn’t have done that today," she said evenly.

  "Look, I know I embarrassed you, but she’s obviously done something to you."

  "Embarrassed me? Not at all," she said sarcastically. "I can take care of myself," she said and turned to start the water to wash the dishes.

  He walked into the kitchen and leaned against the fridge. "Yeah, I can see that. Your idea of taking care of yourself is running away. Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking of leaving here and finding somewhere else to hide. Maybe that’s why you’re living like this. So, if things get too difficult, or a family member comes to find you, you can pack up in less than five minutes and bolt." He crossed his arms.