First Moon (The Ternion Order Book 1)

by Daniel R. Marvello

  Kyle checked the window again. The headlights still glared through the trees. A vehicle had left the Foundation parking lot and was crawling up the road toward the front gate. A dark form shadowed its progress, loping through the vegetation along the road.

  He turned to Sherry. “Are you ready?”

  She blinked in surprise. “You can’t go anywhere dressed like that!”

  Kyle strode to the door. “Don’t worry about me. It’s now or never.”

  He opened the door slowly and peeked through a narrow gap into the hall. No one occupied the small couch at the end of the hallway. He stuck his head into the hall to check the other direction. The stairs to the central building were empty, but he heard a voice. Skyler was using a cell phone to stay in contact with the people who were headed to the front gate.

  Kyle looked at Sherry and put his finger to his lips. She gulped and nodded, her eyes wide.

  As they slipped into the hall, Kyle locked the door and closed it behind them. If someone came to check on them, the lock might buy them a few extra seconds before an alarm was sounded.

  Kyle crept down the hallway toward the stairwell at the end of the wing, pleased with how quietly he could move in bare feet. Sherry did a remarkably good job of tip-toeing in her sandals, making hardly any noise herself.

  When they reached the top of the stairwell, Kyle spotted a problem. The stairs went down in two flights with a landing at the middle. A big picture window at the landing would let anyone outside the building see them as they descended. They’d also be back-lit when they opened the door to exit the building.

  Kyle took a calculated risk and turned off the stairwell light, hoping that no one would notice and come to investigate. He stood still and waited a minute just in case. Sherry suppressed a big yawn, but otherwise, nothing happened. How can she be sleepy at a time like this?

  He had reached the landing with Sherry close behind when Skyler’s voice got louder in the hallway. The deputy must have started up the stairs from the central building at about the same time he and Sherry started down the stairs at the opposite end of the wing.

  Skyler was still talking on the phone, saying something about “going to check on them now.”

  Kyle and Sherry descended the second short flight of stairs as quietly as possible. Kyle turned the handle on the exterior door, hoping the latch and the hinges were well-oiled. He eased the door open, letting in the cool evening air, right about the time Skyler knocked on the door to the room they had abandoned.

  “Sherry?” Skyler’s voice called. “How’s Kyle doing? Did you get him to eat?”

  Kyle urgently waved Sherry through the door and closed it as quietly as possible. It wouldn’t be long before Skyler figured out they’d left the room.

  The concrete pad outside the door gave way to an expanse of grass that ended at the edge of the forest. Kyle took Sherry’s hand and led her toward the trees at a run. Looking back over his shoulder, he checked their path across the grass, but he couldn’t see any obvious signs of their passage. No dew had fallen yet, and the blades pressed down by Sherry’s shoes were already springing back up.

  They entered the trees and moved deeper into the forest. Kyle immediately lamented his lack of shoes as he stepped on dead branches and small pine cones. The moonlight filtering through the trees helped some, but it was impossible to hurry forward and simultaneously be cautious of where he stepped. Disappointingly, an improvement in night vision did not seem to be part of his wolf-upgrade package.

  They were about fifty yards from the building when they encountered a narrow wildlife trail. Kyle was able to make much better progress, towing Sherry along in his wake. She stumbled several times and gasped once when a branch snagged her hair, but she was keeping up. They were about a hundred yards from the house when Kyle heard Skyler’s voice calling for him. He ducked down and froze, pulling Sherry down with him. Light from a flashlight flickered through the tree trunks far behind them, but the trees were too dense for the beam to reach their position. Kyle rose and continued forward, but Sherry pulled back on his hand.

  “Kyle, wait,” she whispered. “I can’t see where I’m going and I’m getting dizzy. I need to rest.”

  “Rest? We can’t rest. We have to get to the fence line and find a weak spot. We need to flag down one of those cars at the gate before they leave.”

  Sherry sat down and leaned against a trunk with a sigh. She waved him on and yawned. “You go ahead. It’s you they’re after anyway. I’ll go home tomorrow.”

  Kyle had his answer about the possibility of drugs in the food.

  He took her hand and made her stand. She wavered on her feet. “Nope. I’m not leaving you here.” He leaned forward and picked her up in a fireman’s carry across his shoulders. She feebly protested and kicked her legs, but he ignored her and continued down the game trail as fast as he dared. Within a minute, her protests trailed off and she went completely limp.

  Because of his enhanced strength, her weight was an insignificant burden. He smiled wryly to himself, thinking about how he was using the gifts of his lupusdaemon against itself.

  Kyle followed the trail until it started curving toward the right, away from the main gate. He left it then and had to move more carefully to keep from damaging himself or Sherry. More than once, something punched into the bottom of his foot, but he ignored the pain and kept moving. He marveled at the way the pain receded almost as soon as it began, the wounds healing within a dozen steps.

  He looked down the trail behind them, but could no longer see the beam of Skyler’s flashlight. He doubted Skyler would have given up on him, and with a chill, he realized that she may have shifted. If she tracked him in wolf form, she would probably catch up any second.

  Kyle increased his pace, accepting more scrapes and bruises for both Sherry and himself. He figured he was about halfway to the gate when he reached an obstacle. A short, rocky cliff separated the upper plateau where the main gate was located from the lower elevation of the Foundation building. It wasn’t much more than ten feet high, but Kyle didn’t see a way to climb up while carrying Sherry.

  He could go left until he reached the road or go right and hope he could find a way up the cliff. He was guaranteed to get up onto the plateau if he took the road, but he was also more likely to encounter Pack members. He went to the right.

  The going was easier along the cliff bottom, although the loose rock bruised his feet. He had traveled only about thirty yards when he found the game trail again and also discovered what he had been looking for. The trail had veered to the right earlier because it went directly to a tumble of eroded stone that created a natural staircase up the cliff. Cursing to himself for leaving the trail and wasting precious time, he clambered up the rocky steps.

  Kyle topped the cliff to find himself standing in a small grassy area bordered by boulders and aspen. An angry exchange of voices carried from the gate. He was tempted to run toward the voices, but he was still on the wrong side of the fence. Rocky ridges and tall trees prevented him from seeing anything but a bright glow in the direction of the gate. The game trail continued at a tangent to the gate, so he decided to stay with it. If the forest critters had found a way through the perimeter, he could use it as well.

  In spite of his superior strength, Sherry’s weight was starting to slow him down. He was sure he could carry her off the property, but he hoped he wouldn’t have to face any more steep inclines.

  A rustling from below the cliff gave him the impetus he needed to get moving again. With the moon almost directly above, he could clearly see where the path entered the slender silvery aspen trunks. Sherry groaned in discomfort as he shifted her higher onto his shoulder and moved forward. He reached up with his free hand and patted her butt in apology, smiling when he thought about how little she would appreciate the sentiment.

  The aspen gave way to pines after a few dozen yards, and the trail started to climb through a fold between two rocky hillsides.

  Kyle froze w
hen he heard the snap of a twig from the trail ahead. Had the werewolves already flanked him? He had no idea how many trails led off the property, so he didn’t know what the odds were that they would look for him on the path he’d chosen. He had turned halfway around when a growl came from the trail behind him. He was trapped.

  With nowhere to go but up the side of the ravine, he lunged and scrabbled as far as he could up the loose rocky soil. He reached out to grab a low branch from one of the trees at the top of the incline, but a strong grip on his ankle pulled him back down to the trail. He slid down on his hip to keep Sherry up off the rocks. The instant he stopped sliding, he twisted and laid her down as gently as possible. Springing to his feet, he turned to face his attackers and was momentarily blinded by a flashlight.

  “Kyle?”

  The voice behind the flashlight was Amanda’s. She pointed the light toward the ground, but all he could make out was two silhouettes blocking the trail. The larger one came toward him, and he dropped into a defensive crouch.

  “Kyle, it’s okay. It’s Amanda and Jonathan. We came to get you out of here.”

  His vision recovered enough to see that she was telling the truth. He straightened and started to say, “Boy, am I glad ….”

  Before he could finish his sentence, something large and snarling hurtled past him so close that it brushed his arm. Jonathan went down under the assault, rolling aside to separate himself from the large wolf. He was on his feet with the next roll in a remarkable display of agility.

  The animal stood between Kyle and the others, growling fiercely with its hackles raised. This wolf was not Reggie. It was lighter in color and smaller. Kyle guessed that Skyler had shifted form to track him. She apparently could not speak while in wolf form, but her message to Jonathan and Amanda was clear. He’s ours. Get out.

  Amanda pointed a wand of some sort toward the animal as it gathered itself for a leap. “Sleep,” Amanda commanded. A blue glow enveloped the wolf right as its rear legs began to uncoil. Its growl changed to a weak canine whine and it collapsed to the ground at Amanda’s feet.

  “We need to get out of here,” Jonathan said. He raised his shirt to reveal a long bloody scratch along his ribs. “Damned wolf.”

  Amanda shined her flashlight on Sherry as Jonathan kneeled by her side. “What’s wrong with her?” Amanda asked. “Did they do this to her?”

  “Indirectly,” Kyle answered. “She ate some drugged food that was intended for me. She’s not hurt, just asleep.”

  Amanda met his gaze. “That’s convenient, actually.” She glanced at the wolf. “Less to explain.”

  “Ignorance is bliss,” Jonathan mumbled.

  Kyle briefly wished he were still ignorant regarding werewolves and witches. He’d love to go back to work tomorrow and forget about everything that happened over the past four weeks.

  Jonathan offered to carry Sherry, but Kyle didn’t know when she would start to wake up. She’d probably panic if she regained consciousness while being carried by a stranger. Besides, after the brief respite during the wolf encounter, Kyle felt somewhat restored.

  Jonathan stood over the wolf, which was twitching in its forced slumber. “Can you shield us, Amanda? I don’t want to run into more of them.”

  Amanda frowned up at the moon. It had progressed across the sky past meridian. She glanced at Kyle and then exchanged a significant look with Jonathan.

  He shrugged. “I know it will cost you some energy, but do we have a choice? That sleep spell was a one-shot, right? What if we run into more of them?”

  Amanda sighed. “We’ll have to fall back on other defenses, and things could get ugly.” She leveled an assessing gaze on Sherry’s somnolent form, and then she nodded. “Okay, we’ll do it your way.”

  Amanda wore a lightweight vest over a dark long-sleeved t-shirt. The vest was the kind that fishermen wear, with dozens of pockets. She tucked her wand into one of the pockets and extracted a metallic disk from another. The disk had symbols etched into its circumference and a reddish-orange gem of some kind set in the center. Holding the disk in her left hand, she went through a quick ritual, appealing to the spirits for help. She kneeled down and picked up a pinch of soil, which she sprinkled over the disk. A tube of water came from yet another pocket. She levered the stopper off the top with her thumb and slowly washed the dirt away. Finally, she blew gently across the top of the disk, and the gem in the center glowed faintly.

  The air was still that evening, but when Amanda blew on the disk, her breath seemed to evoke a stiff breeze. The breeze circled them all, ruffling their clothes as it passed, and then raced off toward the Foundation. Moments later, a deep howl split the night air. Another wolf was hunting them.

  “That’s our cue,” Jonathan remarked.

  Kyle picked up Sherry and matched Amanda’s swift stride down the trail while Jonathan took rear guard. “What did you do?” Kyle asked Amanda.

  “Shh,” she admonished. In a whisper, she added, “I obscured our trail. No more talking or the effort will be wasted.”

  Kyle followed Amanda to the property boundary. When they reached the Foundation’s block perimeter wall, he discovered that it merged into a rocky hillside, leaving the wildlife pathway to cross over a steep tumble of boulders. Kyle’s bare feet gripped well on the smooth rock, but he had to use his free hand to pull himself and Sherry up and over the peak.

  Once they had crossed the boundary, Amanda altered her course and went straight toward the gateway. When the sound of arguing voices became clearer, Amanda crouched and sneaked forward through the trees. Kyle followed as cautiously as he could. Two vehicles were stopped at the floodlit gate entrance.

  When Amanda came to a stop, Kyle took advantage of the opportunity to set Sherry down. She moaned, and he worried that she might be waking up, but the voices at the gateway distracted him.

  “We aren’t leaving until we speak with Mr. Nelson,” a woman’s voice insisted. It was Noreen. She stood next to the passenger door of the lead car. Her right hand gripped a gnarled staff that was nearly as tall as she was. Lucille stood next to the passenger door of the second vehicle. Both driver seats were occupied, but Kyle had no idea who the drivers might be.

  Noreen’s demand was met with the smooth and amused voice of Dr. Rutlinger on the opposite side of the closed gate. “Then you will be waiting a long time. As I said, Kyle is resting right now, and I imagine it would be quite difficult to wake him.”

  “You drugged him,” Noreen guessed with sharp disapproval. After a moment’s silence, she said, “Then let us speak to his girlfriend. We know she’s still here.”

  Dr. Rutlinger spread his hands. “She refuses to leave his side. It’s quite touching.”

  Noreen angled her staff toward the gate. “You know that there are consequences to kidnapping normals. Turn them over now, or we will be forced to retrieve them.”

  “Mr. Nelson is not a normal, as you well know, and Ms. Baxter is free to leave whenever she wishes. I’m sure she will be more than happy to be on her way Friday after Kyle is feeling better.” His voice took on a warning tone. “You have no justification for trespassing on Foundation property.”

  Amanda crept backward to Kyle and motioned Jonathan to get closer. “We should go out there before Noreen escalates the confrontation.”

  Jonathan nodded. “I agree. She didn’t like being part of the distraction and may try to take a more active role.”

  Amanda grimaced. “That would be her style.” She looked at Kyle. “Follow me out to the second car. I want you and Sherry in the back seat.” She then turned to Jonathan. “I’ll send Lucille to ride with you in the first car. Stay alert. I don’t know how the Pack will react when they see that we have Kyle with us. I’m going to tell Franz to start rolling as soon as we get in.”

  Jonathan nodded. “Let’s do it.”

  Amanda waited until Kyle had Sherry in his arms and was ready to move. This time, he cradled her with her head resting on his chest so he could quickly slip he
r into the car.

  The need for stealth was behind them, so they boldly walked out of the trees. Jonathan headed toward the first car, waving Lucille to come forward with him. Amanda went straight to the back door of the second car and opened it for Kyle. Leaning in, she said, “We’ve got them, Franz. Start the engine.”

  Kyle put Sherry on the seat and closed the door. He ran around to the other side of the car right behind Amanda and slid in next to Sherry. He fastened a seat belt around Sherry while Amanda got in the front and told Franz to leave immediately. The car had already backed around and was driving away by the time he had his own belt buckled.

  He looked back toward the gateway through the dust raised by his ride. The last thing he saw was Noreen’s intense gaze and an expression of smug satisfaction. Noreen seemed to delight in annoying people. Her parting conversation with Dr. Rutlinger would undoubtedly make her night.

  “Thanks for the rescue,” Kyle said to Amanda. “I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt in the car accident.”

  She turned around in her seat and smiled at him. “Hey, you practically rescued yourself. I think everyone was surprised at how quickly we returned from our rescue mission. We thought we were going to have to sneak into the Foundation and liberate you.”

  “Just the two of you? That was bold.”

  “Oh, we have a few tricks up our sleeves. Jonathan and I got out before the cars reached the gate. Noreen’s job was to keep them distracted while we went to get you.”

  “Speaking of Jonathan, where was he when we were pushed off the road?”

  Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Getting pulled over by a certain deputy sheriff. By the time he arrived at the scene, you were long gone. I was still yelling obscenities at myself for letting you ride with me and at you for talking me into it. The Pack has been monitoring our movements and waiting for us to make a mistake like that.”

  Kyle sighed and looked over at Sherry. She had slid into the corner of the seat near the door and was gently snoring through her open mouth. She was going to be fine, but he wasn’t much better off than he had been in his drug-induced coma. “I’m glad we got Sherry out, but this is probably all a waste as far as I’m concerned. I’ll either be dead or going back there on my own by Friday.”