Palace of Moonlight

by Payton Taylor

  "For your information," her words came out as a low hiss, "Sunny wasn't in your mind. Neither of us was, but sometimes some of your thoughts filter through if you feel very strongly about them and we can't help it if we hear some of them. It's not intentional." She paused and something came over her. A slightly manic look in her eye that was too close to the look of bloodlust that had come over her in that battle for comfort. "But if you ever compare her to Azmodeous again, I can't promise that I won't hurt you."

  She shook her head and continued on in a ragged whisper. "You have no idea what she's been through."

  Westin felt his mouth hanging open, gaping at the sister that was usually more reserved. But his anger also came rising to the forefront, as well. Like he hadn't been through hell? As if he'd been sitting pretty in this land of criminals?

  Jo's head cocked to the side in a very Azmodeous- like pose and her voice came out achingly soft. "If I knew it wouldn't hurt Sunny, I would show you. Show you what he put us through. But maybe not knowing is worse for you, huh? Maybe you should sit there and wonder for a second how things had been for her while she was held captive under an evil sociopath. I know you're angry at her, and I get it, but quit drowning in your pity party. It's not a competition of who had it worse."

  Westin growled and was about to reply when Zahra stepped between them. "Alright, alright, that's enough! I swear to Liebbe you two are worse than children."'

  Westin opened his mouth, then closed it when no rebuttal found its way out. He huffed and stomped away.

  Both of those women are insufferable, he thought as he kicked a metal pot as hard as he could. He welcomed the pain in his toe as he watched it fly into the water.

  The thing that made him most angry was that Jo was right. He and Noelani's issues were just that, theirs. She wasn't the villain in all this. Maddow's wind, he knew she had been through hell, and now that Jo had mentioned it, he was wondering once again what all she had gone through. He didn't know if he'd be able to live with himself, knowing what she'd been through, and with the way he'd been treating her. . .

  He forcefully pulled a wooden drawer out in one of the shacks, grabbing some of the first aid supplies and clothing.

  He went to the water and began filling everyone's canteens and pots and stuffing them wherever he could fit them. He tried making their bags light for the journey ahead.

  Nearby, Zahra sang softly under her breath as she sorted through some vegetables she had found.

  He felt it a moment before Jo shouted. Panic flitted through the bond he shared with Noelani, immediately followed by anger. Then pain.

  "Sunny, no!" He heard Jo say aloud as she clutched her head.

  He was beside her before he even felt his feet move. "What's happening?"

  She looked at him and all the anger from before was replaced with worry. "Sunny needs us!" Then, she took off running, Westin and Zahra following closely.

  He didn't think twice before he picked up the two women and took off running at top speed. The bond was like a compass in his soul, always pointing north. Or, in his case, to Noelani.

  The thought barely crossed his mind before he felt that tug in his gut, leading him to her.

  When they finally found her, Westin's stomach was in his throat, and his heart was beating over time.

  His eyes widened as he loosened his grip on Jo and Zahra, releasing them.

  Marzanna stood to the side, a man holding a knife to her throat. The pale orange Mark on his throat told Westin that he was a Queller, so Marzanna was unable to fight back. Khione lay unconscious beside her.

  Next to them stood a familiar figure. The woman Westin had saved all those weeks ago stared hard at the ground in front of her.

  Where Noelani lay, her face a deadly shade of purple and she gasped for air that wasn't coming. A woman straddled her, her fists raining down on Noelani's face and chest with surprising ferocity.

  Noelani's eyes, already bruised and swelling, locked onto his. Dead. Though she was obviously alive and struggling against the woman on top of her, the look in her eyes could only be described as dead. As if whatever place her mind had retreated to was one she was both familiar with and hated all at once.

  And as Westin raced over to her, he vaguely thought of their conversation from earlier, and of when she first arrived in the wastes.

  Fear did indeed do funny things to you.

  Chapter 25

  Jo

  Writhia, 5220

  The Wastes

  Jo's breath caught in her throat as she watched Westin run for her sister. The moment he reached her, he grabbed the woman on top of her and threw her, grunting a bit as he heaved her heavy form. She hit the trunk of a broad tree with a crunch and Jo wasn't sure if the noise was from bark splitting or bones breaking.

  Jo glanced around to see a tall, muscular woman holding her hands out. Jo dipped into her mind and saw that she was an Air Elemental and that she was using her Gift on Sunny, cutting off her air supply so that she couldn't breathe, couldn't think.

  With barely a thought, Jo shut down that part of her brain, disconnecting her from her Gift.

  Sunny gasped in a breath as the woman let out a cry, clutching her head.

  It had to be painful, Jo supposed. To be cut off from one's Gift, a vital, crucial thing that was as unique to each person as their brain waves or their fingerprints. It would feel like a loss, she was sure. Like losing a limb. Or having one's air cut off. Maybe now that she knew what it felt like, she wouldn't use it to gang up on others.

  She turned to look at Jo with horror etched in every crevice of her face and Jo knew that the woman wouldn't forget it, this violation. She could see it in the woman's mind, watched her memorize Jo's face with precise detail.

  Jo ignored her and latched onto the mind of the man who held Marzanna, forcing him to let her go. When she was free, she dropped the basket she'd been using to hold berries and ran to Khione, placing her hand gently on the other woman's face.

  The man's eyes looked over to the groaning woman Westin had thrown, now slumped against the tree. She let him go to her.

  Jo turned to find her sister on the ground, Westin hovering over her. She jogged over to Sunny and knelt beside her, her hand hovering near her face.

  "How bad is it?" Jo asked.

  Sunny met her gaze, one of her eyes bloodshot, the skin around it already swelling and bruising. There was a gash across her forehead, thankfully not too deep.

  Her sister smiled a bit, her teeth red with blood. "I've had worse."

  Westin's mouth tightened and he lifted his head to glare at the woman. "Agares in hell, what was that, Asta? You know damn well they weren't a threat to you." He flung his hand toward Marzanna, her discarded basket laying nearby, "For Gerra's sake, they were picking berries!"

  The woman, Asta, finally dragged her eyes from Jo to look at Westin. "I didn't know she was yours."

  Westin snorted, "She belongs to no one."

  Sunny looked up at him and Jo thought it might be the first time the two of them had agreed on something since they'd reconnected.

  Asta rolled her eyes, "Don't be daft, you know what I mean." As Westin narrowed his eyes, she held up her hands, "Fine, whatever. What brings you here anyway?" Her grey eyes ran over the group of them, lingering for a moment on Jo, who still held the woman's Gift in her proverbial palm.

  Westin shifted, drawing her gaze back to him. "You don't need to know why we're here. We didn't know it was your land, we're leaving."

  He looked at Sunny, at the gash in her head that was still leaking blood. "That is, after you help us."

  Asta raised an eyebrow, "Help you?"

  "You owe me. You said it yourself after I saved your life."

  Her nostrils flared as Jo watched the memory replay in her thoughts. A huge animal, on top of her, teeth aiming for her throat. Then Westin, ripping it away from her, killing it with her bow.

  "I said I owe you. Just you. I don't know these people."

  "Yo
u didn't know me, either," Westin told her. "You still don't. But you hurt my people when they were no threat to you." He met her eyes. "You'll help us."

  The man who had held the knife to Marzanna's throat looked to her imploringly. "Asta?"

  Asta rubbed at her jaw, considering. She glanced around once more, her eyes lingering on Jo.

  Though she didn't like it, Jo released her mental hold on the two of them. Let them think of it as a show of good faith. As if Jo wasn't still there, in their minds, ready to tighten her grip on them once more.

  Asta sighed a breath of relief as her Gift was returned to her. She looked back to Westin, crossing her arms over her chest. "Fine. One night."

  "Two."

  Her eyes narrowed, but Westin refused to back down.

  "Two," she agreed.

  Surprisingly, Westin glanced to Jo. She knew what he was asking.

  Her Gift slithered its way through the woman's mind, looking for any sign of deceit.

  Jo nodded as she found no ill intent. For now.

  Westin still hesitated a moment before he nodded resolutely. He stood, lifting Sunny in his arms as he did. He inclined his head to Asta, "Lead on."

  *****

  Asta's camp wasn't very far. They gathered their belongings and rounded up the rest of their group and made the hike in under an hour, Sunny complaining the whole way for Westin to put her down and let her walk.

  He just glared at her and refused.

  The camp was large, full of ramshackle buildings built from scraps of wood and metal along the bank of the river, the closest ones sitting on stilts for when the river flooded. The people wore dirty scraps of clothing. Jo's heart ached when she saw children playing, children born into this cursed land with no hope and no future. She thought of Zoe's bright hazel eyes. She had grown up here, like these children. Jo wondered where she was, if she had found someplace safe.

  There were a good number of people, about a hundred in all. Jo tried to scan the mind of every person she passed, looking for any threats. What she found was a fair amount of curiosity and some suspicion, but no obviously threatening thoughts.

  Kian had carried Khione and she was still unconscious-from a blow to the head, they had told Jo. The group had ambushed the three of them in the woods, thinking they were from another gang. Sunny had charged in, like a lioness, one of the men had said, tackling the woman who had been standing over Khione's already unconscious body. Then Asta had used her Gift to steal Sunny's breath and the woman had turned the tide.

  Jo could sense her sister's thoughts. Could feel her embarrassment at Asta having got the better of her. Jo couldn't blame her. Since coming to Writhia, she and Sunny had been told time and time again how powerful they were. They could feel their power for themselves.

  It made them cocky.

  That, mixed with everything they had been through, made them reckless.

  Sunny looked at Jo as the thought went through both of their minds. She nodded, a silent agreement between the two of them to be more vigilant.

  They had bandaged up the cut on Sunny's forehead and wiped her face, and she and Khione were resting. The rest of them had eaten the food Asta had offered, scarfing it down gratefully even as Asta and her gang glared at them, upset at having to share their food.

  Until she'd come to Writhia, Jo had never known hunger. Not until the king had punished her by taking away her food for days at a time. Not until she'd come to the Wastes.

  Now, she was lying on a pallet on the ground between Sunny and Seren, the rest of her friends drifting off to sleep around her. Seren's heavy blanket was draped over him despite the heat. He couldn't sleep without it.

  Jo closed her eyes tightly, trying to clear her mind to sleep. She couldn't keep herself from constantly checking and rechecking the minds of the gang members around them. Sure, she hadn't sensed any threatening thoughts when they'd first arrived, but Jo wasn't willing to take it on faith that they wouldn't change their minds.

  After she scanned the camp one last time and left out her mental feelers, to alert her of oncoming threats, her thoughts drifted to Leo, who slept on the other side of Seren. Whenever she had a free moment, her mind drifted to him and their Match bon and the kiss they had shared. and the fear in his eyes when he'd run away from her.

  I’ve never had much luck with men, but I’ve never had one actually run away from me before, she thought. She kind of wanted to laugh. She kind of wanted to cry. But she refused to cry over Leo Cassavant.

  Her thoughts circled around Leo until she fell asleep.

  She found herself next to a creek that rushed and gurgled its way over piles of pebbles and fallen logs. The sun streamed through the leaves overhead and she looked around and saw that she was in a familiar place. A trail at a local wildlife park she and her sister had walked down since they were children.

  When she was little, she would walk barefoot across the larger stones in the creek, looking for the tiny shells that rested among the small rocks. Her mother and sister would stand in the calf-deep water next to her, Sunny squealing each time she caught sight of one of the crawdads that lived in the shallows. Eleyna would laugh and pick up the offending creature, smiling at its pinching claws as if seeing it for the first time.

  Jo dreamed of home often. The cornfields and the small town she had grown up in. Memories from her childhood, of Eleyna playing with her and Sunny. Of her mother looking up at the moon at night, frowning at it as if she didn't trust its placement among the stars.

  This dream was different than those dreams, however. This dream felt real somehow, in a way that dreams shouldn’t and couldn’t feel. Everything was steady and focused. Jo’s movements were sure and precise, nothing like the half faded, jelly-like landscape of a normal dream.

  “Well, this place is new,” a familiar voice said behind her.

  She turned to find Leo, dressed in clothes that more closely resembled something someone on Earth would wear. He was wearing a simple black T-shirt and Jo smiled at the word Nirvana written across the front in yellow. His long legs were clad in fashionably faded blue jeans, rolled up at the ankles. His feet were bare, and he was hopping from stone to stone, his feet light, his balance never wavering.

  “Seph, why did you bring me to a creek? Not that I’m not loving the whole rustic vibe.” His voice was light, lighter than she’d ever heard it.

  And his face.

  His face was bright, happy. No worry or fear or suspicion weighed on his sharp, handsome features.

  He hopped off the rocks, walking over to her in three long strides. He smiled softly as he reached out, running his hands down her arms until he clasped her hands in his. His hands left a trail of heat in their wake, deep and slow like a flow of lava burning a path under her skin.

  He grinned the grin of a child. “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”

  Jo looked down to find herself in her favorite sundress, the navy one with the pink flowers. She looked back up at him and she felt herself smile.

  She wanted to bask in this dream.

  Leo’s hands let go of hers to wrap around her waist as he lowered his head, pressing his lips lightly against hers. Then he pressed down harder, his kiss slow but deep, and she reached up to twine her arms around his neck, kissing him back.

  It was everything she had ever wanted in a peaceful dream back when she’d lived on earth. A beautiful day in a favorite place with a beautiful man who cared for her. A beautiful man who showed her how much he cared as he pressed her to him like he was afraid that if he let go, she would vanish from his arms.

  He kissed her like he had all the time in the world. He kissed her like she could leave at any second.

  Leo pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. “I love dreams,” he told her, his voice wistful. “I love that in them, nothing matters so everything can matter. It’s not like when I’m awake. In my dreams, it’s only you, you and no one else. Not like my nightmares. Not like real life.”

  Jo frowned.
He wasn’t making much sense. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed and leaned back but picked up her hand, playing with her fingers as he answered. The casual touch was unexpected, distracting her.

  “I mean that she isn’t here. She doesn’t exist so I don’t have to worry, because, without her shadow there to cut me, I’m whole. I wish I had known you before I met Cerise. Then you would see how I was. How I used to be. Before.”

  Cerise? What was he talking about? Why would Dream Leo mention Cerise?

  Then she looked at him, really looked at him. He was so solid, so real. His hands left goosebumps on her skin as they lightly stroked her arms. She took a breath and she could smell him, the way he had smelled when they had kissed in the tent. Like sweat and leaves and mud.

  She started as she realized that the scent she had recognized earlier wasn't the dream, but him.

  And behind his dark eyes, she could feel it. His shield. The one he somehow managed to keep up even in his sleep. She had never felt a wall as strong as his. One even she couldn’t knock down.

  And that’s when she knew this wasn’t just a dream. Somehow, she had pulled Leo into her dream with her. She was in control. He thought he was talking in his dream, but he was talking to the real Jo, telling her things he kept to himself.

  She wouldn’t lie to herself, part of her was tempted to ask more, to find out why he had run. To ask more about Cerise. She wanted to so, so badly it was like an ache.

  Then he smiled at her and it was the most painfully sweet smile she’d ever seen. “If you knew me before, Seph, I think you could have loved me.”

  Jo's eyes flew open as she forced herself to wake up.

  Her hand flew to her chest where her heart ached with every rapid beat. She looked over to where Leo was asleep, or at least the general area. She couldn't see him in the dark.

  But she could feel him. Feel that shield he kept up and never lowered. She used to think he was just paranoid. She should have known better.