Luna: Mist Riders, #1

CHAPTER 1

YOU DON’T GIVE UP ON dreams as much as dreams give up on you.

Grandma’s predilection for riddles shone through every time she shared her meticulous bits of advice. I had heard that phrase more than once. It was her not-so-subtle way of advising me to be careful what I wished for—an uncertain dream is a dream that can never come into being.

Dreams are a kind of magic, she said. And magic is certain.

Outside the coffee shop window, the soft colors of sunset had begun to gather on the horizon. At just before seven on a Friday evening, the coffee shop was oddly empty. True, we were at the far end of the campus and it was Labor Day weekend, meaning most students had more interesting plans than coffee and a bagel, but still... The last customer had departed with an espresso macchiato five minutes ago.

Maura and I sat behind the counter, messing with our phones.

We might as well clean up, Maura said as she stood.

I nodded but stayed put. I closed my eyes to calm my nerves. The prospect of a brand-new life overwhelmed me at times. I never let myself believe it was in the cards, but here I was, stressing over my future.

A sudden gust of wind swung the door open, hurling a flurry of yellow and brown leaves inside the shop. The leaves swirled and danced, becoming translucent under the fluorescent lights before landing on the floor.

What the hell was that? Maura said, rushing to close the door. Huh, she said as she turned to me. It’s dead calm outside. No wind. Strange.

There’s always a wind. Not one moment, not one heartbeat passes where I don’t hear the sound.

I usually did a better job at keeping the wind harnessed, but the fact my life was about to take a new turn had thrown me off my game. The lapses were becoming more frequent.

It didn’t take much effort to keep the elements at bay—to me such a task was a primal instinct, like breathing or blinking, but a shock to the system can even make us forget to breathe or blink for a hot second, can’t it?

Maura waved a hand in front of my face. So, will you go? she said. "They have all those tall, blonde women there. A fiery little green-eyed brunette like you would be très exotique in Sweden."

Wow, stereotype, much?

I’d be going to Stockholm to study, not work in a brothel, Maura.

That’s no fun, she said, her eyes locked on mine. What’s the verdict, Miss Collinsworth?

I looked down at the letter as I took it out of my pocket. I had already memorized its contents as if it were a school project.

Dear Ms. Collinsworth,

We are pleased to inform you that your scholarship application to study toward the Master in Ethnology has been accepted. You are eligible for a scholarship amount of $12,000 for one full year.

Please confirm receipt of this letter either through mail or email and inform us whether you intend to claim this scholarship by October 8. If we do not receive response by October 8, the scholarship will be offered to the next deserving student.

Congratulations and we look forward to welcoming you to the University of Stockholm.

Well? Maura insisted.

I wish I knew, I said with a sigh.

You should obviously go, Sophie, Maura concluded with a matter-of-fact tone. Regrets and all that jazz, she added for good measure.

Yeah, what is life but an endless engine of regret? Wearing harem pants in tenth grade, breaking up with Tobin right before our high school graduation ceremony and, most of all, leaving Grandma behind in Astoria, the small Oregon town on the Columbia River where I grew up, to study social anthropology in San Diego.

Even though she expressed only encouragement, I could always sense a sincere concern in my Gram’s benevolent eyes every time I visited. Her fears felt palpable although I’d managed to stay far away from trouble.

I could only imagine the dread in her eyes when I told her I was considering going to Europe to complete my master’s degree and begin research for my PhD on Medieval Mingling of Myth, Magic and Witchcraft.

If I ever had a dream, this would be it—to follow my curiosities down a path that would make me a functioning member of society, hiding out in the joyous anonymity of a small-town college professor position.

Maybe you’re right, Maura, I said the moment Rob walked in to work the evening shift. Big Rob’s here, my cue to leave.

That’s right, Maura said with a sigh. Lucky girl. I’m here till ten.

The lucky girl’s the one who gets to ride with me, Rob said with a wink as he passed by on the way to the timeclock.

A Rob shift is always fun, I said, tucking my letter into my back pocket.

It’s still Friday night though, Maura said, wiping down the counter.

Rob handed me my purse and denim jacket. I punched you out, homie. Go forth and get your youth on.

Oh, I turned my youth off years ago, I said as I headed for the door.

The sky had turned the darkest blue. A pale moon had started to emerge, half-hidden behind a dark cloud. The breeze tickled my sandaled feet as I walked onto the sidewalk. I curled down my toes and huffed.

Don’t F with me, I scolded the taunting breeze as I hurried down Caesar Drive to catch the bus.

Streetlights came on one after the other as I moved past them. They hung brightly above flower beds and trees like hovering fireflies.

I watched in astonishment as the bus drove off. Just my luck. Of all days, today was the day that the perpetually late bus ran on time.

That left me with two choices, and both pissed me off: wait for the next bus for thirty minutes or walk home, which would probably save me a minute or two.

Or I could go for option three and cut through Mission Park. That would save me more like ten minutes, but it would also mean I'd be walking through a very active collection of flora at dusk.

This would not concern a normal girl, but I was anything but normal. As a rule, I didn’t cross big parks after sunset as there were always too many elements to appease at once. I was definitely in no mood for multitasking.

In the end, impatience won out. Not to mention that if I ever wanted to live like a normal person, I would have to start acting like one.

I peeked up at the darkening sky. The nearly full moon was partially obscured by hastening clouds. Chances were that the lunar energy field wouldn’t be overwhelming.

Just relax, I told the grass as I stepped onto the path into the park. I have this under control.

The vegetation all around began to hum. It was a subtle, benign murmur but, at the same time, impossible to ignore. With a sigh, I stepped onto the grass, letting it brush softly against my toes through the sandals.

A pulsing sensation ran up my leg as I stepped on a dry, yellow leaf.

I hastened my gait, leaping from leaf to crunchy leaf, timing my breaths with every crackle and snap of my landing feet.

There was not a moment to blink. With every footfall, my powers swelled and broke like an ebbing wave. It was like surfing a frantic tide, rising and falling in tandem with the moon’s whims.

The vibrations underneath my feet surged unexpectedly. I quickly veered back onto the gravel path, so as not to wake what would best be kept in peaceful slumber.

I pricked up my ears when a low, guttural sound cut through the dark, its source way too close for comfort.

Was I too late? Had some unsavory beast banished from the Deep Down sensed my maturing command of Earth elements and decided to come out to play?

It was not something I cared to find out. I accelerated into a trot when a tall figure across the park caught my eye. His dark overcoat and long-tailed hood stopped me cold.

The man lingered as well. The hood hung low, concealing his eyes in shadows. All the same, I could feel the menace of his gaze fixed on me.

Any deliberation as to how to proceed ceased when I sensed the shallow breathing of a second hooded man behind me.

What the hell is going on? I whispered as I spotted a third man standing under a tree to my right.

A triangle. Nice touch. No shape in nature is stronger. Each of the four elements is represented by the symbol of the triangle.

I closed my eyes for a brief second, trying to stimulate the protective shield hidden under my fingernails even though using it was forbidden in the basic world. I didn’t feel an etheric field. That meant these men, whatever they wanted from me, were mere humans—basic, as my kind called them.

In perfect synchronization, they closed in on me, barely leaving an arm’s length of free space around me. I swallowed to steady my frenzied nerves.

Yeah, I said, so what do you want? A thousand possible unwelcome responses flooded my head.

The tall one smiled, revealing a set of crooked teeth. What we want, my pretty little thing, you have aplenty, he said, reaching out to wrap his fingers around my throat. Plenty for all of us.

CHAPTER 2

THE MAGIC RACED TO my fingertips, gliding through my etheric field to heat up my palms. I struggled to control the current’s raw power. Magic was as hard to resist as any instinct—all efforts to suppress it gnawed at my human core.

Struggling to inhale, my nostrils filled with the man’s foul breath as his fingers tightened around my throat.

My hands flew up and jolted his hands with enough magic to loosen his deadly grip. My gut twisted after that burst of forbidden witchcraft.

The thug shook off my zap. Locking his sinister eyes on mine, he slipped a hand underneath my shirt. My lungs stopped working when the second goon slathered his hands all over me from behind, feeling up my thighs and hips.

Disgusted, I pushed back against him but found it impossible to budge his massive body even a bit. I was trapped between two vicious goons, feeling their intrusion at the center of my being, crushing me, annihilating my spirit in more ways than one.

My mind melted into a state of incoherent thought. Anger sparked.

Seriously? This is about sexual assault? Newsflash, dickweeds, I’m not about to let you gang rape me in a park.

That’s the spirit, lass, I can feel you warming up, one of them hissed.

His casual tone made me shiver. My vision blurred as blood pounded inside my skull. Another thug closed in, shoving his partner aside to get his hands on my chest. His hood fell back, exposing his cruel face.

I got a quick glimpse of the hard lines across his forehead and his dark, heavy eyebrows. There was something wrong with the way his eyes glimmered in the dark—yellow, stark, inhuman.

You dimwit, the man behind me snarled as his accomplice quickly put the hood back on his head.

I knew it was my chance and took it, delivering a quick knee to his groin.

The man moaned and cursed. I whirled my body, lashing out on instinct, and managed to pull myself free from the unholy trio of miscreants.

I sprinted away only to trip and fall, rolling onto the soft grass.

Again, the tall men closed in on me. Mess with us, little slut, and you’ll pay the price, one of them said. You’ve no idea who you’re dealing with.

My eyes rose to the sky. The clouds had drifted north, unveiling the Moon in its full, luminous silence. Still on the ground, I scurried backwards on my hands and butt.

The moon beams finally remembered me, surging into my pores, filling me with their silver energy.

A single spinning leaf hovered next to me, offering up its elemental core, as I slammed both palms on the grass, stifling my senses. The roar of the grass split my eardrums in half.

My assailants moved toward me, hearing nothing.

I raised my eyes to them as fury overtook my features. No, it’s you who have no idea who you’re dealing with, I muttered, rising to my feet.

Six hands reached for me. I stomped my right foot on the ground, unleashing my energy field from its tethers.

Run! I yelled as the energy swelled into a purple fireball.

Girl, what you... was all I heard before the unbridled force shuddered along my spine and tendons and detonated.

The energy blasted out of me, colliding with the ground, sparking and howling as it began to envelop the thugs on all sides and above their heads.

The hapless men ducked down and ran off, disturbed to their cores, exactly as I had willed it to be.

That felt good, even glorious, to use the full force of my magic again, something I had only done before in controlled environments underground. The Lunar Order wanted to keep all the training sealed up in the dim chambers and ancient catacombs of the Deep Down.

For the first time, I had engaged my true nature in the basic world. My brain felt finely tuned and my skin glistened with health. To bring out my magic under the full moonshine, to use it in a fight and to win—God, that was something new, a sensation like no other.

Then the gravity of what I had really done hit me like a ton of bricks. I had been forced to use magic in the up above, or what the basics knew as the real world. I didn’t even know how many rules I had broken at once, or the punishment I would suffer if my actions became known to the Lunar Order.

There were few extrasensory orbs left in the hidden lands of the Deep Down and even fewer in the up above, but those that remained could record disturbances of equilibrium in the elements from great distances. Nothing came free. Every use of energy we initiated had to be drawn from somewhere in nature.

That which is expended cannot be replaced.

Even so, I had used a minimal amount of magic. With a little luck, my energy strike would slip by unnoticed.

I ran. Leaving the scene of the unfortunate events seemed prudent. The witches of the Lunar Order were spread thin across the globe. Maybe my little blip would dissipate before ever registering with any of them.

I’d call Grandma to ask her to glance into her orb when I got home. She would surely discover any disturbances in the elemental power fields. I’d rather have a gentle Grandma scolding me than a couple of random magistrates of magic showing up at my door.

My lungs filled with air for the first time when I neared the side street that would take me out of the park and toward home. A few more quick steps and the Mission Park incident would be a memory.

The passage to freedom was interrupted by a tall, powerful figure that materialized in my path as if from thin air.

A chill cut through me.

Why can’t I catch a break tonight?

This man was different. I knew it the second I laid eyes on him. I could feel his power, palpable and potent, pulsing with menace.

He was also the most impressive-looking man I had ever seen. His eyes were dark yet somehow blue like the ocean deep. He had broad shoulders and a sparkling about him like a shimmering aura. Leather jacket, boots, lips that seemed freshly minted, almost feminine.

Was it my own magic that had summoned him? If so, how could he get here so fast? There was no way this dude lived in my neighborhood.

The aura shone brighter as he neared. I backed up but then hesitated in order to better study his face. He was more than handsome, he was hypnotic.

I debated whether this spell was cast by potent magic or superb genetics. Either way, his essence was irresistible, a beacon to every woman or man entering his orbit, be it witch, sorcerer, mage, shapeshifter, faery, healer, slayer or basic human. They would all drop their defenses and follow this unparalleled man through eternity.

Dammit, Sophie, you need to snap out of it. Your defenses are weakening.

My fear that someone in the Lunar Order would sense my unauthorized behavior blinded me to the real threat, the possibility that my magic would be felt by a powerful hostile.

His magnificence did not fool me for long. In my gut, I knew that this being’s aesthetic attributes were pure danger.

From my very limited options I chose once again to run. The man would not dare follow me out into the streets among the basics. At least, I hoped he wouldn’t. Certain things were forbidden to all of us.

I found an angle and bolted for the road. With the slightest twitch, he knocked me clean off my feet with a powerful undercurrent. His energy struck my calves, flipping me a few feet above ground. I landed with a twisting thud that shot pain through every joint in my body.

The green world stopped rustling, its sudden stillness whooshing through my ears as I fought to maintain mental clarity. I planted both palms on the grass underneath me as the man advanced toward me with long strides.

Elemental power coursed through my veins, strong and willing. I felt it swell and sizzle on my palms. The energy ball I hurled at my opponent was made of pure force, capable of knocking out a pack of elephants. He deflected it easily, like it was nothing much, poof, a thin veil of mist that fell to the ground.

He circled me, urgent and unfeeling. You’re good at party tricks, he said. His deep voice echoed in my head. Now let’s see if there is anything substantial inside you.

I summoned a new wave of power. He crushed my magic before it left my hand. Searing pain ripped through my ribcage and twisted my heart.

I screamed.

With a snap of his wrist, a levitation force lifted me, ever so slowly, and left me suspended twenty feet above the ground.

My whole body hurt as if I was clenched inside a giant hand.

All my bravado from vanquishing the three hooded men had vanished. The man in front of me was beyond my powers. It would be pointless to continue the fight. I had already attempted what Gram would have advised, to back down and run, but failed at that as well.

The grass anticipated my fall, expanding and softening to cushion my plunge as the man released his hold. Considering that he had bonded the trees to his magic, keeping the leaves still, so I was unable to absorb their energy, it was a wonder he hadn’t controlled the grass. He could have turned it hard like cement if he had so desired.

So, his cruelty isn’t absolute. Nor does he want me dead.

Not yet anyway.

My adrenaline surged the second the ground began to shake under me. Springing to my feet, I ran as fast as I could, ignoring the excruciating agony that burned through my body.

An invisible whip lassoed around my left ankle, yanking me off my feet.

I expended an incredible amount of my magic to latch onto the earth, as his