Light of the Moon by David James Read Free Book Online Page B

always good things to see if you want them badly enough.”
    His eyes, deep and dark brown, said, I’m sorry .
    He knew just as much as me that the good things were not so easy to find, even if you wanted them with all your heart.
    He leaned close. Moments like this he reminded me of Tyler, of a friend. Maybe even of a father. “If you ever need to talk...”
    I cleared my throat. “I know,” I said. “Thanks.”
    Thanks for being there , I didn’t.
    He winked and said loudly, “And speaking of your article, good job on it so far. Just make sure you get those interviews done.”
    I smiled, breathed , and started to turn away.
    “Not so fast,” Knight said, waving me back. “I really did have something to talk to you about.”
    “Shoot.”
    “ The Hollow is getting a new staffer and I wanted you to kind of show her around. You know, answer questions and whatnot. She’s a junior like you, and was on the paper at her old school. Her transcripts said she’s pretty decent, but you can never be sure.”
    “Yeah, no problem. When does she get here?”
    A knock.
    A laugh. “She gets here now, apparently.”
    My heart.
    My stomach.
    No.
    And then, “Calum Wade, this is our new student, Kate Black. Kate, Calum will be showing you around for the next few days until you feel comfortable. Okay? Okay! Now, get to work both of you. If we don’t get this issue out by Monday, we won’t have it in time for Homecoming.”
    Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen it before, but when she smiled at Knight the air around me seemed to shiver, making anger impossible.
    Making breathing impossible.
    “Thanks,” she said, eyes smiling purple. When she smiled it was something like the first light of day, or a melody played only with the black keys of a piano; panged with inconceivable mystery. The melody of her voice as she spoke reverberated off every bone in my body, making my heart quake, hurt. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I need anything, Mr. Knight, though I don’t think it’ll take more than three days to fit in.”
    I felt those words attack me: Three days.
    “Three days, huh?” Knight raised an eyebrow. He grinned. “That’s confident of you. I like it! Now go work.”
    Kate smiled. “Yes, sir.” She turned to me, her smile set like stone against her sunset skin. “Let’s go, Calum. Time is ticking away.”
    We walked to the back of the room and sat. I could see Tanya looking daggers at us, and I couldn’t help feeling thankful Kate didn’t smell like candy. That girls like Tanya wanted nothing to do with ones like Kate. Instead, Kate smelled like a rainstorm and, as I looked at her, I realized she was probably just as dangerous.
    “Stop looking at me,” she said as she flipped open her notebook and started writing.
    “Okay, sorry,” I muttered, but couldn’t look away.
    As a flicker of sunlight flashed through the windows, I caught the shape of her tattoo. A deep black circle was inked on her finger in the place that a ring might hold. In it rested six lines crossing in a star, held together by a smaller circle in the middle. Several of the outer sections were filled in with ruby red ink, making it look like blood had spilled on the edges. The rest of the sections were pale, as if the blood had been there once and then was gone.
    Blood and gone . I shivered.
    Snap. Her pencil broke in her hands.
    “Sorry,” I said again, though I didn’t know why.
    “Pathetic,” she growled and turned away.
    A sad pang of Kate and three days and Dad washed over me beginning at my heart and destroyed what could have been. Or maybe, what never was.
    I’m tired of this, I thought as I tried to write. I’m so tired of pretending things aren’t happening when they’re all I can think about.
    I’m tired of being me.
    Outside, falling leaves covered the grass. They kept swirling around as if being thrown by cruel, unseen hands. In the orange I saw images of my mom, and in the yellow my dad. In the red, Kate’s eyes