Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(80)

“I had another dream.” His deep voice was graveled with exhaustion as he shifted his arm around my shoulder to draw me closer.

“My memories?”

“Mmm-hmm. Maybe sex helps the spell along. We should make a note of that in the Memory grimoire,” he said with amusement.

“Go on, tell me.” I quickly cleared cobwebs from my sleepy brain.

“You were older this time. You were sneaking inside a large, dark room. A temple. A large silver hexagram hung in the front of the room on a wall above a raised sanctuary with two ornate thrones. There were four doors leading into it from the back. They had roses carved in them.”

“The main lodge in Florida!” I lifted my head to prop my chin on his chest.

“You sneaked in through one of the doors and hid behind a column.” He looked down at me. “Do you remember this?”

“No.”

“Your mother was having an argument with someone. I could only see his back, but they were all in purple ceremonial robes. The man had long white hair, halfway down his back—”

“Caliph Superior,” I confirmed without reservation.

“Oh? He looked like an old wizard from a fairy tale.”

“He used to. His hair is short now. Go on.” My hand trailed lightly across his ribs, down the slight concave of his stomach, back up again.

“Well, he was saying that you—his words—‘should have already manifested qualities that would indicate deification.’ He kept insisting that his guardian told him that you should be able to pull energy from the moon by now. That you could use Heka inside you to kindle moon energy and harvest it for more powerful magick. That some ancient text claimed that you should be able to do this after you started menstruating.”

“Wait, what?” My roaming hand stopped, taut on his ribs.

“Just the messenger,” he reminded me.

“Well, that means I was at least twelve when this happened, because that’s when I had my first period, but kindling the moon? The Moonchild spell doesn’t just strengthen Heka? I’m supposed to be able to generate magical power from the moon? What the hell?”

“Just repeating what your caliph said. That he’d personally tried to get you to kindle moon energy for several months but nothing was happening.”

“Weird. I don’t remember him trying to teach me moon magick. Christ, I wouldn’t even know how to start. Anyway, keep going.”

“He said that he had no doubt that you were special, because his guardian had examined you. He mentioned your halo. His guardian told him about it. Then he was trying to get your mother to show him the ritual they used for your conception. She insisted it was the proper one, from the order’s private library.”

My cheek moved against his chest as I nodded. “That’s where I read about it.”

“He was also asking for the name of the man who presided over the ritual. She gave a name, Frater Oben?”

“Yes. That’s the old mage I was telling you about. The one they had sex in front of.” I grimaced, shucking away the thought. “He died before I was born. Kind of a relief that I never had to look the man in the eye.”

Lon grunted in agreement. “After that, they argued back and forth. He insisted that he was only concerned for her and had her best interest at heart. She got upset and walked out crying. Then the dream ended.”

“Huh,” I said, puzzled. Was it possible that my parents had failed or screwed something up with the Moonchild spell? It pissed me off to know that the caliph had made my mom cry. I had to remind myself that this had happened years ago. Still … I thought about Lon’s earlier suspicion of the caliph. I hated to think he was right. It made me a little sick to consider it, even. But what if the caliph was only concerned about the order’s reputation? Only concerned that they had a real Moonchild in their ranks? In the dream, was he accusing my mother of having failed at the spell?

Then I allowed myself to think about something worse. “Hey Lon? What if the caliph wasn’t really kidnapped by Luxe this past week? What if …”

“He was working with Luxe? It crossed my mind, but some things don’t fit. You said the caliph was the only person, apart from your parents, who knows where you live. If he was working with Luxe, why would they send Riley Cooper to track you down with a Pareba demon?”

“They wouldn’t. If he wanted to turn me over to Luxe, he could just come and get me himself.”

“Exactly.” He thought for a moment, then asked, “Right now I’m more curious about the moon kindling. Do you think that’s what happened back in the caves with the incubus?”

“I doubt it. I think I would have known if I was kindling moon energy. I wasn’t even trying, it just happened. Plus, why would an ability like this appear out of the blue if it was supposed to have happened during puberty? It doesn’t make sense.”

“If we can get our hands on the damn glass talon, maybe you can just ask your parents,” Lon suggested. “Seems like they have all the answers about the caliph and the moon spell.”

My heart fluttered. He was right. If I could just finish this and prove their innocence, then I could have them back. They could help me figure out what had happened with the incubus. We’d sort it out together. If they failed with the Moon-child spell, who cared? I sure didn’t.