Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(85)

Scivina’s halo appeared as a soft puff of cloud. She was calm, the epitome of service and decorum, as most guardians are. No emotion registered on her face at the sight of me. She blinked once, canting her head in greeting, then spoke in my head, like Priya used to.

Seléne, your mother requests your presence.

“When? Where?”

Anno IVXIX, Sol twenty-two degrees in Libra, Luna twenty-nine degrees in Aries.

“Gregorian calendar, please.”

Tomorrow night at ten thirty. The Luxe Order’s Sapphire Temple in San Diego. Do not be late. This is important.

“Yes, I’m headed there already. My parents will be there? Do they know about the council?”

I will tell them you have accepted the appointment and will prepare myself to locate you when you arrive. Do not enter the temple or approach anyone. It is not safe. Wait for me to find you, Scivina said before bowing her head.

“Wait! Tell them that I can prove their innoc—”

It was too late. Scivina dissipated without acknowledging my final words. The air wobbled and bent, then became still again.

A chilly dread began eating away at my chest. It is not safe. That warning had come from my mom. My parents were probably worried sick about me; they always were. But they didn’t know what I’d found. Didn’t know I could save them. Once they realized this, we could go up against the council together.

“Hmph,” Lon said. “I guess they do know about the Luxe mandate, huh?”

“You heard Scivina?”

He nodded. “Like I can hear people’s thoughts when I’m transmutated.”

“Maybe they’re planning to turn themselves in. I better get there a little early to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Seconds ticked by while neither one of us said anything.

“Nerves getting the best of ya?” Lon asked with a weak smile.

“I just want it to be over.”

“Stay here tonight,” he murmured.

“I need to take care of some things at my house.” I also needed a hot shower and a good, long nap.

“Then come back later tonight and stay here. Leave in the morning.” He intertwined his fingers with mine. “Please?” he amended.

There was no need to answer, I supposed, because he could probably sense that his proposal not only pleased me, but also ignited an unexpected tenderness that echoed deeper. Too bad it was all being drowned out by the worry coiling in my stomach.

34

Morning sun blinded me as I sneaked out of Lon’s bedroom. He was taking a shower, and I didn’t have the guts to drag out our good-byes. Dodgy feelings about the trip to San Diego trailed after me like an annoying child underfoot. He said when we woke that he didn’t have a dream flashback of my memories. I took it from his abrupt manner that he was either anxious about not having had one, or he was lying. I preferred to believe it was the former. If the caliph really wasn’t on my side, Lon wouldn’t dare let me walk into a bad situation unaware; I knew that much for sure, and it gave me some amount of solace.

Last night before I came back here, I left Riley with the instruction to be ready to leave when I returned. She acted genuinely sad to be going home to San Diego, but was overjoyed to be leaving the house. It was just after ten now, so I wanted to speak to Jupe before I left. When I’d come back here last night, he was asleep, so we hadn’t seen each other since that horrible night at his school.

With my tattered navy hoodie zipped to the neck, I shoved my hands in the pockets and shuffled silently along the hardwood floors of the second-story hallway. I tossed a look over the railing at the open living room below and desperately wished I could just chuck the whole trip and stay there.

Lon had told me Jupe’s room was three doors down. I’d been worried about Jupe hearing us the night before, but he assured me that the place was built like a fortress. I counted doorways, navigating my way past a bathroom and a guest room, then I found a closed door. A sign hung on it that displayed a still of Gene Wilder wearing a white lab coat. The sign read, DO NOT OPEN THIS DOOR!

Pressing my ear against the blond wood, I listened for a second and heard rumbling chatter from a TV, so I knocked softly.

“Yep,” came the reply from within.

I cracked open the door a couple of inches. “Are you decent?”

After a short pause, Jupe answered, a little unsure. “Cady?”

I took that as a yes, so I pushed the door farther and leaned my head inside. Jupe was sitting up in his bed with wide eyes. He was wearing a faded Funkadelic Maggot Brain T-shirt and red pajama bottoms. He lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw me. I’d never felt so admired, but I tried not get too gooey about it.

“Hey, kid.”

“Cady! I tried to get my dad to let me call you on your cell but he said you were too busy so I called up your bar a couple of days ago but some bitchy woman answered so I hung up.”

He didn’t even take a breath when he spit all that out. My head was already spinning. “Uh, you probably got Kar Yee, then. She doesn’t have very good phone manners. Kinda like your dad,” I said with a smile.

His bed sat in the center of the room, a queen-size mattress resting on a low, modern platform a few inches off the floor. A corner of the bed was lit by a long slice of sunlight that streamed in from the large window above. I sidestepped over a hefty pile of books and magazines while evading another mound of dirty clothes to get there.