Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(89)

Riley was snoring loudly in the seat beside me; I’d dosed her one last time when we stopped outside of L.A. for gas. I’m sure my parents weren’t going to be thrilled about the kidnapping. Nothing I could do about it now but own up to it.

Oddly enough, I was nervous to see them. It had been years, after all, since that last time my mom flew from France to see me in college. I’d changed a lot; I was sure they had too. I didn’t worry about it for too long, because the air bubbled outside the open driver’s window and Scivina materialized.

You are here, she said stoically.

“Hello to you too. Where are my parents?”

She didn’t answer me. Before I could say another word, she faded away.

“Hey!” I cried to the distorted air she left in her wake.

Pissed off, I stepped out of the rental, leaving the door open. A long black limo pulled into the lot. I stuck one foot back inside the car, wary, but the limo door opened and a familiar figure emerged.

“Mom?”

She was wearing a well-cut navy business suit and had her dark hair pinned up, the crown of it now gray. Not only that, but her face was harder; the lines around her mouth were more deeply etched and she’d lost weight. The long, straight nose and deep-set eyes were still the same, but her complexion was sallow. She looked as if she’d aged ten years or more. It broke my heart a little.

My feet didn’t want to move. I felt unexplainably shy, like a child. Older or not, she still commanded a great deal of respect. People always said that about her. She could just step into a room and everyone would stop what they were doing to look at her.

She strode to me with outstretched arms. “Darling,” she said, a sliver of her once heavy French accent slipping in.

Her arms folded around me, and I stiffened. Then I smelled her perfume and her hair, and I fell into her. It was like being drawn into a soft, warm cocoon. Everything just went away, all the worry and stress and bad feelings. My persistent headache pulsed a little softer, and I almost forgot why I’d come. None of it mattered. Only that she was there.

The shoulder of her jacket was wet when I pulled away, but I didn’t realize I’d been crying.

She held my face in her hands. “Hello, my beautiful girl. It’s all okay now, yes?”

I nodded rapidly, sniffling. There was so much I wanted to say, but my tongue was numb. It was all I could do to breathe and stand up straight.

“Seléne.” A low voice sounded from behind her.

I looked over her shoulder to glimpse my father standing there.

“Dad.”

His short walnut brown hair was going gray like my mom’s. Especially over his ears. Even his eyebrows were gray. Jesus, they’re old. My mind recalled all the recent U.S. presidents, the stress of the office rapidly aging them over four years’ time—how you could look at before and after photos and be shocked by the difference.

He made a one-word comment to my mom under his breath that I didn’t quite catch as she moved out of the way. He was wearing black dress pants and a white shirt with the sleeves folded up to the elbows. He smiled, offering me a gleaming white mouthful of teeth. It was his used-car-salesman smile. I always used to tease him about that. It was worse in photos.

We hugged, briefly, and he pushed me back to look at me before I was ready to end it. Brown eyes darted over my face. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have much time, and I need to know a few things.”

“Okay, but I have some good news …”

He gripped my shoulders. “Have you experienced any change in your magical ability?”

Oh, thank God. They knew about the moon kindling. “Two nights ago, I was able to banish an incubus and his mate back to the Æthyr. I didn’t summon them.”

“Tell me exactly what happened,” my father instructed. “It is important.”

I told them about the room darkening to black, about the blue light that drew the symbols in the air. My mother cried out, then covered her face with her hands and tilted her head to the night sky.

“What’s wrong? Is that bad? Is something wrong with me?” I asked.

She raised both arms up and said something in French, while my dad grinned his funny grin and patted my back with enthusiasm. “No, no. It’s wonderful. Perfect. It is exactly as the old books said it should be. On your twenty-fifth birthday, your powers will manifest.” He grabbed my mother and embraced her as her eyes teared with joy. “We did it, my love. They doubted us, but we did it!” He laughed into her hair and kissed her head several times.

I suddenly felt left out. Hello? Haven’t seen me in years? And weren’t there more pressing concerns? Annoyance flared up inside me. “So what is this power? And how could it be more important than the Luxe council? You do know that they’re planning to kill you, right? They tried to kidnap me.” I pointed at Riley’s snoozing figure in the car. “That’s Magus Zorn’s girl—the Luxe leader sent his own daughter after me.”

My mother squinted into the car. “Mmm. She might be useful later.”

“No time for that, Enola.” My dad tapped his watch. “We need to get going.”

“Wait!” I protested. “I have big news. I found the white demon. We can call it to prove your innocence.” My irritation faded, replaced by a surge of excitement as I waited for their reaction.