Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) Read Online Free Page A

touched her shoulder. “You didn’t do yourself any favors
by yelling at the preacher.”
    She wiped her eyes and sighed.
    Morrigan pointed at Kelile. “I was trying to calm
her down when he barged in. I appreciate your help, Lance, but would you all
let Aish and I talk. Thank you.”
    Kelile brushed past Morrigan and stood over
Aishling. He tapped her left hand with his fingertips while eyeing her backpack
and scattered clothing. “Girl, don’t you be doin’ anything stupid.” Then, he
whispered, “We’ll talk later. Okay?”
    She nodded.
    “Kelile’s right,” Lance said, standing. “You have
to figure out how to get along here.” He lowered his head and looked at the
floor. “This is our reality now.” When he looked at Aishling again, his
grief-stricken eyes made her heart ache. He followed Kelile out the bedroom
door.
    “I don’t know what to do.”
    Morrigan sat next to her. “You can’t leave yet.
What would you do or where would you go? You have to plan.” She thrust backwards
on the bed. “You need to apologize to the preacher and get back in good
standing.”
    Aishling shook her head and opened her mouth to
argue.
    “Don’t say anything until I finish. Didn’t you say
you wanted to get your amulet back? I’d definitely want to if it were mine. Is
it made of stones?” Aishling nodded. “Do you remember what stones are in it and
what they’re for? What about your mother’s grimoire ? Do they have that? What
other books or stones do they have?”
    Distracted by Morrigan’s questions, she placed her
hands on the side of the bed and blew through her lips. “I don’t remember what
the amulet looks like anymore. All I remember is when they brought me here they
cut my hair—” Aishling scowled at the doorway “—then they took all my things
including the amulet and put them in a box. I don’t even know where the box
is.”
    “Those things might have clues about what happened
to your mother. We need to get them back before we leave.”
    Aishling hopped off the bed. “You’ll go with me?”
    Morrigan sat up. “Yes. But not until we get your
amulet and other things. You should go apologize to the preacher before he
calls you into his office. It would look better. Tell him you started your
monthly cycle in church. That it’s your first time … and you didn’t know what
was happening. Yes, that’s good. You can say that’s why you lost it and acted
the way you did. Ask him to forgive you. Tell him you’re ready to repent. Don’t
shake your head, Aish. He could have you sent somewhere else. You don’t want
that, do you? We wouldn’t be together anymore. You’re my best friend.”
    “But that’s lying.”
    “He needs to think you’re really sorry. You should
cry when you talk to him.” Morrigan stood and picked up some of Aishling’s
clothes.
    “I can’t—”
    “Come on. Let’s put these things up quickly so you
can go.”
    After hanging one of her shirts in the closet, she
said, “Morri, Ma says if you lie, sooner or later the lie will come back and
slap you in the face, and you’re lucky if it’s sooner. Anyway, if I lie, then
I’ll be lied to three times.”
    Morrigan continued putting Aishling’s clothes
away. “Hurry up, before he comes looking for you.”

*******
    March 10
    I lied today. I had to.
    The preacher’s face turned so red. I almost
laughed. But, I did what Morri had said and begged him to forgive me. I even cried
a little. He took me to Mrs. Sloan for a “girl’s” talk, and I had to tell more
lies. For punishment, I have kitchen duty until the end of April. Drat!
    But, one good thing happened out of all this. I
asked Mrs. Sloan to talk to Mrs. Dawes and tell her I needed time to sort all
this girl stuff out before meeting that new couple. She called Mrs. Dawes at
home and talked her in to giving me two more weeks! Isn’t there a time when lying
is okay?
    Oh, I forgot with everything that’s happened
today. I had another dream about Morri