Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (15 page)

“Didn’t get the chance to read the paper this morning, had a faculty meeting,” my mother
said.

She
fanned out the pages
of the newspaper
, put on her reading glasses, and swept her legs onto the loveseat
.
I looked around the room for Luminal before remembering he was still at the vet.
A bout of sadness filled my head like a cloud of smoke.
I avoided asking about
him
for fear of getting more
distressing
news.
I realized if he wasn’t home, and nobody was saying anything, it couldn’t
be good.

“Oh wow, Fiona
.
Parker Thomas, Sr.
died last Wednesday
—
the story of his estate just came out,”
she
said in a curious tone.

“And, who is that
?
”
I inquired, not having the slightest idea who
she
was babbling about.

“Parker Thomas, Sr.
is
that millionaire guy from Silver Springs.
He is part owner
of
an NBA team, has
jets, mansions
, and all kinds of fancy stuff
.
Well, it appears
the
sole heir
of his estate
is none other than Godley Grove High School’s Mr. Parker Thomas, III
.
He just inherited
everything
—
including
over three
million dollars cash.
C
razy, huh?
I wonder if he
’ll
still
teach.
”

“
The teacher? Yeah,
I know Mr. Thomas.
He’s friends with Mr. Zuptus, my favorite bio teacher.
I think he teaches math, but I’ve never taken hi
s class
.
He teaches ninth grade, I think.
Yea
h
, I w
ouldn’t be surprised if he quit
.”

My phone ringer sounded
;
I pulled it from my pocket
—Detective Chase.

“
Y
ou heard the news?”

“Certainly, Fiona.
You
alright?
”

“Of course, I am.
Gerald Smith
was just spotted
;
I
never even saw him.
Did you hear about what my cousin Haley did this morning?”

“Yea
h
, that was what I was referring to.
I’ve already put in a call to the grant administrator.
I’ll get this
taken
care
of for you with the superintende
nt.
I know this was not your fault, although they say she had a key to get into the lab.
That’s not good news.”

“Knew it, I bet she stole my spare.
I’ll check my writing desk in a minute.
Any updates
on
the case?”

“
Yeah,
we
found out Damien Lee lives
next door
to the
victim
’s trailer
at the Lakeside T
railer
P
ark.
There
have
been a few domestic disputes reported by the victim to the police
regarding Damien
, but no official report was ever filed.
Just a bunch of
arguments
over frivolous things such as
a
trash can placement, parking, dogs barking and stuff.”

My mother
put her newspaper down and
was trying to analyze my conversation with
the detective
.
I found
this to be slightly distracting,
so I nonchalant
ly sauntered
towards the
kitchen
.
I’d come back with a bottle of water, and she’d think I was just thirsty.

“Anything else new?”

“Well, Victoria Newsted reported Dimitri LeMorte is the leader
of the Order of the Black Moon
,
and
Damien was the leader of the House of the Nightmare Army.”

“And that guy lives with Victoria, right?
How old is he?”

“Mid
-
forties, but
I
did get confirmation he is not in
a relationship with her mother
.
But there’s something else.
He is a really big creep.”

“Why do you say that
—
other than the obvious
?
”
I laughed.

“He was arrested this morning
on a traffic warrant we dis
covered after running his record
.
I went to see him in jail to ask him a few follow
-
up questions from when I spoke to him on Saturday.”

“And?”

“He
chanted
a
strange voodoo
vampire curse on me
and used
oils
he smuggled in—he wiped them on the jail cell bars.
”

“You have to be joking, Detective.”

“That’s not the half of it.
You’ve got to see this guy.
I’d bet you’ve never seen anybody like him.”

“Can’t wait!
”

“
Let’s set up a meeting tomorrow afternoon after school here at the station.
It will
be a good time because we’ll have more data to discuss
, and it will be after my daily lab meeting with my group.
I’ll arrange it with the agent assigned to you.”

My mind was in a whirlwind and after a few hours of the
feds
trying to sort out if our family was in imminent
danger;
I took off
to the
pink palace
in hopes of a
decent
night’s sleep.

A
thunderclap
awoke me, followed by
an
unrelenting alarm only seconds later.
I hated waking up
with a startle
. It
took my heart a while to calm down and
the
disorientation to subside.
S
torm
y skies had
darkened my bedroom
;
merciless
wind gusts
throttled my
windows
.
Gazing
at the black clouds in the sky, the pouring rain cloud
ed
my vision of the front yard
, the wind rudely
blowing
my trees
at
strange angles
.

Deciding
it was best to
allow
Agent Bronson
to
drive me,
I
said goodbye to my
car
and my corresponding freedom
.
Dashing
through the rain into his
Lincoln
,
I climbed into the passenger’s side,
the
ambiance
relax
ing
me
with
the
crisp
aroma of
spicy
pine, ultraclean surfaces
and soothing
, classical
music.
It was a
clear
bonus that
my assigned black suit
was the most handsome adult I had ever put my eyes upon
.
It was minutes before we pulled up to the front steps.

“
So, this is what it’s like to take your kids to school, huh?
”
he
chuckled as I climbed out of the car
.
“I guess I should tell you to have a good day and
to
eat your
veg
gie
s at
lunch
…
or something.”

“
Yeah,
something like that,”
I laughed
and opened my umbrella
as
lightning struck in the distance
, causing me to
recoil
.
Shrugging it off,
I
laughed,
waved goodbye,
and jogged
towards the front of
the school
, the wind nearly knocking me off course
.

The clock’s minute hand seemed to spin faster than usual throughout the morning
.
During a class change in the hallway,
I
spotted
Wolfe
s
peaking to his new
best
friend,
Camber Johnson
.
They were growing closer
,
and Wolfe certainly wasn’t paying attention to me
—
it was as if I
no longer existed
in his eyes.
With the lab suspended, we were unable to have
club
meetings at school, so I decided I
would schedule
one
a
t my house.
That way
, I
could be around Wolfe and
evaluate
what was goi
ng on between us, if anything.

I
knew
it would
eventually
affect our working relationship if I didn’t g
et my head on straight
.
However,
the absence of him in my life certainly wasn’t helping, but rather
it was driving me insane
.
I knew why my parents
had
w
arned me about falling for boys while I was young
.
T
he reason
was
becoming
crystal
clear
.
Glancing at the clock, two minutes until the bell.

“Fiona,” a familiar
raspy
voice called out in the hallway.

I spun around to see the inseparable duo.
Willow
,
dressed in a red wool blazer and
khaki
slacks
, struggled
to keep up with Lauren
as she sprinted
towards me.

“What’s up Lauren
?
Hey Willow.
”

Lauren,
donning a camouflage hat that was restraining her
gargantuan,
bushy locks
, shot a quick stare to Willow
, who
shrugged her tiny shoulder, raising her eyebrows with a contrite intensity
, pushing her blazer sleeves to her elbows.

“Well, I don’t know how to tell you this, but your trouble
-
making cousin’s at it again,” she said, adjusting her bac
kpack to put a hand on her hip.

“
Yeah,
s
he’s a menace!
First your lab, and now this!
”
Willow squeaked, shaking her head.

As if on cue, a muffled thunder rumbled
.
I braced myself, feet apart, trying to sort through
the
dread
that flooded through my head
.
I was unable to speak until my brain decoded itself.
Hearing the words that Haley had done something else was enough to tangle every thought that was
dancing inside of
my head.
I
stared at the thin carpet.

“What did she do
?
”
I reluctantly pushed the words out.
“Are you talking about how she broke into my lab? Or something else?”

“Uh, well, you know how she’s suspended from school and all
?
”
Lauren rasped
before
stealing
a
side-glance
at
Willow for support.

Willow nodded, folding her arms across her belly.

“Yes
.
She might be
expelled
.
One could only hope,
”
I said with a
bitter tone, sh
ifting my hair over my shoulder as a group of sophomores walked by
at a slow pace
,
grimacing at me as they attempted to
overhear our conversation.

“Well, some people saw her in the
student
parking lot talking to Camber Johnson
,
”
Lauren said
.

Immediately my mind responded with a scream.
I stared
into Lauren’s eyes
.
I couldn’t speak.
The
crowded
hallway
morphed into a
haze, faces turned into prisms.
Lauren
was the
only thing in
focus.

She
hesitated before continuing, “
Supposedly, s
he asked Camber if she could be a member of th
e
vampire cult.”

My neck hinged downward;
I shook my head in disgust.

“I don’t even know what to say right now,” I trailed off
.

Popping my head around Lauren to view the hall clock,
the time was
quickly
d
iminishing before the next bell.
I
said a quick goodbye and sprinted
towards my
next class.
Calculus.

Wolfe nodded at me in a formal mann
er as I
crossed the threshold a
nd passed by his new seat at the front of the classroom
.
The room w
as darkened by the black clouds
;
the wind gusts battered the windows along the wall
—
the
s
torm
added to the gloomy aura that perpetually surround
ed
me.

We
had become
strangers.
During class,
he sneaked
on his phone
every time
Mrs. Garcia
faced the whiteboard
.
I assumed he was sending text messages
by the amount of typing he
was
doing
.
Figures.
A new relationship was forming
,
and they probably couldn’t get enough of each other.

My phone vibrated
,
and for a moment, I thought
I might have been a lucky recipient of one of
his
text messages
.
I wasn’t.
It was from my father about
Janice being transferred into the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital
.
Great.
While
Wolfe
talk
ed
to
his
new love interest, I
received word about
my
sick
nanny.

The rest of the day,
the clock’s minute hand barely trudged along
.
I couldn’t keep my mind off Janice
and want
ed
nothing more than to
visit
her in the hospital
.
I felt
I could make her better if I w
ere
there with her.
Eyes on the window,
I gazed at
the
relentless
rain,
anticipating
the
lightning
bolts
and
thunder
rolls
.
Unable
to
listen to the teachers’ lecture.
Incapable
of participating
in the
busy work
.

Finally, when the bell dismiss
ed
school,
I rushed out the front, throwing myself
in
to
the car with Agent Bronson
—
completely forgetting to use my umbrella, I
was drenched.

We
headed to the police station
for my meeting
with
Detective Chase
.
The agent
suppl
ied most of the conversation
during the car ride
, which
made it less awkward for me
.
After a
few minutes
, my phone vibrated
for a text message. My mother. She asked me to call her
. S
he answered in a solemn voice, which made my lungs seize.

“Mom
?
”
I said cautiously
.
“What’s up?
Janice okay?
”

I was so afraid it was
grim
news about
Janice
—
I almost didn’t want to ask
.
My subconscious
mind
thought
it
couldn’t be
distressing
news
as long as I was oblivious.

“Fiona, where are you right now?”

“I’m in the car with Agent Bronson, going to the police station to meet with Detective Chase.
Why, what’s wrong
?
Is it
Janice?
Can I go to the hospital yet?
”

“
I heard from the vet this morning.
 
It’s Luminal.
I don’t know how else to say this, Fiona.
He’s dead
, he died late last night
, during his sleep,
I’m so sorry
.
”

At an instant, I was ca
tapulted into a vivid nightmare
.
Tears streamed down my cheeks
, following each other like cars on a highway
.
A
sick spasm of unease
settled
in my stomach.
I
lost control
, b
arely g
etting
the words
out to tell my mother goodbye
.