Page 35 of Blood Moon

Tomorrow could not prepare us for what came next.

Article III, Lost Letters from Aadan the First

I sauntered across campus with a heaviness in my eyes, wishing to shield myself from the daylight, but pitched in the unending sea of blue, between clouds, was the moon. It was unrelenting, unwilling to give itself fully to the dark abyss that awaited its return.

And, as if summoned in the same likeness of the moon, there Julian was. He sat on an iron bench, arms resting on his knees, face fixed with a half smile as he twirled a pair of sunglasses between his fingers. He was expecting me.

“As she lives and breathes,” he said as I got closer, and he stood.

I groaned, crossed my arms tightly. “We’re still doing this?”

“Good morning to you, too.” A smug smile set in his face, but in all fairness, it didn’t matter how he smiled. Each one was stupid and perfect.

I continued my stride forward, and Julian followed beside as we squeezed past others on the sidewalk. “But to your question. It depends. Do you still hate me?” he asked.

“More and more every day.”

“Good.”

“Fucking fantastic.”

A coyness there, almost as if he were impressed by me. He put his shades on to block his eyes from the bright sun. “About yesterday—”

I huffed. “I’m over it. I don’t want—”

“No,” he interrupted. “My actions are inexcusable. I know better, and I apologize.”

I wavered, coming to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk; someone following close behind sneered. “Well, well, well … look at you, owning up to your actions. It’s almost as if you care.”

“Don’t mock me now.”

I raised a brow. “Don’t tell me what to do.” Beneath the tint of his shades, his eyes narrowed, flitting to the hollow of my throat, and I brushed my hair behind an ear. “But thank you for saying that. It’s appreciated.”

Julian shared a single nod, and we kept walking.

“Sev said your family and his family have been feuding for a while. Why?”

There was a break in his face. “Sev? As in Seven? You talked to him about that?” I was unsure if it was jealousy or astonishment, but the statement filled me with intrigue.

“Is that a problem?”

Julian furrowed his brows, lips thinning. “What else did he say?”

“He said it was complicated.”

“It is.”

“And that’s all you have to say about it?”

“Yup. Next question.”

“Why are you such a dick?”

“Irrelevant. Next question.”

I stuttered to a stop. How dare he just cut past my questions when he owed me? I glared in his direction, imagining daggers impaling the line of his back, before picking up my pace to follow.

Julian was speaking before I fully caught up to him. “What? Cat got your tongue, Bells?” he remarked, and I pulled on his backpack to slow him down. He stopped.

“ What! ” I exclaimed. “Don’t call me that.”

“Is there not a single nickname you like?”

“From you, no. And don’t think you can talk to me the way you did back there.”

He let out a long breath, removed his glasses.

“I’m deadass. If we’re going to do this whole …” I wasn’t sure what to call it. “ Thing … you need to cooperate with me. Being near you is frustrating and confusing as it is, and I just want to find out what I need to know, so we can both move on with our lives.”

He fixed his shoulders, swallowed a pride I knew he longed to hold onto.

“You’re right,” he said. “I shouldn’t be so short with you.

It’s a bad habit I picked up living with my brothers, and I know , I shouldn’t use that as an excuse.

It’s just—I agree with you. This whole thing is complicated—and I need you …

” He pulled away, restarted his sentence.

“It’s imperative that you understand what’s happening. There are many pieces at play here.”

“Okay.”

“You forgive me?”

“ No, ” I said harshly, and then I huffed. “But your apology is a start.”

“That’s fair,” he said, and he tilted his head toward our destination. “Shall we?” he asked, placing his sunglasses back on. I agreed, and we continued. Julian rubbed his hands together anxiously. “Alright,” he breathed. “What questions do you have for me today?”

“Wait.” I raised my brows. “There’s something more dire that needs to be taken care of.”

Julian scoped our surroundings, lowered his voice, and I swore I sensed a bit of panic there. “What is it? Is everything okay?”

“No,” I mumbled, pivoting toward a break in the path, anchoring myself in a long line. “I need coffee.”

Julian sighed, dropped his shoulders. “ Good gods, Mira. You could have led with that.”

“Eh, it was fun seeing you freak.”

He made a face, stifled a grunt. “Whatever. I’ll buy this.”

I smiled up at him. “That’s so much better than an apology.”

He twisted his lips, tried to conceal a grin, but couldn’t.

After a reasonable amount of iced coffee—and when I could fully smile without a twitch in my eye—I cleared my throat and said, “In the woods the other day, you said you weren’t following me, but you were following something else.

What did you mean by that?” I asked, remembering the piercing screech of the animal from the night before.

Julian grinned in a proud sort of way. “Now these are the questions you should be asking.” I rolled my eyes. “I was tracking an animal.”

“What? How? ”

“By scent.”

My face soured, and I took a long sip of my drink.

There wasn’t enough coffee in the world to help me make sense of this, but I was trying.

“ Scent? Like you could smell it?” He hesitated, and I wished he’d take his glasses off.

In the shadows of the buildings, it was difficult to read him.

“Like you could track the scent in the same way that an animal could?” I added, because that was the only calculation that came to mind.

Animals were known to track others by scent.

It was how they hunted their prey, how they survived.

“… Yes? ” Julian finally said, but as more of a question than an absolute answer.

My stomach turned, and I tossed the empty cup in the trash as we approached the Stewart Academic Building.

I was conflicted. This new discovery discredited my witch theory.

Maybe I wasn’t well-versed on witches, but I was certain they didn’t possess the ability to track animals.

Julian caught the cup before it landed in the trash. “I’ll recycle this,” he said.

“Thanks,” I muttered, seething at how he’d been able to get that so quickly. I circled back to the question about animal tracking. “But why’d you answer the question like that? You seemed surprised that I was surprised.”

He looked at me sideways. “You can’t smell animals?”

I gaped. “Am I supposed to?” I was fully cognizant of my enhanced sense of smell, but never had I considered tracking animals …

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, but that— is that normal?

” I felt a twinge of guilt saying it. I wasn’t sure what normal was for him.

I wasn’t even sure what he was at this point.

Julian opened the door for me, and when we were inside, he took off his sunglasses. There was something hidden in his smile, and his gaze wavered as he said, “Sure.”

I scowled and cocked my head, but when I checked the time, I realized I needed to make a move for it, or I’d be late. “Are you in this building, too?” I wondered. We hadn’t traveled much further down the hallway, and it seemed as if he needed to be elsewhere.

“I’m over in Bowman, so I’ll need to head out after I walk you to class.”

“You don’t have to. It’s on the second floor, plus you’ll be late,” I said, knowing that Bowman was located on the other side of campus.

“I really don’t mind walking you to class, Mira.” His face softened. “Hate to say it, but this … it’s something to look forward to.”

I was perplexed by the notion that I could be part of something he took pleasure in. But I didn’t press him on it. Instead, I allowed him to walk me to the second floor in silence as I wondered what I would ask next.

“I have a couple of things I need to do after this hour, so I’ll be elsewhere when this class ends. Wanna grab lunch around one?”

“Yes.” I said it without meaning to.

He grinned. “Perfect.”

Focus was impossible. The lecture tunneled in one ear and out the other. It was a revelation that Julian could track animals, and it consumed me like an angry tide. I was back to square one, scribbling down every fact I knew:

He has unbreakable bones (he jumped from a cliff)

He’s fast (had I imagined the cup thing?) He had to be fast if he caught me that day

He can track animals by smell??? Superhuman, super strength?

Literally disappeared in the woods

My chest heaved, and I released the pen to grab my phone. I slunk into the seat to search whether humans had the ability to track animals. While it wasn’t common, it was possible. However, directly following that answer was this: Humans can’t track scents as effectively as hounds.

Hounds as in canines. As in animals.

Shit. I gulped and my hands trembled at the possibility of what that could mean … of the reality I resisted due to my own obstinate views. But before I could dive further, I was called on by the professor—one reason I loathed smaller classes.

I found myself in a haze once class ended, meandering the halls.

As in animals, I considered again. The reminder led me closer to the folklore of this godforsaken town.

It wasn’t something I wanted to believe.

Doing so would cast me in the same light as the townsfolk with their signs; it would transport me to a space in time when I was enamored with the lore, when I’d clung to every word my mother had spoken of it.

It had the potential to tear me apart. If the accounts in that book I’d stolen were true, if Julian’s statements were true …