Page 108 of Crave Me

There was only one way to find out.I’m sorry, old friend. You’ve been an… intriguing addition to my life. I… I wish there was another way.

It trembled against my palm in response and dissolved into ash, just like it had on the beach months ago. Not by my own doing, but by its own choice.

Fleeing. Hiding. Confusing me all over again.

I don’t…I trailed off as the energy sizzled along the ground below.

Fresh earth.The scent of it almost knocked me over, the sensory memorystrong.

Dirt taunted my tongue again, my eyes darkening as I shifted positions… to beneath the surface.

I blinked and I was above ground again, my medallion’s final strands of magic disappearing into the night.

My heart kick-started in my chest, my throat dry from the realization that it was gone. Dead. Having been killed by this intoxicating plague of madness.

All to show me… what rested beneath this freshly dug grave.

I didn’t consider the hows or the whys; I simply started to dig. Because that had clearly been the sentient energy’s dying wish—for me to unearth whatever existed below the ground.

Maybe this is all a dream,I marveled. But the dirt in my nails felt real. As did the cold noose around my neck. The ice coating my arms and legs. The stardust desperately trying to break through whatever inky veil threatened to destroy me.

I ignored it all, determined to dig up whatever secret lay waiting for me below.

Too much dirt. There’s too much dirt!

I groaned in annoyance, needing a solution that wasn’t just my hands. But the energy…

No. No failing now.

I was a goddess. A being of the night. And the dark sky was still mine. Thismoonbelonged to me.

Closing my eyes, I fought for purpose, for something to hold on to, for some way to temporarily rid myself of this dreaded plague.

I need a closer moon.

It was the only way.

A slight tug.

But even that would alter the world, change the tides, and hurt innocents.

So I’ll take something else,I thought, feeling out the stars and determining what could provide me with the strength to carry on. To accomplish my goal. Todefeatthis insanity.

I sat back on my haunches, my face tilted upward.Help me,I demanded.Give me your darkness and help me break this curse.

The stars twinkled in response. The moon glittering a little brighter. And a torrent of dust began to fall.

Covering me.

Covering the ground.

Covering everything in sight.

And still that invisible layer existed.

More stardust came, reminding me of snow, only gold instead of white. It pulsed with energy, demanding to be used, absorbed,accepted.

“Infect the soil,” I told it through my teeth. “Unearth whatever it is that waits beneath the surface.”