Moondust By Jaymes Young Novels & Stories

I walked away. … The war room smelled like dust and damp. Elijah and Eric were already there, leaning over the table, bickering in low voices. They straightened when I entered. “Well?” Elijah asked. “Did you get it?” I tossed the pouch onto the table. Eric grabbed it, examining it carefully. “This is it?” he asked. “Moonshade dust,” I said. “It’s not much, but it’s real.” Elijah whistled. “You actually did it.”

The disorder disrupts tradition. “Jayden softly said ‘No.’” “It’s her.” He couldn't find the words to explain it, but something inside him changed as soon as the moon appeared in the sky. “A buzzing feeling in his veins.” “A rhythm in his connection.” It had been inactive for many years. “Quiet ever since Ivy went missing.” “Now it was on fire.” He took a deep breath, and everything around him seemed to shrink. Jasmine. Cedarwood. Moonfire.

Then 299,999. Then 299,998. Moons were disappearing. Not fading. Vanishing. Like someone was erasing stars. “They’re not going to the sky,” Dara whispered. “They’re going into the ground.” Under the trees, small lights flickered in the soil. Like seeds. But wrong. Cold. Suri knelt. Dug. Found one. A moon seed. White and pink twisted together. But cracked down the middle. “They’re falling,” she said. “The forest is eating the moons.”

The same goes to Kaye and everyone else in the room who reacted with a blank expression on their faces. The room had become so quiet that they could even hear a pin drop. Jae lit up his cigarette and took a deep puff., The smoke blew up and encircled on Brightmoon like a ghostly chain. "Hmm. We meet again!" Jae said nonchalantly. "Yes! Yes!" Brightmoon responded fearfully. Brightmoon gave a sad forceful smile when he heard him. 'I'm done now, this would only spell a disaster now that I'm in the bad books of this young man!'

I cry, and my face is wet. The moon pulls stronger. Darius puts out his hand. "Come," is all he says. I put my foot up. When my toes touch the silver line— It gets dark outside. Everything stops. Outside. The wind. Sweetheart. Someone or something else comes down. It's heavy, colder, and bigger than you can imagine. Draven's voice drops to a whisper as he feels scared and amazed. "Moon of the Guardian..." The sky is in shadow. And I can hear an old voice that is neither male nor female in my bones.

Kael and Ronan sleeping on either side. But something's different. I look down at my hands. There's something in my right palm. Moon dust. Silver powder that glows faint in darkness. Proof that dream was real. I sit up carefully. Don't want to wake others. But soon as I move, Kael opens his eyes. "You okay?" "Yeah. Just had a weird dream." "What kind of dream?" I look at moon dust in my hand. Close fingers around it. "The kind that changes everything." He sits up. "Tell me."

Carved only to respond to Moonborne blood. I pressed my palm to the wall. A door opened with a whisper of stars. Inside, there were scrolls written in celestial script and a single orb resting on a pedestal. As I approached, it flared to life. And the final vision took me. I stood not in the past… …but the future. The world was burning. Wolves turned on each other. The sky split open. The moon bled. And in the center of it all was me. But not as I was now.

"He's fucking Nadia." Silence. "Marcus?" "Address. Now." "I'm fine. I just…" "Elara Vonross, if you don't tell me where you are right now, I will track your phone and show up with a baseball bat and a very bad attitude." I told him. He was there in fifteen minutes. The club was loud and dark and exactly what I needed. Marcus worked at Eclipse, a strip club downtown that pretended to be upscale. He got us into the VIP section, poured me something strong and sweet, and let me sit in silence while dancers moved on stage.

My gaze locked onto the moon as resolve burned through my veins like wildfire. Damien Voss had just declared war. And I would bring his empire to ashes. My chest heaved with ragged sobs as I paced Aaron’s empty room, the scent of his lavender shampoo still lingering in the sheets. My shaking fingers hovered over my phone, desperately waiting for Lucian’s next call. “Please… please, Moon Goddess… keep him safe,” I whispered into the silence, my words breaking with every syllable. My knees gave out and I collapsed onto his bed, clutching his tiny stuffed wolf to my chest as if it could anchor my sanity.