Page 116 of Mystery in the Mountains

“Nox Whittaker?” Esther asked.

“Ruby’s piano teacher?” Julie asked.

“Yeah, let me explain.”

She took a sip of her tea and laid it all out.

From the visions to the red eyes and the way they glowed in the woods, they all listened and took her in.

“So, today, I saw him at the diner, and he was being suspicious—or so I thought. I found out he was headed to Charleston for something, so I followed him.”

“Is that why you weren’t at the diner?”

“Yeah, I’m so sorry about that, Asher. I shouldn’t have left like that. I should’ve at least left you more information. I was just so intent on following him.”

Asher nodded and swallowed.

Bridget turned her head as if trying to recall something. “His eyes glowed, ye said?”

“What was he doing at the witchcraft store?” Esther asked.

“Well, I went in to ask, but she wouldn’t tell me. And she was wasted.”

“She’s always wasted,” Esther said. “She’s been like that since we were little.”

“Yeah, well, I found out he was bringing her moonshine in exchange for an elixir.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Abe said as he sat back and crossed his arms.

“Well, maybe it does. What else happened, Sunny?” Bridget asked.

“Well, when I was coming back to town, my van broke down.”

Asher shifted in the chair next to her and put his hand on her knee.

“I was only like fifteen miles outside of town but then Nox’s car pulled up behind me. And after finding out what I had just found out and how I’d been catching his eyes glowing, I was a little scared. He seemed to pick up on that and offered me a ride back to town but then he offered to come back to town and find Asher to tell him to come and get me . . . I was just about to tell him to do that, but then I got another vision.”

Sunny looked around the table and could see all eyes trained on her.

Taking a deep breath, she continued. “After the vision, I asked him why he was at the store and kept questioning him . . . then he told me something that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I kind of believe him . . .”

She wasn’t quite sure what to say.

He said he came from a distant place and got trapped here. And he’s a—what did he say?—a mothman? Yeah, while this group was used to weird, that might be a touch too far.

“What is it, lass?”

She took a deep breath. “He said he goes to her for a masking elixir because he is a mothman.”

Chapter

Forty-One

ASHER

Asher’s mouth fell open, as did everyone else’s at the table. His mind was running a hundred miles a minute. Sunny hadn’t been trying to leave him, just to find out more about Nox. And she had, but even that didn’t make sense.

“Mothman?” Julie asked.

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