Page 141 of Lunar Diamonds
The figure morphed into a shade.
Theshade, that black eel swimming around its body.
Oh. Crap.
“I tasted Moon,” it said in a crackling male voice.
Sweat ran down my spine, panic blocking my reactions. “You… You can’t be here…”
“Moon is mine. Moon is path.”
He rushed me, gouging my chest with a blue claw.
I screamed, falling back onto the bed. Heat flared in my chest, blood flowing freely from the wound.
The shade sprang onto the bed, its blueness bright and blinding, those red eyes wide and hungry.
“Give me Moon!” it bellowed, decay on its breath.
My scar screamed in agony, my teeth clenched so tightly they were about to break. What was the damage to my chest? It felt bad.
Fight back!
The shade’s mouth lowered, my guts roiling from the acrid stink wafting in my face.
“Moon mine. Will open path.”
It wasn’t our uncle. It couldn’t be our uncle.
“Who are you…” I rasped out, still searching for my courage.
“Moon mine. Moon mine.”
“Riley!” His hands alight with sunshine.
His voice and golden glow slapped me out of my stupor.
Screw this. I summoned my courage, seizing the shade with my new power and pulled it closer so it got in my face.
“Moon!” it wailed, digging its knee into my thigh.
“I’m evolving past you!” I flung it upward.
It vanished in a burst of blue before hitting the ceiling.
“Riley…” Isaac said again. “I’m here…”
The Brambles charged into the room.
Uncle Jonathon? Was he still alive? We’d buried him out back, but maybe he wasn’t dead. What were we missing here? There were pieces scattered here and there, none of them clear.
“What happened?” April cried.
My brain swam in confusion, my chest on fire. “Not him…” I breathed. “Not him…”
Isaac healed me, despite his forehead bleeding. But I couldn’t move off the bed, paralyzed by the surprise.
If the blue figure wasn’t our uncle, then who the hell was it? Why did it take the shape of that shade?
