“Stardust,” a familiar voice calls out.
My head swivels around as I search for the source of the voice but find no one. It’s just me and the stars. I take another step through the grass, looking for something. I want to find . . . what do I want to find?
A trilling voice sings an ancient song, wavering in and out of existence like the signal on an old radio. I find myself running after the music, trying to find the source, but every time I think I’ve got it, it fades away again.
“Where are you?” I ask. My own voice sounds odd, quieter than normal. Holding my hand up in front of my face, spread my fingers and gasp at the faint glow coming from them. It’s almost like—
“Moonlight.”
“Who’s there?” I spin in a circle, searching for whoever is speaking to me but find no one. Faint laughter echoes in the distance and I run toward it, smiling. This feels like a game. Like I’m a child and my playmate is just over the hill ahead of me.
As I speed through the tall grass, tiny fireflies fly up from their hiding spot, blinking as they flit around me. Happiness bubbles in my throat and I take off again, cresting the hill. The vision below me takes my breath away.
Where I’d expected the lavender plain to stretch on forever, a large palace made of almost see-through white rock stands on a flat ground in the middle of a teal lake.
“So beautiful,” I murmur, taking a step toward the island home.
My eyes blink open slowly and I roll onto my back. Luna’s arm drapes across my stomach with her face smushed into my shoulder. That can’t be comfortable. With a yawn, I stretch my arms over my head and she rolls away from me, mumbling something in her sleep.
A knock sounds at the door and I jerk upright, my heart racing. I glance from the door to Luna and cringe. Laney is going to lose her shit if I don’t get this woman home today and finds out about her.
“Fuck me,” I growl, throwing my legs over the edge of the bed. I want to ask Luna be quiet, but I also don’t want to wake her. I rush to the door and crack it open, looking at my sister with bleary eyes.
“What’s up?” I ask, leaning into the open space of the door.
“What are you doing?” Laney asks, her nose scrunching up as she stares up at me. She presses against the door and I panic, holding it firmly in place.
“I was sleeping until someone woke me up,” I snap.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m leaving. I have to go to work with the kids in town today. I wanted to see if you need anything but if you’re going to be a bi—”
A soft sound comes from the room behind me and Laney’s eyes light up. “Ooooh, do you have a girl in there? Who is it?” She stands on her tippy toes, trying to peer around me and I roll my eyes, pushing the door a little more closed.
“Shhh, go be great,” I whisper.
“Love you, Bug!”
“Love you too, now gooooo.” I close the door quickly and press my back to it, blowing out a heavy breath.
“Is she gone?” a soft voice calls from the bed.
My eyes track Beezlebub flitting across the room. He lands on the window, his front feet raising to tap on the window. Intellectually, I know it doesn’t make a sound, but in my mind I can hear the subtle tap, tap, tap from across the room. I roll my eyes. He loves to go out exploring, but that’s not happening right now. Right now, I just want to hide in this room until Laney is a safe distance away.
“She’s leaving for work.” My fingers rake through my hair as I take in the woman lying across my bed. Her pale skin wrapped in my white sheets is enticing as fuck, I have to admit. I know her dress is still intact beneath those sheets, but my mind doesn’t seem to care.
“Now what?” she asks, snapping me out of my momentary fantasy.
“Ugh, fuck.” I press my palm to my forehead and groan. I have a million things I need to be doing. I did not ask for this. “I guess we need to figure out how to get you home.”
“What do you need from me?”
I want to be honest with her, to explain I’m really a terrible witch, and I probably will not be able to fix this, but I don’t want to admit my inadequacy to her. I don’t want her to see me in the same light everyone else does. Useless. Practically a null.
“Can you walk me through how you usually get from realm to realm? Maybe something in the spell—”
Luna waves her hand, cutting me off, and then flattens her palm as if she’s pushing against a wall. Her eyebrows draw down low on her face and I take a step toward the bed, curious. The power in the room shifts around us. It’s obvious she’s using magic, but I don’t see any physical result. After a moment, Luna draws her hand back with a yelp and begins shaking it.
“Since I arrived here, this is what happens,” she grumbles. “The rest of my powers seem to be intact, but I can’t access the ether.”
“Hmm.” I take another step toward the bed, coming to a stop at the edge and hold out my hand. “Let me see.”
She obliges, placing her hand in mine, palm up. My fingertips trace over the lines in her palm, brushing against the sizzling after-effects of her magic.
“Somehow my power has been bound.” Luna pulls her hand from mine slowly, her eyes trailing up to meet mine. “I think it has to do with how you worded your spell.”
“What? No way, I read it word for word.”
“Show it to me.”
I cross the room to the door and hold up a finger, signaling for her to wait, and open the door. Rushing out into the hall, I slide into the living room and call out for Laney.
“You here?” I ask. No answer. Making my way to the window, I hesitate in front of the altar where everything from the blessing still lays. A quick glance out the window reveals her car is gone.
“Come on out,” I call out loudly, hoping Luna will hear me. I sink to my knees in front of the altar and grab the piece of paper to read it. I skim the words, searching for what could have possibly went wrong. It all sounds normal to me, but what do I know? My teeth scrape over my bottom lip as I look at the carefully crafted spellwork. It’s meant to be a run of the mill blessing, not a summoning spell. And it definitely wasn’t meant to trap Luna in this realm.
“Find anything?” Luna asks as she sits down beside me.
“Not really, but maybe you should look.” I hand her the spell and watch as her eyes track back and forth across the paper until they pause on a certain spot. I’m not entirely sure if a Celestial would understand spellwork or not, but it can’t hurt to try.
“It reads like a Yule blessing,” she scoffs. “But what is this list at the bottom?” She turns the paper around and points to the small list of herbs I was meant to gather from the herbalist.
“Ah, we were out of those and I was supposed to—”
“Supposed?”
“Well, the herbalist was closed already so I substituted some things.” I cringe, realizing where this is going.
“What did you use instead of cardamom and cedar?” Luna’s fingers hold tight to the paper. It’s obvious she’s annoyed.
“Chickweed and calamus,” I whisper, flinching when she lets out a loud huff.
“Well no wonder,” she snaps. “The way the spell is worded, with those ingredients . . . it’s a summoning. It would have been fine if you left them off completely, or used the right ingredients!”