“Like the Moon?” I ask, just for clarification.
“One and the same,” Luna purrs, picking at the damn near see-through material covering her body.
I shake my head, wagging my finger around as if that’s going to convince the . . . the . . . is she a spirit? A Goddess? I don’t know what to even call this woman. A hysterical laugh slips past my lips and Beezlebub rubs his fuzzy face against my neck.
“I summoned the Moon,” I mumble to no one in particular between laughs. “Oh, Goddess.”
At least she’s hot.
Licking my lips, I hum along to the Elysium songs drifting on the wind. Every once in a while, the sound of a prayer, a bit of a spell, the sound of joy or pain will reach my ears, fragments from the mortal realm. Their attention feeds this plane, it nourishes all the beauty around me.
I stoop to swipe my finger over a moon blossom and pause as an unfamiliar tingling sensation creeps up my body. It begins in my toes and in my panic, I think lifting my feet from the ground will stop it. Even as I hover above the lavender grass, the bone deep sensation winds further up my body until it reaches my neck. My heart pounds against my chest.
“What’s happening?” I cry out, but there’s no one around to hear me. I have no consort to save me from whatever’s happening, no lover to console me, even if they don’t know what’s happening, no friends to stand by me as my heart feels like it might burst into flame.
“We welcome you into your nights,
To bless us, guard us, until the return of light.”
A sweet, tinkling voice chants the words. She says something else, but her voice fades in and out like she’s moving away from me. I try to turn my head, instinctively chasing the sound but my body won’t obey me. My muscles tense, shaking under the exertion as I try my best to move. I’d settle even for the tiniest movement at this point.
As I struggle against the invisible force binding me, my vision swims. The moon blossoms swirl and fade before me. Their silver petals float far away from my reach. Even the lavender grass they’re nestled in blurs and eventually vanishes. The world becomes one unbreakable swirl of color. My fingers dance across the vivid hues as my body is ripped from my home and thrown through a portal.
I can at least move now.
That should be comforting, but it’s not. I’m the Moon, for creation’s sake. Something as arbitrary as moving my fingers through the interdimensional ether shouldn’t feel like a victory. I was present when the Great Goddess birthed the ether. I narrow my eyes in indignation as I watch the colorful show dissipate, as my feet plant themselves firmly onto the ground.
The first thing to bombard my senses is the smell. Nowhere in Creation smells this badly, surely. I wave my hands around trying to clear the air and quickly realize I’m surrounded by a dense fog. No, smoke. I’m surrounded by a dense, blue tinted smoke. It burns my nostrils and my eyes water as I focus on clearing the smoke.
I have no idea where I am, but apparently it’s on fire. Fantastic. Inhaling a deep breath of smoke-filled air, I raise my hand to summon a door to my home realm. As I press against the air to unlock the ether, my palm is zapped by some kind of invisible barrier. I shake my hand out, annoyed by the minor twinge of pain, and focus all of my attention on the task at hand. I envision the ether opening, creating a door for me to walk through. Still, nothing but a small arc of electricity greets me where the portal should be forming.
Twirling a finger in agitation, I swirl the smoke away from me. Some sort of winged creature flies by my head and I turn, trying to keep an eye on it in the dissipating smoke. If I can’t get home, I need to make wherever I am as safe and comfortable as possible. Just until I can figure out why my magic isn’t working properly. The jarring sound of someone coughing brings my eyes to the woman standing by the open door.
Her long, platinum blonde hair tumbles down her shoulders as she coughs into her hand. It’s obvious the moment she notices me. Her pale, freckled cheeks blush a deeper shade of pink as her hand covers her chest.
“Who the fuck are you?” she yelps, her chest rising and falling quickly as her eyes scan the room and then settle back on me. My skin tingles under her attention as she looks me over.
So, we’re on Earth then. That means the woman who summoned me must be a witch. I cock an eyebrow and watch each emotion pass over the startled girl. Panic. Confusion. Interest. Apprehension.
“Who-who are you, hot stuff?” She pushes a stray piece of wavy hair behind her ear and I realize her hair isn’t quite platinum. It’s more of an ombre of varying shades of grey, silver, and blonde. “How’d you get in here?”
Why is she asking me these questions? She’s obviously the one who summoned me. I spin in a slow circle, taking in the altar, the small cauldron still spitting wisps of blue smoke into the air, the Yule log leaned against the window. “I’m Luna,” I whisper without thinking as I study the strange furnishings in the room. The seating seems to be raised off the ground and there’s a black mirror on the wall with a small red light in the corner.
It must be the witches’ new way of communicating with one another. They have always loved their mirror magic.
“Luna who? How the hell did you get in here?” Her tone is sharp, bringing me to a stop. I level her with a severe glare, her icy blue eyes meeting my own.
“Mortals sure are surlier than I remember.”
“Excuse me?”
The winged creature swoops down in front of me and this time I’m finally able to see what it is. The large, beautifully patterned moth lights atop my shoulder and I coo to him.
“Hello!” I brush a finger across his fuzzy little back and sigh as a rush of magic swirls across my skin. He’s her familiar. The giant moth floods me with a sense of protectiveness and I grin at him. I have no intention of harming his witch. She isn’t powerful enough to do me harm.
I can’t help but wonder what transpired to bring me here, though. Her magic is weak compared to the witches of the past. Maybe she’s a hybrid of some kind, a human witch. The moth prattles away at me, a sweet vibrating sound that comes from his too-large mouth. No, while it’s true that witches were responsible for the death of Orion, and forced Celestials from this realm, it’s clear to me this witch isn’t a threat.
“Wait,” she laughs from her place by the door. “Luna like . . . like . . .” she waves her finger in a ridiculous circle, pointing upward. A laugh tries to bubble past my lips but I swallow it with a smile and nod.
“Mhm.” The familiar lifts off from my shoulder and flies to his witch, nestling against her shoulder. This is a strange witch, indeed. Her shock seems genuine and I can’t help but wonder why she summoned me.
“Like the Moon?”
“One and the same.” I smooth my hands down my dress, trying to be patient with the flighty woman. She summoned me here and doesn’t seem to want to take responsibility for it. Is she scared of me? What sort of a witch fears the Moon?
Before I can ask, a round of hysterical giggles erupts from the girl. She waves her finger around, as if admonishing me, and I take a step back.
“What do you think—”
“I summoned the Moon,” she laughs. “Oh, Goddess.”