Free Dead Moon Awakens: A tale of Cherokee myth and Celtic magic (Mystic Gates) by Teresa Joyce Jackson Page A

I
didn’t. On Saturday night, he wants to take the canoe and leave. I didn’t know
what to say. I swear, the more lies I tell, the more I have to tell. I don’t
like this. I’m so afraid I’ll get mixed up and tell the wrong thing to the
wrong person. But this is the only way I’m going to be able to find Ma.
    Anyway, I went along with him and said I would
do it. Morri exploded when I told her. She finally agreed that I had to play
along with him now. But because of that, we have to move the canoe tomorrow
night instead of Saturday night. And Saturday night I have to pretend to leave
with him and be surprised when we discover the canoe is gone—which is really
kinda good. I told Morri that now he won’t be hounding Lance anymore because
he’ll think the canoe is missing. She smiled at that.
    Wish me luck, Ma.

*******
    Friday, April 12
    “This is working out well, Aish. I didn’t know you
had it in you,” Morrigan said as they snuck into Preacher Collins’ office after
curfew and retrieved the key to the storage building.
    Aishling wasn’t nervous this time. She rubbed her
amulet under her shirt. What could go wrong?
    But, when they crept past the playground, a
rustling noise behind them startled her. She grabbed Morrigan’s arm and
stopped, whispering, “Did you hear that?”
    “No. I didn’t hear anything.” Morrigan listened a
moment. “You’re just skittish. Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
    “ Turn around and go back .” The warning seemed
to resonate through all the trees.
    “Morri, wait. I don’t feel good about this now. I
feel like we should go back.”
    “What? We can’t. Remember? Because of your silly mistake,
we have to do this tonight. Now, come on.”
    “Okay,” she whispered, still lingering there. It
couldn’t be Lance. He was gone. Besides, he knew. And they had been quiet when
they snuck into the preacher’s office. They had even made sure Kelile was
asleep before they left the house. Everything should be fine. And since she was
wearing her amulet, surely she’d be protected.
    Once inside the storage building, Aishling spotted
the large gear bag Lance had described to her. “Morri, here.” She picked it up
and lifted it into the canoe. “Have you got Lance’s ‘must-have’ list?”
    “I don’t need it. I memorized it,” Morrigan said,
looking through the compartments of the backpack. “Plastic fold up water jug;
mini survival kit—it’s a little metal box with fish hooks, safety pins, wire—here
it is; compass; flashlight; maps; cooking pan; and water purifying kit. Where
is that? Oh, this must be it. We still need his knife, a flint stone, tent, and
two sleeping bags.”
    Aishling looked around again and found a smaller
backpack. Rolled tightly and fastened to the bottom was one sleeping bag.
Rolled up inside was a lightweight tent. She also found his knife and flint
inside. “But there’s only one sleeping bag.”
    Morrigan lifted the heavier pack and found the
other sleeping bag also rolled up and attached on the bottom. “Okay, here it
is. We’ll just take everything. Put that pack in here with this one. Come on,
hurry.”
    After securing the gear in the canoe, Aishling
said, “How are we going to make it look like someone broke in?”
    “I hadn’t thought about that.”
    Aishling worked her way over to one of the two
windows. As with the other window, this window’s glass pane had been painted with
white paint. No one could see in or out of the window. “Could we make it look
like the window had been left unlocked and someone pried it open from the
outside?”
    “Let’s try.”
    She unlocked it and followed Morrigan outside. As
they both pushed up on the glass panel, it lifted just enough to wedge their
fingertips underneath the frame and finish prying the window open.
    “Great! Let’s get out of here. Hurry,” Morrigan
said.
    They struggled carrying the canoe, having to rest
several times before reaching the bushes where they had planned