Free Black Moon (The Moonlight Trilogy) by Teri Harman Page A

“I hope not,” she whispered. A rock of concern settled into the bottom of her stomach. “Solace, what’s happening? Why can’t we talk about this stuff? Soul mates are supposed to be close, to tell each other everything. But lately . . . I couldn’t even bring myself to ask him if he really had faked it.”
    The floor under them shook violently. Willa instinctively reached out for Solace, but her hand met the cold floor. The window rattled overhead. Willa scrambled away from it, afraid it might shatter down on her.
    “Willa! What’s happening?” Solace cried out.
    Before Willa could answer, the quake had stopped. Chest heaving, heart pounding, she jumped to her feet, looked out the window. Nothing seemed seriously damaged; the power hadn’t even gone out. “An earthquake,” she answered in disbelief.
    Solace joined her at the window. “I don’t think I like earthquakes.”
    “Me neither.” Willa had never felt a quake before, and she hoped she never did again. “That was a really bizarre feeling. The floor should not move like that.”
    “Not ever.”
    It happened again. The window rattled, and the old building shuddered. Solace screamed as Willa dove to the ground. By the time she looked back at her ghost-friend the quake ended. “Whoa! What’s going on?”
    Solace hovered, rubbing her hands nervously. “I know it can’t hurt me, but it still makes me nervous.”
    Willa’s phone beeped from her purse. She crawled over, dug it out, and suddenly the weight in her stomach felt like a writhing ball of snakes. “It’s Charlotte. She says I need to get to the house right now, that the quakes are not natural.” Willa squinted at the message. “What does that mean?” Solace squeaked in protest. “Will you be okay, Solace?”
    She frowned, eyes wide. “I guess so. But will you? If the quakes aren’t natural, does that mean Dark magic? Is it Rachel? Maybe she didn’t leave after all.”
    “I don’t know.” Willa snatched her purse, rose to her feet. She looked at Solace, trembling and flickering in and out of focus. “I’ll come back and tell you what I find out. I’m sorry I have to go.”
    “It’s okay. Go.” She waved toward the door. “Be safe, Willa!”
    “I will.” She opened the door. “Bye,” she added with a des-
pondent expression.
    The diner closed after the fifth quake, and Simon hurried over to Plate’s Place.
    The windows of the Victorian home glowed. The exterior of the house had been stripped of the peeling, rotting clapboards and prepped for new ones, ordered in the same aspen green Ruby originally had. It’d look amazing when completed, but right now, in the dark, the house looked like the skeleton of some great beast.
    “What’s going on?” he asked as he stepped inside. The group gathered in the large kitchen, now almost finished. The recycled glass counters, sparkling white and green, and dark walnut cabinets made the house feel like it might actually be livable one day.
    Simon crossed the room, fighting off the wave of uncertainty coming from his friends, and took his seat next to Willa at the long table.
    Rowan, at the head of the table answered, “We don’t know. Something has unsettled the balance of the Powers. The frequent small earthquakes have made the animals and trees very nervous.”
    “What ‘something’?” Simon said. “Do you mean Dark magic, not just a freak natural occurrence? Colorado actually gets a lot of small quakes.”
    Rowan nodded. “Yes, we are quite certain this is Dark magic. The trees don’t whisper when it’s natural. Besides, Colorado doesn’t get this many quakes at once . . . nowhere does.”
    Trees whispering? Even after almost six months in the Covenant, things like that still sounded strange.
    “Is this Rachel?” Willa asked, her hand growing cold in Simon’s.
    Rowan shook his head. “I don’t know. Rain and Corbin tried another scrying spell a few minutes ago, and still nothing. I’m starting to wonder if