Free Othermoon by Nina Berry

Amaris said to London.
     “I have a lot of catching up to do.”
    “Uh, okay,” London said, making her way to the seats in the far back again.
    As she pulled out her phone and earbuds, I still wanted to know who the hell Amaris
     had been talking to. But unless I confronted her in front of everyone, the moment
     had passed. The group’s trust in her was tentative enough without me making it worse
     for no good reason.
    Unless there is a good reason.
    Amaris had been lying. Maybe the reason was unimportant. But maybe it was critical.
     I’d thought I could handle Arnaldo’s family situation, and that had turned out to
     be out of my league. What if there was more going on with Amaris than I knew? What
     if I’d been mistaken to let her into our lives? She’d whispered to me earlier that
     she had something to tell me. Were those things related?
    I resolved to get her alone as soon as possible and drag it out of her. Amaris was
     something rarer than a shifter or a caller of shadow. She was a healer, able to steal
     power from Othersphere to heal wounds and illnesses. But after she ran away from the
     Tribunal, her recapture and marriage to a horrible old man had traumatized her so
     much, she’d been unable to access her skill. She could be hiding things from us out
     of some irrational fear.
    The only good thing about all that guilt and shame was that it made her a terrible
     liar. It shouldn’t be too hard to get the truth out of her once I had her alone. Also,
     I needed to tell her what Lazar had said, that he was sorry. There hadn’t been any
     time for that either.
    On top of that, I hadn’t had a second alone with Caleb. So much still to tell him.
     If I could just be with him, touch him, hear his voice speaking only to me, I might
     feel like everything could be all right again.
    I stewed in uncertainty as we zoomed down the freeway. I felt so useless. There had
     to be something we could do. I turned in the passenger seat to see Arnaldo staring
     out the window.
    “I was thinking,” I said. “Maybe we should call the Department of Children’s Services,
     or whatever it’s called.”
    Everyone in the car stirred uncomfortably, except Arnaldo, who turned his head to
     look at me with eyes that were still red and heavy with pain. “I know you mean well,
     Dez,” he said. “But no.”
    “ ‘Hell, no,’ you mean,” November interjected. “Shifters can’t let humdrums solve
     their problems.”
    Siku was nodding. London looked uncertain.
    “ Won’t let humdrums help them, you mean,” I said. “It’s not like he’s just going to stop
     drinking all by himself.”
    “I said, no!” Arnaldo’s voice sharpened and rose, but he forced himself to remain
     calm. “Things are bad enough between me and my dad now,” he said. “If I did that to
     him . . .” He shook his head.
    Everything was messed up, thanks to me. I turned back around in my seat and stared
     straight ahead. Maybe I had been wrong to force Mr. Perez’s hand. But I couldn’t help
     feeling that Arnaldo’s brothers’ safety was more important than trying to mend the
     shreds of his relationship with his dad. Or maybe I was wrong about that, the way
     I’d been wrong about everything else.
    “I’m sorry, Arnaldo,” I said.
    “I know,” he said, leaning his forehead against the window glass. “It’s not your fault,
     Dez.”
    The drive back to Morfael’s school in the Spring Mountains northwest of Vegas took
     forever, but Caleb wouldn’t let anyone else drive. He explained that once we left
     Kyle Canyon Road, the turns got tricky. He and Morfael had deliberately planned it
     that way to make the school harder to find, so in the dark after a long day it was
     better for him to find the way.
    Amaris and London took turns listening to music on her headphones till London’s phone
     died. November fell asleep with her head on Siku’s elbow, and Arnaldo stared stiffly
     out the window, not saying a word.
    It was past