Scott Tracey - Moonset

“Patience is a virtue, my little mango.”

“Mango?”

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Couldn’t think of another animal,” she admitted. Her eyes strayed over the counter to the piles of fruit on display. They’d been selected for their coloring and possibility their alliteration: kumquats and kiwi were arranged together, along with sliced cantaloupes and carrots.

“How about Pissed-off Panda Bear?”

She didn’t laugh. In fact, that got no reaction at all. She looked me over. “You’d think the new boy would be a little more genial. Not quite so … ” she mused over it for a minute.

“Cantankerous.” Her smile brightened. “SAT word.”

“I’m not … ” I hesitated. “How’d you know I’m new?”

“You think you’re living in the big city? Everyone knows everyone around here. Besides, Maddy said you were. And she knows all.”

“Maddy?”

“The brunette with the Mean Girl complex?”

Cal finally came back with the drinks, setting the pair of medium-sized smoothies down in front of us and moving on to the next person in line. The girl called out a cheerful, “Thanks, Cal,” before walking off. I followed. I wasn’t sure what else to do. This girl clearly lacked sanity. But there was something fun about her, drama free and exciting. I was fascinated.

We stepped out onto the street, and I strained to decipher the scrawl of her name on the cup. My concentration was broken by a very loud, very angry scream. “Where the fuck have you been?”

Jenna. Of course. Her “Justin was having a good time without me” senses must have been tingling. I turned back, followed the sound of her voice and found her standing at the corner across the street with a hand on her hip. She didn’t move, just stood there and waited.

Expected me to run right over. I almost wanted to turn around and walk away with my mystery girl, just to see how Jenna would react.

“I’ve gotta … ” I wasn’t sure how to make the excuse. Deal with my potentially psychotic sister? Fix whatever problem she’d managed to get into in the last half hour? Talk her down off a ledge that would lead to another move? Stave off the inevitable explosion? Waiting would only serve to piss Jenna off more than she already was.

“Wow, your girlfriend is pissed.”

That caught me off guard. Jenna? My girlfriend? “Now who’s digging for information?” I said, trying to sound teasing but a little afraid it just came across as desperate.

The girl snickered, shaking her head and looking away. “So far off, cowboy. Besides, most sisters I know don’t yell at their brothers like that.”

“You haven’t met my sister,” I muttered.

“Love to,” she announced as if that had been an invitation. Then she hopped off the sidewalk and made a beeline for Jenna.

“Everyone knew Sherrod was the leader. But Cy Denton and I grew up together. He controlled the school. Everyone wanted to know him. He was the star of every play, the one who threw the best parties, and the funniest guy I’ve ever met.”

Sara Bexington (S)

Personal Interview

“Who is this?” Jenna demanded, once I caught up. The girl just stood there while Jenna’s glare homed in on me. Jenna would rip out her spine and dangle it out of reach like a cat toy if I didn’t interject.

“What happened?” I countered.

“I asked you—”

I cut her off. “What. Happened?”

“Bailey’s … upset ,” was all she said. Her eyes flicked to my mystery girl (when did she become my mystery girl?), and I realized that there was a whole undercurrent to the situation that she wasn’t going to reveal in front of a stranger. That’s what you get for thinking you could have an afternoon free , I thought, actually able to feel my blood pressure rising.

“What did you do?” It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Jenna’s bad mood was her way of overcompensating.

“I didn’t do anything,” she said, her voice growing more shrill. In other words, she had

GUILTY written across her forehead in big black letters.

“Fine, then Bailey took something you said out of context. Just tell me what happened.”

“I don’t know what happened,” she snapped. “We were in the store trying things on, and Mal and I had this tiny little disagreement, and when I walked out of the dressing room, Bailey had taken off.”

“Taken off?” My stomach sank.

“Yeah, like gone. Ran away, planning on never coming back.”

“Well it’s good to see you’re not being overdramatic about it,” the girl suddenly chimed in.

Jenna whirled on her. “And who the hell are you?”

“Jen—” I tried to grab her arm, but she threw me off. “Leave her—”

“My name’s Ash,” the girl said. I probably looked like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, the way I gaped. After struggling for half an hour, she offered her name up to Jenna in the first thirty seconds? As casual as can be?

Jenna didn’t understand the significance. “Better question, why are you butting into our conversation?”

“Because you’re making a scene,” Ash said. At some point during the conversation, she’d pulled out her phone and was texting casually, her eyes barely glancing over the screen. “I figured if you stop yelling at your brother for a minute, maybe you’d realize that.”

Jen whirled on me. “Who the hell is this girl?”

“We met at the bookstore,” I said. “And then we went out for coffee.”

”You’re drinking a milkshake.” Jenna made it an accusation.

“Going for coffee is a euphemism,” I explained patiently, carefully avoiding Ash’s eyes.

“There’s a smoothie shop across the street.”

Jenna’s hand flexed into a fist and then relaxed. “This wouldn’t be a problem if they’d show us

—” There were spells that could track the coven bond. Spells we weren’t allowed to know.

Truth be told, there were a lot of things we weren’t allowed to know.

I cut her off. “I know.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Jenna snapped.

“I’ll help you look,” Ash volunteered. She slid the phone back into the pocket of her coat, looking between us expectantly.

“Thanks,” Jenna said as snidely as she could manage. “But this is a family thing.” And just like that, I knew that Jenna and Ash would never be friends. Ash wasn’t the type of girl who backed down to Jenna’s attitude, and as a result, Jenna would never see her as anything more than a bitch.

“I know the area, and you don’t,” Ash smiled, a saccharine look that didn’t hold an ounce of sweetness. “I’m also an extra pair of eyes, and in case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of places to hide around here.”

“Justin,” my sister growled, “get rid of her.” Watching the two of them was like watching a pair of wolves circling each other.

“You’ll need all the help you can get,” Ash added, looking up at me.

“Ash can help me look. You should go find Mal and Cole,” I said, pointing back the way Jenna had come from. “The last thing I need is Cole doing something stupid, too.”

Jenna and I shared one last look, hers promising a conversation I wouldn’t want to have, before we both went in different directions.

“How old is she? Your sister?” Ash asked, while we waited for a gap in cars so we could cross the street.

“Bailey? She’s fifteen.”

Ash hmmed. “And what does she like?”

What does she like? “I don’t know,” I said, struggling. “Girly stuff? Makeup? Clothes?”

“Girly stuff,” she repeated, her lips twitching. “All right then, c’mon,” she linked her arm through mine, attaching us at the elbow.

“Where are we going?” I asked, essentially letting her drag me down the block.

“You have a lot to learn about girls,” she grinned, “whether or not you’re related to them.”

Bailey running away wasn’t what I was afraid of, not even close. Her particular talent was evocations, literally bringing things out in people and affecting their judgment. She still hadn’t learned that magic couldn’t solve everything. And her magic, much like Cole’s, had a tendency to take on a life of its own.

Like the time she stopped a fighting couple, pulling out their feelings of love and attraction for each other. A spell that quickly spread, enveloping everyone for a full city block who dropped what they were doing and hooked up with the nearest person. That had been … awkward. I’d never had to pair a “safe magic” lecture with a “safe sex” lecture at the same time.

When people talked about which of us had the most destructive potential, they always looked at Jenna, sometimes at me. My vote was Bailey—there was nothing scarier than the ability to change how everyone around you felt. What was worse was that she didn’t understand exactly how bad that was.

“It’s not far,” she promised as we headed back in the direction of the bookstore. We crossed onto one of the side streets, and tucked in between an art gallery and a Banana Republic, we came to the pet store, Unleashed Boutique.

“Seriously?” I asked, pointing up to the sign.

Ash sighed, shaking her head at me. She had her phone in hand and was typing something out as we talked. “Not a pet lover, nice.” Once again, I tried to open the door for her and she opened the other door instead.

“I like pets just fine,” I said, already canvassing the store for my sister. The puppies lined one whole side of the store. An older couple moved to the other side of the aisle, and revealed

Bailey.

“Bailey gets attached to things she shouldn’t,” I said quietly over my shoulder. “I’m probably going to have to pull her out of here kicking and screaming.”

Bailey looked up, the splotchiness in her face already starting to fade. “It wasn’t my fault,” she said preemptively.

I held up my hands. “Not here to judge. What’s with the running away?”

Bailey sighed. “I just needed to get away. Then I found the pet store, and the puppies were so cute and floppy and … ” She didn’t need to say anymore. One of the many flaws in Bailey’s life was that no one would ever let her have a pet. She wanted a dog more than anything.

“Aww, he’s so cute,” Ash said, crouching down next to her. “You’ve got good taste.”

“Thanks. Who are you?”

Ash grinned and looked up at me. “Come on, don’t be rude. Make the introductions.” So I did.

Bailey’s eyebrows raised as she looked up at me. I could only imagine the sorts of questions she was building up to.

“We should get going, Bails. You know you can’t run away.”

“Why not? You did.” She didn’t say it with any malice, just honest curiosity.

“I didn’t run away,” I said carefully, “I just wanted some time to myself.

“So did I,” Bailey said.

Ash started laughing softly to herself. “Well, as fantastic as this has been,” she said, “it’s after midnight and my pumpkin’s turning into a carriage.”

I blinked. “What?”

Ash sauntered backwards towards the door with a rueful smile. “I have a prior engagement.”

She pivoted just as the brunette from earlier appeared in the doorway, wearing sunglasses.

“Where’d you run off too?” Maddy demanded, pulling off her sunglasses.

Ash turned to look at me, her smile widening. “I found a distraction.”

“You know, I thought about leaving you,” Maddy announced. She didn’t look at me at first, focusing her attention on the girl who was too busy twisting my insides up to pay attention. “I thought we had plans and you run off with some … ” She turned to me, and her lip curled, “guy.”