Bad Moon:Book One in the "I Am Chaos" series.

Chapter 16: Commencement

Chapter 16: Commencement

"Congratulations." My mother stands in the doorway, not looking at me. One hand stretches up to untangle an ornament that has wrapped itself around another one. The metals chime as they hit each other. "Out of the proverbial frying pan..." She doesn't finish the sentence because she doesn't have to.

The ornaments swing free now. They glint and shimmer, catching the light from the hall.

I stare at my mother, searching to unlock her secrets. She is beautiful. White-blonde hair braided back off her face, enormous green eyes, thick, lustrous lashes that match the darkness of her slender brows. Her mouth is pursed in distaste.

"Where are you?" I demand. My voice is still a child's voice. My hands are still a child's hands.

As if in response to my question, the room shifts. My bed sinks below me until I'm sitting on the dying grass and pine-straw floor of Red Rock Park. My mother's lips are still compressed, but with interest now. She holds the silver pocketknife, opening it and closing it. "What an interesting gift," she says. "Did the Ash boy take the dragon's heart?"

Dragon's heart? She's talking about the stone Vehendi wore around his neck. I don't know what happened to it. I don't care.

"Where are you? What happened to you?"

My mother's eyes flick up from the knife. She sets it gently back down on the ground. "I have a theory," she says, but stops herself, suddenly, eyes flashing over my shoulder.

I turn. In the distance, the only light comes from Boston, which blazes like an orange beacon. Outlined against its glow, a figure stands.

My mother lets out a small, "Hmph." And quicker than thought, she is gone.

With his back to the light, I can barely see the details on my father's face. But I can see him smirk, turn his attention to me, and wink. The snake, coiled about his arm, hisses in warning.



Only seven customers sat in The Dervish's cozy dining room, taking a leisurely lunch. Most of the customers sat by themselves, but there was a table where two female friends were deep in conversation, passing a cell phone back and forth.

I eyed them for a wistful moment before making my way towards the back, where the bar stretched.

Andy was deep in conversation with the same brunette waitress who'd been here last time. I wondered if she was the one who'd been rude on the phone.

I pulled out a chair and sat down, keeping my purse in my lap (lest he try to slide anything else into it). The waitress cast me an irritated glance, reached over, and touched Andy's shoulder in an obvious, proprietary gesture, then left to check on her tables. With all the casualness of a cat, Andy strolled down the length of the bar towards where I sat.

"Ouch," he said, eyeing the black plastic splint that stabilized the newly healed bones in my wrist. It turns out that sorcerers can't work healing magic, but they've a few creatures on staff that can. Also it turns out: setting a broken bone hurts almost as much as breaking it. "How's your friend?"

Did he mean Wynn, or did he mean Amelia? Wynn, of course, was fine. I think she suspected that Cal was some sort of domestic abuser (since I hadn't had time to make up a good story about how I'd broken my wrist – and also since I hadn't spoken about him since), but other than that, she remained blissfully ignorant of the dramatic change in my life.

Amelia on the other hand – Cal hadn't been joking when he said that sorcerer's messed with minds. Ash House had sent someone to grab Hunter at the airport. They'd worked their magic on Amelia. And as far as Hunter and Amelia knew, the plan had always been for Hunter to fly down at the end of Amelia's conference so that they could spend a romantic weekend together. Amelia sent me snaps of the two of them at a Bruins game.