Shadow Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

Author:Alexandra Sokoloff [Sokoloff, Alexandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Huntress Productions
Published: 2019-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

His name is Jamie Kennedy.

At the top of a spiral set of stairs he holds the green door for her and she steps through warily, her body as always braced to flee or fight. She is looking into the balcony she glimpsed from the floor below. Young people are sunk into huge sofas and chairs. A makeshift but well-stocked bar and bowls of snack food are set up on a table lit with electric candles.

The constellations on the arched ceiling above are much closer now, and she can see the phases of the moon in detail. The black walls are layered in wild scribblings and sketches in colored chalk, and the air is smoky with the green smell of pot.

This is Normal. Not everyone’s idea of Normal. But for the creative kind of person, definitely. An experience as alien to her as other kinds of Normal.

She recognizes the musicians from Jamie’s band among the others. There are non-musicians as well. Street kids. Waifs. Their body language, their scratches, make it clear they are tricking to survive.

Jamie brings her the tea she asks for in place of anything stronger, and introduces her around as Mia, the name she has given him. She tolerates the niceties, because it gets her closer to these young people. The wounds she senses in them are not just from the past. The cloud of fear over the huddled groups is tangible, stomach-turning.

Jamie is a light in this anxious darkness, obviously beloved, a leader in the crowd. She half-listens to conversations he has with various starry-eyed kids gushing about the show, about his performance. And she waits for the reason she is here to be revealed.

It isn’t long.

She spots her almost immediately. It’s hard to miss the slim, flamboyant young—girl or boy, Cara isn’t sure. Which is clearly the point.

Her clothes are flashy but Cara’s quick eyes catch the missing sequins on the worn velvet.

Seeing Jamie, s/he stops in her tracks, with a dramatic feigned swoon. “Be still my heart.”

Jamie gives her a smile. “How’s it going, Brandi?”

Brandi strikes a pose, inviting scrutiny. “How does it look?”

Jamie laughs. “You’re a vision, as usual.” He turns to Cara. “This is my friend, Mia.”

Brandi looks Cara over, and Cara gets a flash of the keen, cold perception under the camp act. A survivor assessing a survivor, without filters, without mercy. But when Brandi speaks, it’s with elaborate nonchalance.

“Where you from, sweetness?”

“Here and there,” Cara responds.

“Citizen of the world,” Brandi supplies, challenging.

Cara gives a nod and says nothing.

“Here, there, and everywhere,” Brandi drawls.

“Like that,” Cara says quietly.

Brandi gives her another X-ray look, and her eyes widen slightly. “Oh my.”

Cara is suddenly sure Brandi has seen everything there is to see. Then Brandi pivots to Jamie. “This is my competition, hmm? It’s a tragedy, I tell you.”

Jamie smiles. “You’ll always be the one for me.”

Cara had not been sure about Jamie until that moment. But his easy, egoless flirting with this damaged soul stirs something in her. Jamie is a genuinely kind person.

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