Shadow and Stars

Nineteen

My eyes snap open as I gasp for a breath of air, confused and disoriented.

It happened again. A vision. I was at the Crescent, in the basement, in the records room...and I saw Julian. He looked perplexed, then hurt, then shocked. But I couldn't hear anything.

Then, I woke up here at home, staring out my window into the backyard.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and when I read what's on the screen, a chill runs through me.

I just saw her...Luna. She was here at the Crescent, pretending to be you. Are you okay?

I'm fine, but I had another vision...I think I was...inside her mind or something, I don't know. I'll be outside, just let me get in the car with you and we can drive.

Okay, be there in three minutes, I'm already on my way.

As I wait to hear Julian's car out front, my mind races with the possibilities of what this newest vision means. If I can get inside her head, does that mean she can get inside of mine? If she does, what will she be able to do?

I hear the engine of the Mustang outside and slip out the door without alerting my dad. Jumping in the passenger seat, I murmur, "Drive."

He waits until we get down to the stop sign at the end of my street before putting the car in park and looking at me, placing his hand over mine without hesitation. "Cam, are you okay?"

I nod and turn my hand over so our palms rest against each other; the contact is welcome and slows my racing heart.

"What did she do? I couldn't hear anything, so all I had to go on were your facial expressions."

His face flushes. "Well, as soon as she got there, she came on to me, and at first, ya know...I was excited because I thought it was you."

Despite the current situation, butterflies enter my stomach and their wings beat mercilessly against my insides. "Oh, really?"

"Anyway," he says, "I started getting suspicious because you wouldn't act the way she was acting...then she got upset because I questioned her, and she told me she didn't need me to save her. That stung a bit, but I looked down and noticed that your birthmark wasn't there...then I realized what was going on. I freaked out and I guess when she figured out I knew, she panicked and dipped out."

"What the hell..."

"I know. I don't know what her motive was besides stopping me from getting any more information from the records room," he says with a shrug.

"Well, that was motive enough, I guess."

He looks at me sideways as he makes his way through my neighborhood. "Nah, I got something anyway."

"You did?"

He grins and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small leather-bound notebook. "I did."

"What's that?" I ask, holding out my hand and running my fingers over the still-soft binding.

"I don't know, I didn't have time to look at it past the first page." He nods toward the book. "Open it."

I open the cover and read the words scrawled on the inside in neat calligraphy: Property of Luna Blackwood.

"Oh my God, is this her journal?"

"We won't know unless you open it!" He turns into the parking lot of the city park.

I turn in my seat to face him and pull my feet underneath me in a cross-legged position, turning the first page. "It is," I breathe.