“Be on your way, then, and the Moon Mother be easy on you.” Hanna opened the door.
Morio and I clattered down the porch stairs, stepping out into the night. The skies were clear, and we could see the moon on the rise. The Hunt was coming in from the east. I could see them in the sky, ghostly forms racing through the heavens in a long train—so long nobody knew how far it extended. I backed up, my gaze locked on the moon.
The Moon Mother was riding at the helm of the Hunt, so huge that she dwarfed the riders behind her. She sat astride a skeletal horse clad in silver armor, with crimson eyes. Steam rose from its nostrils’ openings, and he was easily the size of the Black Beast. The Moon Mother’s hair flowed out behind her in the astral winds and she was a silhouette of fire encased in silver form, with her bow and arrows over on shoulder. Her eyes shimmered, also silver, glowing and endless. Behind her, running fast and free in a tunic of plum, with black breeches and boots, was Derisa. Her aura crackled with lavender sparks, her magic running wild. She was the High Priestess of the Full Moon, and I was the High Priestess of the Dark Moon.
My own aura flared a deep purple as the trumpets echoed around us. The trumpeters rode to both sides of the Moon Mother, aside skeletal mounts like hers. The Hunt stopped overhead, waiting. Morio and I clasped hands and I hit the staff on the ground, thudding the silver boot so hard it felt like the earth quaked, and then we were running up a bridge of dark sparkling energy, to join the Hunt.
I threw back my head and let out a shriek, long and piercing, as the energy of the Hunt slammed into me fully, buoying me, driving me toward the chaotic and lovely strength that raced through the train of riders and runners. As the Moon Mother set off, Morio and I began to run, caught in the frenzy, beside Derisa. Behind us, all the warriors of the Moon who had fallen through time, and the priestesses long dead, raced with us. And intermingling in their midst were the spirits of bears and pumas, of elk and deer and wolves and all things wild. The winged spirits of owls and ravens were part of our chain, and hawks and eagles.
We tore through the night, a chain that encircled the worlds—both Earthside and Otherworld, brilliant in the skies of both but yet separate and part of neither. We were the fear and the shiver, the lamentations of the dead that made men cover their heads as we passed. We were the wail of the Bean Sidhe, and the jubilation of witches dancing under the moon’s light. We were the ecstasy of the rut, and the march of the dead.
As we swept through the night, through the world, chasing the moon, we caught up the dead who were to join our pack. At one point, I glanced over my shoulder and—for just a moment—caught sight of my cousin Shamas. I caught my breath as we locked eyes, and then he smiled, a fierce, joyous smile, and I knew that he was all right. I turned back to the front, my attention latching onto my Lady, and as we ran, I lost all thought except for my love of the Hunt and the Moon. With Morio beside me, we ran across the worlds, until the night was spent.
Early morn, the Hunt slowed, and the Moon Mother turned to look at me. “Well met, my Dark Priestess. Go now, and next I see you, you will understand truly what it means to walk in my shadow. Derisa will prepare you.”
Before I could kneel or say farewell, Morio and I were standing in the yard. A faint light in the east shimmered. The sun was preparing to rise. And the Hunt raced away for another month.
Chapter 8
HANNA WAS ALREADY up, even though she had gone to bed late. She had a huge farmhouse breakfast waiting—bacon and eggs, hash browns and biscuits, fresh-squeezed orange juice and a compote of berries with cream. The scent of the food hit me hard and I realized just how hungry I was. My stomach let out a loud rumble. Morio snorted, but he looked as famished as I was.
Delilah was sitting there, rubbing her head and sniffing a cup of peppermint tea. Hanna started up the espresso machine and began to pull shots as we stumbled in. I was covered with the sparkles of magic that had coalesced into physical form as we came off the Hunt, and they were starting to itch.
“Take a shower, then come eat. Trillian is still asleep, so let him be. He stayed up most of the night with Rozurial and Vanzir, keeping an eye on the place. We had a fracas with a couple of goblins who decided to try to come through the rogue portal in the back yard.” Hanna shook her spatula at Delilah. “Drink that tea, young lady. You knew better than to tear open the whole bag of catnip. Now you can just nurse that hangover.”
I laughed as Delilah glared at her. “You mean that ten-ounce bag of catnip we bought for you the other day?”
She nodded.
“You tore open the entire bag?”