Category: Curiosities of the Moon

The Curious Leaf: Voyage to the Moon 007

TCL Cover“One is enough to quench any hunger,” the dragon said, its voice strained as though it had been burned away. And rather than the fire Kya had been expecting, great pearly dragon tears welled up in the corners of its eyes and dripped down its cheeks.

Kya shifted nervously in place. She glanced down at Hearthorne, but the faerie-flower still had her petals wrapped up tighter than a locked door.

Tears were better than fire, weren’t they? At least they meant that she wasn’t in any immediate danger of being roasted and eaten, so long as she kept ample distance between herself and the dragon’s teeth glittering like a path of freshly sharpened sword grass. She managed to scoot back a little down the dragon’s flank before it collected itself and the tears stopped falling.

“That leaves one last apple,” it rasped.

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The Curious Leaf: Voyage to the Moon 006

TCL Cover“May I know your name?” she asked, remembering the manners she’d picked up from her keeper.

At her hip, Hearthorne groaned, while the dragon-mound reared up its head on its snakelike neck. “So, not only a thief, but an insulting one as well.” Bits of white fire foamed up along the edges of its lips.

Kya’s knees knocked together, and she wanted nothing more than to throw herself on her face and hope dragons had a well-tuned sense of mercy, but the rest of her had gone all stiff from fear, so she stood her ground. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just how things are done where I come from.” She frowned even as the words left her lips. That wasn’t quite true. The other plants and insects and animals had never been as preoccupied with names as her keeper and her keeper’s friends had been.

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Moon Bait (Part 3)

Curiosities-of-the-Moon-Curiosities-1-KindleThe witches laughed as they stepped out of the shadows the cottage cast upon the clearing. The sight of their hooked noses and bright eyes would haunt the moon for a very long time, provided she survived whatever witchery they had planned.

“Silly child,” the first chided. “Silly, silly child.”

“It wouldn’t have been a very effective spell if you’d heard it,” the second said.

The third said nothing. She just gave the moon a sweet look that hid sharp things like teeth and claws and rusted knives, and somehow that look said everything.

“You cannot kill me,” the moon said with more surety than she felt in that moment. “I have no blood to bind my death.” Never before had she appreciated being immortal.

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The Curious Leaf: Voyage to the Moon 005

TCL Cover“Right.” Kya went to lift her foot, but found her feet—her whole self, actually—had frozen some place in between flight and moving forward. Moving at all seemed an impossible task, no matter how her heart jumped and juddered.

“You could always go back,” Hearthorne said lightly, as though what she was saying was nothing of consequence.

“Back?”

“Yes. Back to the pot sitting empty on your keeper’s window sill. It’s still there, you know.”

With great effort, Kya managed to turn her head enough to look Hearthorne in the face. “But what of our bargain?”

The faerie-flower shrugged her leaves. “What good is a bargain that doesn’t have a back door if things get too messy?”

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Moon Bait (Part 2)

Curiosities-of-the-Moon-Curiosities-1-Kindle“Yes. The familiars serve the witches.” She gathered the cloak close about herself, careful to keep the hem from dragging or catching on any of the needles. She wanted to make sure she returned the cloak in exactly the state she’d borrowed it in.

“If you’re sure.” He grinned at her before resuming the course he had chosen.

The cat walked for a time, leading her along a path that only he could see, for he certainly didn’t follow any of the trails crisscrossing the forest for very long. Every so often he’d stop and clean his paws, watching her through glowing eyes as he did.

On the third such stop, rather than sitting down, he remained upright, his ears straining at the night. “I think I have need of the first favor,” he said without turning around.

Wordlessly, the moon lifted the hood from her face, washing the forest about them with her silver light. Without warning, the cat darted off to the right and ran up the side of a tree as though the earth’s pull had no permission to impede his movements.

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