Moon's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Moon's magic died at the same moment her gold bracelet vanished. She stood on the wide balcony of the golden loft, waterfalls hissing past its bright walls, and stared at her bare wrist. That thin band held her power. Without it, her wings barely twitched. She could not fly. She could not spark a single light. Someone had slipped it off her arm in the crowd below, and she had felt nothing until the emptiness hit her. She dropped to the floor, small as a sparrow, black hair sticking to her cheek. Purple silk pooled around her. Her big brown eyes swept the balcony for any clue. The market crowd had passed through an hour ago. Any of a hundred hands could have taken it. She had no name, no face, no direction. A thief without a trail was a thief who won. Then the leaves moved. A cluster of broad green plants sat in a stone pot near the rail. Its fronds shook, though no wind touched them. Moon crept closer. She parted the leaves with both hands. A small tiger crouched inside, no bigger than she was. Bright eyes met hers. Striped fur, twitching tail. He held something between his front paws and licked it like a treasure. Gold. Her gold. "That's mine," Moon whispered. The tiger flattened his ears. He did not run. He pressed one paw over the bracelet and watched her, testing. Moon reached slowly. Her fingers brushed the warm metal. For one breath, her wings hummed. Light flickered at her fingertips. Then the tiger yanked the bracelet back and bolted from the pot. Moon lunged. She caught the far edge of the band as he ran. The gold stretched between them. The tiger dug in his claws. Moon dug in her heels. She weighed almost nothing, and he dragged her across the wet stone toward the rail. Water roared below. The twin waterfalls spilled off the loft in thick sheets. If the bracelet went over, it was gone for good. Moon stopped pulling. She let the gold go slack. The tiger stumbled backward, surprised. In that half-second, Moon threw herself onto the band and clamped it against her chest with both arms. The tiger pounced. His paw pinned her shoulder. His face pushed close, and she smelled fish on his breath. But he did not bite. He only stared, as if waiting to see what she would do. "You took it," Moon said, panting. "You didn't run away with it. You brought it here." The tiger's ears lifted. He backed off one step and sat down. Moon slid the bracelet onto her wrist. Power flooded back. Her wings snapped wide and lifted her an inch off the floor. She had her answer at last. The thief was no faceless stranger. He was sitting right in front of her, and he had wanted her to find him. "Why?" she asked. The tiger only turned toward the falls and waited.