Moon's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Moon still held the strange necklace. Its marks meant nothing to her. The tiger sat at her feet, quiet. She had followed him through the mist and the roaring falls for answers. She had none yet. She did not know who took her bracelet long ago, or why the tiger had brought her to this place. She turned to the angel twins. "You said someone will come for this," she said. "Then tell me who. Tell me why I'm here." The twins looked at each other. They spoke as one. "The marks are a name. The name of the thief who hunts the sky." They pointed at the band. "She pulled our song down. She pulled many things down. A fairy's bracelet, once." Moon's chest went tight. "My bracelet." She gripped the gold harder. "The tiger. Did he bring me here to find her?" The tiger stood. He pressed his nose against the necklace in her hands. Then he looked up at her, steady, and she understood. He had not stolen her magic to hurt her. He had taken it to make her follow. He had led her to the one clue that named the real thief. "Read the marks," Moon said. "Please. I can't." The first twin traced the cuts with one gold finger. "A black owl," she said. "Gold on her wings. She nests beyond these crystals. She keeps what she steals." "Then that's where my bracelet's power came from," Moon said. "She's the one who left me powerless." Her weak magic stirred at her wrist, a thin warmth. It was enough to know the truth now. The theft had never been random. A thief with wings had marked her, and the tiger had spent all this time trying to tell her. The twins cupped their glowing song between them. "We have what we came for," the first said. "The owl will miss this necklace soon." They spread their white wings. "Do not be holding it when she comes." "Wait," Moon said. "Where does she nest?" The second twin lifted off the wet rock. "Follow the dark one," she said, nodding at the tiger. "He knows." Light poured up through the mist as both angels rose and vanished above the crystals. Moon stood alone with the tiger among the bright shards. She closed her hand around the necklace. It was not hers, but it carried the thief's name. It was a key. She knelt and looked the tiger in the eye. "A black owl took it," she said. "You've known the whole time." He turned and padded toward a gap between two tall crystals, then looked back at her. Moon tucked the heavy gold inside her sash. Her bracelet was gone, but now she had a trail and a thief with a name. She followed the tiger into the gap. The real hunt had started.