24. Sharks #2
Luna raised her hand and a swarm of murder hornets appeared around his head, black and yellow, stingers long as needles. As they dive-bombed his face, Elias yelped and leaped into the portal.
“Pretty stupid,” she muttered, and followed him through.
* * *
They landed hard on polished concrete.
Elias scrambled to his feet, hands still waving around his head.
He stood there panting and disheveled, as he slowly became aware of the surroundings.
They were in a tunnel. A long, curved tunnel made entirely of glass, with water pressing in on all sides.
And in that water, moving with lazy grace, were sharks.
Bull sharks, mostly. Ten, maybe twelve. They drifted past like idle thoughts, their bodies elegant and terrible in the underwater lights.
“Nice spot,” he said finally. “Romantic. Unless you’re planning to feed me to something.”
Luna didn’t answer. She stood with her arms crossed, the blue light making her look like she was underwater too, drowning in the same space as him.
“Ohh, I get it,” he continued, looking around. “Oklahoma Aquarium. Jenks, Oklahoma, to be precise. You told me about this place.” He tried for a smile. “Glad we ended up on the dry side of the glass this time.”
“Stop talking.”
“Luna—”
“You stole from me.” Her voice was low, but there was danger in it. “You looked me in the eye, and you lied, and then you stole from me.”
“To punish a man who—”
“Goddammit, Shaw, I don’t care!” A shark turned lazily, as if curious about the noise. “I don’t care what Burke did. I don’t care what he deserves. You made a promise. And you broke it the first chance you got.”
“You don’t care that he killed someone?”
“I . . . ugh, yes, of course I do.” Luna’s hands clenched at her sides.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry about Frankie. I’m sorry for everything that ever happened to you in your whole ridiculous life, how’s that?
But those tokens aren’t tools for your personal revenge.
They’re—” She stopped. Took a breath. “We only had three. And now we’ve wasted one because you couldn’t let go of a grudge.
So much for your commitment to the plan, huh? ”
“I didn’t waste it,” Elias said. “Burke was funding CastR. Taking him out of commission helps the plan.”
“Ohhh, don’t you dare. Don’t you dare play me for a mark. This wasn’t strategy—you wanted revenge and you took it, and you used me to get it.”
“I didn’t use you.”
“You did.” She stepped closer, blinking back tears.
“You let me think we were partners. You let me think you cared about the plan, about stopping CastR, about—” She forced herself to turn away before finishing the sentence: about me.
“And the whole time you were just waiting for your chance to get revenge.”
Elias opened his mouth, then closed it, as if realizing there was nothing more to say. He reached for her instead.
She stepped away, evading him. “You should be better,” she said again, more softly this time.
“That’s what I hoped. That you’d spent a hundred years in the Void and come out as someone who was at least trying to be better.
” She shook her head. “But you’re not. You’re just as bitter and vengeful as he is.
You’ve just had more time to marinate in it. ”
“Luna, please—”
“It’s over, Shaw.”
“Nah, it’ll be all right. Burke’s too greedy to walk away from CastR now. The plan’s still solid; we’ll still destroy Vex as planned.”
Luna raised her hand. A portal shimmered open behind her. “Yes, we will. Me, my sisters, Mama, the rest of Oak Haven. We will. Not you.”
“Wait,” Elias said. “You’re leaving me here?”
She stepped halfway through the portal.
“You’re leaving me in Jenks, Oklahoma?!”
But she was gone.
* * *
Luna landed on the grass outside the Stargazer Inn. She sat down hard. Stayed sitting.
Through the dining room window, she could see her sisters inside. Scarlett and Delilah, laughing over their cups of tea, unaware that their sister’s world had just imploded. She should go in. Tell them what happened. Even if she had to face their “told you so” looks.
But she couldn’t move.
The night hummed around her. Crickets. Distant traffic. And faintly, the brassy strains of “Stars and Stripes Forever” still playing.
Luna pulled her knees up to her chest and tried very hard not to cry.
The air beside her shimmered. She didn’t look up. She didn’t have the energy to be surprised.
A portal opened. Adrienne stepped through and plunked down on the grass beside her.
They sat in silence for a while. Then Adrienne said, in a carefully neutral voice, “The coven felt it. When the token was misused? We all felt it happen.”
“I’m sorry. Oh my gods, I’m so, so sorry, Adrienne. I gave him the satchel for just a second, and he . . . I should have been more careful. I should have—”
“Diego and Hector are concerned. But also a little impressed? Which is probably not the right response, but . . .” She shrugged.
“Apparently Burke has been a menace to the city for a very long time, so the coven isn’t exactly torn up that he got a bit of comeuppance.
Still, I, um . . . I’m gonna need that satchel back. ”
Tears pooled in Luna’s eyes. “Of course, can’t blame you at all. Clearly you were wrong to entrust them to me.” She gingerly offered up the satchel like it might explode in her hands.
Adrienne tucked the satchel away and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. “Luna. Breathe.”
She breathed. Or tried to. It came out shaky.
“Seems you had yourself a day.”
“Define ‘day.’”
“The kind that ends with you dumping a man in Oklahoma.”
Luna groaned and put her face in her hands.
Adrienne’s voice softened. “You did the right thing. The hard thing. Funny how often those are the same.”
“I knew romance was a bad idea,” Luna muttered into her palms. “I knew it. I’ve always known. All that Love Actually crap isn’t for me. I should have just kept everything professional . . . kept my distance. Should have—” Her voice cracked. “I’m so stupid.”
“Romance isn’t your problem, kiddo. Hope is. Hope is what really gets you. But still, I wouldn’t trade it.”
Luna looked up. “Even when it hurts like this?”
“Especially then.” Adrienne stood, brushing grass from her jeans.
“The coven’s not angry, if that helps any.
Between you and me, following along with The Luna Melrose Show is the most entertainment we’ve had in years.
” Her portal shimmered open behind her. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be another disaster—I guarantee it.
” She stepped through and the portal closed.
Luna sat alone under the stars, the distant sound of patriotic music a bizarre soundtrack to her messed-up life. She looked up at the night sky. “Enjoy the sharks, Shaw. You’ll fit right in.”