Page 58 of Missing Moon
No sign of Mom anywhere. Klamath looks and feels like I’ve stepped through the screen of an old television set into an episode ofThe Twilight Zone. The desaturated colors of this place are pretty close to black and white.
My heart about stops when I look through a gap between buildings at an empty lot behind the ice cream place. There sits an enormous… thing. Looks like a pile of giant squishy black orbs with tubes and long tentacles growing up out the top. The whole thing’s at least two stories tall. Each orb is big enough for a pro wrestler to curl up inside of.
It’s the thing straight out of that book I saw in Dad’s stuff.
What the actual hell? That book is accurate? I gotta take a picture of this thing to show Max. Naturally, when I try to, I discover my phone is dead as a brick. Wonderful. Sometimes the animosity between magic and technology is really annoying. Oh well. The drawing in the book was scarily accurate. I can show him that.
We search the entirety of downtown Klamath to no avail. There’s no sign of anyone here. I start making my way into the outskirts, intending to go house by house no matter how long it takes. However, I only get to the first residence before feeling like an idiot when Tammy asks Anthony if he can find her the same way he found the vampires.
“I don’t think so,” whispers Anthony. “But that’s probably because Ma’s got it handled.”
“She does?” asks Tammy, looking as confused as I felt.
“Shh,” whispers Anthony. “Wait. Give her a minute.”
Another urge comes over me to start moving again, so I listen to it.
I go down the street back to the main drag and turn the left, following it for a couple blocks before it becomes an isolatedroad going away from the downtown area into the woods. This is the same route I used to take when going home from working at the diner. Realizing this makes me feel even dumber. Why would Mom be hanging out in Klamath? Makes little sense. She’s probably at the house, or near it.
Not long after we enter the woods, Tammy whisper-shouts, “Hey, look!”
She’s pointing off to the left, into the trees away from the road.
There it is. The glowing tree with the door from my dreams. Duh. I should have remembered.
A woman on the younger side of thirty emerges out of it as if it had been her home. She’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Has big fluffy Eighties hair, too. Can’t see her face, but as soon as I lay eyes on her, I know exactly who it is.
Mom.
Like some kind of desperate child who’s been lost at the mall, I break into a sprint.
My kids run after me.
“Mom?” I call out.
She turns to watch me run right up to her. Holy crap. It really is her but she looks… so very young. She also seems to have no damn idea who we are.
“Mom?” I reach out and try to take her hand. Shockingly, she feels solid… so I squeeze. “Holy crap… itisyou.”
She looks me over, tilts her head. “I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else, dear. Who are you looking for?”
“Carolyn Sundance,” I say. It feels weird saying her full name, even though I’m an adult now. Heck, I look only a few years younger than her now!
“Well, you found her. Who are you?” Mom raises an eyebrow at me like I’m some sort of charlatan trying to sell her a timeshare.
“She doesn’t know.” Tammy grimaces.
“What don’t I know?” snaps Mom.
“How long you’ve been stuck here.” I take a deep breath. “You were outside looking for herbs, and a vampire attacked you.”
Mom’s face pales. “Okay, now youreallyneed to start explaining yourself. How do you know about that?”
“Because I’m your daughter. It’s me, Samantha.”
She starts shaking her head. “Sammie’s only two.”
Tammy gives an ‘oh boy’ whistle.