Broomsticks and Burials

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Grandma Elle dropped me off at the bus station at a quarter to six the next morning. Despite my insistence otherwise, she helped me unload everything I’d brought.

“I can’t believe you’re only taking two suitcases with you,” Grandma said, staring at my torn, stained, and sad excuses for luggage. Luna’s cage sat on top of one of them, and for all the stress of the drive, it was amazing the poor cat wasn't more vocal in her disapproval.

“More? This is everything I own. Besides, Luna is really all I need. She’ll keep me safe, won’t you, girl?” I asked as I poked a finger through the grate on the front of the cage to stroke Luna under the chin. She purred her agreement.

“I ain’t ever gonna understand you, am I?” Grandma asked.

“If you can’t after twenty-one years, then no, probably not,” I said, and Grandma smiled at me.

“I reckon that’s for the best,” she said as she wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back, drinking in the smell of her — sweet tea made in an oversized jar by sunshine — and tried not to cry.

“Thank you for having me again,” I said.

“Oh, don’t you go gettin’ all mushy on me now, sugar. Crying ain’t gonna get you nothin’ other than wrinkles as deep as mine,” Grandma said as she let me go, and I laughed.

“According to you I already look like a witch, so I’m sure wrinkles won’t help,” I said.

“Darn right,” Grandma said, beaming at me. “Now get your tail out there and make a name for yourself. Do me proud.”

“I will, I promise,” I said.

“I know,” Grandma said with a wink before she climbed back up into her old rust-riddled Ford F-150, its sides caked with mud. There wasn’t a car in the world that would’ve suited her better.

“Call me as soon as you get into town.”

“Of course,” I said, and reached up to stroke her hand that hung out her open window. Luna meowed from her cage to say her own goodbye. Grandma kissed the back of my hand and gave me a wave before she rolled away.

“I guess it’s just you and me again,” I said to Luna as I stroked her. Luna meowed, louder this time, and I smiled. It was early enough that there weren’t many other people around, which was all the same to me — I could only imagine how ridiculous I must’ve looked standing at the station with two ratty suitcases and a cat cage.

At exactly 6 o’clock, a long, blinding silver bus rolled into the station with the words “Silver Bullet Travel” emblazoned in bright red on its side. It was a clever name, I had to give them that.

The bus came to a stop at the station, and no one else gathered to board, but that wasn’t a surprise. The door hissed open, and I wheeled my suitcases and Luna over to find a pale, gangly man with stringy black hair and saggy skin sitting behind the wheel.

He wore a black beret and oversized sunglasses — odd given it was still dark outside — and a sparkling gold name tag pinned to his blood-red uniform shirt read, "Claude."

“Zoe Clarke?” the man asked without looking at me.

“In the flesh,” I answered. Claude turned to take stock of me, and a chill ran down my spine as he smirked.

“In the flesh, indeed,” he said in a French accent thicker than brie. I blinked, and he was at my side, an arm wrapped around my shoulder. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve sworn he sniffed me.

“My name is Claude, and I’ll be your driver. Please, let me help you with your things,” he said, his breath metallic in my nostrils. Luna growled, long and low, behind me.

“Uh, yeah, sure thing, but the cat comes with me,” I said as I lifted Luna’s cage off my suitcase and held it close to my chest.

“Of course,” Claude said. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.When I re-opened them my suitcases were gone, and Claude was back in his seat. What the…?

“Hurry along now, ma chérie. I have a strict schedule, and I don’t wait for anyone, but I’d hate to leave a specimen as lovely as you behind.”

Lovely specimen? I’d gathered Claude was a bit odd — how couldn’t he be working this kind of job at these hours? — but I’d never had another person refer to me as a specimen before.

“Right, sorry,” I said as I climbed the stairs into the bus. My skin prickled as I passed Claude, and a chill colder than the arctic swept over me when he lowered his sunglasses so his murky red eyes met mine.

Claude wasn’t just odd, he was downright bizarre.

I hurried toward the back of the bus, its gaudy satin decor barely registering as I passed row after row of strange people. Most wore long black robes and stared back at me like I was a stray animal who’d wandered aboard, and their expressions only got worse when I yelped after catching sight of a man with more hair on his face than a wolf.

What kind of sideshow circus had I boarded — and where was it taking me?

I tried not to think about it as I sank down into the plush, dank cushion of the last seat on the bus. Luna grunted as I set her cage down beside me.

“It’s okay, girl. Everything’s okay,” I said as I pet her through the cage, more to comfort myself than her. She rubbed her cheeks against my fingers and purred.

“Please take your seats, everyone. Next stop, Moon Grove. Allons-y!” Claude shouted from the front of the bus.

With a smile, the driver put the bus into gear, smashed the gas, and I screamed as a deafening roar tore through the cabin. The bus hurtled forward, and the station outside became a blur of light and color. I gripped Luna’s cage to keep it from flying away, and seconds later the bus jolted to a stop, sending me crashing into the seat in front of me.

“Bienvenue à Moon Grove,” Claude called from the front of the bus in a sing-song voice.

I looked out the window, my vision swimming, and couldn’t believe my eyes. The moon still hung in the sky, so there was no way on Earth we’d traveled from Lumberton to Moon Grove already, but the old sign outside my window said otherwise.

“Welcome to Historic Moon Grove, North Carolina. Established 1586,” the sign’s faded, peeling gold lettering read.

Some fifty feet beyond it, several buildings stood surrounded by a massive iron gate — and they were all dilapidated. Wherever it was we’d stopped, it couldn’t possibly have been Moon Grove. I had to be dreaming.

“Zoe,” a voice called, pulling me back into myself. I shook my head and blinked a few times, but the sign and the sight of the ruined buildings didn’t go away.

“Zoe! Down here,” the voice said, and I nearly fainted when I realized the sound was coming from Luna. I was definitely dreaming.

“Luna?” I asked. If I couldn’t beat the dream, I might as well join it.

“Oh, thank Lilith, you can hear me,” Luna said. “I thought this curse would never end.”

“Lilith? Curse? I feel like I’m under one right now,” I said.

“We can talk about that later. This is our stop. If we don’t get off now that driver’s gonna make you wish you had,” Luna said.

Though I saw her little kitty jaw moving in time with the words, I wasn’t convinced speech was really coming out of her mouth. Had Claude slipped me something when I wasn’t paying attention?

“Are you sure? It doesn’t look very inviting,” I said.

“Look closer,” Luna said. I squinted, but no matter how hard I tried, all I saw were rotted and moss-covered buildings ringed by a tarnished gate and a murky, algae-ridden moat.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to text Mitch for advice, but the screen was fuzzy and unreadable like I’d dropped it in water. Great. In addition to being in the middle of nowhere, I’d been cut off the cell grid.

“Last chance for Moon Grove. Sunrise is coming,” Claude called from the front of the bus, and I shivered when I realized his reflection didn’t show in the rearview mirror. Even if Luna was wrong — as if a talking cat could be right — anything would be better than staying on the bus with Claude. I picked Luna’s cage up off the seat and ran for the door.

“Au revoir, ma chérie,” Claude cooed as the doors swished shut. The bus squealed into gear and rolled forward.

“Wait, what about my—” I started, but stopped as my bags appeared seemingly out of thin air in the overgrown grass beside me. An explosive bang ripped through the air as the bus vanished, and I stood staring at the spot where it’d been parked a second prior questioning my sanity. I hoisted Luna’s cage up to eye level and blinked at her.

“I’d ask you to tell me I’m not dreaming, but I don’t think it would help,” I said.

“Hey, I don’t blame you. It’s not every day you learn your cat can talk,” Luna said. “But now that you know, would you mind letting me out of here? It’s not exactly comfortable.”

“Anything you say,” I said, laughing at my own joke as I set Luna’s cage down and opened it. She strutted out and shook herself before stretching and sharpening her claws in the grass.

“Much better,” Luna said, her tail swishing.

“I’m losing it. That’s the only explanation for this,” I mumbled as I sank down to my knees, and Luna trotted over to rub herself against my arm.

“No, you aren’t,” Luna said.

“Isn’t that what a talking cat would want me to believe?” I asked.

“If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?”

“I’m stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a talking cat who swears I can trust her. Yup, I’m definitely losing it,” I said.

“That’s better than being sucked dry by a bus driver.”

“Sucked dry? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You know, for a journalist, you’re awfully oblivious,” Luna said.

“Oh, excuse me. A few other things were occupying my brain. Like, you know, a talking cat telling me to get off the bus,” I said, and Luna laughed.

“Good thing you had me there, otherwise you might’ve been dinner for old Claude,” Luna said.

“I don’t even want to know what that’s supposed to mean. I just want to wake up from whatever awful dream this is,” I said. Luna reached over with a paw and dug her claws into the back of my hand. I yelped and pulled it away.

“Ow! What are you doing?”

“You aren’t dreaming, Zoe,” Luna said. “You’re where you belong.”

“Oh, I beg to differ. I’m about as far away from belonging as I could possibly be right now,” I said, but Luna never answered.

Instead, she growled, and I whirled around in the grass to find, of all things, a golden retriever trotting across the lawn toward us. My skin prickled at the sight of the dog, and though it was one of the least threatening things in the world, after everything I’d seen I didn’t trust it.

The dog slowed to a crawl as it came closer, its tongue lolling off one side of its mouth.

“Can you talk too?” I asked and was surprised when I didn’t get an answer. It was worth trying. The dog took another few steps forward and stopped less than a foot away from me. It whimpered and barked, making the hair on the back of Luna’s neck stand up.

I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees and crawled slowly toward the dog. It kept panting as I reached for its head, and I closed my eyes until my fingertips brushed the bristly fur between its eyes. I let out a sigh. Maybe everything hadn’t turned entirely upside down.

“Are you lost?” I asked the dog as I pet it. It would’ve made two of us. The dog leaned into my petting and fell onto its side, begging me to rub its stomach. Who was I to say no? It was as comforting for me as it was for the dog.

“I think we can trust him, Luna. What do you think?” I asked as I stroked the dog’s belly.

“You might want to look again,” Luna laughed. I turned to find my hand on the stomach of a handsome and barely clothed young man drooling from my touch.

Everything went black.