Loving His Broken Luna

Chapter 47

What made her think she deserved the truth? Renee wondered. No one deserved her personal truths. They didn’t live her life, Renee buckled down.

“Pretty sure that’s not for sale,” Jason replied evenly.

He ignored Percilla’s protest, then added, “This isn’t a portal.”

Renee hardened herself, wanting to force it into existence anyway.

“How do you know?” she challenged, ignoring Percilla’s interest.

“There aren’t any markings,” Jason assured her.

“Ugh!” Renee shouted.

“What?”

“Rey here cleaned them off,” Percilla interjected with a smug smile.

Jason chuckled like he was about to nonchalantly rip the life out of Percilla for engaging.

“No amount of soap could cure the portal of its markings,” he educated them both. “Renee,” Jason paused. “This is either a ward on you or a barricade.”

“Who would care enough to do that?” she questioned, stumped.

“Maybe your family?” Percilla snapped, trying to get a word in edgewise. “You know, since you ditched them.”

“They ditched me first,” she grappled with the idea of letting that little bit go.

If they wanted the truth they didn’t deserve, they’d have to receive it in tiny poisoned morsels, just like she did her whole life.

Silence finally fell. It felt like coming up for air, or being wrapped in the world's softest blanket, or being content… gods! What a blessing that would be!

Despite how comforting it was initially, having their eyes on her timed out.

It didn’t matter. They couldn’t get in. Her personal life had been shattered so many times that her emotional connection to it had hardened off. Perhaps it’s why Jason couldn’t believe Renee when she was telling him the truth, or find it in her tears. That part of her was dead far beyond the moment Jason came into it at least.

Renee’s attention switched back to the door. Her mind wildly trying to reconnect with memories that would have expressed this level of magic.

“Stone,” she murmured, pressing her hand against the texture once more. “Not a portal…A…” she trailed, hearing the echo of another student’s name called at a distance.

“COLLA!” his strained voice flitted through her mind.

Renee’s stomach twisted.

“ I’ve been blind down here for too long.” Kris’s voice strained as if he was in pain.

Renee snarled at the door.

“Get me in there Jason,” Renee demanded.

“You’re not gifted, human. You’ll burn before you make it through.”

“Where’s Colla then?”

“Why do you need her?” Percilla rolled her eyes. “That girl is stuck in the past. She can’t help you with the present.”

“She’s going to have to figure out how,” Renee grumbled. “Where is she?”

“Not everyone lives at the school,” Jason slipped.

Renee’s eyes widened at that, her body stilled. If they were alone it would have been one thing to bring that up but Percilla didn’t need to know.

“Wait, you’re shacking up here?” Percilla chuckled. “No wonder you’re so snippy with me.”

Renee rolled her neck against her shoulders.

“Will that be all?” she couldn’t help but bite out.

“Not likely,” Pe pushed.

“Great…” Renee turned back to Jason, not bothering to say anything at all about his accident. “Can you take me to her?” she asked instead.

“What do I get in return?” he asked immediately, hopeful for the blackmail to be over...

“Not that,” she replied without a second guess at his motives. “Pick something else.”

Jason’s eyes grew wider.

“I want to report you being forced to leave your home to live here,” he replied evenly.

It wasn’t exactly how the events took place, Renee thought. However, time was of the essence. Who knew how long Kris had left in the cavern.

“Do it,” she conceded.

Jason tilted his head, his eyes swirling into dark masses before he lunged forward taking in Renee’s nonexistent counter-offer.

“You really want me to have this?” he questioned, almost unsure.

“Get me to Colla and I’ll accompany you in the morning to attest to the claims.”

Jason’s grip on whatever sanity left in his mind surged through him. Watching him bulk up should have scared Renee, but taking in his pure satisfaction was oddly satisfying.

“Deal,” he embraced Renee, pulling her against him.

Jason slanted his lips against hers, kissing her deeply to seal the deal. Percilla’s pained expression painted itself on the back of Renee’s eyelids thereafter.

Worth it.

Not that Renee was one for causing jealousy, but shutting Percilla out had suddenly become a thing. She couldn’t know more.

Jason’s efforts pulled them from the school and deep into a forest Renee had never been to.

“You’re not going back without me,” Renee worried, looking out into the thick woods around her.

From the look of it, dawn had already broken. Shadows slouched off of trees that surrounded them. Leaves hid the unseen underfoot, which Renee refused to take lightly, as she turned around searching for Colla.

“Of course not,” Jason assured her evenly as if it wasn’t a mystery to him to keep him in his charge.

It shouldn’t have been a welcome though, especially after this mess, but it settled her enough.

Renee nodded to accept his response as she took in the scenery behind them.

There, Renee found a clearing. Old, naturally fallen trees, all rotten and decaying in their own time, looked beautiful to her. Just past seemed to be a small stretch of land leading to a cliff looking over a valley below.

Worry overtook her for a moment, not exactly for Colla specifically.

“I know this place,” Renee whispered, saying it to herself for validation.

She could feel Jason’s eyes on her, waiting for a reason but there was no way she’d share why.

For a split second Renee wondered if she was doing this wrong. Going it “alone” was all she knew. Jason’s here, but only until she graduates. People she used to know, even befriended, only stayed in her mind. Her own family…

Renee shook the guilt of not being good enough to them. This wouldn’t save Kris, or find Colla, or get her any closer to starting her project.

Instead she padded forward, careful not to disturb the world around her. She kept her eyes wide, trying to see past the remaining darkness. Golden light puddled across the horizon line just past the valley.

Her breath still stained the frosty air with warm exhales as if she’d been there all along. The thought was maddening, and yet the rising sun gave her hope. Hope that there will be a future past all of this. One where she’d come to enjoy…

Renee frowned, concerned.

“Jason,” she began, turning to him to see him ever focused on her. “Did we go to find Colla?”

Jason’s eyes remained dark with no way to tell exactly where he was looking.

“You better not have tricked me after what you did.”

A gentle lift of his brow caught her attention. Turning back to look, a woman’s figure, completely faceted in glinting stones danced in the clearing.

How did she not see that before?

“And you think that’s Colla?” Renee questioned.

Jason’s silence was deafening. She’d indirectly called him a liar when he took her where she wanted to go.

The woman seemed to ignore the pair as she moved fluently, despite her form.

“I thought Colla was a quartz,” Renee changed the subject. “How can she do this?”

“It might be wise to accept the beauty of not having all of the answers,” Jason replied.

“That’s ironic for you to say,” Renee replied.

“It may seem so,” Jason stopped himself.

“Will that change your chase for mine?”

“I still have a job to do,” he challenged.

Renee nodded, his answer was clear. All the while they watched Colla move. She didn’t seem to have a pattern to her dance or even circled back to repeat moves at all. It seemed freeing, but what was the worth?

Colla’s crystal form reached out and then back into her core, she swayed as if she was collecting sunlight and stirring in the breeze. The scene was oddly beautiful in its own right. Perhaps Jason was right this one time.

Renee paused to look over to him, searching his features, she finally forced out, “Why’d you really do it?”

“Take you here?” Jason questioned, unsure of what she meant.

While it sounded like there was more to that reason too, Renee shook her head. “Why did you send the werewolf away?” She was careful not to say more, her intentions clear.

“For that you’ll have to pay,” Jason replied, unmoving.