CHAPTER SIXTEEN

It was the middle of the night, and I awoke with a start, an abrupt noise jolting me from my sleep.

Disoriented, I blinked a few times, trying to shake off the grogginess. The room was dim, bathed in the soft glow of the nightlight beside my bed. Before I could think another thought, I heard the sound that had awakened me again—it was like a deep, gurgling vibration coming from below me.

I glanced down at the bed and realized I was looking at my own body, which was lying still and sound asleep. Hmm, okay so I was back in a lucid dream again. I could only wonder if this was Valerian’s way of telling me he wanted to have a conversation? I guessed I’d soon find out. As I watched myself sleep, my gaze moved from the gentle rise and fall of my chest, to my mouth that was wide open, and the strand of drool that was running down my cheek and pooling onto the pillow.

Then I heard that loud, abrasive, thunderous sound once more.

“Oh, my God, it’s me!” I said out loud as I realized the baritone reverberation was me snoring! God, I was never going to get a boyfriend! Not that I wanted one, but still. Forget my now enormous ass, couldn’t the moon have done something to stop me from sounding like a saw mill inside a long tunnel?

Determined to stop my sleeping self from sounding so… embarrassing (and who knew when Valerian intended to show up?), I reached down and tried to turn my sleeping se lf over onto my side. I also made a mental note to look up home remedies for snoring as soon as I woke up for real, in the morning. But as soon as I tried to move myself, my hands passed right through me like I was a ghost and the sleeping me made another horrible sound, like a huge bear growling from inside a deep cave.

“Roll over!” I said loudly as I, again, failed to move myself.

Another awful sound—this one was more like the droning of a jet. If Valerian happened to show up now and heard the horrible racket sleeping me was making—jeez, talk about humiliating! Finally, the slumbering Kate apparently got the message and rolled onto her side and the deafening cacophony faded away. And it was just in time too, because when I turned to face forward, I realized I wasn’t alone.

However, the person in my room, who was standing by the window, wasn’t Valerian. The moonlight filtering through the cracks in my bedroom curtains highlighted a woman in a silvery glow and the feeling I immediately got from her was one of composed serenity and ethereal grace. She was one of those women who just had a classical, timeless beauty—like Sophia Loren or Grace Kelly or someone with that kind of essence. And with her long, flowing robes that shimmered like liquid silver, cascading in gentle waves around her feet, I figured she was another tarot card that had come to life. Maybe the High Priestess or someone else just as noble. Hopefully, she wasn’t Death or the Devil.

“Um, hi,” I started to say. Clearly, I hadn’t gotten comfortable with the proper protocol to greet these tarot card people whenever they visited me, or I visited them.

The woman didn’t respond right away. Instead, she took a step forward and her long, golden hair reflected the moonlight, creating a halo of luminescence around her head. It was then that I realized she had wings because she relaxed them and they opened slightly behind her, appearing translucent and shimmering in the moonlight. And they were pretty sizable too—standing out from her shoulders maybe two feet and falling all the way down to the ground. Although they were made of feathers and appeared to be silky white, I couldn’t imagine this chick was an angel. The smile on her face told me maybe she wasn’t as angelic as she appeared to be. Or maybe I was just terrible at reading people. Regardless, the infinity symbol hovered above her head, like a glowing rune .

As she stood there, her eyes—deep and knowing—seemed to look directly through me, like she was very aware that I needed a CPAP machine and she was now playing the part of Amazon Prime. The more I thought about it, the more I imagined that might be the exact reason why she was here—maybe she was the Goddess of Peaceful Slumber and the jackhammering that kept rumbling from my throat was butchering the moon’s need for serenity.

“Hello, Kate,” she finally said and as soon as she spoke, the air around her was imbued with a sense of calm. The stillness seemed to envelop the room in quiet contemplation.

“Hi,” I managed to reply.

“I am Temperance.”

“Hi,” I said again, trying not to sound like a bumbling dumbass, but you can’t always get what you want, right, Mick Jagger?

“Hello.”

“So, are you like—Temperance—as in the tarot card? Or is that just… your real name?” Now I was pretty sure even Mick Jagger would tell me I sounded like a moron.

“Yes, it is my real name.”

Hmm, how interesting. Did it mean she was a real person… with wings? Shit, maybe sh e was an angel… “Oh, so you’re not like the tarot card coming to life?”

“I am a representative of the moon, yes,” she answered before giggling gently. And the sound she made was so pretty, I was fairly sure she wouldn’t know a snore if it slammed her over the head with a semitruck.

“A representative?” I repeated.

“You can think of me as just that… if you like.” And that’s when it clicked. Her voice was the same soothing one I occasionally heard in my head whenever I was about to get eaten by hellhounds or something equally horrific.

“Wait a minute,’ I started as I eyed her with a newly found sense of interest. “I recognize your voice.”

Her smile was in full force now—like she was the master, and I was the ding-dong who was finally piecing it all together. “I imagined you would.”

I nodded and eyed her narrowly. “So, you’re the one who’s been talking to me all this time?”

“Yes, Kate.”

“Why?” I’d always thought that voice was my higher self or something, so I had to admit I was a little disappointed to know it wasn’t my own subconscious that was helping me through all the crap I was facing. No, instead it was this beautiful chick who, the more I looked at her, the more she reminded me of Cersei Lannister although less bitchy and incesty and add a pair of wings.

“I’ve come to you during the moments when I felt you needed my guidance,” Temperance admitted, her eyes twinkling with a profound sense of wisdom.

I found myself thinking back to what I remembered about the card of Temperance—that it was associated with harmony, moderation, and divine timing. “Why are you revealing yourself to me now?” I questioned, my curiosity piqued. “I mean, you could have revealed yourself the first time I heard your voice in my head. So… why now, but not then?”

“Divine timing,” she answered.

“That’s one of those phrases that everyone uses and no one really understands,” I pointed out as she smiled in response.

“Kate, you must remember that your journey as a Daughter of the Moon is not one you have to walk alone,” she continued.

“Yeah, I knew that already.” I didn’t intend to sound so ‘duh,’ but there it was. “I mean—I have Luke and Magnus. ”

“You have far more than just them.”

“Right—Rocco and Yolanda?” Not that they were really much help at all, but… God, did she mean my mother?

“You have the entire universe to assist you,” Temperance stated, her eyes suddenly looking like all the stars in the night sky.

“That raises a good question,” I started, because I was still stuck on the subject of my insane mother and the fact that she randomly had her own powers although no one really knew what those abilities were. “What role does my mother play in all of this? I mean, now that she’s got some kind of gift from the moon or whatever?”

Temperance nodded, like she’d expected this question and for all I knew, maybe she had. “Nancy Murray’s role will be revealed when the time is right.”

Ugh. Why wasn’t anything ever easy with this? Why couldn’t it be as simple as: your mother has the ability to complain so much that she’ll drive all your enemies insane, something which will occur on July seventeenth at eight pm? Instead, everything was ‘divine timing’ this and ‘you’ll soon find out’ that.

“When you find yourself at a crossroads,” Temperance continued, “call upon divine assistance and then be certain to follow the inspired guidance when it appears before you.”

“Now you just sound like a fortune cookie,” I sighed, not entirely sure how any of this applied to me now or how it could help me. It seemed to me like Charlie Brown’s teacher bleating in the background, making sounds that no one understood.

Temperance laughed, but the laugh soon died on her mouth to be replaced by an expression of serious contemplation. “Everything comes to you when it is meant to come to you… but the first thing you must know, Kate, the detail that is most pressing now is that the enemy is currently building his forces, and fortifying himself in advance of his attack.”

I narrowed my eyes at her as I tried to make sense of what she was telling me. “So, you’re saying my enemy— our enemy—is getting ready to attack us or something?” She nodded. “By ‘enemy’, do you mean Ezra?” I continued, hoping with all my might that she wasn’t talking about Valerian. Yes, there was always the chance that Valerian was the bad guy Luke seemed to think he was, but I really didn’t want to believe that. And that was mostly because it was really difficult to admit or accept the fact that I could have been lusting after Gargamel or Skeletor or the like.

Temperance nodded slowly, her expression still serious. “Yes, Kate. You must never turn your back on darkness. The shadows are always conspiring, always building, always planning.”

“So… like Ezra is conspiring and building and planning…” Temperance nodded, “… Right now?”

Temperance just nodded once more like that’s what she’d just said so why was I asking her the same stupid question over and over again. Well, excuse me for being slow.

“The enemy is actually closer than you even realize,” Temperance added.

“Shit, are you talking about Valerian now? Is he part of this?” I hadn’t meant to swear at her, and I hoped she wouldn’t be offended (because I didn’t think it was smart to swear at an angel or an emissary of the moon or anyone with wings). “Should I trust him?” I finished.

“That is a mystery for you to unfold, Kate,” Temperance replied cryptically.

“Of course, because that’s how it always is with this stuff.” I was frustrated and I couldn’t hide it .

Temperance wore a small, amused smile. “Not all solutions can simply be given to you, Kate. You must make some decisions on your own, but trust that all the answers lie within you.”

“How am I supposed to make even the smallest decision when everything is so confusing?” Especially now that I knew that smart voice in my head that always seemed to know what to do wasn’t me at all, not the higher me or otherwise, but someone else entirely. And what if the next time I needed her, Temperance was busy on Instagram or constipated on the toilet or something equally inconvenient?

“Once you learn to trust yourself, all the answers will become crystal clear,” Temperance assured me, her voice soothing. “In the meantime, remember that you have received the gift of The Star.”

Right—the gift from The Star, which I still knew absolutely nothing about. I frowned, recalling the maiden mentioning the same dumb thing. “I still have no idea what that gift is.”

Temperance smiled gently. “It’s the gift of True Sight, Kate.”

“Like 20/20 vision?” I mean, I wasn’t sure my eyesight was that great (I was forty-five years old, after all), but I could still see well enough for my purposes. Well, maybe not so well in my right eye—but the left one was still pretty damned good.

“No, not like 20/20 vision.”

“Then?” I asked her, my eyebrows rising in a silent question.

“You now have the ability to see through the shadows and darkness, to see the truth. You can no longer be fooled. You can see situations, the world, and the people in it just as they are, not as they wish to be.”

“Well, I guess that sounds pretty useful.”

“It is. Very useful, indeed.”

“How can I use it then? I mean, how can I access that power?”

“The power is already within you, Kate,” Temperance explained. “You just need to trust it.”

“Trust again,” I muttered, frustration bubbling up inside me as I shook my head. “Trust this and trust that, but never trust that and maybe you shouldn’t trust this either. And definitely don’t trust that thing over there with all the teeth and the slobber, but that other thing that looks like the blob might be okay.” I took a deep breath and expelled it in a long sigh. “Everything about this new calling is always so ambiguous and nothing is ever concrete… and sometimes, Temperance…” I breathed out a long sigh, “well, sometimes, it just sucks.”

Most of the time it just sucked.

Temperance laughed softly. “Rely on your friend, Kate. The guidance of the friend will help you better understand this new path you follow.”

“Which friend are you talking about?” I threw my hands up in the air. “Luke?” Well, he was more my guide than my friend. Plus, there was an undercurrent of romance between us, or at least there had been until Valerian arrived on the scene and started fingering me in my pajamas and now it seemed like things between Luke and me were strained.

“Not Luke, no,” she answered.

I paused. “Is Valerian meant to be my friend then?” But as soon as I said the words, I shook my head, answering my own question. “No, he’s way too untrustworthy and... well, way too hot.” Right, and I didn’t think the moon really wanted me to have a hot and sexy friend. That just didn’t seem like it was the best foundation for platonic attachment. But what the hell did I know? Where was Dr. Phil when you needed him?

Temperance laughed. “No, the vampire is not meant to play the role of your friend. ”

“Then, is it Magnus?” But that immediately made me shake my head and inwardly shudder. “I could never be friends with Magnus. He’s just… well, he’s just a hard no.” Which only left Rocco and Yolanda, but they were way too annoying to even risk bringing up.

“Trust in time, Kate,” Temperance whispered. “All will become clear when the moment is right.”

“Of course,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “Because nothing is ever black and white, it’s always fifty shades of gray, minus the spanking over the knee scene.”

“Trust in divine timing, Kate,” Temperance replied gently as she handed me a letter. “This is from Artemis.”

“Really?” I raised an eyebrow, wondering why Artemis didn’t just drop a letter from the ceiling like she usually did.

“Really,” Temperance replied with an amused smile again.

“How did Artemis persuade you to play the part of USPS?” When Temperance looked at me with a question in her gaze, I just shook my head, figuring that in tarot card land they didn’t have the United States Postal Service. No, they probably employed owls for their deliveries, a la Harry Potter .

“Kate, you will soon realize that you will require less and less assistance,” Temperance went on.

“Great,” I grumbled, reaching out to accept the letter. The moment it touched my fingers, Temperance vanished completely—as if she’d never been there in the first place. I looked down at the parchment, my curiosity piquing, despite my annoyance. Then I carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, unfolding it.

Catherine, go to the bookstore to find your friend.

Hmm, so that had to mean that Luke was now playing the part of my friend and guide? Well, clearly he deserved to get a pay raise.

As I continued to look at the letter though, the ink started to bleed through the page like it did whenever Artemis had more to say, or my brain started going off on some tangent that ticked her off.

No, Luke isn’t your friend and your guide. He’s only your guide.

“Well, then, who’s my friend?”

Go to the bookstore and find out!

Well, at least she was straightforward, for once, like nothing else in this dumb situation. I glanced down at the letter again, because there was still more ink bleeding through the parchment, like Artemis had a helluva lot to say.

P.S: Tell your mother that red hair color is aging her at least ten years. Maybe even twenty.

“Really?” I sighed, shaking my head.

Really, the letter responded.

I looked up at nothing in particular. “Artemis, there is no way I’m having that conversation with Mom.”

Why not? the letter asked. It’s true, isn’t it? But the letter didn’t wait for me to respond. Instead, the words kept coming. And what is she thinking—carrying on with that oaf you call your guardian? Tell her she’s making herself a laughing-stock for all the Murray women.

“Why don’t you tell her yourself?”

Because she can’t see or understand spirits.

“She could understand what you were saying the last time you sent us a letter.”

Because you were there and you acted as a conduit so she could hear my voice as well.

“And she can’t receive a letter from you or what?”

Not from the other side, no .

“Well, then I guess you’re shit outta luck, because ain’t no way this bitch is gonna tackle that convo, yo.” I wasn’t sure why I broke into street talk, but there it was.

When no additional writing bled through the letter, I placed it on my bedside table and suddenly felt tired again. Then I heard the furious scratching of a pen on paper, but I wasn’t interested in what Artemis had to say about my mother’s numerous horrible decisions.

“I’m going back to bed, Artemis.”

However, tomorrow, I would visit Luke’s bookstore, first thing. I settled back into my bed, even though the letter was still writing itself. Well, Artemis could gripe all she wanted to, but I had zero interest in bringing any of that shit up with my mother. It’s not like doing so would change the way Mom dressed and it definitely wouldn’t make her think twice about her bonkfests with Magnus.

Ugh. Even the mere thought of those was enough to turn my stomach.

As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t help but wonder who or what awaited me at the bookstore. I had to admit that I was excited to finally meet the friend I was meant to have—someone who, it seemed, was going to play a pretty big part in my life. And, honestly, the idea was nice. Maybe we could have those bonding, girly conversations where we talk about how much everyone else sucks and then drown our sorrows in a double margarita.

Time would tell, I figured.