Eternal Moon

Chapter 32: An Aftermath Echo

"This is a dumb question, but how are you feeling?"

Emma cracked enough of a small smile to let Jamie know that her sister was probably going to be okay. Eventually. Still, it was unnerving to see how thin and drawn her little sister looked.

As the youngest, Emma was usually the most light-hearted and carefree of the four siblings. One could even call her naive. But Jamie had a feeling that after this adventure, things would change for the seventeen-year-old.

Emma gestured at the side table and her now empty glass of water. "A little thirsty."

"Catrina and Effie are gonna bring you up some food and more water. Whatever you need."

Emma's eyebrows rose. "Maids?"

Jamie nodded and took a seat on the edge of the bed. "Yeah, they take care of the castle."

Her little sister's eyes roved around their surroundings as if she was just now processing that they had indeed spent the night in a Scottish castle. Curtains drawn, the late morning sun glittered through the large windows framing the bed. A large white coverlet draped over Emma's outstretched legs, catching pockets of light and dancing dust.

A sense of familiarity and comfort filled Jamie as she looked around the room. It had taken leaving Gealach Lán, even for just a day, to truly appreciate how magical it was.

"Who were those people, Jamie?"

Jamie stilled at her sister's question, though she had expected it. "The people who kidnapped you?"

Emma nodded but added, "And these people too."

Jamie knew whom she meant. "It's a really, really long story..."

There was no point in lying now, not after everything Emma had seen. She had witnessed the werewolves, Kane's transformation, Sorcha's power, and even the response of the earth to the ritual that could have killed her. So Jamie held nothing back as she told her sister what had happened, from beginning to end. She told her about her plans to find the "missing" village that stormy day in May, how she had gotten lost and happened upon a strange place where the locals were afraid of a monster, of her car's destruction, and her visit to the laird the next morning.

Emma barely moved during the entire story, only occasionally asking a qualifying question or expressing shock and awe at a particular moment. She watched her older sister raptly.

Jamie paused when got as far as the night of the solstice, the memories of which flooded her with a riotous mix of emotions.

"That was when you found what Kane... was?" Emma asked for clarification.

Jamie let out a long-held breath. "Yeah, right after we... hooked up."

"Hooked up?" Emma asked with raised eyebrows and a ghost of a smile.

Jamie tried to figure out a way to say that Kane voraciously ate her out against Deidra's tavern. "You know, we almost... had sex."

She tried to ignore the knowing smirk on her little sister's face.

"Anyway, yeah, that was the night I found out. Afterward, he told me everything. The curse, why and how it happened, how Sorcha played into it, what sort of fall-out had occurred for everyone-"

"Is there a way to break it?"

The million-dollar-question. Jamie remembered that Deidra, Sorcha, and Kane had all indicated that there was a way to break the curse, but none had ever offered the how. Which made Jamie more than a little suspicious.