Page 123 of A Light in the Dark
Laughing, I told my father I loved him, shook my head,and hung up. “Joel, please call your parents and tell them they need to go to see my dad to pick up an entire hatch of luna moths. Apparently, he has a bunch of hungry babies in a tub, and he’s running out of food for them. His ‘renovation’ project is apparently caring for his larvae.”
“They must be primed to shift and are bleeding off magic. You didn’t shift until you were startled and encountered a shifted wolf, so it’s entirely possible they need to see someone shifted to be able to shift, too.”
“We need to figure out how to move a ten by ten by six foot larvae pen.”
Joel snickered. “I’ll make sure someone gets plenty of bins and a travel trailer over to their place. Please give me directions.”
I did as told, wondering how long my parents had been obsessed with luna moths, too—and how my father had found so many larvae. “Where do you think he got the larvae?”
“I’m sure the luna moths bred near his place. People in that town just don’t care about them and will kill the larvae in their gardens for being pests. If your father was trying to save as many luna moths as he could, he probably went to his neighbors and offered to check for pest eggs, collecting all the luna moth eggs so they’d hatch in his possession. And if he has a pen that big, he has alotof larvae.”
“Or they have a larvae palace, because my father can be obsessive.”
“Anything else I should know before we go to the dealership?”
I considered him a moment before nodding. “My fathertold me that my brother is the reason the newer treatment exists. They donated his body to somewhere in Mirage after his death.”
Joel’s eyes widened. “Well, if your parents wanted the adoration of luna moth shifters around our world, that’s how you get it. That treatment has saved many, many lives, and most of them are luna moth shifters. That bacteria doesnotlike us.”
“It’s our Achilles’ heel, isn’t it?”
“It really is. I’ll make sure Mom and Dad know so nobody wakes old trauma. And I’ll see about getting their DNA tests done for shifting, and if they are primed, to make sure someone can help them through it, collect their first shift silk, and prepare them for the reality of life as a luna moth. And while I enjoy your company, we weren’t really in close enough proximity for long enough to transfer the genetics. You came prepackaged as a luna moth shifter. Something I appreciate, mind you—but nobody had any idea there were possible shifters right next door.”
“I do not mind how this is turning out in the slightest. I just find it funny that we grew up in neighboring towns, but it took us moving several hours away to the big city to meet.”
“I prefer to think of it as it was meant to be. I just had to wait for a while for you, which suits me just fine. We should have hundreds of years to drive each other wild.”
“Show me some fancy cars, Joel. I think I need some sticker shock to ground me in reality. I don’t even know if I can afford a new car after splurging on renovations.”
“If you can’t, I can. I hate debt, so I’ll pay off the bill. You can pay me back at the appropriate rate if you’re not happy receiving a car I’m forcing on you as a gift.”
“We’ll meet in the middle or something,” I replied. “That way, I don’t have to think about it more than accepting there’ll be some sort of arrangement to fairly pay for this car I’m going to need to get through life for the next while.”
“You’ll be fine,” he promised.
THIRTY-EIGHT
That is not one of the colors you wanted.
A fire orangecar on the lot of a luxury dealership captured my attention, and while Joel wandered around in search of something in the colors I’d thought I’d wanted, I drooled over the beauty of a vehicle. Its sleek lines called to me, promising we could zip along the streets of Stonecreek while turning heads. It had the four doors I wanted, leather interior, and many buttons for me to press, all of which likely did something.
A salesperson, an older woman who eyed me through narrowed eyes, approached and asked, “Can I help you, ma’am?”
I pointed at the orange car. “Is this one for sale?”
“It is, ma’am.”
“Is it fully loaded?”
“This specific vehicle has everything except a moonroof.”
While I liked the idea of having a way to look out of theceiling of my car, I wasn’t married to the feature. “Cruise control? Vented seats?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“How much?”
“This one is a hundred and eighty thousand.”
