Page 92 of A Light in the Dark
I appreciated the woman’s choice of hobbies, and as I lacked any other way to show my approval, I squeaked at her.
“She really is vocal. Most of the luna moths can’t squeak even if they want to,” the woman said in a rather jovial tone. “Joel’s going to be wailing over being outclassed in all ways. But what’s with her coloration?”
“She’s a rare color strain. There are a few color variants of luna moths found here and nowhere else. Earth’s lunamoths only came in one variety; they’d be green if bred during one part of the year or a pale yellow if bred during other parts of the year. She’s the silvery white variety, which is among the rarest of the lot. Do not ask Joel about luna moth colors, Coraline. He will tell you.”
Ah. I remembered the female we’d made comfortable until she’d peacefully passed inside the Sampson family home, and she’d been a glorious silvery white, just like the moon. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t twist around to get a look at my wings. As there wasn’t anything else I could do, I began the tedious process of learning how my new legs worked, crawling around Coraline’s hands and trying to make sense of the world around me.
After a phone call and some coordination, a helicopter came, dropped bags as Roger requested, and hovered near the river. The gusts from the blades knocked me about, and Coraline turned to shield me before Roger took over, cupped me in his larger hands, and approached the flying machine. Someone inside reached down, placed one of his large hands over me, and eased his other one beneath me, carrying me inside. Once the doors were closed, he released me.
As I didn’t want to fall, I huddled on his palm. The loud sounds reawakened my headache. As I couldn’t do anything to communicate that their flying death trap, which they apparently used to rescue people, worsened my symptoms, I investigated the Hunters.
I recognized two of them as having been on the team that had retrieved Gabriella from my home. As I’d survived a needle to the arm from the one, I picked my way over, working to make my legs do what I wanted. Within a fewmoments, the one holding me figured out what I was about and handed me over. “It seems she remembers you.”
It amazed me I could hear them over the rotors.
“That’s promising on the concussion front at least.” The Hunter situated me on the back of his hand, and then he stroked a finger along my back. I found the sensation pleasant, and I did my best to lower my wings to offer better access. “I am convinced there is no luna moth alive who doesn’t like someone petting them. What goaded her into shifting? Did Roger tell you when he called in?”
“He’d made the mistake of mentioning the probable genocide of refugees. According to him, she went lava hot from rage before they got blasted with first shift silk.”
The Hunters had a chuckle over the circumstances of my shift, and the one holding me continued to pet me. “We have the better job. They’re going to be picking up silk for hours. The entire flutter will invade if they think even a scrap of it was left behind. And that it’s the first silk of the woman their flutter’s leader is invested in? He’s going to be insufferable.”
“Coraline and Calden are there. I’m sure between the two of them they can wrangle Allasandro and make sure to gather all the silk.”
“Between the three of them, they’re going to be trying to lure a flutter to Moonriver so they, too, can have a silk obsession.”
I settled, made myself as comfortable as I could without being able to ask questions and sate my curiosity, and waited to see what the Hunters would do next—and see a Moonriver hospital for myself.
With luck, I’d be released from the hospital in a hurry and be able to transform back to human so I could get a fixedphone, make a few phone calls, and learn more about what was going on in my home city-state and why.
As Moonriver had morewolves than anything else, the Hunters sent a helicopter to Stonecreek to retrieve someone from Joel’s flutter. According to Roger, who came to keep me company at the hospital, Joel would not be the one they sent.
His concussion had been categorized as severe, and he would not be flying anywhere for at least two weeks. He’d be evaluated to see if he could drive again in a week. Until then, he would be locked up at home and forced to wait.
The edict irritated me, as the poking, prodding, and lectures about being a shifter would have been much easier to tolerate with Joel around. I expressed my irritation in squeaks, and the Hunters resorted to feeding me platters of berries and fruit to shut me up. Then, because luna moths had a reputation around certain flowers, one of them had gotten the idea to bring me a bouquet of roses to entertain me.
In the future, I would tease the luna moths about their rose issues, but I wouldn’t judge them for it.
Roses induced deep relaxation and resulted in a rather excellent nap.
I also learned why gentle bouncing woke luna moths, as the sensation mimicked what my new body registered as flight. However, as my wings were still wrinkly from my first shift and needed time, I failed at flight and squeaked my dismay over the situation.
My boss laughed, and like Roger had, he stroked my back with a finger. “I won the argument over coming as I have known you the closest for the longest. Meri is here, too, as she has medical knowledge about luna moths. Lois had to work, else she’d be here, but you have an appointment with her the instant you’re back in Stonecreek. All the new moths in our flutter have appointments with her. But she will provide you with your favorite treat if you cooperate.”
I settled and issued another squeak, hoping he understood it to be a demand for more information.
“She’s been very vocal,” Roger said, and the concern in his tone amused me.
“Joel can be vocal as well, but it’s very rare. He’s only vocal when we’ve messed something up and he wants us to know it and he’s a luna moth. She probably picked it up from him. If he’s been encouraging her to talk back, the magic probably responded accordingly. Of course, the magic is sometimes more sensible than we are and may understand we need someone willing to talk back to him at her leisure.”
Roger snickered at that. “We were concerned it might be a health issue.”
“I mean, she has health issues, but those will resolve.” My boss bounced me, and I fluttered my wings. To my delight, I discovered hissing was possible. “You said she’s been shifted for about twelve hours now?”
“Yes.”
The petting stopped, and my boss gestured at something on my back, likely a wing. “In shifting luna moths, this sort of wing damage translates to internal injuries of the survival nature, likely bruising. Nothing’s broken; her wings would have shown as broken had she brokenanything. Her coloration is a known strain, but nobody has seen it in shifting luna moths until this point. I can tell you where she may have picked it up; Joel took her home, and they just had a hatch with this color morph. More importantly, the female luna moth with the morph was in close proximity until she passed following breeding. Joel informed me he’d shared some of his general excitement over the hatch with her—and how the silvery white was Valerie’s first color morph exposure. The moth was preserved for Valerie to take home, so she’s at her house. I suspect that’s where the color morph genetics came from. It doesn’t help that Valerie seems to be a closet luna moth fanatic.”
As I couldn’t dispute the charges, I turned my attention to the bouquet of roses, which were out of my reach. I pointed in the direction of the flowers and squeaked.
