Jade Moon (Celestial War Book 1) Read online

  “The experts never seemed to notice that they were suddenly looking at a fake. Gods forgive me, but I took pride in being so good.” Mom let out another breathy laugh, “I sure fooled them all. We took exactly seventeen things while I was with them. Including the Venus of Willendorf and the famous bust of Nefertiti.”

  “Wow, mom…”

  “Please just be quiet, Harper, I just want to get the story out. Part of the reason I’ve never told you all this is because I am so ashamed about what I’ve done.”

  She looked at me with a pleading look. I gave her a quick kiss.

  “Thank you, Harper.” She paused. “I began to question what we were doing. We were stealing millions, maybe billions of dollars of antiquities. Even worse was when we started stealing things that seemed religiously significant. Nefertiti is one thing, but the last thing we stole was a sculpture from a tiny Mexican museum. It was a beautiful artifact. A white, mother of pearl moon with a rabbit etched in it. Slightly bigger than my palm, the moon was surrounded by interlocking rings that slid together almost like a celtic knot. Each disk was carved from the most beautiful green jade, engraved with Mayan glyphs telling the story of Ix Chel, the Maya moon goddess. Reproducing it took months of work. To get it right, I made several trips to the museum to see it first hand. While there, I met a local Maya shaman who seemed to be guarding it. The third time I came, he told me the tale of Ix Chel and how she captured Clever Rabbit. He also told me how important the Jade Moon was to them.

  “Stealing it just felt so wrong that I finally spoke up.”

  Mom’s eyes teared up.

  “That’s when I realized the kind of people I had been so enamored by. They laughed at me, jeered and taunted, and then they threatened me. They showed me photos of me holding stolen objects. Even worse, they threatened Lois and Frank.

  “They said I was a necessity, made it clear they never really liked me, just needed me along.”

  She shook her head. “I was so foolish. They made me go in to steal it, told me they would kill me if I didn’t come back out with the real Jade Moon. I overheard them talking about how they needed the relic for something important. By then I was so scared of them, I didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t let them have the real Moon. So, I made two fake jade disks, one for the forgery that I left in the museum, and one that I traded for the real jade disk. I pocketed the real jade disk and gave them the real Jade Moon, but with a single fake disk.”

  Mom’s voice dropped to a husky whisper. “It obviously really screwed up their plans. They were furious that the Jade Moon wasn’t working but they had no idea why. They didn’t have any idea that part of it was forged.”

  “Working how? What did they want it to do?”

  “I have no idea, Harper. Something…magical I assume. They kept talking about activating it, but never explained anything to me. But after that is when I decided I had to get away. Which is when I met your dad.”

  “Dad?”

  Mom smiled with a whole new look on her face. Radiant. “He was so dashing, Harper. He offered to help me escape. Though neither of us were fully prepared for what happened next.

  “To understand why, you need to understand the big picture.” She lapsed into silence and I tried to wait it out.

  Eventually I couldn’t stand it. “What’s the big picture, mom?”

  “This is where it starts to sound really crazy. Stay with me… There are two ancient, warring factions in the world. They have existed since the dawn of mankind, waging a secret war.”

  Mom stopped to see my reaction. Though my eye brows were up, I kept my face passive, trying not to look like my mom had just said something totally insane. Which of course she had.

  “I know how it sounds.”

  “So, there are two factions? What, the Crips and Bloods? Team werewolf and team vampire?”

  “You joke, but yes, something like that. The two sides are those who draw power from the sun and those who draw power from the moon.”

  “Sun and moon….okay.” I drew out the last word to avoid having to say anything else.

  “I know how it sounds but yes, sun versus moon worshipers. Although that’s not even totally accurate. Hear me out.”

  “I’m listening, Mom.” I did listen, while also trying to figure out if I needed to call some kind of social services to get her counseling or maybe even medication.

  “The world is composed of two primal forces. These two forces are counterparts to each other, pulling against each other. Growth and decay, stability and change, light and dark. We need them both, and they need to struggle against each other for the universe to maintain balance. To simplify things, these two forces are affiliated with the sun and the moon.

  “Think about the history of world religion.”

  That made me sit up, remembering Mr. Silver’s book on that exact subject.

  “In every religion there is a god or deity affiliated with the sun and moon. The ancient Greeks had Helios and Selene. The Egyptians, Amun and Khonsu. The sun and moon represent the two primal powers that all human beings acknowledge govern our lives.”

  “The Roman gods Luna and Sol, Incan Inti and Mama Kila,” I chimed in.

  “Exactly, but, according to your dad, it’s the balance between the two that really matters. As long as the two factions have roughly equal power, the world is safe. But when either side gains too much power, bad things happen.”

  “So, neither side is good or evil?” I asked.

  “The way your dad explained it was that neither one is inherently bad. That the Solares, the sun worshipers, believe in law and order, rules, steady growth, life. The moon worshiping Lunates are all about chaos and darkness, blood, death, and violent change. But, they need each other. Can’t have day without night and so on.”

  “How can you worship death and not be evil?”

  “I honestly don’t know Harper. Your dad insisted it wasn’t that simple. He described it as a forest. You know, if you prevent forest fires from burning naturally, things get overgrown, clogged with underbrush. Then, when a fire starts, it is out of control and does way more damage than it would have if we’d just let it burn occasionally. Sometimes we need the sacrifice of destruction for rebirth and renewal. After a natural forest fire, the little green plants that where choking under the brush have a chance to push up toward the sun and eventually become a tree. Cycles of life and death, day and night.”

  “What about now? There’s not two cults controlling the world, mom.” I tried to keep the skepticism out of my voice. Pretty sure I failed.

  “That’s right. They’ve gone underground, though the Solares have slowly moved into a position of dominance. But, for five hundred years the war has been quiet, sort of a stand off. Now they all work from behind the scenes. Secret societies, hidden agendas, slowly taking over world government, global economic power structures. Think about the secret societies we know about. Opus Dei, the Illuminates, the Masons, they are all Solaris. The Skull and Bones at Yale, worship death, have blood rites. They are Lunates.”

  “So the people you got mixed up with were Lunates? And where did dad fit in all this?”

  “You father is a…Warrior of the Sun.”

  I let that sink in. When you don’t have a father around, you spend a lot of time imagining who they really are. I mean, I had some vague, fractured memories of my father, but that didn’t stop me from imagining he was some super-secret prince that would one day come for me. Or maybe he was super-rich and would realize what a mistake he made leaving mom and me behind. I wanted to believe my dad was some cool sun warrior so much it hurt. But I couldn’t let myself, because it was just too far over the line. Plus, my dad disappeared ten years before and no one had heard from him since. If he really did love us, then he had to be dead. Why else wouldn’t he come for me?

  Mom seemed to understand what I was thinking because she pulled me forward until we were face to face. “Listen to me. You father had to leave to protect us. He loves you and wis
hes he could be here. And he really is a Sun Warrior.”

  I was used to her talking about him as if he were alive and would be coming back any day so I let it go. “Alright, mom. Why did we end up running to Belize?”

  “After your dad offered to help hide me from them, we came here to Waterford. This was a Solaris stronghold. The whole town was basically run by and for the Solaris and he felt they would never aggress on me here. We were safe for many years. Your father and I fell in love. We had you. It was a time of such joy.” Mom’s voice cracked. “But then, they found me, told me to come back, that they needed me to forge something. They said, if I didn’t come back, they would punished me for leaving. We braced for an attack that never came. Or not the way we expected.”

  “What happened?”

  “Rather than come after us, they killed Lois and Frank,” her voice fell flat, dulled with emotion but tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.

  “What?” I sat up, horrified.

  “They threatened your father and me, but were afraid to move against us openly. It would have brought down the full force of the Solaris upon them. We counted on that to keep us safe…and they didn’t attack us directly. Instead, they killed Lois and Frank. Tortured them, sent me their…” Mom broke into a full sob.

  I crawled into the narrow chair next to her and wrapped my arms around her.

  She let out a few shuddering breaths. “They sent me their hearts, Harper. That was when your dad knew we had to hide somewhere they couldn’t find us. He knew Orlando Ek. Mr. Ek agreed to shelter us in his home village. And so we fled to Belize.”

  “Why didn’t dad come with us?”

  “He’s a Sun Warrior. His duty was to fight the Lunates. He also said it would be easier for them to find us if he was there. I realize now, of course, that we made a mistake.”

  “Mistake? Is that why we came back?”

  Mom nodded. “We were safe in Belize for so long, I thought we had really gotten cleanly away.” Mom looked wistful. “But then, a few months ago, men showed up in San Ignacio asking about us. Throwing around money. Mr. Ek got word that they were on their way to San Pedro so we had to run. I didn’t want to risk everyone there and I was afraid what they would do if they found us. So we fled to the only place I thought there would be enough Solaris to keep you safe.

  “But, that’s the problem with secret societies, you never know who is who. This used to be a Solaris strong hold, and there are still some people here that remember me. Martin Silver. Boon Wattana.” Mom’s face pinched with stress. “They are reluctant to help, though I don’t fully understand why. Which means I’m in the dark, not sure if we are truly safe here. I mean, Martin offered to watch over you at school, assured me that, since it was so public, you would be safe there. He also told me there are many Lunates here now. So, perhaps we’ve come to the belly of the beast. But I have no idea where else to go.”

  “So it’s the Lunates you’re afraid are after us now. After you for some reason?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And dad was some kind of Sun Warrior?

  “Yes, he is.” She beamed with pride, clearly still loved him.

  For a second I let myself imagine it were true. “That is really freaking cool.”

  That got a genuine smile from her.

  “Well, now you know everything I do. I swear I have an actual birthday present for you but that will have to wait a few days until your birthday.”

  “Mom, thank you for telling me all this. I don’t want anything more.”

  She looked so relieved that a small bit of guilt lifted off my shoulders.

  “Hey, you’re supposed to stay home tomorrow for your suspension, right?” Mom said with a gleam in her eye.

  “Yeah.”

  “How about we go get a few pints of ice-cream, a block of yummy cheese, a baguette, and some dark chocolate. I’ll rent some movies and we can see if the old DVD player here even works. Make a day of it?”

  “I would love that, mom,” I said. And I meant it.

  Olivia

  Mom and I had an amazing day together. We lounged in pajamas and ate and laughed. It was almost like being home in Belize.

  “Tomorrow I’m getting you a cell phone,” mom said absent mindedly. I tried not to whoop with joy.

  As the sun set I stupidly joked, “Man, mom, I’m thinking about getting in trouble again. We could do this once a week or something.”

  I regretted it as soon as it left my lips. “Please Harper. I don’t think I can handle more stress.”

  “It was a joke, Mom. A joke.” But it killed the cozy mood. She got up and puttered around, straightening things that weren’t really messy. We went to bed slightly uneasy, too much emotion between us.

  As I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, I remembered that Mr. Silver’s mysterious book was still hidden in my bag. After all the stuff mom said, I was excited to read it.

  I slid it out of my backpack and ran fingers over the worn leather binding. The old fashioned sun and moon symbol embossed on the cover made more sense to me now. I flipped open the first page. It had the look of an old illuminated manuscript, hand written calligraphy, bright ruby red and sapphire blue drawings accented with shining gold leaf.

  It looked cool but the first few pages were a dry, historical look at the world’s religions.

  At the heart of all world religions you will find the worship of the Sun and Moon. Though manifest quite differently, depending on where in the world you are exploring, the worship of these two sources of power are universal. In Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, it is manifest as the struggle between good and evil. The moon is emblematic of darkness, chaos, and death. The sun is linked to God, harmony, and life. According to these religions, the two sides are at war, vying for power over mankind.

  In many non-Western religious traditions, the Sun and Moon are not seen as dichotomous, battling against each other. For example, in Hinduism, the Sun and Moon are representative of the endlessness cycles of nature reflecting the actions of gods and goddesses. Many ancient religions viewed the Sun and Moon as partners or even lovers, sharing responsibility for the turning of the cosmos. The Druids, the Egyptians, the Maya, everywhere you look you will find temples dedicated to these celestial forces.

  These different understandings of the Sun and Moon reflect the complex reality….

  My eyes started to glaze over and I must have drifted off because next thing I knew my alarm was going off.

  Bzzt bzzt

  I moaned and threw my pillow at the alarm. It stubbornly survived.

  The walk to school was freezing and I was thankful to get into the building. Which should tell you how cold it was, because there was literally no where else in the world I wanted to be less.

  I got a few sympathetic glances, a lot of being ignored, and a few real gems like, “Hey stairs-girl, did you find the scary ghost in the library?” and, “Oh no, poor stairs-girl got suspended.”

  How nice of them to helpfully reminded me how unwelcome I was.

  Mrs. Foster’s class about the Dadaist movement was mind numbing. How one could make Dadaism boring was beyond me. It was certainly a skill.

  I stopped in the bathroom on my way to the library for lunch. Though I’d been forbidden from entering the library, there was no way I could stay away from Mr. Silver after the talk with my mom.

  As I washed my hands, I heard a soft, muffled sobbing. Not just boo-hoo type crying, but genuine, can’t catch a breath sobs. I stiffened, afraid I was hearing the same thing I’d heard in the library but quickly realized it sounded very different.

  In the library, the person sounded like they were being tortured, physically harmed. This was more like emotional pain. Normal human crying. It drifted from the last stall in the long bathroom where there was a faint rustling of clothes. Thankfully I could sense the presence of an actual person.

  Taking a tentative step toward them, I meant to quietly approach and ask
in a soft, comforting voice if they were okay. Instead, squeak!, my thick soled boot announced my approach. The crying paused, but the person obviously didn’t care, or couldn’t stop.

  “Hey, you okay in there?” I asked gently.

  That got a renewed sob, a coughing, snotty sound.

  “Do you need some help?”

  “No, go away,” a disembodied voice answered. She did not sound convincing, the kind of answer that meant a person really did need help but didn’t want to ask.

  “Listen, I’m happy to help. Or I’m happy to go get someone for you.”

  “No! I don’t want anyone here.”

  “Well, I’m not leaving until I see that you’re alright. Plus, if you talk to me, maybe I can help.” I rapped my knuckles on the door. Peaking under I saw fuzzy suede boots. The kind that were inexplicably expensive despite looking like they were designed to be worn in the North Pole.

  She let out a few more wracked breaths, exhaling sobs.

  “Look, just let me see you. I just want to make sure you’re okay and I will leave.” I pushed kind of hard.

  “Just leave me….” the door swung inward, “alone!”

  “Olivia?” I was shocked. Streaks of brown mascara ran down her cheeks. Normally perfect hair was mussed. Heavy makeup smudged revealing a dark bruise around her right eye.

  “You,” she practically spat the word at me. “You stupid bitch. I said leave me alone.”

  I threw up my hands and backed away. “Whatever, Olivia. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright. Which clearly you aren’t. But far be it from me to go out of my way to help you.”

  I spun and left the bathroom with a wild mix of feelings. Clearly she was in terrible distress, but why should I care about someone who had gone so far out of their way to be cruel to me. I was just going to let it go.

  But by the time I got to the library, I was worried. No matter how mean Olivia was, she was still a person in pain. “Good day, Miss Dae,” Mr. Silver bowed his head formally. “Glad to see you’ve returned. Let’s go sit in the back so you don’t get caught here.”

  “Thanks Mr. Silver. Uh, I have a lot of questions.”