Abbi grinned, her whole face tipped upward. “We’re not going home tonight. We’re going to save my Shadow.”
The mood in the room shifted.
“Damn,” Val said. “That’s what I was forgetting.”
“No,” Danube said.
“What happened to your Shadow?” Ricky asked.
“Crossroads,” Abbi said, walking over to stand in front of her, “you know my stories, don’t you?”
“Some of them,” she said, “but not all, gentle Moon Rabbit.”
Abbi smiled, but it was sad. “I was too gentle. They took him. I think they wanted me, but they took him.”
“Her Shadow,” Val said. “That’s the Shadow they were looking for, the one I tried to find in the caverns. Rabbit’s Shadow.”
“All the strings and spider webs,” Abbi said, holding the plate of moon balls in one hand so she could make wiggly spider legs with her other hand. “Running across the sky. I was flying to earth. The strings stuck all over me and I fell. I fell for a long time.”
“I thought I was trapped…” She swallowed. “But Hado said he wouldn’t let them hurt me. He is my friend.” Her eyes were watery, but they were also very, very old. Ancient. “My guardian. They took him away. I was fast, but he was faster. I was brave, but he was braver.”
“Hado is your Shadow?” Lu asked.
Danube was still scowling at Abbi. “We are not going into the caves.”
“We have to. We have to tonight,” she insisted. “It’s the right sky. The new moon. It’s what we’ve been waiting for, isn’t it? It’s why the pack hasn’t gone into the caves with me yet?”
The werewolf shifted his feet and avoided direct eye contact.
“You said…” Abbi frowned, and it was betrayal in her voice when she finished, “…you said you wouldhelpme.”
“We did. We had been looking for months before you found us. For years. We will continue to look,” Danube said. “But we cannot let you go down into those caverns. We can’t lose you, goddess.”
“I’m not a goddess.” Abbi took a deep breath, roughened a little by unspent tears.
When she spoke again, her shoulders were back, her head tilted upward. Proud and so much more than just a child with the moon in her eyes.
“I am not innocent or weak, Danube, even if you see me that way. I am more. A power. A legend. Blessed by gods, cradled by the moon. I am so much older than you, than any of you,” she nodded toward Ricky, “even if I choose this body.” She pointed a finger that still had a little chocolate on it at her chest. “But I am not a goddess, either.”
“It’s a trap, Abbi,” Danube said. “They want you to find him. They want you near enough they can take you this time. Then they will use you, Abbi, however they want.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “Maybe,” she admitted. “But I don’t want anyone putting their lives on the line for mine.”
“It is an honor—”
“Danube,” she scolded gently. “I know my Shadow. I can find him. No one else can, not as quickly. I don’t want to go alone, and I won’t turn away help, but if you decide not to go, then I’ll go by myself. This is my best chance. Maybe my only chance.”
Danube growled, a nearly sub-audible sound, and Lorde, who had been lounging at Ricky’s feet, lifted her head and stared at him.
“Will you go with me?” Abbi asked. “I won’t be mad if you say no.”
He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they shone red. “I will go with you.”
Abbi smiled and looked so very young. “Thank you. Will anyone else go with us?”
Ricky shook her head. “I won’t go in those caves. Can’t if I’m going to be of any help to you. I can drive you there. I can help you find the way home.”
“We’re going with you,” I said. “Lu and I.”
