Ash scanned the sky for the Lady and Gentleman of Moon Ridge, the two golden stars that appeared only on Halloween. Although it was barely dusk, they were preternaturally bright and should be easy to see.
But Ash almost missed the Gentleman star at first, because he was used to locating them as a pair. Ash backtracked, and sure enough, there was the Gentleman, exactly where he was supposed to be.
However, the Lady was missing.
What?That couldn’t be right. Ash scaled the tree until he was near the top, where he had an unobstructed view of the sky.
But again, the Gentleman of Moon Ridge stood alone, his glimmer weaker than usual, as if he missed his lover and would mope until she returned.
Ash reached for his phone to text Onny and True. He fumbled it, though, and the phone fell.
He lunged after it and smacked his head on a thick branch. His vision blurred, and as Ash sat up and rubbed the throbbing spot, he thought he saw an apparition among the golden oak leaves of the tree next to him.
What the—?
The woman was hardly more than a wisp of fog, a pale figure wearing an old-fashioned wedding dress and a deep-purple cloak.
For a second, Ash thought of Bloody Mary. But this phantom didn’t seem murderous at all. Instead, she just watched him with an earnest kind of curiosity.
Then he noticed the crown of roses and tiny pumpkins on top of her long wavy hair, and he remembered there had been stories from past Halloweens of the Lady of Moon Ridge descending to earth to impart lessons in true love. It didn’t happen often—maybe on certain anniversaries of the town’s founding?—but Ash was pretty sure Onny had mentioned it at some point while she was brewing her love potion.
To be honest, he hadn’t paid particularly close attention. As much as he loved Onny, sometimes she went into a little too much detail, and he and True had figured out that if they tuned in at the beginning and end, and otherwise just said “Uh-huh” and “No way!” every so often during the middle parts, they’d still get the gist of Onny’s storytelling.
“Are you the Lady of Moon Ridge?” he whispered, as if speaking too loudly might make her disappear.
She held his gaze for a moment, and Ash could feel the cool dampness of her mist around him. Then she nodded, only once.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
The Lady didn’t answer, though. She just continued to watch him.
“Am I seeing you for a reason?” Ash asked the Lady.
She smiled gently, as if pleased with him.
Then Ash blinked, the blurriness from hitting his head cleared, and the Lady was gone.
Had he just imagined her?
Or maybe I have a concussion.
Regardless, Ash was intrigued.Ifthe Lady was real, then there was a reason she’d appeared before him. And if she was imagined, there was still a reason he’d conjured her.
Her reason for appearing was always related to love.
Ash smiled as he thought of Cassidy—her interpretation of his fence murals. Her nightingale laugh that flitted through the air when she got tangled up in the ivy in Skeleton Shack. The moss, where he’d landed on top of her, and where she’d looked deep into Ash’s eyes, but he hadn’t been brave enough to traverse the three inches to kiss her.
Would everything have been different if he’d tried?
There was a reason the Logans of the world got what they wanted. They put themselves out there. Whereas guys like Ash always watched from the sidelines, letting others win the race.
Maybe it was time to put himself in the game. Maybe that’s why the Lady of Moon Ridge had shown herself to him.
Ash dropped down from the tree and found his phone in the middle of a pile of leaves.
Ash:Remind me how the love potion works again?
Onny:Are you gonna use it?? OMG OMG OMG
