A Cursed Moon: A Weird Girls Novella (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) by Cecy Robson Page A

in. “Where are we going?”
    “To get you laid,” I said before put-put-puttering out of the parking lot.
    •   •   •
    “He just wanted to get laid,” I said out loud to Celia.
    “What?” She’d been playing with her blue tooth, trying to call her sisters for help. White noise blared out of the speakers the more she fumbled with the touch screen.
    “Dan. When we met. Even then he just wanted to get laid.”
    Celia shook her head. “No. I just think he wanted to stop feeling so lonely. It was a hard time for him then. He was finishing up at Stanford and the competition was cutthroat.”
    I laughed without humor. “So he said. Pricks. His fellow graduates were always trying to sabotage his work. At least I helped him by getting him some tail.”
    “You’re wrong, Bren.” Celia smiled sadly. “You helped him by becoming his best friend. Yes, you pick on him. Yes, you give him a hard time. But you’d crush anyone to bloody rubble who tried to hurt him.” She pursed her lips. “And don’t ever think he doesn’t know that.”
    I nodded hoping she was right only to abruptly straighten when we rounded the curve and the stink of Dan’s muffler disappeared. “Shit. Turn around.”
    “What?” Celia slowed and glanced around. I jumped out and doubled back down the road before the car stopped. “Bren! Bren! What’s wrong?”
    My heart pounded fast in my chest. I inhaled, thinking I’d lost the trail completely and raced further down the hill. I caught onto the weakening odor until it became more intense—telling my wolf I was headed in the right direction. The squealing tires and revving engine behind me told me Celia had turned the car around. I raced back, meeting her halfway. “Go back down the hill. They’ve taken Dan into the woods.”
    “Are you sure? We didn’t pass anything even remotely resembling a road.”
    “I’m positive. The smell of exhaust cleared out.” I frowned. “Didn’t you notice?”
    She gunned it. “I haven’t scented anything since we left the club. How are you picking up anything with all the decomposing foliage around?”
    “Tracking’s the one thing I was always good at, Ceel—
Stop!
” I pointed to a break in the trees blanketed with ferns. “Right there.”
    Celia made a hard left and stomped on the accelerator to push the sedan up the small incline. She swore as the Lexus tore over drying wood and something hard slammed beneath the undercarriage.
    I threw open the car door when the wheels spun. “We’re making noise, babe. Come on. We go on foot from here.”
    Celia rushed out. “Maybe you should howl, and
call
the pack.”
    “And give away our location to these ghouls?” I shook my head. “They’ll take it out on Dan and kill him for sure.”
    Celia started to say something but then nodded reluctantly. “I guess you’re right.”
    We abandoned the path and jetted through the thickening forest with me leading the way. We might have hit the three mile mark when the air charged with the aroma of crushed herbs. Magic . . . more specifically,
witch
magic. I bit back a snarl, knowing we’d found the idiot forcing the spirits to rise.
    We slowed to a stop. Celia crouched beside me and stole a wary glance, her tigress eyes replacing her own and taking in the darkness. “This is where the dead are being raised,” her husky voice murmured. “I can smell the witch. She’s near.”
    “Yeah, I know. Problem is, she knows we’re here, too.” I scanned the area, sensing the magic build like a small wave. “We must’ve triggered some kind of alarm.”
    The cold breeze stilled and the air crackled as if electrified the further we advanced into the dark forest. Celia nudged me and motioned to the sky. Dark clouds condensed like billowing smoke, swallowing the moon and the scattered stars littering the hemisphere. In a slasher flick, we’d be slated for our dooms and an audience full of movie goers would be screaming at us to snag some garlic, a