Night Seeker by Yasmine Galenorn

nodded. “What does the music do to you?”
    Luna bit her lip, looking distant as she searched for the words. “It’s hard to explain. Something about music resonates in my soul. That sounds melodramatic but really—the notes
vibrate
in my inner core. I can feel them spread throughout my body and I can grab hold of them, use them to manipulate the world around me. My parents don’t have the ability, but they are talented in other ways. They’ve always just called their talent ‘lucky chance’ because they seem to luck out a lot.”
    Just then, Rhiannon came back from the bathroom and I took her place. I cleaned up with a quick sponge bath, sprucing up as best as I could. I’d give anything for another bath like yesterday, but I had a feeling that had taken all evening for Grieve to arrange and I wasn’t about to ask him to do it again. I’d file it away under memories, and make do with washcloth and soap.
    My nose felt slightly runny—the cold was getting to me—and I slathered some cream on the chapped skin.After brushing my hair, and dressing, I stared at myself in the mirror. I felt like I’d aged a decade in the past couple of weeks…it showed in my eyes, and I held tight to the sink.
    Whispering to my reflection, I said, “I wonder…what it would have been like to have a normal childhood, to have some memory I could hold on to where I wasn’t running or hiding or trying to protect my mother?”
    Grieve and Chatter gave you a taste of that.
Ulean whistled around me.
    They did, but even then, they were preparing me for the life I would face. But yes, those golden days before I was six and Krystal dragged me away…I cherish them.
    A wash of memory swept me back to rare sunny days spent in the woods, crouching in puddles of sunlight, listening to Grieve and Chatter explain how the magic of wind and fire worked. I lingered in the memory for a moment, closed my eyes and drifted in the images, but there was no time for self-indulgence.
    With a last glance in the mirror, I straightened my shoulders. Time to get moving for the day. Every hour we let go by was another hour Myst stole away a little more of our town. We needed to put a stop to her, regardless of the cost to our own lives.
    Peyton and Luna took their turns in the bathroom as Rhiannon and I headed out to the main chamber where the others were waiting, with the exception of Lannan. Relieved we’d have the day free of the vampire, it briefly crossed my mind that I could track him down and stake him while he slept. But as I gazed around the giant warehouse, I realized I could spend all day hunting for him and never find a clue. Lannan wasn’t stupid, and he knew how I felt.
    Rhiannon put some soup on to heat for breakfast. Kaylin had managed to outfit the warehouse with a range, and there was a sink against one wall that had obviously been used by workers who needed to clean up. It was rusted, but wide and deep, and the water was still running and it was clear—apparently the pipes weren’t a total loss. He was helping Chatter feed the burn barrels and I crowded near, huddling against the heat.
    “Morning. Want some toast? I have an old toaster over there. It chars the bread on the corners but still works.” Kaylin pointed to the counter near the sink. I saw a loaf of bread, a tub of margarine, and a toaster that had seen better days.
    “Thanks.” My teeth chattering in the chill air of the main warehouse, I popped two slices of bread into the toaster. “Did you guys eat yet?”
    Kaylin nodded. “We had sandwiches for breakfast. Chatter is in the other room, working on more charms. He shooed us away, saying he needed silence so he could concentrate. Wrath is outside, patrolling the perimeter of the warehouse. We don’t know if the Shadow Hunters are still affected by the light, but I don’t think Geoffrey and Lainule have given them the antidote for the plague yet.”
    “I’m not even sure if they’re still planning on doing so. Think