Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

God I hate History. It’s soooo boring, Nicoli thought as he sat in the back of his last class of the day. He tried to force himself to pay attention and concentrate on his teacher’s voice, but he was failing miserably.

Since Nicoli was sitting in the back, he was partially hidden from his teacher’s view. Using this strategically placed blind spot, Nicoli took out his cell phone and opened it under his desk and turned it on.

He leisurely went through his inbox, seeing if he had received any new text messages. Nicoli’s heart leapt when he saw he had two from Zack and Brittany.

It’s about time.

Even though he wanted to read them now, he decided to save them for after class. When there was less risk of getting caught.

I should get Amelia’s number. She’s pretty cool…even though her eating habits are a bit questionable, Nicoli mused.

He had enjoyed his lunch with the odd red head. She was pleasant and easy to talk to, the first person Nicoli had connected with in the deranged town. He really wouldn’t mind spending more time with her, if only to not go out of his mind from loneliness.

Hey, what the…?

While scrolling through his contact’s list, Nicoli noticed that there was a number he had never seen before. When he looked at the name next to it, it read—

Amelia Fairbrooke

Nicoli stared at the name with a perplexed look.

Holy-How-When…When did she do that? Nicoli knew for a fact he hadn’t put it in. He tried to think of any opportunity Amelia had to do it herself. Of course…

It was the moment they had met. She had been fiddling with his phone for quite awhile after she had saved it from its fall. Nicoli hadn’t given it a single thought that she might have actually been inputting information.

Wow, she is very sneaky…not to mention overly confident. How did she know I would even want to be friends with her, let alone want her number?

Before Nicoli’s brain could give him any kind of sensible answer the bell gave a shrill screech. There was a sudden burst of movement in the room as students scrambled to collect their possessions and escape to freedom.

Nicoli quickly put his phone and textbook away. Once he was sure he had everything he swung his backpack over his shoulder and waited behind the mob of students to file out the door.

“Excuse me, Mr. Vurkeshaun. I’d like a word with you,” the teacher’s voice rose above the chaos.

An aggravated groan escaped Nicoli’s lips and he fell back. He watched longingly as everyone else disappeared, until the only ones left were him and Mr. Turnic.

“What’s up?” Nicoli asked as he reluctantly went over to the teachers’ desk.

“You’re not in trouble, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Mr. Turnic assured the boy as he sat on the edge of his desk. “I’d just like to voice a concern I’m having.”

Oh, yay, here we go. Another pep talk about fitting in, Nicoli thought dryly.

“A concern?” he repeated, making sure not to voice his thoughts.

“Yes, you see, most students that come into a class a couple months into the semester always have trouble catching up with the others. Ultimately, making their grade suffer,” Mr. Turnic explained. “And I’m worried that your grade won’t be as high as it could be because of that.”

Oh…he just wants to talk about academics…I can live with that.

“What do you suggest I do so that doesn’t happen to me?” Nicoli asked curiously, not looking forward to extra assignments, but willing nevertheless.

“Well, to make up some of the points, why don’t you write me an essay?” the teacher suggested.

“An essay?” Now Nicoli was just feeling like a parrot and bit down on his tongue to stop.

“Yes, I’d like you to write me a, let’s say, three page essay about the history of Whixton.”

At this Nicoli’s positive outlook on the assignment deflated considerably. He grumbled and cussed mentally, trying hard not to let his voice vocalize it.

“I’m sure if you were able to thoroughly look through this town’s history, you’d really appreciate the wonderful ideal’s on which this town was founded upon. And, hopefully, it’d help stop any future…mishaps from occurring,” Mr. Turnic said with a smile, obviously referring to the fight.

Aha! I knew it! He had an ulterior motive! Stupid conniving teacher’s… But even with these thoughts, Nicoli smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea,” the boy agreed.

“Good, I’m glad you approve,” the teacher said happily as he stood up and grabbed a pen from his desk. “To help you, you can find the town’s archives at the local library,” Mr. Turnic informed Nicoli as he wrote something down on a piece of paper. “Here’s the address, I’m sure you’ll be able to find it just fine,” he said, ripping up the paper and handing the address to the boy. “The paper will be due Monday. That gives you the rest of the week and the weekend to do it.”

“Okay, I can do that,” Nicoli said as he pocketed the paper without looking at it. “I’ll try and get started on it right away,” he said as he made his way to the door.

“Fantastic, I’ll be looking forward to seeing with what you come up with. Till tomorrow, Mr. Vurkeshaun,” Mr. Turnic said in farewell.

“Yeah, laters,” Nicoli said, giving a backward wave.

Mr. Turnic didn’t see the tight frown that stretched Nicoli’s lips and how much his good eye narrowed.

Yeah, have a great fucking day as I shove your fucktard assignment up your fucking ass.

*********************************

Nicoli walked down unfamiliar sidewalks lined with unfamiliar buildings. People with unfamiliar faces strolled by and either said hello or nodded and smiled as they went by, very unlike the cities where everyone pretended the person next to them didn’t exist.

People here are way too friendly, Nicoli thought as he halfheartedly gave a passing wave to a elderly lady going by. A voice coming from his cell phone snapped him back into the conversation he had been having.

“Yeah, I’m heading there now,” the boy said. He then sighed and rolled his eyes. “No, Mom, I’m not going to get lost. After finding my way around San Francisco with no problem for eighteen years, this dinky little town is no sweat,” he told her.

“Mom, I wasn’t making fun of Whixton again,” he said in exasperation at the reply he got. “It is dinky. I’m not making fun of something if I’m telling the truth.”

Nicoli sighed when a spew of protests came from the phone and into his ear. He ignored it for the most part as he came upon a large, old building. He looked over the off white walls and the tall glass windows. At the entrance to the building were two stone sphinxes that guarded the stairs to the door. And above the entry way was the word “Library.”

“Mom, Mom, hey, I’m at the library now so I have to go to get my research,” Nicoli said, interrupting Laura’s scolding. “I’m not sure when I’ll be home. Most likely once I’m done getting all the info I need. Yeah, uh-huh, okay, see you then. Love you too.”

Nicoli hit the end button once his mother hung up. In all she was happy he was being focused on his school work, but, truth be told, Nicoli was only doing it now since he had nothing else to do.

Before closing his phone Nicoli checked to see if he had any new messages while he had been talking. He had responded to his friends’ text messages, and so far he had no reply.

“Man, talking to them in this off and on way is driving me crazy,” Nicoli mumbled as he closed the cell phone and put it back in his pocket.

He slowly made his way up the stone steps. A prickling feeling crept up his spine as he went by the frozen sphinx statues. It felt like he could feel their eyes on him. Nicoli shook it off and quickened his pace.

“Wow…” Nicoli breathed appreciatively. The library was much bigger than it looked from the outside. Bookcases, upon bookcases formed aisles throughout the massive building. Further away Nicoli could see a staircase that led to the second floor, where more books laid in waiting.

“Huh, how the heck am I supposed to find the archives in this place? It’s huge,” he muttered hardly above a whisper. Years of being told to be quiet in a library was ingrained into Nicoli’s psyche. The building was also too massive and overpowering in its grandeur to speak much louder.

“Can I help you?”

Nicoli jumped at the voice and turned to see a kind looking lady standing beside him. He hadn’t even heard her approach.

“Oh, uh, y-yeah,” he stuttered, trying to calm his racing heart.

“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” she asked worriedly.

“Um, a bit, but I’m fine, really,” Nicoli told her with a little smile. He couldn’t help but notice that the woman was glancing at his bad eye, but was trying to focus on his good one.

“So what can I help you with this fine day? My name is Helen, I’m the librarian,” she introduced herself.

“I’m Nicoli. Um I was wondering where I could find the archives of the town. I have to do a report for school,” he explained.

Nicoli furrowed his eyebrows when Helen gave him an odd look.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Oh, well, no. It’s just you’re the second person today to ask to see the archives,” she told him.

“Huh, really? Maybe someone else has to do the same report I do,” Nicoli mused. Sheesh, has Mr. Turnic conned other people into doing this assignment?

Helen laughed and shook her head.

“Oh, no, I don’t think that’s the case. The person in question is much too old to be a high school student,” she said before placing her hand on Nicoli’s shoulder. “But no matter. I’ll lead you to what you’re looking for.”

With that Nicoli followed Helen through the library. She led him past all of the tall, wooden shelves, holding the hundreds upon thousands of books. Up the spiraling staircase they went to the next level.

Nicoli’s eyes tried to drink in everything as he was taken further and further into the library. As they went the boy had the inkling suspicion that they were going to a part of the library that wasn’t used all that often. The shelves started looking older; cracks here and there snaked up the wood. The books were also of older make, from what he could see while passing.

“Here we are,” Helen finally said, drawing Nicoli’s attention.

They had come to the very back of the building to a lonely looking bookcase.

“This has all of Whixton’s records. Has both major and minor events that have gone on here in the last few hundred years,” Helen explained. A curious look crossed her features as she looked down the aisle then walked to the other side of the bookcase.

“What are you looking for?” Nicoli asked curiously.

“Hmm, the man that came in before you…I suppose he left,” she then said with a slight shrug. She shook her head then smiled at Nicoli. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find everything you need here. If you need any help just come find me,” she told him.

“Will do, thank you, Helen,” he thanked as she turned and left. Nicoli watched her depart until she disappeared completely.

“Well,” Nicoli muttered looking over to the bookcase that held numerous folders all dated and organized, “I suppose I’ll get started.”

Nicoli strolled down the length of the bookcase, looking over all of the material he could choose from. He was a bit put out when, after a bit of investigating, he found that both sides of the bookcases were filled with the thick folders.

“Jesus Christ, how the hell am I supposed to go through all of these? I’ll be here forever,” he whined dejectedly.

To make it easier on himself, Nicoli decided to get both the oldest folder and the most recent. If anything he could do a report on how Whixton had advanced over the years. As Nicoli went to get the first one he needed, he noticed that there were numerous spots in the shelves that were empty, its occupants missing.

“Huh, I wonder if that guy took them,” Nicoli said softly. “He just better not have taken the ones I need.”

After some searching, Nicoli was relieved to find the folder he was looking for. He had to use the sleeve of his gray shirt to wipe away a fine layer of dirt from the cover. The book was dated back to the early seventeen hundreds and the folder was thick with papers.

“Damn, Whixton is a lot older than I thought it was,” he muttered, carefully placing the book under his arm. “Okay, now to get the other one.”

Nicoli headed around to the other side of the bookcase to look for the recent book of information. As he was fingering the spines of newer looking books he paused.

“What’s that?” he muttered.

Off in the distance he heard something that sounded like…humming. Nicoli stilled and strained his ears. A soft hum was floating through the air, singing a soft, upbeat tune. As the hum got louder footsteps joined it. They echoed and reverberated off the walls and they were coming closer and closer to where Nicoli was located.

Nicoli craned his neck to try and look over the books when he heard the footsteps go down the aisle just on the other side of him. He saw a form moving about the bookcase. A scraping, sliding sound told Nicoli that the person was putting things back on the shelves.

I wonder if that’s the man the librarian was talking about, he wondered. All Nicoli could see through the tiny crack above the books was a chest clothed in a black shirt and what looked like a blue, denim jacket. When Nicoli couldn’t get much more than that, he decided to ignore the newcomer. He came here for a reason, and snooping on other library goers wasn’t going to help him.

The humming continued as Nicoli found the most recent folder and pulled it out. He then pressed both books to his chest and made his way around the bookcase. He was almost around when the humming suddenly stopped.

“Will you stop hounding me?” an irritated voice snapped.

Nicoli halted, thinking for a split second the person had been talking to him.

“I know I’ve been looking for hours, but I’m sure I’ll find something soon,” the man said in a hushed voice.

The voice was deep and just by the sound Nicoli could tell the man was older than himself. Nicoli could swear the man’s voice carried just a slight accent, but he couldn’t place it to save his life.

Who is he talking to? I thought I only heard one person walking over here, Nicoli thought. What confused the boy more was that he was hearing no reply from the person being spoken to.

“Just give me a little more time,” the man carried on.

Deciding not to stay there and eavesdrop on the man, Nicoli continued to round the corner of the bookcase and walk the way he had come. As he passed by the aisle the man was in he glanced over.

All he saw as he walked by was a flash of short, wavy golden hair. Other than that he got no other definition of the man’s features as he went, except the man was tall. But there was one thing Nicoli had noticed. There was no one else down the aisle.

Is the guy talking to himself? What a weirdo.

Blocking out any other thoughts about the possibly insane man, Nicoli tried to find a table he could settle down at and start what promised to be a long research project.

It didn’t take him long to find a deserted table and set down the two thick books. After taking off his backpack he riffled through it until he found his notebook and a pencil.

“This is going to take forever,” Nicoli grumbled as he sat down.

He started by carefully opening the older book. He was surprised when it didn’t dissolve under his fingertips. A sigh passed his lips as Nicoli began to read. Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to read it from cover to cover—and not willing to—Nicoli mostly skimmed paragraphs and skipped pages at a time, writing important information down from time to time.

“It is rumored that Whixton was founded by a group of witch’s who chose the location because of its high spiritual energy and…”

Nicoli wanted to smack his head on the table over and over when he read this. He wasn’t even going to bother finishing that paragraph.

“My God this is so freaking stupid. I was hoping the history of this placed would at least be sensible, but of course not,” he grumbled.

Nicoli finished writing a few more things down before closing the book and pushing it away. He wasn’t too keen on looking through it anymore and besides, Nicoli had to start looking through the newer one if he was ever going to get out of the library.

Time ticked by and soon Nicoli’s notes turned into an entire page, followed by another. He was about to start on his third page when the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. Nicoli shook himself to try and get rid of the feeling, but it didn’t leave.

The hell…?

“S’cuse me, kid.”

Nicoli jumped and his heart leapt into his throat for safety. The boy’s head snapped up and he came face to face with his reflection.

“Whoa, sorry, didn’t mean ta spook ya,” the person behind the reflection apologized with a sheepish smile. “You okay?”

Nicoli blinked as he tried to calm his racing heart. It took him a second to realize that he was staring at the man from the archives aisle. Now that the man was right in front of him Nicoli could get every detail of him.

There was still that deep golden hair that curved this way and that in intense waves down to his ear and to the back of his neck. His skin was about the same color of Nicoli’s, but many shades paler. Underneath the denim jacket a black shirt was pulled tightly around a strong, muscular chest. And Nicoli was still staring at his reflection that was being mirrored by the man’s sunglasses.

Jesus Christ! He scared the living shit out of me! Nicoli thoughts raced as he tried to wrestle his heart back down into his chest. He then raised an eyebrow as he studied the man. What kind of retard wears sunglasses indoors?

“Um, yeah, I’m fine,” Nicoli replied, trying to sound like he hadn’t just jumped out of his skin. “Can I help you with something?” he then asked.

“Actually, ya can,” the man said with a smile as he leaned over and put his hand on the table. Nicoli realized the man was wearing thick, black gloves, though it was hardly cold outside. “Would that happen to be the earliest records of Whixton you have there?” he asked, tilting his head towards the dusty old book Nicoli had pushed off to the side.

The boy glanced at it before looking back up at the other.

“Yeah, it is,” he told him.

“Would you mind if I stole it from you for a quick sec? I just need to skim through it,” the man requested.

“No problem, go ahead and take it. I’m done with it,” Nicoli said and pushed the thick folder towards the strange man.

“Ah, thanks. You’re a wonderful help,” the man thanked as he stood up straight and picked the book up. The man moved to walk away, but stopped and seemed to study Nicoli for a moment.

The weird feeling of Nicoli’s hair standing up came back and he tried his best not to shiver.

“What?” he asked.

“Damn, kid,” the man said, sliding his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose. “Who messed you up?” he asked.

For a moment, Nicoli lost what the man had said as he stared into his eyes. They were the oddest color. The closest Nicoli could think they resembled was…teal. He had never seen such eyes before.

But he quickly snapped out of it and huffed as he rested his cheek on his knuckles.

“It’s nothing, I got into a scuffle yesterday, that’s all,” he muttered, focusing his attention onto his paper that he began to doodle on. He tried hard not to look at the man, but he could feel those eyes burning a hole into him.

“Ah to be young again,” the man chuckled and shook his head. “Getting into trouble at every turn. You should enjoy it, kid, ‘cause once you grow up you’re really going to miss it,” the man advised.

Nicoli’s pencil stopped and his eyes flickered upward to look at the man.

“Miss getting my ass kicked by people who I think are ignorant morons?” he asked. “I really don’t think so.”

“Ooh a feisty little one you are,” the man said with a large grin, revealing perfect, straight white teeth. “Just tryin’ ta give ya some good advice.”

Nicoli just gave him a bored, uncaring stare, hoping it would get the man to go away. The boy’s eyes then traveled over to the other man’s arm that wasn’t holding the book. He raised an eyebrow as he saw something long and black dangling from it.

“Uh, why are you caring around an umbrella? It’s cloudless outside,” Nicoli asked curiously, trying to get the attention off himself.

The man’s strange eyes were hidden again as the sunglasses were pushed back up.

“Because I was silly enough to listen to the weather,” the man said with a slight tilt of his head. “Weathermen, they always lie, they’d make great lawyers I bet.” Suddenly the man made a hand gesture near his head, as if shooing something away from his ear. “But I suppose I have been keeping you too long. It looks like you’re busy, so I’ll just leave ya to your work,” he told the boy. He gave a slight incline of his head in farewell and left.

Nicoli watched the man walk away and noticed he went back towards the bookcase with the archives.

“Man…that guy really is a weirdo,” the boy muttered. He shook his head and rubbed his good eye. “The people in this town must all be on drugs,” he grumbled.

Nicoli set back to work. It only took him a few more minutes to write up another page of notes. Thinking it was enough, and just wanting to leave, Nicoli closed the book and packed up his stuff.

He picked up the book as he stood, but stopped when he looked towards its home.

“Hmm that guy is probably still there,” he mumbled quietly. Not really wanting to deal with him again, Nicoli set the book down on the table and left it there. He made his way through the sea of books and down the stairs. Helen waved goodbye from the front desk as he went by and he left the library.

It was still light outside when Nicoli trudged down the stairs. He gave a farewell salute to the sphinx statues and began the trek home.

“I hope that’s enough. I’ll try and write the paper tomorrow or something. Tonight will be video games,” he told himself with a grin, looking forward to a night of senseless game play.

His smile quickly vanished and he slowed to a stop when he saw a group people ahead of him. It was a cluster of five boys’, around Nicoli’s age. They were standing around while laughing and conversing with each other. Nicoli slowly took a step back, to try and retreat silently. It was the group that had gladly shown Nicoli what defeat and utter humiliation tasted like after bad mouthing their town.

Nicoli turned around and quickly walked the way he had come. He kept his head down and his shoulders up to try and hide himself. The boy was almost to the sphinxes again, that promised safety, when an arm suddenly encircled his shoulders. Nicoli looked up and grimaced when he saw the smiling face of, who he presumed, was the leader of the pack.

“Nicoli, fancy meeting you here,” the boy said with a grin that had malice lying underneath.

“Uh, hey…dude,” Nicoli greeted awkwardly.

“Dude? Awe, you don’t remember my name?” the boy asked in mock hurt.

A jolt of panic leapt into Nicoli’s mouth as his classmate turned him around and started leading them back to the awaiting scavengers, who were all grinning in wicked delight.

“Well, it’s not like it was written on your fist when my face was introduced to it,” Nicoli said then wanted to bite his tongue off. Why could he never control his smart-aleck remarks?

By this time they had reached the collective and Nicoli squeaked as he was pushed against a handy parked car. The leader grabbed a handful of his shirt and pinned him to the vehicle.

“Really now? I could have sworn it was,” he said as the pack of hyena’s circled the two, cackling madly. He lifted up his other arm, curling his hand into a fist. “Why don’t you take a closer look, you little punk? Let’s give you a matching set of black eyes.”

Nicoli barely had time to cover his face as the fist came down, aiming for his good eye. The boy braced himself, but as seconds ticked by, nothing happened.

“Hey, the hell?” He heard his attacker say.

Nicoli peeked through his fingers to see the black handle of an umbrella around the boy’s arm, stopping it in mid air.

“S’cuse me, but that’s not very nice,” came a familiar voice.

Nicoli lowered his hands and blinked as he recognized the man that had come to his rescue.

It’s the weirdo, he thought in disbelief.

“Hey, when did he get here?” on of the boys’ in the pack asked, the other’s all looking thoroughly confused.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” the leader snarled.

“The names Ethan,” the strange man said with a grin. He gave a harsh tug with the umbrella, causing Nicoli’s attacker to be spun around. Before the leader could open his mouth to yell at the man known as Ethan, the umbrella handle was under his chin, resting against his throat.

“Sorry, but I need to discuss something with my little friend, you don’t mind if I steal him for a second, do you? I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” The handle was pressed harder against the leader’s Adam’s apple. “Will it?”

Ethan was a good head taller than the boy he had on umbrella point and his sunglasses had slid down once more to reveal those haunting eyes. Seemingly laid back and calm before, Nicoli couldn’t help thinking the man looked almost dangerous now.

A ripple of unease went through the group and the leader stepped back, a hand instantly going to his neck. He glared back at Nicoli, anger seething under the surface of his eyes. He then spun on his heel and retreated from the danger.

“Come on guys, let’s go,” he barked an order. The pack muttered amongst themselves as they glanced from Nicoli to Ethan then followed their leader.

Once they were gone from sight Nicoli let out a shuddering sigh and collapsed against the car.

“You okay, kid?” he heard Ethan asked.

Nicoli looked up to see a gloved hand outstretched and a warm smile directed at him. The boy took the offered hand and was pulled to stand on his own feet.

“Yeah, thanks to you,” Nicoli said. “I really wasn’t looking forward to being completely blind.” The boy then flushed and looked embarrassed. “You, uh, really didn’t need to do that. I would have been fine,” he muttered.

Ethan laughed and tilted his umbrella to rest against his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’d be more than ‘fine,’” the man said with a grin. “Not really popular, are you?” he then asked.

“That’s an understatement,” Nicoli grumbled. “But I can deal with it.”

“I’m sure a feisty kid like you can,” Ethan agreed with a tilt to his head. “Speaking of which, what name can I call you by? I’m sure you don’t want me to keep calling you kid, do you?” he inquired and held out his free hand once more. “The name’s Ethan Meier,” he introduced himself.

Nicoli hesitated before taking the hand and shaking it. The black leather glove felt odd and cool against his skin.

“I’m Nicoli Vurkeshaun,” the boy told Ethan as they let go.

“Hmm, Nicoli, I’ll be sure to remember that in case I see you around,” Ethan said with a smile.

“Uh, yeah, and thanks again, Ethan,” he said as the man turned from him.

“No problem, I like putting people in their place.” Ethan then smiled and looked at the boy over his sunglasses. “Not too bad for a weirdo, huh?” he asked. He then winked at the boy and his umbrella suddenly lengthened and opened, as if on its own.

Before Nicoli could even try and utter a coherent response, Ethan was off, leaving the boy standing on the sidewalk. All Nicoli could do was stare after the strange man and at the umbrella protecting its owner from the sunlight as he heard a pleasant hum rising and dancing into the air.

=======================Ch. 2 End