page28 (1/2)

Chapter 28

"The sacrifice must be blood, death, tears"

"The usual," I muttered

"Obviously you aren't asking these questions for an afternoon's entertainment," Cora said "There is a power eater on the loose and the blood "

"Yes, n'okomiss"

"You wish to kno to destroy it?"

"That would be very helpful - "

"Wait," I interrupted "Why the blood ht now?"

Cora turned her soleaze to me "Like tiht

On this one he will become more than a beast"

"I don't get it," Will said "Weendigos are only ht of the blood moon?"

"It is the best ti"

"Why?"

"Do you know the history of the hunter's moon? Why it is called the moon of blood?"

I did I'd spent countless nights researching the full moon that blooms in October

"In ancient tian, "then preserve meat for the winter The hunter's moon was the blood ht"

"And when so much blood is spilled, the earth cries out," Cora continued "So h necessary for life, the amount of death creates a perfect aura for evil deeds"

"Peachy," I muttered "So hoe kill him?"

"Will silver work?" Cadotte asked

"Silver alorks"

All three of us let out a sigh of relief

"But sometimes not as well as others"

Jessie ers and squeezed

"I don't understand," he said

"Silver will kill the Weendigo It should kill the power eater But the supreme alpha? I do not know

There has never been one before"

"Never?" Will asked

"The require are intense Huer and stronger until he is ultimate, then supreme"

"Sounds like a pizza," I muttered Jessie snickered

Cora reached into her other pocket, and I clapped my hand over my mouth

"What happens on the night of the hunter's moon?" Will asked

"If the power eater attains all the power that is required - "

"One hundred olves"

"Yes Then he becomes the supreme alpha"

"How?"

She frowned "He becomes"

" Poof? "I asked

Cora turned to Will "What is poof?"

He shrugged "Magic One minute he's the power eater; the next he's supreme alpha? He doesn't have to do a ritual? Another sacrifice?"

"Oh, yes There must be another sacrifice"

"Blood, death, tears? Again?" I asked

Cora's brorinkled "One would think so, but I have not seen it written I will search the records and call if I find anything useful"

Jessie nored her

"I would appreciate that, n'okoe"

"I understand"

We rose, and she followed us to the door Once on the porch, I thanked her She smiled and put a hand on my bad shoulder

"Thisit power, you are letting him win"

She was both spooky and right However, when the scar ached and burned like a freshly torn wound it was a little hard to forget

Jessie cleared her throat, pointed to her mouth I wanted to toss her a Scooby snack

Cora snapped her fingers and Jessie started speaking in midsentence

" - think you are anyway? What's the deal?" She turned to ht you were on my side And you" She rounded on Cadotte

"Do you have any more of that powder, n 'okomiss,' "

Cora smiled and turned her pockets inside out

They were empty

"Was she scary?" Jessie asked "Or was that just me?"

"Scary," I agreed

We were on our way back to Crow Valley Jessie had railed on Will until he'd said, "I told you to behave"

That shut her up as quickly as the powder had If there'd been any powder I wasn't quite sure about that anymore

"What did we learn, children?" Jessie asked

"The night of the blood moon will not be fun"

"I knew that already"

So had I

"Hector becaive the forces of evil the lives of your family"

I'd known that, too, but hearing it out loud h the windshield and not at me, she didn't notice However, Will's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror

"Jess," he murmured

"Huh?"

"I'm fine," I said hurriedly "We need to work this out"

Jessie glanced at"Killing theood to me"

"Me, too," I agreed

"Who knows? We "

"We ht" But I doubted it

"Anything else occur to you while Sister Spooky was talking?" Jessie asked

I told them my theory about Hector's enemy - petite blond women

Jessie considered for a "

"What?"

"Why didn't he kill you?"

An excellent question

"I guess we could ask hiet about it"

"I choose the second thing"

"Me, too"

We went over everything Cora had told us, but we ca the power eater's plans before the hunter'sbetter, ere just going to keep shooting wolves and hope we got lucky

Not the best plan, but the only one we had

When we arrived at the tavern, theJazz poured out of the s, as usual Lucky I slept in the daytime Once in a while