Page 69 of First Kiss with a Mothman

“I never told my mom about tonight. Maybe she and Mort are in trouble or something.”

“That would explain all the moths dancing around in a weird way,” Kovi says.

“Where are you both? We can work this out together.”

“We’re at the South Woods. The moths seem to lead to a public gate. Maybe we should call the police?”

“That won’t do anything,” Tanner replies over the phone. “These are just moths acting strangely. No crime has been committed.”

The words “not yet” hang heavy in the air. “What did Seth say?” As Tanner answers, Reginald makes even more noise. I can’t ignore my bird anymore, so I make him land on my wrist.

“Fine,” I murmur. Putting my phone in my pocket, I concentrate as I take over Reginald’s body to see what he sees. What is bugging my bird? After the first three seconds of adjustment, the vision comes to me.

The parking lot of the mall sits right on the edge of the forest. And in the sky, I spot what’s taking Reginald’s attention: hundreds, if not thousands, of moths are floating in circles in the sky. It’s like several dark lines against the setting sun. The insects of the forest are telling me that something is happening with Mort. Between this and Tanner’s call, I know he’s in trouble, and possibly my mom as well.

Panic takes over me at the thought of anything happening to my boyfriend. Before I can hyperventilate, a voice behind me pulls my attention. I turn and gaze at Selena, calling my name―it’s been some time since I’ve seen her, and she has no idea about my vision right now.

“Arie, everything cool?”

“No, no, I don’t think so.”

“What’s up?”

I lift up my phone to put Kovi and Tanner on speaker. “Selena, I need you to drive me somewhere.”

“But we were gonna watch a movie.”

“Something bad could be happening. My friends on the phone can explain on the way. It could be a true emergency. Please.” I reach for her and give her a pleading look. She seems to ponder it for a long time before sighing.

“Alright.” With that, we make our way to her car as Kovi and Tanner explain the situation along the way.

After a very long twenty minutes, the car slows down. “Do you see Kovi and Tanner?”

“The giant tree guy waving his hand is hard to miss.” She sounds so facetious, which is completely inappropriate considering something could have happened to Mort. But now’s not the time to correct my cousin’s etiquette.

When the car stops, I promptly get out. “Kovi?” I holler as I whip out my walking stick.

“It’s me, Tanner. I got you.” A hand guides me to his shoulder.

“We’re here, too,” another voice says.

“Owen?” I ask.

“And Clay.” I can almost hear Owen’s boyfriend wrap his arms around Owen.

“And me, Seth. We all want to help.”

I smile at them, content to know I have a whole cohort of monsters and humans on my side. “Thank you.”

“Caleb said that Mort isn’t answering his phone, and I’m starting to get worried,” Seth says. “That mothman can commune with…well…moths. And now he’s gone, and there are swarms of moths in the sky? It can’t be a coincidence.”

“The forest feels so unbalanced.” Kovi’s voice is deeper in this form, not to mention he’s higher up. Mort has described to me what his true dryad form looks like. He always describes the world to me.

And now he and my mom have been taken? “What did my mom have to do with this? She hasn’t been answering her phone.”

“We don’t know,” Tanner says.

“It doesn’t appear to be just moths. All of the insects in the greater Creelin area are acting supernaturally strange,” Owen remarks. “The flying bugs, anyway.”