Moon Shadow

16

The essence of past users lived on inside the moon magic, having their memories, knowledge, and experience up to when they died. I had met fourteen of them so far—some meaner and weirder than others—and they shared a common goal of warding off evil. But these were the last fourteen sorcerers to possess moon magic—I started training with the thirtieth user, then went backward. It seemed Esther's arrival had forced Mawu to change tactics, letting me skip the sixteenth user and go to the first.

"See you next month, Binti Nasra." Mawu snapped her fingers, transporting me to a dimension of the past user's choosing.

The pop sound in my ears, dizziness clouding my thoughts, and sour taste in my mouth that made me retch were always the worst part when Mawu teleported me away from the moon. Neither my teleportation magic nor Preacher Boy's ever made me feel like this. When I had asked Mawu why that was the case, she said it was the effect of entering the Spirit Realm—an afterlife dimension for past moon users, with each having their own domain.

Honestly, it explained why I didn't experience any side effects of stepping into the mirror dimension and speaking to Uriel.

The scenery changed from the darkness of space and the moon's brightness to the greenery of nature. I rolled my eyes at the chirping birds, rustling leaves, and flow of a nearby waterfall. What was this? The Jungle Book? I scoffed. It looked like it.

Before I walked around to observe the area, animals darted past me, chasing each other across the vast field of grass, jumping onto trees, or diving into holes on the ground.

"Watch where you're going, pricks!" I shook my fist at them.

"Binti!" a sweet, feminine voice said behind me.

I turned and saw a dark-skinned woman in a mini white dress and a flower crown on her head: Eve. It had to be her. She was absolutely breathtaking! The fake sun placed a spotlight on her, making her stand out from everything else. Now I understood why Adam and Lucifer simped for her.

"Hello, Binti Nasra. I'm Eve." She smiled before grabbing my hands and shaking them.

Oh! I felt like one of cupid's weird arrows struck my heart. Was I really simpin' over a dead woman? I mean, who cared. It was Eve—her essence. There was nothing wrong with crushing on presumably the first woman created. Presumably. Again, it was her essence. Not the real her.

"Hello." I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "I'm Binti Nasra."

"I know." She chuckled. "Welcome to Eden."

"Fake Eden," I corrected her. "The real Eden has the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. As you can see, they aren't here."

Eve's left eye twitched, and for a split second, a snarl replaced the smile on her face before she put up the facade again. "Right."

I pursed my lips, trying not to laugh. Her reaction reminded me of Lucifer calling me an asshole. I hadn't done it on purpose. I swear. She needed to know I wasn't some bum she could lie to. That was it.

Silence crossed between us for nearly a minute. I definitely struck a nerve. She kept looking anywhere but at me, with her jaw and hands clenched. I stared at her, trying hard not to laugh, waiting for her to say something. Even the animals stopped messing around and watched us.

"So, transmutation," I broke the awkward silence.

"Yes." She looked at me. "The second transmuter died before–"

"I thought she got banished?"

"Bitch, can you let me finish?"

I busted out laughing. I laughed so hard, tears streamed down my face, making my ribs hurt. Finally, she stopped pretending and acted like a real person. A lot of past users always tried to be these wise, old senseis from karate movies when all I wanted was for them to be themselves and teach me shit. It was why I intentionally annoyed them so they could drop the facade.