Read Online The Silver Moon Elm by MaryJanice Davidson - Free Book Online Page B

observed with concerned emerald eyes as she slowly backed out onto the street. “Are you sure he doesn’t want to come with us?”
    “Definitely sure.”
    “Maybe I should drop him off to see his mother…”
    “Mom. You left him with two hundred dollars for the night. If he wants, he can get a taxi to the hospital, order a catered meal from the nearest gourmet restaurant for both himself and Mrs. Blacktooth, and then take a limo back here.”
    “I just feel strange leaving him alone at our place overnight, after what he’s been through.”
    “He’s fifteen. He’s a big boy. You’d rather stay home and baby-sit him?”
    Elizabeth smirked, tucked a blonde strand behind her right ear, and put the minivan into drive. “Okay, honey. You’ve made your point. I guess it’s all for the best. This way, we can spend some quality time with your father.”
    “In Crescent Valley.”
    Her mother’s green eyes glowed, but the rest of her face stayed composed. “In Crescent Valley.”
    “Where you’ve never been before.”
    “Where I’ve never been before.” Long fingers tapped anxiously on the steering wheel. They were off Pine Street and heading for the town limits.
    “And where you’ve been dying to go ever since you met Dad.”
    “Yes!” To Jennifer’s delight, she had finally cracked her mother’s composure. Elizabeth bounced up and down in her seat. “Where I’ve been dying to go ever since I met your father! Jennifer, you can tell me now. What’s it like? Where is it? Is it in the forest? It’s in the forest, isn’t it? On the other side of the lake. I tried to check it out back there once in the car, but there aren’t any roads after a while and the trees got really thick and there were some enormous wolves running around and that’s where it is, isn’t it? I can tell from your face!”
    Jennifer couldn’t help laughing—her mother was positively ebullient. “Mom, relax! You’ve gone years without knowing. Can’t you wait another couple of hours?”
    “Jennifer Caroline Scales, you tell your mother this instant where Crescent Valley is or I’ll gut you with my sword.”
    “Did you bring it?”
    “Hell no. I’m not showing up in front of your father’s Giant Angry Lizard Club with a weapon.”
    “We’re closer biologically to birds than lizards, Mom. Remember?”
    From the older woman’s expression, it was obvious her mother was thinking back to Jennifer’s first night as a dragon. “Yeah, I remember. That was quite a night. You called us clueless.”
    “Well, you were.”
    “But we were right about a lot of things, weren’t we? You have to admit: Parents know more than teenagers want to admit.”
    Jennifer traced a wavy line down the frosty passenger window with her fingernail. “Mom, just wait until you see all the stuff you don’t know!”
     
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    CHAPTER 5
Monday Night
    « ^ »
    Back on the farm, Joseph greeted both Scales family members with more enthusiasm than he had shown Skip and the others. Mother and daughter looked over the grounds briefly and gave Joseph some help on a few maintenance issues around the stables. Then Jennifer thoughtfully packed a waterproof overnight bag for her mother, secured it to her hindclaw, and invited her mother for a ride.
    “Is this really necessary?” Elizabeth asked, climbing on. “And why do you have one of your grandfather’s old duffel bags strapped to your—Hey!”
    Jennifer was off like a rocket over the lake, and was not too far from the shore when—
    “Hang on tight!”
    —she plunged into the moonlit surface.
    They came out the other side moments later. As they gently treaded water, they witnessed the venerables’ belt of fire course around the crescent moon and listened to the strumming of the surrounding insect life. Elizabeth had calmed down enough by now to slap her daughter gently across her spiked head.
    “You could have warned me.”
    “What? You’re the one who thought we were going across the lake, not