Moon Crystals

By Tracy A. Squire

Natalie Cody has fallen from her horse and is now lost. Her family and the police are all looking for her, but as the weather worsens, concerns for her safety grow. Her twin brother Nathan can sense his sister; with a little help, so can the girl with the moon crystals. The lady who sold them to her told her they were magical, and Alicia Parker is about to find that out when she and her two best friends go on a quest to find the missing girl.

Nathan never loses faith that his sister will be home in time to join him in defeating the evil Carson siblings in the show jumping competition.

Is time really on Natalies side? Will Alicias magical crystals help find the missing girl in time to save her life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Oct 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452507712

Tracy A. Squire

Tracy A. Squire has always had an interest in Natural Therapies and has forever been intrigued by the supernatural. She grew up in Brisbane, Australia, but now resides on a secluded 20-acre block with her dogs and various farm and bush creatures.

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Copyright © 2012 by Tracy A. Squire.

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ISBN: 978-1-4525-0770-5 (sc)

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Balboa Press rev. date: 10/24/2012

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Epilogue

For my dad . . .

I miss you every single day . . .

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my gorgeous son, Ty,

I love you very much. Thanks to Beth,

and her beloved mum, nana Rita for

sharing my journey into the

mystical abyss.

Thanks to the Mothar Mountain

Horse Riding Camp for their

devoted attention.

Thank you to my sister, Sharon, and

all of my family and friends who

kept faith in me when I failed to

find it in myself. You all know who you are.

Most of all, thanks to my mum and

dad for their unyielding support

throughout my entire life.

Prologue

N atalie Cody felt troubled when the track she began to follow did not look at all familiar. The dark clouds loomed over head and she could feel her heart skip a beat as fear set in. She had planned to head home and swap her young colt for an older horse when they somehow managed to take a wrong turn. She was still breaking the colt in and wanted to take him for a ride. However, she had to practice for the Show jumping competition in just two weeks so she needed her dad’s horse, Ruffy. She wished she was riding old Ruffy right now because that horse knows these bush tracks better than anybody.

When Natalie’s parents first built their house the twins, Natalie and Nathan, were only six years old. While playing in the yard, the kids would catch sight of this horse beyond the fence line in the surrounding bush. And as quickly as he would appear he would then disappear for two to three days at a time. So when he did appear the kids would get overly excited. One day, when Joe Cody, Natalie’s dad, was leaving for work the horse limped up and stood in front of the car. His limp was very pronounced causing Joe concern, so he slowly got out of his vehicle and succeeded in befriending this young horse with an irresistibly, ripe, juicy apple from his lunch box. While he had the horse’s attention, he then slid his belt out from around his jeans and slipped it over the horse’s neck like a collar. He then called out for his wife, Beth, to phone the Vet.

The horse was surprisingly calm considering he had a very deep and nasty gash on the left side of his rump. The Vet suspected the gash had come from a cassowary, a bird the size of a large emu, and he informed Joe that the horse was only a young fellow, not even two years old according to his small, undeveloped teeth. Joe was impressed, for such a young, seemingly wild horse he was very composed. As soon as the Vet had patched him up Joe then set the horse free despite his children’s tears and tantrums of wanting to keep it. Surprisingly, the young horse kept coming back, so the parents discussed the matter and decided to keep him. Joe named the young colt Raphael. The kids couldn’t pronounce Raphael properly so it turned into Ruffy, and Ruffy soon became one of the Cody Clan. With the help from a few of his mates Joe built a stall for this horse. Eventually, the stall expanded to a stable and thus began the Cody’s ‘Era of the Horse’.

Natalie stopped daydreaming about Ruffy when Fidget began to live up to his name. He started to hop about, becoming hard to control.

Steady boy, it’s alright. Natalie said, trying to convince herself that it would be alright. She couldn’t even tell by the sun which direction to take, for there was no sun. Natalie turned when she heard a loud crashing sound coming through the bush behind them but it was too late. An enormous male cassowary was right there. Fidget pivoted at the sound and despite Natalie’s attempts to get him to run the horse reared. The huge bird’s lightning speed took Natalie and her steed by total surprise as it brought its razor sharp talon down, striking the horse firmly on the shoulder. Natalie heard a deep groan derive from her colt just moments before she was dislodged, and then everything went black.

Chapter One

T he fire is so warm and soothing; such a magically untamed beast. Up on his haunches, perched upon the wood-chopping stump sat Jonathon Moore. He resembled an old buzzard, waiting for the wolves to get their fill, and then scatter, leaving for him their left-over prey. He began to sway back and forth as if in some strange, ritual-like attempt to tame the fiery beast. The axe he gripped onto hanging by his side as he became spellbound by the blazing beauty. He would gasp in hypnotic awe at the flames as they danced about, getting higher and higher, with their sparks flying into the murky clouds of the afternoon. He closed his eyes and breathed in the blazing scent.

If Jonathon were to step down from his podium and stand up straight, instead of his usual hunch-backed slouch he would reach almost 5 feet 9 inches tall. It was from the many years of miscellaneous abuse that the man looks much older than his 34 years. Despite his unfortunate demeanour, Jonathon somehow manages to study and teach pharmaceuticals at the University of Townsville. His matted and dirty, shoulder-length blonde hair, with the odd streak of grey, sticks to his forehead from the sweat caused by the fire’s heat. The white cotton T-shirt he wears, blackened from flecks of ash floating about in the air, hangs limp from his undernourished body, and his blue jeans, dirty and tattered gives him an overall unkempt appeal.

Jonathon Moore had it tough growing up, far from the realms of any normal childhood. His demanding father would come home from work every night late and roaring drunk, and every night he would beat on Jonathon and his frail mother. The screams from the beatings would fall on deaf ears, for they lived miles from any neighbours. Jonathon wondered why his mother would never just leave, saving him from this despicable beast, but she never did; she just allowed her young son to endure the torment. It was a sheer miracle that little Jonathon even made it to school, let alone do so well; a ‘little genius’ the teachers would call him. But deep inside that little genius laid a penetrating darkness, growing and forming amidst the wastelands of his soul, just waiting for the day when he would be perched in front of his parents’ farm house and watching it burn to the ground, with them, monsters one and two, trapped inside.

Jonathon had surprised his mother and the despicable beast by coming home for the week-end. He carried on as if everything was alright, and then when they weren’t looking he slipped a strong sedative into his parent’s dinner. When they fell asleep at the table he then tied them to their kitchen chairs, the same kitchen where Jonathon had met all of his childhood beatings. He has never managed a smile, not once, not on the outside, but today Jonathon was smiling on the inside as he proceeded to drench his parents and the entire house with fuel. As he held the last petrol tin in his hand, and when he was content with what he had done, he shoved a cloth into the top of that tin. He closed his eyes, taking a moment to breathe in the fumes from the fuel before producing a flame from his lighter and igniting the wick. He tossed the burning tin into the house and within seconds the old wooden home was engulfed in flames.

As Jonathon sat rocking to and fro on his perch watching the house burn, sirens in the distance woke him from his trance. In a very orderly manner he stepped from his podium, picked up his backpack and boarded his father’s quad bike. He headed off toward the old stockman’s trail. If he followed the trail for long enough it would lead him to the Kennedy Valley.

Chapter Two

M uch to Nathan Cody’s relief, the sun had ducked in behind a mass of dark, almost black clouds, and just like magic the afternoon cooled significantly.

Cumulonimbus {pronounced cume-u-lo-nimbus} he proudly announced, having taken notice in his science class they had earlier in the day. They were learning about various clouds and weather phenomenon. He was explaining the clouds name to his trusty steed, Jet, as he vigorously rubbed the horses head. He looked around wondering where his sister had gone; she had just disappeared from his sight. He was shaking his head in wonderment when something caught his senses. He tilted his head back when his nose picked up a trace of something in the air.

Smell that boy; someone’s having a bonfire. He said, as he noticed Jet’s nostrils flaring. Nathan liked the smell of burning wood; his family used to sit around a big fire every Saturday night and toss jacket potatoes wrapped in foil into the glowing embers to go along with the BBQ his dad would cook up. He smiled at the thought until a rush of concern washed over him. He let out a sigh and he once again looked around for his sister. Nathan ignored the wood burning scent and leaned slightly forward in the saddle, gesturing with a show of the reins for his horse to break into a canter.

He and his sister were supposed to be training together for the show jumping competition coming up in two weeks. It was important that they train hard because they will be going up against some older, more experienced opponents. One couple in particular that they desperately wish to beat were the Carson’s, Evelyn who is sixteen and her older brother Derek who is seventeen. The sheer thought of them shot a shiver up Nathan’s spine. Nathan and his sister turn just fifteen in two months. The Carson’s have always been the prominent winning team going all the way back to kiddies Pony Club, and for some unbeknown reason, they have always thought it necessary to be the prominent bullies as well. Despite all the children’s strongest efforts throughout the years, nobody has yet been able to beat them on the gymkhana leader board.

Unlike these extremely rich and extremely spoilt Carson children, Nathan and his sister come from a humble yet diligent family, having to work hard themselves to help pay for their horses and all of their riding equipment. They also trained hard and always together, but whilst in preparation for the jumps Nathan had lost sight of his sister. He searched the immediate area calling out her name, but she was now nowhere in sight and obviously out of earshot. He thought that she must have gone home to swap her younger horse, Fidget, with her father’s horse, the older and more experienced Ruffy, and the one she will be riding in the show.

I don’t like the look of those clouds Jet; I reckon it might rain soon so we’d better call it a day. Nat’s probably gone home already. Nathan explained to his horse and turned him in the direction of his home, taking on a few small jumps along the way.

They just made it to the stables when the heavens opened up, sending down rain in the bucket loads. Nathan climbed down from his horse, removed his riding cap and hung it on the hook. He removed the saddle and as he heaved it up onto the rack, he noticed Natalie’s saddle was still missing. He walked Jet into his stall and gave him a sponge down before checking to see if Natalie’s colt, Fidget was in his stall. An immediate bout of panic set in when Nathan saw the colt wasn’t there; he wasn’t anywhere. He quickly ran to the next stall and noticed Ruffy was still there. Nathan’s heart skipped about erratically in his chest before missing a beat, and then a strange, hot feeling washed over him. He tossed Jet’s bridle on a bale of hay and ran to the house to find his mobile phone.

Nathan was always forgetting his stupid phone, unlike his sister and her phone; it was like an extension of her hand, making her a typical 21st century girl. So all he has to do is ring her and he will know where she is.

Too easy

Hey there sweetie. Beth, Nathan’s mum, called out as her beloved son ran past her and up the stairs. He grunted a hello back and she watched as he scaled the stairs and disappeared into his room. Smiling, she then looked back to the door waiting for his shadow, in the form of her beloved daughter, Natalie, to run in. But it didn’t happen. Beth frowned with a touch of confusion, shrugging it off as she walked toward the kitchen. She had just assumed that Natalie was spending time with her horse. Fidget was only young as far as horses go, and needed that additional care. A short moment later and their dad, Joe arrived home from work. He hung his hat and coat on the rack outside, took off his work boots and walked in through the foyer.

Hi darling, where are the kids? He asked as he walked up behind his wife, hugging her and kissing the side of her face.

Nathan is upstairs and Natalie must still be with her horse.

Not in the stable she isn’t, because I just came from there, and there was no Nat or Fidget.

NATHAN!!! Beth screamed out for her son. With Joe holding onto the rail and Beth holding a tea-towel in one hand and a plate in the other, both parents waited at the bottom of the stairs, watching as their son bounded down two, three steps at a time.

Where is your sister? They demanded to know in unison. They could tell by the look on their son’s face that something was wrong. He didn’t want to get his sister in trouble but at the same time Nathan was worried.

I ah—I don’t know. She’s not answering her phone.

What do you mean you don’t know? Joe asked, and Nathan knew by the tone of his father’s voice that the crap was about to hit the fan.

Oh Joe—? Beth said with panic in her voice as she turned to her husband.

Give me that. Joe snarled, snatching the phone from Nathan’s hand. His father immediately tried Natalie’s number. At the same time, Beth rang Candice, Natalie’s best friend using the land line. There was still no answer on Natalie’s phone and Candice had not seen her friend since they parted way on the school bus.

Why didn’t she come home with you? Nathan’s frustrated father snapped, realizing he was being too harsh on his son, but he couldn’t help it, for Joe had passed the point of just a worried parent.

Her and Fidget just took off, I don’t know why she didn’t hang around. I thought she must have come home to get Ruffy. Nathan replied on the verge of tears.

Right then, go and saddle up old Ruff for me and throw Jet’s saddle back on, we’re going to look for her. Nat and Fidget—well they could be hurt somewhere. Joe said. His attempt at staying calm for the sake of his wife and son wasn’t really working.

Oh God Joe— Beth gasped, with tears trickling down her cheeks. Joe ran upstairs and quickly changed into some riding clothes, and as he headed for the door Beth was there handing him a torch and his mobile phone.

You ring me as soon as you know anything. If you can’t find her I’m calling the police. Beth said as she kissed her husband’s face. He nodded with solemn, grabbed his coat and ran from the house. Nathan had wasted no time, he had both horses saddled and was walking them out of the stable when he met his dad. Father and son mounted up, and despite the rain, were cantering off down the track toward the jumping course they had set up. Beth waved as they rode away. She watched until they disappeared into the bush.

Chapter Three

U naware of what she was holding Tess Parker rolled the smooth, colourful, crystal-like stones around in her hand as she admired their sheer beauty. The stones belonged to her daughter, 13 yr. old Alicia, whose latest craze was witchcraft and anything to do with the supernatural genre. Tess didn’t mind, at least it kept her baby girl out of trouble, and she wasn’t dressing all weird or hanging out with precarious looking friends. Tess looked up from the stones when she heard her daughter running through the house.

Hey, slow down. What’s the rush? Tess asked. She looked to her beautiful daughter who was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white, short sleeved, cotton shirt with gathering around the arms and neck. She had a black singlet underneath to cover up the bra she didn’t really need, but all the girls at school were starting to wear them. Her long,