Chapter 15: Blackmoon Cove

[scene: The Midori household. Zoi is packing up a pile of sandwiches for the beach party. Despite the recent snow, the weather is warm that day, nearly 80, so he just wears a t-shirt and jeans.]

Chief Midori: Ready to leave?

Zoi: Almost…. Dad, is Blackmoon Cove in a bad part of town?

Chief Midori: No, Blackmoon Cove is by far the safest neighborhood in Hen Tie. Why do you ask?

Zoi: Have you heard of a group called the Black Moon Clan?

Chief Midori: No– why?

Zoi: I told someone at school I was going to Blackmoon Cove today, and he told me I should stay away from the Black Moon Clan. From the way he was talking it sounded like they're the Manson Family, or a bunch of sex crazed mutants out of "Deliverance" or something.

Chief Midori: There's nobody like that at Blackmoon Cove. It's very high end. Most of it is owned by the Blackmoon family, the original founders of Hen Tie, and they are extremely wealthy. Mind you, they used to be robber barons, and Judge Blackmoon is about as corrupt as they come, but he's moved to the capital and his son Demande Blackmoon has taken charge of the family estate, and he runs a pretty clean ship. The new generation is rather mellow. That's not say that they don't have their share of delinquents. Rubeus and Esmeraude in particular. But it's usual rich kid rowdiness: vandalism, shoplifting, public intoxication and indecent exposure…

Zoi: So you haven't had any reports of anything scary or violent happening at Blackmoon Cove?

Chief Midori: Nothing at all. It's a very nice neighborhood. Demande used to be a hellraiser in highschool, but then he went to college and discovered girls and that mellowed him out a lot. With his looks and his money, he has no trouble getting them.

Zoi: Oh, that's good to know. My friend must have been talking about something else.

[Later: At Crown Center. A huge crowd of kids has showed up for the trip. Umino falls into step beside him. Zoi has brought a bag of sandwiches and a beach chair. Umino has brought fried shrimp sandwiches and two beach chairs. They load their sandwiches into one of the coolers. Rei and Minako have showed up wearing minidresses, sun hats, and stripper heels. They are each carrying a tackle box.]

Zoi: I didn't know we were going fishing.

Umino: We aren't. Those are their makeup kits.

[Zoi laughs, until Minako and Rei give him the stink eye and he realizes it wasn't a joke.]

Mamoru: Zoi! You came! I told you it would be sunny today, didn't I?

Zoi: [looks up at the sky, which is a hazy light gray instead of it's usually black tungsten hue] Sure.

Mamoru: We're just waiting for Ami and Makoto [frowns] unless you invited someone else?

Zoi: [smiles at him] Nope.

[Mamoru's frown turns upside down]

Motoki: It's going to be a tight fit getting everyone in the van. Zoi, you can have shotgun.

Usagi: I want shotgun!

Rei: Yeah, if it's tight back here you should give shotgun to the girl with the big fat ass.

Usagi: Hey!

[They ride up the coast, which is filled with lush green pine forests, white capped gray waves, and sheer cliffs. The van is so packed Usagi had to wedge herself between Motoki and Zoi. Zoi is glad he has the window seat. The beach is covered with white driftwood and round stones instead of sand. At the top of the hill is an enormous Cape Cod style mansion, which Zoi assumes must belong to the Blackmoon family. It is the size of a shopping mall and there are no other houses around for miles.]
[Motoki pulls into a dirt lot at the base of the hill. Everyone gets out and gathers driftwood for the bonfire. Once it's built, Zoi sets up his chair on the rocks at the edge of the fire.]

Mamoru: Zoi, have you ever seen a driftwood fire?

Zoi: No.

Mamoru: You'll like this then—watch the colors.

[Motoki starts the bonfire with a lighter and blue and green flames appear.]

Zoi: It's blue.

Mamoru: The salt does it. [Sits down next to Zoi.]

[Usagi comes over and sits next to Mamoru and starts talking to him. Umino sets up his two chairs on the other side of Zoi and then sits in the one closer to him.]

Naru: [comes over and points to Umino's empty chair] Is anyone sitting here?

Umino: No. It's all yours. I brought that chair just for you.

Naru: Thanks. [picks up the chair and carries it to where Rei and Minako are sitting.]

[Umino sighs]

Minako: [sits on the hem of her dress to cover her behind] Rei, why didn't you make me change out of this hoochie skirt? I am literally freezing my tail off.

Rei: I'm sure if Kunzite were here he would let you borrow his coat.

Minako: Oh, my god. Can you imagine? I would literally die!

Umino: Literally? Then I guess it's too bad the O'Sama boys don't come to Blackmoon Cove.

[Naru gives him a death stare, but Minako and Rei just nod in agreement.]

Zoi: Why don't the O'Sama boys come here?

Rei: They just don't.

Zoi: Oh, if it's a secret, I won't tell anyone. I'm just curious.

Umino: Who knows?

Zoi: Is there a restraining order or something?

[The girls ignore him. Mamoru walks to the cooler and comes back with an armload of four types of drinks and six types of sandwiches for Usagi and Zoi]

Mamoru: I didn't know what kind you liked, so I brought back one of everything.

Usagi: Aw, that's so sweet. [Takes the whole bundle] But you should have grabbed some for yourself too.

Mamoru: You are joking, right?

Ami: Would anyone like to come with me to explore the tide pools? We can see how many different types of aquatic sealife we can catalog by kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species.

Umino: Sounds like fun. I'm in.

Naru: Me too. Minako? Rei? Are you coming?

Minako: In these shoes?

Rei: [looks down at her own heels] Not likely.

Zoi: [stands] Good enough for me. I'm in.

[Mamoru, Usagi, and Motoki rise as well. They all walk to the tide pools and count anemones, crabs, starfish and eels, until Mamoru holds one hand out in front of him.]

Mamoru: You feel that?

Usagi: What?

Maroru: It's raining.

[Sure enough, they are pelted with fat raindrops as a sudden cloudburst deluges them with ice cold rain.]

Usagi: [wails] Let's get out of here!

[The group rushes back to the base camp. By the time they reach the van, inside of which Minako and Rei have taken refuge from the weather, the group is soaked to the skin in ice cold rain water.]

Motoki: [looks forlornly at the tires, which are mired in thick pools of mud] I don't think we'll be going anywhere for a while.

Mamoru: You could put it into gear and the rest of us could give it a push.

Motoki: Shakes his head. It's not safe. The roads are too slick and the rain is coming down too hard and fast for the wipers to clear. There is no way I'm steering a vanful of people through the cliffs in this weather. Even if I didn't have one arm in a sling.

Rei: Great. So either we can all cram ourselves into the van and stew in each other's B.O. for the next god knows how many hours. Or we can stand in this freezing cold monsoon until we drown like rats. I'm not sure which I'd prefer, but right now, the cliffs aren't sounding all that bad.

Naru: There is another option. [Points in the direction of the enormous mansion built high up in the cliffs] We can go up to the Blackmoon compound and see if they'll offer us shelter from the storm.

Minako: Except we're dripping wet and we look like shit. [Looks at her dripping foundation and her panda-eye makeup in a compact] If Demande Blackmoon sees me like this he'll never let me into the grotto.

Zoi: What's the grotto?

Umino: You've never heard of the grotto? Even I've heard of the grotto.

Rei: It's only the eighth wonder of the world.

Mamoru: Rumor has it, there is a secret tunnel built in the mansion that leads to a private grotto fed by a mineral spring. The door has a retinal scanner, so only Demande Blackmoon can open it.

Minako: It's not just a rumor, I've seen the door. Demande invited me to a few of his mansion parties once my modeling career took off, but I still haven't been to the grotto.

Motoki: He's only showed it to three beautiful young women outside his immediate family, and they've all confirmed it is the most amazing place this side of heaven.

Usagi: I heard the ceiling is made of crystals that magnify the light and when it filters in it forms rainbows.

Ami: I hear there are flowers, birds, and butterflies there that don't exist anywhere else in nature.

Umino: I hear there is statuary in there, imported from Italy, that dates back to ancient Greece and Roman times.

Naru: I've heard there's even an original Michelangelo in there, and it's been in the Blackmoon family for centuries.

Motoki: Rumor has it the place is so vast, you could spend three whole days exploring it and not see everything.

Mamoru: Shall we go?

Motoki: [sighs] I don't see that we have any choice.

[Zoi tails behind the others as they wind their way up the rain slicked steps carved right into the cliffs. Taken by itself, Kunzite's warnings to be careful could be dismissed as idle chatter. Especially after his father assured him there was nothing to worry about. Finding out Kunzite never comes there himself? That strikes Zoi as just a wee bit ominous.]

[Yet like Motoki said, there isn't any other option]