Muldoon’s pantry was completely disorganized. Trashbags, canned food, and vials of neon liquids all sat next to each other, obviously just put on the shelf wherever he could find an empty spot. There were cans upon cans of canned vegetables, but I got the impression that they were accumulated from when Muldoon bought them at the store, swearing to eat better, then never opened.
“I can’t do any magic that uses moonlight,” he said, taking a couple of the vials from the pantry and stuffing them into his leather vest’s pockets.
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m allergic ,” Muldoon said. He handed me a vial of green liquid. It had a faint glow.
“How can you be allergic to moonlight? You said you were only magic-adjacent. Does that mean you can’t walk around at night?”
I assumed he was going to ignore the question-- he almost never gave me two pieces of information at once, and I really thought “I’m allergic to moonlight” was all I was going to get. But, after spitting a dark, goopy wad into his Big Gulp cup, he continued:
“Allergic is the wrong word. It’s not like poison ivy. It’s more like being lactose intolerant.”
“I’m lactose intolerant,” I said, even though I wasn’t asked. Inserting yourself and your own experiences into a conversation with Muldoon about Muldoon was a rookie mistake and I thought it was going to clam him up, but once again he surprised me.
“Right, so it’s like how somebody could spill their cereal on you and you’ll be fine, but if you ingest it, it’s bad news on the toilet later. Same with me. I can touch moonlight with no problem, but if the magic gets in me, it’s fuckin’ bad.”
“What happens?” I asked. I was really pushing it.
“I dunno. Never done it,” he said, shrugging.
“Then how do you know you’re allergic to the moon?”
Muldoon had barely participated in the conversation so far. It was almost like he had been talking to himself. But, now he shifted his attention to me and made eye contact. The corner of his mouth turned up mere millimeters, but even that subtle of a smile was so shockingly new on his face that it gave me chills. He looked almost proud of himself.
“Because she’s mad at me."