Moon of Darkness ~ Eclipse series book 1

19.

"So you're back, huh?" drawls a voice.

It's like a trigger; I bolt upright, and. . .and. . .and. . .

"CORAL?!"

Because there Coral is, somehow even more impeccable than she was before the bomb. She carelessly flicks a strand of her hair back, out of her face, like some high-class movie star. "Duh," she says, lounging on a flat rock, looking strangely like a mermaid, "who else?" She scowls. "Just when I thought it was getting pleasant."

"Why aren't you-"

"Dead? Yeah, I figured you would ask that. Ask the sun. It's my witness."

"Why isn't she dead?" I ask the sun.

The sun stays annoying silent and annoyingly blazing.

I turn. "It's not explaining, because it can't. But you can. You tell me why you aren't dead."

She rolls her eyes impatiently. "That bomb was teeny-tiny. It couldn't have blown up that tree there even if it tried. You just happened to have to luck to be standing on the very center of it. And besides, you were dead for so long that I thought you really did die." Coral sighs, like me being alive is the worst thing that ever happened to her. "Too bad, hopes dashes."

"Wha- okay. . ." I turn around, looking for Darryl.

Coral raises an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Have you seen a ghost?"

She slams her hand into her face as she blends and shifts into invisibility, like paint being mixed into nothingness.

I sigh as I flick my fingers, feel the familiar tingle of neon blue sparks as I create clouds to blot out the sun.

Woww. . .nice job there, Eclipse, Darryl's voice says in my head. I jump, and hear him tele-snicker; if such a thing is even possible.

You better shut up, Dosser, since I have a mission to accomplish.

A mission I'm helping you with, he points out.

I try to tele-shrug. So where are they?

Right there.

Right where? I can't see you, you know?

Oh yeah. . .He sounds disappointed. Sorry, I'm just used to talking with dead people.

So apparently I really am alive then?

Yeah. . .they're there by the way.

Where?! I ask, exasperated. 

Oh sorry, my bad again. I mean to your left- I take a tentative step as I stand up, wary of any more unexploded bombs -No idiot, that's your right- I bite my lip as I step the other way -perfect. Behind the tree.

Pariah or living?

Living, now GET ON WITH IT, IN NORTON'S NAME-

Fine, fine, I'm on it, I tele-huff. The tree like a willow in the middle of shrubbery- which, I realise, is what it is -invites me towards it with a gentle sway of its branches. Mesmerized by the movement, I follow.

Behind the tree there's. . .

Nothing.

Darryl! I tele-shriek. For the love of the Lingerance what in Norton's name-

Wait. . .what the-

Ugh.

My ears pick something up as I whip round. A moan, softer than a wisp, but there. 

Darryl, is that-

I think so.

I push back the willow's long green tresses of hair. The tip of a rough brown shoe peeks out from above me, high up, like five metres or so, so I shinny up the trunk over the closest branch to it. Flashbacks from my childhood arrive, of me, Hataki and Desna climbing trees to find birds' nests for eggs. But it was fun back then. Our mission was to save ourselves in a familiar environment. Not saving other people in the Room.

There's something about the material the shoe's made of, the size, the colour, the shape, that hits home and I know exactly who it is. 

"Anton?"

You know him? Darryl asks.

Well yeah, we're both this year's Arnisses.

Oh. . .ok. Carry on then.

"Anton?" I ask again, gently shaking his leg. No answer. "Anton?"

I tug a few more leaves back to see the rest of him, and groan.

Oh for the love of the Lingerance-

A stick with a shoe on it?

What an utterly ridiculous prank.

Darryl. This is getting stupid. As in, really really stupid.

Oh my Norton- Darryl says, exasperated. Who would have-

There's only Coral in here. . .I think.

Right, so. . .we can assume that it's Coral for now, and if we find anything that says otherwise, we can cross her out. But it's not even important, because what we need to know is WHERE HE IS.

Yeah, yeah, I say. Do I climb higher up then?

Mmm sure. I could go around looking for the other two, then we report back here?

Okay.

I grasp tighter onto the branch as I grit my teeth so hard that I can hear them grind against each other. One chance at this, maybe. I don't know if there's a second chance. But I'd better make a good go at this chance, because it's completely uncertain if I'll ever get another.

The bark almost smells threatening. Like in the fact that the smell itself is saying, "Ohhh you'd better watch out, you really really don't want to be here, do you? You don't know, do you. . ." I choke, and the illusion of talking bark disappears. Maybe it's a trick of coming back from the Lingerance.

And yes, at last, after grabbing onto tons upon tons of tree trunk, I find it.

There's skin, with a shoe on it, directly above my head.

"Anton?" I ask yet again, tugging a few leaves back as I scale higher.

I press my lips together at the responding silence. Ugh. What's going on?

Praying that it isn't another prank, I clamber onto the branch that the shoe is on, and nearly pass out at what I see.