Rosetta

11

"Hi! I was just wondering whether you needed anything reprogramming, like a netscreen or portscreen. Anything really but-"

The woman shut the door on Cress's face. She took in a deep breath. She only needed 25 more univs so that she could buy herself a dress for Winter's wedding. This was her last day to gather more money for them before she had to go to New Beijing.After all Thorne had done for her, she felt that she wanted to pay for his suit too, but she still needed money for her own. She was getting worried now, so she took another low, deep breath.

"I am a spy on a mission," she whispered. "I am trying to find information to help the Empress and Emperor."

A hand rested on her shoulder. "You know that's partially true, right?"

Cress yelped and spun round. Thorne was behind her, one hand behind his back. He took his hand off her shoulder to join the other one.

"Thorne," she started. "What are you hiding?"

He uncovered his hands to reveal a bunch of two or three white roses. He put one in her hair and handed the rest to her.

"Thorne! These are beautiful but why..."

"Simply because you are my Crescent. You are, aren't you?"

She leaned forwards and kissed his cheek.
"Of course I am. I will-"

She was interrupted by someone running towards them. The man had light brown hair and red rings around his coffee brown eyes. Whoever he was, he had been crying a lot. He went towards Thorne and shook him by the shoulders.

Cress tried to push him away. "HEY! GET OFF OF HIM!" she screamed.

"HELP ME!" He wailed, the tears returning. "I'LL DO ANYTHING JUST HELP ME FIND HER! PLEASE!" He begged.

Cress felt a sudden twang of sympathy for the man. She eased his hands off of Thorne and gave him a hug. She tried her best to comfort him, but he towered over her.
Thorne stood with his arms crossed, trying to show his jealousy.

I am your Crescent, she mouthed. He seemed to relax at that.

"Are you going to tell us why you wanted our help?" She asked after a while.

He raised his head and gave a single nod.

"Why don't we all go to our motel room, okay? Okay Thorne?" She asked.

He gave another nod, and followed them.

                                        *

"My name is Carlos Alvaro," He said, setting his glass of water on the table.

Carlos was seated on the chair while Cress and Thorne sat on the edge of the bed, listening keenly. He had stopped crying but instead would not stop apologising for grabbing Thorne, no matter how many they had reassured him that it was fine.

He continued, "My best friend is Rosetta Luciana. Her family owns this motel, you know."

She looked at Thorne, and realisation clicked. "We've seen her before. She gave us a room."

"She was very excited to see you. She told me that two famous people were here, but I didn't believe her until I saw Mr. Thorne. You're pretty recognisable with your..."

Thorne held up his hand, displaying the missing fingers. "Yeah, I get the point. Go on."

"Two days ago, she came running out of her house and told me that her mother was Lunar. I don't know whether you know the rules but-"

Looking at the floor, Cress said, "Yes, I remember. Only shells are allowed in Madrid. The penalty for a lunar with their gift is death."

"She knew that. Her father is a maniac, he through a glass bowl at her leg so she wouldn't be able to help her. But he's disappeared. Rosetta wanted help to go see her mother, so I went with her but she wasn't there. There was a note. It said to follow her. There was a pod outside and some woman was telling Roz to follow her.
She said that she had her mom. So she went in." He covered his eyes, probably because he was going to cry again. "A gun. That's all she had. And now" his voice cracked, "I don't think I'll see her again."

He moved his hands and let tears flow down. He moved towards the door. "Thank you for your time. Oh, and Miss Darnel, you might want to check your portscreen."

He opened the door and went out.

                                       *

They didn't speak of Carlos for the rest of the day, knowing it would open more worries and questions that they didn't have time for. Instead, Thorne and Cress went to buy wedding clothes. Surprisingly, after all that had happened, Jacin had chosen Thorne to be his best man. They knew that Jacin was going to wear light green suit, so he needed to find one the same. They all had roles: Scarlet was Winter's maid of honour; Wolf was the ring bearer; Cress and Cinder were going to be bridesmaids; Kai would be giving Winter away, and small Juliette was to be a flower girl. Winter didn't have any relatives, and Jacin only had his parents, who were coming from Luna with help from the "past Lunar Queen."

They entered the suit shop and was greeted with the smell of fresh fabrics and laundry. She gazed around at each neatly folded set, with a small price tag hanging off it. She immediately saw a green one and picked it up.

"Wow, you have a fast eye," Thorne commented, and went over to the empty  counter. He set the package in the desk and rang the bell that was set there. An old, grey haired man came from behind faded purple curtains.

"Ahhh, and old favourite! I've been wanting to get this one off the shelves for some time now," he exclaimed. He tapped the computer and the id- scanner flashed. "35 univs, if you will."

Before Thorne could roll his sleeve above his wrist, Cress hovered her hand over and paid. "Gracias!" She called, grabbing the package and leaving a dazed Thorne in the shop.

He ran out behind her. "What was that-"
Cress got on her tip-toes, and kissed him.

When she flattened her feet again, she said, "And I'm paying for my dress too."

                                        *

When she set eyes on the navy dress again, Cress knew she had lied. She couldn't pay for this. She would tell Thorne that she needed 25 univs; surely he would have that much?
She picked it up off the stand and showed Thorne. His eyes widened. It was a long dress that was half sleeved and had a laced collar. It was lined with cream white and was decorated with moons and stars.

"Aces, that's gorgeous!" He exclaimed.

She blushed. "I'm glad you like it."

She walked to the counter and set it down. The woman behind it, clearly disinterested, just pointed to the scanner. "40" she said.

She hovered her wrist over, and waited for the red flash to say she didn't have enough. But it never came. "Gracias," The woman deadpanned.

They headed out of the shop and Cress hesitantly checked her portscreen, remembering that she should have done that when Carlos had left, like he asked her to. Her univs account said that she now had 60 left. She checked her transactions and looked at the latest one-

Carlos Alvaro has sent 100 univs to Crescent Darnel's account.

Message given- thank you for your time. Please tell me if you find her.

A/n

Hi readers!

I Hope your enjoying. I just wanted to say that I'm thinking of a publishing schedule. So the days will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I might also post outside of those days for fun.

Also this is about my other story, Fight the Words. I need IDEAS. I HAVE NON.

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Bye!