by Gemma Jace
“Wow. That sounds pretty bad,” Luna said, thinking about the kind of damage a wiccan could do if they wanted to.
Snowy nodded, “It is. But enough about that. Let’s get back to the reason you ventured to Moon Phase.” He extended his upward facing hand toward the couch opposite him. “Please, have a seat.”
Uncle Max relaxed his hand from his sword and sat back down on the sofa. A young girl who had magically appeared in the room just moments before scurried over with a white towel in hand and cleaned up the mess Max made when he got startled. He apologized and gave the girl a friendly smile.
CHAPTER 12
“SO CAN YOU HELP ME?” Luna asked after explaining the whole snafu of the botched cure.
Snowy’s eyes were as wide as they could be after hearing the whole story. “You mean to tell me a spell turned you like this?”
“Actually, a botched spell turned me this way.”
“I’ve never heard of one of our coven not being born with white skin and yellow hair. This is quite unique.” He scratched his head then turned his attention to Rusty. “And the spell went right for you. Now I know why your hair sparkles like that.”
Rusty took another bite of the veggie sandwich given to him by the same girl who cleaned up the mess. He nodded and pushed his glasses up with his free hand.
“I tried to help her figure it out back at our coven home in the library of grimoires, but there was nothing about her situation in any of them,” Stella said, as if explaining to her teacher why she didn’t finish her homework.
“I’m sure you tried your best. I think we need someone who knows a little more than you and I. When you all finish your sandwiches, we will go to the Seeker’s house.”
Luna wondered what a seeker was but decided to hurry and finish her food so that they could leave so she could see for herself rather than ask more questions. She took a bite of the buttery cucumber, avocado, and tomato sandwich. The vinaigrette dressing on it was sweet and tart, just like the kind River’s grandma made for her garden salads. Was it really made that way, or was it magic that told her taste buds that’s what it was?
Nevertheless, she thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
Outside of the transformed hut that they were in were all the other transformed huts. It was now an unpaved town of big, beautiful houses like the one she found Stella in, painted in different pastel colors. The house they went to was painted purple with purple flowers vining around the wide pillars on either side of the porch. Snowy knocked twice on the door before opening it and telling the others to step inside.
The inside of the house was the same color as the outside. The wood of the furniture appeared as if it came from some rare violet tree bark that only grew on the island. The pictures on the wall were in blue frames with paintings of the purple flowers that grew outside of the house.
“Hello Snowy,” A tall, slender woman with gray hair and a young pale face wearing a purple dress came into the front room. Her steps were delicate and graceful, like a prancing deer. Her big eyes were the same gray color as her hair. Her lips were full and her nose was wide. “Who are your friends?”
“Hello Matilda. I’ve brought a new wiccan in need of your council,” Snowy said, before introducing them.
“Please, come with me,” she said, her islander accent coming through.
Matilda took them into a small lavender room with a large round table. After they all took a seat, Matilda took a deck of colorful cards out of her dress pocket and set them on the table. “Now, tell me who needs my help.”
“It’s me,” Luna said.
“Tell me what the matter is?”
Luna explained her story once again. Matilda had the same surprised look on her face as Stella and Snowy. “I have the book with me if you want to see it,” Luna finished.
“No need.” She shook her head and shuffled the cards until they glowed.
The more Matilda manipulated the cards, the brighter they became, until each looked like mini stained-glass windows with a late afternoon sun shining through. She laid down four cards side by side and whispered a chant that Luna couldn’t understand. The four cards quivered on the table and glowed even brighter than the others.
Matilda turned the first card over, and instantly, the bright glow subsided. She turned over the next, then the next, then the next. The cards’ glow faded, including the deck sitting beside them. Matilda picked the first card up and turned it to face the others. Trees rustled within the frame of the card.
“The trees are moving on the card!” Stella exclaimed.
The others didn’t speak. They just watched with wide-eyed wonder.
Luna stared at the picture. There was something familiar about the trees and the flowing yellow-colored wheat in the moving picture. She could feel the breeze on her skin and smell the scent of a summer rain in the air. In the middle of the wheat field stood a single red flower, standing still as a post, not being disturbed at all by the wind.
Matilda let go of the card, but instead of it falling to the table, it hung there in mid-air, as if being held by an invisible string blowing in the breeze. She picked up the second card, turning it to face them. This card was also a moving picture of a stream rushing down a small hill, bubbling and gushing over many stones within it. The sound was soothing. Droplets of water plucked on Luna’s hands as the water flowed.
Again, Matilda let go of the card to leave it in mid-air. She picked up the third card and turned it to the others. That card didn’t have a picture on it, just a vivid shimmering color of green. She left that one hang in the air and picked up the fourth and final card.
The card was a grotesquely large, deformed orange in a fruit bowl surrounded by blackberries. A woman’s hands came into view, picked up the orange and began peeling it. Was that Luna’s hand in the picture?
Luna looked down at her own hand. No, her hands were no longer brown like the hand on the card. It couldn’t be hers.
After a few more seconds, the movement on the cards abruptly stopped, and the four cards fell to the table and lay motionless.
“What does it mean?” Luna asked.
Matilda scooped the four cards up and gave them to Luna. “You have to decipher them. The cards have shown you what you need to know in symbols. Everything you see on the cards has a meaning that you should understand.”
Luna gawked at the cards in her hand. How in the world was she supposed to figure out what these ambiguous cards meant? The pictures were now only flat drawings of what they were a moment ago.
“I don’t know what these cards mean.”
“You know. You just have to figure out what it is. Unfortunately, that’s how the cards work.”
“But what if I can’t figure it out? Can you draw some more cards for me?”
“I’ve done all I can for you in this situation. Now, if you will excuse me.” She stood from her chair, “I have another appointment. Good luck. I hope the cards will lead you to your dreams.” And with that, Matilda pranced out of the room, leaving everyone eyeing after her in astonishment.
BACK AT SNOWY’S HOUSE, Luna sat on the fur couch next to the cool blue fireplace and studied the cards laid out on her lap. River sat next to her, drinking a cold blue drink from a crystal glass. Stella, Rusty, and Uncle Max sat at a long dining room table with Snowy and two coven girls talking.
“I just don’t understand. What do they mean? How am I supposed to know?” Luna said, rubbing a hand across her damp forehead. Even though the fire was blowing cool air, Luna could still feel the humid heat of the island weighing on her.
Rusty got up from the table and went to sit on the other side of Luna. Stella came shortly thereafter, following behind Rusty. Unfortunately for her, there was no room on the couch for her to sit beside him, so she took a seat on the other one.
“You know Luna, I was thinking about the clues of the cards and I think I might have an idea about them.” He pushed his glasses up with a finger.
“Really?”
“Yes. River, that day at the castle in Castleberry when you and I were waiting for Luna to come out, do you remember what you told me?”
“Not really,” River shrugged. “We talked about a lot of stuff. We were waiting forever.”
“That’s true. But one thing that I remember is when you told me about the mis-shaped oranges Luna would pick from the trees in the orchard because she knew you liked them.”
“Oh yeah, I did tell you that. Those kinds of oranges are the sweetest.”
Rusty nodded and continued, “Also, the blackberries are Luna’s favorite. She said the blackberry perfume Uncle Max gave her reminds her of home.”
“Actually, I’m the one who said that,” River said.
“That goes to my theory even more. I think that card represents you, River.”
“Yes, yes... That makes sense. He is my best friend, and he was with me from the start of this whole thing,” Luna stated.
Luna thought to pick up the card from her lap and hold it to her chest, but stopped herself for fear of looking like a sentimental sap. Anything that represented River was a source of great love and admiration for her.
“The next two cards go together.” He tapped the green card and the card with the stream.
“What do you mean?” Luna asked, staring at the two cards.
“At Matilda’s house, when she showed us the moving water, it was making a wonderful sound.”
“It was such a nice sound,” Stella said, grinning at Rusty.
“Some would say that it was a babbling sound...as in a babbling brook.”
“Oh, my gosh! And the other card is just the color green,” Luna said.
“Green Brook,” Luna and River said in unison.
“Bingo,” Rusty said.
“Rusty, you’re a genius!” Luna said.
Stella took the opportunity to celebrate Rusty’s sharp wit and congratulated him on being so very smart. Luna rolled her eyes at how utterly ridiculous the girl acted over Rusty.
“What about the last card?” Luna asked, cutting Stella’s praise short.
“That’s the one that has me stumped. I could probably figure it out if I had the pleasure of knowing you a little longer,” Rusty said, “but as it stands, I just don’t know.”
River picked up the card and stared at it for a moment. “I know what it is.”
“You do?”
“It’s the wheat field that surrounds the red barn where we attend school. This red flower grows around the barn, blending in almost perfectly with the building.”
“You’re right,” Luna said.
Rusty and River had figured out the cards for her. Now all she had to do was figure out how the clues fit together, then she would find out what to do next.
“I have a question,” Stella interjected. “What about the hand in the fruit picture? Doesn’t that mean something too?”
She was right. They had forgotten all about the hand, which only appeared in the moving picture and not in the still photo in front of them.
“Right,” Luna said. “We forgot about the hand. At first, I thought it was my hand, but that can’t be.”
“Maybe it’s your hand before it changed,” Rusty said.
“It’s your mom’s hand,” River cut in. “I think the cards are telling you to go home,” he said with eyes lowered.
Luna knew the last thing River wanted was for her to go home. That’s the last thing she wanted as well. She also knew that he was right. That was her mother’s hand. That’s the reason it looked so much like her own.
“Does that mean your journey for the cure has come to an end?” Stella asked, looking straight at Rusty.
“I don’t believe so. The cards are telling her to go home and talk to her mother. That’s where she’ll get the answers she needs,” Rusty said.
“I never want to talk to her again.” Luna’s eyes narrowed just thinking about her last encounter with her mother.
“I’m afraid you must if you want the answers you’re looking for.”
“You can’t go back to your mom after how we left. She’s going to try to kill you and me both,” River said.
“Just me. I’m going back alone. It’s time you two get on with your lives.” The words hurt to say.
“The hell you are!” River exclaimed.
“What life? I didn’t even have one until I met you,” Rusty said, “This has been the best time I have ever had in my life. I’m not ready to go home yet.”
“But what about your dad and the pharmacy? You’ve been gone way too long on my account.”
“I can be gone a while longer. I’ll leave a letter at the train station for my dad when we lay over in Castleberry to let him know I’m ok and that I’ll be back soon.”
Luna gave him a nod and smiled, glad that he volunteered to go the rest of the way on her journey. And it didn’t surprise her at all that River would refuse to allow her to face her mother by herself. They were both her best friends now, and she couldn’t imagine her life without either of them in it.
“Ok. Now all we have to do is convince Uncle Max to sail us back to Coastal City,” Luna said.
They all looked over at Uncle Max, who was having a jovial conversation with Snowy. It must have been the alcoholic beverage he drank making him nicer to the boy. Perhaps this was a good time to explain to him they needed his ship and crew one more time.
They had only just arrived on the magical island. There were so many things Luna wanted to learn while they were there. But there was no time. If she was going to live a normal happy life with River and Uncle Max, she had to go home and find out what her mother knew. She shuddered at the thought of facing her again. When she left with River that day, she was sure she would never have to see her mother again. It would not be a happy reunion.
She gathered the cards up and put them into her backpack along with the book. River went to his uncle and explained what they needed from him one last time.
“Well, I’ve come this far on her journey, I guess I can go a little farther,” Uncle Max said, then hiccupped before taking another sip of his drink. “And besides, I’ll have enough money to sail the world two times over once I sell this baby.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a giant diamond. Snowy had given it to him when he had explained that the only reason he sailed to Moon Phase Island was because of the promise of treasures. No wonder Uncle Max had suddenly taken a liking to Snowy.
CHAPTER 13
THE SHIP SAILED INTO the blue bay of Coastal City. It was as wonderful as it was a few days ago when they had sailed away from it. The sky was blue and the sea salt air was warm and pleasant. The ship docked and lowered the gangplank to allow everyone to deboard.
Uncle Max told them they would have to make the train journey to Green Brook on their own, stating that he had some business to attend to in the city. He assured them that the ship would be right where it was when they returned.
Luna, River, and Rusty hastily made their way to the train station. Luna covered up as much as she could to hide her pale skin and hair, fearing that Cleo would see her again and try to put her back into her pretty prison inside of his basement. What a sick creep. She wondered why they hadn’t told Uncle Max what had happened to them while they waited for him to arrive. If they had, surely, he would have sent some of his deck hands to accompany them to keep them safe.
They arrived at the platform just in time to buy their tickets and board the train when the conductor shouted, “All aboard.” It was perfect timing. Luna didn’t want to be out in the daylight any longer than she had to be in a town run by a psychopath named Cleo. If everything went right, she wouldn’t have to worry about him on their trip back. If everything went right, she would be the perfect color she was always meant to be.
The final whistle sounded and the train jerked into motion, wheels squealing, as they chugged along toward their destination.
Luna stared out of the window, while River teased Rusty about the love letter Rusty was reading, fo
r the third time, that they knew of, from Stella. She had stayed on the island to learn how to perfect her magic from the coven. But she wanted to make sure Rusty knew exactly how she felt about him, as if that wasn’t already painfully obvious. Luna sighed just thinking about how the girl took every opportunity to make a spectacle of herself whenever Rusty was around.
“If only you were brave enough to tell the person you love how you feel,” Rusty shot back to River.
Luna pretended not to notice. She knew what he was insinuating. Was it true? Did River love her? Was that the reason she always caught him staring at her? No, she couldn’t allow herself to entertain the thought. All she had energy for was fixing herself. Once she was back to normal, she would go back to Eastern Islands with him and Uncle Max, then maybe she could figure things out with River. Maybe then she could allow herself to think of him as more than her best friend.
Wait, what? She shook her head. What was she thinking? She surprised herself with the thought of River being something more. Of course he couldn’t be more. Rusty was wrong. River only thought of her as family, nothing more. Right? She turned her head to look over to the boys. They were giggling as they elbowed one another. She closed her eyes, finally letting the thought fade away from her mind.
RAINDROPS TAPPED AGAINST the windows as the train pulled into Green Brook station. Luna watched out the window as the wheels screeched to a halt. The dark gray sky in the noon light matched the group’s mood perfectly. No one wanted to be there. They dreaded the inevitable confrontation between Luna and her mother. Luna grabbed her backpack from above and put it on. She took Rusty’s hat off of her head. There was no need to wear it anymore. She was back home...the land of the cursed. The thought almost brought tears to her eyes, but she choked them back with the shake of her curly pale hair.