Moonlark Madness: A Mistake

This is a fanfiction that I started writing about two years ago based on the famed series Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. Luna, Elidi, Ira and Calypso are OC’s of mine, and the rest of the characters are canon. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1: A Mistake

Luna held her breath as a trio of teenagers entered the room. If she had thought raiding the gnomish kitchens before sunrise was a good idea, she was so wrong. Which she had, but she’d get to that later—because why in the Lost Cities would there be three elves walking around a gnomish kitchen like they owned the place?

“This is seriously a waste of my time,” a tall, teal-eyed boy muttered in a crisp accent.

“Oh, like you have so many other, more important things to do?” A girl rolled her matching eyes and shook her head. Judging by her similar accent and shade of eyes, Luna guessed that they were brother and sister.

“Guys,” a dark-skinned boy hushed them. “This is important. We need to catch the elf that’s stealing the food and bring them back—by order of the council. And the Black Swan, and Sophie,” he shot a pointed look at the other boy.

Luna’s already still form froze. They were working for the Black Swan. So many old memories bubbled up; how they had raised her lovingly for a few years, but then nearly killed her when they realized her mind had somehow found and fixed the crack in her mental barrier, how a gnome, Calla, had given her to another gnome, and then another, until they didn’t know who she was or where she’d come from. She also remembered some words and symbols. Moonlark. Telepath. Back-up.

Failure.

“I guess,” the boy scoffed.

Luna wanted to scream. She was trapped in a kitchen, squatting behind a curtain of vines, the earth was VERY soggy, and to top it all off there were three Black Swan followers looking for her, and arguing about personal differences with zero context. Talk about disappointing drama.

“Keep an eye on the trees,” the oldest commanded, his dark skin glistening in the light of the rising sun.

Okay, now Luna wanted to scream. The sun was rising, which meant the gnomes would start waking up, which meant that someone was bound to see her and drag her to whatever creepy hideout thing that they used to hold their enemies. And, you know, former experiments that they never wanted to see again. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Freaking out wasn’t going to help her. Freaking in wasn’t all that great, either. She needed a plan—

Luna heard a crunch of leaves and opened her eyes. The three elves loomed over her. The girl with the long brown hair and loose curls grinned.

“Gotcha.”

Turns out, taking deep breaths wasn’t such a good idea.

* * *

“Wow,” Luna examined the coils of light binding her wrists together. “All this for a little porridge. Elves and their priorities.” She dropped her arms to her stomach—she was laying down—and turned her head to look at the small group that had formed since she’d been brought to—surprise surprise!—the Black Swan’s prison-hideout thing. “What’s next? Ooh, I know, are you going to Exile me because I have green eyes?”

Luna was lying down on a bed in a small room with nine people sitting on the floor in front of her. She had named them all, though she was sure that they wouldn’t appreciate it if they found out.

The dark-skinned flasher that had bound her was Suncatcher—which was one of the better ones, despite the fact that he was her captor.

The teal-eyed boy was Gorgodon, an awful animal she had seen in a Neverseen hideout. And no, she’s not part of the Neverseen, but she does get around. His pretty sister was Imp, because she caused all of her problems.

There was a girl with long, black hair with silver on the ends. She was Suspicion, because that was the only expression on her face since she set foot in the tiny room. And then there was the boy that looked like her brother, black hair and silver bangs and everything. He was Observer, because he was looking at her intently the whole time with deja-vu written all over his face.

Another girl—frizzy brown curls and her scowling face. She was Muskog. Suiting, wasn’t it, since she looked like she’d sniffed a muskog burp.

Then there was a redheaded boy with periwinkle eyes who had been tinkering with a little gadget for at least ten minutes. So she decided to call him Tomple, since most Technopaths had the little ball of fluff with cockroach legs—and he was clearly obsessed with technology, even if he wasn’t a Technopath.

There was a girl with long, blond hair with braids scattered around, and she was Pheonix.

Lastly, there was a girl with dark skin and long dark brown hair in dread locks, and one of them was dyed blue. (What was it with elves and blue?) Every time Luna shifted in the bed, her hands twitched as though she wanted to… Well, Luna hadn’t figured out what yet. But she was kind of annoying, in her opinion, so she definitely deserved the nickname she got. Sangulisk. Okay, maybe naming her after an insect that looked like a cross between a cockroach and a mosquito was a bit mean, but why should a prisoner care?

“Now that’s absurd,” Tomple set aside his gadget and studied her curiously. “But, um, Wylie, if you don’t mind me asking, if stealing food is her only crime, why did we bring her here?” He stifled a yawn. “And why so early?”

Suncatcher—or, Wylie was his name, but Luna was going to stick with her names—was sitting erect and showing no signs of tiredness. “Because she refused to answer our questions, so Sophie and Fitz are going to dig around her head.”

Luna snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that,” she scoffed, thinking about her impenetrable mind. “Besides, what kind of a question is where were you born?”

Gorgodon crossed his arms. “It’s a perfectly normal question, if you knew anything.”

She rolled her eyes.

A commotion came from behind the heavy wooden door. Luna sat up when everyone’s head turned and she prepared to sprint out the door. Forget the light, she would find a way to get rid of it. The door squeaked open and without much hesitation she jumped over the nine sitting elves and out the door.

It really was a shame that the blond boy was standing where he was. Luna crashed into him and tumbled a bit, finally landing on top. His ice-blue eyes were wide with surprise, and his artfully messy hair was blown by the breeze. Luna scrambled off of him and raced to the nearest cliff edge. “So long, Black Swan!” She yelled before jumping off and…

Luna was suspended in mid-air by a strong ogre’s arm. “Oh, you’re a feisty one,” she dragged her back over the edge and lifted her to examine her features. “And look, Blondie! An elf with no sparkles? I think I’ve seen everything.” The ogre had metal armor with many daggers in different shapes and sizes. She had two pigtails dyed a deep orange color, and her claws were painted to match. There was a large swirly tattoo on her forehead and many scars along her arms, legs, and stomach. Her nickname was… Annoying. Yep. And Annoying just ruined Luna’s first attempt at escape. She tried to kick the ogre’s stomach.

Annoying held her at arm’s length and marched back to the room. “Yeah, nice try elfy, but it’s going to take a lot more than a weak little jab to disarm me.”

“You’re right,” Luna agreed, “next time I’ll make sure to aim for that big head of yours.”

Annoying grinned. “Ego jab, I like it. Hey, Blondie, I say we keep her.”

* * *

“My goodness, when will you two give up?” Luna propped up her pillows and leaned back. “How many times have your little Telepath tricks bounced off my barriers? Twice?”

Blondie—the Telepath everyone had been waiting for—scowled at her.

“Oh, right. Sorry. Three times. Or was it four? It’s so effortless I can’t keep count.” Luna smiled sweetly when Fitz—that was Gorgodon—clenched his jaw. “Let me tell you, I’m impressed. What’s your total Cognate mental strength? Ten? Eleven? Because it’s definitely higher than your IQ.” Her lips curled into a taunting smile.

“Our mental strength is over 1,000,” Gorgodon growled.

“Oh, really?” Luna sat up a little straighter, and propped her hands on her knees and rested her chin on her fists. “So, what does that make my mental strength? A thousand five hundred? Two thousand? What about—”

“Could you just shut up?!” Blondie and Gorgodon complained in sync.

Gremlin—the boy she’d knocked over who unfortunately did not pass out—fought to hide a smile. Unable to control his stupidly attractive features, he looked at her and said, “I take it you aren’t from the Neverseen?

“Yeah, no.”

“I figured,” he smirked, “since you aren’t wearing a black cloak.”

“Ew. Not happening. I wouldn’t wear black if someone paid me.” She glanced at Observer and saw him look over his clothing—all black, so he was probably a Shade. Luna looked back at Gremlin and mentally blocked the image of his smile from her mind. All—or most, anyway—elves are attractive, some more than others, and this guy was definitely high up there. Not that she noticed. She also didn’t notice that all the guys were cute, because she definitely wasn’t paying attention to things like that.

Luna surveyed the eleven elves—plus an ogre and a few goblins—and groaned. “Will you all stop wasting your time and let me go already? I’m not going to tell you anything and your Telepaths are completely useless. …No offense,” she added as an afterthought. Insulting them probably wasn’t the best idea if she wanted them to release her.

“Look, just answer our questions and I’m sure we’ll let you go,” reasoned Observer.

Luna cocked her head at him. “Can I ask you a question?” she whispered, allowing herself to sound vulnerable.

He nodded slowly.

She jerked her head, motioning for him to come closer, until his ear was just inches away. Luna stretched to have her mouth beside his ear. She parted her lips, then, “ARE YOU DEAF?” she shouted, startling Observer back a few steps, and then he fell atop Gorgodon. “I already said no. There’s no way—” the rest of her sentence died on her lips when the door opened and a fat, pudgy, ruckleberry-smelling elf walked into the room. Luna’s mouth dropped slightly, and her eyes widened. “Mr. Forkle?”