Moonlark Madness: We Meet Again

“Are you sure we should just show up here unannounced?” Luna shifted uneasily from foot to foot. They stood on the doorstep of a shimmering gold and glass house, taller than it was wide. The ocean crashed against the sandy shore, and it reminded Luna of her afternoon in Atlantis. Rolling green pastures housed many different enclosures with curious creatures inside—Luna’s favorite being a giant bird-ish reptile thing with neon green feathers.

“Edaline and Grady have been warned,” Mr Forkle assured her. “I hailed them before I tracked you two down.”

Luna decided to let the disturbing comment slide this time. Besides, even if she had wanted to accuse the man of creepery, she wouldn’t have had time. A blond-haired elf opened the door, and his face lit up as he locked eyes with Luna. His mouth opened to say something, but no sound came out. Finally, he stepped aside and let them all in. (Tam had tagged along, and since no one had told him to leave yet, he planned to stay for a while to see everything unfold.)

A red-haired woman in a stunning blue dress had been bent over something in the kitchen when the man had led them inside, but she turned at the sound of visitors and smiled at them all. “Mr Forkle! Tam! And you are…?” She smiled kindly at Luna and cocked her head curiously.

“Luna.”

“Luna. What a beautiful name. Oh, everyone, please sit,” the woman gestured to the table and sat down beside the man who’d let them in. “Mr Forkle, I take it this is who you told us about earlier?”

He nodded. “I can’t stay long, unfortunately, but I did want to introduce you three. Luna, this is Grady and Edaline. They’ve agreed to welcome you into their family, if you wish.”

Luna looked between the two kind faces. If she wished? How could she decide just like that? She didn’t know them at all, and they didn’t know her. Edaline seemed to read her mind, even though that was actually impossible.

“On a trial period,” she placed her hand on hers. “So you can get to know us and see if you’re comfortable with all this. I understand you’ve been living alone for ten years, and that you may not appreciate family life right away. Grady and I thought we were better off alone a few years ago, too, but then new light was brought to our life and we realized that, as much as we’d wanted to push everyone away, we needed support and love more than anything else.” Edaline smiled warmly.

“Um…” Luna though for a moment. A trial period sounded alright, like something she could change her mind about later, if she wanted to. And… she looked between the two elves. They seemed nice enough. “That sounds… fine.”

The adults smiled at her. “Really? You’ll try it out?” The pudgy elf leaned towards her as if he were about to hug her, but Luna leaned away. Not yet. “That’s wonderful, Luna. I—I have to leave now, but I’ll be back in a week or so to see how you’re doing—oh, and here you go.” He closed a small square silver gadget into her palms. “An Imparter. You can use this to hail me at any time; day or night, I’ll always answer. You just need to say ‘Mr Forkle’.”

Luna raised her eyebrow but accepted the Imparter. She doubted she’d be calling him anytime soon, but it could prove to be useful…

“Anyhow, I must be going now, but I’m glad you three are working out.” Mr Forkle stood to leave. “Come along, Mr Song. Let’s give them some privacy.”

“Wait!” Luna blurted as they turned to leave. All eyes turned to her. “Um, I’d like Tam to stay. If that’s alright,” she added meekly. Something about being surrounded by people who didn’t hate her made her feel… uncomfortable.

Edaline and Tam looked at each other and shrugged. “It’s fine with me,” Edaline offered.

Grady eyed Tam suspiciously and grunted. “Mm. But you should probably be home in time for dinner.”

Tam nodded.

Soon Mr Forkle had leaped away and Edaline and Grady were showing Luna to a big room covered with… sparkles. Kind of cute, kind of tacky.

“This is Sophie’s room,” Edaline explained, “I hope you won’t mind…” the rest of her sentence wasn’t registered, because wait. Of all of the thousands of elves in the world, she was living with Sophie’s parents??? This had to be a joke, or something.

“Sound good?” Grady’s voice snapped her out of her disbelief.

“Uh… Sophie…” Luna mumbled. “I mean—yeah. Sounds good.” Ugh. Sophie. Well, this should be fun.

“Well, kiddo,” Grady squeezed her shoulder and tousled her hair, “if you need anything, we’re just downstairs. Sophie should be home soon, so you two can meet each other.” He smiled at her, and Edaline kissed her forehead. Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So much… affection. What was this? Luna felt a slight shudder at the word family. Welp. This was why it was a trial period.

“Mm,” she watched them leave the room and then locked eyes with Tam. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew these were Sophie’s parents?”

He gave her a weak smile. “Well—yeah…”

“Why didn’t you warn me?!” she exclaimed, dragging her hands down her face.

“Well, there wasn’t really a good time to say it,” Tam argued, crossing his arms.

“Before I agreed to stay with these people would’ve sufficed,” Luna said as she sank onto the bed.

“They’re nice,” he promised, sitting beside her. “And I’m sure Sophie will come around eventually.”

“Eventually,” Luna repeated, not liking the word. “But it’s not Sophie liking me that I’m worried about. It’s me not liking her.”

Tam opened his mouth right away, but closed it just as quickly. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

Luna kicked her feet against the bed frame. “I’ll say.” There was a quiet fwoosh sound, and a large bed appeared on the other side of the room as if by magic. She would’ve asked Tam about it if her eyes hadn’t caught on something a bright shade of blue. She squinted at it. “What’s that?”

Tam looked up but Luna was already beside it, staring curiously. “It’s alive?”

“That’s Iggy,” he explained. “Sophie’s pet imp.”

“Is… everything in here Sophie’s?” she asked, impressed.

“Well… we are in her room…”

Luna glanced around and saw a mirror hung up on a wall. She walked towards it and observed herself, feeling proud of how she looked.

“Green eyes?” a female voice filled Luna’s ears. “That’s new. Oh! And full eyelashes—what a sight for sore eyes.”

Luna noticed a girl’s face in the mirror and looked behind her. But no one was there.

“I’m in the mirror, dummy,” the girl said. “I’m Vertina. You?”

“What.” Luna turned around to see a blond figure girl standing in the doorway beside a tall boy. Sophie. Sophie, and Fitz.

The boy nodded to Tam, but he wasn’t paying him any attention. He was looking between the two sisters.

“What are you doing here?” Sophie’s eyes were wide with shock, frustration, and anger.

“Oh. Why hello, Mr and Mrs We’re-Cognates,” Luna said coolly. She even raised her eyebrows a little, and Sophie’s face turned crimson. Well, at least she would be fun to annoy. “Our parents said we were going to bunk together for a while.”

“Our parents?” Sophie seethed.

“Yep. Say hello to me!” Luna bowed dramatically. “I’m your genetic family, second Moonlark to be made by the Black Swan.” She smiled—an insincere, sickly sweet smile.

Sophie’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but Fitz seemed calmer than he had before. He put an arm on Sophie’s shoulder, but she shrugged it off.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Luna started, “and yes, I am reading your mind. You’re thinking there’s no way I’m related to you, because that would be torture. Also, how am I reading your mind? That’s impossible. I must be guessing. You just want me far, far away… and Fitz thinks this is the most ironic situation ever. Tam is just glad he knows who his parents are, even if they are jerks. Sorry about that, by the way.”

Everyone stared at her; the boys astonished and Sophie looking completely freaked.

Luna rolled her eyes. “Anyhow, let’s all leave Sophie to have her angry mental breakdown in peace, that way she can yell at Mr Forkle because ‘Why didn’t you tell me!?’. Oh, and to spare you two the long, dramatic explanation, he thought I was dead.” She appreciated the looks of shock on the elves’ faces.

“Maybe you should learn a thing or two from this girl, Sophie,” the mirror said. “You could spare me a lot of your tantrums.”

The other Moonlark glared at Vertina. “I’m not going to have a mental breakdown,” she huffed. After a calming breath, she spoke again. “Seriously, though, who are you, and why are you in my room?”

“I’m Luna Thistlewood,” she said simply. “And your parents… well, they want to adopt me.”

Sophie’s face went blank as she let herself sink onto her bed. “I… I don’t understand,” she said quietly. “Why would they want you?”

“Ouch, Sophie,” Vertina’s voice rang out from the mirror. “That was harsh.”

Luna’s indifference bubbled into a pained rage. Usually, words didn’t bother Luna. You could fire off a million different insults and she wouldn’t flinch, because deep down she knew they weren’t true. But not being wanted was a wound that she’d tried to patch up and hide, but one she’d never healed.

“Sorry, sorry,” Sophie back-peddled, reaching for her face. She tugged on—was that an eyelash?—and flicked it over the side of the bed. “That’s not what I meant. I just—why my parents? Why not Granite? Or Physic? Or Blur? Or Mr Forkle, or any other member of the Black Swan?”

Luna’s jaw clenched and unclenched as she heard the aliases. “Because I know them, and we’ve got a pretty rough history,” she explained. “And… don’t worry, Sophie,” Luna said to the fuming girl on the bed, “I probably won’t live here long—Grady and Edaline said this was a ‘trial period’.”

“Hmph.” Sophie rolled her eyes and stood up, making her way towards the door. “Come on. Let’s go have dinner.”