The Moon Dwellers

“I think we all are,” he says. “But nothing serious for me. Are you guys all right?”

Tawni glances at me. “Just a few cuts for me. I think Adele is hurt the worst.”

I raise a hand to my face, once more feeling the stickiness. “Nah,” I say, “it’s merely a flesh wound. Probably looks a lot worse than it is.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Tawni says.

Damn, I was hoping not to talk about my other injury just yet. Evidently Tawni saw more than I thought. “It’s not that bad, really,” I say. “I’ll deal with it once we find a better place to hide.”

Cole looks at me suspiciously, and then at Tawni. I squeeze my fists tight, hoping they will both just let it go. Thankfully, they do.

“Okay, where should we go?” Tawni asks.

“First, we need clothes,” I say, bringing our strange conversation full circle.

“I can help with that,” Cole says. “We’ll just go shopping somewhere less visible.”

Tawni frowns, clearly not understanding his meaning, but I get the message. “You want to steal them?” I confirm.

“Not steal, just borrow,” Cole says. When Tawni gives him a look, he adds, “We can even leave some money for them if you want.”

I’m not that comfortable with the idea of stealing from i

“I’m not stealing from anyone!” she says firmly.

“Shhh, keep your voice down,” I say, glancing at the house for any signs of activity.

“Don’t worry, Tawns, I’ll do the stealing,” Cole volunteers. “Consider the clothes a gift from me and don’t worry about where I get them from.”

“No,” Tawni says, lowering her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. I’m not sure why she has such a big problem with it considering our situation. I guess she is just a person of principle, unwilling to budge on certain things. It is probably caused by her parents—her way of proving she isn’t like them, isn’t willing to cross some line in her head. I am more of a realist.

“We don’t have much of a choice,” I offer.

Tawni’s eyes brighten as she comes up with an idea. She is really pretty when she gets excited. Her blue eyes sparkle against the whiteness of her hair. If she’d been born in the Sun Realm, she probably could’ve been a model in one of their fashion magazines. Fu

“What?” I say.

“We’ll get the clothes from my parents’ house…my house,” she says.

“I’m not so sure that’s—” I start to say.

Tawni plows ahead. “My dad’s a big guy, like Cole, I think his clothes will fit perfectly. I can wear my own clothes, of course, and you can wear my mom’s clothes. Don’t worry, she’s about your size, so it should work. C’mon, let’s go,” she says, before either of us has a chance to disagree. “We should be able to make it there in less than an hour. It’ll still be pitch-black when we arrive.” She grabs my hand and starts pulling. She seems to like to do that, and normally it would bother me. But for some reason with Tawni it doesn’t. I almost kinda sorta like it, I think.

Cole just grunts and follows us. Given how long he’s known Tawni, I guess he knows how hopeless it is to argue with her when she sets her mind to something.

Stopping to catch our breaths was a bad idea. At least for me. My body is completely frozen up. My thighs and calves burn from the sprint through the Pen, the frantic climb up and then back down the fence, and our distance run across the subchapter. My back is sore and pleading with me to take a break—just rest for a minute, or even thirty seconds, please!—and my bruised side, well, it gave up on pleading long ago and is practically screaming at me to stop. I want to look at it, but am afraid to stop, because I might not be able to start again if I do. Plus, Cole and Tawni will see it then, too, and it might be too hard to convince them I am okay. Instead, I just ignore my body. I am sure it will punish me later.

We try to stay off the main roads, sticking to the shadowy fringes of houses and properties. As we walk, we talk, speaking in hushed tones. We can still hear the dull boom of explosions in the distance, can see intermittent flashes of light exposed against the dark backdrop of the giant cavern, but they are neither loud enough nor bright enough to wake the sleeping moon dwellers. Closer to the city, I’m sure it would be pandemonium.

Tawni says, “I think it’s the sun dwellers.”

“What reason do they have for attacking us?” Cole says. “They’ve got a sweet deal with us, and your boy Tristan”—he motions to me—“was just here shaking hands with the leaders and mugging for the cameras.”

“I don’t think it’s the sun dwellers either,” I say, although I’m not sure why.

“Of course not,” Cole says. “Your lover boy and his people could do no wrong.”

My face flushes, but in anger, not embarrassment. “I never said that!” I hiss, a bit too loudly. Tawni gives me a look and I lower my voice. “What is your problem anyway? We know nothing about Tristan—I know nothing about him. All I have to go on is a weird moment we had together and what Tawni heard about him from her parents. For all I know it is a bunch of crap. He might be a total creep. Regardless, it doesn’t matter. I’m never going to see him again.”

Even in the shadows I can see that Cole is shocked by my outburst. Maybe he isn’t the only one with a temper. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

I feel bad right away. I really don’t know anything about Tristan and yet I am defending him. I try Cole’s tactic of forgiving quickly. “It’s okay,” I sigh. “Look, I don’t like the sun dwellers any more than you do—that I can promise you—and they did abduct my parents, but seriously, I just don’t think they’d start bombing us all of a sudden. Like you said, they’ve got the leaders in their back pocket. Why would they ruin such a good thing by beating us down even more?”

“Sorry,” Cole says again, hanging his head. Suddenly I feel even worse about snapping at him, even though I know he deserved it.

Tawni says, “You guys are probably right. But if not the sun dwellers, then who?”

“If I had to guess,” Cole says, “I’d say it’s a moon dweller rebellion.” When I frown, Cole explains. “You know, like a civil war. An uprising of moon dwellers who are sick of our leaders getting into bed with President Nailin.”

“No way,” I say, without really thinking about it. I don’t even want to consider the possibility that we would destroy our own stuff, our own buildings, the fruits of our labors. Tawni and Cole continue discussing the idea for a few more minutes, but I don’t listen—refuse to listen. I hate to think about it, mostly because my dad is a bit of a revolutionary himself, and I don’t want to consider that other people like him are willing to bomb their own city.

Eventually, everyone stops talking and we trudge along in silence. It is probably safer that way anyway. After what feels like miles, Tawni finally says, “We’re here.”

It is a good thing, too, because with every step my legs threaten to topple underneath me. I yearn for a soft bed, for a comfy pillow to rest upon. I’m not going to get one.

“We’ll have to sleep in the shed,” Tawni says. “Stay there at least until morning, when my parents leave for work, or wherever it is that they go every day.”

I sigh. “Lead the way.”

We steal across the front of the house, which is bigger than most in the Moon Realm, at least five times as big as my house. My eyes have adjusted to the dark (plus there are small night lights along the front walk), so I can make out artsy rock formations littering the landscaping. They are hand-carved and probably cost a fortune. We easily zigzag our way through them and I guess that Tawni could guide us without injury even if she was blindfolded.