A Crown Made of Air

Part 2, Chapter 18

Moonlight

I have to get out of here! I have to get out here! Moonlight felt her thoughts churning like a thunderstorm. She felt dizzy and saw the world in blurs of blue. All types of blue, lighter and darker, making her wonder if she had plunged from the clouds into the mythological ocean that spread on Earth. Maybe this was an alternate reality, another dimension just like the world of shadows. Or maybe it was another nightmare, another vision showing her the looming future. Moonlight wasn't sure. All she knew was that her legs ran furiously, her heart thrashed louder than her rickety lungs, and she couldn't stop. She had to leave this abhorrent palace. Something was seriously wrong in Spindly Pinnacle, something related to the Wind God and his plan. But whatever that was, Moonlight didn't intend to find out.

After opening the door of the room with the conservatory, Moonlight had darted through the halls in circles, completely lost and frustrated. Hadn't the Wind God say that this palace took after Cloud Castle? For Moonlight, nothing was recognizable. There were no paintings on the walls or marble statues for her to orient herself and after several futile attempts of opening doors that led to nowhere, she had grown restless, breathing hard as she tried to think. Gazing out through a small window, she noticed orange moss on the outside of the palace. The main hall! There is a gate on the main hall leading outside! Moonlight thought, beaming relieved.

But when she reached the gate, another problem struck her. How was she to open the gate? A servant wandered in the entrance, coming from the gardens. Her lively was covered in mud and dirt and she held garden shears with her gloved hands. From the looks of it, she had been gardening the whole day, taking care of flowers with magical properties.

Moonlight approached her before an idea had fully taken roots in her mind. The woman didn't move-like all the other servants Moonlight had crossed paths with- and simply remained in place while Moonlight walked toward her. She took in the servant's apron with tools hanging out of its two pockets.

In a blink, Moonlight had seized the hand fork and the trowel, thrusting them against the glass with all her might. The gardening shears went next, and then she was picking the scattered objects, hitting the glass again and again. She kicked next, deaf to the thuds and clanks she was making. Suddenly, a dark thought found her. If the Wind God didn't know where she had run into, it was impossible for him not to know now. But then she heard a breaking sound, a dull thump that she might have mistaken for someone rushing down the stairs if not for the beautiful scratch on the gate. Her efforts were working!

With a final kick, Moonlight burst into tears, getting out of Spindly Pinnacle as quickly as she could. Where was Gaia? She screamed for her griffin but only silence answered her. She shivered from the sudden cold, her dress rustling in the strong currents. She needed Gaia to cross the Big Void. The happy tears from before turned into desperate tears, as Moonlight shook and pivoted, straining to keep searching.

"Moonlight, you have to stop! You'll only hurt yourself. Please, listen to me!" A very startled Destiny stood on the shattered gate, hands up as if she was trying to placate a fugitive. "Running away is not a solution. Trust me, I've tried before. I've spent the last three years running and look where that led me here. To the same place I was running from." Slowly, Destiny reached out a hand, but Moonlight refused to accept it.

Moonlight looked Destiny in the eyes and for the first time, she understood her. They were clouded in fear and dread, in years trying to escape a doomed future. Maybe Moonlight could offer her a chance to start over. A new begging. "Come with me. We can return to Cloudiness on Gaia and then my sister can help us. Maybe she's even found the sun already. Cloudiness would no longer be at risk. Once we're there, we can send soldiers to rescue the inhabitants of Crystal Island from Lost Space. And everything will be fine."