Midnight Wonders

3.4.3. The Light of a False Moon

They went on in silence until they came upon a small clearing between the trees. A circle of little white wisps was dancing in the clearing.

Luc stared in wonder. Kay had stopped two or three feet from the ring, and Luc didn't dare move closer, as if observing a peaceful creature sleep. "What are those?"

"I never thought about what they're called," Kay said.

"There's no one inside it," said Luc. "So why are the bells ringing?" The sound was louder now, but, oddly, it was still distant.

"That means there's someone on the other side," Kay said. "Outside." He stepped forward, towards the ring, and knelt in front of it.

Luc came up hesitantly behind him. "Can you touch them?"

"Why don't you try?"

Luc knelt beside Kay. He reached out for one of the wisps, hand hovering before it touched. He noticed, then, that his hand was reflecting the white light of the wisp. "They glow?" For some reason, that made them all the more wondrous.

Kay plucked one of the little wisps from the ring. Luc couldn't tell if he was actually pinching it or if it was incorporeal and being dragged around by some magical force. It wriggled between Kay's fingers, and Luc felt a bit bad for it. But his curiosity overpowered the feeling. "You can have it," said Kay, holding it out to him.

Luc held out his cupped hands, and Kay dropped the wisp into it. He felt it brush against his palms, and then it was floating between his hands, making them glow with its light. He brought it up to his face to look at it closer. It was like a wisp of smoke, or light; a tiny, shapeless ghost. "Oh," he whispered.

Kay was staring at him again. Luc was suddenly very aware of it. He lowered the wisp and caught Kay's gaze. "Do you...want to see what the moon looks like?"

"Okay," he said, slowly, a bit hesitantly.

Luc was feeling agitated again. He got up, careful with the wisp in his hands, and tried not to run all the way back to where they'd left their things. The fire had gone out already, the final traces of smoke dissipating above it. Luc sat next to it and opened his hands so the little wisp slid out and hovered on the ground. It twirled, then settled.

"The moon doesn't glow," Luc said as Kay sat across from him. "It reflects the light from the sun, because the sun is always there, even when it sleeps. The moon is always there, too. Sometimes it's just hard to see, because the light it reflects isn't as bright. But when it's night, it's the easiest thing in the sky to see."

He picked up his cloak and shook moss and dirt from it. It was dry now. He glanced at Kay, who was watching him curiously, then threw the cloak over Kay's head.

Kay sputtered and started to shove the cloak off him. Luc almost laughed and briefly considered just letting Kay struggle with it for a bit more, but he grabbed one end of the cloak as he had meant to and pulled it over his own head so that they were both underneath it.

Kay stopped struggling and gave Luc a wry look.

"Sorry," Luc said, though he wasn't really. "I should've warned you. Come closer."

Kay hesitated, then scooted forward, closing the space between them. Luc adjusted the cloak over their heads so it covered the light outside. It was still easy to tell it was bright out from the light that peeked through the holes in the weave, but it was darker than before. Dark enough.

Luc scooped up the wisp again in one hand and cupped his other over it to dampen the light, squeezing his fingers tightly together, though whoever had made human fingers had made them so that however tightly one squeezed, something always slipped through.

He held his hands up, looking into the light. It almost looked like the moon, the way its light cut clean through the darkness. It didn't feel quite like the moon, though. Some of the mystique of the moon, of all the celestial bodies, came from their impossibility. If one could reach up and cup the moon as he was doing now with the wisp, it would no longer be the same moon.

Luc glanced up at Kay and caught his eyes. They were even greener reflecting the little light there was. He wondered how long Kay had been staring at him and not the light.

"Isn't it lovely?" he said.

Kay looked down at Luc's hands. His hair fell into his eyes, curly little strands dangling like a curtain over his face. "Yes," he said. "It is."

The light faded. Luc looked down. "Oh," he said, opening his hands. The wisp had disappeared. "I killed it?"

Kay let out an exhale that was almost...a laugh? He took Luc's hands in his. "No. She must have gotten there and closed the ring. They don't live forever." His fingers were softer than Luc had expected. His skin was rough, but there was a tenderness to his touch. He held Luc so lightly, as if he thought Luc might want to let go. Luc...didn't. He wanted to twine his fingers with Kay's and hold him, tightly. He didn't know why. He felt like he did, but he didn't know how to name it.

Kay let go of his hands. He didn't look up. He just leaned forward until the distance between them was gone, and his head was resting on Luc's shoulder. "I'm tired," he said. A whisper.

Luc looked at him. He seemed awfully small, perhaps even more so in the darkness. "Okay," said Luc, pulling the cloak off their heads. He blinked at the brightness, folding up the cloak, which he laid on the ground.

Kay got off him and curled up on the ground with the cloak as his pillow, his back to Luc.

Luc laid beside him, staring up at the sky. The lights were blinding. How long would they sleep? How long would they spend here, while Cora sat waiting in the Yew? Was she waiting for him?

But it was all right. Cora would understand. Luc put his hands over his eyes and closed them. He would be there soon. Everything was going to be all right.