Luna stood on the edge of the town square, scanning for Eric. Summer and Autumn buzzed around her, each keeping an eye open in case Frost made an appearance. But there were an awful lot of people around, so Luna wasn’t terribly worried. He had yet to show himself when she wasn’t alone.
Her low heels clicked on the stone as Luna circled the square. Eric wasn’t by the fountain, nor could she see him by any of the benches. Maybe by that food truck? There was one boy that could have been him. Luna got closer and…
“There he is,” she said, releasing the tension in her shoulders. “Who is that with…? Shit.”
Standing beside Eric was a petite girl with blond hair in twintails. She was chatting quietly while picking at her burger. Eric looked a little tense.
“Should we abort?” Summer asked.
“I didn’t expect this,” Autumn admitted, folding her arms.
“Let’s get this over with,” Luna muttered, walking over.
Rosalie didn’t say anything to Luna as she approached. She looked more curious than sadistic, though. What had Eric told her, already?
“Hello,” Luna drawled, stopping in front of Eric and looking down. “You think she can help us?”
“Rosalie knows more about magic than I ever will,” Eric said, leading the girls over to a bench. “I explained what I could to her.”
“And I am very interested,” Rosalie added, with a twinkle in her eye. “I’ll do whatever I can to help, of course. I’d do anything for Eric.”
Luna nodded, but groaned silently. Of course Eric had come up with the idea of teaming up with her greatest enemy. The mechanic was going to help the android; this couldn’t end well.
“Eric, you should really get something to eat,” Rosalie said. “I know you haven’t eaten lunch yet. Besides, I need to speak to Luna alone for a moment.”
“Oh, sure. I’ll be right back.”
Once he was out of earshot, Rosalie dropped her pleasant facade and asked, “Why is a faery hunting you, anyway?”
Luna sighed, admitting, “He’s after the glamour disk I use to disguise myself like this.”
“We think it’s because he’s an elf,” Summer explained.
Rosalie nodded slowly, saying, “That makes sense, then. Okay, I’ll help you deal with this. One on condition, of course.”
The hair on the nape of Luna’s neck stood up.
“What condition?” she asked.
“You have to break up with Eric. I mean really break his heart. He needs to be in despair over losing you for me to slide in for the rebound.”
“That’s low!” Autumn cried.
“That’s my offer,” Rosalie said. Luna growled and curled her hands into fists. Rosalie continued, “Look, it’s not like you can keep dating Eric after the summer is over, anyway. He’ll figure out the truth eventually if you try.”
“I know,” Luna admitted, rubbing her arms. “Fine. This is bigger than my relationship with Eric, anyway. If I can’t hold onto this disk, I won’t get to be a girl for real.”
Rosalie opened her mouth to ask another question, but closed it when she saw Eric approaching.
“Alright,” she said instead, “we’ll meet again in a few days. It’s a bit of a drive to my mentor’s lair. She insists on living in the city proper. But she’ll be gone on personal matters for a few days and I need some time to figure out what I’m going to do. I’ll give you the address.” To Eric, she asked, “You can drive the both of you there, right?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” Eric assured her.
“Good.” To Luna, she said, “Stay safe.”
On the way home, Connor took off the glamour disk and hugged it to her chest. Her parents were in the living room when the three walked through the front door. Autumn stopped to say hi, but Connor simply carried on to her room.
She felt bad ignoring her parents. They simply didn’t have the money to help her transition any faster. That fact didn’t make their behavior any less hurtful. Not being openly transphobic wasn’t the same thing as showing real support.
“The best thing to do might just be to wait until you’ve finished college,” his mother had said. How was Connor supposed to live with that? She had to tell people, at least, something that would be far easier if she knew her parents had her back.
Connor locked the door to her room and sat down at her desk, picking up the third Midnight Eclipse book. She spent a couple of minutes trying to read. Unfortunately, the book wasn’t as good of a distraction as she’d hoped.
She’d be fine, right? All Connor had to do was hold out for a few days and not even go to the bathroom without Summer or Autumn. It’d be hard, but by no means impossible. And Frost probably had no idea what she was planning, so it’s not like he’d escalate his attacks at all.
Tara took a deep breath and grasped the pendant around her neck, the book read. She had to believe that Sylvester was okay. He had his werewolf strength to defend himself from—
Luna’s phone chirped, getting Connor’s attention.
Can I ask you a few questions? was the message from Eric.
Connor bit her tongue, but replied, Sure. What’s up?
How long have you lived in Marion?
My whole life.
What do you normally do with your friends?
Connor wracked her brain for ideas.
You know, she wrote back, we see movies, sometimes hang out at someone’s house, go camping a lot.
Do you miss them?
Miss who? she asked.
Your other friends? Who’s your best friend?
A whine escaped Connor’s throat.
I don’t really want to talk about home, she said.
Why not?
I just don’t, okay?
She waited for a response.
Where are you staying in town? Eric asked.
Does it matter?
We’re dating, aren’t we? I don’t even know where you’re staying. That’s a little weird, isn’t it?
Connor bit her knuckle, then glanced over at Summer and Autumn lounging on the bed. Autumn would tell her to simply confess. Summer, though…
Alright, I’ll tell you the truth, Connor said. I haven’t told my parents about you. About us. They don’t know that I even have a boyfriend; they wouldn’t be supportive of me being in a relationship right now. As far as they’re concerned, I’m just spending all my time with normal friends.
There was a pause before Eric replied, You shouldn’t be lying to your parents like that.
Eric, please, can we not talk about this?
Alright, fine.
Connor groaned and collapsed onto bed, careful not to land on her pixie friends. Nothing was going right and nothing was getting better. At least it was almost over. After today, she’d be rid of Frost for good. And soon enough, her deception-based relationship with Eric would be over, one way or another.
Once the summer was over, Connor would need to come up with a new girl identity to use with the glamour disk. She wasn’t sure that she could tell her parents about the disk, though. It might just be that Connor would have to spend the next two years going behind her parents’ back.
Nothing was going right and nothing was getting better.
A few days later, Luna and her pixies walked the distance to Eric’s house. She was low-key dreading this. When Eric emerged from the house to see Luna waiting, he sighed deeply without smiling and gestured toward the car.
The drive would take nearly two hours. Eric and Luna made a little bit of small-talk, but there were no long conversations. Luna was disappointed, but a little relieved. She didn’t want to broach the topic of her lies, either.
They eventually parked outside a large octagonal stone building. Gargoyles in various poses hung off the edge of the flat roof. It looked remarkably out of place surrounded by smaller brick buildings.
“Were okay, right?” Luna finally asked.
“Let’s just get through today,” he said, turning the car off.
Rosalie was waiting inside for the four of them. She seemed cheery enough, though her face fell a little bit to see how dour they both were. Without a word, she led the group into the building.
To Luna’s surprise, the interior felt very industrial, with wide open rooms without walls making up most of the living space. Staircases were scattered across the first floor, leading both up and down. It was a surprisingly warm design.
“Alright, I spent the past couple of days planning,” Rosalie explained with a bounce in her step. “I have the perfect idea for how to banish this Frost character, but I’ll need help from the pixies.”
They entered through a set of swinging double doors into a large circular room. In the center was a brick platform surrounded by four podiums. There was a metal ring both on the platform and on the ceiling above it. Metal poles and coils hung from the ceiling seemingly at random.
“Eric,” Rosalie said, pulling out a small sheet of paper. “Just down the hall is a storeroom. Can you collect the supplies I need?”
“Oh, sure.”
Once Eric had left, Rosalie turned to Luna and asked, “We’re still in agreement, right?”
Luna nodded, admitting, “I always knew that my relationship with Eric would have to end, but I wish I weren’t the kind of person who’d hurt him to get what I need.”
Rosalie’s expression softened.
“Connor,” Autumn mumbled, gliding in front of her face with her arms crossed, “just tell him the truth.”
“I can’t,” Luna replied. “He’ll hate me. Breaking up with him is a small pain compared to us both losing our best friend.”
Autumn just sighed and nodded.
“It’s the only way, Autumn,” Summer said.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Autumn replied.
Eric returned carrying a pile of small boxes, which Rosalie took. She began drawing little runes and symbols in chalk around the circle on the platform. While she did, she explained her plan.
“Frost is an elf, so we just need to create a magical barrier that repels elf magic. The barrier will be invisible and won’t prevent other magic from affecting you. And it won’t repel any other kind of magic, so Summer and Autumn won’t be affected.” She started grinding up a mix of herbs in a mortar. “Is everyone on board with that plan?”
“I’ll do anything,” Luna said.
“I’m willing to help,” Autumn added.
Summer insisted, “The only thing that matters is helping Luna.”
Eric nodded.
“Then I need Luna in the circle. Summer, Autumn, float about halfway up on either side. Eric, just stay out of the way for me.”
Luna took a deep breath and climbed up onto the platform. She felt very exposed, up here. The pixies floated up on either side and Rosalie stood behind one of the podiums.
Rosalie lit a match and started burning the incense she’d made. Then she opened a book on the podium and flipped to a page in the middle. She raised her hands and pressed one palm against the back of the other hand, pointing at Luna.
Slowly, Rosalie began chanting. It was in a language Luna didn’t know, but she could feel a power in the words. Her whole body tensed and the breath in her chest locked up. After a minute, Luna felt her feet pull slightly off the ground. Magic was warping around her, weaving in and out of her body.
Luna could feel the magic of the glamour disk caught up in the flow. She couldn’t breathe, but her heart started hammering. Rosalie had been wrong! The spell was going to tear apart the effects of the glamour disk and expose her! Had this all been a trap?!
A cold pierced her heart and Luna screamed. Rosalie stopped chanting and stepped back from the podium. Out of the corner of her eyes, Luna could see Autumn and Summer struggling to break free from the spell to intervene.
Eric was talking very quickly while Rosalie flipped through the book in a panic. Finally she pointed a finger at Luna and frantically recited something. Luna felt the magic release her and her feet hit the ground, followed quickly by her knees. Both of the pixies hit the ground much harder than Luna did.
“Are you okay?!” Rosalie cried, running forward and kneeling down next to Luna.
Eric collected the exhausted pixies and demanded, “What went wrong?! You said you could help her!”
“I… I… I don’t know what went wrong!” Rosalie insisted. “I… I think she might be marked or something! I can’t do it… I can’t hide her from him!”
“Shit. Is there anywhere I can put these two?”
“Just drop them off on the couch in the den,” Rosalie said, then asked Luna again, “How are you feeling?”
Luna was still getting her breathing under control. Once Eric was out of the room, she began to chuckle. Rosalie furled her brow in concern.
“The deal’s off,” Luna muttered. “You can’t help me, so I don’t have to break up with Eric. You lose.”
Rosalie’s face was pale.
“Connor,” she whispered, “you might be in serious danger. Whatever Frost wants, just give it to him. I don’t care about Eric. Just take care of yourself.”
Luna stood up and walked out of the circle. Rosalie called after her, but Luna just walked out of the doors. She trudged up to Eric, who was lying the unconscious pixies out on the couch.
“Come on,” she said. “Rosalie can’t help me. Let’s go.”
Eric sighed and turned to face Luna, asking, “Be honest with me. Have you been lying this whole time?”
Luna’s heart skipped in her chest, but she just smiled and replied, “No. What makes you think that?”
“Little things,” Eric said, folding his arms. “There’s clearly something more going on between you and Rosalie than you’re willing to admit—”
“She’s just jealous!” Luna cried. “You have to be able to see that!”
“—and you’re really cagey when it comes to details about your life. I looked it up, too: there’s no faery community near Marion at all; the local government prohibits it. And there’s no reason that I can tell that a faery of any kind would be hunting you.” His expression softened. “Just tell me the truth, Luna. What’s really going on? I won’t judge you; I just want to know.”
Luna broke eye contact.
“I can’t tell you.”
Again, Eric sighed.
“Then I’m done,” he said, and Luna’s heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. “I won’t be with someone who can’t be honest with me. I’m sorry, Luna. I’ll still drive you home, but—”
“Just go,” Luna said.
“…Are you sure?”
“Go,” she repeated softly. “Rosalie will give me a ride.”
Eric nodded, then started walking for the door. Luna sat down on the couch and buried her face in her hands, starting to cry. This was all wrong. This wasn’t how her story was supposed to end. Brave space badass Luna was supposed to get her ace pilot Eric and live happily… happily…
Fuck.
*facepalm* Well, this was a predictable outcome. I'm glad Rosalie is a good enough person to realize that there are more important things than romance.
Also, seriously, monoamourous people are weird. I don't... get it... Much... I guess I get it a little.
Yeah... it was always gonna end up like this if she didn't tell him the truth, but that doesn't make it any less regrettable
curse you and your heart strings- words- songs- f*ck.