Once in the Moonlight XVI: Kitsunwarai, Model Ships, Churos and TACOS.

CHAPTER LIII1

“This is an outrage!” That was the first time I heard Sabrina’s voice raise above a calm, middle tone. “How could they do this?!?!?!” Roxy and I raced into the kitchen of the Vesston house. 2

“What’s an outrage?” Roxy asked. 3

“Look!” Sabrina angrily thrust forward a newspaper into Roxy’s hands. The raven gave her “the funny eye brow look” as she leafed through the pages. She didn’t really need to though, because on the front cover in bold print, there was an article about a brand new development being built on part of an older park. Roxy and I took no notice of this, searching for something drastic, horrible and wrong, for Sabrina rarely had outbursts. “On the first page!” Sabrina said, almost annoyed (the girl could get annoyed?). 4

“Where?” Roxy asked, oblivious to the main article. Sabrina’s finger landed on the picture of deforestation. “Its horrible-absolutely horrible!” she cried out, we two still confused. “That park has been left as a place for preservation of island wildlife for-decades!” 5

“You’ve lived here barley a year,” Roxy thought she should add. 6

“You’re not helping!” Sabrina tossed a rather un-Sabrina-like glance. “The point is that they’re piling animals out of their natural place for-another development?!”7

“There are lots of people in Nakajima,” Roxy didn’t look up from her newspaper. “They need to live somewhere…” 8

“Not where animals already live!” 9

“But what can we do, Sabrina chan?” I decided to get into the conversation. “They’re already building…” I loved nature…and trees….and those cute little squirrels as much as anyone, but in my mind, this sort of thing happened. And there was nothigun to be done except watch.10

“I’m sure,” she ripped out a corner of the newsprint from Roxy’s hands, “There is always something that can be done…”11

~12

How life goes I shall never understand. One minute, an overly-zealous nature fanatic complains about a development. Next, I find myself with a shirt that reads in bright green letters 13

SAVE THE TREES!14

And the Woodland Creatures!15

Where did that even come from? Had Sabrina slipped it on in my sleep, or just shoved it in my drawer, or worse-had I just signed up in full consciousness to participate in another half-brained scheme? No offense to Sabrina’s brain or anything, but it was pointless to try to stop the construction of another development. That was Mihama life. Or…was it? 16

I did have to side with the whole SAVE WOODLAND CREATURES part of it all,though. I mean-the opossum had become a practically non-existant sight in Mihama after a while, due to crazy night drivers. The same with the royal stag or slithering habu or the already occasional mongoose! And all at the hands of late night drivers, I predetermined. 17

After a while, I realized I wasn’t the only victim of Sabrina’s dogmatic nature obsession. Most of my dear friends too were wearing the same t-shirts. All except Aspen, who for some reason had a “VOTE FOR PEDRO” shirt on instead. 18

I also noticed that in my hands were fluorescent pamphlets that read akin to the shirts. Personally, I found that rather ironic that it was a campaign about saving trees when the very trees she intended to save she was wasting on scraps of paper people would throw away until I read on the bottom:19

Made with recycled paper, as to ensure the safety of our trees. 20

~21

Hikari dubbed herself a tree hugger. Surely she must have thought it was a good thing---the trees, the hugging---and for some reason, in this, she was on a constant quest for trees and giving them random names. And yet another one to join in Sabirna’s campaign against the new development. 22

Sabrina’s followers were growing even larger in numbers, expanding to teachers and students alike, even out to the world of Mihama itself. I thought it was a bit much, but apparently, I was alone in this matter. That was, at least, until I saw what was truly happening. 23

On a walk home from school, ice freezing into my jacket, I smiled at the familiar scenery of grass, hibiscus and assorted trees. But out of nowhere, my vision vanished as a giant out-of-place bulldozer came and ripped it out. So I stood there, in freezing cold, twitching and gaping at the beauty that was so quickly taken by man. It was then, I believe, that I realized the seriousness of what Sabrina had said. 24

~25

One Saturday of our choice, Sabrina led us her nature loving followers to the busiest corner of Mihama traffic—the No Light Zone. It was well yet uncreatively named after its technical flaw---its lack of traffic lights. That seemed like a pretty stupid thing to leave out too. It was passed by thousands of cars a day, and somehow, no one ran into each other and burst into a million pieces. At least, not usually. 26

This day, I was just praying I would not be one of those few that got hit by one who could not handle the lack of lights, breaking out into combustion. I did have a cardboard sign. That surely could catch on fire easily. Oh great. 27

Across my sign, as was the same across the other signs, there were the bold yet horribly written words of my hands: 28

Save the Trees29

(And the Furry Woodland Creatures Too.)30

But because I could not possibly bear the concept of having the blank spot at the bottom (for I was at times a perfectionist…), I also added,31

Please don’t run over Opposums. Or Mongeese. 32

Or me, really. 33

Hikari, who was in this party of Sabrina’s nature loving followers, decided to have a totally irrelevant sign with a generic nature loving slogan across in neat lettering. Today’s read:34

Only YOU can stop FOREST FIRES.35

Ashton, wanting to support Sabrina in every way, was unable to come, but did post her fliars all over the Nature Park that he worked at. And school. And Mihama. And Nakajima, for that matter. He even convinced Akihiro to join him in wearing fliars around the school on their shirts. It was too bad that Sensei didn’t particularly care for that, and got tehm a mindless detention. But that is a story I have no time to tell. 36

One cannot forget Tuyet, who probably made herself the most noticeable of all, being an active environmentalist herself. In her mind, Mihama was a wasteland, lacking in wildlife. Homeland Vietnam had been so clean, so pristine...so full of furry woodland creatures, she had explained to me once. That, she explained, was because she lived nowhere near Hanoi, but rather, in the farmlands. SO as was in keeping with her nature, her sign read something along the lines of:37

Save the endangered Sunda Flying Lemur from imminent extinction!38

Sunda Flying Lemur…since when did we have those? Tuyet had told me a while back that they were neither lemurs nor flying creatures. Plus, they lived in Vietnam, not Sunda, or whatever that was, so I took the whole name to be a giant misnomer…And I did have to ask…if extinction was imminent, didn’t that mean they would…die anyway? But I thought it best not to question Tuyet.39

Sabrina, being the leader and all, was no more creative than all of her other followers, yet wore her piece of a former cardboard box with pride, striding across the sidewalk, pointing to the boldened letters. When she was lucky, a courteous soul would toss out a dollar or two into her large bucket. 40

We looked like a bunch of middle schoolers hosting a carwash. That was the sad part. But the good part was that our words had truth in them (well, at least the whole “Development = bad for trees” part), and caught the attention of those that it was supposed to, say the mayor of Mihama who was taking a nice week-end stroll. 41

Lacking in the realm of sight, he rolled down his window, squinting as he read, “SAVE THE TREES (AND WOODLAND CREATURES)” Looking Sabirna in the eye, he asked, “Is it true that Mihama lacks trees?” Apparently, his lack of sight was worse than we thought. 42

Sabrina shook her head strongly, “And some Developers want to kill even more of them!”43

“Along with the mongeese!” I added under my breath, taking a fancy to mongeese myself. 44

“Why that’s a horrible thing!” The mayor coughed, grabbing for his handkerchief. “Something must be done!” 45

“Indeed!” Sabrina joined. “What do you suggest?”46

“Well, to be perfectly honest, I have no say in the matter,” I looked behind the car as he talked, wondering how this was not stopping the constant flow of Mihamian traffic…47

“What?!” Roxy interjected in her hot-tempered way, “But you’re the Mayor!” 48

“Indeed,” he replied, following Sabrina’s suit. “But as Mayor, there’s only so much I can do,” pulling out a leather wallet, he pulled out a one hundred dollar bill and plopped it into the bucket. “There’s a start, right?” His business card fell in next. “Keep up the good work!” and with that, he was gone. 49

Sabrina seemed too stunned to speak. If that was out of joy at the gift of the hundred dollars or sorrow at the inability to do a darned thing, I wasn’t quite sure. But either way, no matter what we tried, Sabrina didn’t move. And she didn’t until she ahd a new idea. 50

~51

Six more days. I had put it on my calender. Well, something had to fill the endless void which was my schedule, so I thought marking the day of the beginngin of the building of the development was worthy of the empty paper. And it was to begin in six more days. 52

Sabirna had been counting as well. I saw it in her eyes—those scarlet fired passionate eyes now scarlet from strained blood vessils showing throguh the whites. I wondered how much sleep that girl got. It surely wasn’t enough. 53

But her lips were formed into a grin of self-satisfaction. She, the brains of our posse, the mature and intelligent one, had a plan. 54

~55

When the day came, she did what any dramatic-passionate tree hugger would. She hugged the trees. 56

We, who came to support her stared in awe at the simplicity yet brilliance of such a plan. No one in his right mind would actually go bulldoze where they knew a girl was hugging trees. It was simply unethical. 57

HIkari, seeing this as her chance to actually go and hug trees, ran off after Sabrina and joined in the sport of tree-hugging. Like a spark into a wild fire, all of the party was inspired to hug trees. Perhaps it was supposed to be an emotional, Hallmark moment, but I didn’t really get htat. I just wanted to hug trees. 58

So moved were the workers that we heard the sound of their equipment stop dead. Real men are deeply moved by such moments, of course. How refusing to tear down this clump of trees interfered with tehri job, I really wasn’t sure, but it didn’t really matter. Sabrina’s trees were safe, and that was all that mattered. 59

CHAPTER LIV60

“Isabelle,” Britteni began as they walked to third period. “I have decided that I hate geography,”61

“Wh-why’s that?” the timid blue jay asked. 62

“I’ve just never been good at it, I suppose,” the honey curled one kicked at a paper ball on the ground. “And I have a test in World Civilization tomorrow,”63

“Oh!’ Isabelle jumped on the occasion to be of assistance, “Well, I have a good globe at home—remember how my Mom taught second grade?” she grinned at the memory—the one Britteni had added herself into. 64

“Would you, Isabelle?” the look was so sincere in appearance. “I’ll pick it up tonight, alright?”65

“No problem!” Satisfied and unsuspecting, Isabelle walked down the rest of the path towards her elaborate home. “I’ll see you then!”66

“Perfect,” Britteni turned her separate way, trying to think of what else she may need. But a globe was certainly a good start. Perhaps, if she was fortunate enough, that would be enough. 67

~68

Her manicured finger rode along the bumps on the globe. “Mediterranean Sea…” she spun the world underneath her nail, carefully searching each country. Unlike the rest of those on Nakajima, she was well aware of this world around her. She had studied Earthen Studies intensely in Musicana. In that, she had heard of a legend: the legend of Atlantis. 69

The spinning stopped at the tip of Greece. The island was called Crete. …The name sounded curiously familiar. No, not from Musicanian studies. But here, on Earth, she had heard it referred to again. Where was that again? No matter. Crete… She lifted her eyes across the lines to the top of the globe, taking note of the numbers at the top. 70

“35.13’25.48”…That’s all I need…” 71

CHAPTER LV72

Falling…falling…all I felt was dying from me as I slipped into non-existence. I could hear a familiar voice, Atlantean perhaps, giving a satisfied chuckle at my fall. 73

Many a time had we come through the Gate of Moonlight to find more Atlanteans trying to flee to earth. That was apparently our job—border control. Because of the new queen’s radical plans for returning to Earth, the country was in chaos, many just fleeing any way they could, or more common, implementing her plans in the most unorderly fashion. Once, we let one go through by accident. We found what was left of him on the other side, a breathless dulled blue corpse beside our community lake. Panicing and unsure of what exactly to do with an Atlantean body, we threw it back in and hoped it would go somewhere that Kirin or other Musicanian animals could not pick at its body. But it only took that incident for us to see how vital it was to protect the borders of Musicana and Earth. 74

From the distance, we heard something crack. Roxy frowned, turning towards the shaded woods, “It sounds like shattering ice…” 75

We watched her from the distance until her footsteps stopped. “What is it?” Sabrina asked, though her voice was nothing more than a squeak. 76

“Its dead,” 77

Morbidly curious, we followed, peering over her shoulder. And sure enough, before Roxy lay the frozen body of a Kirin, its body turned a shade blue. From its hooves to its horn, there was a layer of glassy ice. It was a strange and curious sight, considering we were in the middle of a lush woodland in Eden. But recalling the Atlantean body we had found only minutes before, the four of us understood at the same time: there was another Atlantean among us that night.78

After all of that struggle…here I was…Clearly, I wasn’t ready to fight, not enough to be a faerie.Was this all that I had worked for? Would Atlantis prevail after all our efforts to stop them? Last breaths were pushed out of my lungs. This was it…I anticipated the face of Heaven. 79

God…I did my best. Its all I can give you. 80

Are you pleased?81

Just then, when there was nothing, there came something. A hand came from seemingly nowhere, finding mine in the darkness, and no longer was I falling. Motionless, trying to comprehend where I was, what I was, I could hear the silence. Then carefully and quietly, I felt my body lightly lift up from the shadows. In a blink of light, all I could see was a laughing fox face: a Kitsune mask.82

A kitsune mask? Where was I, a noh theatre? Nakajima rarely had the traditional Japanese noh shows, yet I recognized it right away. The fox: he was always said to be a deceiver…was this masked one here only to give me a nice allusion?83

“Am I In heaven?” I asked tentatively, eyes drooping into unconsciousness. He replied in some way, his voice soothing and glowing but I couldn’t remember what it said. I wish I could. 84

~85

When I woke up, I found myself in the familiar silken sheets once more, pale light streaking through the glass windows. Confused, I looked around for something-anyting, then landing upon Sabrina and Topleaka as faeries. “What-“ I began, but became eclipsed in a giant Topleaka hug. 86

“You’re alive! We thought you were dead!” a tear ran down her cheek and I knew she actually meant it. 87

“What happened?” I repeated, still stunned and confused. 88

“When you fell from that battle with the knight, someone in a kitsune mask came and helped you up,” Sabrina replied for Topleaka, smiling brightly. “He left you above, then said something like, ‘You will remember me,’…”89

“’You will remember me?’” I repeated, yet slowly being captivated by an incoming drowsiness, “How can I remember…someone I’ve never met?” 90

~91

"What were you thinking?" Though the Queen knew which of the three was responsible, she turned to all of the knights, her look clearly offended, “What did you think? That I couldn’t handle this? That I don’t have a plan?”92

“They need to be eliminated,” The tallest with jet black hair leaned against the cold wall. “Elimination needs no plan: it is just to be done,”93

“And did you eliminate them?” she knew she was winning, “I am the Queen; I hold the plans. All I’ve asked you to do is observe for weaknesses, to distract them, to watch them—“ 94

“How long can they wait?” the umber haired grew more annoyed with this discussion with each minute. “Eden can’t be tossed aside so lightly,”95

At the mention of the land of Eden, a flash of passionate hatred seared through the Queen’s eye. “Eden can do nothing to hold back Atlantis,” 96

Turning down the stone hallway, she dismissed them with a wave of her hand. “Any hint of their inner voices that you should find, bring to me. They are not as hard to discover on Earth as in Musicana if you know what to ask,” And with that, she vanished down the dark way. The three knights, befuddled by her sudden rage, split off, each thinking the same thought: Something must be done.97

CHAPTER LVI98

Ever since my cousin went to China, I had had my amazing demonic red panda plush. Apparently, in the factories, they mixed the recordings of an evil laugh and “I love you” into one box, which they stuffed in my panda plush. Either that or it was a giggle and “I eat you”. Either way, it was cute with a tinge of morbid creepiness. In China, they must have also mixed up the light placement, since when you squeezed it’s stomach, it not only went “HEHEHHEHE-I love you!” but its adorable bug eyes would light up with evil red lights. It oddly reminded me of Patience. 99

At first, I was horribly terrified by it. Then I grew to tolerate it. Then to love it. Then to ward off my enemies with one squeeze of its stomach. His name was Doom the Panda, which was short for Doomsday Pandaman IV. Yes, he was the fourth. Why, I wasn’t quite sure; Aspen said that adding that would accentuate the coolness of his name. 100

But lo came the day-the horrible day, in which Sir/Knight Doomsday Pandaman IV vanished without a trace. Every sheet was turned over and every drawer pulled out of place, just to make sure. I tried to stay calm. I really did. 101

“HE.MUST.BE.SOMEWHERE!” I held back the hyperventilation as I rushed outside, checking the trash and the trees in the front yard. Perhaps—Perhaps Sir/Knight Doomsday Pandaman IV was taking a walk…yes! A Walk. But the neighbor kid saw me. 102

“What’cha doin’, Tsukizami san?” the kid asked, stopping his bike to watch me dig through trash. …I seriously needed a life. 103

“DOOM THE PANDA’S GONE!” I whimpered with rage, grabbing the nearest ball of useless trash and impaling him with it. As well as one could impale another with a ball of trash that is. “GIVE HIM BACK!!!” There went the “Christian Love” appearance. Sorry, God. 104

Staring at me with disbelief and disgust, the kid scowled. “Why would I want your stupid panda? That’s so juvenile…” his voice squeaked. “You probably lost it yourself…” and with that he rode away down the street. That left me in the yard, alone, inwardly mourning, Doomsday…105

~106

Everyone who encountered me that morning swore it wasn’t me. For some reason, they were all under the conviction that I was always so happy-go-lucky, skipping through the halls smiling and hugging my friends. But my true light shone this day. 107

“Haruka…” Hikari decided to be the first to tell me, “You look half dead.”108

”I’m three fourths dead, thank you very much,” I threw back with a sway of my feet. 109

“Why? Did Bob get to you?”110

“…” Since when did anything Hikari say make sense? “…Bob?”111

“Bob! You know Bob! He’s everywhere, just like how everyone is Bryan! Isn’t that right, Bryan?” 112

I think she was trying to communicate with me. But all I heard was something about BOB and her calling for someone named BRYAN. But she was looking at me. … Oh great; had I suddenly out of the blue changed genders? “I lost my panda!” I let out, which made no more sense than anything else. 113

“…” All was silent. “Your panda?” My nod confirmed her suspicions. “HOW HORRIBLE!” she cried, wrapping me in a tight hug. “I shall return him if he comes to me,” All I could do was nod until she let me free. 114

So I was left alone to try to find my panda. 115

Plan two was to hang posters. I thought my drawing was rather accurate---it had red eyes, black and white fur, long paws…116

“Haruka chan…” Sabrina, too stunned to kindly hold back the truth, “What is that thing?”117

I spun around, agaust, “It’s Sir Doomsday Pandaman IV.”118

“The Fourth.”119

“IV.”120

“…no offense, Haruka, but that looks nothing like a panda,” 121

“…” and as quickly as I had put them up, I tore them down. 122

Plan three…Third time’s the charm, right? Well, I did have a plan three, but that sort of got interrupted by my childish tears. “DOOOOOOOOOM!” I cried out in vain softly. 123

“Doom?” Akihiro’s voice could be heard coming around the corner. “So the school is going to blow up? Finally!” 124

Looking up quickly, I held back yet another blush. I was excessively juvenile today. “No (not that I know of at least)—its my…pa-panda, Doom the panda…”125

At this, his eyebrow rose. “You---have a panda?”126

“I know its kiddish and stupid,” I shook my head back and forth to hide my expression. “But I love him a lot and---“127

“You’re in love with a panda?!” he asked incredulously.128

…129

“Where did you even meet the panda?” he asked, confused by my silence. 130

“It’s a plush!” I squeaked. 131

…132

“A…plush?” 133

“Yes,” my voice was hardly heard. 134

“Oh.” That seemed to make the situation far less dramatic now. “Well, where did you leave him last?” He was very bad at this sort of thing. 135

“I----ano, I don’t know,” my head drooped in defeat. The moment called for an awkward turtle, but both of us had enough dignity to not do that. Instead, the conveniently timed bell broke us apart without any other replies. 136

~137

He was gone forever. And that was a fact I would just have to face. “Must….move on….” I held in cascading tears. “Must…GROW UP!” I cried, but snapped when the doorbell rang. 138

“Here,” I was met with the soft feel of black and white fabric. It shielded my blush well, for that was Akihiro’s voice. 139

”A-akihiro kun?” I asked, surprised. 140

“I know its not Mr. Doom, but, he is a panda…” he shrugged in that distinctly Akihiro-ish way. 141

“F-for me?” The concept threw me back a few steps. He had taken the time to consider my foolish problems, and even more than that, how to resolve them? He lowered his dignity to carrying a giant stuffed panda around-for me? 142

“No, Haruka chan,” he rolled his eyes, “I just carried this giant panda here to rub it in your face,” His face softened at my unrestrained giggle. 143

“Akihiro kun-“ I stumbled over words. What a foolish invention they were. “This-is so nice-thoughtful-I-“144

He seemed to get the idea, wrapping me in one of those firm bear-hugs. The warmth of his body seemed to melt any coldness within me. “Any time,” he grinned, bidding a fair adieu and taking his leave. 145

It was only until he had left that I truly noticed the tag, which had the name:146

Sir/Knight Doomsday Pandaman V147

I had trouble stifling the laugh that came up from within me. “Arigatou, Akihiro kun,” I grinned to myself. 148

CHAPTER LVII149

HIS NAME IS THE KITSUNWARAI150

I couldn’t help but wonder who that masked man was…so clich&#;, yet it was literally true…and of course, romantic and mysterious…But what was I talking about? I was no romanticist. A sthought it wasn’t hard already, shaking off images of the fox smask, on one of our short visits to Musicana, Manuel brought up the subject. “Have you heard yet?” she greeted us excitedly as soon as she heard the tinkering of the doorbell.151

“Heard what?” Sabrina chose the polite response, as usual. 152

Manuel quietly cheered to herself, seeing this as the first time ever that she actually had some fresh “gossip”. The idea of being able to tell someone a story they had not heard yet thrilled her. “There is a newly discovered one for the House of Eden!” 153

Her delight hit us in the back as though the wind was knocked out of us. That was most unexpected. “Oh but don’t worry!” she quickly continued to relieve us, embarraased, “He is not of the family,” she stopped, “In fact, no one really knows much of anything about him…” her voice dropped much softer. “Except that he is one who has dominion over the element fire,” 154

In the world of Musicana, each family line had persons over certain elements. In Eden, the family elements were Life, Fire, Heaven, Waters, Emotion, and Wind. Depending on one’s inner voice or melody, the element would differ. Usually, in each kingdom, there was one for each element who was dubbed “the master of the element,” These were most often those of the royal family. Thus, Sabrina, Topleaka, Roxy, and I were considered the masters over the elements of Heaven, Emotion, Waters, and Life. That meant that somewhere, there were masters over Fire and Wind. 155

“When did he appear?” the mature one among us asked, her eyes of scarlet turning like cogs in a clock…156

“Just a few nights ago,” Manuel whispered sweetly. “He is called the KitsunWarai, the fox’s laugh, for he is never seen without a Kitsune mask-“157

Kitsune mask…nearly approaching death…You will remember me…It must have been him! “Him!” I repeated, this time aloud. 158

All eyes turned to me, “Who?” Manuel asked. 159

“It was him-the KitsunWarai, who saved me,” the pieces fat together perfectly. “The KitsunWarai-I met him!”160

“You—you-saw him?” Manuel’s already frail skin turned white. 161

“He rescued me,” I blushed a bit, Sabrina eyes laughing at my response. To my relief, she held her tongue. But she had seen it all. 162

Since Manuel had the inability to get jealous, she just gaped at me. “What was he like?” Wonder filled her sparkling blue eyes. 163

“I—don’t really remember,” A sheepish grin set over my lips. “I was kind of knocked out,” 164

“Then-how do you know it was him?” Roxy’s usual sceptisism. 165

“Because---I just know,” I frowned upon my own reasoning, and yet it was true. I just knew. With a shrug, Roxy left me back to my thoughts: He was called the Kitsunwarai. 166

~167

I wondered how many times I sighed at the beauty of Musicana. There was always something new about it, something I had never noticed before. Outside Manuel's pastry Shoppe, there rested a narrow little dirt path I had never seen in any other visits. So I decided to walk down it. 168

As the wind rustled through the branches, it was as though they whispered "You will remember me...." That masked figure! All I remembered was the image of the Kitsune Noh mask, smiling down at me. And his voice—so oddly familiar, yet completely foreign. Oh, if only I knew who he was! Perhaps I had met him before, long before, or perhaps he was nothing but a dream. 169

Why, God, is everything so confusing, so hard to discern?170

Above me, I felt the clouds gather, and yet the sun still shone so strongly. Through the light streamed ribbons of rain, slicking down my auburn hair. Somehow, it refreshed me, renewed me, reminded me that God knew what he was doing. And even through the rain, there was this warm day, the sunlight smiling as though nothing was happening. 171

They had a name for that on earth. What did they call that again? Oh, that’s right: The Fox’s Wedding. 172

CHAPTER LVIII173

IN A WORLD WITHOUT COLOUR174

Colours. Mom and Dad had always talked about colours. Each one meant something, they said. God loved colour, and wanted us to love it as well. Colour: even if it was small, it was what made life beautiful. But what did Mom and Dad know about life? They were dead. They only said colour was important because they were artists…Right?175

Miranda tried to forget what happened to them; she tried to forget the fire, the emptiness, the betrayal. It wasn’t just Mom and Dad who betrayed her, but God. With spectrums of clorous and rainbows came the reality she detested: her parents were dead. That’s why she shunned colours from her lifek, along with them, God. Mom and Dad had always talked about God, how great He was, how much He helped them. Apparently, he didn’t help them much, considering that they weren’t among the living. From that fact, she found solace: in a world of black—colourless, hopeless, God-less. But it was no horrid change, for she did not believe any of the three actually existed. Colours, like rainbows, faded when the light turned off. Colours, hope, God—they were all myths people believed to try to have purpose, have a reason to live. She didn’t need any of them to live. She just lived, in a lifeless purgatory, wondering when she would die. It wasn’t terribly exciting, but at least she saw things as they really were. Or at least, how she believed they really were. 176

~177

I suddenly became terribly aware of her presence. If Britteni and I passed in the hallway, her eyes flittered to a shade of deathly shade of gold, and then went back to their normal shade of glowing green. She examined me with a passing glance, searching for any weakness. An uncontrollable shiver went down my spine. She, of course, knew. I knew. In that way, we were even. But at the same time, I knew she knew something more: something I didn’t even know about myself. That was the most frightening part. 178

I had never seen the one who was with her before. He stood by Britteni almost protectively. Perhaps he is her boyfriend, I mused. His hair was a golden-wheat blond, parted to the side through thick fields. At her remark, I noticed his lips purse into a short smirk, one he hid rather well. But the glisten of bloodlust in his eyes was unavoidable. He knew of it as well.179

“The water’s flooding up, Princess,” Britteni remarked hardly above a whisper, making the hairs on my neck stick up. She laughed, clutching to the boy’s arm more tightly, continuing down the hall as if nothing had happened. But in their subtle actions, I knew something was about to happen. 180

~181

Step two… Britteni thought to herself, sitting on the edge of her bed. “Of course, an entire civilization such as Atlantis needs a vast route, a Gate of Moonlight. Only living beings can travel through the publicly known one, in Eden. But I know there are more…more that The Kingdom of Eden hides from us…”182

She paced around the room, pulling down the blinds to her windows as she thought, “And even to transport one being through that channel is challenging enough, ignoring legality’s sake. Not just any being can go through those waters and appear in Earth. Even more so, no being can go through a designated lake on Earth and appear in Musicana. If that was the case, then there would be…humans in our lands…” She cringed at that concept even more than at the name of Eden’s faeries. “The being must either be of one of the pure bloods, or have physical contact with one to pass through. Few are pure faeries, inner mermen, , kintaur, elven, or of vamprimadescent anymore. And if one is not physically strong, the dramatic change in gravitational pull can lead to one’s death. The travel through the Gate of Moonlight is short, but physically draining as well. And once on is on the other side, he must be able to masquerade as human, or else he could endanger Earth’s way of being as well, not to mention himself. It is not meant for the weak and the fool. …Above all, the gate is only opened in the full moon’s light.” She added, standing where she stopped in the centre of the carpet. 183

“ ‘Emile’ is the only one of the three knights who is not a complete fool. Perhaps…I shall need him after all…” She paused, looking up to a picture of Isabelle, “I had hoped that perhaps the human would know something about Gates of Moonlight…perhaps, beign able to detect them…” Her eyes closed, thinking, “Is it possible…that she may, that there is something I have not yet tried?”184

One thing was for sure: the community lake was a path to Musicana. Perhaps…perhaps…185

And in that moment, inspiration hit her. Picking up her jeweled phone, she dialed Isabelle’s number. “Isabelle! Hey, girl! Say, its such a nice day; wanna study in the park? Ten minutes? Yah, right by the community lake…the one they call ‘The Lake of Shining Waters’ or something… Great,”186

~187

“Isabelle,” Britteni began, carrying a Pre calculus textbook under her arms. “Have you ever found anything curious about this lake?”188

“Like what?” the naďve beauty asked.189

“I don’t know…” the honey haired girl’s eyes turned to the small lake. “Its always seemed to hold something so…magical, other worldly. But I’m not quite sure what it is,”190

“Hmmm,” Isabelle turned to face the lake, watching its waters ripple. Laying down her textbook pile, she concluded, “Its waters do look a little odd now that you say something about it,”191

“How?” She tried to hide her anticipation. Of course, she could tell no difference between the waters. They were all so polluted, compared to Atlantis’ pristine waves. Perhaps it was that pollution that dulled her senses, or perhaps it was a feature that only humans could observe.192

“The colour of the water…I always thought that all lakes looked like that, until we went on that family trip to France. The water there is so much darker; I suppose I took it to be something about Europe, or something about Nakajima…193

“Say,” Britteni’s head shot up from her thoughts, “Could it be something about Nakajima, because its only recently been discovered? Maybe its not as polluted? Or that it’s a man made lake?”194

“But you think it’s the colour that makes it look so curious?” 195

“Well…” Isabelle examined the water once more, but frowned. “No, its not the colour. I suppose its like what that young boy said: it’s a lake of shining waters.”196

~197

“…What is it, Queen Aryelin?” Emile knew she wanted something. The Queen rarely, no—never, approached him without bringing a request of some kind. But he was quite used to that by now. If he bluntly confronted her, perhaps she would give him a straight on request, sparing him from her pathos and bothersome seduction. 198

She looked rather offended by his demand, but hid it well. “You believe in legends, do you not, ____?”199

“On occasions. What are you thinking?”200

“Surely you must believe that the Lake of a thousand moons is not the only Gate to Earth…”201

“Perhaps,”202

“And surely,” she wove her arms around his neck, “You would be honored to be the one to rediscover their whereabouts?”203

“Rediscover?” his eyebrow rose in suspicion. 204

“I am sure that Eden has long known about more grand of Gates of Moonlight, maintaining them in buried away files. There are so many secrets kept from Atlantis…”205

“Eden keeps many secrets,” Emile replied stoically, “That doesn’t mean that they all should be resurfaced,”206

Turnign back to him, her voice grew soft as she drew her face close to his, “You would do this for me, your Queen, wouldn’t you?”207

“For Atlantis, yes,” his look was of stone, “It is my duty,”208

Seeing that he wouldn’t be tempted, she drew away, her seductress’ smile instantly vanishing, replaced by a business oriented expression. “As long as it gets done,” With nothing else to say, she walked down the hall, leaving Emile to think over how he was to protect Atlantis this time. 209