The Luna Choosing Game

The wait for midnight was nearly unbearable, but when it finally arrived, I left Elva sleeping in the bed,

and sneaked out into the hallway.

Mark was standing there with two other guards. He typically wore a serious expression, but today he

seemed especially grim. He must have shared Nicholas’s frustration with the plan.

“Be careful tonight. If anything happened to you…” He let the words hang.

I was confused. Surely the safety of his prince was more important than me. But he didn’t say anything

more. Instead, he just stared at me expectantly.

“ll be careful,” I said.

He nodded.

Turning from him, I started down the hallway. Nicholas met me halfway. He didn’t say anything, just offered his arm. I slid my arms in his and together we walked down toward the kitchens and into the

cellar.

Brian was guarding the door to one of the rooms there, the one containing the passage. He stepped

when we came close.

had already discovered the trigger for the passageway, and an eerie dark opening loomed in the middle of a wall, hiding behind an empty

a large,

tunnel was impossible. The stretch of the tunnel was long, and the darkness

together,” Nicholas said. “Whatever

rules,” Julian said. He stepped into the tunnel.

and I looked at each other, and

along the top. Our footsteps on the stone

tunnel felt so old

back of my neck stood on head.

close,” Julian said.

of the room we’d come from seemed

behind us.

We all stilled.

Nicholas said, a warning in his voice. A

again, and

caught in my

both Nicholas and Julian and touched Nicholas’s chest with one hand and Julian’s shoulder with the other. Nicholas caught my hand

and squeezed my fingers.

creepy place in the dark, but having

their own ways, helped

and smacked the flashlight. The