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

we came

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

large, industrial–style flashlight. He clicked it

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

together,” Nicholas said. “Whatever happens, no one

know the rules,” Julian said. He

at each other, and then we followed him.

Our footsteps on the stone floor echoed down the long, empty corridor. The air was stale.

this tunnel felt so old that it had

back of my

Julian said.

tunnel. The light of the room we’d

behind us.

We all stilled.

in his voice. A warning that would

and then

caught in

and touched Nicholas’s chest with one hand and

mine and squeezed my fingers.

in such a dark, creepy place in the dark, but having them so

helped me feel

smacked the