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.

discovered the trigger for the passageway, and an eerie dark opening loomed in the middle of a wall, hiding behind an empty bookcase that had been shifted aside.

a large, industrial–style flashlight.

the end of the tunnel was impossible.

“Whatever happens, no one gets left

all know the rules,” Julian said. He stepped into the

at each other, and then

along the top. Our footsteps on the stone floor

easily frightened by places, but this tunnel felt

of my neck stood on head.

Julian

through the tunnel. The light of the room

behind us.

flickered. We

his voice. A warning that would

again, and

caught in my

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

mine and squeezed my fingers.

spiked in such a dark, creepy place in the dark, but

their own ways, helped

Julian lowered his hand again and smacked the flashlight. The light flickered again,