An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan

Author:Emily X.R. Pan [X.R. PAN, EMILY]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

Luna Chang

“Watch out.” Hunter pointed at her feet.

Luna saw where the ground was fractured, where it had shifted out of alignment.

“It’s moved,” he said. “It didn’t look like that the other night.”

She tapped experimentally on the other side of the crack. The toe of her shoe found solid dirt. “Are you sure?”

“There was just empty space. I almost fell.”

Luna froze, thinking of him lying in the broken earth that windy day after the fire alarm. “Weird,” she made herself say, so that he wouldn’t notice her moment of panic.

“It was right around here.” Hunter stood between two trunks. “It might even have been this tree. It’s kind of hard to tell. Everything looks so different in the daytime.”

Luna ran her fingers over the bark of the one he pointed to. There were no signs of the fireflies, as far as she could see.

“Where were you walking? Do you remember the route?”

Hunter pointed. “This way. Careful where you step—there might be more cracks up ahead.”

She followed him along the side of Lightning Creek. The stream was gentle and smooth, not like those rogue waves the day that girl nearly drowned. The day Hunter had revealed that secret and glittering facet of himself. That memory was a fresh flame in her mind: water gushing where it didn’t belong, Hunter’s arms moving the arrow into position, that fierce certainty in his eyes.

“Do you see that?” said Hunter.

Luna blinked. “See what?”

“Look at your feet. Look what the water does.”

With each step she took, there was an ebb and flow, as if it were not a creek but an ocean, as if instead of a muddy bank there was a sandy shore. A tiny wave slid toward her ankle, and as she lifted her foot it melted back.

Luna crouched to graze the surface with a finger. Tiny fish darted toward her, drawn by some invisible force. She moved her hand away, and they hovered just under the surface, waiting.

“Do it again.” Hunter’s voice was reverent.

Luna dipped half her hand into the water. Other, larger forms rose from the depths. Nothing hurt her, but she thought there was the slightest tickle.

“It’s like that fish tank, when we first met,” said Hunter. “Remember?”

As if she could forget. Less fearful now, she sank her hand all the way in past her wrist. The water was ice; it was amazing that all these creatures lingered in the creek this time of year. She reached deeper still. They surrounded her, like worshippers come to genuflect.

That was when she felt the pull.

Luna gasped and yanked her hand out. “Something’s there.”

“What do you mean? Are you hurt?”

She reached in again, lowering slowly until she felt it: a suction. The water, pulling with the insistent force of a whirlpool. Except it wasn’t sucking her down, but to the side, in the same direction the creek flowed.

“It’s trying to pull me over there somewhere,” Luna said. “Come on. I think we should take a look.”

They walked alongside the water and paused every several paces for Luna to check on the pull.

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