The Blue Moon by Madeline Gottlieb (top ten books to read txt) 📕

Prologue

The girl moved quickly, her red hair flowing out behind her as she ran through the halls, dodging all the servants. She skidded to a halt and her boots squeaked as she pushed the two large doors open. Everyone in the room fell silent and looked at her as she dropped to one knee and bowed her head. "Your Majesty, I bring news of a new prophecy." The redhead knew better than to speak of it in front of everyone, so she kept her gaze on the ground as the servants shuffled out the door.

"Speak, Cara." The queen said, twirling a piece of her black hair on her finger. The queen was stunning, there was no doubt about it, and her daughters had inherited it as well. The king, on the other hand, was handsome, but not as handsome as his sons. His black hair was short and choppy, and he had scruff on his chin.

"There will be one, the true holder of the crystal, which will join the Light. But as the blood continues to drown the rivers, the Light will have to destroy the crystal to bring peace." Cara bowed her head once more and listened quietly.

Queen Desdemona gasped and turned to her husband. "Garret has the crystal!" She hissed. Cara lifted her head and stared at her king and queen, worrying herself about their son. Garret and Cara had been friends for years, long before her kind were treated differently.

King Darius simply shrugged and turned his attention to Cara. "Why is this important?"

"My lord," Cara stood up, making sure her hair was covering her ears and walked towards them, "it is true that Prince Garret holds the crystal. The prophecy states that the Light will destroy the crystal."

The king rolled his pale green eyes. "You speak of nonsense, Cara. Now, get back to whatever it is you do."

Cara bowed and turned on her heel, pushing the doors open once more and walking out, trying to calm down.

"Cara!" She turned at the voice of the prince and bowed. "Don't do that, I've told you that plenty of times." He said, smiling.

"If I do not, I will be hanged, you know that." She replied, starting to walk once more.

Garret jogged to her side. "Cara, what is the new prophecy?"

The red head stopped in her tracks and stared at the prince. Garret had always been foolish, but Cara knew better than to tell him of a prophecy that could have foreseen his death.

"It is not your business." Cara said, turning down the hall. "I have things to take care of, my lord." With a bow, she left Garret standing where he was and stepped inside the small room where Queen Desdemona was waiting.

"Cara, it is time." The queen spoke quietly and turned to the girl. "You know the danger that comes. You know what you must do." With a sigh, the queen sat down. "You are one of the few of your kind that, despite the king's wishes, stay on our side and fight for us."

"Your Majesty, what of your son?"

The queen wiped a hand across her face. "Garret was aware of the consequences when the crystal was given to him."

"But was he ready?" Cara asked quietly, wondering what Garret would do when he learned that he might die. "I wish to take him with me, to protect him as well."

"No," the queen shook her head, "you will have a hard enough time with the warrior. He shall stay here, under watch by our guards." The clock hit midnight and the queen jumped up. "Go, now, Cara! Find the boy and bring him back." The queen grabbed Cara by her shoulders and dark green eyes stared into ice blue ones. "Take Eiko and go."

Cara nodded and ran out of the room, taking a turn down a hall and pushing open another door. The girl in the room turned to her friend. She was as stunning as her mother; her black hair fell in curls to her waist and her green eyes had silver specks. "Is it time?"

With a nod, Cara grabbed the girl. "Are you ready to leave Aulinaber, Eiko?" Eiko turned her gaze to Cara and nodded and with a flash, they were standing in a clearing, no longer in the safety of their realm. Cara knew Eiko was remembering her three brothers and sister she’d just left behind. But of the two, only Cara knew of the danger Aulinaber was facing at this moment, and it wasn’t something she wanted to go back to.

“Cara, how will we know how to find him?” Eiko asked quietly, stepping lightly on the grass.

The red head looked around the clearing, her eyes finding the pond that rested in the middle. “You will call to him in his dreams.”

Reality and Dreams

The forest was hauntingly familiar; the trees were as high as the clouds and the creek was sparkling, even though there was barely any sun coming through the trees. The grass was soft and greener than anything he'd ever seen. The leaves from the trees hung down and he could almost touch them with his head. The boy stared around, trying to remember where he’d seen these woods from, but no matter what he wasn’t able to put his finger on it.

In a flash, someone jumped in front of the boy and staggered a bit for she began to run the other way, deeper into the forest. Her feet barely touched the ground as she ran ahead of him, her long red hair flowing out behind her. He tried desperately to keep up with her as she dodged branches and logs.

"Please, tell me what you want!" The boy cried, jumping over a log. She slowed as the two came into a clearing and came to a stop in the middle of it. The clearing was large and had a creek going all the way around it that rippled due to water spiders.

She turned to face him and her ice blue eyes seemed to stare into his soul. "Silly boy," her eyes narrowed, her seemingly kind face getting more aggravated, "I did not call you here. None of that was my doing." She hissed, taking a step closer to him.

"Then who did it?" He begged, not understanding why he was stuck here each night.

"She did it; she needs you, boy.” Her smile turned wicked. "Would you like to meet her?"

He nodded even though his head was spinning with confusion. She grinned and muttered words he didn't understand and a white flash appeared. The boy covered his eyes and blinked a few times until the light faded away. He was in a new clearing, the girl from before no longer there, but a new one in her place.

She sat on the ground, her white dress all around her and her long black hair falling into curls near her lower back. He took a step closer to her and placed my hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump a little. "W-who are you?"

He could've gasped at how beautiful she seemed to him, but he didn't. Her lips were full and a light pink color. Her very light green eyes had specks of silver in them and were framed by dark eyelashes. The dress she was wearing made a V cut and had strings across her chest that hung loosely. She blinked a few times and covered herself with her arms and cleared her throat, bringing him out of his trance. "Oh, I'm Zach."

The girl stood there for another moment and stared at him, confusion swimming in her eyes. "So you're the one," she whispered, taking a step closer to the boy. Zach raised an eyebrow as she took her hand and touched his hand, pulling him towards her. She traced the veins on his hand and started to go up his arm when he stiffened, causing her to stop. "You've hurt yourself."

Her green eyes looked up at him and the only thing he wanted to do was take her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay, but he didn't. When Zach didn't reply, she nodded and grabbed both his hands, closing the gap between them. "Listen to me Zach, you're destined for great things, I promise you that." She stood on her toes so she could whisper in my ear. "But I am not how I seem in reality like I am now, and you'll soon understand why."

She pulled away and smiled at him as he stared back at her dumbfounded. As she turned away, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him, looking into her eyes. "What's your name?" Zach whispered, feeling himself leaning down towards her.

"Eiko," was all he heard when a sharp pain shot through him. He gasped as she pulled away and looked down to see a dagger shoved into his stomach and blood on both their hands. As she backed away, he coughed up blood and looked at her, even more confused.

She had tears streaming down her face and was covering her mouth with her bloody hands, stammering. "I di-didn't do that, Z-Zach. I p-promise. It just ap-appeared there.

Zach tried to smile to calm her down as he fell to his knees, but it didn't seem to work. Eiko pulled her hands from her mouth and walked towards him, shaking terribly. As he opened his mouth to say something, she pulled the dagger from his stomach and threw it, quickly covered the wound with her shaking hands.

"I'm fine, I swear." Those were the last words he spoke before taking his last breath.

--

Zach shot up, sweat covering him, the covers on the ground. He ran his hands through his hair over and over, trying to bring himself back to the real world, where he wasn't dead. "Every fucking night," Zach muttered, slamming his hand on the nightstand next to him.

Standing up, he went on and touched his stomach, making sure there were no deadly wounds there. Nothing there, he smiled and stretched, thinking about the nightmare. It's not normal, having the same dream over and over every night since your 17 birthday, dying the same way. Trying to calm his breathing, Zach pushed the thought of the deaths out of his head and thought about the girl, Eiko. Other than the obvious attraction he had for her, there was something else. She seemed so... real.

I can no longer tell reality from dreams, he thought, sitting on the edge of his bed. Zach groaned and stood up, grabbing white skinny jeans and a black t-shirt and slipped them on, heading down the stairs and ruffling his hair.

"Is anyone around here alive?" He yelled through the house. When no one answered, he walked into the kitchen and found the note on the fridge from his parents.

Son,

Your mother and I left early this morning to Hawaii. We'll only be gone two weeks and there's money in the safe. You know the rules, and please don't skip school.
We love you,
Carl & Mom