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Crescent moon
Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Eventually, I give up and look for a place where I can sit down. I find a table full of jars filled with fireflies. I take one and head towards the lake, where I find an empty boat with a blanket in it. I climb into it and sit on the ground. As I sit down I realize that someone had left a notebook and a pen in the boat.

I open the notebook and skim through it. It's filled with weird documents, runes, and a bunch of pages are full. I don't read them, I just rip out a page, close the notebook, and start writing on the front seat of the boat, facing the water.

I'm writing to Lee about my day. It was so weird without her, I almost felt empty not having her either beside me or five minutes away. I tell her about my day and about all the people I met and of course the 'ridiculous party' I had just attended when I hear yelling from behind me. I don't turn around.

"That's fine with me Jules, you go tell your mother we don't need your family's pity money"

"Are you serious? Listen I know you're going through it right now or whatever but you can't speak to me like that."

The voices get closer.

"Aiden, I know this isn't the most ideal situation but you have no choice here. You're stuck with marrying me. We'll talk when you've calmed down"

I still haven't turned around, afraid they might see me. At first, I think it's just the waves but then I hear a voice mumbling to itself. Before I could turn around and look we are already off shore. Please god, tell me I'm not in a boat with Aiden Sterling

"That's mine" a voice says from behind me.

"Excuse me?" I say turning around facing him.

"The blanket" Aiden says while rowing

"Are you kidnapping me right now?" I ask with a sarcastic voice.

"You're the one who got into my boat" He says

"What was that about?" I ask

"What?" Aiden says

"You're getting married?" I ask getting up the floor of the boat and sitting down on the seat in front of him.

"What? You're jealous?" he says laughing.

"You're actually unbelievable" I say "Take me back to shore, now" I demand

"No? This is my boat, you're the intruder here" He responds

Never in my life have I committed manslaughter, but Aiden might just be my first victim.

"Fine" I say and try to take the paddle out of his hand. I'm now standing so i'm much less stable than him which already makes this fight not fair at all. The boat moves as we wrestle each other for the paddle.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asks. The boat shakes even more and I lose my balance. I end up falling head-first into the water along with the paddle the notebook and the letter I was writing.

Aiden, like the gentleman he is, couldn't care less and does nothing while i'm basically drowning. I eventually manage to get back into the boat but the paddle has floated away.

"Thanks so much for helping" I say climbing back into the boat. I was already cold before, imagine now.

"What did you want me to do? Jump in with the piranhas?

"WHAT?" I yell

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Aidan lets out a laugh "I was joking. Heard of one before?"

"Funny. Where's the backup paddle?" I ask

"There isn't one" He says

"How can you be so calm about this?" I ask while wrapping myself in the blanket.

"As long as I'm out here I have an excuse to not think about what's about to happen in a month" He says

"Okay mystery boy, now you gotta tell me"

"It's my wedding day on November 25th, less than a month away" He responds

"Wait, I thought you were joking" I say, my eyes widening "Why the fuck are you getting married at seventeen? I mean you don't seem too excited so i'm guessing it's not the love of your life"

He chuckles "There's just so much you don't understand" He says "I know where you're from. I overheard my mom and your aunt talking this afternoon"

My heart drops for a second. "What do you mean?"

"You think it's a coincidence that you're here? No spade would ever be let into Elsher if it wasn't for our benefit. The queen herself approved you coming to live with Ramona and Desmond, they want something from you."

"Do you know what it is?" I ask with a much quieter voice now.

"I have no clue" He responds

I look around for a second, not knowing what to say next. Thoughts are running through my head about what they could possibly want from me. I start regretting coming here all over again.

"You know" Aiden starts to speak "I'm jealous of you" He says

"How could you possibly be jealous of me?" I say "You've got everything"

"How do you know that? We just met"

"I guess I just-" he cuts me off

"Assumed? That I had an amazing life?" He says "Well, hate to break it to you but that's not the case"

I don't say a word, waiting for him to continue, instead, he takes off his blazer and gives it to me.

"Here, would hate it if people started asking you how you got pneumonia"

I look at him with a half smile on my lips.

"Wait" I laugh "Is this the part where you fall in love with me?" I say chuckling

"That's it" He says "Give it back, now"

"Oh no it's actually quite warm" I say still laughing

"Okay, how do we get out of here now?" He asks looking around

"We could...paddle with our hands I guess" I say

He looks me dead in the eyes

"No way, no I'm not doing that" he says

"I don't think you have a choice" I say tilting my head

We start paddling with our hands and after a long, excruciating thirty minutes we make out to shore. I'm now wondering whether fairies can get frostbite because I definitely feel it coming on.

Aiden gets out first.

"Come on" He reaches his hand towards me. I don't want to take it at first.

"Come on, you're already wearing my blazer, just let me help you, you're trembling" he says

I roll my eyes "Fine" I mumble and take his hand. His hands are soft but still extremely cold from the water.

"I've never been more happy to have my feet on ground" I say. I take the blazer off and hand it to him "Thanks" I say.

"Don't be ridiculous" he says "At least wash it before you give it back" he says chuckling

"I don't like you very much, you know that?" I say as we start walking back towards the woods.

"Yeah?" He says smiling at me. We lock eyes and for a moment I feel my heart drop, but it doesn't last very long. We are standing at the boathouse when we hear a girl scream.

"Amanda!" She yells. I spot people running everywhere and screaming. I look at Aiden, he grabs my arm and starts running towards the bonfire, dragging me with him.

I spot Alison, Finn, and Tori standing, looking at the fire from a distance. Alison is hysteric and Finn and Tori look as if they're in shock.

"What happened?" I yell, but soon enough as we get closer I see exactly what happened.

There's a body, torn apart by what seems like twenty bears, fallen onto the bonfire. We walk a little closer and I recognize the dress. It's Amanda. I suddenly feel like all the air has been sucked out of my lungs. I look around, there are a few people also just staring in utter shock. I see Wes approaching with a group of adults.

"Everyone, get away from the fire" I hear a familiar voice. I turn my head and see Ramona. "Go back to the estate, this is now a murder scene, you cannot be here" She says.

People start leaving. I let go of Aiden and walk up to Tori and the others.

"How did this happen?" I ask

"I don't know" Tori says sniffing "One second we were just talking, then the other Alison screamed, we turned around and saw Amanda's body falling from one of the trees"

A group of healers have now taken Alison away from the scene and we start walking back towards the estate.

"So, is this a common thing around here?" I ask not knowing what answer to expect. Murder was a part of my everyday life back home, but I'm guessing it isn't as normal here.

"Mom deals with a lot of them, but they're not like this" Finn says "Did you see her body? It was almost unrecognizable"

Me, Tori, Finn, and Wes keep walking. Deep in our thoughts, no one speaks. When we reach the estate Desmond is waiting for us with a carriage.

"Come on" He says motioning for us to get it "Sorry Letty, not the best first day here" he pats me on the back.

"Can Wes come with us?" Tori asks

"Fine, but only this time" Desmond says.

We all get it and the carriage takes off. My uncle is talking to us about how this is a one time thing and he's sure it's nothing serious but I don't think any of us are listening. Second night here and I already witnessed a murder, how ironic.