Chapter One

Knock knock knock.

“Jack, come downstairs!”

I scribbled down the last few words of my geography project, assigned today. Leaving my desk, I rushed down the stairs and saw my mother standing by the door. I swung it open. My best friend, Rachel, was standing there.

Something was wrong. Her frizzy red hair was plastered to her head in sweat, and her green eyes were even wider than usual.

“You okay?” I asked.

She turned to my mom and smiled. “Can I play with Jack?”

“Of course!” Mom replied, her pearl-white teeth showing through her radiant smile.

I walked out the door, and as soon as it was shut, Rachel seized my arm and took off sprinting. I could hardly keep up with her long stride. Now behind her, I noticed she had a scabbard on her belt, but decided I would keep the questions for later. Soon, trees around us grew more and more frequent, until we were in a forest.

Rachel halted, and I almost slammed into her.

“What was that for?” I asked, panting.

She glanced around. “There’s...there’s, um, someone trying to kill you, and I need to keep you safe. And, um, they may or may not be chasing us.”

I opened my mouth to ask a question, but she cut me off with a finger to her lips. A branch cracked to my right, and I whipped my head around, but saw nothing. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest as I looked around nervously. Rachel made eye contact with me and gave a small head shake, telling me to stay still. I got the terrifying feeling that I was being watched, but I didn’t dare move. Every sound scared me. I desperately wanted to whip my head around and catch whatever was chasing us, but I kept my head still. My heart lurched as the dead, fall leaves crunched somewhere behind me. I pictured a long, bony hand seizing me from behind, and I could almost feel the hot breath on the back of my neck. I knew I was just imagining it, but I couldn’t shake the notion.

Rachel nudged me, and started to creep forward, beckoning me to follow, when she froze and her eyes widened.

“Rachel, do you know how stupid you look, creeping around like a cartoonish robber?” an irritated voice remarked behind me.

“RUN!” Rachel screamed, grabbed my arm, and ran. We tore through the forest, swerving to avoid trees, my legs moving faster than I could ever imagine to keep up with her. I could feel thorns tearing at my clothes and spiderwebs sticking to my arms, but there were definitely more important things to worry about. The footsteps behind me grew closer and closer, and I knew I couldn’t outrun whatever was there. It felt like I was running in a dream—stuck in slow motion. I had never been so scared in my life.

We reached a clearing in the forest where there were less trees, but as we entered, something grabbed my leg, tearing me away from Rachel.

“Help!” I screamed, terrified beyond belief as I fell to the ground. Is this where I die?

I looked up, seeing what we were running from for the first time. It was an insanely tall woman, maybe about eight feet, with giant, feathery, pale blue wings. She had long, pale blue fingernails that almost looked like claws, and her pale blue hair tied in a tight bun. Terrifying? Yes. Surprisingly pretty? Maybe.

“This is him? Really, Rachel, considering your sister is the most powerful being in the world, I would assume you would get a more capable bodyguard.” As she spoke, she revealed long, sickening fangs. Nevermind. She was not pretty.

“He’s not my bodyguard,” Rachel muttered. “He’s just my friend.”

“And have you told him?”

Rachel reached behind her and drew a sword from a scabbard on her belt. She stepped towards the whatever-it-was, with her sword pointed towards it. I stared at them in disbelief. Rachel had a sword, and I had seen, with my own eyes, something that definitely did not exist. But there it was, an eight foot tall demon-looking thing, standing in front of me.

“Luna, go away,” Rachel growled. I crawled backwards and got to my feet.

The thing, which I assumed was named Luna, smiled a little too sweetly. “You practically brought him right to me, and now you’re asking me to leave? A little rude, don’t ya think?”

Without warning, Luna thrust her hand forward, and Rachel instantly collapsed, shrieking and jerking on the ground. I put my hands over my ears to block out her agonized screams as they penetrated into my ears. Luna’s grin widened.

I was trying to stay silent and out of trouble, but I couldn’t help it. “What are you doing to her!?”

She turned to me, smiling. “I would stay out of this if I were you. Rachel has done many things you don’t know about, so don’t go assuming that I’m the wrong one.”

It’s kind of hard for me not to, when you’re trying to kill me and my friend, I thought, but didn’t dare say out loud.

I wanted to stay out of it, but I couldn’t just watch Rachel scream in agony forever. I knew I had to act quickly, but I was terrified that Luna would do the same thing to me if I did anything. But this was Rachel. I couldn’t just watch while she was probably dying. After standing there stupidly for a few seconds, I darted forward and grabbed Rachel’s sword, which she had dropped. I spun around to face Luna, but as I turned, her arm shot out and clenched my wrist, stopping me.

“I’ll take that,” she said, plucking the sword out of my hand.

For the first time, I noticed her face was strained. I heard a groan to my right as Rachel got up, and I realized Luna must have lost concentration on whatever she was doing. I tensed, thinking Luna would do it again, but she was panting. Maybe doing it made her tired or something.

She backed up, putting her hands in front of her. “If you’re smart, you’d get out of here. Before I kill both of you.”

Rachel charged forward, and bolts of blue light shot from Luna’s hands. One hit Rachel in the arm, which instantly turned red and started blistering, but not before she had grabbed the sword from Luna’s hand. She swung it around and pointed it at Luna’s neck.

“Don’t make me do this. Just get out of here,” Rachel growled, panting.

Luna snarled, “Why should I, when I can just kill you right here? But I know you’ll never kill me. You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would!” Rachel yelled, her sword shaking in her trembling fingers.

Suddenly, Luna’s image flickered. She became a beautiful girl, looking about the age of a young adult. She had wavy brown hair that went down to her elbows and caramel-colored skin. Her brown eyes stared innocently at Rachel, and she didn’t look the slightest bit evil. It was only a millisecond before she was back to an eight foot tall demon.

Rachel froze, tears welling in her eyes. In that time, Luna darted away, yanked the sword out of her hand, and stabbed Rachel in the chest before she could even react. Rachel screamed once, then fell limp, and the forest was left sickly silent.

The first sense that came to me in the wave of shock was a rapid thrumming in my chest. Then I could hear my quick and shallow breathing, sounding miles away. I stared at Rachel’s body, blurred through tears, not wanting to believe what just happened. She couldn't be dead. She couldn’t be! After being my best friend for six years, I wouldn’t believe she was. I stared at her, hoping beyond hope I would see the rise and fall of her chest, but I didn’t. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t. She had to be alive. I had to be dreaming.

“Pity,” Luna murmured calmly, inspecting the sword. “I wouldn’t have to ruin this fine sword if she cooperated.

She turned to look at me, and I tried to hide my tears, but they were already uncontrollably falling.

“Now, Jack, be a good boy and cooperate. I’d hate to stain this pretty sword again.”

I could hardly breathe. “But you…” Killed her. I couldn’t finish the sentence.

Luna shrugged. “Her fault. She really stayed in human form. Pretty stupid of her. I guess she just didn’t want you to know who she really was. Rachel’s like that. Always hiding things.”

I glanced at Rachel. Was it wrong of me to leave her there and run? She was already dead… No. No she wasn’t. She couldn’t be. I wouldn’t believe it. I had to be dreaming. I had to be.

Luna looked up from her sword, staring right at me. I felt cold horror seep through me, and I wanted to run. But I couldn’t. I was frozen by her icy stare. She raised her hand, and a blue bolt shot out of it. My adrenaline kicking in, I jerked to my left, but it struck me in my right shoulder and sent me flying. I slammed into a tree and fell limp. I tried to scramble up and run away, but I couldn’t move. It was the worst pain I’d ever experienced. My eyes went in and out of focus, and I could barely think. Is this what Rachel felt like? …Is this what dying feels like?

Luna started running towards me, but she froze and rolled her eyes when behind her, a bright blue light appeared. It was so intense, I had to shield my eyes. When it faded away, Rachel was standing there. Except... it wasn’t Rachel. It looked exactly like her, except she had all of Luna’s features. She had huge wings and talons, and was just under Luna’s height. Her hair wasn’t blue like Luna’s though, it remained its natural color—red. Everything else was blue, but not like Luna. It was a deep, rich blue.

I gaped at her. Was this really Rachel? Before I had time to think, “Rachel” had grabbed her sword back and hurried over to me. “Are you okay?”

“I…” I struggled to focus on her intent gaze. I probably wasn’t okay, given that I could barely even form the words to say that.

She spun around to face Luna. “What did you do to him?!”

“Nothing.”

“You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“Obviously not,” I muttered, but both of them ignored me.

Luna chuckled. “Of course I wouldn’t kill him. I remember our agreement. A few lux bolts, that’s all.”

“Our agreement was to not kill anyone. Now go away, don’t make me kill you!”

She smiled. “You think you can kill me? How many lives do you have left? Oh, Rachel, I have way more than you.”

“Just go away. Please.”

In response, Luna raised her hands and shot more blue streaks at Rachel, who dodged them and shot more back. One of them hit Luna in the head, and she staggered, but regained her balance. They swirled into a blue blur around each other, and it ended with Rachel pointing her sword at Luna’s neck again, who was obviously tired. This time, Rachel had her hand on Luna’s head, probably ready to shoot her with blue light.

“Please. Just leave.”

Luna was cross-eyed as she stared at the sword pointed at her neck. “Fine,” she said, putting her hands up.

I tensed, knowing what Rachel was about to do. As I had expected, Rachel stepped backwards and lowered her sword, not looking at me.

As soon as she was free, Luna flicked her hand at Rachel, and she collapsed again, screaming. If the situation wasn’t so scary, I would have yelled “I told you so!”

I knew I wouldn’t be able to distract Luna enough for Rachel to recover again, and even if I did, it probably wouldn’t work. After a while, Rachel’s screaming stopped. I held my breath. Was she okay? I wasn’t sure if whatever had “revived” her would happen again. I wanted to check on her, but if I went towards Luna, she would probably kill me, and I was ninety-nine percent sure I wouldn’t revive.

“Jack? Care to help your friend?” Luna asked, smiling at me. Please revive, I silently willed Rachel. Luna frowned. “Ignoring me, I see. A bit rude, don’t ya think? Maybe I wouldn’t kill you if you were a bit nicer.”

“How—how do you know my name?” I asked, suddenly realizing she had used it.

She ignored me and went on. “Rachel’s in really bad pain right now; are you just going to watch her?”

I squinted my eyes, and it turned out, Rachel was twitching, just apparently unconscious. Relief flooded through me, but it quickly trickled away as blue light flew out of Luna’s hand and struck Rachel in the head. She screamed again, then stopped moving.

Before I could respond, Luna flicked her hand upward and Rachel started floating up. Trails of bright light flooded out of her and into Luna’s hands. What was happening? Would Rachel revive? The light stopped and she fell to the ground. If Luna had looked tired at all before, she wasn’t showing it now. She looked...healthier, almost younger. Her skin seemed to give off a radiant glow. What had she done?

Before Luna could do any more, the same bright glow that had appeared before bloomed around Rachel. I sighed in relief as Rachel appeared, standing up, in front of Luna. She still looked weird, though—still had wings and was super tall.

Without looking at me, Rachel flung her hand out, and another one of those light-bursts came hurling towards me. I tried to step away, but I was too slow. It struck me in the same shoulder (which hurt) and I flew backwards across the forest until I crashed into the ground. Breathing heavily, I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. What had Rachel done to me, and why would she do that? Rachel would never try to hurt me, and that could only mean the thing wasn’t Rachel.

A moment later, “Rachel” was flying towards me, swerving to avoid trees. My breath caught in my throat. I was definitely going to die if both Rachel and Luna were trying to kill me. I could barely hear anything over the sound of my pounding heart and blood roaring in my ears. To my surprise, as Rachel flew by me, she didn’t attack me. She didn’t even stop to look at me, just grabbed my arm and took off. I could see Luna right behind her, gaining on her.

As the ground got farther and farther away, I began to feel sick. The only thing keeping me from falling to my death was Rachel’s grip on my arm. Not to mention Luna was right behind us.

Rachel glanced at Luna and shot more blue lights at her, but Luna swerved to avoid all of them. Rachel wasn’t as lucky when Luna shot at her.

A blue bolt hit Rachel in her right wing. My stomach dropped as we tumbled out of the sky, Rachel screaming and trying to grab me. She flailed her left wing, but it alone wasn’t enough to support both of us. I didn’t know if I could trust whatever the Rachel thing was, but I clung onto her, because I didn’t really have a choice. The ground was approaching at an alarming speed. Knowing there was no hope of survival from this distance, I felt tears burning at the back of my eyes. I heard myself screaming as we passed the tops of the trees.

I felt a sickening feeling of hopelessness as I neared the ground, mixed with a strange sense of calm. There was a hollow thud, searing pain, and then everything went black.

***

“Jack?”

My eyes flew open. Everything was blurry. For a second, I thought I had just woken up from a nightmare, but then my vision cleared and I was aware of the rough, leafy texture beneath me. I sat up.

“You okay?” Rachel was standing over me.

I flexed my fingers. No pain. I stood up. No pain. Glancing around, I felt more and more confused. This was the exact place we had crashed into, so how had I gotten out completely unscathed? “Yeah. What happened?”

“Well I was able to grab some of the tree branches as we fell. Obviously my grip wasn’t enough to stop us, and I wasn’t able to hold on for more than half a second, but it slowed us down a little. I was also still flapping my left wing, so that made us slower. I guess you fell on top of me or something and I cushioned your fall.”

I still felt like I should’ve at least felt some pain, but I wasn’t complaining. “Where’s Luna?”

“I don’t know. Using all those lux bolts must have exhausted her, so she probably gave up, especially since we have a chance to get away right now. Speaking of which, we should probably go to my home while we can.”

With a flash of blue, she was suddenly back to that weird Luna-ish thing. She grabbed my arm and started flapping her wings, but I wrenched free and backed up.

She stared at me. “What? Flying is the quickest way home.”

I remembered my fear as we fell towards the ground. My legs were still shaking from the adrenaline. “There’s no way I’m flying with you again. Let’s just walk to your house.”

She gave me a sheepish smile. “Well, flying is actually the only way home. Sorry about taking you up while Luna was chasing us—that was stupid of me—but she’s not anymore. We’ll be perfectly safe.”

“Flying is the only way to your house?”

“I’ll explain when we get there. Get on my back.”

I hesitated. “Like a piggy-back ride?”

She laughed. “Yeah.”

Awkwardly, I climbed onto her back, and she started to fly. I gripped her shoulders and forced myself to not look down as we rose higher and higher above the treetops. A few birds flew past us, at the same height as us, which made me feel even more nervous.

Eventually, it got harder to breathe. Each breath was shallow and it felt like I could only get half as much air as I needed.

“Rachel, are we…almost...there?” I asked between breaths.

“Just a few more minutes.”

I didn’t know if I could survive on this little air for a few more minutes, but I didn’t say anything; it was too much effort. Just when I felt like I was going to pass out, Rachel whispered something I couldn’t quite distinguish, and the sky rippled. Why? Who knows. All I cared about was the fact that I could breathe again.

“We just passed into my home. That thing is like a bubble. When you pass through it, there’s air,” Rachel explained. “It only lets in people who know the password.”

“Your...home?” I looked up to see a giant cloud above us that definitely hadn’t been there before. It didn’t even look like a normal cloud. It looked like a cartoon cloud—solid and soft.

Rachel flew up beside the cloud, then hovered over it. Without warning, she spun upside down and dropped me.

I yelled in surprise, only to land softly on the cloud that was a few feet below instead of falling to my death. It was soft and springy, like a trampoline. I pushed myself to my feet. My legs were still shaking, and my heart was beating so fast I wondered if I would have a heart attack. My back ached from where it had hit the tree.

Rachel laughed. “You should’ve seen your face!”

I barely paid attention, because my eyes fell on what I assumed to be her home. It was a city in the clouds. Not just a city, but a castle. It towered over us, its huge, sturdy towers so high that thin, wispy, real clouds encased the top. Vines wrapped around the castle, running over the ancient, mossy bricks. A warm glow was emitted through the windows, making it still look suitable for living, despite its obvious age.

Around it, the area was bustling with life. Cottages and abodes surrounded the castle, and there were strange creatures everywhere. Children that looked like humans, but had dark green splotchy skin and weird face composure were playing outside of a humble building with the words School etched into it. Short humanoid figures with wings wrestled on top of the spring cloud surface. It looked like a fairy tale.

Rachel grinned. “Welcome to Cloud City!”