Cursed

The woman walked right through me. I felt a shock of cold as her body passed through mine, then she was gone. I turned with a shiver to see her stroke Luna’s hair tenderly. “It’s all right,” she said. “Everything’s all right now.”

Luna stared at the woman, then at me, then at her, then took a deep breath. She reached up and took the woman’s hand from her hair, bringing it down in front of her. “I—I don’t understand. How are you here?”

“We came for you, of course,” the man said with a smile. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“But you—” Luna said. “I thought—”

“It’s all right,” the woman said. She clasped Luna’s hand between hers. “It was hard to believe at first, but once we came … Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Luna?” I said quietly. I’d stepped to one side. “Are these … who I think they are?”

Luna looked between us, then gave a tiny nod. Now I looked closer I could see the resemblance between her and the woman. She didn’t take after the man so clearly, but there was something there in how they moved. “Cara,” the man said. “Remember what we said?”

The woman nodded. “Yes. Luna, we’re sorry. For not believing you, for not listening. You were telling the truth all along and we should have known. We were too scared.”

“I—” Luna wavered.

“They’re not real,” I said quietly.

Luna’s head snapped around to look at me. “How do you know?”

I shook my head. “How could they have got here? It doesn’t make sense.”

“We’re really here, Luna,” the woman said. She didn’t show any sign of hearing me but she answered as if she had. “We found a way into this … Elsewhere, that was what it was called? It wasn’t easy, but …” She smiled and brushed Luna’s cheek. “Well. To do this again …”

Despite herself, Luna smiled. “Mum, I told you not to do that—”

“They’re not real,” I said again. “Don’t accept it.”

Luna looked at me, frustrated. “Give me a second!”

“The longer you let yourself believe they’re real, the harder it’ll be,” I said quietly. “Trust me.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because it’s happened to me,” I said. “There are things in Elsewhere, Luna. No one knows what they are. They can wear the masks of family, friends, people from your past. Do you seriously believe your parents found a way into Elsewhere? Both together? Is that the kind of thing they’d do?”

“Luna?” her mother asked. “Who are you talking to?”

Luna drew in a harsh breath. I could see the struggle in her eyes, trying to decide whom to believe. She looked away, her movements jerky, and I knew with a sudden flash of insight that at that moment she hated me. Not for telling the truth, but for making her believe it when the lie would have been so much less painful.

“I have to go,” Luna said.

“Go?” her mother asked blankly. “But why?”

Luna didn’t meet her mother’s eyes.

“Don’t you see?” her mother said. “This was why we came. It’s safe here. We can be with you without getting hurt.” She put her arm around Luna with a smile. “Come inside. There’s so much you need to tell us. And I promise you’ll never have to run away again.”

Luna hesitated, wavering. For a long moment she stared at the house in front of her. Then, gently, she took her mother’s arm from around her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “There are things I have to do.”

I felt my shoulders relax slightly and realised I’d been holding my breath. Just for a second, I wondered if this was what happened to those people who never came back from Elsewhere. I’d always assumed they’d been attacked. But maybe it had been something as simple as this …

“Then we’re coming with you,” Luna’s father said.

“You’re—?”

“No arguments,” her mother said firmly. “After all this time, you think we’re going to leave you alone again? It’s your choice but we go where you do.” She smiled. “We’re not going to send you away this time.”

Luna looked from her to me, unsure, but I was caught off guard as well. “Okay,” Luna said at last. “I’d … like that.”

“Perfect,” the woman said with a smile. “It’s settled, then.”

“Which way?” Luna asked.

The woman turned Luna towards the end of the street and nodded. “Right there.”

Luna looked down the street. Her mother was still holding her arm. She took a step, the scenery seemed to blur and shift—

We stood in the middle of a mountain village. It was after sunset, that time between twilight and darkness where just enough light is left in the sky to see but only by straining one’s eyes. The weather was dark and brooding, thick clouds covering the sky with only a tiny sliver of grey showing in the west. A mountain peak loomed over the village, a black shadow in the gloom.

The village looked old, very old, and it wasn’t English. The architecture was different, the houses built in a