Luna didn’t respond. I looked to see her staring at the house in front of us. It was three storeys high and had a red door with the number 17 on the front. The front yard had a privet hedge and two pot plants.
A flicker of movement made me glance up sharply. “Luna.”
Luna started and seemed to come awake. “There’s something here,” I said quietly. I couldn’t see what it was but my instincts were telling me we were being watched.
Luna shrank back against me, staring at the door as though it were going to bite her. I stood tense, trying to watch every direction. I was starting to think that the creature following me wanted us to know it was there. The glances I was getting were too deliberate, the disappearances too quick. But this time I couldn’t see a thing.
I felt Luna jump and snapped my head around. The door with the number 17 was swinging open and people were coming out.
There were two: a man and a woman. The man looked about fifty with the tanned skin and dark hair of Southern Europe. His hair was greying, but he looked strong and fit. The woman was a little younger and fairer, with Luna’s hair and eyes. As she saw Luna her eyes lit up and she ran towards her. “Luna, Luna!”
Luna froze. I tried to step in front of her but somehow they slipped by and a second later the woman was hugging Luna while the man stood by smiling. “Oh, Luna!” the woman said. “It’s been so long!”
Luna stared back at the woman and she looked terrified. She tried to pull away. “You’re … No. I don’t …”
“Tesoro,” the man said with a great smile. “It’s so good to see you.”
“I- No!” Luna pulled herself away violently. She kept backing away across the road until she came up against a car. “It’s not you. It can’t be you!”
“It is, love,” the woman said. If Luna’s reaction bothered her, she didn’t show it; her face was compassionate. “Let us help you.” She began to walk towards her.
Neither of the pair had reacted to me and they didn’t seem unfriendly, but whoever they were, they were freaking Luna out. I stepped between them and Luna, taking care this time to make sure they couldn’t get past me. The woman kept walking. “Hey,” I said. “Wait a-”
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 square-edged style with sloped roofs. Some of the houses had walls of brick, others stone and mortar, and all were dark. No lights showed in the windows, and there was no sign of movement. The village was silent, so quiet it was unnatural; there was no sound of wind or life. As I looked around I saw a few open doors, shutters hanging loose. It felt … dead. Whoever had lived here, they weren’t here any more. As I looked around the silent square, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise and I looked unconsciously for lines of retreat.
Luna was a little in front of me, her parents clustered protectively around her. She took a slow look around and something in her eyes made me sure it wasn’t the first time she’d seen this place. “Are you all right, dear?” her mother said. “Do you want to go back?”