The Lunar Destiny Series

Chapter 17

By the time we got to the Eleri County carnival, the sun had started to set. All of the rides were lit up now. I was actually happy to make it here when the lights were on; I loved how it looked all lit up at night. I could hear people screaming with terror on the Pharaoh’s boat. The ride rocked back and forth until they were close to being upside down, I never liked it. The feeling of my stomach in my chest didn’t excite me.

We got our wristbands that allowed us to ride all of the rides and play the games until closing time for an unlimited amount of times.

“Should we split up?” Priam asked.

“We should get on some rides together first and then everyone can go ahead and do their own thing.”

Lio said, looking around at the dozens of rides. Baltasar suddenly pointed ahead of us at what looked to be a four-sided, ten story tower. There were people strapped into seats on all four sides and each seat held five people. While we watched, the four sets of seats suddenly dropped down from the top of the tower and everyone screamed. The seats slowed down just before they got to the bottom.

“Oh hell yeah! We’re getting on THAT one first!” Baltasar said with a grin.

I looked over at Celeste and her mouth was hanging open in shock. I put my hand under her chin and closed her mouth for her.

“You don’t have to get on that one if you’re scared Celeste.” I said, trying not to laugh. She looked over at me with both of her eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Scared? Moi?” She said before she grabbed Baltasar’s hand and started pulling him towards the crazy ride.

Kyra rolled her eyes at the scene before she followed them.

Githinji came to my side, looking down at me curiously. I looked up at him just as curiously. I always felt like an imp when I was around the men. Almost all of them were like ogres and s**t; tall and mostly muscular.

“What about you little one? Think you can handle it?” He asked with a grin, I noticed his pointy canines showed just like Lio’s when he smiled. I put my hands on my hips and smirked deviously.

“I bet I can handle it better than you.”

His eyes widened, surprised by my response.

“Alright then, the first one to scream on the drop has to get on the Pharaoh’s boat in the very last seat in the back.” His grin got even wider. Something eerily challenging was in his eyes. I hated that damned ride, and feared it a little. You see, the way my personality is set up is, once a bet is introduced I just couldn’t refuse. I became irrationally prideful.

“Have a nice ride in the rear, Githinji.” I said before walking off towards the very appropriately named Death Drop Tower. I could hear Lio laughing behind me; Githinji’s expression must have been priceless.

It was both of us that ended up in the back of Pharaoh's boat. Damn it.

Lisette stole the seat next to Lio that was in front of us. Githinji sat next to me, losers in the back of course.

Celeste and Baltasar sat in front of them and then Kyra and Priam were all the way in front of the boat together. There were several other people on the ride as well. Naremi looked a little too happy to be on this God-forsaken ride. Once every seat was full, the operator started the ride and the boat began to slowly rock back and forth. Githinji nudged me and I looked over at him hesitantly.

“Nervous?” He asked, trying to tease. I shook my head and looked away from him.

The boat picked up speed and people started screaming and yelling, we weren’t even as high as we could get yet. The worst part of this ride, more than the ‘stomach flipping’ feeling it gave you, was the horrid whooshing sound the ride made the faster it went. Lisette had her arms wrapped around Lio’s left arm like a terrified child, her head on his shoulder. My eyebrows furrowed and my lips curled into a frown. That was supposed to me, not her. At the moment I finished that thought, she lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at me with a smug grin. She knew I was getting jealous, and she was enjoying it. The boat swung downward again and we could see the sky so clear, it seemed so close that you could touch it.

The wind pushed against the back of my head as the boat went backwards, making my sandy brown locks blow forward against my cheeks. I closed my eyes and tried to think of everything else but the fact that Lisette was all over Lio. Besides, he oddly didn’t seem to mind. Did I miss something? What had been going on between them while I wasn’t around?

When the ride was finally over, I quickly paired up with Celeste. I wanted time to calm down away from Lisette’s display of desperation. She was still clinging to him like a parasite when they got off of the ride. I linked arms with Celeste and started walking; I didn’t care where we went.

“Astraia! Wait up! What’s the rush!?”

I heard Priam calling from behind us.

“Yeah seriously, what’s going on with you?”

Celeste said, looking over at me concerned. I kept my eyes forward.

“Lisette’s playing mind games with me. She’s all over Lio trying to make me jealous and…Damn it…It’s working.”

Celeste raised an eyebrow.

“Do you want me to kick her ass? I’ll do it, you know I will.” She stopped to look at me.

“No Celeste. We’re better than that. Let’s have fun, that’s why we’re here.” I said smiling slightly, Celeste continued to frown.

“How can you have any fun when that home-wrecker is acting like that? You know who you should be mad at? Your boyfriend. He’s letting her do it.”

I didn’t want to bring that up but she was right. My question was: why was he allowing it?

I looked behind me to see everyone approaching us. This time, Lisette was walking alone behind them. She was staring down at the ground hugging herself. I saw Celeste grinning in my peripheral. Kyra was on Baltasar’s back laughing like a little kid. I saw Celeste’s grin fade into a blank, cold stare. Kyra lowered her head down to Baltasar’s left ear and nibbled on it before she giggled. Baltasar set her down on her own two feet and gave her a very unfriendly look before he came up to Celeste. Celeste looked like she was ready to smack him. He put his arms around her waist and smiled down at her.

“Don’t give me that look little lady, you know you’re my girl.” Those simple words somehow made Celeste smile.

Kyra pretended to gag herself and Priam just shook his head at her in shame. Lio came up to me, so close that I was forced to look up at him at an uncomfortable angle. He didn’t smile as he stared down at me; he already knew that I was upset. I was glad I had made it obvious enough for him.

“Can we talk alone? On the Ferris Wheel maybe?” He asked in a calm laid back tone.

“No more rides for me, at least not right now…”

“A walk then?”

I nodded before looking away from him.

Lio and I walked around through the carnival while everyone else went to do their own thing. We hadn’t spoken a word to each other since we separated from the others; I guess neither of us really knew what to say.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Lisette. I should have set her straight on the ride, not after.” He said.

“Why didn’t you? Did you want her to be all over you like that?” I said with heat on every word.

I stopped walking and he stopped right after. I looked up at him wondering what his excuse might be.

“Of course not Astraia, how could you ask me that?” He said.

I couldn’t help but hear a little anger in his voice too.

“I had to assume the worst when you wouldn’t push her away. Celeste was ready to fight her and so was I. I had to come up with a sorry excuse as to why she couldn’t instead of the truth. You have no idea what it’s like to keep secrets from people you care about…”

As soon as I said those words I instantly regretted them. He sighed and reached his hands up to hold my face in his hands. I looked up at him, feeling so frustrated and pained by what I’d said to him.

“I know how that feels better than you do. I’ve been hiding what I am my entire life Astraia. Sharing this secret with you makes life a little more bearable. You have to be strong; I can’t be strong for the both of us all of the time.” He said.

Of course he knew what it was like, I felt like an asshole for saying otherwise. The constant tension between Lisette and I bothered me more than anything. For now, I had to let it go. Lio and I were more important, and in the midst of the drama I had forgotten that. b***h of the year award goes to…