Winter Wish

4

Just a Book

After dinner, Luna retreated to her room and started reading a book given to her by Bella, one of her best friends.

She was in one of her strange moods again today and she hoped that reading would do her good.

There was something different about reading books, something strange, something she could hardly put a name to. When you start reading a really good and gripping book, you can even let go of your own ideas and imagine completely different worlds and lives. Bella also said that the most remarkable thing about this book was that it was about a wizard who supposedly lived in the forest. Some rumors even say that the wizard himself wrote the book. The mysterious, dark-powered human who they didn't even know if he was a man or a woman.

Naturally, anyone who loved to read, as she did, would be curious about this book. Especially if he lived in a town known for its cold winters and had been surrounded by the presence of this terrible wizard all his life...

So Luna started the book with real heart palpitations.

The pages were worn from too much reading and stained in some places. The stains could have been caused by Bella, because her friend was quite a slovenly girl. Bella was the same age as her and of course she was now a married woman with children. Unlike her, most people in the town could easily fall for each other and get married, but Luna had never met anyone who caught her attention. Maybe she should have gone elsewhere, gone straight to the capital city instead of the deserted towns of the kingdom. Who knew?

With a sigh, she concentrated on the book and read it for a while, until a strange breeze made her shiver and the flame of the candle flicker.

The book was really about a wizard and of course it was set in the forest. A young boy travelled through the forest in search of the wizard and ended up meeting the wizard in the middle of the night.

The pages flew by, the words made her shiver with a strange fear, but most frightening of all was the way the flame of the candle flickered to the point of going out, only to return with difficulty.

As Luna looked around nervously, her door suddenly burst open and she found herself screaming, as was not her custom.

"Luna!" Felix laughed upon hearing her scream. "Don't be scared, it's me!"

Luna threw her pillow at her brother and closed the book hard. Was it normal for this to happen just as she was reading the wizard's whispered words?

"What do you want, Felix?"

"I was bored, so I thought I'd look at you."

"I've told you several times before not to come into my room without knocking."

Felix ignored this rebellion and jumped on Luna's bed. "What are you reading?"

"A book," Luna said grumpily.

In truth, she was relieved that Felix had come to her. If she wasn't shy, she would have wanted to hug him, but if she did that now, her brother would surely think she was being weird, or worse, make fun of her.

"Very funny!"

"Did something happen?"

"No, mom told us to go to bed."

"And?"

"There was light coming from your room."

Felix shrugged and looked at the cover of the book with disinterested eyes, turning it over and over in his hands.

"Where is Fabian?" Luna asked, not taking her eyes off the book.

"Tenebrae super te cadent et nubes lunam operiet."

The words she didn't even know what they meant seemed to echo in her mind. Felix frowned as Luna shivered and hugged herself.

"What is it Luna, are you cold?"

"Yes," she said, rubbing his arms. "Give me a hug..."

"You're such a baby!"

Even though Felix had said it, his voice was tender, not sarcastic.

He really loved Luna and his voice was laced with concern as he jumped up and took her in his arms.

"Are you all right? Or are you getting sick? How many times do we have to tell you not to wander in the forest?"

Luna looked away from the book as she hugged his brother in relief. If Bella hadn't scared her like that, maybe she would never have had such thoughts while reading, but for some reason she felt uneasy. It was strange, but that whisper, the meaning of which she did not even know, seemed to echo within her.

As her body warmed with the warmth of his brother, her heartbeat began to slow.

"I'm fine Felix, don't worry. I just felt cold for a moment."

Felix touched his sister's forehead as he frowned solemnly. "You don't seem to have a fever. Do you want me to call mom?"

"No need," she shook her head from side to side and stepped back. "I was really just cold!"

"Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I am fine."

"Okay, then you go to bed and I'll get you another blanket from our room."

"But-"

"Don't worry, Fabian never covers up, so he won't mind."

"But-"

"Time for bed, Luna!"

Even though he was younger than her, Felix could be very mature when he wanted to be. Luna had always loved her brothers and their protective side, but her bond with Felix was special in a way that no one else in the family had ever had. She didn't know how it happened. Maybe she wasn't Felix's twin like Diana, but even Diana admitted it, they really did get along.

"Okay, okay!"

Without letting the book out of her sight, she did as he said and settled on her bed. Her heart was still beating a little fast, but that was okay.

Luna giggled with relief and relaxation as Felix rushed to get a blanket from his room and covered her tightly.

"I can't breathe!"

"Don't get sick Luna!"

"I'm not sick, Felix, you're worrying for nothing."

"Good, now go to sleep. I'll come check on you in the morning!"

Felix wagged his index finger at her and frowned, then without warning he blew out her candle and left her room as quickly as he had come.

Although Luna couldn't see the book in the dark, she could easily locate it by touch.

"It's just a book," she whispered as she pulled it close and forced herself to laugh. "I have no reason to be afraid."

It didn't make sense. She was afraid of something meaningless because of Bella. It was just a book, and judging by how worn it was, it had been read many times. After all, Bella had read it too, hadn't she?

She frowned for a moment as she thought about it. She couldn't remember her saying anything about reading it, but she must have. Why else would she have given it to her?

Well, even if it was because Luna had read more than her, it wouldn't be the first time.

With a yawn, she hugged her pillow tighter. Suddenly, sleep had overtaken her.

As her eyes began to close, a new breeze swept through the room, and though Luna couldn't feel it behind the two layers of blankets, a shadow softly enveloped the room.

As her eyes closed, Luna felt herself being drawn into the words she didn't even know what they were, as if she had heard them somewhere, or someone was whispering them to her.

It was as if the words were somehow surrounding her, trapping her in her sleep. Of course, such a thing couldn't be possible, but Luna kept thinking such strange things. She couldn't help it.

As she fell into a deep sleep, all she knew was that these words were in the book.

The last thing she read was that the wizard whispered it:

"Tenebrae super te cadent et nubes lunam operiet."*

*"Darkness will fall upon you and a cloud will cover the moon."