“STORM BEFORE THE LUNA”
“It’s not just the necklace.”
By her shoulder, I gripped to the “elbow” areas of her arms. I did not budge. While physically her weight felt heavy, I sat still. I was bewildered.
I held my breath. I knew I was on tough waters. “What is it?”
She exhaled slowly, and just enough so that she could make fleeting eye contact with me, and said, “It's... Elara.”
That was a name I knew. Having arrived and settled in my brain, that name spread through my mind like a stain—a dark and agonizing stain.
“Elara,” I said and blinked in disbelief. “What about her?”
With a pained expression, so distressed that she had to blink to herself to muster the strength to persist, Seraphine decided to stand and start pacing, her arms wrapped about herself in an image of self comfor
