Luna’s two colors

Partner in crime

Suddenly, my phone rang. Unfortunately, I just took a last bite from my bread and my mouth was full. I try to swing my hands to make my mouth go faster. Sam and Lily are rolling in laughter and Alissa just looks at me like I am not from this planet.

”Seriously Ali? Could you please at least try to act like a civilized person when we are eating?”, she asks.

I handed her my phone to answer it. Lily gave me my juice box, so I could get the food down easier. Clever puppy. She could make an excellent paramedic some day.

”It’s Tom. Hi Tom! Yeah, I’m with her. No. I’m not sure. Yes, we are eating. No, still alive. OK, she looks like she is done”, Alissa speaks to the phone and hands it back to me. Sam and Lily started to jump up and down.

”Toooom! Is Tom coming to play with us?”, Sam asks. ”Let me, let me!”, Lily screams and tries to snatch the phone from my hand.

”Pups are missing you”, I smile and get up, so Lily won’t take my phone from me. ”What’s up Tom?”, I asked.

”So someone's birthdays are coming up”, he tells me.

”Yeah, I know. 26, huh? Goddess, we are getting old my man”, I sigh.

”You up for some tour to my place finally?”, Tom asked. I didn’t answer straight away. I mean I love Tom. If Alissa is my go-to person in trouble, Tom is my reason why I am in trouble. We are born in the same year only one day apart, so we have been celebrating our birthdays together for over a decade. But that’s not the reason I wouldn’t want to go to his pack. Birthday parties or not. I have a feeling in my stomach that says that something is going to happen when or if I go there. I once visited his pack around when it was our 18th birthday. I had had my wolf almost 8 years then and Kuura wanted to meet Tom’s wolf for the first time, so we went there.

Tom’s pack is much bigger than ours. It’s located three hours' drive from us and it’s called Blue Moon. Our pack, White Moon and they are in a friendly way. Mostly because of my and Tom’s friendship. Tom is his pack’s Gamma, third in command. The only ones ahead of him are Alpha, the boss, and Beta, the best man.

”What if we go to Vegas instead?”, I ask. Yes, Vegas would be better.

”Are you seriously saying no? Again. Really Lapphund”. Tom calls me Lapphund when he wants to get to my nerve. The Lapphund is a Finnish dog breed. They are fluffy, small and used to herding reindeers.

”That is not the way to get me to change my mind, you know? This time Vegas, next time your place?”, I offer.

”No way, Jośe. That’s what you said last time. Come on, my father misses you. Take Lily, Jackson and the pups with you. Please”.

”Fine. But if something bad happens, remember it is your fault!”, I told him and continued,” But it’s a month away. You have to come here before that. I miss you. And the pups miss you. And Lily wants to try her new recipe on you. So if she makes a mistake it’s not us she’ll kill, but you”.

Tom agrees on the terms and promises to come in a few days, so we hang up.

Sam and Lily are looking at me with hoping eyes.

”Yes, uncle Tom is coming in a few days!”, I tell them, and they run to my lap, hugging me.

”Are you still believing in that nonsense?”, Alissa asks me.

”You should have been there. I missed it. And I never miss!”, I answer to her. We started to pack our stuff for the picnic basket. Sam and Lily pick up flowers nearby.

”If there really is a curse, don’t you think we haven’t heard about it? Somebody must have thrown their coin past also”, Alissa tried to reason to me.

I rolled my eyes. ”Maybe, maybe not. Oh by the way, if you are so sure nothing is going to happen, Tom invited your family to come also”, I tell Alissa, and she suddenly stops. I glared at her with a hint of a smile. ”Yup, that’s just nonsense”.

”Oh stop it. We are all going. You’ll see there is nothing to worry about”, she picks up the basket and calls for Sam and Lily and starts to walk back to our village.

I muttered under my breath and followed them. I just have the feeling. The shivering sensation that something’s going to happen. Okay, it has been almost seven years since the last visit to the Blue Moon pack. But I need to explain. There is a well. It is like a wishing well. Nobody knows when it came or who wanted it there. It’s a natural spring and there are stones stacked up around it. It is beautifully carved and has three male wolves and one female wolf on it. The female wolf and one of the male wolves have crowns on their heads, so they are Alpha and Luna. The two remaining wolves are Beta and Gamma. And there is a tale about tossing a coin in there, and you will come back to that well some day. So when we were celebrating Tom’s coming to age, I threw a coin in the well. And I missed. I never miss.