Luna Waverly's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Luna stood up on the pier. The bonfire crowd looked worse than before. More vacationers had shown up while she waited. The mass of bodies had swollen against the fire. Somewhere in there sat a stranger with Kira's phone, sandals, and bag. Last time Luna pushed into that crush, she lost her line of sight in a minute. This time she couldn't lose Kira too. "Stay here," Luna said. Then she stopped. That was the mistake before. She'd told Kira to stay, and Kira had wandered anyway. Luna looked at her friend, at the crooked ribbons and the sticky ring pop. "No. Come with me. Hold my hand and don't let go." Kira grabbed on. "Okay, yeah, hand-holding, I can do that, I'm like really good at it, so which way, and what does the guy even look like again?" "You tell me. It's your guy." Luna pulled her toward the fire. The heat and noise closed in. A man in wild swim trunks danced into their path, arms up, grinning. He offered Kira a cup. She almost reached for it. Luna tightened her grip and pulled her past him. They pushed deeper. A woman tried to fold them into a dance circle. Luna shook her head and kept moving. Her lights glowed against the packed shoulders. Then she remembered what the lights did to strangers. She pulled one strand loose and held it high over her head. "Kira," Luna said. "Your guy saw these lights on me at the pier?" "No, but I told him about you, like, the girl covered in lights, he'll know, everybody knows." Luna kept the strand raised and turned in a slow circle. People stared. A few pointed. She let them. Near the log benches, a young man stood holding a green bag and a pair of sandals. He squinted at Luna's lights, then waved the sandals overhead. "Him," Kira said. "That's him, oh my god, he actually waited." Luna cut through the last of the crowd, Kira's hand still locked in hers. The man handed over the bag and sandals without a word and drifted back into the party. Kira hugged the bag to her chest and dug for her phone. "Got it," Kira said. "Battery's dead, but I got it." She laughed. "See? Easy." Luna let out a breath. They stood in the middle of the crush, and for once she wasn't looking for anyone. Then Kira's face changed. She stared at the phone screen, then held it up. "Okay, so, before it died?" Kira said. "My brother texted like forty times. Kai. He's here. He's DJing the stage tonight and he wants us backstage and he's kind of freaking out." Luna knew Kai. Kira's brother, blonde, always in neon trunks, a turtle keychain on his waistband. He didn't freak out over nothing. Luna looked past the fire toward the far stage lights. "Then we go," she said, and kept hold of Kira's hand.