Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 37

The room behind the door reminded Cynthia of a first era castle. The stone was an ancient gray, though there was no way to be sure if it was actually even second era stone. Lunars were rather good at illusions. The stones formed a cylindrical tower, peaking high above them. Still the most eye catching thing in the room was a figure standing in the middle.
With a gauzy veil hung over her face.
Cynthia was frozen to her spot in the doorway. This could not be who she thought it was. It was probably just a trick. It's always a trick on Luna.
A sugary sweet voice snapped her back to reality. It floated on the air like a sweet lullaby chilling the princess to the bone.
"I should have known that cyborgs offspring would come someday."
Even though the voice was as lovely as birdsong, the word cyborg was practically spit from the woman's lips.
She had been so focused on this mysterious figure that she had forgotten Leo had followed her into this strange place.
"Who are you?" He asked, but it was a question Cynthia already knew the answer to.
The figure pulled the veil away from her face revealing the horror beneath. Half her body was marred by vicious burn scars. Her eye was swollen shut, and some of her hair had never grown back. She was terrifying to look at, but even more terrifying was the confirmation that this was her. The murderous queen who should have been dead.
She smiled at the looks on their faces. "Once I was the greatest queen Luna has ever seen before I was dethroned by my niece and murdered. Back then I was Queen Levana, the most beautiful woman in all the world."
"So you are dead?" Cynthia asked, looking anywhere but her face.
"Yes of course child, keep up. Do you think I'd be wearing this face if I was alive and still able to use the Lunar gift? Of course not. No, now I'm merely a spirit of the gift. I served my time as leader of this country, and now I'm serving as protector of the gift as all Blackburns have. You see, on earth your bacteria and time and layers turn your decaying things into coal or oil. Here when a Lunar is laid to rest their remains find their way here, and they feed the gift."
The queen gestured to the pillar of swirling mist at the center of the room. If Cynthia didn't really focus, things would appear in the mist. Things that were definitely not real, but her brain was not fast enough to tell her eyes that.
"You both truly are anomalies aren't you," the melodic voice of the queen continued. "A child of an Earthen and a shell, rare because shells were killed until I was dethroned, and perhaps even more rare, the child of an Earthen and a Blackburn. No wonder you can produce physical bioelectricity."
She paced around them, Leo and Cynthia both frozen at the sight of their parents' tormentor. There wasn't anywhere to go either. This is where they needed to be.
"If I was still queen I would have given you to my head scientists and had them pick your brains apart piece by piece to determine exactly how you work..." she drawled on.
"But as you've come here seeking to destroy Luna's power, I'm going to just have to kill you."
A terrifying scream shook the room, ringing in the princess's ears, bursting her eardrums. She fell to the ground clutching them, squeezing her eye shut, begging it to stop. A single glance back up at the open-mouthed queen told Cynthia the source of the scream, and Leo's crumpled form beside her lit a fire inside her.
It burned slowly at first, but then it started to crackle. Not a flame, but lightning coursing through her, cracking and fizzing in her veins. The scream began to fade, and Cynthia opened her eyes.
She was kneeling inside a bubble made of bioelectricity. The white light reached out and cracked all around her. The queen's ghostly glare stared through the bubble, but she couldn't come any closer. Leo unfurled next to her.
"What do we do?" He asked, taking the opportunity inside their temporary shelter.
But while he spoke Cynthia's eyes were trained on Levana and the figures appearing around her. She had seen the portraits and photos. She knew these people.
There, on Levana's right with a sickly sweet smile has her grandmother, Channary. And on Levana's otherside her great-grandmother Jannali. More and more figures took shape. Generations of Blackburns all surrounding them and cutting them off from the heart of the gift. They were trapped.
Cynthia was getting tired. The bubble flickered. She wouldn't be able to keep it up for long.
"Can you make us a shield?" She asked Leo while she did her best not to let go of their protection. "We just need to. Make it to the mist. Then we hit it with everything we have."
Leo nodded, and Cynthia let go of her hold on the dome. It fell away only to be replaced by Leo's shield out in front of them like a miniature wall.
The Blackburns jumped at them. Cynthia felt claws at her back from things that should have been nothing more than illusions. She shot tiny sparks at them. They would jump back for a moment before returning to their pursuit, but Leo was pushing through ahead. They were gaining ground. The mist was getting closer.
"NO," screamed Levana. "It will not be a Blackburn that destroys the Lunar gift! This is not the way our family will be remembered."
"I've got news for you lady," Leo shouted over the rush of the mist now encompassing them. "There are a lot bigger stains on your name, for example, murders. But don't worry! You're not going to be around to care anymore."
He nodded at Cynthia, and in unison they let out every spark in their body drowning the entire room in light.
And then darkness.