Another Moonlark

More To

Project Moonlark

By: BetsyFrancisdaMesmer

'''Warning: This story is really really really really really long….and sad. Really really sad. Oh yeah it also contains Shannon Messenger’s characters and blah blah blah blah blah…. (Not trying to be rude)'''

An Introduction

If you have read the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger then you know that it takes place in an elven world and follows young Sophie Foster and her friends  while they fight the evil Neverseen with help from the mysterious and unhelpful Black Swan. If you have not read it then I’d recommend reading at least to the end of the 6th book, Nightfall, before starting this because, otherwise, it probably won’t make any sense at all. But this article does not follow Sophie’s adventures through the Lost Cities, in fact, it doesn’t follow her at all. This story begins before her while planning for what you all know as Project Moonlark…

Preface

Thinking

Mr. Forkle was sitting on a cushioned rocking chair gazing out the window completely lost in his thoughts. Calla scanned the blueprints they had just been working on. They had just perfected the genetics for the strongest elf in the world, all they had to do was make it take a physical form. Their lab partners agreed that the telepathic ability would be inserted while she was asleep, but her super smart elf brain would still be there because of the genetics Calla had inserted. When the gnome (Calla) was just about to leave the room for the night Mr. Forkle called her, “Calla, tell me again why you suggested we name this experiment Project Moonlark”. Calla blushed, “Well, it just made sense since Moonlarks send there eggs into the ocean and we are sending our own into a sea of humans-“. Mr. Forkle interrupted her, “but some are not strong enough to survive the tortuous sea, just like our girl might not be strong enough to survive the tortures of all the things that are so poisonously placed in the Forbidden Cities. If she cannot survive things like the flu there’s no way she will survive the urge to join the Neverseen”.

They both paused, how could they have not thought of this? They needed more than one Moonlark. Just like the adult Moonlarks, they couldn’t take chances. “We’ll make three, but we’ll need DNA from two other elves. The mom will be the same but the dad will be different for each one” Calla said as she rushed to the computer. “My brother and I will watch after two. Calla, find a gnome who can watch this first one. You created it 100% out of plain genetics and it could use some nature”, Mr. Forkle said, beginning to hail the other Mr. Forkle. Calla nodded “I found the fathers, Cassius and Kenric, and I’m thinking about the mother” Calla paused “Oriale or Edaline”. Mr. Forkle thought for a moment “Oriale, it will help get her into Foxfire.” Calla nodded in agreement. After a while Calla told Mr. Forkle “Lir is going to raise her, but can we please work out everything else in the morning. I know gnomes don’t sleep much but the last time I Iayed my head on pillow was when we were teaching her genetic subcontious to sleep, and that was two years ago!”. “Yes, of course Calla” Mr. Forkle chuckled “Oh that reminds me, did you insert those-“ but she was already gone.

Freya

The Beginning

“Freya, Frey? FREYA DAWSON WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!” I finally opened my eyes “What!!?, Ellie let me sleep” My best friend ignored my pleas and shook my arms, I finally opened my eyes wide enough to see the tears in her eyes, I suddenly sat up “what happened? Did someone die? I knew it” and then the realization hit me, ''of course, how could I have forgotten. ''“No” she said between sobs, she never finished that sentence. There was a silence, then we both erupted into tears. You see a couple weeks ago a man named Lir came and wanted to adopt a girl, (I live in an orphanage) and of course he picked me.

I have lived in the orphanage for 11 years with no long lost relatives and no birth certificate and two different stories of how I got there. All the adults say I turned up at the door with a lady who claimed to have found me on the doorstep of a pound for dogs and took me to the orphanage. And when they asked for my birth certificate and any information she had about me, she just said if she found anything she’d contact them. The story Sara Lopez tells (she is the oldest orphan here) is the same, except that the woman came straight out of the woods and she looked very old but at the same time young. Weird right?

At 6:00 pm he is going to pick me up and I will never see Ellie, the rest of my friends or the orphanage ever again. Taking all this all in just made me cry more. All I could say is “Ellie I’m going to miss you so much.” All she could respond was, “Me too Frey, me too”. After awhile she asked me what I was thinking, “Are we going to use the emergency money?” All I could do is nod. The emergency money is made for this exact circumstance, if we got adopted we would communicate through cell phones, of course we never thought it would happen. So we went into our loft and opened the secret vault.

Compared to other orphanages Saint Annie’s is pretty nice. Every volunteer there is really nice. My groups counselor is Lena, and she is the best, I will miss her too. There is one room per two people and I share one with Ellie. We have twin beds and bookstands, a book shelf and a pretty amazing loft with a secret compartment. Saint Annie’s has pretty amazing food too. The only thing it lacks is proper education and to be fair, I think everyone enjoys the Friday cupcakes more than the weekly pop-quizzes. They do teach your grade’s subject later in the day and offer tutoring for those who want to go to college.

I took the money and we told Lena we were going to the mall and took off toward the new Apple Store near the orphanage. When we entered the store both are minds raced to find the new phone we would get, we had raised more than 2,000 dollars. We went up to the cashier and Ellie asked her "Excuse me miss, but do you know what phone would cost near 1,000 dollars?" she ended her question with a cute smile. "In fact we do have a couple left, would you like one?" the cashier said, bringing out a shimmering phone. "Yes we'll take two" Ellie said politely. After getting the phones. Ellie and I squealed then started to download the apps we needed, we had just enough money. As Ellie and I walked around town I knew life wouldn't be the same with out her, boy was I right. Leaving Ellie changed everything.

Pick Up

The rest of the day was amazing. Ellie and I went to the fair and we partied at a stranger’s birthday! It was so fun. But suddenly it was 5:30 and I was packing, Ellie got all of my books and put all of them but the two I was reading in the suitcase Lena had bought me as I folded the last of my clothes. Then Ellie tapped my shoulder, “here” she said handing me a sparkling scrapbook. It had picture of all our time together since we were two to now. All I could do is hug her.

I was outside the orphanage with my bags. Ellie, Lena and the rest of my friends were huddled around me saying their goodbyes in a not-so-straight line. I was crying on Lena’s shoulder when I saw the man waiting patiently on the side. Lena let go as she said in her soft voice “now take care of yourself, and come visit soon” I could see the tears in her eyes “Goodbye my dear, good bye”. Then it was Ellies turn, we just cried and hugged for awhile then she said “ Frey you are the best friend I ever had and… well I never want to see you go but, here we are.” I finally walked into this man’s car and as I looked back I saw everyone crying on the sidewalk but Ellie…. who was running at the side of the car yelling “GOODBYE FREYA DAWSON, WE’LL MISS YOU” and then in a quiet voice “good bye Frey”. I will miss you Ellie, I will miss you so much.

It’s a tree, no a garden… Oh thats my house

I looked at the giant pack of leaves then took out my phone, took a picture and sent it to Ellie. “Let me help you with your bags” Lir said. Wait what- I thought, but gave him my suitcase. My phone rang, Ellie had answered, What is it she had asked, I was about to answer her, but Lir spoke first, pulling vines off to reveal an oak door. “Welcome to your new home”

Lir showed me my room, I have to say for a nature geek his house was pretty modern, you know besides the fact that it looks like a giant pile of leaves from the outside. The thing I loved most about it was the food, I became vegetarian, the only meat I ate was chicken. I still texted Ellie every day and met up with her on weekends when we would work at Lena’s resturant. I loved the leaf house and Lir and his “work buddy” Mataya, but that didn’t stop me from missing the orphanage, I cried a lot but once Lir found out I was sad he must of bought some flowers and they made me happier, but nothing erased the memory of me saying goodbye to Ellie. Even the surprise Lir had for me by the end of our first week.

“Look I’m so sorry I have to do this, but…” Lir said “You see Freya I need to send you to school”. “Really, I get to go to actually school” I said excitedly. “Oh, you're excited, good” Lir replied relieved. My school was called “MP3” and my first day was August 26th. I told Ellie and she was so jealous but she worried because she thought I would make a new best friend and forget about her, but I never did. On my first day I got a little worried, I thought that they would make fun of me because I was a year ahead. You see I took the test for this school and they said I should be in 8th grade, luckily Lir only allowed them to assign me in 7th grade. At 7:00 am Ellie texted me ''Don’t be worried, just answer 3 questions max in each class and you will be fine. ''I’d try, I’d try for Ellie.

Three months later

I watered my flowers then took out my phone as I looked through my messages, both Ellie and Lir had texted me. Ellie had said, Do u want to go to the fair Friday? and I answered her Yeah!!!!!! Then I saw Lir had texted me I wont be home till later tonight so I left dinner on the stove, and make sure to go to sleep at 8. I answered Ok and went to the kitchen for dinner. Lir had told me someone from work would be there and they sure were. Both Mataya and Lir’s boss Mr. Forkle were there, Lir had left noodle soup and white bean soup in the microwave. I sat down next to Mataya and my therapist Luca who was also there. Once I finished my dinner I said goodbye to everyone and went up to my room to finish my homework.

By the time I was done with my homework it was 7:45 so I got in bed and read for fifteen minutes. I went to sleep and had the weirdest dream. it was pretty scary too, there was this weird guy leaning over me. Then when I woke up I heard voices, I looked around to see who was talking but no one was there. When I got downstairs the voices had muffled, but a new one had come. Lir’s voice. At school the voices followed me everywhere and they did for the next year. Until I met him. Until I left Ellie.

One Year Later

	Brrrrring, Brrrrring kids ran passed me as I tried to copy down the rest of my homework. I finally gave up and ran out of the door. As I walked down the street a boy tapped my shoulder “Are you Freya?” he said in a un-familiar accent, British? “Umm yeah why” I answered cautiously. “Thank goodness, I’ve been looking for you forever” he answered relieved, No, he was definitely Australian. I backed away slowly “Ummm, I actually have to go home my dad’s waiting” I started running. “No no no no no no no. You can not leave. My dad will get so mad if I came so close and lost you” he said. Nope, he is Irish or French. I started running, in full sprint. I heard him yell “No Frey” then I stoped in my tracks. Only Ellie called me Frey. Like only only Ellie, if he was calling me “Frey” something had happened. “Take me there” I said grabbing his shoulders tight “Ahhh, ok I guess, but I’m not really supposed to so…”  he said        “Yeah, I don’t care. Take-me-there” I said seriously, I needed to save Ellie and this dumb-dumb wasn’t going to stop me. “Fine, fine” he said, brushing his hair out of his eyes, Oh my gosh his eyes. They were teal, like teal teal, it was weird. But that didn’t matter right now, Ellie needed me. “So whats your name” I said while we were running to the orphanage. “Fitz” he said caching up to me. “There is no rush you know, we have all day”. I looked at him like he had just said we lived in the land of Harry Potter and I was an Alien that would eventually become Superman and Batman’s step-grandmas second niece twice removed. Yup, that was my dream last night and something about me actually being an elf, but that was so unrealistic. “ Someone could be DYING right now” I said letting the words sink in  “I wish we could just leap there, it would be so much faster”. “You’re right, come on” he said dragging me over to an alley way. “What did I just say… what is that?” I said as he pulled out a magic wand “Concentrate, your life depends on it” he said obviously over- foreshadowing the moment. “WHAT” I yell, but concentrate when the light consumes me, I concentrate on Ellie.