Page 80 of Moonmarked

“What exactly am I supposed to do here?” I asked in a hushed whisper, afraid I’d disrupt the perfection that was around us in some kind of way.

But Lyall laughed, and no bird flew away and no animal ran and nothing at all changed.

“Find what is an illusion among our surroundings, beautiful Nilah,” he said. “The game has already begun so I’m sure the magic has been planted. You must find that which is made of it, and it will vanish at the touch of your hand. That’s the only way to win your token.”

“That’sit?” Because it sounded awfully simple to me.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds, but yes. That’s it,” Lyall said, turning around and walking backward deeper between the trees. “Spread out and focus. Let’s see who has the better eye.”

The smile on his face was that of a victor already, like he’d won even before we started the game. And, yeah, I got that he was a prince, but I also wanted to win now just to get that smug smile off his face.

The feeling only lasted until he turned around and started moving closer to the trees. Rune was right there, walking with me, his eyes on mine for a moment, while the prince began to hum a melody under his breath. His eyeswere soft now, and I could have sworn he almost feltsorry—though what for, I had no idea.

Then Rune went closer to the trees on his side, leaving me in between them once more.

Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath and I focused. It was a game, and I could try to enjoy it at least, couldn’t I? It was magic, after all. Real magic, like the stuff they made movies about back home. And I was pretty sure it would be easy to find what was an illusion among what was real. Very easy.

Unfortunately for me, I was dead wrong.

Lyall hummed such a beautiful tune, and I was sure if he started to sing right now, his voice would be phenomenal. I let the melody slip into my mind just to distract me, to give me background noise while I analyzed the trees and the flowers and the blades of grass, went closer to the left just a few feet away from Lyall.

Then I moved to Rune’s side, too, and…

Fuck me, everything looks so damn real.There was no shimmer and no light and no transparentanything,not even a leaf or a branch or a petal on those violets—nothing at all that gave even a hint that it was an illusion.

I looked at the men, and they were completely focused on our surroundings, analyzing every little thing just like me, squatting down to look at the flowers, raising their fingers close to the pale barks as if tofeelthem without ever touching anything.

Neither of them seemed to have found anything that wasn’t real yet, and to know that I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t see any difference gave me a bit of comfort. Made me think that maybe Iwasn’tway in over my head here like I thought.

But then the setting changed.

The tunnel made of trees we’d walked through opened into a willow grove that might just be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and it reminded me so much of home that my chest hurt. That’s because the willows were completely green, not a single blue or red leaf on them. The grass that reached just above my ankles looked like it would befluffyif I leaned down to touch it.

The prince continued to hum that soft tune as he went through the grove slowly, his hands raised to the sides, fingertipsalmosttouching every branch and every leaf as he went.

Meanwhile, Rune was focused, thick brows narrowed as he looked around, suspicious of even the air he breathed, not in the least bit amused.

I was somewhere between the two, walking a few feet behind, taking in the view around me, both fascinated and suspicious, even a little scared. Not enough to actually ask if this was normal, though. There was just something about this place.

Then the animals came.

Lyall continued to move with his confident grace like he didn’t even see the hummingbird flying right over his head that seemed to materialize out of thin air.

My breath caught in my throat, but there was no time to even follow the bird with my eyes as it flew past, becausemoreanimals were moving around us now, coming from behind the willow trees, climbing down the branches, or just popping up from the grass, just like that.

Holy shit, the sound of them filled my ears all at once, and it was like I’d stepped into a different world altogether. The magic was so heavy it coated my throat like honey. The birds were everywhere, chirping, and there were squirrels running around, foxes and hares, hedgehogs among thegrass blades, some of their spikesglowingjust like the violets.

At first, they all lookednormal,save for the hedgehogs—which were also incredibly fast as they made their way about the grass, I might add.

But the deeper into this playground we went, the more I started to notice the differences.

Moths had wings made of flower petals, red and purple and yellow. There were frogs just casually hanging out near willow trunks, groups of over ten together, with glowing bellies that pulsed softly like they’d swallowed fireflies. Then there were these wildcats, no bigger than the average cat at home, but with sleek, long tails the tips of which left a trail of shimmer behind them as they moved.

In the distance there was a deer watching us, barely moving, and its large antlers were covered in green moss and tiny blooming flowers in all colors.

“My God,” I whispered when his eyes locked on mine, and Ifelthis attention on me like a physical thing. “It’s impossible—they’re all real!”

The way they felt, the way they moved, the way they looked—everything in this place looked so real that it would be impossible to tell whichwasn’t.

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