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"Rosie?" Kao shook me back to my senses. "Hey, you okay? You froze on us."
"Sorry," I mumbled softly. "I'm here."
"What's wrong?" Javier asked.
"It's nothing, I just got lost in my own thoughts is all." I didn't want to keep bringing up the subject of them getting involved and sounding like a broken record. I had to keep reminding myself that I never asked them to get involved in the first place. They came to my aid of their own decision, and if it wasn't for them, I wasn't sure if we would've made it out of Kingsrose in one piece. Even if we lost a couple of people in the process, including Joaquin and Abuelita.
"We should keep moving," Roxanne commanded. "We're almost there."
The remainder of the trip was done in silence, which left more room for thoughts to swim in my head like a colony of fish. I wasn't sure how long we were walking, or how far we've gone. I should've paid more attention to the distance and direction, but I was so emersed in Roxanne's backstory that I lost myself in her words. Oh well, we'd be walking back, wouldn't we? The burning along the center of my forehead continued to grow. I wasn't sure if the pain circling along my skull was a migraine or the pull of the Moon Dial. Maybe a combination of the two.
"How much longer?" Kao asked, sticking to my side like glue.
"Not much further," Roxanne responded.
My eyes roamed the trees surrounding us to the dirt at our feet. For some reason, the dreams I had when I first arrived to Kingsrose came back to me. The ones where I was running through the forest until I made it to a clearing with a stream of water separating me from the wolves on the other side. The path we were taking held an air of similarity.
Wait, was this...?
Without thinking, I ran forward. I heard my name being called by multiple voices, but I tuned them out. My feet were moving on their own, bolting through the trees as if I ran this path a million times. Because I had ran this path before. This was the same forest from my dreams, which meant that the clearing was within my reach. Sure enough, when I turned the corner, the clearing was right in front of me. My wolf was energized and pushing me to keep going. I did and burst through the opening. I skidded to a halt right at the edge where land met water. I hunched over, resting my hands on my knees as I panted for breath. It was real, the place in my dream was real all along.
Rapid footsteps grew louder from behind until several bodies huddled around me.
"Rosie, what the hell!" Kao exclaimed beside me.
"I know this place," I panted out. "This was it, the place in my dreams. The one where Mother Moon told me to choose."
Kao straightened his posture, his head moving this way and that. "Really? You saw this place in your dreams?"
"I'm not surprised." I stood back up and turned as Roxanne spoke from behind me. "Even I dreamt of this place. I guess it means everyone who's chosen by Mother Moon dreams of it." She tilted her chin up as if silently telling me to look what was in front of me.
I turned my head forward and gasped. When I came here in my dreams, I never saw the Moon Dial. There was nothing here other than the body of water, the Wolf Moon, and the four wolves who were supposed to be my mates. Nothing was placed in the center of the water, but this wasn't my dream. This was reality, and in that reality, there was something there. Placed in the center of the water, right where the beam of light descended from the First Quarter Moon that hovered in the blackened sky, stood a stone podium. At the top was the Moon Dial.
We found it.
ROSIE
We found it, the Moon Dial. This hopefully held all the secrets to the Wolf Moon's gift planted inside me, and the Pink Moon's gift inside of Roxanne. The dial itself was a circular disk that was as wide as the length of my arms if I stretched them out. The disk was held by a crescent moon-shaped arch with a silver rod that holds the two together, but also took on the role as the gnomon. The podium and Moon Dial were both made of stone and stood over six feet tall. From this distance, I could see two faint glows flickering inside the disc: one turquoise, and one pink.
I screamed and fell to one knee, the burn on my forehead becoming agonizingly unbearable. Everyone huddled closer, and then I felt it. The ray of turquoise light blinding my vision was the first sign informing me that my mark was taking form onto my skin. I could feel the crescent moon shape until it fully manifested, then the pain subsided all together. The incandescent flash of turquoise light illuminated my surroundings, matching one of the lights coming from the Moon Dial.
Kao backed up in shock, his eyes wide with awe. He lifted a shaky hand using his finger to point at me. "Rose, your forehead."
"I know," I got out through gritted teeth. "It's the mark. The Wolf Moon's gift."
"Dios mio," Javier breathed out, his hands gripping my arms to keep me upright. My back was to him so I couldn't see the look on his face, but I imagine it matched Kao's stunned expression.
A flash of pink off to my right grew brighter as Roxanne stepped closer. When I looked up, her mark was also visible, sparkling with pink luminescence.
"Our marks are reacting to the Moon Dial. It senses the gift inside us, recognizing that we're meant to be here," Roxanne explained.
"Then why are we here?" I heard Caleb ask from behind. "You girls have the marks, but none of us do."
"You all have been claimed as mates to one of Selene's Moon Chosen, therefore you're also recognized and granted safe passage into this place."
"Wait, no we're not," Raph corrected. "I mean, Kao is, obviously, but we're Del's..." His voice trailed off as the truth dawned on him.
Javier was the one who spoke next. "You mean Del is also Moon Chosen?"
