“But- but why?” Lily asked. She remembered having several of her favorite worlds written on her scroll, as well as toys and relics she’d either found or purchased. Lily tried to bring up her list of friends but even that was blank on the scroll. She could have used her friend list to contact Riley but now that was impossible.

“Something caused Moon to shutdown...well, whatever they did to make it better must have been so huge there was no point in keeping our past adventures.” Chrys said with a nod, as if that was what he decided happened. “No use whining over it, things just got a lot harder though.”

“What do we do now?” Lily surveyed the overwhelming mass of kids stuffing themselves into Moon’s main hub, Festival Square. She could already hear the pounding music and eruption of shrill voices teeming with excitement.

“We have no choice but to search for her.” Chrys answered, “Let’s get a move on.”

Lily’s grumpy classmate reached out to grip her arm again when Lily flinched, remembering how he dragged her out of the crowd. He seemed to pause in response, staring at Lily.

Oh no, I shouldn’t have done that. He’s going to be offended and swear, Lily’s face began to feel hot and sweaty. She wracked her brain for some kind of excuse, for something to justify her obvious pull away.

“Hey, Hey!” Chrys barked.

“Yes!?” Lily squeaked, startled.

“Can we go please?” Chrys was frowning again, his homeostasis. However, he looked away saying nothing. In front of Lily his hand was outstretched, a more passive offering. She gingerly placed her hand in his and he looked back at her with an expression Lily couldn’t put a name to. Then they were off through the crowd, moving with them into Moon’s most rambunctious, never ending festival ever. They passed the tall black gates into a more cramped city like street surrounded by not only lines and lines of shop vendors and their puppet shop owners but tall skyscrapers that disappeared into the clouds above. Confetti floated down endlessly, coating every kid’s head.

“It taste like birthday cake!” someone cried out. Kids were tilting their heads up, letting the sweet confetti strips land on their tongues and dissolve into the taste of their favorite desserts.

Lily’s heart was beating with the drums within the jolly music that played around the crowd. She placed a piece of confetti in her mouth and tasted warm chocolate chip cookies, the ones her dad makes when her mom comes home late. The part of Lily not worrying over her strange dream and where Riley was, was growing stronger as the joyous festivities permeated her. She was finally in Moon again, surrounded by miracles that couldn’t happen in real life. She wished so much to just start floating up and up and up over the crowd. She wanted to observe something so perfect that could only be possible by the essence of imagination and feel that whole feeling she didn’t quite know what to call.

“I missed this.” Lily heard herself say.

“What?!” Chrys shouted, trying to be heard over the noise.

“Nothing!” Lily attempted to shout back.

The two continue walking down the street, past those who have stopped to pick up Festival Square merchandise.

Get your mini mermaid glitter balls here! Watch your very own mermaids swim round and round in your very own water globe!

Come on over for costumes made from fireworks! Give your friends the show of a lifetime! Come on over folks!

Lily loved to watch the tiny mermaids swimming in floating balls of water among twinkling lights. It was a model of the main attraction among Festival Square, the mermaid parade. It’s what made Moon’s main starting point so popular all the time. In the square’s center hosted life sized mermaids who danced among giant floating water bubbles. Their graceful swimming and melodic voices captivated all children every time. They only performed three times a night so it was always crowded before a performance. Lily felt it was even more crowded with it being the first day of Moon being back.

The two finally reached the end of the street where it opened into a large circlular center. Looking up, there were kids within some of the tall skyscrapers looking down and tossing out fireworks that wiggled wildly like snakes in air. Some were waving down and from below where Lily and Chrys stood some kids waved back. It was now a bit more bearable to move about the large center square. Lily and Chrys wandered around the square, shuffling past kids who were standing and sitting, focused on the main stage placed in the middle of the square. As the two walked, trying to find their lost friend, Lily began to feel it was becoming more futile. She thought she would just be able to feel Riley would be here, but Lily started to think of herself as foolish for that thought. They finally circled back to where they had been.

“Maybe she’s more near the stage in the very center!” Chrys yelled. “She definitely isn’t near the outer circle or the vendors.”

Lily simply nodded. She was now distracted, having picked up the sound of someone crying among all the laughter.

“Hey?! Did you hear me?!” Chrys yelled. Lily turned her head left and right until she spotted two children just a few paces from them. Chrys followed her eyes and the two watched as the much younger of the two was sobbing hysterically. The older one was knelt down, using their sleeve to wipe the big tears rolling down the younger’s face. Chrys glided past Lily, much to her surprise and approached the two children.