My Last Seven Days On Earth Started With A Broken Promise Chapter 01

My Last Seven Days On Earth Started With A Broken Promise Chapter 01

I was the Moon Lady’s familiar, a lunar spirit who’d slipped down to Earth without permission. Celeste Arden let me stay on a single condition.

Every year during the Fall Lantern Festival, at least one wish lantern had to carry my name.

If none did, she’d take me back.

The first year, I got four. One from my boyfriend Reid Mercer, one from my brother Graham Caldwell, one from my childhood friend Nolan Whitlock, one from my best friend Tessa Bellamy.

The second year, I got two. Nolan said Tessa’d had a rough year, so he wanted to send his lantern up for her instead.

The third year, only my boyfriend remembered.

The fourth year, I was so terrified I stayed up all night. I told them everything.

“Please. Just one lantern with my name. That’s all I need.”

They smiled. “Don’t worry,” they said. “We’ll all write your name.”

But that night, the sky was full of lanterns. Not one carried my name.

I found them through blurred eyes. All three of them, circled around Tessa, celebrating.

Tessa held up her phone, spinning in a giddy circle.

“Four! I got the most this year!”

“You promised me.” My voice cracked on the last word.

Graham wouldn’t look at me. “Tessa’s been stressed about grad school apps…”

Nolan shrugged. “You get lanterns every year. One year without isn’t gonna kill you.”

Reid didn’t even glance up.

“You made up a whole fairy tale about being a celestial familiar just to guilt us over some lanterns? Seriously?”

Tessa tucked herself against his shoulder, stifling a laugh.

“Come on, Mari. If you’re a lunar spirit, I’m a Disney princess.”

That was when I finally understood what Celeste had been trying to tell me.

The human world would never be warm enough. It was time to go home to the Moon Court and be what I was always meant to be.

…

“So you stormed off last night without a word, and now you’re back here sulking at us?”

The door slammed open hard enough to dent the wall.

Reid stood in the doorway, an enormous stainless steel bowl cradled in one arm.

Wet lettuce leaves and a few dirt-caked carrots sat inside it.

I paused mid-fold and looked up.

He crossed the room and slammed the bowl down on my vanity.

“Eat.”

“You’re a lunar spirit, right? Hit the farmers market this morning just for you. Fresh out of the ground.”

Every word dripped with the kind of generosity designed to humiliate.

Dirty water bled from the bottom of the bowl onto my vanity. My fingers tightened in my lap.

“Reid, this isn’t funny.”

“Who’s joking?”

Nolan drifted in behind him, fishing out a muddy carrot and pressing it to my mouth.

“Rabbits eat grass, don’t they? You were so desperate for those lanterns last night you made up a whole backstory about being some kind of celestial runaway.”

“So here. Rabbit food. Why the long face?”

Grit from the carrot scraped the corner of my lip.

It smelled like wet soil.

I pulled away from his hand.

Nolan scoffed and tossed the carrot back into the bowl.

“Wow. Full commitment to the bit.”

Tessa appeared in the doorway a moment later, a steaming glass of milk in her hands.

She was wearing my limited-edition silk pajamas, the too-long sleeves pushed up in loose cuffs.

“Guys, stop. You’re gonna make her cry.”

She stepped closer and held the glass out to me.

“Don’t be mad at them, Mari. Last night was my fault. I shouldn’t have said I was worried about getting into grad school.”

“They only put my name on the lanterns because they were worried about me.”

Her eyes welled up, her voice barely above a whisper.

I looked at the glass in her hand.

Graham used to warm a glass like that for me every morning. He knew my stomach couldn’t handle anything cold.

Now it was Tessa holding it.

“Tessa, why are you even bothering?”

Graham walked in and pulled Tessa behind him.

He looked at me the way you’d look at someone making a scene in public.

“If you want to starve yourself over a couple of lanterns, Marielle, be my guest.”

“We’ve all got lives. Nobody has time to play along with this fantasy.”

A sharp cramp twisted through my stomach.

I steadied my breath and pulled my notebook from the drawer.

“Graham, we’re supposed to visit Mom and Dad’s graves today.”

He went still.

Four years ago, my adoptive parents died in a car accident. Before they passed, they made Graham promise to always take care of me.

Every year since, the day after the Fall Lantern Festival, he’d drop everything to visit their graves with me.

He’d promised I’d never have to stand at their graves alone.

“I can’t. Not today.”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes, his voice tight.

“Tessa has a big interview today. I need to drive her and help her get ready.”

“We’ll go next week.”

I held his gaze. “What if I need to go today?”

“God, can you stop making everything about you?”

Reid stepped in before Graham could answer.

“We can visit the cemetery any day, Marielle. Tessa’s interview is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

“What happened to you? You never used to be like this.”

“Unreasonable.”

The word landed somewhere in my chest and went dead.

I looked down at the first line in my notebook.

[First wish. Visit Mom and Dad with Graham.]

Last night, after the sky filled with lanterns that weren’t mine, I sat on the balcony until dawn.

Celeste’s last warning was all I could hear.

Seven days. That was all I had left.

When they were up, she’d come for me, no matter where I was, and strip me of this human form.

Before that happened, I wanted to finish seven last wishes. A proper goodbye to being human.

The first one was already dead.

I picked up my pen and drew a hard line through it.

“Fine. I’ll go alone.”

I grabbed my coat off the chair and headed for the door.

Graham caught my wrist as I passed him.

“Is this your way of punishing me?”

His grip was tight enough to bruise.

I lifted my eyes to his. Steady. Empty.

“Graham, there won’t be a next week.”

He dropped my wrist like it burned him, jaw clenched.

“Do whatever you want. Come find me when you’re done throwing a tantrum and ready to think about someone other than yourself.”

I didn’t stop. I walked down the stairs, one step at a time.

Behind me, just before the front door clicked shut, I heard Nolan’s laugh.

“Tessa, go get changed. We’ve got you today. You’re gonna crush that interview.”

The door closed, and their laughter cut off like a switch.

Wind and cold rain hit me the second I stepped outside. I pulled my coat tight and walked into it alone.