Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Seventeen

Cress braced herself against the wall, pushing with all her might against her desk. It budged just the slightest bit.

"You... will... move." She grunted through her teeth, sucking in a breath and shoving against the desk again. It slid a good 12 inches but got caught in one of the floor boards and no matter how hard she pushed it refused to move. "Well, I guess you're staying there." She huffed.

Moving back out into the center of the room, glad at the space she now had between the foot of her bed and her desk, Cress flung her blankets out in a quick attempt to neaten things up. All her clothes were neatly hung or folded and she had spent the past 20 minutes straightening out her desk.

Despite having few possessions, she felt a pulse of satisfaction at having cleaned her room and setting everything to rights. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she stepped out into the hallway and started towards the galley.

"Cress!" Iko cried, waving Cress over. She had a portscreen in her hand and was grinning excitedly.

Cress moved to sit beside her, peering over her shoulder at the screen. Iko had a net store catalogue pulled up featuring all different kinds of winter clothes and essentials. Iko had several tabs open.

"Let's get you stocked up. I've got a bunch of different options, depending on your mood. I still haven't quite figured out your style yet."

Cress lightly frowned. "My style?"

"Yeah. I think you're..." Iko turned to face her, tilting her head as if she were solving a complex equation. "You have a very comfortable but girly look. Hm, what would you call that?"

"Comfy chic," Carswell said. "And I like the way she dress's so don't be pulling up all those crazy shoes and dresses and stuff," he added, waving a hand towards Iko's port.

Iko made a face. Flipping the port around and sliding it in front of Cress, she showed her the options.

Cress's eyes widened. All kinds of snow gear, winter clothes, sweaters, boots, and even hats flooded her vision and all she could do was blink. 

"Please tell me there's at least something you like," Iko said, her voice taking on something close to a whine.

Cress quickly wiped the look off her face. "No, no, everything looks perfect. It's just, you know... a lot. I don't—"

"If you say you don't 'need' it... I might have to disown you."

Cress giggled, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Sorry."

Iko waved her hand back towards the screen. "So? Anything you don't like?"

"Um..." Cress, as quickly as she could, scanned over the photos of various items. Nothing stood out to her that she didn't like, though she couldn't exactly picture herself wearing anything. She hadn't ever been cold enough to need pants—or sweats or sweaters or jackets.

"And they all come in petite sizes, so we don't even have to worry about getting them hemmed,"  Iko added, grinning excitedly as she took the port. "I'll have them shipped to the house."

Cress frowned. "House?"

"Winter's an ambassador for Luna so she's got houses all over the Union."

Cress's eyebrows shot up.

"It's huge," Winter said as she strode into the galley with the grace of a ballerina. Even doing something as simple as getting a bottle of water from the cabinets was beautiful. "At least... it looked huge on the net. I haven't been there yet."  

"I've never seen the snow," Cress murmured, her excitement bubbling.

"Me either."

"Ugh, it's cold and white and makes you wish you were somewhere else." Carswell said. "Kinda like Jacin."

"Be nice." Cress poked his shoulder as he walked past her.

Carswell heaved a dramatic grunt, disappearing down the corridor.

"I've made a list of things I want to do and see." Winter said, pulling out her port. "I've never tasted maple, so I thought we could make maple cookies. And go sledding! That's always sounded like so much fun. And of course just... seeing snow. An Earthen winter."

Cress smiled.

"Jacin's seen snow before."

"Did your parents?" Cress asked quietly.

Winter shook her head. "At least, not that I know of. I don't think either of them left Luna. My mother's name was Solstice."

Cress faintly giggled. "They liked winter."

Winter nodded. "My baby blanket it a picture of an Earthen winter."

"Really?"

"My mother made it."

Cress lightly frowned. She wondered if her mother ever made her a blanket or anything like that. At least Dr. Erland... her father, told her they used to sing Sweet Crescent Moon to her. The song held new meaning now, something she could hold onto that reminded her of him. She wished she'd had the chance to talk to him more, if nothing else to try and imagine what his voice sounded like when he sang. But if her mother made her anything like a blanket, she probably burned it after finding out Cress was a shell.

Lightly shuddering, trying to shake her suddenly somber mood away, Cress leaned back in the chair and stared out the small window. She tried to picture the snow—after seeing thousands of pictures and vids on the net, she wondered if it would really sparkle in the sun or how the individual flakes would fall from the sky. She couldn't wait to go outside and play and then come back inside and have something warm to drink, surrounded by her friends with a fire crackling in the fireplace.

Cress's eyes popped open. Maybe they'd play that game again!

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