CHAPTER ONE

❝The moon will guide you through the night with her brightness, but she will always dwell in the darkness, in order to be seen.❞

Shannon L. Alder

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For most people, studying is a chore. It's something they force themselves to do, late at night, when the press of an early-morning deadline weighs on them. Something that requires a few cups of coffee, Wikipedia, and the promise of sleep at the end of a long essay.

But it is not this way for Luna Clair. There's nowhere else she'd rather be than sitting here, at her best friend's kitchen island, books strewn across the counter, an earbud in each of their ears playing the soundtrack to West Side Story. She knows it's silly, but she adores the scene in front of her: ten library books on Ancient Egypt, each open in front of her; a steaming cup of hot tea; and her color-organized highlighters and pens poking out of their case. This is perfect to her.

Most of her teachers are convinced that she's the single thing that has kept Nicky Daley in school, since it's apparent that they're best friends, but this isn't true. In fact, Nicky's incredibly smart-maybe even smarter than Luna-but he just hates studying. So Luna gets him to study with her, and then afterward, she lets him drag her into some ridiculous war video game. It's a happy compromise: Luna gets the good grades she always wants, Nicky gets to play Call of Duty, and they get to enjoy each other's company.

It's during one of their regular study dates that everything changes. Luna's rewriting her history notes, Nicky's muttering the words to "Something's Coming" and doodling on the corner of his own notes, and snow is fluttering down outside the window behind them.

"Okay." Luna sets down her pen and looks up at her best friend. "The Nile River is how many miles long?"

Nicky chews on his lip, trying his best not to look at the answer beside him. "Um... 3,690?"

"You're really close. It's the world's longest river, at a whopping 4,160 miles long."

"Why in the world does the public school system find this valuable information?" Nicky asks to nothing in particular, gesturing feebly at the textbook open beside him. "I mean, I don't know how to do taxes or buy a house, but I know how long the Nile River is, so I'm set for life!"

"It's school, Nicky." Luna sips her tea, eyebrows raised. "It's designed to keep you in line, not teach you valuable information. Getting smarter is your job." It boggles her mind how most people don't love to learn. Or that it's possible to dislike musicals.

Nicky drops his head down onto the counter, pulling his hood up over his head. "At this rate, I'm so in line, I'm two-dimensional," he mumbles into the granite. "Graduating is a social construct. Lu, let's run away to Italy and become gondoliers."

Luna smiles in spite of herself. "Sorry, Nick." She pulls his hood back down and ruffles his hair playfully. "As much as I'd love to be a gondolier with you, graduating is a social construct that's required to get into college, and it's also required to live in my parents' house."

"Come live with us. You practically do already."

"Not sure your dad would be into that."

"What wouldn't I be into?" Larry Daley stumbles into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes blearily.

"Hi, Mr. Daley." Luna waves, sipping her tea. "Nicky wants me to come live with you. How was the new job?"

"Fine. And unless you're cool with sleeping on the couch, Nick, that's not going to happen." Larry opens a cabinet, pulls out a bagel, and waves it at them vaguely. "I'm going back to bed. Don't talk to me."

And before either Nicky or Luna can say anything, he stumbles down the hall, and shuts the door to his bedroom.

"Wow." Luna raises her eyebrows, looking back at Nicky. "He must've had a rough first night."

Nicky nods vigorously, flipping one of her pens between his fingers. "Back to studying?"

"Once more into the breach, my friend." Luna pulls their textbook toward her and looks down the list of practice study questions, tongue poking between her teeth. "And after this, you want to get donuts?"

"Always. Hit me, baby."

"Um...okay, list in order the pharaohs of the Eleventh Dynasty. And...go!"

Nicky's eyebrows knit together in concentration. "Uh, Intef the Elder, Mentuhotep the First... Line?"

Luna laughs and looks down at the textbook. "Intef the First."

"Oh, yeah! Intef the First, who really wasn't the first, Intef the Second-wow, they were real creative, weren't they?-and was there a third Intef?"

"There was indeed."

"Sweet," Nicky says, clicking his tongue and grinning at the look on Luna's face. "See, I'm not so stupid! Umm...Mentuhotep the Second, and I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Mentuhotep the Third and Fourth were next."

"I'm impressed," Luna says, and she actually is. "Only three more to go."

"Okay, okay. Merenkahre, and then the tragedy of Ahkmenrah, who I only remember because he was murdered by the next guy, whose name is..." Nicky frowns in concentration, then sighs and shakes his head. "I forgot his name."

"Kahmunrah. But you really did great; I'm very much impressed."

"Have I earned myself a chocolate donut?" Nicky gives her puppy-eyes and a cute little pout.

Luna laughs and pats him on the head. "Come on. I'll buy."

"I love it when you talk money to me." Nicky grabs his coat off the hanger and opens the door for her, pretending to bow. "My lady."

"Hey, speaking of Ancient Egypt," Luna says, pressing the DOWN button on the elevator and turning to Nicky, "there's a whole exhibit at the Natural History museum on the tomb of Ahkmenrah-"

"The murdered guy?"

"Yeah, him. I've never been, and I think it'd be good to check out before our test. What do you think?"

"I think Mrs. Moody would be thrilled to hear that we went out of our way to go to a museum," Nicky says, stepping into the elevator after Luna. "She might even give us extra credit."

"You don't think it'd be fun?"

"Will you let me make fun of their names?"

"Not a chance."

"Then no. But I'll be with you, so it'll be okay." Nicky winks at her, and Luna laughs. She fishes her phone out of her pocket and scrolls through her music, finally deciding on In the Heights. It's one of Nicky's favorites, and he smiles when she fits the right earbud into his ear.

They pass the American Museum of Natural History on their way to the donut shop, and Luna smiles. She's got a good feeling about tomorrow.

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hey beautiful people! how was the short-awaited first chapter?

i'm actually really excited about this new story. it's kinda niche, since natm doesn't have a massive fandom like criminal minds or the hunger games or anything, but i hope you enjoy it <3

like i said before, if you didn't read the beginning part (because i get it, some people don't, and you know who you are), i'm shifting the timeline around for my own literary purposes. instead of being set in 2006 like the original movie, this story will begin around 2011-12 and end in 2014, when the last movie was released, and skyler gisondo will play nicky throughout!

q: who is the cutest character in natm? (answers other than ahk are welcome, BUT *raises a skeptical eyebrow at you* you should question your life choices)

a: i'll rank 'em for you. #1 - ahk, #2 - nicky in secret of the tomb, #3 - amelia earhart (because really, she was the most adorable thing ever)