Chapter 1

The day my husband, Landon Warren, came home, my daughter, Lucia Warren, and I waited at the door for three hours with flowers. The moment his car came to a stop, she was the first to rush over. "Daddy!"

Landon, however, paused for a moment when he climbed out. He didn't pull Lucia into his arms, nor did he look at me.

He stood beside the car door, gazing up at the sky. The clouds hung low on that overcast day, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Yet, he stared at it for a long while.

After the staff member reminded him, he lowered his head and asked me, "What day is it?"

I was caught off guard. "It's the first of the month. Why?"

His lips parted slightly, and his shoulders slowly relaxed. "It's nothing. I only have to wait for 14 days."

I didn't follow. When I tried to ask him again, he'd already taken Lucia by the hand and led her inside.

I made all his favorite dishes for our first meal together.

Lucia was so excited she could barely sit still. While piling food onto his plate, she asked if there really was no wind on the moon.

"Daddy, can you jump really high on the moon?"

"Yeah."

"Then, did you pick up any rocks from the moon?"

Landon's hand froze in midair. "Nope."

"Oh," she responded before picking up a meatball and bringing it to his lips. "Eat up, Daddy. Open wide!"

Landon raised his head. The moment he got a clear look at the grainy ball, the smile on his face vanished.

He stared long and hard at that meatball, and his breathing became erratic. "Get it away from me."

Lucia didn't catch what he said and brought her fork closer to his mouth. "Mommy made this. It's super yummy!"

Landon abruptly raised his hand and knocked the fork out of her hand. The meatball fell onto the table, rolled a few times, and stopped in front of him.

He sprang to his feet and slammed his palm onto it. The minced meat squeezed through the gaps between his fingers.

Lucia was paralyzed. It took a couple of seconds before she burst into tears.

I hastily pulled her into my arms. "What on earth are you doing, Landon?"

He lowered his head and looked at his hand, as if he'd only just realized what he'd done. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that!"

He tried to wipe Lucia's tears away, but she shrank back into my arms. His hand froze in midair before he slowly withdrew it.

I thought that was the end of it. However, the very next second, he picked up the plate and dumped the fried eggs, meatballs, and cauliflower into the trash. He didn't even spare the cherry tomatoes on Lucia's plate.

He crouched in front of the trash can and crushed the food one piece at a time. Red juice mixed with meat leaked out from a tear in the bottom of the bag.

I stepped forward to stop him. "What has gotten into you?"

"These things make me uncomfortable."

"How so?"

He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. "They're too round."

I followed his gaze and looked at the trash can. "What's wrong with being round?"

Landon fell silent.

Just then, the clock on the wall chimed. He whipped his head around and stared intently at the round quartz clock on the wall.

The second hand ticked forward, one notch at a time. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

All of a sudden, Landon lunged forward and ripped the clock off the wall. The glass casing shattered into a spiderweb of cracks.

Yet, as if that were still not enough, he raised his foot and stomped on it. He didn't stop until the clock face was completely shattered.

Lucia hid behind me, weeping quietly.

I seized Landon's arm. "Does this have something to do with what you saw on the moon?"

The moment he heard the word "moon", his entire body went rigid.

I asked Lucia to head to her room first.

As soon as her door clicked shut, I walked back to him. "I'm your wife, and I'm also part of the ground support team for your mission to the far side of the moon. You should at least tell me what you encountered out there."

Landon lowered his head, surrounded by shattered clock parts at his feet. "It's not something you can handle."

"What is it?"

He fell silent.

I reached out to touch him, but he abruptly took a step back.

We'd been married for nine years. This was the first time he'd ever shied away from me.

The living room was so silent that only his heavy breathing could be heard.

After a prolonged silence, he slowly raised his head. Those bloodshot eyes looked past my shoulder, settling on the gloomy sky outside the window.

"I saw the moon spirit."

I was sure my ears were playing tricks on me. "What did you just say?"

"On the far side of the moon." He slowly turned his head to look into my eyes. "I saw the moon spirit, Sylvia."