
This short dark fantasy story by young adult author Janni Lee Simner originally appeared in Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares, published by Scholastic Inc. "Andrew knew that the moon had stolen his parents away. "He tried to explain to Elizabeth once, after the funeral, but she didn’t understand. Her face turned horribly pale, and she whispered, “They’re dead, Andrew. Don’t you know that?” And then, just in case he didn’t, she drew him a picture. She used her red pencils, and some of Andrew’s crayons, besides. She used rusty-red for the brick buildings, brownish-red for the mugger’s jacket, rosy-red for Mom’s torn sweater on the sidewalk. And bright red for Dad, where the knife had gone through his chest. "Andrew tore the drawing up—not because looking at it sent icy shivers up his spine, though it did—but because she’d gotten the drawing all wrong. She’d left out the moon, large and round in the night sky, and that was the most important part."
Author

Janni Lee Simner lives in the Arizona desert, where the plants know how to bite and the dandelions really do have thorns; in spite of these things—or maybe because of them—she's convinced she lives in one of the most stunning places on earth. Janni has published four novels for young adults, the Bones of Faerie trilogy and Thief Eyes, and she wrote the script for the video game The Huntsman: Winter's Curse. She's also published four books for younger readers—most recently Tiernay West, Professional Adventurer—as well as more than 30 short stories, including appearances in Cricket magazine and the Welcome to Bordertown anthology.