Creatures of Snow (21 page)

Sky stopped in his tracks at Con’s words.
Why did that sound familiar? “What war?”

Con looked up past the sky and let out a
long, exaggerated breath, “The only war.” He looked back down to
meet Sky’s gaze and smiled slyly, “Maybe I’ll tell you about it one
day.”

He was too worn out to
argue, or press the issue, “Whatever. So what happens now? What am
I supposed to do?”

“You will do nothing. No
more research. No more secrets. You go home, you get some rest.
Understood?”

Sky nodded, for the
moment, it sounded like the perfect plan. All he wanted to do was
go home. He wanted to see his dad. He wanted to lie down and forget
so many things. “I understand.”

Chapter Sixteen

There was no ship in the back lot when he
got home. His dad was still gone. Of all the times to be late.

Sky collapsed onto his
bed, debating on just falling asleep. Was any of this really real?
He rubbed his chest, it felt real. It felt solid. Inside of it his
heart pounded at his ribs, threatening to break free.

Springing up from his bed,
he walked around the room slowly, going over the night before in
his head. He had come home early – he wasn’t supposed to have been
there. But that’s all he really remembered, he had come in, and
after that…

He crouched down and
looked under the bed, but nothing but the normal boxes and old
clothes were piled under it. Disappointed, he sat up slowly, not
sure what he had been looking for. He turned his head this way and
that, but nothing seemed out of place, nothing had been taken that
he could see.

It wasn’t until he brought
up his hand to brush some stray hairs from his eyes that he noticed
a tacky feeling on the palm of his hand and saw the deep red smear
that covered it. He looked over the floor, but there was nothing
there. Sky rubbed his fingers together and turned his hand over.
“The hell?” He breathed. Where did it come from? And why did it
look like blood?

Sky bolted up to his feet.
There was nothing on the floor. He knelt down again, reaching out
towards the bright, clean wood. Wiping his hand across the floor he
could feel it. Thick and sticky in parts, thin and flaking in
others. His floor was covered in blood - he just couldn’t see
it.

There was tightness in his
chest and a burning in his brain. With shaking hands he grabbed
onto his bed frame and managed to lift himself up to it. It was
wrong. All of it. He blinked and blinked again. There had been a
gouge in the floor by the desk, but it wasn’t there. There had been
a crack in the window, but it was gone, there had been a thin
closet door on the opposite wall…but there was no door.

He shook his head, trying
to clear it as he crossed the room. He distinctly remembered a door
on that wall – a door to a storage closet, much smaller than the
main one in his room, but he knew it had been there. He put out a
shaking hand towards the smooth wall and felt along its surface.
Sure enough, where there should have been a handle he felt the cool
touch of metal against his skin.

Sky opened the door
quickly, his breath held in his pounding chest. It was as he
remembered it. He allowed himself to breath again and examined the
inside quickly, seeing nothing out of place. A box marked ‘JoAnna’
caught his eye, but it was the slightest draft that caught his
attention. He turned back into his room, but no, the draft was from
inside the closet. The attic! Sky looked back into the closet, but
this time, looked up. Above him the square ceiling entrance to the
upper most part of their home sat open ever so slightly.

Sky scrambled up the stack
of boxes and pushed open the small attic access and gasped as he
poked his head through. It had been ransacked. Not that the attic
had ever held much proper order, but this, this was an utter
disaster.

Sky jumped back down and
closed the door. The attic was storage for most of his dad and
Zero’s stuff and that would lend to the theory that the Man of Mist
had been there because of Zero, not because of him. He really had
just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The illusion that had been
cast on the room, it had bought the Man of Mist some time, but
eventually, it would wear off, so what did it mean? Why had he been
left alive with his memory wiped and the evidence removed
temporarily? It still didn’t make sense.

Sky crossed the hall into
the bathroom to wash his hands clean from his own sticky blood. He
stared at the water till the red ran clear, his head pounding with
a steady throb - a pulse so deep he could feel it shaking the whole
house. No, no that wasn’t it. No, that was the sound of a ship
landing. That was the sound of the
Regan
Fortuna
!

“
Dad!” He screamed as he
flew down the stairs, still way to far for anyone to hear
him.

“
Dad!” He bellowed again
as he ran across the back field, the sharp yellow grasses whipping
at his legs.

By the time he reached it,
the ship had landed. The dull drone of the engines winding down
filled him head to toe with pure relief. As the bay doors opened
and the ramp extended towards the solid ground he felt as if he
wanted to cry and only had a few moments to get a hold of
himself.

“Hey there, Skyden!” His
dad called from inside the ship.

Sky raced up the ramp as
his dad came into view. “Dad!” He didn’t slow down, he simply drove
himself straight into his father, throwing his arms around him in
the tightest embrace he could manage. If he had let himself, he
would have broken down into sobs of fear and joy, but instead, he
just relished the moment of having his dad home at last.

“Hey.” His dad laughed,
surprised at the greeting, “You okay?”

Sky forced himself to pull away, “Yeah,
fine. I just,” He gestured around them, “I’m glad you’re back.”

His dad winced at his
words. “It’s only for a little bit, we’ve got another run in half
hour, I just needed to grab a few things.” He took Sky by the
shoulders and held him out at an arms length, “I’m sorry. I swear
this is the last one and then Zero, me and you are going to go on a
well deserved break, okay.”

“But, you just did two
runs, back to back.” It wasn’t fair.

“I know, but, it’s really
good money. If we pull this off, we’re gonna be set for awhile.”
His dad gestured him down the ramp, “And I’ve got you to thank you
know. Astrodeli’s owner, Mr. Harmos, his son speaks very highly of
you, that’s how we got this contract you know.” His dad patted him
on the back, as they made their way down to the ground. “And, if
everything goes well, he might actually just buy us
outright.”

Sky stopped in his tracks, “What does that
mean?”

“It means a steady
paycheck, time off-”

“
He would own you.” Sky’s
stomach twisted, he could almost hear Joshua’s words spat back in
his face.

“
Sort of, but that’s
really not how employment works.”

“
You can’t do that. You
can’t just…sell out.”

“It’s not selling out,
Sky, you want us home more right? Well, this might be the answer.”
Sky didn’t want to fight, not now. “You’d be home more?”

A smile lit up his dad’s
bright, young face, “A lot more, yeah.” He nodded. “Now, tell me
all about school. Are you loving it?”

“Yeah, it’s great.” Sky
shrugged and stuck his hands down in his pockets. There was no way
he could tell his dad about what was going on, not now, not if he
needed this job.

“That sounds convincing.”
Zero strode out of the ship behind them, his rumbling voice laced
in sarcasm. “You look terrible.” Zero embodied everything that most
people would fear in an enemy – brave, loyal, strong and brutally
honest. He was no bigger then Al,
and wore
his silver hair pulled back tightly so no one could mistake him as
anything but a Telic or the branded marks upon his neck from the
Enslavement years.

“Welcome back,
Zero.”

“
And Al, how’s he doing?
You two getting into all sorts of trouble I’m sure.” His dad
ruffled his hair once they reached the ground.

Sky nodded and forced a
smile, “Yeah, he’s doing really well. He’s got the highest marks of
the first-years and he’s made a whole bunch of friends.”

Zero scoffed. “So he’s
finally run out of time for you. Can’t say I didn’t see it
coming.”

“
It’s not like that.” Sky
took up the lead down the path to the house. If he stayed ahead of
them, he wouldn’t have to face them. “We’re all just falling into
our places. Al’s a part of REALM and I’m a part of Axis. We’re
still friends - we just have different things to spend time on,
that’s all. So, what did you guys need to come back
for?”

Zero laughed behind him, “Oh, the master of
the subject change has arrived.”

“
We’re swinging past
Haigon on this next run so Rinten asked if we could drop off some
old books of ours.” His dad answered. “You want us to bring you
back anything while we’re there?”

Sky stepped up the moss covered steps and
through the back door, into the kitchen. He wondered quickly if
they would sense something in the house; the illusion, or a
lingering negative energy like Al and Lee had felt.

“
He asked you a question,
you know?” Zero snapped and pushed past him.

“
What? Sorry, I zoned out
there for a second.” He looked over his dad and threw a look over
to Zero. Neither of them seemed to notice anything
strange.

“
You want me to bring you
back anything from Earth? Are you okay?”

“
I’m fine. On both counts.
I don’t need anything and I feel fine. I’m just a little tired, you
know, we got mid terms coming up.” Sky looked absently around the
room. “Some of the physical training is, uh, physical.”

His dad looked him up and down, his brow
creasing with concern, “You look thin. And pale. Have you been
eating?”

No, he hadn’t been. It was strange to
realize that he hadn’t had a single scrap of food since the attack.
“Yeah, of course.”

“
I told you he wouldn’t
eat when no one’s here to feed him. He’s like an infant.” Zero
chuckled as he stomped his way up the stairs and out of
site.

Sky offered up a smile and leaned as
casually as he could onto the counter. “You can check the fridge if
you don’t believe me. I ate everything you guys left and restocked
it already.”

His dad kept his post by the door and
crossed his arms with a wide stance, “How about the other Axis
students? How are they?”

“Great. The other
first-year is a native, a Blue Star. Her name’s Sara and she’s,
well, she takes a little getting used to, but she’s kind of nice.
And then there are our two mentors, Con and Ellie, and a junior
professor, he’s an apprentice of Zeph’s, and the main guy in
charge, Blanks, he fought for Phoenix Squadron, or led it or
something, he’s pretty scary.”

“Sounds like quite the
crew.” His dad nodded his head with a smile. “So you’re happy?” He
paused and clenched his jaw. “Axis is a good fit for you
then?”

“Yeah.” He smiled, at
least that was true. “I feel like, like I really
belong.”

“That’s…good to hear.” He
nodded and looked away out the open door; a certain sadness
overcame his face.

Sky knew that look. It was
the look he gave him when he had first told him he had applied to
Arche. “Do you really have to leave again?” But Sky already knew
the answer.

His dad crossed the small
space between them and grabbed him, pulling him into a strong
embrace. “I’m sorry, I really am. I promise this is the last time,
okay. I know I haven’t been around much lately…” He trailed off,
but didn’t let go.

“
Don’t worry about it. I
get it.” Sky whispered through the tightening in his throat. He
pushed away from his dad when he heard the quick and urgent
footsteps of Zero coming back down the stairs.

“
Skyden.” Zero yelled as
he stormed back through the door, “What happened
upstairs?”

Sky backed away from both of them. “Why?
What? Nothing, what do you mean?” He stammered, cursing his
immediate reaction.

“
Ixanna’s favorite cat
sculpture, where is it?” Zero shoved him in the chest, but
retracted his hand as if he’d been shocked.

“
Cat sculpture?” He had no
idea. “I. uhh…”

“Sky, you know how she
get’s when you touch her knick knacks.” His dad scolded.

He barely heard him – his attention was on
the curious look Zero was giving him as he rubbed his hand.

“
Anything to say?” Zero
tilted his head and squinted his eyes.

“
No. I mean, yes.” Sky was
such a bad liar and everyone knew it. “I guess, I don’t actually
remember, but, I’ll find it, I swear.”

“
I bet you will.” Zero’s
eyes remained steady on his chest. “So, what happened?”

“I said, I don’t
remember.” He tried to sound forceful.

“
I’m not talking about the
stupid sculpture. You know what I’m talking about.”

“
What is it?” His dad
looked between the two of them. “Am I missing
something?”

“I got hurt, okay – it was
during training. It wasn’t that serious, and Roland, he’s our
junior professor, like I said, he’s Zeph’s apprentice and real good
at medical stuff so he fixed me up.”