Surviving ELE (ELE Series #4) (15 page)

“Good luck, Willow,” she says before she turns and links her hand with Jake’s. He gives me a smile and a nod before they walk away. Jake’s not a man of many words.

“Thanks,” I call back at them.

I find Claire on my way to our assigned meeting spot and she links our
arms. “This is going to be nice, three days of peace and quiet.” She squeezes my arm and I can’t help but feel a bit of excitement myself. Twenty minutes later, and not a second too soon, we’re all assembled and ready to leave. Erik wishes us well as we set off towards the lake house.

The night is crisp and I’m thankful for the extra layers I bothered to put
on. I look over at Marya as she shares a private joke with Alec. She giggles and hits his arm.

I feel a twinge of jealousy but it bypasses quickly as I slide my hand into
Tony’s. I can’t help but notice how warm he is, even though outside it feels bitterly cold. We have to take several breaks to let Tony rest. I can tell everyone is getting tired, but Tony takes the cake. He tries to remain strong, but I can tell he doesn’t act the way he used to…ever since I reaped all the powers from him. A twinge of guilt presses through me now that I realize the cause of the major change in Tony. I try to remind myself that I saved him and that was the cost of doing so. I didn’t try to take all of his powers intentionally.

We arrive at the lake house right before
dawn. The sky takes on pink and blue hues that reflect over the surface of the water. The mountains in the distance make for one of the most picturesque backgrounds. It’s quite lovely. Tony goes around to a knot in one of the trees and emerges with a key. He unlocks the door and we all shuffle in.

We follow Tony into the living room and all but collapse onto the
furniture. Tony and I take the couch, Connor and Claire take the love seat, and Alec and Marya make a pallet on the floor. The second our eyes close, we’re out.

I slowly inject the dark green liquid into Tony’s vein. My heart is accelerating at unnatural speeds, pounding in my ear, as I empty the entire syringe into his arm. I pray that this will work. There is too much at risk. Could he die because of this? I pick up the next needle. The thick, bright red liquid looks wrong. It’s not normal, but I already know that its ingredients are more than they appear. Even still, I cringe as I bring it up to Tony’s arm. “I love you,” I tell him before I empty the contents into his bloodstream.

My eyes dart open and I stare up at the wooden rafters of Tony’s log cabin, trying to regain composure. My heart is still beating hard in my chest.

Tony rustles a little next to me and opens his
eyes. He looks around confused for a moment until his eyes land on me. I give him a warm smile and wrap my arms around him, letting him feel safe. This is the first time in a while that he’s been able to wake up and not feel the threat of Zack looming over him.

“Morning,” he says softly in a gruff voice.

“Morning.” I nestle my head into the crook between his shoulder and neck. We lay like that for a while. His sent is intoxicating. As I breathe him in, I mentally try to will my heart to calm down. I’m starting to notice the differences between a vision and a dream. The visions have a slight haze around them. It is as if not everything around the story itself is permanent; it could be smudged out easily like an eraser would. But what did that mean? I hate to think of the ramifications to the contents of that red shot. I rub my eyes with a shaky hand. I decide not to tell Tony about it right away. Not until I know what it means.

I feel Tony shift beneath me and sit
up. “How about we make a fire and get some grub going. I’m starving.”

My eyes light
up. I bite my lip. “Ramen?” I question, hoping that’s what he has in mind.

He shakes his head playfully at
me. “You’re cracking me up, Willow. Yes, I’ll get out some Ramen.” I clap my hands almost a little too loudly, but I can’t help it. The second he said we’d have Ramen, my salivary glands went into overdrive.

Tony and I quietly put on our shoes and slip out the front door.
He brings his ax with him so he can chop some wood. I help him gather the weathered logs next to the house while he chops them down to size. I can tell he tires out quickly. The way he swings the ax now looks like it takes much more effort than before. I think about stepping in and taking over, but knowing Tony would never want to hand in his man card, I think better of it. Before long, we both have handfuls of wood to carry back to the lake house.

Tony carries about half of what I carry and I can tell by his grumbling that it makes him more than peeved. I try to ignore his comments that aren’t aimed at me, but at himself. More and more, I start stacking on the guilt though. I know that he’d have no problem doing these seemingly simple tasks if it weren’t for me. We stack the wood on the front porch and take a few pieces in with us to start the fire.

When we get back inside, everyone is starting to wake up. Connor looks like his back hurts from sleeping so awkwardly, while Claire has her head in the crook of his shoulder. She’s still fast asleep. He shakes her shoulder and she wakes with a start. I laugh to myself, thinking that Connor would be a pretty comfortable pillow.

I place the logs in the fire and Tony sets to light them with a piece of paper and flint
stone. I find it fascinating to watch him make the fire start.

Once the flames are in full swing, we warm our hands over the fire and the others move closer to join
us. Marya takes a seat next to me, still wrapped in one of Tony’s quilts. Alec places his hands on either side of her to help warm her up.
How nice of him...

I stand up and volunteer to go to the well and fetch water. Tony stands as well, not wanting me to be
alone. I give him a half smile. It’s sweet, really.

I hold his hand, placing the bucket in my
other. The birds chirp overhead and then fall silent. A cold wind blows past us, making me shiver. “Smells like snow,” Tony says simply.

“Snow?” I question. After getting myself psyched up about Project ELE and the whole, ‘warming the earth to unlivable temperatures’, it makes no sense at
all. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it.

Tony stops me by tugging gently on my arm. I turn to face
him. The wind blows my hair and a few strands stick to my frozen face. Tony reaches up and carefully tucks it behind my ears. His fingers graze my cheek. “You’re so beautiful,” he says simply. My gaze drops as my shy side sets in. Any time someone is that frank with me, it throws me for a loop. He doesn’t let my gaze wander long before his index finger brings my chin back up to face him. “In my wildest dreams I never thought that I would be able to be near you again without the fear of hurting you. “The pain he felt is apparent in his brown eyes. I open my mouth, but he holds his hand up to stop me from speaking. “I need to say this first. I’m so sorry, Willow. I thought that being attacked by my parents, and then seeing them killed, would be the worst thing I’d ever be forced to go through. This...this was excruciating.” His eyes water ever so slightly. “There were times that I blacked out the episodes where Zack controlled me. I was grateful for the times I blacked out. But...the times that killed me,” he pounds his chest with his fist, “were when I was aware of Zack controlling me. I saw you through his eyes. I tried to fight but no matter how hard I tried to fight him, he won. I thought about taking my life...”

“No, Tony!” My eyes are pooled with tears now.

He holds his hand up again, asking me to let him finish. The emotion on his face is more than I can bear, but I let him continue. “I thought about it but I couldn’t live with myself if I took the easy way out. I knew Zack would just find another person to do his bidding. I promised myself that I would fight every day if I had to, in order to come back to you eventually.” He grabs my hand in his. “Will you ever be able to forgive me for what I did to you?”

I wipe my eyes with my fingertips and smile gingerly at
him. “I can’t.” A crushed look overcomes his features. I shake my head quickly. “No wait, that’s not what I mean! I meant that I don’t need to forgive you, Tony. It wasn’t
you
that hurt me. I never once thought it was you or blamed you for what happened. I knew it was that monster controlling you. There’s no reason to accept your apology because you’ve done nothing wrong. You were a victim.” He opens his mouth but I pull a Tony and raise my hand to stop him. “I need to say this first.” I give him a half grin and I watch him relax a small bit when I start talking again. “I never thought for a second I would lose you forever. Sometimes it seemed that all hope was lost, but I never let it slip permanently from my grasp. I love you, Tony. I always will, no matter what. I am so thankful that somehow you came back to me…even if it meant I had to reap the one thing you probably loved most about yourself. “The last part comes out in almost a whisper as I admit to something I’ve tried to suppress ever since I reaped his powers. The guilt tries to consume all of me and I try to hold on to the fact that had I not done that, he may have been gone from me forever.
But what if I didn’t stop there? What if I killed him?
Those are the questions that haunt me.

Tony shakes his head
defiantly. “If you think that losing my powers was worse than not being able to have you, then you have it all wrong. Willow, I would have done anything to get back to you. Cut off my limbs, take away my sight, let me hear no longer…that would have been a better existence than losing you.”

My heart wants to scream at this man before
me. I can’t be worth all of that…
can I?
I’m just a single person in this huge world. A little fish in a big pond. How could I mean that much to him? Or to anyone for that matter? I drop the bucket at my feet and wrap my arms around Tony, making sure not to squeeze too tight. I close the distance and let my lips meld to his. Tony wastes no time returning my declaration of love.

“I love you,” I say between our kisses.

He places his hand on the back of my head and forces me closer. We kiss deeper than ever before and my stomach dances in rhythm. Cool flakes of snow dance off my cheeks. Just being with Tony makes me feel so warm inside that I swear I can hear the flakes sizzle when they touch my skin. We break apart at the same time, opening our eyes.

We both look up at the sky and are met with falling snow, the first I’ve seen in a long time. I stick my tongue out and let the snowflakes fall in my
mouth. The cool sensation makes me think of ice cream.

I look back at Tony, who’s apparently been watching me this whole time with a funny
smile. “Beautiful,” he mutters, kissing me lightly on the lips. I return his kiss with one of my own.

“We better go get the water before someone comes looking for us,” Tony says
jokingly. I pick up the pail and grab Tony’s hand; together we draw water from the well.

When we open the front door, swirls of snow drift in with
us. We hurry in and I place the heavy bucket of water on the floor, while Tony closes the door. We both b-line it for the fire, rubbing our hands over the warmth.

“How far did you have to go?” Alec asks.

I bite my lip, trying not to let him see my smile. “You know...it’s a little ways,” I say, hoping he takes my vague answer and doesn’t question me further. I don’t dare look his way though, because I know he’ll see right through my façade.

Claire gives me the
look. You know, the one where she knows what’s going on, even if no one else does.

I try to hide my smile but fail miserably.

“Let’s get some grub,” Tony says, changing the subject. I should have known he’d have my back.

No one bats their eyes at the mention of
food. Connor and Alec help Tony prepare the food ‘for the girls’ as they said. I find it humorous to see the guys in the kitchen while the girls are parked in the living room by the fire. The only thing I’m not so sure about is sitting shoulder to shoulder with Marya.
Oh, how this girl gets to me.
If she starts asking for relationship advice though…I’m outta here.

Claire opens up the curtains so we can watch the falling snow. It’s falling heavier than it was before and the world is already beginning to be covered in a
blanket of white. We are all mesmerized by it. With the virus spreading so rapidly, it was always suggested that we stay indoors when the temperatures dropped. They said that the cold could lower your immune system. In times like that, a vulnerable immune system was the kiss of death. Now that I doubt I will have to worry about the virus again, I wonder if we could go out and play in the snow like I always wanted to do as a kid.

“So,” Marya says, breaking the silence and my chain of thoughts. “This is a nice cabin.”

We all look around awkwardly at the furnishings and nod our heads.
Who am I kidding?
This friendship with Marya will never work. I sigh, prompting Claire to ask what’s wrong. “OH, nothing,” I say. But she knows; she’s my best friend after all.

Marya sits next to me and fidgets with her hands. We fall into another awkward silence.

I gaze back out at the forest that has become a winter wonderland. Large snowflakes float down through the trees. It seems so peaceful. How can anything go wrong when there is such beauty outside? “I wonder if we can make one of those men made of snow later, if this weather lasts,” I say.