Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (13 page)

Instead, he allowed
himself to be shy, accepting his emotions, unburdened by their
expression. He did not let their physical attraction cloud his
mind.

That was so appealing to
her, and so alluring as well.

Maybe there was such a
thing as “nothing to hide”. Maybe some people did have that quality
about them. From her experience, it was rare, unique onto itself.
She had never met a person like Anthony before. He was accepting
and calm with just about everything. He was in simple terms,
uncommon.

She was grateful it was
now. When the shit was about to hit the fan big-time, she was glad
she had finally met someone like him. It was now she would need
someone like him most.

Maybe she should just make
the most of it, thank her lucky stars and embrace it. After all, he
had already told her, that he liked her, that he wanted to be with
her

And even then, he had done
so in his own manner, not bold or too mannish - or in any way
forward. He had peeled the topic like an onion until he had guided
them both to the core of the issue. With brave aplomb, he posed the
question to her and let her explain herself to him. It had been
sweet and done with mastery. Maybe he was worthy of her attention,
her caring, her touch… Maybe she should stop worrying about
it.

But where would it
go?
she thought to herself.
How far would I be willing - or he be willing -
to let this thing progress when we were facing such a vicious
enemy? Could they fall in love in place like this, with everything
on the line, with so much at stake, with so much to lose if they
failed? Would it even be the smart thing to do? Would they have
time enough to enrich their relationship enough and reach true
love? Would they live that long to see it? Would they ever see the
dawn of their innermost feelings?

It bothered her and yet it
amazed her at the same time. This teenage boy, walking just a few
feet from her, had completely confounded her. He had entangled
himself in her heart until there was no escape from him. He had
done so without her even being aware he was doing it in the first
place. It was not until the conflict between wanting it so much and
dreading the fact she may never see things between her and him take
root that she began to understand. What he had done was plant a
seed and it had blossomed.

How had he been able to
sweep her off her feet this quick?

Why now?
she asked herself.
Why
meet him now and here? I can’t be foolish enough to fall in love
now!
Her expression darkened at the
thought. Never more, in her interaction with boys, had she been as
uninterested in having a boyfriend as she had in those last days on
earth. She smiled with a wry curl of her lip. There had yet to be a
time when she had been as busy with school or her cheer squad as
she had before the Rending. Her banishment to the Melded World
seemed to drive home the point. James Henley had been a big part of
that.

She had always been
willing to look out of the corner of her eye in hopes some cute guy
might come along and make her swoon. It was quite usual for her to
have up her
“boy-dar”
, as she liked to term it.

But not after things with
James had gone as sour, became as twisted as they had. There was
truth to the idea that she had turned it off. She had been content
to be alone for a while now. Though she did not like being alone,
not having someone to call her own, someone to talk with on the
phone or go to the movies with on a whim. She enjoyed those types
of things a great deal.

What freaked her out was
she had known a boy for quite a long time, and he - over time -
seemed to lose himself in a world of his own making. He had hounded
her every move. He had invaded her privacy by hacking her cell
phone, trying to make himself some sort of centerpiece in her life.
The stalking had been bad. The popping around corners to say hi and
pretending it was all happenstance had been bad. The eavesdropping,
the late night phone calls and the icky questions had been worse.
Thus, having a boy in her life, in an intimate fashion, had been
something of little importance of late.

What was so ironic in her
eyes, if not luck personified, was she’d had a Nixy and an Isighünd
watching over her. Two formidable enemies, who had been spying on
her at the same time James had made the conscious decision to hurt
her. They were her protectors. Because of that, they had to save
her from the boy who would have exacted a tremendous amount of hurt
upon her. They had spared her those things she had tried hard not
to think about. The nasty things James Henley would have done to
her if he had put his hands on her, had her alone, in private, away
from all prying eyes. It made her sick to her stomach.

It made her nauseous just
thinking about it.

Anthony had told her not
to dwell on it and by no means to feel a single ounce of guilt. He
reasoned it was James’ fate to meet an undue end, and it had little
to do with her. He had said it was better than being a victim of
rape, bearing torture by a psycho-teenager, even if it had meant
exile to the Melded World. Here, at least she could fight
back.

After James’ murder, she
had agonized over the way she looked. She blamed her one-of-a-kind
hair color (the color everyone swore she dyed to make her appear
more exotic, though she did not). She had felt cursed to have deep
blue, gem-like eyes, and translucent skin. She had begun to wonder
over the price she would have to pay, because she was pretty. It
was an aspect of her that had affected many people as far back as
she could remember. Maybe "cursed" was the right word after all.
Having survived that night, she could not shake the idea if she had
looked a bit plainer, things might have gone down a different path.
Maybe James would not have fixated on her to the degree that he
had. Maybe he would not have come to believe she was all his and
his alone. Maybe he would have been happier and lived. Maybe he
would have realized she just like any other girl. Maybe he would
have taken her initial rejections to heart and let the whole thing
go. Maybe he would not have driven himself off the cliff of sanity
and fallen into the pit that led to his own demise.

Nonetheless, she had only
a short time to consider this before everything had changed for
her. Now, she knew in the middle of her heart, it did not matter
anymore. He had been unable to control himself and things became
ugly between them and now he was dead and she was a world -
no!
- an entire universe
away. It seemed like such a waste. To have met someone and watch
things as between them progress forever downward was sad. She and
James had gone from shy disinclination to feelings of weariness.
Next came the worry and then full-blown “disturbia” only to find
fear was all that remained. It would have been better if she had
never spent the time to talk to him when he had first approached
her. She should have never been polite.

Now, there was nothing,
but death. The absence of life…

What a waste…

“
Hey, Sophie, you
alright?” asked Anthony, acute concern etched about his
visage.

His spoken words startled
her. She gasped out loud.

All her companions stopped
in that instant, gazing around for threats that were not
there.

Dammit, why am I acting
like an idiot when I should be paying attention!

“
Is everything alright,
child?” asked Kodiak who’d been was walking behind her and was the
closest to her when she came up short. The shopping cart she was
dragging with little effort through the snow bumped into her ample
backside. She appeared not to notice.

“
Oh! Oh my god! I’m so
sorry! Anthony just startled the hell out of me, you guys.
Everything is ok,” she babbled, a flood of words pouring from her
so fast they were right on top of one another.

Come on, Sophie get with
the program!

With that, they resumed
their trek through the snow-covered landscape.

Although, at her side, she
could sense Anthony’s frown. She knew he could tell she had not
explained everything.

They walked on for a few
more minutes. Following Garfield’s trail, they meandered through
the trees. They avoiding the large humps of snow that most
definitely hid bushes or large rock.

Anthony asked her, hushed,
“What was wrong with you back there?” It was obvious. He was not
going to let the matter rest.

Sophie looked away with a
pained expression. She did not want Anthony to see one bit of the
conflicting emotions, so vivid on her face. What made it worse was
she had promised him she would put all her memories of James and
his vile intentions aside.

“
Sophie…?” pleaded
Anthony.

Sophie gazed back at him,
knowing his sisters were staring at her as well. Being little
women, they had not missed a single shred of what was going on
between her and their brother. They were old enough to know a
serious conversation ripe with passion when they heard
one.

“
I was just thinking,
that’s all,” she deflected, “about how things used to be, you
know?”

With surety, she could see
the tension drain from the boy and immediately felt like a jerk for
not having the courage to tell him the truth.

Then she caught the weight
of Elena’s eyes. She knew at once, she had not fooled the intuitive
nine-year-old in the least. She wilted before the accusation behind
those tiny, little orbs.
Don’t lie to my
brother!
she could almost hear her say
with her mind. She chided herself, knowing this was not the time
for lies, not here, not in this place, and definitely not between
her and Anthony.

“
To tell the truth,” she
began again.

Anthony’s head perked up
at her sudden continuance.

“
I was
thinking about us
and
about how things were back on Earth, before everything
happened. I was comparing it against this one, this… new life in
this melded place.”

“
How do you mean? Are you
talking about before when we were in no danger at all and now it
seems like everything we come across wants to capture us or kill
us? Was that what you were thinking about? Because to tell you the
truth, if that was it, then so was I.” He admitted.

Again Sophie felt her
heart melt at his candid enunciation of the fear inside of him. She
knew there was no guile in him, no misdirection or misinformation.
This young man was capable of articulating what he felt - nothing
more, nothing less. He would be a hard act to follow.

“
That and… well, Anthony,
I was thinking about us too. You and me.”

At her side, both of his
sisters giggled, covering their mouths. Their shoulders hunched as
they shared a knowing glance.

Anthony stumbled over some
unseen irregularity in the snow. He had not been watching where he
was stepping and lurched forward, flailing his arms for a few
steps. He regained his balance and peered back at Sophie with a
nervous set to his face.

“
Holy crap!” he said too
loud, covering his unease. “I better watch my step out here. I
could break a leg or something.” Then he seemed to remember what
she had said and gulped down whatever else he was going to say. He
turned toward her for a moment before his eyes fell back to the
ground. “And what did you conclude?” he managed after a few steps,
his voice strangled.

“
Conclude?” asked Sophie with a smirk. “My dear, I did
not
‘conclude’
anything.” Then she laughed for no reason, but could not help
herself. “How could I conclude anything when I cannot answer the
questions?”

“
What questions?” wondered
Anthony, confused now.

Sophie looked over at him,
a bit dubious. “Are you telling me you don’t have any questions
about how we’re going to handle this whole situation? How are we
still going to find time to be… or become… well, you know.” She
gazed through hooded eyes, trying to hide her discomfiture from his
sisters.

His pale complexion turned
beet red. She let herself feel a little satisfied that he responded
exactly the way she had. He too could show some embarrassment, a
modicum of self-consciousness.

“
Well…?” he
began.

She could see him mulling
one thing after another. “Well what? It’s a simple question,” she
nudged with purpose.

“
Maybe it’s not a simple
question at all,” he said, almost too low for her to
hear.

“
Exactly! That’s why this
whole thing has been taxing,” she explained. “Now you can
understand why I drifting in thought.”

His brow creased,
considering. “I don’t know, Sophie. I don’t. I can only trust in
what I feel and in what you feel and pray that’s enough. I hope
there will be enough time. Christ, I hope we make it through this
alive. Even that may be asking too much.” He smiled off-center.
“Only time will tell.” He shrugged. “Until then, I will trust in
you and in my sisters - and in all the others - because what
we
feel
is all
that matters.” Anthony was looking back at her unsure if his brutal
accounting had been too much for her.