Creatures of Snow (16 page)

Sky wasn’t sure who the question was
directed at.

“Perhaps.” Lee
nodded.

No, that couldn’t be. “I
think you guys are analyzing this too much. It was just a dream. No
one was in my house.”

“
The energy in this room,
it is not pleasant.” Lee said again, his eyebrows coming together
in his most serious face yet.

“
You’re probably just
sensing Zero’s residual power. He’s a Telic that lives here and
he’s got tons of negative energy, right Al?” Sky tried to justify
it the best he could.

“He’s got quite the anger
management issues, but he’s not…” Al paused and let his eyes drift
around the room, “evil.”

“You feel it too?” Lee
looked to Al, “The malevolence of the energy?”

“
Whatever. It’s gone now.
Let’s just get going. We’re already going to be super late.” Sky
walked briskly past Lee and out into the hallway. “I’m sorry,
guys.”

“Skyden,” Lee
started.

“It was just a stupid
dream, I didn’t mean to drag you guys into my craziness.” He
grabbed the books from the table and started towards the
stairs.

“Have you ever heard of
the Man of Mist?” Lee raised his voice just enough to make sure it
rang out clear amongst the adorable décor. “He is ruthless - a gun
for hire, assassin, mercenary, whatever the job requires.” He
stepped out of the room. “He is often described as being made of
shadows because he uses illusion to overpower his
victims.”

Al hovered behind him, his eyes wide with
intrigue.

“Skyden, if it is true and
he was here, would you have any idea why?” Lee took another
measured step forward, “Do you know why he was here?”

His presence was by no
means menacing, but still, the air around him had shifted to
something colder. Sky backed up slightly, bringing his assortment
of books to his chest.

“What are you thinking,
Lee?” Al asked from behind him.

“Before I came here, I was
warned about the Man of Mist, that he may come.” Lee turned
slightly.

“What do you mean? Why
would he come here?” Sky didn’t know if he wanted the answer, not
with the way Lee was shifting around in obvious anxiety.

Lee’s eyes darted around
the hallway nervously for a moment before coming to a rest on the
floor at Sky’s feet. “I have not been entirely honest with either
of you. My being here is actually due to a mission that I am on.
Although my admission into REALM is genuine, my true purpose here
is to protect Allen Kane. The client feared he would be the target
of possible kidnapping attempts...or worse.” He said
solidly.

Sky suddenly wished Al was
beside him, and not beyond his reach behind this giant of a young
man. “Mission? Who hired you?”

“It was a mission on the
central Agonian job board. I took it only because it was as far
away from my home as I could get. I am to protect Allen, I mean
none of you harm.” Lee pleaded at him before turning his attention
to Al, “I was going to tell you, but I must admit, until now, I did
not think of the mission much.” He stepped back, pushing his back
into the wall so he could see both of them at the same time. “All I
wanted was to leave Agon on legitimate terms and study at REALM.”
His voice verged on pleading, “Forgive me for not taking my mission
more seriously. Your pain, Skyden, is my fault.”

Al chuckled to break the
hanging silence. “Don’t blame yourself, big guy.” He squeezed
passed Lee and started down the hallway. “But who the heck would
put out a job to protect me? That’s got to be the strangest thing
I’ve ever heard.”

Sky followed slowly behind
Al. “Even if any of this actually makes sense, there still isn’t
much to connect Lee being hired to guard you and my home being
broken into.”

“There is more.” Lee said,
bringing up the rear as they maneuvered through the narrow hallway.
“Before I left, my father approached me with his own theory on my
mission.”

“Which was..?” Al bounded
down the stairs, keeping an ear towards them.

“
My father believed that
the only reason the Kane family would need protection was if
someone was after the Book of Nine. He believes that your Telic
mother is the one who is in possession of it.”

“Well, he’s right. She’s
got it, that’s never really been a secret – any Telic could tell
you that. Maybe whoever broke in here figured there might be clues
here because of my uncle Zero.” Al pulled his shoulders up. “But, I
don’t know what anyone would expect to find, or would want from me.
It’s not like I know where she is. She disappeared without a trace
years ago.”

Seven years ago to be
exact. His mom had always been a free spirit, the Prophet Oh’May,
but to just up and leave like that had always seemed so selfish,
but Al had made his peace with it somehow.

Al led them outside where they gathered, not
really sure how to proceed.

“We can still make it in
time for second period if we leave now.” Sky shrugged, even though
school was the last place he wanted to go.

After a round of nodding
heads they began the journey up the hill towards the
crossroads.

“Should we call the
authorities?” Lee was the first to break the silence that had come
between them.

“And tell them what
exactly?” Sky shook his head. “Some shadowy guy broke into my house
but didn’t steal anything or hurt me and fought me with, what did
you call it? Illusions? I would sound crazier then they already
think I am.”

“I do not feel you are
taking it serious enough. We do not know what we are up against or
what lengths they will go to in order to get what they want.” Lee’s
tone had a sense of urgency.

“Oh, come on.” Sky
interjected. “Whoever it was…” He thought back to the blackness of
those flowing robes made from the shadows, “If it really wasn’t
just a dream…” Words and feelings were all he could remember now,
aside from the hypnotizing movements of the darkness and the weight
of the air. “It was just a dream.” He said without even
realizing.

“The Man of Mist…” Al
contemplated, “I have heard of him, mostly from my dad. He sounds
like bad news.”

“His record is unblemished
by failure.” The dramatic pause after Lee’s statement hung for an
uncomfortable amount of time.

“This is insane.” Sky
scoffed. “A crazy nightmare assassin! You hear yourself right?” Sky
shook his head, trying to laugh it off, “Just what’s in this
book?”

“
I do not know.” Lee let
out an exasperated sigh. “But what you have described falls into
place with my greatest fears, and add to it your continuing denial
of reality is testament to that. Your mind is still reluctant to
let go of the lies it was fed.”

Sky rolled his head back
and forth, “Gaah. I still don’t buy it. What’s in there that’s so
great?” He looked to Al for an answer, but got nothing but a shrug
in response.

“I’m not sure. All I know
is, it’s passed down from generation to generation and only the
Telic in charge of its keeping, is allowed to read it.” Al
concluded, keeping perfect pace with Lee’s long strides.

“
Has there been any other
research done on it that would lead us to something a bit more
substantial?” Lee questioned as they got to the transport
stop.

“Maybe.”
The wheels in Al’s head were almost visibly
turning as he rocked back and forth. “What do you say we skip class
and do some investigating using the Academies resources?” Al
stopped his fidgeting and looked to Lee. “They’ve got at least half
a dozen rooms full of research papers, not to mention the Grand
Literature Library. Let’s just see what we can find out about this
Book of Nine.”

“
I do not think skipping
class…“ Lee started.

“Oh come on, one missed
day isn’t going to kill us.” Sky cut in - at this point sitting in
a library sounded slightly better than sitting through lectures all
day. “I think we should do it.” His own short attention span and
lack of detail made him completely useless at researching, but he
was great at pretending to read.

Lee thought it over for a
long time, his face contorting into a multitude of different
expressions. “I will join you as well.” He must have finally
convinced himself. “My job is to protect you Allen; I will never be
far away, not anymore.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Al
slapped him on the back, a new look of excitement in his eye.
“Sky…you should go to class. No offence, but you really suck at
research.”

Sky’s heart sank a little.
It was true of course, but he didn’t have to say it like that.
“Whatever.” He pouted; shoving his hands into the shallow pockets
of his uniform just as the transport could be heard roaring its way
down the road.

C
hapter
Thirteen

“So, where were you
yesterday? Not to mention this morning.” Con sat down roughly
beside him, surprising Sky out of a dazed half-sleep.

“
I didn’t feel good.” Sky
picked his head up and was thankful to see that class hadn’t
started yet.

“
You look like crap. You
sure you feel good enough to be here today?” Con leaned in a bit to
close while looking him over. “We’ve got a pretty intense afternoon
planned.”

Sky’s stomach dropped, “I’ll be fine.” He
lied.

“Happy day everyone!” The
chipper voice of Professor Finley called to the class.

As the individual
conversations died out and focus shifted to the front of the room;
Professor Finley wrote the word, ‘Flicker’ on the board behind her.
The class looked at her expectantly, but she stayed silent for a
beat, enjoying the rise of anticipation growing in the
room.

“Now, I know we have
already discussed what a Flicker is, and I’ll recap that in a
minute. Today we are going to focus on what a Flicker means to us.
Without the Flicker, there would be no REALM, case and point. They
are the essential building blocks, bridging the gap between
dimensional migrations. Does anyone want to tell me what a Flicker
is?

Hands shot up, and
Professor Finley called on a student sitting a few rows over from
Sky.“Flickers are microscopic organisms with a complex DNA
structure that has never been repeated in any way shape or form.
They are completely unique in their makeup and have proven to be
the only organism that can pass effortlessly through the Levels.”
The student answered in a crisp, text-book manner.

Finley looked pleased with
the explanation, “Correct, that was an excellent summary, thank
you. Now for today’s lecture; I will go over Flickers, what they do
and their importance to us very briefly, and then we’ll break it
down, and go over each item in more detail in the next few
days…”

Professor Finley held up a
book to the class, “I’ll have you read this book,
The Truth about Flickers
.” Professor Finley walked behind her desk and started
riffling through a stack of papers. “To begin, let’s start with the
fact that the Flicker is only a recent discovery. We had always
assumed these creatures existed; it’s natural that something
had
to exist out there
to give purpose to the Snow.”

Professor Finley located
the paper she had been searching for and looked it over while
continuing her lecture. “Many people, although they know about the
existence of these creatures, do not know
why
they actually exist. Flickers
drift between Levels, yes, but if that is so, shouldn’t there be a
purpose to it?”

Professor Finley put the
paper on a projecting device and instantly transferred the document
to an illuminated, three-dimensional holo for the whole class to
see. “This…is a Germ. Flickers transfer microorganisms, or germs,
throughout the Levels. It may sound devious, but germs are actually
essential to the life cycle. This transfer of germs also maintains
a balance between all the Levels, slows the mutation factor and
makes it even plausible that we, as susceptible living creatures,
will be able to travel to another level and not be instantly
overtaken by foreign contaminates. Does everyone follow so
far?”

Professor Finley put
another image on the board; this one was a graph with colorful
lines showing energy to Flicker ratio. “Now, Flickers don’t see as
we do; rather, they sense energy and are attracted to it, the more
powerful the draw of energy, the more Flickers gather.

“For years we would
occasionally capture groupings of them in photos and moving
pictures, they would show up as small little orbs, often dismissed
as dust to the untrained eye, or I’ve even heard of them being
thought of as spirits.”

Sky found himself
chuckling with the rest of the class as Finley wiggled her fingers
and let out a short series of spooky sounds. He stole a glance up
to Sara and was pleased to see a smiling face.

Finley let the laughter
fade before she moved on. “All joking aside, these images were one
of the key factors that helped us unravel this mystery. The fact
that we always captured true Flicker images when near a semi
prominent energy source, be it natural or manufactured, seemed to
be key in their manifestation. So, some of you by now might be
wondering my point, why do we care about Flickers, how do these
microscopic organisms affect us? Well, one of the main side effects
when a Flicker travels from one level to the next is that they
leave behind a tiny hole.