Creatures of Snow (36 page)

She didn’t know whose arm went around her
first, but before she realized what was happening she found herself
surrounded by the comfort of Lee and Al.

“
He’s stronger then you
think. He cries like a baby, but it’s just how he copes.” Al smiled
up at her.

“
We all know you did what
you could.” Lee nodded with a soft smile, “I know you do not
realize it yet, but you did save him.” Lee looked back to Sky and
she hoped it was true.

“Lee,” Zeph called over to
him. “I need your brain poking skills. Roland,” He looked behind
them to where Roland stood hovering in the doorway, “Find the
infirmary. We’re gonna need to set up an IV with whatever sedatives
we got on board.”

“
Yes, sir.” Roland nodded
and was back out of the room.

Sara and Al edged closer
as Zeph lifted an unconscious Sky onto the bed. The Captain and
Zero hovered near-by, but they gave Lee a wide birth as he
approached.

“
You need to remove
whatever memories he just made of this last incident.” Zeph stared
down intensely at Sky, holding tightly onto his
shoulder.

Sara was as much relieved as she was
horrified. “Why do you have to do that? If you want to know the
trigger, it was me.” Al had two hands on her arm and was holding
her in place, “You don’t have to erase his brain, I’ll just stay
away from him.” She pleaded. It seemed so barbaric. But really,
shouldn’t she be happy he would forget how weak she had been?

“
No, that’s not it.” Zeph
gestured for Lee to begin, “He was completely infiltrated. The next
time the Fury comes calling he’ll have a direct rout to the center
of Sky’s consciousness unless we erase his tracks.”

“
Can you do that?” She
asked to Lee, dreading the fact that he would see what had
transpired between them.

“
I just have to search for
the darkness,” Lee let his fingers fall gently onto Sky’s sweat
covered forehead.

Sara backed out of the room. She had failed
at the one thing she was born to do. Granted, it wasn’t until a few
hours ago she even believed Furies were still relevant, but that
didn’t excuse her complete lack of usefulness.

“
Hey,” Al stepped out
after her, “Are you okay?”

“
I did this.” She hugged
her arms around her, staring into the room, “I had the chance to
stop it…” her voice cracked.

Al shook his head and came towards her,
“Stop blaming your self. You didn’t do this. Soul did.”

Back in the room Lee was
stepping away from the bed. The Captain swooped in and pulled up
the blankets around Sky, but left the arm nearest Zeph exposed.
Lee’s eyes drifted over to meet hers, and she shrunk away from the
questioning look he gave her.

She turned and started down the hallway,
needing to get out of there.

“
I’ll come with you.” Al
was at her heels.

“
I just want to be alone.”
But he was still following her. Wasn’t he supposed to be Sky’s best
friend? Shouldn’t he be at his side at this time of need? “What?”
She turned with a bit too much anger.

Al stood behind her with a look of cold
determination.

She retreated back, the way he stared at her
was making her uncomfortable. “What?” She asked more
desperately.

Al handed her the crude seal she had
written. “Rinten is a genius when it comes to charms and seals, but
he’s never dealt with a Fury before.” Al grabbed onto her hand as
she took the paper from him. “Maybe you should give some thought to
brushing up on what you know. You might be the only one that can
save him.”

Did he really believe that? She let him hold
on to her hand a bit longer and took in his intense and determined
air.

He did believe that.

Sara let herself stand up tall, feeling a
surge of confidence flow through her veins.

Roland flew by them with
an armful of clear bags.

“
You have my word Al. I’m
going to make this right.”

Chapter
Twenty-
Six

He didn’t know if it was
day or night. It took him a long time just to figure out that he
wasn’t in his room on Achaios, but on the
Regan Fortuna
.

Sky tried to blink, but he couldn’t actually
feel his face. His vision was a dry blur without anything to focus
on. His thirst was burning in his throat and his head was
pounding.

“
Calm down.” There was a
soothing, melodic voice echoing in his ears and his mind began to
relax.

There was a boy sitting by
his bed, but he didn’t think he had been the origin of the voice.
This boy, no older then twelve, he had never seen before – with
dull reddish brown hair, ashen skin and deep set eyes that were
highlighted by dark purple and black circles.

“
It no use.” The little
zombie boy said. “His memories been wiped.”

“
Why are they doing this
to him?” That deep, soothing voice went bouncing through his skull
again. It was a voice he almost recognized.

“Because, Zar went too
far. I should have used a weaker one.”

Sky wanted to bolt upright
and scream. That last voice was most certainly was the voice of
Soul. He tried desperately to move his head to confirm his
suspicion, but his body might as well been made of lead.

The zombie boy was
suddenly gone from his line of site which sent a trill of fright up
his spine. Were they really there at all? Was he dreaming…or had he
finally lost his mind?

“Can you teach him?”
Soul’s voice came again.

“I can try. I don’t know
how much he’ll retain with the amount of crap their pumping into
him right now.” Was it Con? Yes, the voice with the calming edge,
it had to be Con.

“We don’t have much time.
They’ll be back around to check on him soon.” The little boy said,
coming back into view. He placed a small, cold hand onto Sky’s head
and closed his eyes briefly. “He’s conscious and his mind is
somewhat clear right now.”

“
No, this isn’t something
we can rush through, it’ll take time.”

“
Fine.” Soul sounded
irritated, “Turn it back up, I’ll bring you back
tonight.”

Sky felt a cold rush into
his arm and a wave of fog passed through his brain.
Seriously!
He was just
getting his mind put back together. In one last attempt to move, he
wrenched his head to the side before the blackness could reclaim
him.

And there they were.

Con sat casually at the
end of his bed with Soul and the boy standing behind him. Could
that little thing be the Seth they were always
mentioning?

Con smiled warmly with a
tilt of his head, “See ya tonight, eh.”

Obscurity overran his mind
once again and he was dragged back down into a dreamless sleep. A
voice here, a poke there, but nothing that called him back into the
conscious world. It may have been hours or it may have been days,
but finally he felt the pull of the living world.

It was only glimpses at
first – carefully drawn symbols mixed with unfamiliar words, a calm
voice slowly explaining which each black line meant. The symbols
appeared again and again and again. Soon he felt his mouth moving,
as if it was trying to mimic the sounds he was hearing. Every time
he was threatened by the inside of his eyelids a gentle nudge would
pull him back into his blurry, semi-conscious state of
mind.

A flash of blond caught
his eye. He was pretty sure it was Con that was sitting there
beside his bed training his subconscious mind.

The calm voice led his
attention back to the bright white of the papers the dark marks
were drawn on. “Tutus.” He would say, or “
Contego.” Or, “Abeo.” It went on and on. Repeating over and
over, and then a new one would come and break the
pattern.

Finally, after what seemed
like days; but could have been weeks, but was most likely was just
hours, of seeing the symbols, and hearing the words, it
stopped.

There was a subtle ringing
in his ears and a soft pounding in his head that slowly drew his
muddled mind out of its fog and into the dimly lit room on board
the
Regan Fortuna
.

“…
and
never even saw it coming.” Con was saying. He had situated himself
on the floor with his back against the bed. “You’re lucky though,
eh. You’ve got the same stubborn streak in you that Soul’s
got.”

“What’s going on?” He could
hardly believe he was able to form words. They came out slurred and
mumbled, but they were words.

Con lifted his chin with a
smile, “Morning’ sunshine.”

“What did you do to me?” He
asked, wriggling around a bit. His intention was to sit up, but it
seemed his body thought otherwise.

“I wouldn’t try to move. I
turned your dosage down, but it’s still a pretty good amount that
you’re getting.” Con hoisted himself up to a standing position and
ambled over to the IV stand. “I can lower it a bit more if you
want.”

Sky could only watch as Con
fiddled with the knobs and dials that controlled the steady stream
of narcotics that raged through his body. “Why-” A flare of panic
went through him. Soul had said, if Con ever approached him and
Soul wasn’t there…but no, Soul was the one who had brought him
there, right?

“Don’t talk kiddo, just
listen.” Con held up a hand, “I don’t have a lot of time before you
guys land.” Con plopped down onto the bed with a shake of his
shaggy head. “You should be good to go now with the Fury. When Zar
comes a callin’ your mind should be able to defend against him
automatically. But,” He stood up and placed his hands on his narrow
hips, “if he ever does come through like that again, just lock
yourself away, he can only hang on strongly for a little bit, and
if no one else is around he’ll just get bored and leave anyway. Got
it?”

“How come you know so much
about it?” He didn’t know if he should thank him or not being that
him and Soul were technically the cause of his
predicament.

“What, you don’t trust me?”
Con shrugged, and never answered his question. “Even Soul admits
now that Zar might not have been the right choice for this, but,
you’ll get used to each other I’m sure. And later on, when you’re
stronger, you can just kill him if you want.” He talked so casually
about it, like it was the weather, “But, really, he just thinks
your weak right now and that’s why he’s picking on you.” Con leaned
over him and stared him straight in the face, “You just got to show
him who’s the boss – you are a Creature of Snow, a Prince of Chaos,
so prove it to him.”

“Why can’t we just seal the
mark? Problem solved.” It was probably giving away too much. The
only thing he remembered before they locked him away was his dad
and Zeph arguing over having Rinten seal the mark. Honestly, it
sounded like the more obvious answer to their situation rather then
memorizing symbols.

The look on Con face sent a
chill down Sky’s spine. It was a subtle blend of horror and worry.
“That’s not what they’re planning to do to you is it?”

“Why?” The desperation that
leaked into his simple word told the whole story.

“Don’t let them seal it.”
Con stood up, his demeanor turning serious, “They don’t understand
what their dealing with.”

“We’re going to see the Iko
Rinten. He’s an expert at seals and stuff, I’m sure if there’s a
danger-”

Con started blankly for a
beat, his black eyes steady on the floor. When his face became
animated once again he looked distracted and distant, “Soul’s
coming for me, sorry, but I’ve got to cut this short.” He backed
away from the bed, his head snapping towards the door, “Sounds like
you’re about to have company anyway.”

“Wait-”

“Don’t let them seal the
mark.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black
band. “Here,” Con tossed it onto the bed beside Sky, “Put that
around your wrist. If you need help, just think about us and we’ll
find you.”

There was a quick clanking
at the door as the latches were undone that deflected his eyes for
a moment, and by the time he looked back, Con was gone.

His dad strode in with a
stiff and proper Roland in tow. With a grit of his teeth he was
able to command his right hand through the band Con had tossed.
Luckily it was an elastic material and slid right on.

“Something’s not right.”
Roland perked up like a strix catching wind of its prey. “The
energy in here is all wrong.”

Both sets of eyes turned
to Sky who had forgotten he was supposed to be sedated.

“You’re awake?” His dad’s
voice rang with anxiety.

Roland quickly crossed the
room and began fiddling with his IV stand. “Who did this? Who was
here?”

Roland’s condescending
tone was beginning to start a fire in his belly.

“The air in here reeks of
deceit. Soul was here again, wasn’t he?” Roland twisted the dials
on the machine and the cold rush of fluid rushed into his
veins.

“Are you kidding me?” His
dad shouted. “Are we seriously not safe anywhere?!” He was at Sky’s
side in an instant with a hand on his forehead, “Are you okay? What
happened? Turn that stuff off, he can’t even focus.” The fuzzy
outline of his dad looked like he was pulling at the needle in his
arm.