Creatures of Snow (6 page)

“
Sit down, eat.” He
gestured Sky towards the table and took a seat himself. “I’ve heard
you had quite the night. Got yourself all the way to Cour, eh?” He
leaned back in his chair and stretched out his long
legs.

When Sky gave only a wide
eyed stare in response, his dad laughed again.

“
Zeph let me know where
you were after he saw you. See, even he can be responsible when he
has to be.” He explained and again gestured for Sky to sit. “Now
come on, you got to be starving.”

He moved closer with
slight reservation. “So…you’re not mad?”

His dad shrugged, “Meh. It’s not like we
didn’t expect it. You can be pretty predictable sometimes.” He gave
a charismatic wink.

His father, the Captain
Victor Regan, had to be the most forgiving man in the Living Realm.
Sure, it probably helped that he wasn’t really a man, but was an
Iko of Protection whose job it had once been to care for the mere
mortals, but that was beside the point. The point was that he had
spent months planning and preparing a party that he knew probably
wouldn’t happen just for the odd chance that Sky might have
actually surprised him by showing up.

“
I’m a jerk.” Sky slumped
down into the closest chair, “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” He
leaned forward across the table. The flickering lights caught his
youthful face in an almost apologetic state as a few strands of
dusty brown hair fell across it. “I knew you were struggling with
the whole school thing, but I didn’t say anything.”

His dad got up quickly and crossed the room.
He was so quick, in fact, that by the time Sky’s eyes caught up
with him, he had somehow managed to get his hands on a long,
rectangular box that was wrapped up in gaudily adorable paper.

“
I didn’t say anything,
because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.” He tossed the box over
to Sky. “Happy graduation, Sky.”

To his own surprise, he
actually caught the box which was a lot lighter than he had
anticipated. “What’s this?”

“Well, open it up, genius,
and find out.” Ixanna strode into the room in a swirl of white lace
and silken robes, complimented by waves of strawberry-blond hair.
Her flawless face was stretched wide in a ruby red
smile.

He hadn’t seen her for
months and she was amazingly extravagant as always. Out of all the
Iko’s he knew she was the one who never changed in appearance or
attitude, no matter what her situation. Even his dad, who in recent
years had begun to be mistaken for an older brother, had taken on a
more ragged appearance complete with rough stubble and shaggy hair
to add the illusion of a few more years between them. But Ixanna,
they could be on the farthest planet from the sun, in the slummiest
of neighborhoods, pretending to be scroungers, and she would still
have been dressed to the nines, demanding a clean surface to stand
on.

Sky looked down at the
colorful wrapping, and the care that had been taken in making the
thin paper perfectly creased around the edges of the box. He felt
guilty doing it, but it would be rude not to open it. He carefully
undid the paper and was sure to fold it back, minding the pleats,
and opened the lid of the box.

He froze, not understanding. “What is this?”
He asked, looking up slowly to find his dad’s eyes looking eagerly
at him.

“Surprise!”

Sky looked back down into
the box at the neatly folded REALM uniform. “I…I don’t
understand?”

“
You’re still a student of
Arche, but you’ll be attending the REALM academy for a few
semesters in a new program.”

“Axis…” He mumbled,
briefly remembering Professor Blanks and his part of the
lecture.

Ixanna reached over his shoulders and pulled
up the jacket in front of Sky. “You see that little silver pin
under the emblem – that’s the badge of Axis. You’re one of the
first – a pioneer!”

“
Did you guys do this?”
Sky’s mind was numb. He knew he should be feeling something, he
just didn’t know what exactly.

His dad shook his shaggy
head and leaned towards him, “No kiddo, you did this all on your
own. Whatever criteria they were looking for – you hit it right on
the head. There were only two first-years chosen for
this.”

“
Zeph explained everything
to us a few weeks back. He assured us that he had nothing to do
with the selections either.” Ixanna piped in. “Are you mad? You
look mad.”

Sky shook his head, still trying to
understand. “No. I’m not mad. I just…”

“
We knew you were upset
about leaving, this way, you get to stay, at least for a little
longer. Aren’t you happy?” Ixanna pulled his face around to look
her in the eye. “You should be happy.”

“
I am happy. I’m just, in
shock I guess.” That was right. He was happy, but there was a
better way to describe the feeling that began to rush through his
veins. “I guess what I’m really feeling…” He looked over to his
father whose face had begun to take on a slight look of concern,
“is relief.”

The look of concern retreated from the
surface, but Sky could tell by the way his dad sat back in his
chair and tilted his head that it wasn’t fully gone. He just stared
at him. His unlined face a mask of thought.

“So what happens now?” He
asked as the news slowly began to sink in, and color flooded his
black and white thoughts.

“
Well, unfortunately Zero
and I have got a delivery in the morning, and Ixanna here has got
to get back to whatever it is she does,”

Ixanna swung around to the
opposite side of the table and sat gracefully beside his dad. “I
happen to be involved in a very important-”

“Yes, we know. A very
important, top secret mission. So secret you keep trying to tell us
about it.” His dad sighed.

“
Well, it’s very
interesting.” Ixanna snapped and crossed her arms with a
pout.

“
Anyway, I already talked
to Allen about riding with you –“

“Wait! Al knew? The little
liar!”

“Well, yeah.” His dad
shrugged. “Everyone sort of knew…but you. That’s why it’s called a
surprise. So, anyway, Allen agreed to take you to campus and from
there you can just act like a normal student.”

Sky still couldn’t believe
the show Al had put on. Looking sad, worried and
miserable.

“
A Professor Blanks should
be connecting with you sometime during the day,” His dad went on,
“He’ll explain the rest and introduce you to the other Axis
students.”

Sky exhaled loudly, still
not really absorbing all the information. He ran a hand through his
hair - only to have that hand grabbed up by his dad.

“
Is this blood?” He pulled
Sky’s arm across the table to bring it under the light.

“
What? No.” He
lied.

His dad let go of his hand
and pushed it back in his direction. “So that’s what you were
doing? Fighting again?”

Sky didn’t want to lie, but he certainly
didn’t want to tell the truth.

Ixanna shook her head, but unlike his
father, there was no real disapproval in her eyes. “Sky,” She said
gently, “You know fighting doesn’t solve problems, it creates
them.”

“It wasn’t my fault! I
didn’t start it.” He shouted. Like a cornered animal - his first
instinct was to lash out.

“
Go to your room. We’re
done.” His dad pointed out of the room, not bothering to look at
him.

Sky knew exactly what that meant. It meant
that whatever hope and pride his dad might have had in him had just
died because he had missed washing off one small speck of
blood.

Sky stood up violently and
threw the box back down on the table, before stomping out of the
room.

“
Skyden.” His dad called
out calmly as he got to the stairs.

He stopped, but couldn’t turn around. He
didn’t want to be mad. He didn’t want to be in trouble again, but
it’s not like he could take it back. “I’m sorry, okay.” His voice
cracked and let through his sincerity.

“
Stop being sorry and
start thinking things through.” He could hear his dad getting up
from the table and the swoosh of fabric told him Ixanna was doing
the same. “You’re scared of turning into Soul and turning your back
on your family, but don’t you realize when you do stuff like this
you’re already pushing us away?”

Something stirred in the
pit of his stomach. He felt sick, and angry and tired. “I am not.”
His voice was weak and pathetic.

“
Go to bed. You have a big
day tomorrow.” His dad mumbled back, already heading for the back
door.

“
Oh, Victor, don’t leave
it like this.” Ixanna whispered as the door slammed.

Sky made his way up the
creaking stairs to the narrow hallway. He felt terrible. All he
could imagine was the look his dad must have had on his face when
he had said that…
you’re already pushing us
away
. He had never thought of it like
that.

“
Skyden.” Ixanna’s voice
called softly behind him from the bottom of the stairs.

He didn’t stop; there was
nothing she could say that would make him feel like less of a jerk.
He shuffled into his room and threw himself down on the bed.
Rolling to his back he reached up his hand to block out the light
he was now wishing he would never have switched on.

He was nothing but a disappointment.

“
Skyden.” Ixanna knocked
lightly on his door before stepping in uninvited.

“I’m sleeping.” He rolled
over to his side, putting his back to her. He knew he was being
rude, but really, he didn’t even know what to say to her. It was
strange that she had followed him at all. Although she was
technically an Iko of Compassion, she was generally the last one to
ever offer a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. At least, not
to him.

“You know he’s not mad at
you. When he talks like that, it’s because he’s worried.” She
crossed the room silently and knelt beside the bed. “He worries so
much about you.”

“
I know that.” He snapped.
He could feel her hand hovering just above his shoulder as she
hesitated to let it land there.

“
I just don’t like to see
you two fighting when things were just going so well.” She let her
hand come to rest on the bed beside him.

“What is your definition
of ‘going well’?” He turned back over, and could have laughed at
how quickly she retreated from him.

“
He loves you very much.”
She clasped her hands together, as if pleading to him.

“He shouldn’t. I beat up
two guys today and I would have got a third one too if Al hadn’t
stopped me.”

“
Are you proud of
that?”

“
No.” He just wanted her
out of his room.

“
Then why do you keep
doing this? You’re a smart boy, Skyden.” She leaned forward just
slightly, “All he wants, all any of us want is for you to be happy,
but you keep doing these…selfish things.”

He sat up, angry now. Even if she was right,
she had no business telling him that. “You can go now.” He pointed
towards the door, purposely putting his arm inches from her
face.

“
Just stop thinking of
yourself all the time.” She stood in a huff and went as far as
stomping her foot to make her point.

“
I’m a teenager, it’s what
I do.” He dropped back down to the comfort of his
sheets.

“
Fine. Wallow in your own
self pity. You keep this up and you really will end up like…like
him.” She choked on the last word and spun around in a wave of
white then proceeded to march out the door. With a slam and a
muffled sob she was gone.

He stared at the door,
hating it. Why did she even bother? Always so perfectly fake and
overdramatic. She never had the time of day for him before. And
really, it wasn’t his feelings that she was concerned about, was
it? It was her dear Captain’s. That fact made him feel better for
some reason. It would have been too weird to have her worried about
him. If one more thing went out of place in his life his head would
most likely explode.

With a groan he rolled out
of bed and dragged his heavy body over to the light switch. Never
was a task so tedious, but when the darkness came, it was well
worth it. He lay back down and let all day’s events; the good, the
bad and the downright horrible, flood his mind until they washed
his consciousness away, into the blissful depth of
sleep.

C
hapter Six

Morning came to Marel at the same time as it
did for the rest of the cities on Archaios, but it never seemed
quite as bright. The bit of light that found its way through the
smog only illuminated the run-down buildings and dusty, empty lots
that lined the littered and filthy streets. Just past the horizon,
the distant glow of the city of Cour faded into the haze of
dusk.

Sara Rekkert, a tall girl
with dark olive skin, bleach white hair and golden eyes stood in
the entrance of her apartment complex. Her hair was done up in two
sloppy buns and her Academy uniform was purposely untidy as she let
a small smile play on her pierced lips. She looked rough, but that
was the point. She pulled at the scratchy material and adjusted the
silver pin of Axis beneath the seal of REALM.