Snow Heart (21 page)

Alric, Dan thought for a moment. He couldn’t forget the things Angel told him last night about how Alric had so suddenly changed. This girl had Alric rescuing her and taking care of her. She had to be something magical—a Witch perhaps, casting spells on the heartless Demon.

“Dan,” Nieves said with worry, reaching out until she felt his shoulder. “Is that you, Dan?”

“Yeah, I’m here.” Dan grabbed her hand and walked down into the darkness. “We’ll find Angel and… Alric together. Angel was going after Mia; something happened.”

Nieves nodded her head then realized he wouldn’t have seen it. “Mia was crying. Do you know why?”

“Nope. I don’t care. All I’m worried about is Angel.”

Nieves glanced to where Dan’s head might have been—the darkness was too thick for her to see. “Oh, I see.” She looked ahead to whatever might have been in front of her. “You are in love with Angel?”

Dan narrowed his eyes. “No. Angel is… like my sister. She’s just important to me. When our family deserted us we only had each other. I love her but I’m not… in love with her. I don’t think…”

She could understand that. Love was a complicated thing—not that Nieves knew. She hadn’t experienced the feeling of falling in love. Erika, after her parents died, never showed love to anyone. She was an empty shell from day to night to day again.

†

“Erika,” Nieves called out after slipping into a down feather jacket. “I’m heading off to school.” She slid into her old ragged black boots. “Are you ready, Erika?” After hearing no reply, Nieves stepped into the living room and glanced about.

Erika sat neatly on the couch watching the black screen of the television.

“Erm, Erika.” Nieves walked into the living room and leaned on the back of the couch. “You’re not coming to school today, are you?”

Erika didn’t move.

“Alright, then.” Nieves pecked a kiss onto her older sister’s cheek. “I left some soup on the stove for your lunch. Be sure to eat it. I wouldn’t want you to turn to dust by the time I get back.”

She quickly ran out of the house slamming the door shut behind her. School was her get-away. It was the one place she tried to spend all her time so she wouldn’t have to return home to a lifeless zombie.

Nieves was just about to reply when something grabbed her foot. She tripped, falling face first into the ground. She was just about to scream out to Alric for help when something grabbed her other leg. She simply screamed, kicking her feet as hard as possible.

Nieves clutched his shirt as he clawed away at the thing around Nieves’s ankle. The thing suddenly let go. He couldn’t understand what had happened.

“Dan,” Nieves said while skittering away for safety.

Dan huffed with irritation. “Haunted house, my ass. This place is dangerous.”

She stuttered back a sob. “I hate haunted houses.” She whimpered. “I want to find the exit.” Nieves wiped her face with her hands of the salty tears. She wished she had waited outside instead.

“Come on,” Dan said, pulling her off the ground. “We’re almost done.”

Nieves grasped the back of Dan’s shirt and buried her face there, yearning for them to be out of the horrid Haunted House. She let him lead the rest of the way until they heard the voices. Alric and Angel were arguing.

“They’re up ahead,” Dan informed. “Angel! Alric!”

Angel dug around in her back pocket. She pulled out a key chain with a tiny and miniature flashlight. “Over here.” She flicked it on, letting the small pinpoint light pierce the darkness.

“Good.” Alric folded his arms and turned back to argue with Angel. “You shouldn’t have encouraged her, Angel. It was not your place. Especially after I told you to stop.”

“What are you doing Nieves?” Alric rounded Dan to a petrified and shivering girl. She was trembling with fright while clutching Dan’s shirt. Alric yelled with pure hatred, “What happened to her?”

Dan huffed. “What makes you think I did it?”

“Because you are an irresponsible idiot, that is why.” Alric felt sudden hate and anger grow inside of him. It was mostly due to himself than anything else. He hated himself for losing her in the darkness.

Dan tightened his fists, ready to fight. “You’re blaming me ‘cause you left her behind?”

Alric would have hit him if Nieves hadn’t leapt at him. She sniffled while tightening her arms around his warm figure. Nieves muttered something under her breath that was meant to be, “I want out of here.”

Alric gave a sigh. He used a hand to hold her head close and an arm around her back to keep her steady. “We’re leaving right now.”

“Wait,” Angel stopped him. “We have to find Mia. She’s in here somewhere.”

Alric replied, “No. You’ve done enough. Mia has to except this on her own. Monsun is older than her and he has his own life outside of his work. Monsun only sees her as a student—as a child.”

“I’m not leaving her in here by herself,” Angel argued.

“Don’t you get it,” Dan said. “Alric’s… right.” Dan couldn’t believe he was saying that. “We have to let Monsun and Mia sort this out. Mostly Mia—she has to accept that Monsun is an adult.”

Angel folded her arms. “We can’t just leave her in here. You know she has that… phobia. When she’s with Monsun she doesn’t have that problem.”

“Then let’s find Monsun,” Alric suggested.

Angel looked up with surprise. Had Alric really suggested that? “Yes. Let’s.”

CHAPTER 29

Nieves clutched the Styrofoam cup in her hand as tightly as she could without smashing it. She felt warmth around her freezing hands. She couldn’t stop shaking and it was beginning to get on her nerves. Nieves hated the fact that she was scared of nothing. It’s not like the zombies were real.

Alric took the seat on the bench next to her. “Are you alright, now?”

Nieves nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Alric was taken by surprise. Why was she the one to be sorry? “No. I should have made sure you were with me. I did not know you were afraid of Haunted Houses. I am the one who needs to apologize.”

“Sir,” Monsun interrupted regretfully. “You needed to see me?”

Alric stood up and led the teacher away. Nieves didn’t care to listen. She was still trying to erase the melted face and the hard feeling of the grasp around her ankles. It had pulled her down and latched onto her for dear life. She whimpered, shaking her head just wishing the ideas were gone.

“What?” Monsun shouted while dashing in the direction Alric had led Nieves away from. He was obviously going after Mia but Nieves wondered what had happened in the first place to make Mia run away.

Alric stood there for a moment, deliberating about something. Nieves placed her coffee down onto the table as calmly as she could.

“Nieves?”

She turned around. The voice was familiar like one she had heard on more than one occasion. A smile spread across her face to see three of her friends from high school. The idea of zombies was now just a faint thought of nothingness.

Lisa was dressed in her favorite dress; it was the one she always wore to festivals or any type of celebration. She said it made her look sleek and suave. She thought she looked like a beautiful innocent maiden.

Bryan was a thin lanky child with a set of glasses on the tip of his nose. He always had a mischievous look in his eyes, ready to play a prank on any unsuspecting victim. His light tan hair was always an untamed mess but his clothes were rather clean kept.

Last, but not least in anyway, was Gustav. His hair was light as wheat and his eyes luminous green like a cat’s. He was rather pale but it went well with his clear flawless skin. Gustav was mostly the silent one in the bunch, hardly ever speaking and when he did it was something useful.

Nieves gave a weary smile; she couldn’t change the look of fear on her face but she could be calm about the Haunted House. “Oh, I’m fine. What are you guys doing here, anyway?”

Lisa shrugged a shoulder. “Bryan made us come out here.”

“I did not,” he huffed. “I just said it’d be better than sitting at home. We’ve been playing Battle Syndicate for over three weeks nonstop.”

Nieves hesitated with her laughter. “You two still haven’t changed, huh? And Gustav seems to be the same, too. I’m glad you came though.”

Lisa hugged Nieves quickly, not letting go. “How are you handling living with that awful bag of bones?”

“Don’t forget that old fart,” Bryan added. “What was his name again? Buck or something like that.”

Nieves laughed. “Boris?” Her laughter shuttered to a stop, remembering that Boris was either dead or missing. She wasn’t sure what happened to him. Nieves just knew Alric had done something with the lawyer. “It’s okay.”

She turned her attention to Alric and got to her feet. “This is my friend, Alric,” she said, pulling the anti-social Head Macter over to her old high school friends. “He’s the Head of the Macter family here.”

Lisa’s eyes beamed. If there was anyone with money around she would lunge at the chance. “Alric Macter?” Lisa got to her feet and grabbed a hold of Alric’s hand. “It’s an honor to meet you. My name is Lisa Hammel.”

“Congratulations,” Alric said with stone coldness, tossing her hand away. He went past her to find Nieves. “I have to go find Angel to let her know Monsun is taking care of Mia.” He looked at the men, regretting his next words. “Will you be alright alone for a while?”

“Shove it, Bryan.” Lisa pushed the over-pompous boy away. “Don’t worry, Mr. Alric, I’ll keep an eye on Nieves. She’s my little sister.” Lisa gave a long tight hug that Nieves tried to squirm out of.

Alric would have kidnapped Nieves away if she had said so. He wished she had.

“Let’s get on the Ferris Wheel!” Bryan said, snatching hold of Nieves’s hand. “I’m sitting with her first!”

Lisa knocked Bryan’s hand away. “Like hell we are. You just want to make out with Nieves. Plus you know I’m afraid of heights. Let’s ride something safer.”

“Okay.” Nieves would rather have Alric with her then go off on family matters. She found that to be selfish and quickly put it aside. Nieves wasn’t selfish or arrogant or even clingy. She told herself, Alric was a grown man of twenty… Twenty-one, actually.

“Okay, then.” Nieves said again, letting her eyes tell Alric she would wait.

He made his way down the dirt path, past the food vendors towards the direction Angel and Dan had gone in search of Monsun. He’d have to inform them that everything was being taken care of. Angel tended to overreact when it came to the fragile Mia.

Mia would change personalities if she encountered any man not from the Macter family. Later on after Mia’s strange case Alric discovered that Monsun seemed to be an extinguisher to the problem but not a permanent solution to the phobia.