The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves (36 page)

So… maybe Milbur Street
was finally going to reach the top of the hill after all. At least,
it seemed that way to Anthony.

Without word to one
another, Anthony and Andrew made their way up the last of the road.
The rain and the wind picking up slightly as they trod the steep
incline toward the summit. Above them, the sky was so dark and
turbulent; it looked more like the surface of the ocean than a
conglomeration of clouds. At this early hour, the streetlights of
the city were beginning to flicker on en masse. The storm was
blocking so much of the sun’s rays, they’re light-sensitive sensors
deemed it was dusk.

As they attained the top
of the hill, they found themselves in a wide, relatively level
clearing, about two hundred feet circle from where they stood at
the end of the newly wrought road. Some of the area must’ve been
flat for years. It was overgrown and strewn with debris of all
sorts, while, in other places, they could see some sort of large
machinery had moved the earth to make the overall area of level
ground wider, more spacious. It was piled directly opposite the
road from them, forming a wide arch at the verge of the clearing
and the downward slope of the far side of the hill. Anthony
estimated the wall of dirt might be as high as ten feet at some
points along its expanse. It served as a decent barrier, hindering
the view of the city from that particular vantage.

None of this, though, was
in the least, disconcerting. There was nothing about the clearing
that struck Anthony as odd. As he continued to glance around, it
was plain to see there’d been a lot of earthwork done to the area.
He could well imagine the amount of time and effort it would take
to scrape the new road all the way to the summit. Even moving the
debris to widen the clearing must’ve been tremendous.

Then, it struck
him.

It was the first
inclination that something wasn’t quite right with the place. He
peered about, double-checking. He was correct. There was absolutely
no such heavy machinery in evidence atop the hill - none at all.
There was no construction trailer, no electrical power (even
temporary) running up to the site, either. There wasn’t even a
Port-a-potty in sight. What sort of general contractor ever
operated a site without a nice, private place to take a
dump?

None that Anthony had ever
seen or known. They loved their crap-time!

There was simply nothing
up there.

Where did this Nixy chick
live anyway? Did she live out in the open with all the bugs and
furry friends? How did she keep her dresses so white if she had
sleep on the ground every night? How did she brush her
teeth?
Anthony took a few steps onto the
clearing, looking around, frustrated now. His arms outstretched as
if he was asking the site itself to answer the hundreds of
questions firing in his brain.

He was about to say
something sarcastic to Andrew when he spotted something out of the
corner of his eye, something angular and not made by nature. He
turned to face it, gazing across the clearing, to the point
farthest away from where they stood. He saw it nestled right up
against the earthen wall, sitting at what he figured in his mind,
was the very back of the site. Even then, he wasn’t certain what he
was looking at, because it was too baffling and so unbelievably out
of place.

Andrew walked up beside
him. “Dude, is that a doghouse?” he said, skeptical of what his own
eyes were showing him.

“
Yeah,” began Anthony,
“and a freakin’ big one at that.”

In unison, the teenagers
took a few more steps closer to the structure, the details slowly
comprehensible to the both of them – a perfect wooden doghouse with
real roofing, painted a very light brown with wooden trim painted
only slightly darker. It was a simple camouflage against the many,
many browns of the earthwork behind it. It could’ve been in
anyone’s backyard, anywhere in the neighborhood, housing any
typical yard dog, aside from one major detail. It was about twice
the size it should’ve been to house a dog the size of a Great Dane.
The doorway itself was better suited for a pony than the usual
canine companion typically seen in Highland Park.

“
Do you think she lives in
there?” asked Andrew with a slight quiver in his voice. He didn’t
want to believe this Nixy girl could possibly live in a place like
that with her entire family.

If she has one…

“
I don’t know, man. This
is just getting weirder and weirder,” replied Anthony. “Maybe, we
should, at least, check it out. I mean, there’s nothing else up
here. Let’s give it a quick once over and then get the hell out of
here. This is getting a little creepy.”

“
Ok.” Andrew didn’t sound
confident at all now.

“
We can, at least, say we
did what we planned to do. We tried and did our best,
right?”

“
Yeah, man, yeah.” It was
more of a stammer than a reply. Andrew was trying to convince
himself to stay and investigate, staving off the urge to run back
home and out of the strengthening downpour.

Anthony didn’t respond to
his friend. He began to walk toward the over-sized doghouse,
motioning for Andrew to follow him.

He got no more than
fifteen paces when, all of a sudden, the sky above them seemed to
explode, white hot and angry. They had no more than a second,
hearing a mesmerizing sizzle from above, smelt burnt ozone, before
a tremendous peal of thunder nearly knocked them senseless with the
sheer magnitude of its’ sound. Both boys held their hands over
their ears as the ground shook from the overwhelming clap. The wind
came next, fierce and unrelenting, icy. They stood, rooted, as a
solid wall of water approached them from lower levels of the hill,
advancing quickly upon the very heels of the wind.

A moment later, there were
slammed by the torrential rain. One moment they were partially wet,
they next they were both soaked, through their jackets, their
pants, even their underwear. The sheer weight of the water
plastered their hair to their heads, leaving them in the clearing
so stunned, for a short while, they didn’t move. They stood there
transfixed, struck senseless. Made immobile by the deluge, they
glanced about, then at one another, bewildered.

“
Dude, run for the dog
house!” It was Andrew’s voice ringing out, through the pounding
splash of the rain, barely audible above the noise. He was yelling
at the top of his lungs.

Anthony didn’t reply.
Merely, he nodded, a sodden heap already. They both took off,
running for the only shelter in the clearing. They ran over the
muddy ground, already a quagmire, slipping and stumbling, the mud
seemed to be everywhere at once. They were at the doghouse in no
less than ten seconds.

Andrew plunged through the
open portal. The door was propped open, pushed inward as wide as it
could go. Anthony followed, suddenly night-blinded by the lack of
light inside. Andrew ignored the dark and spun around to gaze back
out at the downpour, a torrent with no end in sight, the sound
roaring in their ears. It was like a freight train passing a few
feet in front of the wooden structure. Lightning flashed,
illuminating everything, including the inside the doghouse. Again,
the thunder was quick on its heels, rattling the boy’s teeth inside
their skulls.

It was in that instance of
light, Anthony saw her. In the very second of harsh white glare,
deep inside the wooden structure, as far back as she could push
herself against the opposing wall, was Nixy. Her hair and her dress
pristine and perfect. Recoiling, as if he had seen a rattle snake
or worse, Anthony jumped back into Andrew. Though he complained
loudly, Anthony hadn’t heard, shouting.

“
She’s in here, Drew, at
the very back, up against the far side! She fucking in here with
us!” Unaware he was blindly groping for the Billy club in his back
pocket. As scared as he was, all he was managing to do tug on the
outside of his soaked jacket.

“
Wha -?” began Drew, but a
deep, rumbling growl silenced him.

Both boys froze in place,
looking at one another, realizing at the same time, the menacing
sound hadn’t come from the back of the doghouse. It had come
from
outside,
in
the clearing.

To Anthony’s chagrin,
Andrew had somehow already drawn his small club, was holding it out
before him in his right hand. Anthony forsook his attempts
completely. His clothes were preventing him from pulling forth his
own in time. Now, it was too late.

They tottered in unison,
at the threshold of the doorway. Their breathing was ragged and
quick. Together, they let their vision extend outside, into the
rain.

Again, the lightning
flashed and the thunder pounded the air above them, making them
cringe and squint. But they hardy heard, their reactions muted.
They saw it, both of them, at the same time. If they’d been little
boys in that terrible twinkling of an eye, they would’ve screamed
and would’ve tried to run. Instead, they stood side by side, glued
in place, petrified, making absolutely no sound at all.

Frankly, it was huge. Its’
fur was as white as any dress Nixy had ever worn. Though now, it
plastered down by the rain, water splashing in huge quantities to
the ground on either side of it. It stood nearly five feet at the
shoulder, on four heavily muscled legs, culminating in broad, cruel
feet. Its’ claws were three-inches long. Its’ mouth was impossibly
huge and made even greater by a huge row of sharp, yellowed teeth
and fangs. Through the downpour, both boys could see they were
splotched here and there with dark, gooey masses, looking more like
bits of flesh than stains. Though distance and the inclement
weather made it difficult to discern, it really didn’t matter
whether it was blood or gore – both were equally
terrible.

Its’ eyes shown red and
burned like coals deep in a smoldering fire. They glowed in the dim
light of the stormy day, seething and hot, without depth or life.
They burned with hate, death and hunger. It lowered its’ head
closer toward the sodden earth, bearing its’ horrible teeth.
Another deep resounding growl emanated from its chest. Its’ eyes
were trained on them, pulsating with a sickly glimmer both boys
knew was in concert with its’ huge, malignant heart.

The boys cringed, leaning
into one another, preparing for the terrible creature to pounce on
them.

Half-heartedly, it sniffed
at a mangled jumble upon the ground. It was unrecognizable. They
couldn’t tell precisely what it was, only that it bled. Yes, the
beast did have bits of flesh in between its’ teeth. It had been
eating.

“
So, I see you have met my
Isighünd,” said the tiny girl from deep within the
doghouse.

Both Anthony and Andrew
nearly jumped out of their shoes. They’d totally forgotten Nixy had
been standing behind them all along. They each chanced a glance
back toward the girl somewhat dumbfounded. She hadn’t only managed
to retrieve a torch, she had lit it as well. All in the time they’d
been engrossed in the terrifying sight of the wolf-like creature
outside.

How had she been able to
do that?

She took a few steps
toward them, and then glared anew at Andrew. Her eyes betrayed the
bottomless hatred she’d been able to conceal until then.

Isighünd, where have I
heard that word before?
Anthony asked
himself, feeling a slight tingle of recognition in his brain,
before his thoughts were scattered by fright.

“
So, you have chosen to
include him this early into the game, eh, Anthony Herrera. He
wasn’t supposed to be a part of it at this juncture,” she said
accusingly, her chin jutting forward as if she meant to stab Andrew
with it. “Well, I guess in the grander scheme of things, it matters
little.”

“
I don’t know what the
hell you’re talking about,” shot back Anthony, trying to put
sarcasm in his tone, but only half succeeded. His fear was
threatening to overwhelm him.

Nixy considered his reply
for a moment or two, looking out at the creature she’d termed an
Isighünd. She spoke, suddenly, in an extremely guttural voice,
“
Slavik Chûk, Gnä Sõk
!”

Both boys looked at each
other in confusion. It was unlike any language they’d ever heard
before.

Nixy looked back at
Anthony, her expression hardening as she did so. “It will not
matter in the long run, because, Kring-Hël, all will bend to the
will of the Lord of the Storm. Eventually… after centuries, even
millennia, all do come under the dominion of the Great Maelstrom.
In time, you will see, the both of you will come to know this as
fact you cannot escape.”

Kring-Hël
, where had Anthony heard
that before? Why did it sound so familiar to him? Had he dreamed
about it? Had someone mentioned it to him in the past? The answer
was right there at the very edge of his comprehension, dangling,
ever so tantalizing, but it was just beyond reach.

“
Ant, look,” muttered a
wildly nervous Drew at his side.

Anthony looked from Nixy
to where Andrew was pointing. Outside the Isighünd had moved to one
side. The large chunk of meat now firmly clasped within its’ jaws.
It was no longer blocking their path to the dirt road beyond. The
way to their respective homes was wide open. The beast had moved
off to the right, almost perpendicular to the route they’d need to
traverse in order return to Milbur Street proper, and
escape.