The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves (98 page)

His expression was
pained.

“
Then, just last week,”
she began anew, running a hand through her hair, her voice rippling
with tension, “he and I had a huge argument… Well, I did most of
the yelling. He sort of cringed against the wall come to think of
it… Jeez, it happened just a week from yesterday,” she calculated,
blinking with the realization. “It seems like an age ago, so much
has happened since.”

She drifted off into a
silence that Anthony did not disturb.

“
Anyway, where was I?” she
asked, rubbing at her temples.

“
The argument,” Anthony
offered. His face was still troubled at her plight.

“
Oh yeah, thanks,” she
inhaled and exhaled forcibly. “Anyway, I went off on him and
finally spelled it out for him. I told him I didn’t want to see or
hear or talk to him again. I think I was literally screaming at the
top of my lungs, not a pretty sight let me tell you.” A wry chuckle
escaped her. “So, I think everything is cool, right? He doesn’t
call me that night, etc., etc. So, I’m finally able to concentrate
on getting this research paper done - everything was good. Until
the next morning, my friend calls me and tells me to turn on the
TV. I do, and what do I find out?”

Anthony shrugged for her
to keep talking.

“
Apparently, this dude was on his way to my
house
with some rope,
duck-tape, even a butcher knife, but he - .”

“…
never made it,”
interrupted Anthony by finishing her sentence.

“
Yeah, how did you know?”
she implored earnestly.

“
I saw it on the news as
well,” he retorted quietly.

“
Yeah,
he got chewed up by some animal or something on his way to
kidnap
me
,
probably with the intention of raping me or… or s-s-something,” she
couldn’t help it. The tears came of their own volition, her sobs
coming from deep in the center of her chest. All of it was too much
- the icky feelings about James, her abduction to the Melded World,
the fear, plus the sense of foreboding she couldn’t
shake.

Anthony! Yes, Anthony, the
mysterious, lanky boy she’d met a few days ago. He was the boy on
the verge of stealing her heart.
Oh
why-o-why, do I like him?

“
James Henley, Jr.,” said
Anthony, uttering the boy’s name with distain as he reached out and
placed one of his hands on her knee.

She didn’t hesitate and
placed one of hers atop his. Her fingers snaked around the back of
his downturned palm, determined not to let go. “Yes,” was all she
could manage as she let the sorrow run its course.

He stayed silent as she
cried, periodically squeezing her leg, letting her know he was
there for her, making her feel better, filling her heart. She held
onto him tightly, digging her fingers into the sides of his much
larger hand.

“
Do you have any idea what
might’ve done that to him?” he asked all of a sudden.

“
No,” she replied, wiping
at her eyes with her free hand as her weeping began to
subside.

“
I do.”

It was a simple statement,
but it brought her up short. She stared at him through tear-filled
eyes, shock in her expression. “Who?”

“
It’s more of a what,”
countered Anthony. Without thinking, as if he’d done it a thousand
times, he brushed the hair away from her face with his free
hand.

She thought for a time,
breathing slowly under his light touch. Then, she said aghast, “Are
you serious?”

“
Yup.”

“
Jätung?” she supplied her
voice fraught with skepticism.

“
I always figured Fenris
had us all scoped out from the very beginning. Now that I know who
James Henley was and what was his intent, it all makes sense,” said
the boy, trying to define the picture forming in his
mind.

“
But why would Jätung -
.”

Again, he interrupted her,
“…because they need you here, Sophie. I overheard Fenris yell at
one of his cronies – just before he killed him actually - that we
were to be delivered to the Lord of the Storm unharmed, so he could
visit all sorts of pain and cruelty upon us at his
leisure.”

“
Oh God that sounds
gruesome,” she surmised. “How ironic it is to think that James was
murdered in order to save me for an even worse fate.”

“
You
shouldn’t worry too much over James, Sophie. I’m sorry to say it,
but he
was
going
to rape you and most likely inflict more on you than was done to
him. From what they said on the news he died quickly. Jätung’s
poisonous bite had acted fast.” He had turned the hand on her knee
over and was now holding her hand within his. He placed his other
over the back of hers, clasping it within his grip. “You shouldn’t
feel guilty in any way. James wouldn’t have finished with you
quickly. It would’ve been long and terrible, and
disgusting.”

Sophie nodded as more
tears began to fall from her eyes.

“
Feel guilty about what?”
came the question from behind Anthony’s shoulder.

They both turned and saw
Jason and Andrew, walking toward them from the washing area. She’d
been intent on talking with Anthony.

She hadn’t heard them get
up, even when they dressed and washed themselves. Quickly, she
wiped at her eyes and tried to compose herself.

“
It’s not my question to
answer,” said Anthony acknowledging the query, gesturing toward
her.

“
Ah,” said Andrew with a
dip of his head as he flopped himself down on the floor at the end
of the log they were sitting, on Anthony’s side.

Jason ducked his head
toward her as well and sat on the adjacent log, on the far side of
Andrew. Neither of them seemed to have any inkling of pursuing the
topic.

She was grateful for their
tact.

A silence, interrupted
only by the crackle and fizz of the fire, stretched. Sophie
realized Garfield was ambling about the cave, sniffing here and
there, making his way over toward Kenai who appeared to be asleep
toward the entrance of the cave.

“
You think we should build
up the fire and get things started?” asked Andrew out of the blue,
which made Anthony chortle.

He picked up Sophie’s hand
in between his and slowly brought it to his mouth and kissed it
softly. The action brought her closer to him. “I will always be
here to help, Sophie, you can count on me. I promise,” he whispered
to her.

She felt
all
of her insides
flutter like the wings of a hummingbird. He was magnetic. She was
reacting to his every move.

He released her hand and
turned toward his friend as if nothing had happened.

“
Let me guess, Drew,
you’re hungry.”

“
Hell yeah, dude! Yoooo
tango hombre, home-boy,” was the others’ response.

Anthony laughed and Jason
smiled.

She sat there for a second
or two, trying to quell the palpitations in her chest, staring at
the back of Anthony’s head, her eyes dancing over his long, wavy
hair. She had never wanted to kiss someone as much as she wanted to
kiss him at that moment.

At the same time, she
wondered why she’d even bothered to asked those questions dancing
in her head earlier. She knew the answers already. There would be
no second guessing.

Who would ever believe
such a miracle was possible in the Melded World.

~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼
}>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

It’s Like Peeling an
Onion

Day Three, Saturday, 7:29
am…

He peered at her out of
the corner of his eye, only half-listened to the by-play between
Anthony and Andrew, most of his attention focused on the
white-haired beauty as she ran her fingers through her hair. She
was looking at the back of Anthony’s head. Her eyes were opened
wider than normal. He could see her hands clenched and unclench as
if she wanted to reach out and grab the kid. He noticed she was
biting her lower lip with the teeth of her upper jaw. He raised his
eyebrows.

She inhaled slowly, but
deeply, her chest rising with it, making her breasts swell against
the fabric of her sweater.

Whoa, whoa, Sophie, calm
down
, he thought, not quite sure what was
going on inside her head. She had a kind of predatory look about
her, which confused him. He couldn’t place it. It was an expression
he had yet to see directed at him. It was startling to see the
rawness of it, the earnestness. She was at the ready, waiting for
one sign before she moved. It was difficult to imagine something so
instinctual emanating from one of the smartest girls he had ever
had the pleasure of knowing. Had he not known she was a
straight-laced, honor student, he would’ve mistaken her for one of
those avaricious girls known to roam the schoolyard. For Sophie to
openly covet, so wantonly, as plain as day, was breathtaking. The
air he breathed was stuck in his chest.

He swore he heard three
ticks of a non-existent Grandfather Clock.

Jason Fong watched her
compose herself, seeing a torrent of contradictory emotions
frothing to the surface, out of the depths of her irises. He
witnessed as they sank to the bottom of her endless blue orbs.
Methodically, she mastered herself, brought herself back under
control. He knew there was a lot going on inside her mind and all
of it revolved around the tall, slender boy she was sitting
beside.

Abruptly, she stood,
rubbing her hand on her thighs and exhaled loudly. “Well, if Andrew
is hungry, that means the rest of you will be shortly, so let me go
and see what I can whip up for you lovely gentlemen. Any requests?”
She glanced at each of them.

Jason could tell the
others really didn’t care what she made as long as it was hot and
was edible. All three of them shrugged their shoulders and shook
their heads as her gaze fell upon them individually.

“
You boys are easy!” she
said with a little too much enthusiasm and walked off quickly,
clearly wanting to get away.

The three of them looked
after her swaying, retreating form as she made her way to the food
carts and began rummaging through the various breakfast items
they’d gathered from Vons. She muttered to herself, her brow
furling with thoughts Jason was fairly certain didn’t involve
breakfast.

“
I’m gonna put some more
wood on the fire,” intoned Andrew. He bounded to his feet and made
for the woodpile at the back of the cave.

Jason gazed after him for
a moment, then turned his attention back toward Anthony. He wasn’t
surprised to find the other teenager was still peering through the
dimly lit chamber at Sophie. The stone-cold fox was meticulously
planning their morning meal. Anthony’s face was serious, his eyes
piercing across the distance between him and the girl. Jason knew
there just as many thoughts and desires going through his head as
there were coursing about Sophie’s moments before.

“
You don’t have to worry.
You know that don’t you?” Jason spoke stating what he felt was
fact.

“
Worry about what?”
inquired Anthony, though he didn’t look back in his direction. He
had eyes only for the girl.

“
About her, of course,
whodoya think I was talking about? Sophie. You don’t have to worry
about Sophie, not in the least,” he explained for a second time,
trying not to let any humor seep into his tone. He was telling the
truth, after all, even if it made him want to chortle, but he
wanted to get his point across. He had to be serious, though it was
still somewhat funny the other boy couldn’t see what was so plainly
visible to him.

Anthony let his gaze fall
and turned his head to look at Jason, scowling in confusion. “What
are you talking about, Jason?” he asked pointedly.

Jason sighed, a small
chuckle gurgling. “I am merely attempting to point out the obvious
that’s all. If you are worried about whether or not she likes you,
I am telling you, you don’t have too. It has been pretty easy to
see from the moment she met you out in the meadow three days ago,
she liked you. Since then, I think she likes you a whole lot more.”
He raised his own eyebrows to emphasize his point.