Page 113 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“He’s just been super busy.”
Javier kept pace along with me although I was sure he could hike his way up the hill faster. I appreciated it, though. It showed how well he was raised, so I didn’t urge him to go ahead. Besides, I liked having someone at my side, even if it was a sixteen-year-old kid. It wasn’t simply that he helped around the house and with Victoria, or that his rations were a bit bigger than others because of his work with Elias’s livestock. There was an understanding between us. Two orphans who had to keep going regardless of how much it hurt. And his heart must have been completely ravaged. To lose both parents so soon after the other was beyond harrowing, yet he kept smiling for his little sisters. He stayed strong. He was remarkable.
Every time I opened my mouth to tell him the truth about how his father had died, I couldn’t do it. I could actually understand why Elias had kept it from me.
It was a burden I didn’t want him to carry, not when he relied on Elias and his friends to offer him work for extra food.
“Race you down?” I asked him when we finally—finallyreached the top.
He grinned back in answer.
I gripped Victoria’s shoulder. “Ready? Go!” I pushed us off and jumped behind Victoria.
Snow whipped against my face and into my eyes and mouth. Victoria and the other two girls screamed and laughed the entire way down. Once we reached the bottom, I tilted our sled to the side, making us fall. I whooshed out a breath as I lay on the cold ground.
Victoria jumped on me. “Again!” she demanded.
I grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at her. She ran away in a peel of laughter, and Javier grabbed her by the waist and spun her twice.
From the bookbag I’d brought, I took out two of the blankets Elias had made for us. I dropped one on the ground to keep myself dry when I sat on it and the other around my huddled shoulders.
I missed him in a way that made breathing difficult. I wanted to see him, to talk to him, but I was scared that the changes Donnie had seen in him were irreversible. Scared he’d hurt me. Not physically, but in the same manner I’d hurt him.
Yeah, I was a coward of the worst kind.
I watched Javier pull both sleds up the hill. When they got to the top, all three girls jumped out of their sleds and with a handful of snow in their small hands, they threw snowballs at Javier. He ducked and dodged, threw his own snowballs back at them, and then tossed the girls gently onto the fluffy snow.
This was what I wanted. Moments of happiness, away from the hundreds of worries awaiting me back home.
Just above them, several feet away, a large creature inched toward them. I blinked and then blinked again when it didn’t disappear.
I jumped to my feet, calling for Nalari as I ran toward them. Seeing my panic, Javier turned and faced the monster. It lifted its tree-like head to the sky and on a roar, bared its sharp teeth. Just behind it lingered another monster that very much looked like a tree too. The second one didn’t move but stared and stared.
I couldn’t speak or scream, and it felt like my running footfalls barely took me anywhere.
Javier grabbed each of the girls and tossed them on a sledthat he pushed down the hill. When he turned to jump in the other sled, it slid down without him.
The monster took another menacing step toward him, its long legs lined with what looked like moss, eating the distance between him and Javier. Razor-like claws grew from its hands, and he slashed them toward Javier. He stumbled back a step and fell while I continued trying to make my way to him.
“Javier!” I yelled.
When I finally reached him, I gripped Javier’s arm and did my best to drag him away from the monster while he scrambled to his feet.
The creature angled its head to the side as if it were curious about me. I pulled out the dagger Everly had given me, then held my position the way she taught me.
“Come, Theodora, meet my pet,”that same female voice that belonged to Leanora floated in my mind.
I whimpered.“Nalari?”
“Almost there,”she replied.
From my mind’s eye, I could see us as if I were the one flying toward us. She wouldn’t make it in time.
Still, that tree-like monster watched me curiously while the second one lingered behind. Both of them watching. Waiting.
“Who am I?”the voice spoke again.
The question—it was familiar. A dream. The same dream I’d been having since my mom died.
