Ice (21 page)

“I already knew…” he said in a somber way. “I found out at work today…they announced it in a meeting.”

He then shook his head and chuckled half-heartedly. “You know, he always advised me against takin’ Big John in. Always said he was a wild animal and he might attack me someday. Then he wanders off into the woods one night and gets attacked by one. It’s ironic; a wolf saves my life, and a wolf takes his.”

Big John stood at Justin’s feet, happily wagging his tail. He always got excited when one of us came home and he still hadn’t calmed down yet. Justin gave John a heartfelt petting, and even crouched down to his level and ruffled the thick fur of his neck. “Usually I would agree with him. Havin’ a wild animal as a pet is a bad idea. But, when I got lost in the woods huntin’, Big John led me to a creek where I could find fish to eat, and he followed me when I found my way out of the woods. It was the strangest thing, and I never would have thought a wolf could be so gentle. He’s definitely one of a kind.”

“Yes, he is.” I smiled and remembered the wolf from the legend Kavick had told me about, how it had given his life to save the life of the man. Perhaps there was some truth in the legend and there really was a mystical reason behind the shape-shifting instead of the biological one the Factory was probably looking for with their computers and blood samples. Maybe Big John was like the wolf from the legend and could sense that Justin needed help? I immediately deemed it unlikely, just like my previous suspicions.

“Too bad Doug didn’t run into one like John.”

Justin stood up then and headed into the hallway toward his room without another word, hanging his head as he walked.

We didn’t talk about Doug anymore that evening.

After dinner, I went to my room, as I always did. As soon as I opened my door, I could see that across my room Kavick was standing out in the cold on the other side of my window. He waved energetically as he pulled a black scarf down from across his nose and mouth to reveal a big, beautiful smile. I quickly glanced behind me to make sure Justin wasn’t in the hallway and shut the door. I ran over to my window and unlocked it as fast as I could. As I rais
ed it, I hissed, “How long have you been standing out there?!”

“Just a couple of minutes,” he said, still smiling. I couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t wearing his bear fur, but did have on a thick, gray coat that looked plenty warm. “There’s something important I have to tell you.”

“Can you come to the front door? Justin’s still up and he might hear us. I don’t want to make things harder for him. He knows Doug is dead.”

Kavick nodded and whispered hurriedly, “Sure. I actually need to go back home and take care of some stuff. But, I just had to see you after last night.”

I felt my lips move into a small smile, touched that he was concerned about me.

“Well, I should get going. I’ll come back in a little while—at the front door.”

He ran away out of sight then and I wondered what on earth he had to tell me. Once again my mind was reeling with what-ifs, and they were all bad possibilities.

I stayed in my room, waiting for the doorbell. I didn’t have to wait long. I heard the tell-tale crackle of gravel signaling someone driving up to the house not even five minutes later. I had’t even had enough time to start my homework. I heard the TV go silent and Big John was making those funny noises like he was trying to talk. I leaned over so I could see Justin standing at the front door and Big John beside him, wagging his tail excitedly. I stood awkwardly, expecting to see Kavick.

But, I didn’t see him. I could hear a distant male voice, but I couldn’t discern what he was saying.

Justin stepped out onto the porch and said, “Who’s askin’?”

I heard the voice again.

Justin turned around and saw me watching him from my room. “Christine, a friend of yours is here.”

“Uh, okay,” I said nervously…and excited. For once Kavick and I wouldn’t be sneaking around to see each other.

I tried to casually walk out of my room and seem surprised. Justin was giving me a suspicious look, like he was trying to figure something out.

When I stepped onto the porch beside him, I was shocked. It wasn’t Kavick, but Marcus. At first I didn’t even recognize him because it had been so long, even though he looked exactly the same as when he had hugged me at the airport.

And then I was in denial for a few seconds.

He stood in the driveway in front of the house holding two suitcases, and a backpack hung over his shoulder. His smile was just as big and brilliant as I remembered, but somehow, it didn’t have the same effect on me as it used to. Usually that smile would have my heart thumping in an instant, but I couldn’t feel anything. I was in too much shock. Perhaps, the only thing that could shake me out of that stunned mental state was the city cab that was pulling out. The crunching of gravel caught my attention and I watched it in silence.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” It looked like his smile faltered slightly.

My attention snapped back to Marcus.

“It’s me, Marcus Garcia!”

Finally I started to regain some feeling. My hand moved up to my gaping mouth. “Oh my God,” was all I could say.

He took it as a good response, sitting his suitcases down and bounded over to me. H
e scooped me off the porch and into his arms, swinging me around in a circle in front of the steps and then sat me on my feet again. I clung to his arms for a second, feeling stunned again, and a bit dizzy.

“So are you happy to see me, or did I make you sick?” he asked, crinkling his eyes in worry.

“Ha…happy,” I said a little breathlessly. “I just wasn’t expecting to see you.”

He hugged me tightly again (no swinging around this time, thank goodness) and I saw something over his shoulder, standing
between the trees. It was Kavick, almost as if he were hiding there, like he had no intentions of coming forward. His pale face looked just as stunned as I was. When Marcus let go of me, he followed my line of vision and spotted Kavick, as well.

“Who is he?” Marcus asked in a puzzled voice.

“Kevin,” I said, a little surprised that Marcus looked so confused. Then again, Kavick was standing out in the trees. But, was it really that strange? For all he knew, Kavick could have been living here and then it would be perfectly reasonable for him to be standing there. Perhaps he suspected something romantic. I don’t know why that popped in my head, though. Why should that matter to Marcus? He has Marcia.

Kavick walked forward then, realizing that he could no longer be a mere observer over there. He didn’t extend his hand to Marcus, and Marcus didn’t, either. Marcus looked him over, as if he were studying him, and asked, “And, you are…?”

I thought that was a little rude of Marcus. However, he never really did seem to have any tact. Marcus was usually pretty direct. Kavick gulped silently, and then looked at me for a second like he was hoping I would answer the question for him.

“He’s a friend,” I said awkwardly. It seemed like they were both acting kind of funny, and I wondered why, but it was all so unreal and sudden that I was having trouble keeping up with everything that was going on. “Kevin, this is Marcus Garcia, the friend from
California I told you about…”

…L
ast night,
I mentally added.

Kavick didn’t seem surprised by this news, so I guessed he had been standing there since I stepped outside.

“Oh,” was all he said. His eyes glanced over Marcus and then back to me. Kavick was probably trying to protect me by not mentioning the part about how Marcus had “thrown away” our friendship. I think knowing the information I told him the night before is what made it so awkward for him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Marcus, bewildered and dying to know.

Now Marcus was positively beaming at me, turning his back on Kavick. “I got your e-mail,” he said, as if that explained it all.

“Uh, I know I sent you a lot, but wasn’t that a while back?” I asked, trying to remember what the last one said. I remembered something about sliding on the ice actually being fun as long as it didn’t hurt too badly when I would fall. That felt like ages ago, though. I wasn’t sure exactly when I had stopped e-mailing Marcus.

He gave me a funny look. “You sent me one last week.”

I immediately shook my head, becoming even more confused. “No, I didn’t. What e-mail are you talking about?”

“The one where you told me you wished I loved you and missed me and stuff.”

I immediately felt my face heat up and awkwardly scratched my head before slipping my hood on in an attempt to hide some of it.

“Oh…that one,” I said awkwardly, glancing over at Kavick. It was embarrassing that Kavick had to hear Marcus quote the overly dramatic embodiment of my feelings when I had been at my lowest point. Kavick just stared at me with that blank expression I couldn’t read, like he was stuck watching a car accident and didn’t know what to do.

“But, I didn’t send that one,” I said with a frown. “I don’t understand….”

“I have it right here.” He started pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, but I stopped him. I didn’t want him quoting any more of it in front of Kavick. It was embarrassing enough that he had read it.

“It’s okay, I believe you…! I must have sent it on accident.” I furrowed my eyebrows, still trying to understand. “But I still don’t get why you’re here? What about Marcia? Wouldn’t she throw a fit if she knew?”

Marcus laughed and said, “She does know, Christine! That’s why I’m here! I broke up with her so I could be with you!”

I felt my jaw drop. There was no way that could be possible. The only thought going through my head was
this-can’t-be-real-I-must-be-dreaming
. I stared silently at Marcus with no idea what to say, while he just kept that big smile on his face like he was waiting for me to give him my hand in marriage.

I shifted my eyes over to Kavick, feeling even more shocked that he was here to witness all of the madness. He looked incredibly uncomfortable and was still giving me that stunned, blank look.

“You okay?” Marcus finally asked me.

I felt like I should ask Kavick that, but I still couldn’t get my head together to say anything. Then Kavick knocked me out of it by speaking up.

“Christine?” he said in a small, uncertain voice.

And then I remembered he had something important to tell me.

“Right, I’m so sorry,” I said quickly. I turned to Marcus and said, “Uh, go inside and get warm, just don’t breathe a word about the e-mail to my uncle, okay?”

“Aren’t you going to come in, too? It’s freezing out here!” he asked, holding his arms as a shiver came over him. He had a coat on, but he was a Californian, after all.

I just patted his shoulder quickly and said, “I’m kind of used to it by now.”

I walked toward Kavick, perhaps brushing Marcus off a little rudely, but Kavick said it was important. I kept thinking it had something to do with the hunters.

Kavick glanced nervously from me to Marcus, who was going up the steps behind me. “I…I should really go.”

“What? No, it’s okay. Tell me what you—”

“No…” he said with more certainty, shaking his head. “I really need to go.”

“But…Kavick,” I s
aid, suddenly feeling hurt and even more confused. Why couldn’t he tell me? He wanted to tell me earlier.

He took a step backwards and said, “We’ll talk again soon…I promise.”

“But…” I said again, but more desperately. “I don’t understand…how long is soon?”

He flashed me a grin, but it was small, barely curling the corners of his lips before it died out. “Soon isn’t long. You should stop being so pessimistic now. You got what you wanted, right?”

I furrowed my eyebrows, once again extremely confused. “What?”

“I’ll see you soon. Goodbye, Christine.”

And then he ran toward the edge of the forest, too fast for me to keep up. I only took a few steps before I realized it was useless for me to try to follow. I turned around to see Marcus standing at the steps watching me, holding his suitcases. To my horror, Justin was standing on the porch watching me, as well.

“Why’d your friend run into the woods?” Justin asked me with a puzzled crease between his eyebrows.

“He knows a shortcut through there, I think,” I said, avoiding his eyes as I headed back to the house to help Marcus.

I got a puzzled look from him, too
. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“No,” I said, as I took one of his suitcases.

He gently shooed my hand away and said, “It’s cool, I’ve got it.”

Justin asked me, “So, that was another one of your friends?”

“Yeah,” I said with an embarrassed smile. I felt even more mortified that Justin had witnessed all of that, and if Marcus thought Kavick standing in the woods was weird, what did Justin think?

Marcus interrupted my thoughts then, saying, “Did Suzanne tell you I was coming? She said she would handle everything.”

Justin frowned not too pleasantly for a second. “No. She didn’t,” he said. “But, don’t worry about it. Anyone who’s a friend of Christine’s is a friend of mine. I hope you don’t mind the couch until we can find you a hotel.”