Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (24 page)

You are not my family, you
fiend
! thought the Hand.

The only sound was Malik's
uncontrolled giggle.

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ᴥ
>>>~~~~~~~

Part Two:

The Completed Wheel

A real friend is one who
walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

- Walter
Winchell

No person is your friend
who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.

-Alice Walker

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ᴥ
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~ 13 ~

Assuage

Day Four, Sunday, 8:55
am…

Elena had expected at some
point Anthony was going to call on her from the fringe. It was what
he always did; bring forth the doll-faced sister to put them at
ease. Next, he would summon the cute, cuddly sister to melt their
hearts. If there was thing she could always count on when it came
to her brother, it was his consistency. Once he found something
that worked for him, he would never change it.

How many times now had he
done this to put other kids at ease or to make them stop being shy?
How many times had he introduced them or entered them into
conversations as icebreakers of a sort? Time and time again. It was
nothing new to Elena. He had even done it with their younger
cousins. Whenever they came over to spend the night and cried for
their parents in those first initial moments. The technique he
would employ and within minutes they’d be as right as
rain.

Why stop
now
, she thought.
I just wish he didn’t have to be such a butthole about
it!

She came forward, out of
the snow-sodden forest, walking steady. Without worry, she strode
toward her brother and the three frightened newcomers.

They all watched her as
she approached. First, they stared at her as if she were some
apparition, a ghost haunting the area, not a little girl at all. As
she drew nearer though, they seemed to relax, realizing she was no
different than any of them, only younger.

The closest to both her
and her brother was the boy – Derek. As she approached them from
the cover of the trees, she could already make out he was the
youngest of the group. He was about five-foot-five, with hair
cropped short against his scalp, worn in a simple, clean looking
style. As she had noted before, he was African American, a welcomed
dark to contrast with all the white about her. He had a gentle,
rounded face with deep brown eyes and a broad nose. He had thin
lips and somewhat small ears, laying back against the side of his
head as if glued down, looking unnatural. He wore a large
three-quarter length, black parka with a large Nike swoosh
emblazoned on the back. Below that, he was wearing a pair of black
jeans. Maybe they were a size too big for him. But, they were not
the monstrosities that were ten sizes too big she has seen some of
the kids wearing around the neighborhood. Upon his feet, he wore a
pair of yellow Timberland, high-top work boots, unlaced and with
the tongue flapping forward.

From the moment her feet
touched the pathway with a slippery crunch, Derek smiled at her and
she knew they could be friends. He had an open, honest
face.

Standing behind Derek, on
Elena’s left, stood Kimberly. Her face etched with skepticism and
doubt.

Elena knew at once she was
a cynic. She was a purveyor of the glass half-empty, always seeing
things in the negative when she came across anything
new.

She was pretty, despite
the black lipstick and overzealous use of black eyeliner. She
sported a narrow, bird-like face with an aquiline nose and
prominent cheekbones. She looked as though she powdered her face
with white cover-up. Something she would do to extenuate the
contrast between her black lips and eyes against her Caucasian
complexion.

But as she moved closer,
Elena realized that was not the case. Kimberly was just
pale.

Her blue eyes also stood
out against the dark of her hair and her fair skin. A perfect
configuration, they were the only color amidst the absence of
color. She was a few inches shorter than Derek, slim-built, lacking
the girlish curves Sophie had a plenty. Although, she was not
boy-like in any way, she was just not as developed. She wore the
ubiquitous, black denim jacket patched and re-sewn in a hundred
places. Front and back both displayed the names of countless punk
and Skä bands she followed. They were placards screaming out loud
she was Goth. Underneath, she had on a thick, knitted, gray sweater
and a pair of black jeans, also torn and patched in a multitude of
places. Upon her feet were gray, fifteen-holed Doc Martins. Tied to
only the eighth hole, they folded back onto themselves, flopping
whenever she took a step.

She peered over at Elena
as she approached. Her face fluttered between distrust and hope as
if she were struggling over how to feel about her.

Come on, Kimberly, I’m a
likable little girl.

Maybe she just struggles
with anything new. Some people were like that.

Elena glanced from her to
what she figured by default was Hyun, who was an inch or so taller
than Derek, athletic and in good shape.

That has to be why
Kimberly doesn’t like her
, thought Elena.
She was pretty and had a nice body.
Boy,
Kimberly’s gonna hate Sophie for sure!
The
girl suppressed a chuckle as she continued to walk toward her
brother and the newcomers.

Hyun was the Asian
archetype, although she did not look to be of a sort like Jason.
His features were smallish and delicate even for a boy, whereas
Hyun’s face was broad and more flat. Her eyes were not as slanted,
but still almond-shaped. She was also a bit darker than Jason’s
pearl-like complexion, her skin being more golden and less
translucent. Her hair was straight and long. It hung to the middle
of her back, colored with a multitude of brown hues that seemed to
change in the play of the light. She dressed in a down-filled
jacket, ending at the waist. It was powder blue and looked
expensive. She wore this over a darker blue sweater that shone in
the failing sunlight, and a pair of skin-tight navy jeans. She wore
a pair of black, designer hiking boots, while on her head she wore
a navy blue beanie.

Elena thought it was the
perfect accessory for her outfit.

She was already smiling at
Elena and seemed, to the little girl, delighted to meet
her.

Elena liked her
immediately.

When she came to stand
next to her brother, she looked from one to the other and waved a
small wave. “Hi, my name is Elena Herrera. I’m one of Anthony’s
sisters. How’s it going?”

Derek had never stopped
grinning and now extended a hand toward Elena, introducing himself.
“Hi, Elena, my name is Derek Benson and… to tell you the truth… I
am not doing so well right now.”

Elena took his hand with a
small laugh, giving it a few quick shakes up and down.

Hyun came around the boy,
her hand extended as well. “My name is Hyun Kwon,” she said with
real warmth and Elena shook her hand as well. “And I’m with Derek
here; things aren’t going well at all.”

Kimberly did not come
forward. She waved back at the little girl, saying, “Kimberly
Madison, nice to meet you.”

Elena just nodded her head
and glanced back at Anthony to see what he was going to do
next.

Anthony glanced down at
her with a large grin.

She could see he was glad
for having brought her forth. His plan had worked. She clasped her
hands behind her back and sort of twisted from side to side. It was
an involuntary kind of movement, conveying nervous
energy.

Her brother’s gaze
returned to the three others. “So, where does that leave us? You
willing to meet the only other Human Beings in this cursed place or
what?” His voice was light. He was trying to exude a degree of calm
for their benefit, but Elena could still see the uncertainty in
their eyes.

Derek looked from Anthony
to Elena, back and forth, in quick succession, and then stopped. He
appeared to make a decision, the cast of his face altering. “Yeah,
man, that’ll be cool. I mean, it would be nice to finally meet
someone other than these two. They can be tiresome at times,” he
said, jacking a thumb at both of his companions.

“
Chew balls, Derek,”
grumbled Kimberly.

Elena flushed; surprised
Kimberly would speak that way in front of her.

Derek turned toward the
Goth girl with a glare in his eye, but Hyun anticipated his
reaction.

“
Ignore her, Derek,” was
all she had to say.

“
Ooookaay, then,” began
her brother. He cleared his throat, glossing things over as he
turned to face the forest behind them. “Hey, guys come out and show
yourselves, ok?

“
And,” he continued, “I
mean no offense by this, but can we have only the members of the
Twelve come forward first, and not the Fist for now? We’re gonna
have to do this a little bit at a time. Things are still a
little…,” he swung back to the three newcomers, “…iffy right now.”
His grin was from ear to ear, trying to make light of the
situation.

From the concealment of
the foliage, Elena heard Kodiak utter, “We will continue to wait.
We will continue to guard your flanks, Kring-Hël!” Her voice was
like the sound of rocks falling down a steep slope. Even at a
distance, it was a deep resonance that shook Elena from the center
of her body.

The three new arrivals
looked around, stunned and shaken.

Elena had to admit;
hearing Kodiak’s voice for the first time could be
unnerving.

Seeing their misgivings,
Elena spoke before she realized she was doing so, her tones
comforting. “Don’t worry, you guys, that’s just one of the five
guardians that are helping us. They are protecting us too. So, you
have nothing to worry about.”

She had just finished when
the others emerged from the sagging trees and bushes of the forest,
making their way toward them. The rest of the Twelve came from both
sides of the intersection in a broad, uneven arch, where Townsend
met the Colorado trail.

Despite telling them there
were others about, Derek, Kimberly and Hyun appeared flabbergasted.
The sight of seven other kids walking toward them had their heads
swiveling from one to the next, their eyes shifting even
faster.

Feeling their discomfort,
the others came forward with near-silent deliberation.

Elena puzzled over their
reaction.
What did you guys
expect?

Anthony stepped to one
side, so the three newcomers could get a better view of his
companions. “Ok all, here next to me is Hyun Kwon, Derek Benson and
Kimberly Madison.”

There were nods and small
waves around as Elena’s brother forged on, pointing as he went
around the group.

“
So, going from left to
right, the big guy over there is Joaquin Barrientos, and next to
him is his best friend Jason Fong. The little guy next to them is
Louis Willigan. The tall, skinny dude with his hand on Louis
shoulder is my friend Andrew Ibarra - we kinda grew up
together.”

All three of them frowned
in unison at the blankets Andrew had covering his torso, but put it
from their minds for the time being.

Anthony continued.
“Finally,” he began, “the two pretty girls over here are my baby
sister, Mikalah Herrera, and my girlfriend, Sophie Reed. And that's
the last of us… Well, not counting the Fist, of course,” he added
as a quick afterthought.

There were a few raised
eyebrows amongst the original group. The specifics of Anthony’s
introduction of Sophie had been a small surprise. Or maybe, it had
been an unexpected, but suspected, clarification.

Yet, the girl had not
balked. Her presentation as the “girlfriend” did not seem to faze
her in the least. In truth, she seemed pleased. She did not seem to
mind the dual smirks passing between Anthony’s sisters. Sophie
ignored them and smiled at the three before her, waving her hand
back and forth as she often did when she was tense.

Elena glanced at Kimberly,
wondering about her reaction to Sophie. Either she hid it well or
did not care, because Elena did not see any outward change on her
face.

That was not the case
though, when it came to Derek.

When she glanced at him,
Elena saw the exact opposite.

He froze, eyes wide, like
a deer in the headlights of a car, unable to move or even blink,
maybe even breathe.

Elena giggled, drawing
another quick glance from Mikalah.

Still, Derek stood
there.

Then her sister noticed
the dumbstruck boy, moon-calving over Sophie. She smiled, crooked,
shaking her head.

“
So,
where you guys coming from?” asked Jason. Without warning, he had
taken Andrew’s place as the
“have-to-know-guy”.
Or maybe he was
just trying to break the awkward silence.