Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (33 page)

But why had she thought
she could run blind through this frozen landscape without the
proper clothing? Why would she risk death? Where was she running?
What solace or comfort could she have sought in a place like this?
There was nothing, but a few reminders of their lost world and
million horrors from the plane of the Lord of the Storm.

He looked up when he heard
Anthony tell Garfield to stay closer to the group when he was
scouting ahead of their intended path.

Then a new thought came to
the other teen and Anthony asked Mr. Patas to guard the rear and
make sure nothing followed them.

Andrew glanced around. He
offered a brief smiled at Jason when he saw him, Joaquin and Louis
had moved up closer to the shopping carts the bear-dogs were
dragging. The triangle they had formed earlier was now no
more.

Mr. Patas came trotting
back from the front of the group with his strange, hop-step gait to
take up the rear position. His ears and nose twitched in perpetual
motion. He brought his hands to his chest as if he were about to
wring them nervously. But Andrew knew this was the way he stood
when he was using his ears to their greatest potential.

Andrew looked
away.

The girls had formed a
loose formation just behind the carts.

Anthony and Derek followed
behind them.

Mugzy strode parallel to
the females of the group, but broke trail further away, almost at
the precise edge of the trees. His piercing gaze penetrated one
edge of the forest and then the next. He narrowed his eyes every
time he looked upon a plant or a bush or a creeper from Storm
whether it was a Spindle Down or a Thresher or whatever. To Andrew,
it was quite obvious the man-dog did not care for anything from
that tortured world.

As if drawn by a magnet,
Andrew’s vision fell back to the girl lying in his lap. Once again,
he let his eyes wander over her face, which to his delight had
grown pinker than it had been a moment ago. He hoped they had
reached her in time. Though he knew it was naïve, he prayed nothing
worse would happen to her. He repeated it in the back of his mind,
even when his thoughts were elsewhere.

She looks like a
doll
, he mused unconsciously, still
looking at her. She looked so frail and small, bundled tight in the
blanket as he held her close to him. He wished he could make his
body heat double so he could warm her, bring her back from the
brink evermore quick.

A few heartbeats thudded
in his chest.

He forgot time.

He stared at her. All else
around him ignored. His eyes were for her alone.

That was when she opened
hers, slow, questioning. They were deep and dark eyes, peering up
into his own, just like he knew they would be. They had dilated and
were heavy with exhaustion.

“
Where am I?” she
whispered through a croak, her throat not quite
cooperating.

“
You are safe now, and
with friends. You can rest and not worry,” soothed Andrew, speaking
just as soft as she had, resting his hand against the side of her
face. “Rest,” he repeated as she took a deep breath, closing her
eyes, nestling deeper into his embrace and appeared to fall
asleep.

Surprised filled him when
she mumbled, “I thought I was the only one…” And then, she went
silent.

He was still staring at
her when Louis came near, peering through the metal, crisscrossed
bars of the shopping cart. He asked, tentative, “Is she feeling any
better?”

Without looking away from
the girl, Andrew replied, “I think so, she just opened her eyes for
a few moments and spoke. Now she seems to be sleeping like normal.”
He glanced at Louis, and saw a relieved grin rush across the young
boy’s round face. He could not help but feel allayed by boy’s
sincerity and concern.

“
That’s good,” added
Louis. He peered ahead for a second, taking a large breath,
exhaling through his mouth. He turned back to Andrew some of his
former stress had vanished in the biting wind. “She sure is pretty,
huh?”

Andrew’s smile was broad,
chuckling under his breath. “Yes, she is,” he retorted. The thought
sank deeper, matured. Of a sudden, he conceded more to himself than
he ever thought possible. There was no more illusion, not anymore.
“I like her. She’s so small and still made…right.” His thoughts
drowned out his surroundings. Andrew did not hear Louis’
giggle.

The boy covered his mouth
with his hand and jiggled with laughter like a bowl full of
Jell-O.

Andrew was oblivious. He
had not realized he had spoken aloud.
She
is just right
, he thought, wondering if he
had ever felt this way about a girl before. He knew he had lusted
after girls just as any other growing boy of his years would, but
that had nothing to do with his feelings. Those basic motions were
nothing like the ones he was experiencing now.

I wonder what her name
is.

“
I think she is gonna be
fine, Andrew,” said Jason from the opposite side of the
cart.

Again, the Chinese boy
startled him out of his reverie. He turned to look at the other
teen. His lips crooked. He hoped Jason had not caught a whiff of
what he had been thinking about, hoping he been able to keep his
thoughts from etching across his face.

“
Her color is coming back.
That has to be a good sign, right?” Andrew responded. His intent
was to throw the other boy off just in case he had indeed seen
something Andrew had not intended him to.

“
Yeah, that’s a good sign,
so now you don’t have to stare at her quite so much,” replied Jason
with a smirk.

Ah shit
, thought Andrew.

Louis giggled a second
time.

“
She is pretty though,
I’ll give you that,” went on the Asian teen.

Andrew knew for certain
his newfound friend had not missed a thing.

He never seemed
to.

What a douche!

And yet, as he glanced
down at the young woman in his lap, all else – once more – blew
away like it had during the Rending. All that was left was her… and
him.

It felt like coming
home.

~~~~~~~<<<
ᴥ
>>>~~~~~~~

~ 19 ~

Happier Times

Day Four, Sunday,
9:55am…

Louis took his hand from
his mouth, dividing his attention between walking and not falling
on his butt. Still, he managed to look at Andrew. How he did so,
not even he could say.

The older boy continued to
stare at the tiny girl he held between his spindly legs.

Louis placed his hand on
the side of the cart and entwined his fingers around the thick
metal wires to steady himself. The snow was beginning to accumulate
on the road in thickening layers as time passed. It was becoming
harder for him to maintain his balance.

Aside from that though, he
felt compelled to look on, intrigued by his friend’s response to
the undersized girl in his grasp. Louis had never seen anyone
change as dramatic (or as drastic) as had Andrew, and right before
his eyes. The older boy had always seemed antsy to Louis. From the
first time he had met him, Andrew was always full with anxiety like
he had bugs in his underwear. He seemed to want to be anywhere
except where he was at that given moment. Andrew had seemed forever
on the cusp of furious activity, restrained by the most tenuous of
threads. He seemed consumed with what was coming next, what they
were going to do next. He was always the first to ask what was
going to happen after that. He hardly ever sat still and was never
content to wait.

Louis had thought it a
part of his nature, the way God had built him.

Until now.

The moment the lanky boy
had laid eyes on the diminutive girl, gathered in Sophie’s arms, he
had changed. At once, he became an economy of motion. Once Sophie
placed her into his care, Andrew had transformed even
further.

Louis could not fathom how
it was possible. He failed comprehend how seeing or holding a girl
could have such a profound effect on his fellow Guardian… or anyone
else for that matter. There was no reason capable of explaining the
alteration in detail. Louis understood the girl was nice looking –
miniature - but a pretty girl nonetheless. But so were Hyun and
Kimberly, even if she was a little scary at times. And, of course,
there was no denying Sophie was just as beautiful as any girl he
had ever seen. Why hadn’t those pretty young women caught his eye?
What was so special about the tiny teen in his friends’ arms? It
all did not add up.

Heck, even Elena and
Mikalah are cute! So, what is going on?

The wind gusted - harder,
longer and colder.

Nonetheless, Louis felt
warm inside. Andrew’s reaction to the girl, had stirred something
within. It was a condition untouched by the precipitous drop in
temperature.

The snowstorm was
beginning to dominate conditions about the land. He did not feel
its’ icy grip as it grew ever stronger, all the more
invasive.

He held on as the cart
whisked over the snow. He tried to keep pace with Kodiak’s huge
steps as she sauntered forth, plowing forward with little
exertion.

She was completely
unencumbered by her burdens.

He tried to pick up the
pace, but stumbled, trying to regain his footing. Instead he
tripped, dragged along for a few of Kodiak’s long
strides.

He felt Joaquin grab him
under the arms a moment later. And then, the wrestler placed him
upright.

He was about to thank him
when he tripped again. He would have fallen to the ground if the
teenage boy had not caught him a second time, swooping him up in
his arms like he was a toddler.

Joaquin called, “Hey,
Anthony!”

The other boy looked up,
but did not break stride. “What?”

“
Hey, dude, don’t you
think we should put the three small ones in the other cart? It
looks like the snow is making it hard for them to walk!” came the
answer.

Louis watched as Anthony
looked at his sisters, who were both nodding at him from their
position with the bigger girls. He spoke to them, though Louis
could not hear what they were saying over the wind. He couldn't
even hear the nonstop crunching of their footfalls as they trudged
onward.

A few heartbeats later,
Anthony pointed toward Joaquin. The girls nodded they understood.
Both of them grabbed one of their brother’s hands and together they
increased their speed. In a few strides, they caught up to where
Joaquin was walking with Louis in his arms like a plump,
giant-sized babe.

“
Good idea, Joaquin. Just
plop them all in the cart like you said,” agreed Anthony. “I’m also
thinking of picking up the pace a bit. We have to get out of this
weather before it gets any worse. What do you think?”

Joaquin walked Louis to
the other cart and placed him in it without any issue. He turned to
peer through the murky day. “Yeah, man, let’s get out of this
crap!”

Anthony gave him a
“thumbs-up”, motioning for those nearest to him to pick up the
pace.

Joaquin was quick to
snatch up Anthony’s sisters. He placed them into the cart next to
Louis.

The group continued
walking.

Louis detected a new sense
of urgency about them. The need to get to the mall seemed to urge
them on. Ill thoughts of the oncoming storm crept into the back of
their minds and took root.

Thank God, this is one of
those Costco-sized shopping carts
, said
Louis to himself. He edged his pudgy frame toward the back of the
cart, giving the girls more room.

Though they did not seem
to need it, the space within their new confines proved more than
adequate to house them. Comfortable, they sat in the same manner as
him, on their rear ends with their legs bent, knees bunched up
before them.

The three of them
exchanged grateful looks, having to keep up with the larger members
of their party had been difficult.

The idea amplified a
moment later when they felt an abrupt increase in momentum. The
pace of the entire group increased from a steady walk to a fast
trot.

Both Louis and the girls
turned to look ahead, their eyes just able to see over the topmost
metal rung of the cart. Kenai’s immense rear end flexed and
un-flexed as the length of her stride extended and their speed
became even faster. They could see large wakes of snow flying at
either side of them. The cart was displacing it at a much swifter
rate than before. Their view of the cart next to them, the one
holding Andrew and the Twelfth Chosen, was less distinct, almost
blurred because of it.

“
This is kinda fun!”
hollered Louis over the din.

Elena, who was closer to
him than her sister, smiled in an attempt to match his enthusiasm,
though her eyes did not echo it.

To Louis, she appeared a
little uneasy at hurtling through the snow, upon an uneven surface,
at speed.