Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (63 page)

Unfortunately, it
was.

With Joaquin draped over
him like a blanket.

Anthony muttered through
lips so drenched with tears and mucus, he sputtered.

Joaquin could have cared
less.

“
Until death and beyond,
Joaquin. Until death and beyond. I’m not going down without a
fight. I’m not going to let them hurt my sisters, or
Sophie.”

The words of a dead boy
echoed through the store.

There was only one answer
to that too.

“
I hear you, bro. I will
walk with you every step of the way.”

~~~~~~~<<<
ᴥ
>>>~~~~~~~

~ 37 ~

A Promise Made

Day Four, Sunday, 8:00 pm
“On the Dot”…

Sophie Reed sat on one of
the lawn chairs they had spread before the huge common area. Now,
it housed the six double-high, queen-sized air mattresses and a
slew of other patio and lawn furniture. And, it covered an area two
hundred feet square.

As time passed, it seemed
like one or two of their party was keeping busy by upgrading the
environs of their living quarters. So, in a circumspect, but
consistent manner, the overall condition of the area improved. Call
it nerves or the need to have a home. Whatever it was, they were
all of the same mind. They were going to be there for an extended
period of time, so why not live as comfortable as
possible?

She was impatient, more
than a little agitated, which in turn made her feel worse inside.
Feeling anxious and insecure left her thinking she was a spoiled
child, lacking the ability to sit still and wait. Instead, she was
becoming a petulant, a little brat, and not the budding, mature
woman she knew she should be.

What made it all the more
difficult was the sense that time itself seemed to be standing
still. Each tick of the clock was slower than the last, moreso with
every glance at her wrist watch. No matter how hard she tried to
ignore it, the harder it was not to.

It had only been fifteen
minutes since she had left Anthony alone with Joaquin to discuss
God knew what about Joaquin’s Gift. Already it felt like an
eternity.

Even with everything
around her digital or battery-operated, she swore she could still
hear the incessant ticking of an old wind-up timepiece in her
ear.

Tick-tock, tick-tock,
tick-tock, tick-tock!

It was driving her
mad.

And that was just it,
wasn’t it?
Maybe she was already mad.
Maybe she had already gone “koo-koo” with anger. There was no clock
of that nature anywhere around her. There was not anything like one
anywhere in the Melded world!

And still…

Tick-tock, tick-tock,
tick-tock!

She shifted her position,
sitting more on her side, letting herself slouch, lying down. She
huffed and harrumphed as she did so, as loud as she could manage
without sounding like a complete idiot.

What the hell was so
damned important that you had to speak about it in private and with
my boyfriend! He’s my best friend, dammit,
she thought to herself.
Don’t you
think that he’ll tell me anyway? Don’t you think he’d confess
whatever the hell you guys are talking about? So why all the cloak
and dagger! Why put this wedge between us?
She smiled hard.
It will only take a
few kisses and he’ll spill his guts.

Wait, did I just think
that? For real? Jesus, I sound like a world class bimbo!

“
Boys can be sooo stupid
sometimes,” she muttered under her breath.

Then a thought hit her,
catching her off guard.
Why am I acting
just as stupid then?
She laid there and
could not recall a single time in the past when she had let herself
get all worked up like this. What the hell was the big deal,
anyway? Was it because she and Anthony had been making out for the
first time when Joaquin interrupted them? Was it that and the fact
he had asked for a private counsel with her boyfriend when she
wanted nothing more than to be alone with Anthony? Was that the
reason? It sure did not feel like that was the reason,
though.

But if not, then what?
What was the deal with her? Why was she so antsy and so unlike her
usual self? Why was this so deep under her skin? It should have
bounced off the surface?

You love him… don’t
you?

“
Yes, but what does that
have to do with it?” she answered herself, a whispering
question.

You have loved him since
you first laid eyes on him. When you kissed him, you were willing
to give yourself to him. You have claimed him for your own and you
don’t like the thought of something left unsaid between the two of
you.

“
I’m not sure about that,
but –,” she interrupted herself.

I know, Sophie. I feel it
too.

“
Is that the reason?
Really? Is this more than just being possessive?”

Give yourself some credit,
girl. It’s way more mature than that. You want to be by his side at
all times. You want to know all there is to know about him, down to
the tiniest. You want all that he is. You are willing to give him
everything to know. And, you want him to give you everything back
in return. It’s only natural, Sophie. He’s the first boy who
fits.

“
He’s a wonderful and
beautiful young man,” she rationalized with herself. Still, she
knew her inner voice had hit it square on the head. She did want
him, every last shred.

You’re afraid you’ll lose
him.

“
I couldn’t bear it, not
after everything else that has happened.”

What if you had
too…?

Sophie's sigh was huge at
the thought, feeling the emotion and the dread rise in her breast
at the same time. She brushed aside an obnoxious tear that had the
gall to well up in her eye with an absent swipe. All this was new
to her. She had not felt such an affinity or closeness with a boy
her entire life. She had not let any boy into her heart before,
because she felt, deep down, she was not ready. She still had so
much more to do before she would saddle herself or her heart on a
single person.

Her parents had married
young, though. They had dived headlong into the drudgery of life at
a time when they could have been traveling or learning abroad. They
chose each other over something else more spontaneous. They had
chosen to forsaken their youth to start a family.

And, they are still
married.

Happily, she
hoped.

Instead, they had planned.
They went to college together, majoring in psychology. They both
graduated, but not before her older sister had been born. In fact,
she, Sophie, had been a bun in the oven when her mom had walked
across the stage to receive her master’s degree. With them, there
were no stories of crazy frat parties or girls’ nights out on the
town. There were no secrets buried in the closet, told behind the
back of the hand. There were not any wild love affairs in Paris,
Rome, or in the bed of someone’s Chevy truck. Her parents were not
built that way. There were pragmatic, though their love for one
another did run deep.

Sure, their careful design
had provided a stable and fruitful environment for her and her
siblings to flourish. They had all grown up in positions from which
they all could succeed.

Yet, all that resonated
with Sophie in such a way that she wanted to experience a little of
what her parents had not. She wanted to have a few “what happens in
Vegas stays in Vegas” tales to share with her daughter when she was
old enough to hear them. She wanted to have a few “oopsies” and an
odd, “Oh, man, that was a bad idea” sort of memory.

Well, when she was old
enough to have them, of course.

She was not a
hoochie-mama!

Now, all that had changed.
She wondered if it had been the same for her mother when she had
first began dating her father. Although, she was somewhat certain
there had been no maniacal, demi-god stalking them after they had
met. They sure as hell had not been cast into a mixed world born of
two others.

Of that, there was no
doubt. But still, she wondered if her mother had felt something
like what she felt for Anthony. Maybe that was why her mother had
been so willing to give up some of her freedom. Maybe that's why
she gave up some of her worldly experience to be with the boy that
eventually became her father. Was her mother’s experience anything
like hers? Had the experience itself made it easy for her mother?
Had the comfort, the warmth in her heart been the catalyst? Had her
blood coursed through her veins when she had kissed her
father-to-be all those years ago?

I want him.

Maybe it was this way. Or
maybe it was not. What mattered now, here, with Sophie parents so
far away, was something new had materialized within her. Something
made her look at things from a new perspective, a different angle.
It had changed all her past impressions and thoughts on the
subject. He had made her lust after him, had he not? He had turned
on the engine she swore she would keep under lock and key until she
graduated from college. No other boy had made her feel this
way.

I want him.

Still though, there was so
much Anthony, her and the rest of the Twelve had to do before they
could even dream of a good night’s sleep, let alone make an attempt
at a relationship. Or have sex! They were a hunted group. Their
lives were at still risk. She knew the Lord of the Storm would not
rest until he had them all under his boot. Just as Fenris would not
rest nor would Inghëldir or Vallüm. All the hundreds, if not
thousands, of creatures bound by oath and by blood to the Foul
Snowman would be coming for them. They were all tracking the
Twelve. There was no denying that either.

So why was she lying down
on a lawn chair worrying about time dragging-on? Why was her mind
running rampant with questions of love and relationships? Why was
she obsessing over carnal intimacy with the opposite
sex?

Ridiculous
, she admonished herself,
sitting up straighter, clearing her thoughts. She glanced about,
shocked to see Joaquin sitting, resting his back against one of the
air mattresses. He had his eyes closed. His face was haggard and
drawn.

When did he get
back?

She peered about the area
a second time. She gazed farther into the surrounding store than
before, looking for but not catching sight of Anthony.

She stood with her legs
straddling either side of the chair.

“
Hey, Joaquin, is
everything cool? Where’s Anthony?” she asked, surprised when he
opened his eyes. She saw they were bloodshot, watery almost as if
he had been…

Crying?

He sniffled, loud, wiping
his shirt-covered forearm across his nose, peeping over at her
through a squint. “He’ll be coming along soon, Soph. He said he was
going to look for some thicker socks up in the Men’s department.
He’ll be along.”

She stared at him. Her
eyes darted about his face, seeing the drained look of his skin,
the dark circles under his eyes. They had not been there before.
She knew for a fact, he had been crying and for some reason that
frightened her. What on earth could make someone as tough and giant
as Joaquin cry? How could this be if it had originated from a mere
conversation with her boyfriend? What happened up there at the
front of the store? What had they said to each other? What had
Joaquin’s Gift revealed now?

The last thought made her
stomach drop precipitously. She felt a hole, shotgun-sized,
punching through her torso. She almost sat back down on the lawn
chair.

Her vision crossed
Joaquin’s. She saw the tightness about his edges.

She knew then, he was
lying to her. She could feel it with every cell in her body. He was
not telling the truth. But this was not simple deception as most
people would think. No, this was worse. Tears came to her eyes. He
was lying, because he was trying to protect her. She knew enough
about Joaquin to know he’d lie under no other circumstances. This
was for her “own good”. She could taste its’ bitter truth and know
it for what it was.

But, from what? God damn
it!

Then, beyond the sleeping
area and the heaped racks of clothing, she saw him, walking. His
shoulders hunched, but as he continued to walk toward her, his back
begin to stiffen. He held himself erect, but strained as he did so.
His stony expression softened, became that of the young man she had
fallen in love with. Anthony’s hair was still down. It floated
around him as he strode down the aisle, as he walked onto the
bright red, carpeted sleep area.

To her shock, she saw he
was carrying a bag of long woolen socks just as Joaquin had
said.

Coincidence? Or was this a
set-up?

He walked up to her and
gave her a quick kiss on the forehead

This garnered a snicker
from Louis, who was walking back from the Toy department again.
This time he was carrying a couple of books. Sophie could only
guess at what the young boy was doing now.