Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (70 page)

“
Yup, that’s what they did
to Dumbledore’s sister, right?” he muttered to himself as he pushed
the buzzer to the left side of the main gate.

“
Yes?” came a
high-pitched, female voice almost at once.

“
Um, Novello’s Pizza,” he
announced, trying to put an ounce of enthusiasm in his
voice.

“
Oh. Ok. Come right
through.”

He did not reply. He
waited for the return buzz and the unlocking of the bolts holding
the gate shut. A second later, he was through the threshold and
onto the grounds proper.

It was a huge house by his
standards – three stories with a built-out attic from what he could
see. It appeared made of brick, but even one as young as Miles knew
such materials could look as such and be only a façade. As he
rounded the first curve in the walkway, he came to face the edifice
more straight-on. He saw twin, wood-carved pillars – painted white
- guarding either side of the double doors. This was the main entry
into the home from the front of the property. The pillars reached
beyond the second floor. They served as the supports for a balcony
stretching two-thirds across the floor above.

“
Fucking-A,” gasped Miles,
impressed.

She was at the door
already, standing a foot before the one on the right, money in
hand. She was wearing cerise-colored capris, a darker hued knit
sweater and a matching pair of Merrell Barefoot tennis shoes. She
was pretty, a redhead with long, looping curls down to her
shoulders and eyes the color of the midday sky. But, it was the
freckles Miles noticed the most. There were hundreds, and that was
just on her delicate face alone.

He recognized her a second
later. It was Deborah Murdoch.

The freckles!

“
Debbie?”

She shifted her weight to
one foot. “Yes?” she replied curious, brow furling.

It was obvious she did not
realize it was him in his
Novello’s
Italian Paradise
get-up. “It’s me, Miles…
we go to school together…”

She came to stare at him,
seeing him this time. “Oh my god, I didn’t see it was you in your…
um, uniform…?” She cloaked the final word in the guise of a
query.

“
Yeah, they make me dress
a little different,” he said. He glanced down at his black chinos
and matching black polo shirt with the Novello’s logo stitched over
his left breast.

“
I don’t think I’ve ever
seen you wear anything but jeans,” she commented, eyeing him with
her lips pulled to one side.

He shuffled, awkward,
berating himself for being so lazy. Maybe he should start taking
more pride in his appearance. “Yeah,” was all he could think to
say.

“
Did they put the extra
meat on the Meat Lover’s?” she asked of a sudden, eyebrows
bouncing.

Miles frowned at the
abrupt change in the topic. “Of course,” he said, adamant.
Novello’s never skimped on their customer’s orders - if someone
wanted extra meat, then by God they got a shit-ton of
meat!

“
Good, ‘cuz I love it that
way,” she gushed.

“
It’s for you?” he asked,
his voice much too shrill for his liking.

“
Oh, you know
it!”

So much for the whole
man-of-the-house theory
, he thought, but
with only half his consciousness. The other was busy imagining
Deborah’s fit body through her clothes. He had seen her in much
tighter outfits over the years. He knew she had flaring hips,
rounding into a firm pair of “Badonks” and a nice set of
“Chesticles”.

“
Where do you put it all?”
he asked, yanking his mind out of the gutter.

She giggled, taking his
innocuous question for a compliment. She shrugged a few moments
later, turning at the waist.

Miles cleared his throat.
“Well, I should give these to you before they get cold. You have to
eat a Novello’s warm, especially the one you like.” He grinned. He
knew it was an inept attempt, but he put on his best face just the
same while pulling the pies from their insulating pouch.

“
Oh yeah!” she exclaimed,
walking them inside.

She came out with the
money she owed extended toward him. “Keep it, ok?”

He smiled, feeling
foolish, knowing she was giving him a large tip. “Hey,
thanks!”

“
No big deal.” She waved
off the kind gesture.

He turned to go, waving
back. “See you at school.”

He had taken only one step
when she said: “We should hang out sometime.”

He peered back, surprised.
They were, after all, from different crowds. He was an aspiring
guitar player/singer, kicking it with a bunch of d-grade
kids.

She was super-popular,
attended the Magnet program and was up to her neck in student
government and shit like that. Plus, she always dressed so nice,
classy…

He glanced at the massive
front of her parent’s house again.
And
she’s hella rich.

“
Sure,” he
mumbled.

“
Ok, cool.” She waved
again. “See you around.”

“
Bye.”

She walked into the house,
closing the door.

He heard the clock engage
as he continued down the walkway.
Man,
what would it be like to hang out with a chick like Deborah
Murdoch? She’s so fine, always smells so good…
He stepped through the gate, it was unlocked from the inside,
and made his way to his car. He glanced down at the money she had
given him still in his palm. He had to be holding a $20 tip, at
least! Hell yeah! Maybe he would get a girlfriend out of it too –
if everything went unexpectedly perfect that is.

He drove away from the
curb, busting a quick bitch to head back the way he had come, his
mind clouded with errant thoughts of Deborah.

They had both come into
Eagle Rock Junior and Senior High in the seventh grade from
different elementary schools. He had come from Rockdale. He had no
idea where she had come from. They had shared a fair number of
classes in those first few semesters. Over time though, it became
evermore plain that she was a much better student than he. Her
classes became harder, more challenging. His tended toward
mediocrity. His teachers were not as dedicated, did not push their
students like those Deborah had.

In the ninth grade, she
had grades good enough to make it into the Highly Gifted Magnet
Program at their school. He had not seen much of her since, except
at Nutrition or Lunch, but that was from afar. By then, they had
dissimilar friends and divided interests. They had grown
apart.

Who knows, right? Maybe
she could take a liking to a guy like me.
His brow wrinkled. He thought about the changes he would have
to make in order for him to get the attention of a girl as
sophisticated and well-mannered as her. He would need a whole new
wardrobe for Christ’s sake! And… he would have to shower and shave
daily. Could he could that? Could he give a shit for
once?

For a crack at a girl like
her? Yeah, I could -.

He saw it. In the middle
of the street, just as he finished his turn from Vincent Avenue to
Hill Drive. It was so large, it was difficult to discern what it
was exactly.

Is it Humanoid?

But, it was in the middle
of the road. If he did not do something fast, he was going to
-.

Miles yanked the steering
wheel over hard to the right, angling toward the sidewalk. Somehow,
he was able to tell there were no cars parked there. How he did
this, he would never know. It had been a decision he had made in a
fraction of a second.

Yet, he had
over-corrected. His battered Nissan did not have the suspension or
the downward force – the Camber – to swerve to such a degree. It
could not stay under the driver’s control. He had the time to hear
the tires squeal in protest before the impact almost knocked him
unconscious. He had hit something hard, unmoving. He felt the seat
belt bite deep into his left shoulder.

Debbie
, fired his brain before the darkness finally took
him.

By the time the residents
in the nearby homes emerged, cell and cordless phones in hand. They
found Miles Nissan smashed into a towering Eucalyptus tree. The
engine was horribly wrapped around the trunk, showered with leaves
and a few twigs and branches.

“
The collision must have
been incredible.”

“
The car had been coming
down hill, after all.”

“
Maybe the driver had
pushed the gas instead of the brake.”

Of Miles Novello, there
was no sign. Only a curious, if not noxious, lime-green haze
remained.

“
Had he crawled
away?”

They searched about,
called the police and they searched as well.

It would be many months
before he would step foot in the World of Man again, by then he
would not be the same young man. By then, deep scarring would have
changed him forever.

He and Deborah Murdoch
would never get the chance to “hang out”.

They would never get the
time.

~~~~~~~<<<
ᴥ
>>>~~~~~~~

~ 40 ~

The Truth About
Fate

Day Four, Sunday, 11:47
pm…

Not sure what had awakened
him, Anthony opened his eyes to the darkness of the store. He
blinked away the grit growing about his eyelashes, making his orbs
water, annoying and painful. He wiped at them irritated. His sudden
movement made Sophie stir at his side. He rolled over onto his
back, glancing over at her, hoping he had not awakened her as
well.

After a few moments of
staring, he realized he had not and was glad. She was sleeping like
an angel. One of her legs she had wrapped around his lower
extremities. Her left hand rested limp upon his stomach, palms
down, underneath his sweatshirt. Her hand felt small against his
skin. They snuggled within a pair of matching sleeping bags they
had zippered together earlier that night. They had created a kind
of cocoon large enough to accommodate the both of them and still
feel comfortable.

Unbidden, but welcome
images of earlier in the night invaded his mind. They chased away
his confusion, as his awareness of the slumbering girl halfway atop
him became ever more acute. He felt a sudden lurch in the pit of
his belly.

The night had been winding
down after a hardy meal of ground beef and vegetables, seasoned
with garlic and sprinkled with sweet basil. Hyun and Kimberly had
served it in the large plastic bowls some of the boys had scavenged
from the lower section of the store. There had been cokes and
juices all around.

Hyun and Kimberly had
delighted the group with a retelling of the night they and Derek
got drunk so they get to sleep. This had been after the insane
rigors of their first day in the Melded World.

This had brought on an
enlivened discussion between the older boys and girls. Some of them
had wanted to partake of a few cold ones. Others had argued though
it would be cool to guzzle down some spirits, it was still not a
good idea. Those conscientious minded teens felt it would be best
if they all had their wits about them at all times. After all,
there were enemies everywhere, being tipsy might slow them
down.

The discussion had gone on
nonetheless, until Kodiak had voiced her opinion. She was pacing
amongst them, saying she was not about to mother a group of drunken
brats. And she would certainly not clean up after them as they
threw up everywhere and made a mess of everything in the
store.

That had made everyone
laugh, as uproarious as thunder. In time, as a group, they had
settled down to drink fluids that did not involve fermentation of
any sort.

After dinner, they had
cleaned up.

Kimberly and Hyun side by
side throughout, talking and laughing more animated than Anthony
had seen them to date. Both of them, every few minutes or so, would
turn their heads to look about to find the jolly, rotund Louis.
Their eyes would warm as they watched him play or scamper about, on
one task or another.

Anthony could see the
gratitude in their stares whenever their eyes settled upon the
rambunctious boy. He was thankful the two girls were once again the
close friends they had been for so many years before. Whatever
Louis had done to them, it had somehow made the ugliness between
them disappear.

You’re amazing, Louis. You
are amazing.

Once they had finished
putting everything away, they had all sat around in a large circle
and talked. For the first time, they did not speak of what had
happened that day or the day before. They did not broche the
subject of Fenris or the Host, Vallüm or Inghëldir. Not even did
they discuss the Lord of the Storm and the dreadful world he had
placed them upon.

They talked about
themselves, their lives, their wishes and hopes. They explained who
they were and what they wanted most to become. They had giggled or
bounced with glee at times. They had turned introspective and quiet
at others. Until someone brought up another topic and off they
would go. The twelve of them were bonding, making the best out of a
desperate situation. Their ties were beginning to strengthen, which
was something they all needed. Without their family, their homes
and their friends, they would need each other more than
anything.