Chapter Ten
On Thin Ice
“Look where you’re going, will you?”
Julia let out a gasp of dismay as the stack of books and papers fell from her hands and hit the floor. Her jade-green spectacles clattered onto the tiles. Suppressing a groan, Julia bent to pick up her things.
The problem was that someone was standing on one of the papers. It was the latest issue of her newsletter, the Laudville Letters . Julia registered that little detail before she raised her eyes to see who it was. He wore a brown winter jacket over baggy trousers. Clutched in his hand was a football.
A jock, Julia thought, feeling her stomach sink.
She’d been waiting for the final bell so she could head home, where her mother was waiting. As soon as it rang, she’d burst out of the classroom but had barely made it three steps down the hallway before she slammed into someone.
And, just her rotten luck, that someone happened to be one of the jerks on the football team. And behind him were other jocks. Julia froze as she caught sight of a familiar face.
Damon McLaurent blinked back at her.
“S-sorry,” she told the guy she’d run into. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”
She tugged at the papers under his foot, but he wouldn’t budge. “Could you please lift your foot?”
“You really shouldn’t stick your newsletters under people’s feet, Miss Chief Editor,” the boy replied. “Someone could trip on them, you know.”
With that, he dragged his foot across the floor, ripping the cover off the newsletter in the process. The other boys chuckled.
“Leave her alone, Connor,” said a voice.
Julia’s breath faltered. It was Damon. He brushed his brown hair across his forehead in a slick move that nearly made her heart flip and stepped forward, those gorgeous green eyes meeting hers for a moment.
“What, McLaurent?” replied the beefy jock. “Got a thing for this nerd?”
“Just leave her alone.” Damon’s voice had a dangerous edge to it. “Don’t make me ask you again.”
Clearly, she wasn’t the only one who noticed the edge. Connor’s eyes widened for a second, but he quickly regained his composure. He lifted his foot off the newsletter and stepped away.
“Whatever, man,” he said. “She’s not even worth it.”
He continued walking down the hall, and the rest of the jocks followed.
Julia continued picking up her books.
When she looked up, Damon’s face was inches away from hers.
“H-hi,” she breathed.
“Hey, Red.” The sound of his voice, so close to her, was almost hypnotic. “Need some help with that?”
Before she could respond, he reached for some of the books, handing them to her. They rose together, Julia clutching her books to her chest as her heart fluttered. He flashed her a tiny smile that knocked her pulse up a notch.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “Those guys can be jerks sometimes. The only reason I hang around them is—”
“You’re all on the football team.” She realized she was staring at him and looked away. Kids were filing into the hallway as classes changed. Several pairs of eyes were trained in her direction, reflecting everything from disbelief to jealousy. “It… it’s fine. I don’t really care about the newsletter anyway.” That was only half true.
She glanced up at him again just in time to see his eyebrow rise. “Why not? You write really well. I’ve seen your articles. And your poetry? It’s neat.”
Julia almost fainted on the spot. “You… you read the newsletter?”
He shrugged. “Now and then.”
Be cool, Julia. “That’s nice. I’m glad you like it. I write the articles because I’m expected to, not because I like writing them. The poems… those are different.”
“How so?”
“I love writing them.”
“I can tell. You write beautifully, Red.” He frowned, then chuckled. “That’s something you don’t often hear from a guy like me.” He stuck out a hand. “I’m Damon. McLaurent.”
Gingerly, she shook his hand. “I know.”
Great, Julia. Now, you sound like a creep.
“I’m Julia Reel.”
“I know who you are, Red.”
She blinked. “Huh?”
“Everyone knows the Chief Editor,” he said as if she’d said something stupid. “Plus, I’ve seen you around school. In the hallways, class… football practice.”
She was certain her face had turned the shade of a ripe tomato.
“Oh, right. I’m… a big fan of football,” she lied.
Why the heck did she say that?
“I didn’t know that.”
His grin widened. God, she was going to melt on the spot if he didn’t stop smiling at her like that. His green eyes were mesmerizing enough. His gaze was fixed on her as if dozens of kids didn’t surround them in the hallway.
“That’s really cool,” he said. “You’re cool, Red.”
“Red?”
In response, his eyes slid from her face to her hair. Julia felt a tingle travel from her head to her toes.
I can also turn into a snow leopard.
The thought crept into her mind so suddenly that she almost dropped her books and shifted. She took a deep breath to calm herself.
Relax, Julia. You can’t tell him that!
But it was hard because she was so wound up. This was the longest she’d been around Damon McLaurent, and it was taking all her willpower to keep from jumping up and down like a cheerleader. Out of all the people in Laudville High, he was talking to her. And he’d read her poetry and thought it was great. He knew who she was.
If this was a dream, she didn’t want to wake up. She pinched herself to make sure.
Meanwhile, she would have kept staring at him for hours if he hadn’t spoken the next moment.
“So,” he said, “you headed home?”
Her stomach lurched, but she nodded. “I am. I’ve got to see… uh, my friend. Yeah.”
“Cool.” Those beautiful lips parted slowly, and his next words tumbled out. “Want me to walk you home?”
“Huh?” she asked again, being anything but cool about it.
He cocked his head and smirked. “I don’t bite. It’s the least I could do after… you know—Connor.”
She bit her lip, also not cool. “Okay. You can walk me home.”
Who was she kidding? Just the thought of it brought butterflies to her stomach. No way would she ever refuse a chance to walk with Damon McLaurent. She would follow him anywhere.
***
“Cripes, I can’t cross that,” she said, her lips trembling. “Damon… I don’t think I can do this.”
“Yes, you can, Red,” he replied.
She looked into his eyes. They were filled with pity and something else she couldn’t quite make out. Reluctantly, she tore her eyes away from him and faced the lake.
From the snowy bank where they stood, the lake was a terrifyingly magnificent sight. It stretched eastward as far as the eye could see. But that wasn’t what terrified her. The lake had to be at least a hundred feet across.
With a shudder, Julian looked down at their feet. She listened carefully for the sign of a current, but there was none. No surprise there. The entire lake looked like a solid block of ice, but for all she knew, it could be an illusion. There was no telling if the ice would hold. Damon seemed convinced they could make it safely across with no trouble, but he’d felt the same way 16 years ago. What were the odds that the ice wouldn’t shatter under their feet like the last time?
She chuckled nervously. “I don’t even like the snow, and you want me to cross a frozen lake.”
He nodded gravely.
“You know what happened last time.”
“I’ve lived with that memory for years,” he told her without hesitation. “The pain, the guilt… I think I know how you feel, and if I could take it all away, the memories and the pain, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
His hand found hers, and he squeezed it, just like he had when those Collectors attacked. Again, a tingle shot up her arm at his touch.
“Look, I know you’re afraid,” he said, “but we don’t have a choice right now. We need to get to Caprichor before something else happens. The Collectors aren’t going to stop looking for us, especially not after what happened back there.”
Her mind flashed back to the men in the clearing. It had all happened so suddenly. Julia had been frozen in terror. And then everything became a blur. The next thing she knew, the snow leopard’s survival instinct kicked in, and she’d shifted.
Damon hadn’t been too happy about that for some reason. But her curiosity was piqued. She could tell something was going on with him and that he knew more about it than he was willing to say. And the more curious she became, the more she wondered if she really wanted to know the truth.
That aside, she had a bigger question facing her: to cross or not to cross?
If they crossed, they risked falling through the ice. Damon had told her there was no way off Frost Mountain. The portals only worked one way. If they ended up in the lake, they wouldn’t end up on earth; they would simply drown.
But if they didn’t cross, then the Collectors would find them, and who knew if Damon could fend them off again. Julia glanced at Damon. He certainly wasn’t the same guy she remembered from Laudville High. His time on Frost Mountain had changed him. Somehow, she knew that if he’d wanted to kill those men, he could have easily done so.
Why he’d shown them mercy when they’d been prepared to kill, she had no idea, but if the tables were turned, she doubted those Collectors would return the favor. And just how many times could Damon hold them off before they overpowered him?
“We’re going to cross the lake,” she muttered, taking a deep breath. “We’re crossing it.”
He gave her hand another affectionate squeeze, which momentarily distracted her from the expanse of ice before her. “We are, Red. And we’re going to make it across. Nothing will go wrong, I promise. I’m with you. You can trust me.”
Julia felt a sudden twinge of annoyance. And she thought she knew why.
***
“You’re not wearing a jacket,” she observed, pointing at his shirt. “Aren’t you cold? It’s freezing out here.”
“A little,” he said with a shrug. “The cold doesn’t bother me much after a while.”
“Huh?”
“You could say I’m warm-blooded.”
She frowned. “So is every other human.”
If she didn’t have such a huge crush on him, she might have smacked him upside his head for saying something so dumb.
He opened his mouth to say something but then stopped himself. “Right.”
It was a cold afternoon in Laudville. The roads and sidewalks were slippery, and their brief walk from school was starting to feel like an eternity. Not that she minded much, not with him beside her.
Damon McLaurent is walking me home, she thought, feeling a little giddy.
Cars rolled by slowly. Up ahead, the road bent into another street. Directly in her line of sight was a row of tall, snow-covered trees, beyond which she couldn’t see much. It was mid-January, and it would be weeks before the weather turned.
You should be a weather reporter, Julia, she thought and chuckled to herself.
“Quarter for your thoughts?” Damon asked, flashing her that same heart-stopping grin. “I’d offer a dollar, but I’m short on cash right now.”
She chuckled out loud, then wondered if she was trying too hard. “Nothing much.”
“Try me.”
She eyed him for a moment. “I was thinking about what you said earlier about liking my poetry.”
“Yeah?”
“It meant a lot to me. The articles are the newsletter’s main content; I just squeeze a couple of poems in now and then. But those poems mean more to me than the articles.”
“You don’t like writing articles?”
She shrugged. “They’re okay, I guess. I don’t mind reporting. But I’m more of a creator. I like to write. And sing,” she said as an afterthought.
His eyes widened like green pools. “You sing?”
Heat rushed into her face as she nodded.
“That’s super cool, Red. Would you could sing for me sometime?”
If she blushed any harder, her face was going to explode.
“Maybe someday. I’ve always loved writing and singing. But that sort of thing isn’t easy for people around you to accept, you know? It’s not… professional enough. Not to my parents, at least. But they were thrilled when I became chief editor.”
A part of her wondered whether she was saying too much. Somehow, in a matter of minutes—or was it an hour—she’d gotten more comfortable with him. The nervousness that had choked her earlier was slowly receding. Dear God, if she got too comfortable, she just might spill everything about her life and scare him off. The last thing she needed was for her crush to run from her because she’d told him too much. She could end up the talk of the entire school, then the entire town: the weird girl who could shift into a snow leopard.
Before long, her family would have to move.
That’s not going to happen, Julia, she told herself. Take a chill pill, will you?
“I can imagine,” he said to her surprise.
Her eyebrows rose sharply. “You… you can?”
“Yeah.” He stared at the ground as they walked. “For me, it’s football.”
“Wait, really?”
He nodded. “I mean, I used to enjoy playing. The only reason I’m still on the team is… well, I want a scholarship for college. I lost interest in football last year.”
“How come?”
Damon lifted his head. “I just did. And the guys on the team aren’t exactly the kind of people I like hanging around with. They’re knuckleheads.”
Julia stifled a giggle. “So what are you interested in if not football?
He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. But it’ll come to me soon.” Then he smiled.
They were nearing the bend in the road. She glanced up at the sky. Clouds were gathering. Julia had a feeling it was going to be a stormy night.
“We should walk faster,” she said, increasing her pace before he could respond. “I have to get home on time.”
He matched her pace with little effort. “That’s okay, Red. I know a shortcut we can take. You’ll be home before you know it. It’s just beyond those trees.”
He pointed ahead at the row of trees.
Julia followed his gaze and frowned. “You mean… Laudville Lake?”
He nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve crossed it lots of times.”
Something about the way he said it made her wonder what he’d been doing when he crossed the lake all those times. Playing hooky or kissing cheerleaders under the cover of the trees? Was that why he wanted her to go with him to the lake? The thought made her grin, but she suppressed it before he could notice.
“Okay,” she said as evenly as she could.
They stepped off the curb onto the snow-covered grass, making a beeline for the trees. Up close, she could see just beyond them. Laudville Lake was barely 20 feet away from them, the bank covered with rocks and a frosting of snow.
“Whoa,” she said, staring at the lake. “It’s frozen over. I didn’t know that.”
“It’s how I can cross it. I just walk across to the other side.”
The other shore was identical to the one they stood on. Beyond it, she could see more trees. He was right. It was a shortcut. Taking it would save them from walking several blocks.
“Once we cross, we can get back on the road. It saves a lot of time. Plus, we get to walk on water, well, sort of.”
She couldn’t resist a chuckle, but it quickly faded as uncertainty rose in her chest. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
He flashed her a playful grin. “I’ve crossed it lots of times.”
“Yeah, but I’ve heard lots of things about accidents on frozen lakes. What if something happens to us?”
“Nothing is going to happen, Red,” he said. When she didn’t respond, he added, “Just trust me, okay?”
She stared at him for a moment. “Okay.”
When he smiled at her that way, how could she help but trust him?
He took her hand, sending a tingle shooting up her arm.
Together, they stepped onto the ice.