Chapter 3 #2
I realize I’m just standing there with Josh sitting on my back.
I give a little shake, and he slides down, landing in the soft snow.
Grimlet's still on his shoulder, but as I watch, he dives headfirst into the snow and disappears completely.
He emerges a moment later, sneezing, and Josh giggles.
The trip is worth it just for this. There was one point, not so long ago, when I thought he would never smile again, never mind laugh.
And how bad can things be? How many bad things can happen when the snow falls in Elderfell? We'll soon find out.
I reverse the shift, and I'm back in human form.
I immediately feel the cold and the chill seeping into my bones.
But the snow has stopped falling at least. Hopefully, we won't get an unfriendly reception at the manor, and we can warm up before we head into the village to find somewhere to stay until the snow clears a little.
“Come on, you two. Let's go.”
“Are we going to find Tansy now?” Josh asks.
“Yeah, I reckon she'll be at that big house we just passed.” I look at him for a moment. “Right, just one thing—don't weird her out, okay?”
He opens his eyes wide. “Me? I’m not the scary one.”
“Yeah, you. Don't mention any funny stuff.” I turn my attention to Grimlet. “And you…” Shit, how do we even explain Grimlet? Best not to even try. “You just sit on his shoulder. Don't move. And do not, under any circumstances, say anything.”
I think the chances of that are zero. Grimlet clearly agrees—he lets out an indignant snort. But maybe people here will take him for some sort of animated AI toy. We can but hope. “Just don't throw rocks at anybody.”
He gives me a glare and turns his back.
Right. We’re as ready as we're ever going to be.
I look down at myself. I'm wearing black leather pants, a black shirt, and boots. My everyday Valandrian military wear. And the coat Brown gave me. It’s pretty cool, a dark leather flying jacket lined with sheepskin against the cold.
Josh is wearing a similar one, if a little smaller.
As I start walking toward the manor, Josh slips his hand into mine and squeezes.
“It will be all right,” he says. “She'll love you. I mean, I love you, Zayne, even if you did try to eat me once.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“And Amber would be pleased we're getting a sister,” he says.
“Yeah, I think she would.”
There must be six or seven cars parked outside the manor as we walk up the drive.
The people are milling at the top of the steps and just about to enter the house as we approach.
I recognize all of them. Someone spots us, and the word goes around, and they all slowly turn to look.
I think it's true to say that I was never particularly popular in the village.
I never tried to be. I thought they were a load of tossers, and they thought I was trouble.
And after my dad supposedly killed my mum and then killed himself, well, I was definitely persona non grata. As though they might be infected by my family's madness just by being near me. They were never the same about Tansy. She was always accepted, and I'm glad about that.
I search the group, but I can't see any children. I'm not even sure what she'd look like now. The last time I saw her, she was hardly more than a toddler. Chubby cheeks, always smiling. But there are no children at all in the group.
My heart stops for a moment, and then starts beating faster. I come to a halt and take a deep breath because there is someone else there that I recognize.
She’s staring. A flicker—joy?—gone so fast I probably imagined it. More likely horror. Or guilt.
I take a step closer. And we gaze at each other for long moments. Everything and everyone else fades away.
“You,” she murmurs as though she can’t quite believe I’ve got the nerve to come back here, even though when I left, she just about begged me to stay. Her hands are fisted at her sides, and she’s glaring like she could burn a hole straight through me.
My chest tightens, but I force a smirk onto my face. “Nice to see you too, princess.”
“Five years,” she snaps. “And that’s what you open with?”
Five years and she still makes my chest ache. Five years and I’m still a smartass. “What were you expecting?” I give a nonchalant shrug. “Flowers?”
She shakes her head. “You haven’t changed.”
Hah, that’s what she thinks. “You’ll be amazed at just how much I’ve changed, princess.”
The air between us crackles, sharp as the frost all around us.
It feels like no time has passed at all—except every word tastes like old bitterness.
Before I can think of something better to say—something real—a woman comes to stand in front of me.
Arms tight across her chest, lips in a thin line as she glares at me. My aunt.
“Well, look who crawled back with the storm,” she snarls. “And now my Tansy is gone. Quite the coincidence, isn’t it?”
For a moment, the words don’t make sense.
“What do you mean ‘Tansy is gone?’ Gone where? What’s happened?
What have you done with her?” I can feel my beast rising up inside me, and her eyes widen as she backs away.
She always said all the men in our family were monsters.
I’d love to show her just how right she is, but maybe not right now.
Holly hurries toward me, rests a hand on my arm, and a sense of calm washes through me—she could always quiet my rages. I look down at her—there never used to be such a difference in our heights; she was always tall for a girl. Now I tower over her. I like it. “Tell me,” I growl.
“It’s the children,” she says.
“What children?”
“All of them. They disappeared sometime last night. Well, except Milo—he’s got a broken leg. He said he couldn’t keep up.”
“Where did you find him?”
For a second, I think she’s not going to answer; something flickers in her eyes. “Silvergate.”
Shit. Fucking Silvergate. I should have known it. The bells I heard were real—no dream.
“He must have wandered there when he lost the others,” she adds.
I have a flashback…blood in the snow. No. Not going there.
But…shit. Just like old fucking times.
Except for me. I’m not the same victim I was back when I was last here. I’m not the scared, grief-stricken boy who lost everyone to the snow. To the Hunt.
I stiffen my shoulders. “Well, we’d better go and find them then, hadn’t we?”
Snow falls, children vanish. Same old Elderfell. But this time I’m not running. This time I’m the hunter.
I came here for my baby sister.
And I’m not leaving without her.