She turned to look at him.
“It’s a gift,” he stated.
Aunty smiled devilishly as if she were getting away with something. “Now that that is settled let’s get a move on. I’ll be damned if I let you two take up any more time.”
Nieves laughed while taking the dark red bag into hand. “Thank you very much. I’ll go and try it on.” Nieves dashed out of the room and down the hall.
Alric and Aunty stared at each other motionlessly until finally he put out his hand. She gave him the hook of the hanger. Alric walked away from the door and watched her leave.
She held back her smirk until the shoji door was closed—she’d won this battle as well as the party. She was on a roll.
CHAPTER 27
“Where the hell are we going?” asked Alric who was sick of sitting in the car.
Nieves fidgeted nervously with the ends of her dress. It was a baby blue dress that she felt was a little too short. It reached her knees but for a girl who rarely wore dresses it was far uncomfortable. Nieves tried to remember that this was for Alric’s party and it was only one night. Still, Aunty had bought it for her and it would be rude not to wear it again.
She groaned on the inside. “Dresses are not my thing,” she said mentally.
“Just look out your window,” Aunty told him. Her voice was stern but she smiled the whole way through. “You’ll find out when we get there.”
“We are going towards Rusuto’s house. Is it there?” continued Alric.
Aunty rolled her eyes to the ceiling of the car. “If only he weren’t my nephew.”
Alric leaned forward to look past Nieves at Aunty. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? I am simply asking you where we are going. You know how much I hate surprises. I especially hate birthday parties—scratch that: I hate any form of gathering that includes people.”
A sigh that sounded more like a grumble rolled from Aunty’s throat. “We’re going to the forest. Is that fucking good enough for you?”
Alric jolted back, pressing his back against the seat. “The forest,” he began to consider silently. “Where no one will hear me scream? They’re taking me out there so they can kill me now rather than when the snow falls.”
Nieves gasped, leaning forward until she was crawling into the front of the car. Half her body remained in the back of the car while she stared in awe. “Aunty this is amazing.”
“What—” Alric looked out the window not really pleased. “What is it?”
Nieves spun around. “How could you not know?”
“It’s a carnival,” Aunty explained. “I invited the entire city to attend your birthday party. Well, of course they had to buy tickets to get in but once they’re in everything’s free.” Aunty lifted her hand and began to count off the things with her fingers. “Food. Rides. Drinks. Games. Free.”
“It must have cost a fortune,” Nieves blurted kneeling down in front of Alric to look out his window. “A Ferris Wheel.”
Aunty nodded her head. “Snuck that damn thing through the east gate. Luckily I got everything done yesterday.”
“This is ridiculous,” Alric said after folding his arms over his chest. “I hope you realize I am not getting out of this vehicle.”
Nieves turned to him, still kneeling on the floor of the car. “Oh, but Alric, it’ll be fun. Please, you have to come. There will be lots of things for us to do. The Ferris wheel. And roller coasters.”
Alric furrowed his eyebrows with irritation. “Who is this Ferris and why does he have a wheel? And what are rolling coasters?”
It finally clicked: Alric had never been to a carnival because he had lived his entire life behind the Macter walls. He hadn’t even seen a city or walked down the streets at night. Did he know what a sky scraper was? Had he ever eaten a hot dog from a vendor off the street or at the park?
“That’s why you have to come,” Aunty stated gravely. “Or else.”
Nieves nodded her head with agreement. “I’ll make you come.”
“Oh, really?” Alric narrowed his eyes to the threat. “You are going to make me go to this party while wearing a dress? I think you’ll have a difficult time doing that without your dress flying up.”
Nieves gasped. She quickly pointed her finger at him, pressing it against his forehead. “Yeah, well at least I’m not some arrogant overbearing jerk who doesn’t even want to attend his own birthday party.”
“Okay,” Aunty shouted to break up the fight. “We’re here.”
Nieves opened Alric’s door and stepped out. She didn’t want to look at him right at that moment. Alric was being selfish as usual. Did he ever consider that she wanted to share his birthday with him?
“Are you going or not?” asked Alric who was pushing her towards the carnival—the smells of popcorn and cotton candy coated the air. “People usually go inside the gate to attend these things so get moving.”
Nieves smiled, walking slowly forward.
“Great.” Aunty ran to their side with a smile. “I’m going to go find Wilhelm and Rusuto. Have fun, you two.” She pranced across the field, through the gate and vanished into the overwhelming crowd.
“Well,” Alric said in a calm less threatening voice. “What do we do first?”
Nieves smirked. “Roller coaster.”
†
“Come on, Monsun.” Mia snatched hold of his hand while towing him towards another booth. “Let’s play this one, too.”
Monsun smiled, placing a hand on Mia’s head to mess up her hair. “Sure thing.”
Mia smiled. She shoved his hand away, laughing. “Stop it, Monsun. You’re messing up my hair.”
“Here ya go,” said one of the booth’s men.
Monsun took the small round ping pong balls in hand and aimed for the glass. He chucked it gently using an under throw. The ball clinked against the glass and bounced into another.
“Yes!” Mia shouted, tossing her hands into the air. “You did it, Monsun.”
Monsun laughed. “It’s not over yet.” He tossed another ping pong and watched it bounce from glass to glass to glass until it slipped inside.
“One more.”
He tossed it with ease and watched it fall right in. “There we go. Easy as ever.”
Mia gave a short victory dance just before getting her medium sized stuffed animal. It was a yellow blue spotted frog—yellow being her favorite color as Monsun knew.
Monsun hugged her with one arm, pulling her close. “Hope you like it.”
“Nah.” Mia shook her head. “It’s too ugly.”
Monsun huffed. “Do you have any idea what I had to do to get that stuffed animal? I had to chase down super-enhanced ninjas that trapped me in a warehouse. I had to fight each and every one of them to get it back for you. Do you have any idea how hard that is?”
Mia giggled into the frog’s head. “You’re such a liar.”
“I know.”
She swallowed down a lump in her throat. “Just tell him how you feel,” she thought for a brief second. “Erm, Monsun, I’ve been wanting to tell you something…”
Monsun stopped and turned to the girl. “Yes. What is it?”
“Well, I…” Mia took down a breath ready to blurt it out and be done with it all.
“Monsun!”
He turned his head and smiled widely.
Mia stared at the woman and took in her lively appearance. Her hair was long and nearly white—it was the color of wheat billowing in the wind. Her eyes were baby blue and shone like sapphire in the light.
“Jess,” Monsun said, opening his arms to her. He hugged her tightly, eyes closing like a lover would do.
Mia felt her heart twist inside of her chest. “No,” she thought silently; the world was freezing around her. “No. He can’t love this woman…” She dashed away as fast as her feet could carry her. Her eyes stung with the hallow emptiness that was carving its way through her chest.
“Mia!” Angel called out from the crowd but Mia didn’t’ stop. “
Mia, wait!”
Dan looked back at Angel who was now dashing off for her friend. “Angel!” Dan raced after Angel. She could get lost in such a large crowd—or worse, Angel could get hurt.
Monsun slid out of his hug. “I want you to meet one of my students,” he said, turning to where he thought Mia would have been standing. He found the space empty. “Mia? Mia?” He glanced at the booth hoping she’d gone there. “Curses. Where’d she go?”
“What’s wrong?” asked the woman who placed a hand on Monsun’s chest.
He opened his mouth trying to find reasoning—Mia had wanted to tell him something so why had she disappeared. Was it the arrival of Jess? Or had she seen a friend and walked away with them, forgetting all about his presence?
CHAPTER 28
“This line is ridiculously long,” stated Alric. “I’d rather cut off my arm than stand here any longer.”
Nieves smiled a bit trying not to laugh. He sounded so childish and immature; yes, he was complaining but at least he wasn’t walking away from her. Nieves considered it a large step in Alric’s personal growth.
“Mia, wait!” Angel screamed while pushing her way through the crowd.
Both Alric and Nieves spun around to see what the crux of the situation was. They could see Mia running into the haunted house with tears streaming down her face. They also saw Angel run in after her with Dan putting effort in catching up.
Alric grinded his teeth. “Damn it, I knew this would happen.” He snatched hold of Nieves’s hand and leapt into the mass of people.
Nieves screamed for a short instance after nearly tripping over someone’s kid. Alric had lost grasp of her hand while wading his way to the other side. “Alric, slow down.” She caught the ground with her feet and ran with him into the haunted house. “Oh, wait… I…” She looked back to the mouth of the entrance, wishing those flashing lights were in there too.
“Alric…” Nieves tugged at the sleeve of his shirt. For some odd reason it didn’t feel like something Alric was wearing. She turned to stare into the melted face of a rotting corpse. A scream shattered the background noise of cackling Witches. “Alric! Alric!”
Something grabbed hold of her wrist. Nieves balled her hand into a fist and swung as hard as she could at whatever it was. “Alric help!”
There was breath knocked out of the person she hit. He let go of her hand and backed away. “What the fuck are you doing, Nieves?” He wiped up the small cut on his lip—Nieves’s knuckle hit the skin of his lip against his sharp teeth.
She gasped. “Dan? Oh, I am so sorry.”
He grunted taking a step forward. “Did you happen to see where Angel went?”
Nieves shook her head. “No. I lost Alric in the darkness.”
Alric, Dan thought for a moment. He couldn’t forget the things Angel told him last night about how Alric had so suddenly changed. This girl had Alric rescuing her and taking care of her. She had to be something magical—a Witch perhaps, casting spells on the heartless Demon.
“Dan,” Nieves said with worry, reaching out until she felt his shoulder. “Is that you, Dan?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Dan grabbed her hand and walked down into the darkness. “We’ll find Angel and… Alric together. Angel was going after Mia; something happened.”
Nieves nodded her head then realized he wouldn’t have seen it. “Mia was crying. Do you know why?”
“Nope. I don’t care. All I’m worried about is Angel.”
Nieves glanced to where Dan’s head might have been—the darkness was too thick for her to see. “Oh, I see.” She looked ahead to whatever might have been in front of her. “You are in love with Angel?”
Dan narrowed his eyes. “No. Angel is… like my sister. She’s just important to me. When our family deserted us we only had each other. I love her but I’m not… in love with her. I don’t think…”
She could understand that. Love was a complicated thing—not that Nieves knew. She hadn’t experienced the feeling of falling in love. Erika, after her parents died, never showed love to anyone. She was an empty shell from day to night to day again.
†
“Erika,” Nieves called out after slipping into a down feather jacket. “I’m heading off to school.” She slid into her old ragged black boots. “Are you ready, Erika?” After hearing no reply, Nieves stepped into the living room and glanced about.
Erika sat neatly on the couch watching the black screen of the television.
“Erm, Erika.” Nieves walked into the living room and leaned on the back of the couch. “You’re not coming to school today, are you?”
Erika didn’t move.
“Alright, then.” Nieves pecked a kiss onto her older sister’s cheek. “I left some soup on the stove for your lunch. Be sure to eat it. I wouldn’t want you to turn to dust by the time I get back.”
Nieves opened the front door.
“Take care,” Erika said lifelessly. “Don’t die while you’re gone.”
The younger sibling waited in the doorway.
Erika gave an insane chuckle. “I’d hate to see you in a body bag.”
“Don’t worry about other people,” Nieves whispered under her breath. “Worry about yourself.”
She quickly ran out of the house slamming the door shut behind her. School was her get-away. It was the one place she tried to spend all her time so she wouldn’t have to return home to a lifeless zombie.
†
“I hate zombies,” Nieves muttered in the darkness.
Dan nodded. “This is a haunted house. The zombies in here are fake.”
Nieves was just about to reply when something grabbed her foot. She tripped, falling face first into the ground. She was just about to scream out to Alric for help when something grabbed her other leg. She simply screamed, kicking her feet as hard as possible.
“Help!”
Another hand grabbed her clothes.
“Nieves?” Dan’s grasp on her hand slipped. He dropped to his knees in search of her. He found her shivering with terror.
Nieves clutched his shirt as he clawed away at the thing around Nieves’s ankle. The thing suddenly let go. He couldn’t understand what had happened.
“Dan,” Nieves said while skittering away for safety.
Dan huffed with irritation. “Haunted house, my ass. This place is dangerous.”
She stuttered back a sob. “I hate haunted houses.” She whimpered. “I want to find the exit.” Nieves wiped her face with her hands of the salty tears. She wished she had waited outside instead.
“Come on,” Dan said, pulling her off the ground. “We’re almost done.”
Nieves grasped the back of Dan’s shirt and buried her face there, yearning for them to be out of the horrid Haunted House. She let him lead the rest of the way until they heard the voices. Alric and Angel were arguing.
“They’re up ahead,” Dan informed. “Angel! Alric!”
Angel dug around in her back pocket. She pulled out a key chain with a tiny and miniature flashlight. “Over here.” She flicked it on, letting the small pinpoint light pierce the darkness.
Alric was next to her. He spun around with searching eyes. “Is Nieves with you?”
Nieves bit back her whimper by covering her mouth with Dan’s shirt. She would hate to let Alric know she was weak and afraid.
“Yeah, she’s here.”
“Good.” Alric folded his arms and turned back to argue with Angel. “You shouldn’t have encouraged her, Angel. It was not your place. Especially after I told you to stop.”
Angel growled. “I’m her best friend,” she yelled. “My place is to be at her side, supporting her decision.”
Alric gritted his teeth. “You think hurting her is best?”
Dan finally reached them. “Can you both shut up? I’ve got a headache.”
Alric redirected his attention to Dan. “Where’s Nieves?”
He tossed his head to show she was behind him.
“What are you doing Nieves?�
�� Alric rounded Dan to a petrified and shivering girl. She was trembling with fright while clutching Dan’s shirt. Alric yelled with pure hatred, “What happened to her?”
Dan huffed. “What makes you think I did it?”
“Because you are an irresponsible idiot, that is why.” Alric felt sudden hate and anger grow inside of him. It was mostly due to himself than anything else. He hated himself for losing her in the darkness.
Dan tightened his fists, ready to fight. “You’re blaming me ‘cause you left her behind?”
Alric would have hit him if Nieves hadn’t leapt at him. She sniffled while tightening her arms around his warm figure. Nieves muttered something under her breath that was meant to be, “I want out of here.”
Alric gave a sigh. He used a hand to hold her head close and an arm around her back to keep her steady. “We’re leaving right now.”
“Wait,” Angel stopped him. “We have to find Mia. She’s in here somewhere.”
Alric replied, “No. You’ve done enough. Mia has to except this on her own. Monsun is older than her and he has his own life outside of his work. Monsun only sees her as a student—as a child.”
“I’m not leaving her in here by herself,” Angel argued.
“Don’t you get it,” Dan said. “Alric’s… right.” Dan couldn’t believe he was saying that. “We have to let Monsun and Mia sort this out. Mostly Mia—she has to accept that Monsun is an adult.”
Angel folded her arms. “We can’t just leave her in here. You know she has that… phobia. When she’s with Monsun she doesn’t have that problem.”
Snow Heart Page 16