I have no time to talk, were the words on the tips of her tongue when she noticed it was Nixy. The small girl had one her arms extended toward her. In her grasp, she was holding the very jacket Elena was so intent on retrieving before her teacher left and the impending “doom” occurred with her father.
“I was searching for you in hopes I could get your jacket to you before you went home for the day,” continued the pale-skinned girl. Like always, Nixy wore a white dress with a blue ribbon tied at the waist, her hair gathered with a matching blue ribbon intricately knotted in her hair, flowing into a long ponytail behind her head.
Elena smiled gratefully, stood and made her way back down the stairs, taking the jacket from the slender girl and immediately put it on. Wow, when did it get so cold all of a sudden! She zipped it half way up and said, “I was just going back to the room to see if I could get it before Mrs. Smith left.” Nixy merely nodded. “I really have to thank you, because my Dad would’ve been really mad at me if I forgot it again, you know, especially with it being so cold lately.”
A half-smile etched across Nixy’s face. “I see, then it is a good thing we were of similar minds.”
“Of… what?” questioned Elena. Why did Nixy have to always talk with such funny words that no one could understand but her?
“Nothing,” whispered the pale girl as she glanced to either side of her with two quick successive moves of her neck only to shift her silver eyes back upon Elena’s dark brown, intense and piercing. “Would you like to slay a pigeon with me, Elena?”
Elena took a half step backward, her brow furled in utter confusion. “Huh? What?” she spoke through a gasp. “I mean, what do you mean, ‘slay’? I have never heard that word before, Nixy,” she asked, though a vague indication the word held negative connotations didn’t escape her.
Nixy chuckled cutely, her hand coming up to her mouth as if she were trying to conceal avid mirth. Her shoulders bunched toward her ears as she laughed silently, while Elena waited misunderstanding clearly written on her face.
Why was Nixy so weird? Why did she laugh when she was the only one who knew what she meant? Why can’t she talk more like the rest of us?
Plus, I really don’t have time for this, thought Elena. She realized she was wasting time talking with this weirdo and not out by the tree, waiting for her Dad. Dawdling about wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing. She was going to be in trouble with or without her jacket if she didn’t get moving soon.
“’To slay’ is to take the life of a thing,” explained the girl in the white dress, through giggles still rising out of her.
Elena’s jaw opened in shock as if Nixy had just sprouted a second head and told her not to worry about it. The others’ expression was the most natural thing in the world. “You mean to KILL? You want me to go with you and KILL a pigeon!” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been as entirely astounded as she was at that very moment.
Kill, who the hell was this kid anyway? Do all Scandinavian kids go around their country killing birds for the heck of it? What kind of place was this Scandinavia, then?
“That is precisely what I mean, little girl.” Nixy’s laughter stopped suddenly and her eyes seemed to grow cold right before Elena.
Again with the “little girl” crap, can’t you see that you are like 4 inches shorter than I am! Elena yelled in her mind as Nixy continued.
“Now, would you like to or not? I have a knife you know…”
Elena felt her astonishment melt into a sickening fear as she stared back at the pallid girl not liking the hard, lifeless expression upon the other’s face. There was something about it. Something was telling her Nixy was much than she appeared to be at first glance. The girl looked different than she had a blink of an eye prior. She seemed older - far, far older than she had looked to the rest of the world a second before. Her lifeless orbs possessed more knowledge for someone of her apparent age.
The nine-year-old girl tried to swallow her fear and hide behind the shaking of her hands as she zipped her jacket the rest of the way up, her chest rising and falling with deep breath after deep breath.
Nixy smiled again, but it didn’t reach her eyes. They stayed the same – devoid of life and barren, like the surface of a glacier. Her perfectly white teeth gleamed at Elena, so pure and uniform, they too seemed unreal, fake like everything else about the white-skinned girl before her. There was some hidden menace behind what she was seeing. It confused her even more. Maybe what she was seeing wasn’t real. Maybe this so-called little girl wasn’t a girl at all…
“Shall we leave now and be about catching our prey?” asked Nixy again, taking a step closer.
Instinctively, Elena was about to take another half-step back ward, but forced herself not to. There is no way she has a knife here at school, she thought, determined not to show fear when the situation didn’t warrant it.
“Hiya, girls, how’s it hanging!”
Both girls started at the sound of the masculine voice hailing them. They turned, as one, to see Anthony walking toward them from the front doors of the main building, beyond which was the street.
There had been many, many times Elena had thought her brother was the biggest pest of all time, even a downright pain-in-the-ass. There were times when all she wanted to do was get as far away from him as possible or sock him in the “nads“ so hard, he’d just crumple to the ground, thoroughly hob-knocked, incapable of bothering her any further.
Typically, once he got on her nerves, he wouldn’t stop. He would continue to pester her until she either ran into her room, slamming the door on him or one their parents heard their combined noise and told them both to behave. There were other times when he played too rough or snapped at her for no reason. Mostly, he’d be having a bad day or just didn’t want someone as young as her around.
But, right at that moment, on that cold day with her father late and everything getting worse, she couldn’t have been happier to see him. She had never thought she’d think that about her teenage brother.
Never.
She sighed with relief and nearly shouted. “Hi Tony, what’re you doing here?” She was stepping toward him as quickly as she could, without giving the impression she was actually trying to get away from Nixy. She wanted to be as close to her brother as possible.
“Whoa, Ellie, I’m right here. There’s no need to blow out my eardrums,” chided Anthony.
“Sorry,” muttered Elena, not sure if she should smile or grimace.
“Hi, Tony,” uttered Nixy from behind, over Elena’s left shoulder.
“Who’s she?” questioned her brother, glancing at Elena, but pointing his chin toward the small girl in her white dress and blue ribbons.
“I am Nixy,” answered the girl as if the question had been posed at her directly, as if Elena didn’t exist. “We know of you.”
Anthony looked back at Elena with a frown at the other girl’s strange statement. He edged his body to the left, hiding Nixy’s line of sight behind the head and shoulders of his sister mouthing silently, “Weirdo?” He moved back to his original position as if nothing had happened, while Elena could only smile at her brother and tried not to laugh. She nodded vigorously to distract herself. She knew Nixy would be furious if she guffawed aloud, especially at her expense.
“Would you like to play with us, Anthony? We were just on our way -.”
“Can’t, sweet-cheeks,” Anthony replied over her as Nixy’s face melted in disgust. “We have to get out of dodge and back home. I have been given my marching orders!”
Elena felt her heart quicken at the good news. “We do?”
“Yeah, Dad had a super-last-minute meeting with his agent, so he called me and told me to swing by and get you girls on my way home. Since I got out early today, the bus got me here almost at the right time.” He glanced over at Nixy and hesitated, and suddenly seemed to realize something. A few errant pieces of a puzzle seemed to have fallen into place. He scrutinized Nixy, a vacant look, Elena ha
d seen many times, washed over his face. He delved deep into thought.
For a second, none of them moved and the silence stretched.
It stretched some more.
Elena was about to say something, anything to break the awkward (if not downright eerie) moment, but Anthony seemed to shake himself out of his mental wonderings and asked quickly, “So, where is Mikalah? Is she by that tree?”
Elena nodded absently, knowing Anthony had come to a decision about something. She could sense it, but had absolutely no idea what he was thinking. She figured it involved her newfound classmate, but couldn’t be sure.
“Yeah!” burst Elena for the second time, talking a little too loud. She was much too reassured to control it, it was like a river swollen with the spring thaw. A huge deluge of gratitude all at once, there would be no stopping it.
Anthony snorted at his sister. “Let’s go get her, you little fart, before she blows away in this stupid wind.” He motioned toward her and they moved around Nixy, walking out the rear doors of the main building, retracing Elena’s steps.
Absently, Elena turned back to look at Nixy. “Bye-bye, see you tomorrow.” She turned to face forward, uncaring if the strange, pale little girl responded or not.
*****
Behind them, Inghëldir watched them stride away, hearing Elena say, “I’m not a fart, Tony.”
Then, the brother’s retort: “You sure smell like one.”
Though she could see them talking back and forth, she could no longer hear what they were saying, their voices swallowed up by the rising iciness of the growing tempest outside. If either of the siblings had turned at that moment and glanced back at the undersized girl, all clad in white, they would’ve been shocked to see her face filled with nothing but unfettered loathing. A frosty smile was frozen upon her lips. Her thin, waif-like voice carrying on the wind…
“We will get you, all of you. In a matter of days, we will have you. The Minions Lord of the Storm never fail. I, Inghëldir, never fail. I will savor every morsel of your young, innocent flesh before this is all said and done.
“I promise. Oooh, how I promise!”
Then, the girl named Marissa passed by Inghëldir, talking amiably with her friends.
With a newfound grin, Inghëldir turned to follow the unsuspecting little girl.
How fortuitous, thought the child-that-was-not-a-child, her feet silent as she stalked her prey. It is high time we unearth where this lesser Kring-Hël resides. The Seeker will be excited indeed!
~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼ }>>>>>>~~~~~~~~
~ 24 ~
An Unpleasant Decision
Monday, November 22nd, 4:03 pm…
Anthony Herrera liked to think of himself as somewhere between tough and stoic, not bully or some reckless idiot. The kind of guy who could go out on a limb by himself and be ready for whatever the world threw at him, and still keep a level head. He didn’t want to be too needy or overly emotional or easily hurt. Rather, he strove to be the type of guy that could, with minimal direction, take whatever came his way good or bad, and have neither elicit much of a response from him.
“Be even keeled at all times” was his motto, a motto he tried to live by every minute of his life, a motto that didn’t work all the time.
Regardless, he went on conducting his behavior in that very manner. He didn’t want to be like other people. He’d seen too many people lose their cool and make horrible decisions as a direct consequence of their lack of control. He’d vowed a long, long time ago he wouldn’t be like them. His ultimate goal - never do anything rash, ever. He didn’t want his emotions ruling him, clouding his judgment, causing him to make some huge error, because of what he felt inside, before realistic thought applied itself to the issue. He’d never strive to be a crusader of any cause or a maverick in any walk of life. He would watch, listen and evaluate, and make sound decisions rooted in fact and fundamental reasoning. He would move slow and show much restraint. He would apply it to nearly every aspect of his time on earth. It was, he believed, the only way leading toward his achievement of his foremost goals, his greatest chance of success in whatever it was he’d decide to do when he got older.
Of course, he hadn’t figured out what those lofty achievements or penultimate goals might be yet, but still, it seemed like a good way to live life. Be safe, be cautious and don’t get burned.
He wanted very much to keep it that way, and try he would…
…Until something came along that he just couldn’t abide. It was something capable of sparking a more instinctual, more primeval part of himself - a threat to a member of his family. Though he’d never known such a basis reaction was seeded further within him than any childhood notions of how an adult should live. It was, nevertheless, there and it came to life like fire to a matchstick. It burned bright. It shone the way. The obvious conclusion spawned in his mind and the gears began to turn as he stood there, staring at the creepy, white-skinned classmate of his sisters. He’d noticed the challenge in her eyes, the unnerving undertone of her words, lightly sprinkled with what felt like malice, even malcontent. All bullshit aside, his mind was made up. It was time to investigate, time to build a case. If that little twisted girl had scared Elena, then he was going to find out why. If she fucked with him, he was going to scare her back.
He’d finished his homework somewhat quickly. All he really needed to do was study for an Algebra II exam he was going to take the following day. Since he didn’t have much trouble with the section this time around, he felt relatively confident he would ace it. He just needed to brush up on a few things and would be through with it in less than half an hour.
His Dad had come home not that long after, peering into Anthony’s room. He was still dressed in his slacks, shirt and tie from his meeting. He had asked how everything had gone with picking up the girls from school, to which Anthony replied, everything was cool and smooth. His Dad merely nodded, looking over the mail he held in his hand, only half-listening. He must’ve grabbed the correspondence from the dining room table where Elena had left it when they’d arrived home after their short walk from the girls’ school.
Anthony just waited in silence for his Dad’s reply. This was the usual between them – keep it easy and get shit done, all the time.
Then his Dad looked up and said, “Thank you, ‘T’, you did well today. I’m glad I can count on you when I have to in times like this. It makes me feel comfortable when things get a little strained around here, you know? I like the idea of you stepping up.”
“No problem, Dad. It was nothing,” he replied, the compliment duly noted and filed away.
“Good,” began his father, “I’m gonna see about scheduling dinner and then I’ll be in my office.”
“Cool.” His Dad made to leave, but Anthony prompted, “Hey, Dad…?”
His father stopped and looked back into the room, his eyebrows arched slightly. “Yes?”
“Is it cool if I go up the street for a bit and check something out at the top of the hill real quick?” Anthony crunched up his face at the total vagueness of the question, not sure, if his Dad would go for it.
“Like what, you wanna go and check out the new construction they’re doing up there?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
His father smiled and shook his head. “Just be back in an hour, we still have some shit to do tonight before your mom gets home from work, alright?”
Tony knew this to mean there were chores – dishes, laundry, etc. – his father liked to have everything done before his mother came home. He was adamant about having the house in order, so she could just come home and relax without having to worry about domestic crap any more than she needed to. His father took special care of his mother, especially since she’d accepted her new job, a job that turned out to have a lot more stress attached to it than they’d first anticipated. So, since his father worked from home, he took it upon himself to make his mother’s home life as simple and uncomplicated as he possibly could. Anthon
y admired what his father was doing for the woman he loved. He respected him even more for it, because it was his Mom his Dad was spoiling.
“Yeah, no problem, Dad, I don’t even think it’ll take that long.”
“Ok, see you in a bit then.” With that his father left, closing the door behind him as he went.
From his desk, Anthony glanced out of the window, noticing how dark and windy it looked outside, despite it being hours before evening.
Man, Dad, must be a little distracted today if he didn’t even mention wearing a sweater or something warm on a day like this, thought Anthony has he picked up his thin, black jacket, rather than the bulkier coat he usually wore in weather like this. For some reason, he felt he might need a little more range of motion for the duration of his short expedition.
He walked from his room, turning left down the hallway and then right as he approached the bathroom he shared with his sisters. He continued down the passage, passing the girl’s room and made his way to the front door.
He was just about to reach for the doorknob when Elena’s voice chirped behind him. “Where are you going?”
He jumped slightly, startled at the unexpected inquiry. “Out,” he said, taking the last step toward the door, grabbing the doorknob and made to leave.
“Why are you going out when there’s a storm –,” she began, but was cut off by her brother.
“Look, I have an idea and I want to check it out, but I don’t want you or Mikalah tagging along alright,” he voiced it in a rush, failing to recapture some of the poise he’d had a few seconds before.
The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves Page 21