Aspect Of Winter

by Tom Early

  “Good enough for me,” I said. “Should we pretend to be concerned school friends? It’s not much of a stretch.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  Sam parked the Jeep as quickly as she could, and we dashed in after Tyler, Sam doing her best to conceal the orbs of light beneath her shirt. The EMT’s were just transferring him off the stretcher and onto a gurney as we entered.

  “Tyler!” I shouted, running up to the gurney. “Tyler, are you okay?” I made as much noise as I could, Sam running close behind me. As I approached one side, shouting, Sam ran past me to the other side. Predictably, one of the nurses with the gurney first responded by trying to stop the screaming kid, and the other ones were looking at me in irritation anger for just a second. I ignored them, staring at Tyler, and more specifically at Sam. In the one second their eyes left him, Sam pulled out the light and dropped it onto his face. The nurses’ heads whipped back when they heard Tyler’s sudden gasp and saw Sam standing over him. Tyler’s eyes opened, and he shook his head groggily.

  “Wha’s… huh? Where’s Max? Where am I? What’s going on?”

  Sam slunk away quickly as the nurses swarmed their suddenly responsive patient and we ran out as fast as we came in, in time to witness the arrival of several more ambulances, hopefully containing the ercinee’s other victims. Sam and I looked at each other, and then ran back inside as the EMTs’ began to roll the stretchers out of the ambulances.

  We followed them in as they were dropped off in adjacent emergency rooms, and several doctors entered, swarming around them. The two of us hid just out of sight, down the hallway a bit. About an hour later, the doctors slowly began to file out, murmuring wearily to each other, leaving only a nurse in the room.

  I nodded at Sam, who looked vaguely apologetic as she approached the nurse’s back while she was busy leaning over one of the patients. I heard her whisper “Sorry!” and winced as Sam established a pinch hold on the nurse’s neck. There was a moment of frantic scrabbling and then the nurse sank into blissful unconsciousness.

  I entered the room and looked at all of the people hooked up to various machines that were beeping softly. The setup looked decidedly similar to what I had experienced after my stay in the hospital. Sam passed me several of the orbs and a minute later the people began to slowly respond.

  The ercinee’s victims were waking up.

  “That was way too close, Sam,” I hissed. “We aren’t doing any more summoning until we know exactly what it is we’re dealing with.”

  “Agreed,” Sam said shakily as we got back in the Jeep. “There’s no need to convince me on that one. Tyler, on the other hand, might need convincing. You only held his light for a moment, but I was holding on to him for a hell of a lot longer than that. It felt like he was there with me, Fay, and I think he might have sensed me back. I didn’t get the same feeling from the rest, though. I think holding all of them at once made the connection weaker, but I was holding Tyler’s orb before that. If Tyler remembers what happened to him, he’s going to have questions, and he’s going to connect it to us. We need to think up a good cover story, and fast.”

  I groaned. “You’re right, we are. After we sleep, though. Just think about it as you sleep, if you can. I need to be home like two hours ago to explain what just happened to my parents. Just try to get home before your dad notices you’re missing, okay? We can talk tomorrow.”

  “Fine.” Sam shuddered suddenly. “But I’m never trusting anything pretty and glowing ever again.”

  I nodded wearily. “I’m with you on that one.”

  Chapter Nine

  I was waiting outside when Sam drove in to pick me up. My parents, once again, were gone on business, so I managed to avoid a long lecture.

  I looked like hell, and even Sam looked a bit worse for wear after last night. Which for her, admittedly, was still really good. She had put on red lipstick, which helped draw attention away from the rest of her face. According to her. I don’t really notice that sort of thing. Beyond that, her ensemble was the usual weird clothes made successful and combat boots. The drive to school was mostly silent, until we were only a couple of minutes away.

  “So, what’s the plan with Tyler?” Sam asked. “What do we tell him if he asks?”

  “It depends on how much he’s already remembered. If he’s totally convinced that he just went through something that couldn’t happen without magic, then I think we tell him. Though I think it’s unlikely that he will. And if he doesn’t mention it, then neither do we. Considering how much danger this whole thing seems to be bringing to us, I think the fewer people we involve, the better.”

  Sam pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road, and looked at me seriously.

  “Okay. If that’s what you think is a good idea, I’ll go with it. I know Tyler a little from gym, and he’s a ‘roll with the punches’ kinda guy. He can handle it, but you’re right. If we can get away with not telling him, then we do.” Sam took a breath before continuing, locking her eyes with me once more. “Do you want to continue exploring the journal, but with more preparation and research for future attempts? I do, but not if the thought of it makes you miserable.”

  I gulped. This was going to take some careful wording.

  “Sam, after what happened last night, I don’t think using the journal can do much more than lower our life expectancies drastically. But I also know that magic itself isn’t an inherently bad thing. The journal has the potential to teach us more, and risk now for to prepare for a future involving magic is a trade-off that I’m willing to take.”

  I looked down at the floor of the jeep, my words barely a whisper.

  “I really, really want to go to the University, Sam. Staying here and pretending to be normal is killing slowly every day. I just… I can’t do it for much longer.”

  Sam let out a breath and patted me on the back.

  “I feel the same way about the journal, and I consider the rewards worth the risk. Let’s keep looking through the journal.”

  “Fine,” I said. “But can we take a break for a little bit? I know I just said I hate school, but the rest isn’t so bad.”

  “Let’s take a breather day,” Sam said as she draped herself across the dashboard in exhaustion. “I look like shit, and, let’s be honest here, you look worse.”

  I couldn’t really argue with that.

  “Hell, let’s make it a breather week,” Sam continued. “I need to remember what a full night’s sleep is like. I’m all for being normal for a while again, before we continue. We can do some basic research and stuff, consider our next attempt, but we wait on actually doing anything.”

  “Sounds fine with me.”

  Sam veered the Jeep back onto the road and we finished getting to school. The parking lot was empty of students but full of cars, as it tends to be when you’re late. We parked in her customary spot and hopped out.

  I turned around to grab my backpack, and then nearly had a heart attack when I turned back and saw Tyler standing right behind me.

  I let out a surprised noise as I flailed backwards, half-falling into my seat again before I actually took a look at him.

  Tyler didn’t look too good either. His hair was hanging limply around his face, and his usually bright green eyes were dull with exhaustion. He still wore his varsity lacrosse jacket well, but it seemed to hang off him today far more than usual.

  Sam walked over to my side of the car and opened her mouth to head him off. I clung desperately to my reputation as a nonverbal creature and tried to stand up again without looking too much like an idiot.

  Tyler cut Sam off just as she was beginning to speak.

  “Don’t bother. I don’t know what happened to me last night, but I know that it was definitely not normal. And I know that you two are involved in all of this, which means that you know more than I do right now. I would like that to change, please.”

  Sam’s eyes flashed angrily. “Congratulations on living, asshole. Saying ‘Thank you’ would have suffic
ed, but it’s clear that you’d rather just make demands. Did you honestly think that was a good idea?”

  It was amusing to watch Tyler backpedal so swiftly. Clearly he’d forgotten the golden rule of Sam. Treat her well, and she was amazing. Insult her, or even hint at offending her, and she would flay you alive.

  “Uh, sorry, that came out wrong. Sam, I’m really grateful for you and Fay,” he looked at me, something unreadable in his eyes, “saving my life. Thanks for that, but something tells me that you might have had something to do with why I was in danger in the first place. So, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to back off on this one. Can you please tell me what’s going on?” He squared his shoulders with the last comment, preparing for assault.

  Huh. I’d have to give Tyler more credit in the future; he stood his ground pretty well in the end. I decided to step in, and see how bad the damage was.

  “What makes you think we were involved?” I asked, trying for a calm tone.

  Tyler looked at me, unimpressed. “I’m not an idiot. I woke up at the hospital and saw both of you standing over me. We aren’t friends, and there’s no reason for you to know that I was at the hospital in the first place. So,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “you’re either the masters of perfect and weird timing, or you have something to do with why I was there.”

  I tried not to gape at him. It made sense, when he said it like that, but I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to piece things together that logically.

  “Alright, fine,” Sam said, still glaring at him, “what do you remember beyond seeing us?”

  “Um, I remember letting Max out, and seeing some sort of light approach me. Kind of like a bird, but glowing. It flew straight at me, and I remember just… falling. Feeling empty, like something that could never be replaced had been taken from me.” Sam nodded at this point. “Then I woke up and saw you two looking at me and then running away. I think my being suspicious is pretty understandable.”

  I sighed. There was definitely no easy way out of this one.

  “And there’s no way you can just… let this go?” I asked resignedly.

  I took a step back in alarm as Tyler clenched his jaw and his face turned a blotchy red.

  “Don’t you dare tell me to let this go,” he said, voice actually shaking with anger. “I have had enough of pretending that things are normal, that things are okay, in my own life. You don’t get to add to that. You don’t have the right.”

  He stepped forward to jab a finger at my chest and there was a whirl of motion as Sam grabbed his arm, spun it behind his back and slammed him against the side of the Jeep. I noticed almost absentmindedly that I was sitting in my chair again, leaning as far back from Tyler as I could get.

  “If you try to touch Fay again,” Sam said, her voice a low hiss, “you’re going to lose the arm.”

  Tyler took a shuddering breath, and then another.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voiced slightly garbled from half his face being plastered against the car. “I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you, Fay. That was wrong of me.”

  “You can say that again,” I said, my voice a bit shaky as well. “What the hell was that about?” I nodded at Sam, who let him go slowly, moving to stand next to me.

  “Nothing,” Tyler muttered, expression apologetic. “Just… nothing. I’m sorry. Just please don’t try to lie to me. I don’t take it well.”

  “Clearly,” Sam said. “Now do me a favor and take a few steps back.”

  Tyler complied and then turned to face me, eyes pleading. “Fay, please. I need to know the truth.”

  “I get that,” I said, still wary, “but what you’re asking me to do goes against everything my parents have told me for my entire life. If you want to know, I need you to promise that you’ll never tell anyone else. No matter what.”

  Tyler’s posture softened. “Of course. I promise, no one outside of the three of us will hear about this.”

  I looked at Sam, who just shrugged and looked away. I was on my own for this one.

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. But first, I need you to understand something. Knowing about what you’re asking is going to make your life a lot more dangerous. I’m serious.”

  “Remember how Fay was suddenly out of school last week?” Sam broke in. “That new transfer kid was a plant who tried and almost succeeded in killing Fay later that same day. He spent the next few days in the hospital. That’s the sort of thing that you could get involved in.”

  With anyone else, saying that would have sounded ridiculous. Sam made it sound real, and like a threat.

  Tyler paled. “Seriously?”

  I nodded, wincing as I remembered all the bruises. Tyler took a deep breath, and then squared his jaw, green eyes determinedly locked with mine.

  “I want to know,” he said.

  “Okay,” I said, returning his look. “Meet us after school at my house, or when your sports are done or whatever.”

  Tyler nodded at me, trying a smile. I didn’t feel like returning it just yet. He didn’t bother doing that with Sam, which was smart of him. The two of us watched as he jogged off to make first period, and then slowly started walking ourselves.

  I had a long day of steeling myself in preparation for sharing my secret. I actually threw up from nerves back when I told Sam. I didn’t want that to happen again with Tyler.

  Tyler ended up showing up at my house at around five, and the three of us headed upstairs to my room. Sam and Tyler sat down on the guest bed, Tyler edging as far away from her as he could, as I extricated the journal from my bookshelf.

  I started by telling Tyler about myself. There was mostly silence and head nods as I explained the whole ice mojo I had going on, and some sympathetic wincing as I mentioned the fight with Aiden. Sam interjected when it came to the ercinee event, and with how she beat Aiden up for hurting me. Tyler didn’t even look slightly surprised that she’d killed a hellhound and broken a Shade’s arm, which says something about Sam’s reputation. He might have moved further away, though. Not that I would blame him. He didn’t question the story at all, but I think he had more to do with manners than actually believing her.

  I had Tyler hold out his hand, and as I focused, a cloud to swirling snowflakes began to spiral around his hand. Tyler’s eyes went wide, especially when I pointed up. I had sent several massive snowflakes dancing through the air.

  “Do you still think we’re crazy?” I asked him gently.

  Tyler’s awestruck gaze didn’t leave the snowflakes for a moment.

  “I think,” he said slowly, “that if you two are crazy, then I am too. Because it’s kind of hard to pretend that I’m imagining this.”

  “Welcome to our world,” Sam snorted. “Every day is another adventure in crazy.”

  Tyler met my eyes again. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. When I pulled out the journal, however, explaining that Aiden had left it as a sort of apology gift with the promise of more information to come later, Tyler lit up. He switched beds and sat next to me so he could better look over my shoulder. I tensed up at first, but relaxed a bit when I realized he wasn’t going to blow up at me again. I’m pretty sure I succeeded, but the glint in Sam’s eyes told me that I would be hearing words about this later. When I told him about our fears that another summoning attempt could possibly go even worse, he frowned and asked if he could hold the journal himself for a moment. I passed it to him cautiously.

  Flipping the pages quickly, Tyler turned the book towards me.

  “Fay, aren’t these ones at the end not summoning spells? If you need practice and so on, maybe you should start small with those. I’m guessing that doing magic that doesn’t involve other things capable of thought will be at least a little bit safer.”

  Sam perked up, seeing a way to justify doing more magic safely.

  “He’s right, you know. We should totally try those out! Which ones are there?”

  Sam hopped over and settled comfortably on my left. I was now officia
lly the middle of a human sandwich. I grabbed the journal back defensively, and hid it in my hoodie.

  “Okay, we can try some of those spells, but later. Sam, remember the whole ‘week off’ idea you had? I like it. Let’s do that. Right now, I’d really like to just rest.”

  Tyler made apologetic puppy eyes at me. I felt like I was drowning in green all of a sudden. But in a good way.

  “Sorry, Fay. I keep forgetting that this hasn’t been easy for you.”

  “Thanks, Tyler,” I said wearily.

  Tyler beamed at me. “Just call me Ty. I think sharing stuff like this makes us friends, right? Friends can call me Ty.”

  “Can I call you Ty?” Sam inquired.

  “You can call me whatever you feel like, as long as you don’t hurt me.” Sam pretended to fan herself dramatically.

  “Truly, Tyler, you know the way to my heart well. Complimenting my deadliness.”

  Tyler pressed into me a little more, pushing me more into Sam. I meeped in surprise, and he laughed. Sam had to leave pretty soon after that for one of the rare family dinners she had with her dad, leaving me and Ty alone for a moment. Oblivious to my sudden nervousness, he looked at me expectantly.

  “Got any video games, Fay? I don’t really have anything to do besides homework for the rest of the day, so do you wanna hang out?”

  “Sure,” I said, “as long as you don’t freak out again now that Sam’s gone.”

  Tyler winced. “About that… you guys kind of saw me at a bad time. I promise that I never act like that normally.”

  “Is there something going on?” I asked, curious despite myself.

  “I’d… rather not talk about it,” Tyler said awkwardly. “I’m still working through all of it myself.”

  “I get that. So, guns and aliens?”

  He grinned. “Sure.”

  And just like that, I had a new friend, someone else who knew about me. I didn’t know if I trusted him fully yet, but still it was a nice feeling. The more people who knew about me and didn’t freak out, the better I felt. The more normal I felt. It didn’t hurt that Tyler was seriously attractive, either. Not that I was willing to think like that again anytime soon. For now, I was just going to enjoy this new addition to my life, and see how things progressed.