“Good. Good.” Jack was genuinely relieved, but that was tightness in his voice, probably because he missed me and hadn’t wanted me to go in the first place. “How was your flight?”
“I slept through most of it,” I admitted but neglected to tell him the reason for it. He didn’t need to know about my panicked bloodlust in New York. It would just work him up. “This is my first time being out of the Midwest, though, and it sucks. I was in New York City, and I didn’t see any of it. I barely got a glimpse of Helsinki when we were coming in.”
“You’re in Finland?” There was an edge to his voice, and I realized that I might’ve said too much.
“That’s where Peter’s in trouble with vampires?”
“Um…” I shifted on the bed, trying to think of a line to feed him.
“They’re not really vampires, are they? It’s lycan.” He sighed when I didn’t say anything, and then he held the phone away from his mouth. “Mae! Mae!”
“Why are you yelling at Mae?” I asked wearily.
“Because. If she knew that’s what you guys were doing-”
“What?” I interrupted him. “What are you gonna do?”
Jack grumbled something under his breath but didn’t really have a follow-up for that. Even if Mae had known, she would’ve been as happy about as Jack, and she would’ve tried just as hard as to talk Ezra out of going. Most likely, Ezra hadn’t told anybody where we were going for that reason. He had made up his mind, and he didn’t want to waste time fighting about it.
“I should get on a plane right now,” Jack threatened.
“Jack, don’t be silly. Ezra wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I’m just here to try and talk Peter into coming back, not to fight any stupid vampires,” I told him as calmly as I could. If I sounded even slightly freaked out about the lycan, than he would hop on a plane and drag me back with him.
“Peter doesn’t need to come back,” Jack muttered.
“Have you been to Finland?” I quickly changed the subject.
It was pointless to go over the topic of Peter again. The bond between Jack and Peter had been irrevocably severed and arguing with him about it would only make Jack more anxious. I couldn’t make him feel good about me being here, but maybe I could distract him enough where he worried a little less.
“Yeah, once, a few years back,” he said disdainfully. “We went skiing and I was terrible. I broke a snowboard and rolled down the hill like a snowball. It wasn’t that fun. Finland’s not that great. You should just come home.”
“Jack,” I sighed. I had started to smile when I pictured him tumbling down a hill, but it faded when he went back to trying to convince me to leave. “You’re wasting this phone call. My phone’s going to die, and I don’t have a charger. Do you really wanna spend this time arguing with me, when you know you’re not going to change my mind?”
“Yeah, I kind of do,” Jack replied flippantly. “Besides, I’m sure Erza has a charger that’ll work there, and you can use that.”
A few weeks ago, Jack had bought me an iPhone, since I wasn’t on my mother’s cell phone plan anymore. It was the exact same phone that both Ezra and Jack had, so if Ezra had a charger, it would work on mine. I have to be honest - being really rich was kind of awesome.
“Ezra speaks Finnish,” I went on, keeping the subject away from Peter or coming home.
“It’s pretty fancy, although I can’t understand a word of it.”
“Ezra is fluent in like every language known to man, even the dead ones. He thought he was so cool when he watched The Passion of the Christ without subtitles because can he speak Aramaic, but I’m pretty sure that’s the only time that’ll ever come in handy.” He had lightened up, just a tad, and it made me smile.
“Can you speak any other languages?” I had never heard Jack say anything in another language, nor he had he mentioned it.
“Spanish and German,” Jack informed with me an odd sense of pride. “I learned Spanish in high school, and German in college, so I’m not really fluent in either. But I can ask if you speak in English in both languages, and I think that’s the only thing I really need to know.”
“Yeah, that sounds helpful,” I laughed, but my happiness made fresh tears in my eyes. “I miss you, you know?”
“I miss you too,” Jack agreed solemnly. “You can come home, Alice, whenever you want.
No pressure.”
“I know. But I have to help out. It shouldn’t be that long, I don’t think. We’re going out first thing tomorrow. We’ll find Peter, and then come straight home.”
Jack started to say something to me about the Finnish wilderness being more complex than I thought it was, but Ezra came out of the bathroom, distracting me. He had changed into flannel pajama pants and a tee shirt, and his sandy hair was a damp mess. He ruffled his hand through it, then looked at me questioningly.
“It’s just Jack,” I told him, holding the phone a little way from my mouth.
“Ezra’s there? Let me talk to him!” Jack demanded, and his voice had gone hard.
“You don’t need to talk to him,” I sighed.
“I take it he knows we’re in Finland then?” Ezra asked me, and I nodded sheepishly. “Oh well. He’d find out sooner or later.”
“Look, Jack, I should get some sleep anyway. I’ll call you soon and let you know how things are going,” I told him reluctantly. Ezra had started rolling down the teal bedspread, meaning he was getting ready for bed and I should probably do the same.
“Alice…” Jack was almost whining, and he realized it so he stopped. “Just call me soon, really soon.
And take care of yourself, okay?”
“I will,” I promised.
When I hung up the phone, I had to fight the overwhelming urge to sob. Somehow hearing his voice had only made things worse. My heart ached dully in my chest, and my body felt completely out of whack. It felt like there was something missing, and I hated it. I hated that I could barely even survive being away from.
Being that dependant on another person was unsettling.
“You didn’t have to get off the phone because of me, you know,” Ezra said.
He had gotten into bed, and I glanced back at him, careful not to let my gaze linger long enough for him to notice how distressed I really was. I swallowed back tears, staring down at my phone, and heard the rustle of blankets as he settled himself into bed. Even though I’d just gotten off the phone, I thought about calling Jack back. It wouldn’t do any good to make me feel better, so I decided against it.
“I know,” I admitted. Setting my phone on the nightstand, I crawled underneath the covers myself.
“Are you going to call Mae?”
“Not until I know anything. Jack can fill her in.” He rolled onto his stomach and rested his head on the pillow. “Are you doing to be okay with all of this?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I nodded, and I wasn’t sure if I was lying or not.
I leaned over and turned off the bedside lamp, but even in the darkness, I could feel Ezra watching me. It would be impossible to hide anything from him, but I was determined to try anyway.
Rolling over so my back was to him, I allowed a few silent tears to slide down my cheeks. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything, and eventually, his breathing had the regulated quality that comes with sleep. Unfortunately, sleep wouldn’t be nearly as easy for me.
Ezra tore open the shades while the sun was still up, and I squinted and pulled the blankets over my head. The little experienced I had with the sun so far made me tired and cranky, and I had no urge to relive that feeling. Fully dressed and whistling an old Neil Young song, I heard Ezra go about the room, and I knew it was time to get up.
“What time is it?” I mumbled, still buried underneath the thin hotel comforter.
“It’s a little after one, but we need to get going. We’re burning daylight.” Ezra chuckled at his own joke, and I was starting to think that maybe I didn’t agree with his sense of humor.
“You’re actually expecting me to get up now?” I poked my head out, braving the blinding light that filled the room.
“We do need to get going,” he told me absently. He was checking something on his phone, then he glanced back at the open. “I can close the shades, if that helps.”
“You know it does,” I yawned.
Ezra complied, still fiddling around with his phone, and I hoped that meant that he had a lead on something. His half of the room was already completely straightened up, the bed made and everything, and I wondered what time he had gotten up. I had slept terribly, tossing and turning all day long, and dreaming horrible things about Jack. I woke up feeling more tired than I had when I went to sleep.
“I wish I still drank coffee or Red Bull or something,” I grumbled as I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. (Fun fact: Vampires still pee. Blood is a liquid, after all.)
“Just take a cold shower. That’ll perk you right up,” Ezra suggested.
Following his advice, I took a quick, cold shower, and it helped some. I dressed in a hurry, then Ezra told me that I had to blow dry my hair so it wouldn’t freeze when we went outside. Instead of balking at the idea of being out in the sun, I just did as I was told. It would make the whole process faster.
The hotel was alive with people today, and I pulled the scarf up over my mouth and nose to muffle it.
When we were walking out, I noticed the décor in the hotel was distinctly green. There were potted plants everywhere, probably to counteract the seemingly endless winters and obliquely white window views. I personally enjoyed winter, but it would be odd to live in a place that had snow eight months out of the year.
It really wasn’t that cold out, only in the low thirties, but I had bundled up in a winter jacket and boots, like any normal person would. There wasn’t that much snow yet, only enough to crunch underneath my feet. Fortunately, Ezra had packed an extra pair of sunglasses for me, so I wasn’t instantly blinded, but the sun didn’t thrill me either.
“So what’s the plan?” I had followed him out of the building, and he was walking towards a silver Range Rover with snow tires. “What’s this?”
“How we’re going to get around,” Ezra answered vaguely, and I wondered if he was purposely infuriating or if it was just force of habit. He got in the driver’s side, so I hopped in after him.
“When did you get this?” I demanded when he started it.
“While you were sleeping. I figured it would be best if I let you sleep as late as possible.”
Without even looking, he whipped the Rover into reverse and sped out away from the hotel.
Usually, Ezra was the mild driver, but it suddenly became apparent to me where Jack’s driving skills had come from.
As he sped down the road, I pulled my hood up over my head and sunk lower in my seat, trying to hide myself from the sun’s rays as much as I could.
“How is this gonna work?” I yawned when he’d been on the road for ten minutes. Already, I felt like napping, and I knew as the day wore on, I would only get sleepier.
“We’ll be in tree cover most of the time.” Ezra nodded to the think pine trees that filled the world around us. “You have your hood and sunglasses, and when we get back in the morning, we’ll both eat. We’ll be fine.”
“Hmph,” I grumbled skeptically.
We had traveled about a half hour or so when Ezra abruptly turned off the road and parked the Range Rover. I had been dozing a bit, but I sat up when the vehicle stopped. There was a GPS system in the dash, so I leaned over to inspect it, hoping to find some kind of clue as to where we were at.
Unfortunately, Finnish words and town names kind of looked like gibberish to me, so I didn’t gain any insight.
“Okay. What’s going?” I asked, but Ezra turned off the car and jumped out in response.
“Thanks.”
I scrambled out after him, and naturally, I slipped in an icy patch of snow. When I tried to catch my fall by grabbing onto the car, I only succeeded in denting the side horribly. It was pretty awesome having almost no control over my body. I couldn’t wait for the grace and strength to really kick in.
“Are you coming?” Ezra had paused long enough for me to collect myself and scurry after him.
“Yeah. Where are we going?” I asked when I caught up with him.
“The woods.” We were already in walking into a very thick patch of trees, so he was doing nothing more than stating the obvious.
“You’re really becoming my least favorite person,” I muttered as I nearly tripped over a fallen log.
“I don’t know exactly where we’re going,” he reluctantly admitted. “I just know the area we’re supposed to be in, and this is it.”
We were in the shadows thanks to the cover the trees, so at least that was something.
Looking around, though, everything appeared the same as everything had before. Coniferous trees blanketed the area, and somewhere up ahead, I could hear a river flowing. Other than that, I had no idea how Ezra could tell one tree from another, or he could possibly have any clue where we were at. Admittedly, this was an area he was much more familiar with than I was, but I couldn’t imagine what distinguished these trees from the rest.
“What the hell is this area?” I stopped walking and just stared up through the trees at the sky.
“The lycan live around here.”
I would’ve liked to press him further about it, but it was obvious he didn’t want to talk. Ezra didn’t even slow down for me, so I learned my lesson about stopping for no reason. We trekked through the trees all afternoon, and while the sun didn’t directly shine on me, I felt a burst of energy when it finally down. We came across the river I had a heard, and Ezra convinced me to wade through it.
Once night had closed in completely, Ezra started to wait for me and insisted that I stay close to him.
During the day, other vampires weren’t a threat, which was probably part of the reason he’d want to check things out during the light. There would be very little chance of anyone attacking us, but we were lacking any form of safety. He didn’t slow much, though, and spoke very little.
The biggest excitement of the night was when we saw a few reindeer walking in front of us.
Ezra explained that many Europeans say that this is where Santa Clause lives, not the North Pole, partially because of the large reindeer population. In reality, we weren’t that far south from the North Pole anyway, so it wasn’t much of a stretch.
By the time the sun started to rise, I was completely exhausted. There’s a myth that vampires don’t ever get tired or run out of energy, and Ezra did seem to exemplify stamina. Maybe I’m just a wuss. I don’t really know. When the sky started to lighten, we made the long walk through the trees back to the car, and I was incredibly relieved when I finally got to sit down inside the Range Rover.
On top of that, that gnawing hunger had started setting in a few hours ago. Ezra’s pulse had gotten more noticeable, and my hands were exhibiting a fine tremor. The early morning light filtered in through the windows, and that only made it worse. I felt anxious and sore, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel.
I must’ve been jonesing noticeably because Ezra put his arm securely around me when we walked inside. It was after seven in the morning, so the breakfast crowd filled the dining room. The scent of eggs and some kind of deer sausage made me sick, but over that, I could smell the delectable scent of blood, and I was grateful for Ezra’s strong arm steering me towards our room.
Once inside, I peeled off my jacket and tossed it aside. If I had been able to sweat, I would’ve. Next time we went out, I’d have to remember to leave my coat in the car. Walking around like that gets the blood pumping too much, and it’s far too warm. I kicked off my boots, and I really, really wanted to tear off my jeans, but that didn’t seem like a good idea.
“That was a total waste of a day,” I said, squirming about the room. My clothes felt too heavy and uncomfortable, and it was hard not
to take them off.
Ezra had turned the temperature down really low and refilled the duffel bag with ice sometime before we left last night, so the containers of blood were still intact and cool. He left the bag in the bathtub so that when the ice melted, it wouldn’t leak all over. While I was in the room twitching and not taking off my clothes, he was in the bathroom getting food for us.
“We figured some things out,” Ezra insisted, coming out of the bathroom with a several canisters of blood. “Tomorrow we’ll have a better idea of where we need to go.”
“If you say so.”
The canisters were in sight so any petty complaint I had bottled up didn’t matter anymore.
He unscrewed the lid, and I almost ripped it from his hands. Hurriedly, I downed it, and Ezra just watched me with an odd look of fascination on his face. That wonderful warming effect spread out over me, and I held out my hand for a second can.
“Get ready for bed first,” he shook his head. “I’m not getting you in your pajamas after your passed out.”
“Fine. Look away.” It was actually a smart idea, but I was pouty about it anyway.
Ezra did as he was told, and I took off my clothes as quickly as I possible could. That really didn’t end up being all that fast because that tired, loose feeling was taking over me, and I almost fell over just taking off my shirt. Somewhere in the room, I knew I had clean pajamas, but the ones I wore last night were just laying on the bed, and they weren’t that dirty, so I pulled them on. When putting on my pants, I fell back on the bed and didn’t bother to get up again.
“Done,” I announced and held out my hand again.
“You’re going to have to learn to take it easier on these. I don’t think I packed enough for you keep going at this rate,” Ezra warned, but he cracked a can open and handed it to me.
“I thought you’d be an over packer,” I said before gulping it down.
“I am.” He looked at me severely, then sat on his bed across from me.
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