by Amber Lynn
On our way over to Sammy's Market, I took in the various storefronts. I couldn't help compare things to the other small town I'd most recently been in, prior to Eek. There were similarities between Bethel and Vida. The whiteness of almost every house in Vida almost matched the snowy landscape of Bethel.
The big difference was that Bethel, as small as it was, was at least twice as big as Vida. The people didn't appear to be pompous idiots, which was a big improvement in my book. I hadn't had the chance to speak to anyone, but I doubted from the curious glances in our direction that anyone would look down their noses at us.
Kyle interrupted my evaluation by saying, "If you don't find something you want here, Swanson's is another option. We just know the owner of Sammy's, so we tend to go there."
"I don't think I'll need anything too crazy. I'm hoping we'll only need to get a couple days' worth of food. From the sound of things, we should have your missing people back tomorrow, and if we could just find Elizabeth, we can head back to warmer climates," I replied. "I don't know why it feels so much colder up here, but I don't remember being this cold back in New York."
"We don't make the trip up here more than once a week, so I recommend at least getting that much food," Kyle informed me. "And you could always start a fire if you need to keep warm. I didn't think the cold would be much of an issue for someone like you."
"What do you guys tend to do with your time?" Frannie asked, changing the subject before I could come up with a response. "There doesn't seem like there's a lot of stuff to do."
There was a second where Liam and Kyle looked partially confused, but they went with the flow. I could tell they filed the quick change away to bring up in a more private setting.
"You're right, and after living here for five years, we're getting a little bored," Liam said, which didn't surprise me. "Most of the town does a lot of reading and we have Internet now that keeps us occupied. The guys tend to find things to build or fix to keep busy."
"Where are all the hockey rinks? I thought that was a requirement in Alaska," I said. I'd always heard there were two things to do in Alaska, but I wasn't going to mention the other one.
"We have an annual game along with a town festival of sorts. It doesn't really have a set date, so we can make it the end of the week, if you'd like to see how we party," Joseph said. "We could use it to celebrate the return of our people."
"I'm sure you picked up what a party animal I am, but it would be fun to meet more of the different uniques you have living here. I'll probably meet most of them before that, but people don't usually warm up to me if I'm interrogating them, not that I have a lot of experience doing that, but I do need to check around to see if anyone has any idea where Elizabeth disappeared to." I imagined past me had met the different varieties, but they were all new to present me.
"Avery, you know what I like to eat, so Gary and I are going to take a little self-guided tour and see what the town has to offer. I think I saw a bed and breakfast that I'm interested in checking out," Frannie said as she started to drag Gary away. Frannie was turning into a subject changing pro, which worked as long as I wanted to start a new one.
"Okay, meet us back here in an hour, so we can start the trek back," I said as we stood out in front of the store. "Of the remaining folks, who will be eating what I make, anything in particular you want?"
"Do we get to try your cooking?" Liam asked.
I looked over to Nate and he shrugged. "I suppose if you want to, we won't stop you," I replied.
"Good, I'm tired of eating Kyle's cooking," he said.
"Hey, it isn't that bad," Kyle defended himself.
"No, you make great chili mac, but that's all you make. I need a little more variety," Liam explained.
I thought the answer to his problem was fairly simple. If he didn't like what his brother made, he should've took over the kitchen duties and made something himself. I didn't bother pointing that fact out, because I assumed he was smart enough to figure that out, and since he hadn't done anything about it, he was a horrible cook.
"With the weather so cold, I'm thinking a hearty chicken noodle soup with fresh bread is in order," Rick said. "I know that usually warms you up, Avery."
Rick only used my real name when he was trying to get on my good side. I didn't think that he necessarily was working that angle. It had gotten to the point where everyone around me had a nickname for me and to be unique, it required you to use my actual name. More than likely I was thinking about it too much, but I hoped it was a new trend.
"I like the idea for tonight. Any other requests, or am I just getting a bunch of stuff and making whatever sounds good on a given day."
The others in the group had better chances of knowing what was available to work with, so I reluctantly opened up the list for suggestions. I'd been doing better about providing food without input.
"You make the best stuff when we don't make requests, so I'm all for you just grabbing stuff," Nate said.
"Can I make one request, since I'm going to be sneaking into your house every night you are in town?" Kyle asked.
"Go ahead," I replied. Nate made a grumbling noise in his chest, warning Kyle to choose his words wisely.
"At some point can you make biscuits and gravy? It's been a long time since I've had what could be classified as home cooking," he said.
"Sure, no problem. I can make it tomorrow for breakfast, if you want to mysteriously appear on our doorstep around eight," I said. The time would give me enough to cook and make sure I didn't look like a zombie when they showed up.
"You know, dollface, I think I love you," he said as he picked me up and carried me into the store bridal style.
"That's my girl you got there, Kyle. Leaving my sight with her in your arms is hazardous to your health. Since I've had her cooking, I can understand your enthusiasm, but I'm not very lenient," Nate hollered after us.
"Don't worry, I'll return her soon enough," he said, taking me to the front of the store. "Hey, Sammy," he yelled, causing my ears to ring.
"Is that you, Kyle? What in the world are you yelling about?" a man said as he walked out of an office.
He was tall, like the rest of the men I was with. He had long black hair and blue eyes similar to my berserker companions. If he had blonde hair, I would've said he was also a berserker. In blue jeans and a short-sleeved black top, nothing screamed the man was a unique, but I had a feeling he wasn't human.
"I just want you to meet someone," Kyle told him.
"What ya got there? You finally find a little lady who will put up with your crap?" the man replied.
"You and I both wish," Kyle replied. "Sadly she's already spoken for. She's going to try to feed me actual food while she is around, though. I think that warrants an introduction."
The rest of the group had joined us and I was trying to find an escape route. "Kyle, quit hogging my best friend," Liam said, stealing me away from his brother.
"I can walk, you guys, or haven't you noticed?" I asked. "This isn't any different than me wanting to pilot my own snowmobile."
"But a queen such as yourself shouldn't have to," Liam said. "Guess what we have here, Sammy."
"A woman who's getting ready to kick you two straight to the moon," Sammy replied. My gut told me I was going to like Sammy.
"We have the phoenix queen, is what we have," Kyle said. I didn't know we were sharing that secret with the world.
"Do you now? I know Joseph, so I'm guessing one of the other gentlemen with you would be the king. I've heard they don't tend to travel separately," Sammy replied.
"That would be me," Nate said, stepping forward to shake his hand. "I'm Nate. The woman the knucklehead twins are fighting over is Avery. The other two men with us are Rick, Avery's protector and Vinnie, Avery's protector from another mother."
"I like the way you said that," I said, trying again to wiggle free. "I think I'm going to have to use that line myself."
"You have a famous actor as a protector?" Sammy asked. No one
seemed concerned about my desire to stand on my own two feet.
"I'm not important enough for him to change his schedule that drastically. Vinnie is a brilliant robot and he was allowed to choose his own shell. I did talk him out of mimicking the voice, thankfully, just in case the real person shows up on our doorstep one day."
"He won't be showing up on the doorstep if I have anything to say about it," Nate said. "You can deny it all you like, but I know you have a crush on him."
"That remark deserves no comment," I replied.
"I'm going to assume my loud mouth sons have already relayed my name, so I won't bother introducing myself, even if tradition says I should. You'll find I like to be a rule breaker," Sammy said.
"Holy crap. You're their daddy? That's awesome. Is their mother around? If she's anything like mine, I'm sure she could tell me all sorts of dirt I could use to make sure they never pick me up again."
"Sadly their ma was human and died a very long time ago," he replied. He didn't sound too sad about it, so I didn't feel as bad as I probably should have.
"Sorry, I just thought that since you guys were berserkers that maybe she was one too."
"Nah. It's easy to forget that only men can be berserkers, and there hasn't been a new one born for centuries," Kyle said.
I felt like he was covering up my misstep of not knowing something I probably should have and he did it quite well. I knew he didn't know everything about my situation, but he'd overheard more than one conversation when I was lost and confused.
"I think most of the uniques have had trouble reproducing as of late. I haven't heard of a new one being born within the last couple centuries," Rick said.
"It's really too bad. The young ones are always fun to watch when they first realize they're special," Sammy said. "So I'm guessing you're here to do more than show me your new lady friend. What can I get for you guys?"
"Can I just ask one thing before we get to the meat and potatoes of our visit?" I asked.
"Sure, fire away. If it's dirt on the kids you want, nothing is off limits."
"I may ask about that later, but what I was wondering is why you have black hair. I know it's silly, but I noticed the eyes right away and thought berserker, but the hair threw me."
Sammy laughed. "I was just bored a couple days ago and decided to see what it looks like. I don't really like it, so I'll be changing it back to white soon," he responded.
"Good. I don't think the black matches your features very well. Anyway, we're visiting Eek for at least the next day or two and I need to get some food or they may all die of dysentery." I wondered if anyone would get the joke.
"Seriously, Oregon Trail?" Rick said. It figured. He always somehow understood my unique language.
"Freddie, I have to keep you on your toes. No one else understands my code speak like you do," I said. "Now, Liam put me down, so we can do something about the lack of food in my cupboards."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, finally lowering me.
"Lead me to the shopping carts and let's get this show on the road. I want to be home before it gets any darker, and I'm terrified what a trip through the store will be like with all of you." I rejoiced at the feel of floor beneath my feet.
"Right this way, your highness," Kyle said, directing me.
"You know I don't like that your highness crap," I remarked.
"It's that or dollface, take you pick," he retorted.
"Do you really think giving me a lame ultimatum will work in your favor? Maybe you should ask Rick what happens when he gives me a choice like that."
"I'm pretty sure I have a good idea," he replied as I took a shopping cart and started my trek through the store.
The store wasn't very large, but thankfully the order of chicken had come through. I got what I thought was enough groceries to feed our growing family and headed to the checkout. Somehow everyone else just stayed at the front of the store while I made my way around. I wasn't sure who I had to thank for that, but it made life easier.
I made Nate pay for everything, and then helped carry the items out to our waiting snowmobiles. Frannie and Gary were just arriving back. We couldn't have timed it better if we'd tried.
"I bought a bed and breakfast," Frannie exclaimed.
"Why in the world would you do that? You do remember this is Alaska, right?" I asked.
"I figured by the time you and Nate get married this resurrection Alaska will be the new Bermuda and you'll need a nice place to stay."
"You're always planning ahead," I said as I climbed onto my snowmobile.
Everyone else got on theirs and we headed back towards Eek. The way back seemed to go a lot faster. I wasn't sure why I always got that impression, but I was happy for it in that situation.
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CHAPTER 13
Chicken noodle soup can accomplish miracles