Ice (14 page)

The thought of him created an ache in my chest. I couldn’t shake the feeling Kavick was in danger. I had to help him.

“We have to assume he’s been taken by the hunter,” Tartok said, standing up straighter, more powerful, and narrowing his eyes. I can’t believe I thought his face had looked hard before, because it paled in comparison to the look that was on his face right then. I suddenly felt a little flash of panic go through me. He looked like he could kill someone. “If no one wants to help me, I’ll go alone with the girl.”

Immediately the elderly man spoke. “I will go.”

“No, you’re not,” the rude gray haired man said firmly. “You don’t have the energy for that. You know you’re frail and slow.”

“I do know that, but I am not going to let Tartok go into the hunter’s lair alone,” he declared. “If no one is going to help bring back Kavick, I will.”

I was surprised by the seconds of silence that followed. No one was stepping forward, saying they would help. The two girls exchanged looks with the gray haired man that had to be their father. The resemblance only became more apparent over time.

The elderly
man who had greeted me so kindly just sat in silence watching them, the determination in his decision steadfast, but his demeanor calm and collected. For a second, I wondered if the werewolf lore about telepathy among a pack was true, but then any belief I had in that quickly faded as they started talking.

“I’m going,” the girl with the big eyes said, who I assumed was Anana. She had barely gotten the words out before the other girl with the shorter hair responded.

“No, you’re not,” she said with a serious look on her face. “You’re still recovering.”

“But, Kavick—!”

“Anana!” the father said, like a scolding. I was right. She was Kavick’s friend.

She hung her head in defeat. One word from him was enough to end the discussion. He was definitely her father.

The other girl stood up and gave Tartok a determined look. “I’ll go with you.”

The man stood up and looked down at her furiously. “Suka!”

She didn’t buckle under the scolding like the other. She didn’t even turn around and look at him. She just walked over to stand beside Tartok like an ally. The man’s lips turned into a flat line as he silently fumed at his daughter. She didn’t seem the least bit afraid. “You come back over here this instant! I will not lose another to the hunter!”

She narrowed her already fierce yellow eyes at him in defiance and jutted out her chin. “Despite what you think, he’s a Wolf, too, dad. Not a dog. If you want him to be family, then you have to start treating him like he is. As far as I’m concerned, Kavick’s already my brother. I’ve known him all my life, and I know he would risk his life for me.”

I didn’t understand much of what I just heard, only that her father must not like Kavick, possibly because he turns into a Husky, instead of a wolf. Suka and Tartok exchanged a stare I couldn’t read. Really, it just appeared as an emotionless look that only lasted a second or two, but I knew there had to be a reason for it. I got the sense that there was a deep rooted camaraderie between them.

Her father stood there with his lips in a flat line, like he was thinking about Suka’s words. Anana
, meanwhile, looked longingly and desperately at Suka, like she was begging her with her big yellow eyes to convince their father to let her come along. Suka didn’t say a word as her father thought in silence. I waited uncomfortably for several seconds for him to say something. He finally crossed his arms and looked down his nose at Tartok with a huff.

“Tartok,
” he said, like he held authority over him, as well. “I expect you to lead, and involve Suka as little as possible. I will come with you. I have not forgotten what Kavick did for me.”

Tartok didn’t say a word. Once again, I didn’t understand what they were talking about.

The man, much to my surprise, extended his hand to me. “Thank you for assisting us.” The words seemed like they physically hurt him to say. “I am Adrik Miller.”

It took me a second to realize he was introducing himself. I awkwardly and quickly shook his hand and added a smile. I almost introduced myself again, but then remembered I had already done that, so I just stood there silently like a rude idiot. His face only looked sourer, and I couldn’t help but feel like he was all too relieved when the handshake was over a second later.

Adrik then turned to Anana. “Stay with your grandfather.”

She nodded and sat down, but she looked sad and defeated. She looked up at Suka and Tartok from her low seat on the log and said, “If…when you see Kavick,” she said in a soft, little voice, “tell him I’m sorry.”

Despite the distressed look on Anana’s face, her father glared at Tartok and crossed his arms, saying, “He better not have run off to see another human girl.” He pointed to the girl named Suka with the boyish hair cut and added, “My daughter’s being put in danger—!”

Tartok interrupted him, furious. “My brother has been missing for two days!” he hollered.

Adrik went silent at that. He wasn’t glaring anymore. His lips weren’t in such a flat line now, either. It was almost like he realized just how bad things looked for Kavick, how unlikely it was that he was just goofing off somewhere.

“Kavick has never been gone this long before,” Tartok said in a much lower tone, but he was still angry, and it showed in every word. He was the one glaring now, at Adrik. Usually, someone Tartok’s age would show a little respect to someone of seniority, like Adrik, who was clearly old enough to be his father, but that wasn’t holding Tartok back one bit. I was reminded of how Kavick had told me that his brother had a temper. “He has always come back to sleep in his bed.
Something is wrong
.” He dragged the words out to stress the seriousness of the danger Kavick could be in.

“C’mon, dad,” Suka said as she shook her head to swing one of her long bangs out of her yellow eyes. “You know Kavick’s not like that. He’s most likely been captured by the hunter, or…you know that.”

For a second, her father almost looked guilty. I thought he was hanging his head, but he only looked down for a second. He looked Tartok in the eyes again and said, “Lead the way.”

“Stop here,” I instructed nervously.

Adrik stopped the SUV as I had ordered and I was grateful to get out of the vehicle. The ride had been quiet and tense; the only thing breaking the silence was when I had to give them directions to Doug’s house. Also, it was nice to no longer be sitting by the human manifestation of intimidation. I had been stuck in the back seat with Tartok the whole ride.

Suka hopped out of the passenger seat and the other two remained in the vehicle. She walked around to the back of the vehicle out of sight, and when she came back she was a gray wolf, becoming the spitting image of Big John. I went around to the back and picked up her pile of clothes, trying to hide her panties and bra with her green camouflage pants and brown coat. I awkwardly balanced her combat boots on top and sat them in the passenger seat. As I closed the door, Adrik watched me with that less-than-happy look in his eyes, like he didn’t trust me.

I just swallowed and walked away. It was dark and cold and snowing. A snow flake threatened to fall into one of my eyes as I led the way down the street. I could see its tiny, intricate pattern just before I blinked.

Apparently at some point I had slowed down, lost in my thoughts of Kavick, because Suka nudged the back of my left knee with her head. I looked down and muttered an apology. It was a little unnerving for a wolf to stare at you straight in the eye in such a human manner. No matter how wolf-like she appeared, I had to remind myself she wasn’t a normal wolf. She was a teenage girl sporting an edgy boyish haircut and combat boots just moments earlier.

I resumed walking, and about five minutes later I had come up on the edge of Doug’s driveway. The Huskies in the fenced area of his yard looked at me perplexed…or maybe it was Suka they were cocking their heads at. I swallowed again and couldn’t help but glance down at her. She glanced up at me at exactly the same time, worried about the reaction from the dogs, too.

I trudged ahead to the front door and knocked. A moment later Doug answered, looking surprised by my appearance. I hugged myself, trying to stress how cold I was and hopefully appear more desperate and needy. “Hi. Um, sorry to bother you, but Justin’s truck broke down. Can you help us? He’s trying to work on it now, but he needs some tools.”

Doug briefly scratched his black scruffy beard and nodded. “Yeah, of course. One second.”

His eyes were wide like he was genuinely concerned, making me feel a little guilty for deceiving him…but if he was responsible for Kavick’s disappearance, I was willing to continue to lie for as long as it took.

I noticed Suka glancing at the many Huskies who were still staring at her curiously. I wondered if she was looking for Kavick in the crowd of black and white dogs, or if she was wondering why they were so curi
ous with her.

“Please, come in,” he said, ushering me and Suka in. “You look like you’re freezing!”

Everything was going according to the plan we had quickly plotted upon getting inside the SUV. It was so easy, because he clearly didn’t suspect me. I suddenly realized just how much Kavick’s lie in front of the diner had saved me. If Doug knew that I was aiding shape-shifters like Kavick and Suka, would he make me disappear, as well?

The thought of Kavick’s disappearance made my stomach churn. Suddenly, I was ready to do Suka’s job for her.

As soon as Doug turned his back on us to reach for his coat, Suka stood up as a tall, slender young woman. I noticed the toned muscles in her arms as she locked her arm around his neck. He grabbed her arms, desperately trying to fight her off.

I froze for a second, panicking. Then I remembered my job. I turned to the open doorway behind me and whistled three times as loud as I could. I could hear Doug and Suka grunting behind me in the heat of the struggle. I quickly turned around, ready to help her. Despite Suka still holding her grip around his neck, he was slinging her naked form like a rag doll.

He started backing up toward the fireplace where large logs fed even larger flames. I grabbed the nearest item I saw, a hunting rifle propped against a recliner, and hit him in the head with the back end of it. Doug went limp and Suka let go of him, panting. He instantly dropped to the floor with a thud. We stood in silence for a second, making sure he wasn’t going to stand back up. Finally, I got my thoughts together and started to give her my coat, but she waved a hand at it. “I’ll take his.”

I nodded and was glad that she checked him for a pulse. “He’s still alive,” she announced flatly. She then walked over to the coat rack
he had been reaching toward a moment ago and yanked it off. She zipped up the large navy coat just before a big gray wolf and a slightly smaller black one came rushing through the door. They sniffed Doug and she nodded her head at me in a grateful manner. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” I breathed, still a little shocked by everything that had happened.

The big gray wolf stared at me for a moment. Just when I thought it looked like the wolf was glaring at me, Suka spoke to it. “Dad.”

The gray wolf jerked his attention to Suka.

“Get my clothes. I’m freezing my butt off.”

He darted out the door without hesitation. I heard the Huskies growl outside, like they somehow knew that we were trespassers despite their silent curiosity just minutes earlier. Now they had an idea of what we were.

Suka and I went to work looking for information on the Factory. We went into the hallway and split up into two separate rooms. I looked in his bedroom, scaling the desk in the corner for something useful pertaining to the Factory. It was cluttered with papers, but after I lifted up his electric bill, I found it; a nametag with a magnetic strip on the back with writing in black permanent marker:

USERNAME: DHAWKINS

PASSWORD: 948173

“I’ve got something!” I called to the others as I shoved it into my coat pocket and continued ruffling through the papers with my other hand.

“Come in here!” Suka called a second later. I ran out of the room, never realizing Tartok had been with me. I saw his black furry form dart around my feet, leading the way to the end of the hall. We opened a door and descended down some steps into the basement. The underground room was lit up and I was stunned speechless by what I saw.

There was a photo of Kavick on a corkboard against one wall, littered with a thousand other things, but all I noticed or cared about was the picture of him.

Suka stood in front of it with her yellow eyes big in worry. She brushed a bang of gray hair from her eyes as I ran past a large table to the corkboard.

I studied the photo. It looked like an enlarged version of a tiny professional photograph. He wasn’t smiling and his hair was in the same long, black and white hair style. Something about his face appeared younger and more vulnerable, and even a little depressed.

“Look, Tark,” Suka said in awe, pointing at the other pictures.

I drew my attention to what she was pointing at. There were identical pictures of Tartok and another boy with a striking resemblance to the other Skarlings. His messy black hair was shorter than Tartok’s and I noticed one of his eyes was an icy, light blue like Kavick’s, and the other was a warm brown. I felt my jaw drop upon realizing who it was.

“Tupit,” Suka said out loud with a sad note to her voice. “These were taken from a yearbook.”

Suka looked along the wall until she came to the end of it. She took in a loud gasp, making me jump. “He’s the one who shot Anana!” she suddenly exclaimed.

She ripped the tiny cutout picture of her sister off the wall and held it down toward Tartok. She looked furious, like she was ready to go back into the living room and finish Doug.

For some reason, Tartok looked up toward the corkboard. The next thing I knew, he was standing on his back legs, front paws on the wall, growling and whimpering at the corkboard. Suka and I both gave him bewildered looks. He barked at the board as if trying to get our attention. I looked at her for an answer and she shrugged at me.

“Hey!” she told him. “Stop it! You’re going to get the dogs even more worked up out there! They’re already making enough noise!”

We both looked up at the board and hunted for the thing that had Tartok so upset. My eyes ran over all the notes, newspaper clippings about wolves, and then finally I found it: a newspaper clipping with the headline “Local Teacher Found Dead”. Underneath the headline was the picture of a smiling middle-aged man with black hair. He looked like Tartok and Kavick.

I examined the tiny print underneath the picture.

Mark Skarling, Sr.,
was found dead by his son, Kevin, Saturday evening.

“He killed him…” Suka said in the same shocked tone as earlier. I looked over to see her mouth hanging open. She then blinked and pointed at the picture, as if it were sinking in. “He’s killed all of them!” she said out loud, even though it sounded like a personal thought.

She then looked at me as if to explain it to me. “Their dad was shot and the police never could find any evidence…it was him!”

That fury took over her face again as she looked at the board. She began filtering through all the pieces of paper pinned up there as she made her way to the other end of the board again. Tartok and I stepped back, watching her. “What do you wanna bet he’s the same person who killed their mom and brothers…?”

She plucked a newspaper clipping off that said something about a tragic accident.

“…A
nd my mom?”

After a few seconds, she pulled another one off. She walked over to the table behind us and slammed them down with a loud smack. I gulped silently, feeling just as sad for her as I was scared of her.

Tartok barked again.

She didn’t look at him for a few seconds…and then she slowly turned and stared down at him. “What is it?” she said in a low voice.

He padded over to the other side of the table out of sight. Suddenly he was human, only his pale white torso exposed above the table. I couldn’t help but notice a small discolored circle of skin on one of his sides. It looked like a scar from a bullet wound. I wondered if the hunter had already tried to kill him, too. He looked angry and he pointed to the corkboard. “I know what you’re thinking, Suka! We can’t kill him!”

“He’s already killed most of us!” she shouted bewildered. “If we don’t take care of him, he’s going to hunt the rest of us down! He’s probably killed Kavick! Doesn’t that—!”

Tartok raised his voice, cutting her off. “If there are other hunters like we think, killing him could start a full-on war!”

“I can’t believe you! You hypocrite! You want him to walk free?! He’ll…!”

There was finger pointing at me, each other, the corkboard, and their voices were getting louder and louder until it had become a yelling match. I stepped away until I was up against a wall. I wondered if they would wake Doug up with the racket they were creating. They certainly had the dogs’ attention, because I could hear them barking from outside.

Or maybe that was because of Adrik? I had no idea what he was doing. I had just assumed he was hunting for useful information, too.

He suddenly came down the steps and yelled, “What are you two doing?!”

His voice boomed louder than both of theirs, making them go silent. He glared at Tartok. “Put your clothes back on!” he spat, he himself fully clothed already, and tossed Tartok a wad of black clothes.

Tartok caught his clothes and immediately slipped on his black jeans without a word.

Suka’s mouth was in a flat line, just like her father’s had been earlier. The
y looked exactly alike then. Adrik tossed her clothes and boots to her and she caught them, shouldering past her father and out of sight to change upstairs.

I didn’t say a word. Once Tartok had his pants on, he motioned toward the pictures on the table with a nod of his head.

“She wants to kill him,” he explained to Adrik. He quickly slipped his black sweater over his head and said, “We can’t leave her alone up there with him.”

Adrik’s face took on that same furious glare Suka’s had. “Are you saying my daughter’s a kil—”

“You know how Suka gets!” Tartok yelled. I could see the anger which had just died out flaring up again.

Tartok didn’t waste time arguing. He dashed upstairs. I followed because I would rather be with the wolf with the bad attitude than Adrik who was always shooting suspicious glares at me.

Tartok was fast on his feet and hard to keep up with. Without his big black bear cape, he looked rather skinny, like Kavick, even though I had seen that he did have a good bit of muscle on him (also like Kavick). We found Suka fully clothed, her own brown coat back on, reaching for the rifle I left on the floor earlier. Tartok kicked it away with his bare foot. I winced, knowing that must have hurt. He didn’t make a sound, though.

She slowly stood up, looking at him with narrowed eyes. Tartok’s stare was enough to make me feel two inches tall, but it seemed to have no effect on her. 

“Hypocrite,” she muttered under her breath at Tartok as her father came into the room. Tartok almost appeared uncomfortable as he looked away from Suka. I wondered why she kept calling him that.

“We don’t need any trouble now,” Adrik said to Suka in a firm voice. “I’ll decide how we handle him…
later
.”