Ice (6 page)

I stood up from the couch and ran into Justin’s room and got his gun from his closet. I quickly loaded it, breathing heavily as I tried to keep myself calm, and left the room, walking into the dark hallway. Just as I passed my room, I heard the scratching, and it sounded like it was coming from my window again.

I gulped and quietly opened the door to my bedroom. I slowly walked toward my window, not raising the gun yet, since I couldn’t see anyone outside my window. There wasn’t even the “Phantom Husky”.

Just as I came up to my window to inspect it better, I heard a knocking at the front door.

I jumped and headed back into the living room. There was a second batch of knocking by the time I reached the couch. I took a couple of steps in front of it so that Big John was behind me and would be protected, instead of at risk of being in the line of fire.

I wondered if I should call out, but I was scared to call out to someone who’s obviously trying to break in. I was also terrified of the idea of being in an encounter with someone. I didn’t want to have to shoot anyone, not even a burglar.

Why would someone choose to burgle an old, little house in the middle of nowhere?

I worked up some courage and was about to call out some kind of warning when suddenly the doorknob turned.

My eyes widened in fear and I lost my voice as I realized I had been so worried about Uncle Justin that I had actually forgotten to lock the door when he left.

The door opened, and I was staring at a naked man.

I panicked. I quickly aimed the gun at him and yelled, “Don’t move!”

The young man raised his hands at the sight of the rifle. His palms were covered in dirt and his blue eyes instantly grew twice their size. I stared at him for a second, confused and scared, and unsure of what to do. I was surprised Big John didn’t bark, or growl at him. The man was tall, white, and thin, yet also a bit muscular. He looked like he was around my age, but even stranger than that (besides being naked, of course) was his hair; it was long and black, hanging past his shoulders with white streaked in it underneath. I had never seen anyone sport hair like that before, and that was saying something since I came from
California.

“Don’t shoot,” he
said, looking at me with big, blue eyes. Icy blue, like the Husky I had seen, but big in fear, like my own.

He took a step toward me and I yelled in a shaky voice, “I said don’t move!”

He stopped and stared at the barrel of the gun pointed at him.

“I can explain,” he said, and I could tell he was trying very hard to speak calmly despite the gun being pointed at him. His voice got a little louder as it got harder for him to conceal his desperation. “I’m not here to harm you, so you can put the gun down.”

“Get out of here! I’m calling the police!”

I headed for the phone and he yelled, “No!”

Suddenly he was in front of me, tearing the gun out of my hands. I screamed and Big John let out a little growl. I ran back against the wall, looking for something to use as a weapon, but couldn’t find anything nearby that might be lethal. Big John was growling at him from the couch, standing up like he was going to attack the intruder. The stranger sat the rifle aside on the couch not far from Big John, but far enough that his hand wasn’t dangerously close to the angry wolf, and said to me, “I’m not going to hurt you, see?”

The calm in his voice sounded more genuine now as he slowly walked toward me. He didn’t get very close, much to my relief. He then turned
around to Big John and held a hand out toward him like a command to calm him. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

His calm voice and commanding presence made Big John stop growling and relax back into a sitting position.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I asked, still nervous and not convinced I was safe.

“Just someone who needs help,” he said as he walked over to the front door and shut it. He locked it and then looked out the window in a very suspicious manner. He then turned back to face me. He smiled and I was shocked by how real and harmless it appeared. “You’ve helped me before, actually.”

I frowned at him, keeping my gaze on his face. “What do you mean?”

He lifted one of his
arms and said, “I was hurt and you helped me. My arm’s all better now.”

He then pointed to the bare skin just beneath his ribs and said, “My side, too.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying, because what I did think he was saying wasn’t making sense. “I…I don’t understand,” I stuttered. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“There was a bear,” he said, walking toward me again, as if to help me remember him.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Just…let me get you some clothes,” I said, feeling along the wall so I could make my way to Uncle Justin’s room. Despite the boy’s attractive build, I really wanted him to put some clothes on.

“Thanks,” he said through an awkward chuckle.

How could this person be laughing and acting so pleasant? And how did he know about my run-in with the bear? Nothing was making sense.

I opened my eyes as I turned on the light. I grabbed a shirt from the back of the closet and tossed it onto the bed behind me. I was trying to look at him as little as possible. I then silently went over to the chest of drawers and pulled out a pair of Wrangler jeans from the very bottom. I was hoping Justin wouldn’t notice they were gone. I tossed the jeans onto the bed next to the shirt and said, “Get dressed, then I’ll call the police.”

“You can’t!” he panicked, his eyes widening like before.

“What do you need my help with that the police can’t handle?” I asked as I crossed my arms. I then shut my eyes again.

“Because…! Because…!” He kept grasping for an excuse and I could hear him sliding the jeans on. After I heard the zipper I opened my eyes. He was pleading with me now, still shirtless, but it didn’t seem to slow him down any. He grabbed my hands and his black eyebrows turned up desperately. His hands were big and cold and there was dirt under his nails. “Please, you have to help me again. I couldn’t think of anywhere else to hide.”

“Why do you keep saying I’ve helped you before?” I asked incredulously, not wanting to believe it was what I thought he meant. I pulled my hands out of his, not because they were dirty, but because I still wasn’t sure if I could trust him. I immediately regretted it, because it seemed like something Marcus’ rude girlfriend might do.

“I was the dog you saved,” he said quickly, only like it was a minor detail. Despite the blank expression on my face, he just plowed on talking. “I’ve tried to thank you before, like last night, but I scared you. You don’t know how much I appreciate what you did for me. I even thought about leaving a note on your doorstep, but I knew you wouldn’t understand…like now. But, why would I make up such a strange story?”

I gave a long, hard blink and held my head. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Right…why are you?”

His face fell, and then it turned hard and determined. “I’ll show you then.”

“Show me what?” I asked, suddenly feeling nervous. Hadn’t I seen enough from him?

He started unzipping the jeans and my heart raced.

“Oh, no!” I said, wagging my finger at
him. “Keep them on!” I commanded in as firm a voice as I could muster, but it still shook a little. His jaws were clenched as he kept right on taking them off despite my protests. He struggled to get one of his legs out, nearly falling over. I noticed his feet were dirty, too, as one foot dangled and swung awkwardly in the air. Once he had kicked them off, I knew what he wanted to show me.

He got down on all fours and morphed into the big Husky in an instant. I put my hand to my mouth in shock, just staring into his icy eyes for several seconds. Big John had come in at some point and started sniffing him, like he was making sure it was the same person…or dog.

The Husky walked up to me and put his paws to my knees, whining pitifully. The dog’s eyes looked sad and desperate, just like the boy’s had. I slowly bent down and looked over his face, sure it was the same dog I had wondered was a wolf all those weeks ago. And, now I could really see why I wondered that: he was just as large as Big John, who was an actual full-blooded gray wolf. His features were very similar to Big John’s, as well.

The Husky started licking my face all the sudden and I remembered this was actually a person licking me.

“No! Stop!” I said, shoving the Husky away. “I get it, okay?”

He turned back into the human boy right before my eyes, sitting in front of me where the Husky had been. He had a big grin on his face, obviously happy he had succeeded in convincing me he was a dog, and maybe even a little satisfied that he had grossed me out with all the licking.

I turned away, crawling on my hands and knees to get away from the naked boy the fastest way I could think of. “Put the jeans back on, please,” I said in as calm and level voice as I could.

“Right. Sorry,” he said, sounding like it was taking all his strength to stifle his excitement. He even giggled a little.

I sat down on the floor with my back turned until he tapped me on my left shoulder. I stood up and turned around to face him. The jeans were slowly sagging down his thin frame and he was putting Uncle Justin’s long sleeved tan and red plaid shirt on now. “You’ll help me now, right?”

“Well, it depends on what it is you need help with,” I asked uncomfortably. Sure, I was all for helping someone in need, but the whole situation was just so bizarre and sudden. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. Once again
, I felt like I needed to be in a mental institution.

He smiled and said, “I knew you would. You’re such a kind person. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

I was surprised by how grateful this seemingly teenage dog-person was. I hadn’t even agreed to help him yet. And, no one had ever told me I was kind before.

“I need to stay here tonight.”

I opened my mouth awkwardly, unsure of what to say for a minute. I finally chose my words and raised an index finger.

His face instantly fell again at the sight of the finger.

“Only until my uncle comes back. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is. He can’t know I let a boy in the house. It will create so many problems I don’t want to have.”

“How long will that be?” he asked, seeming to understand my situation.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. I let out a sigh and ran a hand through my hair, thinking about Justin fighting the huge fire. “He’s helping the town put out a fire.”

He nodded confidently and said, “That will give me a couple of hours, I think. Maybe that will be enough…
.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering how he was able to put a time frame on the fire. “You know about the fire?”

He just nodded at me instead of rambling like his earlier explanation.

I turned around and walked out of the room, motioning for him to follow me. He followed closely behind. Big John, too. I picked up the rifle from the living room couch, wondering if I should put it away. I didn’t feel threatened by the boy now. He seemed so harmless and, dare I say, normal? Of course, turning into a dog wasn’t normal, but he seemed like such a teenager. So far, he was energetic and full of emotion, his face always changing when he spoke.

Unlike me.

How long have I felt dead?

Since my parents died. Since Marcus abandoned me. I had only just started warming up to the idea of living with Uncle Justin, having a few moments of happiness here and there, and then I would suddenly return to feeling depressed and empty, like I was a hollow shell.

“So what kind of trouble are you in?” I asked as I walked away with the rifle.

He followed me back to the doorway of Uncle Justin’s room. “I don’t think I should tell you,” he said uneasily.

After I had taken the bullets out, I looked up from the rifle. He seemed uncomfortable standing in the doorway. He had one hand on the doorframe and the other clutching Justin’s pants. I noticed he had only buttoned the bottom half of the shirt for some reason, revealing his pale, white chest. This boy looked like he hadn’t seen a single day of sun.

“Why not? You’re going to be staying with me, so shouldn’t I know?” I put the rifle in the box and slid it back up into Justin’s closet. I turned from it and watched his face change. He first solemnly stared at the floor, and then he frowned. He looked up at me and then stepped aside so I could leave the room. I turned the light off on my way out and shimmied past him. For some reason, I felt nervous being that close to him. Probably because he was still a stranger to me and, after all, he did turn into an animal.

“I don’t want to get you in trouble, though,” he said, sounding like a little kid who was talking about getting a time out, or grounding.

“I think I need to know what I’m getting myself into,” I argued, getting nervous that it was bad enough he wouldn’t tell me. I was starting to fear I had made the wrong decision by letting him stay in Justin’s house.

“Hopefully, you won’t be getting into anything, but I’ll tell you anyway. You have a right to know since you’re helping me,” he said as we reached the living room. I sat down on the couch and he followed in a stiff manner. I wondered if that was because he wasn’t used to sitting like a human. He seemed very solemn again, like he was delivering bad news I hadn’t asked to hear. He looked me directly in
the eyes and said, “Someone is hunting me. That’s why I need a place to hide tonight.”

I furrowed my eyebrows again and asked confused, “Like, for your fur?”

“No,” he said with a shake of his head, revealing more white hair underneath the locks of black. “They just want us dead. They’ve already killed my brothers.”

I felt my jaw drop; I was speechless. I couldn’t say anything for moment.

“Oh my God,” I finally managed. “I’m so sorry.” I then leaned toward him a little and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want me to call the police?”

He shook his head and said softly, looking defeated, “No.”

That single word seemed to carry so much weight. My spirits instantly took a deep dip and my heart went out to the boy. “Well…why not? Don’t you want justice? Don’t you want to be protected?” I couldn’t understand his reasoning at all.

He looked up at me again and I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by his pretty blue eyes. “I don’t trust them. It’s such a small town. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone talks. There’s only a handful of policeman here, or so I’ve heard. I think it would just tip off the killer.”

I nodded, understanding his reasoning now. “Do you know why this person killed your brothers, and now wants to kill you?”