Ice: The Immortality Trinket

VII: Anderson

Kelli and Eliza duck to go through the door, whereas it's not much of a problem for me to fit in. Her place has basic furniture, stationery lying around and a variety of paper, among other less-exciting things.

"Welcome to my humble abode. It's not as tidy as I'd like it," she says as she steps over a marker pen, "but it's because I've been hard at work while you guys were on your way here."

"No kiddin'. This place looks a lot like Yvette's back home."

"Ooh, I'll be taking that as a compliment if you don't mind." Eliza rolls her eyes at her. "Oh, where are my manners, take a seat now would ya?" She points to the hard chairs.

The chairs are surprisingly comfortable. I fully expected my rump to hurt upon impact, but it didn't. Our easygoing Kiwi offers us some beers.

I reject. "No thanks. I don't drink."

"Cheers. I'll be retractin' that if it's not any good though." Eliza pops open the can and takes a swig. She licks her lips and hums in satisfaction.

Kelli looks on. "Is it good?"

She lifts it up to see the brand. "It's no Scottish liquor, but I suppose it's alright for what it is."

Kelli does a little fist-bump. "We got off a little bit on the wrong foot there, Lizzy. You don't mind if I call you Lizzy, do you?"

"I've got an inkling it doesn't really matter if I do or not," states Eliza with a slight grin creeping up.

"Smart girl. Anyway, I was born Kelli Margaret Anderson in Auckland, 24 years ago. I studied Archeology in the La Trobe University of Australia for a few years before I, um, got expelled."

"Oh, what for? You don't seem like you'd do absolutely anything that would get you expelled."

"Ah, it's nothing," she waves off. "Life went on and I found your friend Yvette's blog over on the internet. I've been a fan of her ever since. One day, Yvette posted about something deep in the Araguaia. I'd been researching about a similar object, so I reached out to contact her and here we are, a village in Brazil. Almost forgot, there's this old man called Neto tagging along but I'm sure you knew about him already."

Eliza looks at me and mouths, "Should I tell her?". I nod my head and she sighs. "Lass, there's somethin' we gotta tell ya. This Neto—"

"Is the leader of Comando do Sertão? Choice, thought I had to drop the news to yous myself."

My mouth slowly drops open with my eyes widened. Eliza begins to grimace, fists tightening by her sides. "You knew?"

Kelli puts down her drink and frowns.

"I've been working with him for a few years now. Exchanging research, discussing things." Liz doesn't show any signs of backing up.

"Do you have any idea what he said and did to Yvette? He's a fuckin' disgrace, ya hear?"

"I know that..." Kelli trails off and takes a gulp of her beverage. "A bit too well."

Eliza reaches for her collar and lifts her up, her victim gasping at the sudden violence. "You workin' for him, huh? That bampot? I bet he'd love it if I made minced meat of ye!" She pins her to the nearest wall and knocks over the chair in the process. "You thought I'd buy into your charm? Yeah, disnae feel too good now, does it?"

"Calm down, Eliza for God's sake!"

"I'll calm down when this snake—"

"I'll... explain... please..." begs Kelli who was scrambling to get the strong Scot's hands off. Eliza lets go of one hand but maintains a firm grip on her throat.